The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 19, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 20, 1999
Robert Edward Markowitz, Glen Rock, NJ (US);
Joseph Thomas O'Neil, Staten Island, NY (US);
Kenneth H Rosen, Middletown, NJ (US);
Peter H Stuntebeck, Little Silver, NJ (US);
AT&T Corp., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A proxy apparatus and method for streaming media information via at least one network. When a user device communicates with the proxy apparatus using a particular bandwidth and requests that media information be provided from a media server, the proxy apparatus first determines if a version of the media information encoded for the user device's connection bandwidth has been stored in the proxy apparatus. If a version of the media information encoded for the user device's bandwidth is not available from the proxy apparatus, the proxy apparatus sends a request to a media server for the media information. Once the media server receives the request, the media server begins to stream a copy of the media information encoded for the user device's bandwidth to the user device via the network and proxy device. If a version of the media information for the bandwidth is not available from the media server, the version for the largest bandwidth that does not exceed the bandwidth of the user device connection, is streamed to the user device. After the user device receives the media information, the proxy apparatus sends requests to the media server for versions of the same media information but encoded for different bandwidths. These copies of these various versions, along with the version actually received by the user device, are stored in a media storage device associated with the proxy device.