The Fantastic Corporation

Alan Rosenberg

C Kenneth Miller

Kenneth Cates

Richard Fiorentino

This invention relates to a system and method for managing a session during which data is sent to receivers, wherein retransmission of the data to the receivers can be automatically rescheduled if the receiver did not receive some or all of the data. An object of the invention is to send content to receivers that did not or could not receive data during a multicast data transmission session. In accordance with this and other objects of the invention, one aspect of the invention relates to a method of managing a session during which data is sent to receivers. A first message is sent over a network a message to a list comprising at least one receiver, the first message relating to receiving data during a first session. Replies are received over the network from the receivers on the list. Based on the replies received, each receiver on the list that will not be receiving data during the first session is identified. After the first session is complete, a second message is sent over the network to the receivers identified as not receiving data during the first session. The second message relates to receiving data during a second session. In this manner, receivers that did not receive data during the first session can automatically be invited to join a second session for receiving data when the first session is complete. Thus, the second session can serve as an automatic recovery session for those receivers that do not receive data during a regular data session.

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Westford, MA, United States of America

Alan Rosenberg