System and method for the broadcast dissemination of time-ordered data

A system for retrieving data fragments of a temporally-ordered data stream, the system comprising:

• a buffer in which received fragments are stored, wherein a fragment has a length which is a function of the fragment's location within the data stream;
• an assembly circuit for retrieving stored fragments from the buffer and presenting the fragments to a playback device in the temporal order;
• and
• a gate circuit which receives broadcast fragments and selectively forwards the fragments to the buffer or to the assembly circuit in accordance with the temporal location of a received fragment relative to fragments to be presented a playback device.

In a media broadcast system in which digital media is divided into a sequence of fragments and the fragments are repetitively transmitted with different repetition periods, a method for presenting the media, the method comprising:

• loading an index of all of the fragments in the sequence;
• detecting each individual fragment that is received;
• checking the index upon detection of each received fragment to determine whether a copy of the received fragment has been stored;
• storing the received fragment if the index indicates that the received fragment has not been previously stored, and setting the index to indicate that the received fragment has been stored;
• and
• commencing to provide the stored fragments to a display device in sequential order within a maximum period of time t from an indication to begin presenting the media.