Two tier multiple sliding window mechanism for multidestination media applications

A system for sending data over an IP network to data rendering devices, comprising:

• a packet-based data communication network;
• a first plurality of one or more first data rendering devices that render data of a first data type and are configured to communicate with the data communication network;
• a second plurality of one or more second data rendering devices that render data of a second data type that is different from the first data type and are configured to communicate with the data communication network;
• and
• a data source configured to communicate with the data communication network and having access to a data stream comprising at least a plurality of data packets of the first data type and a plurality of data packets of the second data type, wherein each data packet of either data type comprises, a reference counter field and a unique packet sequence number;
• wherein the data source further comprises a demultiplexer configured to separate the data stream into a first demultiplexed data stream comprising the plurality of data packets of the first data type and a second demultiplexed data stream comprising the plurality of data packets of the second data type;
• wherein the data source further comprises a first primary packet buffer for holding data packets from the first demultiplexed data stream and a first plurality of virtual packet buffers each comprising a plurality of packet sequence number references corresponding to a plurality of data packets of the first data type that are contained in the first primary packet buffer, each virtual packet buffer of the first plurality of virtual packet buffers being associated with a specific one of the first plurality of data rendering devices;
• wherein a first packet of the first data type is put in the first primary packet buffer and a packet sequence number reference to the first packet of the first data type is placed in each of the virtual packet buffers of the first plurality of virtual buffers, and the reference counter field of the first packet of the first data type is set to the number of the virtual packet buffers of the first plurality of virtual packet buffers that have a packet sequence number reference to the first packet of the first data type;
• wherein the data source further comprises a second primary packet buffer for holding data packets from the second demultiplexed data stream of the second data type and a second plurality of virtual packet buffers each comprising a plurality of packet sequence number references corresponding to a plurality of data packets of the second data type that are contained in the second primary packet buffer, each virtual packet buffer of the second plurality of virtual packet buffers being associated with a specific only one of the second plurality of data rendering devices;
• and
• wherein a first packet of the second data type is put in the second primary packet buffer and a packet sequence number reference to the first packet of the second data type is placed in each of the virtual packet buffers of the second plurality of virtual buffers, and the reference counter field of the first packet of the second data type is set to the number of the virtual packet buffers of the second plurality of virtual packet buffers that have a packet sequence number reference to the first packet of the second data type;
• and
• wherein the first packet in the first each virtual packet buffer is sent to the corresponding data rendering device.