Method and system for distributing images to client systems

An image distribution computing system having a processor and memory, the system comprising:

• a component that is configured to receive via a communications link communications from client systems;
• a component that is configured to provide packages of images to be distributed to client systems;
• a component that is configured to determine, for a package of images that is to be distributed to a client system, whether to distribute the package of images to the client system via the communications link or via a mechanism other than the communications link based on when the client system last communicated with the image distribution computing system via the communications link;
• and
• a component that is configured to direct the distribution of a package of images to a client system in accordance with the determination,
• wherein the components are implemented as instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor.

A method in a computer system for distribution of images to a client system, the method comprising:

• receiving via the Internet heartbeat communications from a client system, the heartbeat communications being HTTP requests;
• recording an indication of receipt of the heartbeat communications from the client system, wherein the indication includes a time associated with the receipt of the heartbeat communications;
• determining whether to send an image to the client system via the Internet or via another mechanism based on when a heartbeat communication was last received from the client system as indicated by the recorded indications of the receipt of heartbeat communications;
• and
• sending the image to the client system via the Internet or via the other mechanism based on the determination.

A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, the instructions comprising:

• instructions to track communications received at a computing system from a client system via a communications link, wherein a communication received from the client system includes a time associated with the communication;
• and
• for an image that is to be distributed by the computing system to a client system, instructions to,
• determine whether a time associated with a most recently received communication from the client system is within a certain time period;
• in response to determining that the time associated with the most recently received communication from the client system is within the certain time period, send the image to the client system via the communications link;
• and
• in response to determining that the time associated with the most recently received communication from the client system is not within the certain time period, send the image to the client system via a mechanism other than the communications link.