| abstract |
This invention describes a new method and system for delivering data over a network to a large number of clients, which may be suitable for building large-scale Video-on-Demand (VOD) systems. In current VOD systems, the client may suffer from a long latency before starting to receive the requested data that is capable of providing sufficient interactive functions, or the reverse, without significantly increasing the network load. The method utilizes two groups of data streams, one responsible for minimizing latency while the other one provides the required interactive functions. In the anti-latency data group, uniform, non-uniform or hierarchical staggered stream intervals may be used. The system of this invention may have a relatively small startup latency while users may enjoy most of the interactive functions that are typical of video recorders. Furthermore, this invention may also be able to maintain the number of data streams, or the bandwidth, required. |