US 5,956,716 · Granted 1999-09-21

The 1999 Patent That Invented Streaming Video on the Internet

Before Netflix and YouTube, someone had to figure out how to actually deliver video files over the internet to your computer without making you wait hours. This patent describes the whole system: how your request finds the nearest server holding the video, how it downloads to your screen, and how companies could protect against people stealing copies.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a networked system for storing video clips on multiple servers and letting users request them from a web page. What's protected here is the specific architecture: a primary index manager that locates the closest server with the requested video, a data sequencing interface that handles the actual download, local search units that check nearby storage first, and the coordination between these components. The patent also covers the mechanics of uploading clips to geographically spread-out servers and the anti-piracy controls built into the retrieval process.

Why it matters

This patent captures the foundational infrastructure of modern streaming before it became ubiquitous. In the mid-1990s, the internet was slow and video delivery seemed impossible — this patent's architecture of distributed servers and intelligent routing became the blueprint that Netflix, YouTube, and every major streaming platform would build on. The assignee, InterVU, pioneered content delivery networks (CDNs), which today are essential to keeping the internet fast for billions of people watching video simultaneously.

Real-world use

Every time you click play on a YouTube video and it streams seamlessly without buffering, you're benefiting from the server-location and load-balancing logic this patent locked down decades earlier.

Original USPTO abstract

A video clip storage and retrieval system whereby video clips, stored locally and/or at a more remote location, can be requested and retrieved by a user at the user's multimedia terminal. When the user requests a desired video clip, the request is processed by a primary index manager ("PIM") via a Local Search and Retrieval Unit ("SRU"). Before the message is communicated to the PIM, the local SRU checks its own storage to see whether the requested video clips are available locally. If some of the video clips are local, the local SRU still forwards the request to the PIM so that the PIM may determine specific video clip usage. The PIM determines the extended SRU where the audio-visual data is stored and passes this information to a Data Sequencing Interface ("DSI"). The DSI collects the video clips and downloads the clips to the user's terminal. The user may then view, copy, or print the video clip as desired. In a preferred embodiment, a distributed digital video clip delivery system, according to the invention, provides video clips stored at local and/or remote locations, which can be requested from the Internet and retrieved at the user's multimedia terminal. When the user requests a desired video clip shown on a Web page, the request is diverted to a primary index manager ("PIM"). The PIM attempts to locate the closest server containing the requested clip, from which the download is completed. The system further includes means for uploading and distributing clips to geographically diverse servers, dynamic load balancing, subscription management mechanisms, and protection means to discourage unauthorized duplication of video clips.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,956,716
Filing date: 1996-06-07
Grant date: 1999-09-21
Assignee: Intervu, Inc.
Inventor(s): KENNER; BRIAN, GRUBER; HARRY
CPC class: H04L67/1008

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