Media resource storage and management

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for a video stream;

determining whether a frequency of requests for the video stream exceeds a threshold;

in response to the frequency exceeding the threshold, obtaining a plurality of images in a video stream, wherein the obtaining the plurality of images comprises:

dividing the video stream into n logically contiguous segments, each segment having a corresponding start point, and each start point having a corresponding video frame associated therewith; and

for a set of two or more logically contiguous segments of the n logically contiguous segments:

determining a start video frame corresponding substantially to the start point of a particular logical segment in the set, and

identifying an image of the plurality of images corresponding to the start video frame;

forming a common file comprising a contiguous grouping of the plurality of images; and

providing the common file wherein the common file allows the user to move to a new location in the video stream to continue viewing the video stream from the new location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the n logically continuous segments are of approximately equal duration.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining the plurality of images further comprises:

determining a distinct location in the particular segment of the set; and

determining a distinct image of the plurality of images corresponding to a video frame for the distinct location.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the common file comprises the distinct image.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining metadata associated with the start video frame, wherein the common file comprises at least some of the metadata.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the metadata comprises at least one of timing information or location information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the video stream comprises a movie and wherein the common file is provided with the movie.

8. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising:

dividing a video stream into n distinct logically contiguous video segments, and then determining n locations in said video stream, each of the n locations corresponding to a start position of a corresponding one of the n video segments, wherein the i-th location corresponds to a start of the i-th video segment, for each i from 1 to n;

determining n video frames F 1 , . . . , Fn, by, for each location j of the n distinct locations, determining a corresponding video frame Fj substantially at or near said location j, wherein the j-th video frame Fj corresponds to a start video frame of the jth video segment, for each j from 1 to n;

determining n images corresponding to the n video frames, wherein, for each location j of the n distinct locations, the j-th image of then images corresponds to the start video frame Fj of the j-th video segment;

building a common file comprising an ordered contiguous grouping of the n images, said common file being distinct from the video stream; and

providing the common file.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of video segments are of approximately equal duration.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises determining metadata associated with the n distinct locations in the video stream, wherein the common file comprises at least some of the metadata.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the metadata comprises at least one of timing information or location information.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the metadata comprise metadata M 1 , . . . , Mn relating to each of the frames F 1 , . . . , Fn, where metadata Mj relates to frame Fj, for j=1 to n.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the video stream comprises a movie and wherein the common file is provided with the movie.

14. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving request for a video stream;

determining whether a frequency of requests for the video stream exceeds a threshold;

in response to the frequency exceeding the threshold, obtaining a plurality of images in a video stream, wherein the obtaining the plurality of images comprises:

dividing the video stream into n logically contiguous segments, each segment having a corresponding start point, and each start point having a corresponding video frame associated therewith; and

for a set of two or more logically contiguous segments of the n logically contiguous segments:

determining a start video frame corresponding substantially to the start point of a particular logical segment in the set, and

identifying an image of the plurality of images corresponding to the start video frame;

forming a common file comprising a contiguous grouping of the plurality of images; and

providing the common file, wherein the common file allows the user to move to a new location in the video stream to continue viewing the video stream from the new location.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the n logically continuous segments are of approximately equal duration.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the obtaining the plurality of images further comprises:

determining a distinct location in the particular segment of the set; and

determining a distinct image of the plurality of images corresponding to a video frame.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the common file comprises the distinct image.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining metadata associated with the start video frame, wherein the common file comprises at least some of the metadata.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the metadata comprises at least one of timing information or location information.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the video stream comprises a movie and wherein the common file is provided with the movie.