Method and system for distributing images to client systems
First Claim
1. A method of using a distribution system for distributing images to client systems, the method comprising:
- tracking communications received at the distribution 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 distribution system to a client system,determining whether a time associated with a most recently received communication from the client system is within a certain time period;
based on the determining, evaluating whether to send the image to the client system via the communications link or via a mechanism other than the communications link.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for distributing images for display by client systems. A distribution system includes an image server system that is connected to image client systems via a communications link, such as the Internet. The image server system is responsible for providing image packages to the image client systems and for collecting information from the image client systems. Each image client system periodically sends a heartbeat communication to the image server system. Upon receiving a heartbeat communication, the image server system determines the state of the image client system that sent the heartbeat communication and responds appropriately. The response may include instructions for the image client system to retrieve new images, to retrieve software updates, to send usage data, and so on.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of using a distribution system for distributing images to client systems, the method comprising:
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tracking communications received at the distribution 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 distribution system to a client system, determining whether a time associated with a most recently received communication from the client system is within a certain time period; based on the determining, evaluating whether to send the image to the client system via the communications link or via a mechanism other than the communications link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An image distribution computing system having a processor and memory, the system comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method in a computer system for distribution of images to a client system, the method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, the instructions comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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Specification