Method and System for Efficient and Dynamically Adaptable Digitally-Encoded-Information Distribution

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention include efficient and dynamically self-adaptive digitally-encoded-information distribution systems that monitor digitally-encoded information transactions in order to continuously reconfigure themselves by redistributing stored digitally-encoded information among computer systems that together compose the digitally-encoded-information distribution systems and by dynamically balancing tradeoffs between storing particular encodings of particular information objects and generating particular encodings of particular information objects only as needed to satisfy requests. Distribution efficiency is further optimized by ensuring that the types, configurations, capacities, and capabilities of requesting consumer-electronics devices are accurately and precisely determined, so that stored information appropriately encoded for requesting consumer-electronics devices can be efficiently located or generated for rapid delivery to requesting devices.

1 . A computer-implemented method for distributing electronic content in a network of computers, the method comprising:
 storing content-object instances in at least one content server;   requesting content objects from the at least one content server;   coupling a consumer-electronics device;   determining a type of the connected consumer-electronics device;   receiving requests for download of content objects to the consumer-electronics device; and   responding to each request for download of a content object to the consumer-electronics device by one of:   requesting a content-object instance compatible with the request and compatible with the consumer-electronics device,   retrieving, from a data-storage of the at least one content server, a content-object instance compatible with the request and with the consumer-electronics device and downloading the retrieved content-object instance to the consumer-electronics device, and   retrieving a content-object instance from the data-storage and transcoding the retrieved content-object instance to generate a content-object instance compatible with the request and with the consumer-electronics device.   
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, from stored data, whether to transcode the received content object;   determining, from stored data, whether to locally store the received content object; and   determining, from stored data, whether to forward the received content object to the consumer electronics device.   
     
     
         3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining to transcode the received content object based on which type or types of content-object instances and, for each content-object instance produced by transcoding, determining whether to locally store the content-object instance and whether to forward the content-object instance to the consumer-electronics device.