Personal broadcasting and viewing method of audio and video data using a wide area network

A method for transmitting audio/video data to viewing devices, the method comprising:

• prompting at least two selections on a viewing device, the viewing device being coupled to a world wide network of computers, the two selections comprising a first selection for an automatic set up and a second selection for a manual set up;
• selecting either the first selection or the second selection and transmitting the selection to a server, the server being coupled to a source of audio/video data;
• if the first selection is entered, transforming at the server input audio/video data based upon a profile associated with the viewing device;
• if the second selection is entered, transforming at the server the input audio/video data based on selectable parameters;
• transmitting the transformed audio/video data from the server to the viewing device in a session based upon the first selection and in accordance with the profile, or based upon the second selection;
• at the server, updating the profile during the session based at least in part on characteristics of the viewing device that dynamically change during the session and on dynamically changing characteristics of a connection that carries the session;
• at the server, determining the dynamically changing connection characteristics including computing channel bandwidth;
• and
• at the server, adjusting the audio/video data being transmitted to the viewing device based on the updated profile during the session, including server determination of appropriate audio/video data to send to the viewing device based at least in part on the computed channel bandwidth and other connection characteristics that were determined by the server.

A system for transmission of audio/video data to a wireless display device, the system comprising:

• a means for obtaining profile information associated with the wireless display device, the profile information including statistics associated with dynamically changing characteristics of the wireless display device and dynamically changing characteristics of a communication link to the wireless display device the means for obtaining the profile information including a server-side means for determining the characteristics of the communication link, including computing channel bandwidth;
• a server means for formatting the audio/video data based on the profile information;
• a means for sending the formatted audio/video data to the wireless display device in a session;
• a server means for logging the statistics during the session and using the statistics to update the profile information during the session;
• a server means for determining which particular audio/video data, from a plurality of available audio/video data, to send to respective wireless display devices, based at least in part on the computed channel bandwidth and other connection characteristics that were determined by the server-side means.