File futures
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsSascha Baumeister, Gerd Breiter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method comprising improvements in transferring large data amounts e.g., large files associated with ‘new media’ like audio and video data which are streamed through the network. The present invention comprises basically to decouple the transfer and the rendering of data in a way that combines the strength, i.e., the advantages of the streaming paradigm with the flexibility and usability advantages of the store&forward paradigm. This is basically achieved by separating the application logic from the transport logic. The transfer/transport logic is covered by a novel transfer protocol whereas the player application logic can issue standard file access statements like fread, fseek in order to access and render the streamed data.
Claims30
A client-server based file transfer method for a client computer system comprising the steps of:
- keeping at the client computer system, at least a portion of a file system associated file ready for being accessed by an application program while the contents of said file is being transferred between said server and said client, and
- fulfilling application program-initiated requests for accessing specified portions of said file while said file is being transferred.
A client-server based file transfer method comprising the steps of:
- issuing specifications by said client-server, and
- streaming client-requested file information to a client computer system in portions according to the specifications issued by said client-server.
A client-server based file transfer apparatus for a client computer system comprising:
- means for keeping at the client computer system, at least a portion of a file system associated file ready for being accessed by an application program while the contents of said file is being transferred between said server and said client, and
- means for fulfilling application program-initiated requests for accessing specified portions of said file while said file is being transferred.
A client-server based file transfer apparatus comprising:
- means for issuing specifications by said client-server, and
- means for streaming client-requested file information to a client computer system in portions according to the specifications issued by said client-server.
A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code means therein for use with a client-server based file transfer apparatus for a client computer system comprising:
- computer readable program code means keeping at the client computer system, at least a portion of a file system associated file ready for being accessed by an application program while the contents of said file is being transferred between said server and said client, and computer readable program code means for fulfilling application program-initiated requests for accessing specified portions of said file while said file is being transferred.
A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code means therein for use with a client-server based file transfer apparatus comprising:
- computer readable program code means for issuing specifications by said client-server, and computer readable program code means for streaming client-requested file information to a client computer system in portions according to the specifications issued by said client-server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.