MEDIA ROUTING
A method and system for routing media from a source resource on a source appliance across a network to a destination resource on a destination appliance. The particular destination resource on a destination appliance can be specified. Alternatively, the particular destination appliance is specified but the particular resource on the destination appliance is not specified. An intermediate appliance having a resource for converting the media from a source media-type to a destination media-type can be further specified. A user interface is provided to allow a user to specify the source and destination of the media. A discovery process is provided to allow appliances to discover the other appliances and resources available on the network.
1 . A system for routing data across a network, comprising:
a source appliance;
a destination appliance connected to the source appliance via a network;
data of a particular source content-type to be transmitted across the network from the source appliance to the destination appliance; and
a header appended to the data, the header comprising a destination appliance routing address string and the source content-type.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the destination appliance further comprises a processor, the processor using a mapping algorithm operating on the data to identify the destination content-type based on the source content-type and to identify the series of routines necessary to convert the source content-type to the destination content type.
3 . The system of claim 2 wherein the processor further uses a demultiplexing algorithm operating on the data to effect the conversion of the content from the source content-type to the destination content type.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the header further comprises a destination content-type.
5 . The system of claim 4 wherein the header further comprises an intermediate content-type.
6 . The system of claim 1 wherein the header further comprises an intermediate content-type.
7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the header further comprises an intermediate appliance routing address string.
8 . The system of claim 7 further comprising an intermediate appliance having a resource for converting the data from the source content-type to the destination content-type.
9 . The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a memory device connected to the source appliance; and
a table of information stored in the memory device comprising a destination appliance routing address string.
10 . The system of claim 9 wherein the table further comprises a destination content-type.
11 . The system of claim 10 wherein the header further comprises an intermediate appliance routing address string.
12 . A system for routing data across a network, comprising;
a source appliance;
a source resource connected to the source appliance;
a destination appliance connected to the source appliance via a network; and
a table of information stored in a memory device connected to the source appliance comprising the destination appliance routing address string and a destination resource content-type.
13 . The system of claim 12 further comprising a destination resource connected to the destination appliance.
14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the destination resource is encapsulated as a media object.
15 . The system of claim 12 further comprising:
a header appended to the data, wherein the header encapsulates the data, and wherein the header comprises a destination appliance routing address string and a source content-type.
16 . The system of claim 15 wherein the header further comprises a destination content-type.
17 . The system of claim 15 wherein the header further comprises an intermediate appliance routing address string.
18 . The system of claim 17 wherein the header does not contain information identifying the source appliance.
19 . A header comprising:
a destination appliance routing address string; and
a source content-type address string appended to the destination appliance routing address string.
20 . The header of claim 19 further comprising a destination content-type address string appended to the source content-type address string.
21 . The header of claim 19 further comprising an intermediate appliance routing address string appended to the destination appliance routing address string.
22 . A method for routing content, comprising:
building a header comprising at least a source content-type address string and a destination appliance routing address string;
encapsulating the content in the header; and
transmitting the encapsulated content across a network to a destination appliance.
23 . The method of claim 22 further comprising:
identifying the source content-type by parsing the header at the destination appliance;
determining via a mapping algorithm what the target content-type should be based on the source content-type; and
converting the source content-type to the target content-type.
24 . The method of claim 22 wherein the header further comprises a destination content-type address string.
25 . The method of claim 24 wherein the header further comprises an intermediate appliance routing address string.