Systems and methods for automatically generating top level index files

A method for streaming a piece of content using a set of server computer systems, comprising:

• obtaining common cryptographic information associated with a piece of content using an encrypting system;
• encoding multiple streams of video content associated with a piece of content using an encoding system;
• encrypting the encoded multiple streams of video content into multiple streams of protected video content using the common cryptographic information using the encrypting system;
• storing the multiple streams of protected video content in memory at a server system;
• storing the common cryptographic information at a digital rights management system;
• receiving a request for a top level index file from a playback device at the server system, where the request identifies the piece of content and includes information describing the playback device;
• automatically filtering the multiple streams of protected video content into a plurality of alternative streams of protected video content based upon the received information describing the playback device using the server system;
• automatically generating a top level index file in response to the request for a top level index file from the playback device using the server system, where the top level index file (i) identifies the location of each of the plurality of alternative streams of protected video content, where each of the plurality of alternative streams of protected video content encodes the piece of content at a different bitrate, (ii) describes at least a bitrate of each of a plurality of alternative streams of protected video content associated with the identified piece of content, and (iii) includes a reference to the common cryptographic information for accessing the protected video content;
• sending the top level index file to the playback device from the server system;
• receiving at the server system a request for at least a portion of an initial stream of protected video content, selected from the plurality of alternative streams of protected video content, from the playback device;
• sending the requested at least a portion of the initial stream of protected video content to the playback device from the server system;
• receiving at the digital rights management system a request from the playback device for common cryptographic information to access the initial stream of protected video content;
• encrypt the common cryptographic information using the digital rights management system;
• and
• sending the encrypted common cryptographic information to the playback device from the digital rights management system.