Methods for Transmitting Multimedia Files and Advertisements

1. A method comprising transmitting streaming data to a data storage medium that is accessible to a device having a multimedia player, the streaming data comprising an advertising-sponsored content portion and an associated obligatory advertising portion, the obligatory advertising portion being first transmitted to the data storage medium; in response to a determination that the obligatory advertising portion has been played in the multimedia player, transmitting the advertising-sponsored content portion to the data storage medium; and sending a message to the data storage medium to mark the advertising-sponsored content portion as expired upon receipt of a navigation message requesting an unauthorized skip.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obligatory advertising portion is transmitted to the data storage medium by a first server and the advertising-sponsored content is transmitted to the data storage medium by a second server.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data storage medium is a cache.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the streaming data is transmitted to the data storage medium in packets using a version of the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) protocol.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the advertising-sponsored content portion is transmitted to the data storage medium in response to receiving a play request from the multimedia player.

6. A method comprising: transmitting streaming data to a data storage medium that is accessible to a device having a multimedia player, the streaming data comprising an advertising-sponsored content portion and an associated obligatory advertising portion; wherein the obligatory advertising portion is transmitted to the data storage medium at a first transmission rate and the advertising-sponsored content portion is transmitted to the data storage medium at a second transmission rate slower than the first transmission rate until after substantially all of the obligatory advertising portion is played by the multimedia player; and sending a message to the data storage medium to mark the advertising-sponsored content portion as expired upon receipt of a navigation message requesting an unauthorized skip.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the second transmission rate is sufficiently slow to permit the obligatory advertising portion to be entirely transmitted to the data storage medium and entirely played by the multimedia player prior to the entire advertising-sponsored content portion being transmitted to the data storage medium.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the transmission rate of the advertising-sponsored content portion changes in response to a play control mode of the multimedia player.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the play control mode of the multimedia player comprises a stop mode and/or a pause mode, the transmission of the advertising-sponsored content being stopped or paused when the play control mode of the multimedia player is determined to be in the stop mode and/or pause mode.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the second transmission rate increases when the obligatory advertising portion is determined to have been entirely played by the multimedia player.

11. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the obligatory advertising portion is transmitted to the data storage medium from a first server and the advertising-sponsored content is transmitted to the data storage medium from a second server.

12. An apparatus comprising: a server computing device configured to transmit streaming data to a data storage medium that is accessible to a device having a multimedia player, the streaming data comprising advertising-sponsored content and obligatory advertising, the obligatory advertising being transmitted to the data storage medium prior to transmission of the advertising-sponsored content; the server computing device configured to transmit the advertising-sponsored content to the data storage medium after determining that substantially all of the obligatory advertising portion has been played in the multimedia player; and the server computing device configured to send a message to the data storage medium to mark the advertising-sponsored content portion as expired upon receipt of a navigation message requesting an unauthorized skip.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the server is configured to transmit the advertising-sponsored content to the data storage medium after determining that substantially all of the obligatory advertising has been played in the multimedia player and the server receives a play request from the multimedia player.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the server is configured to transmit the obligatory advertising at a first transmission rate and the advertising-sponsored content at a second transmission rate until after substantially all of the obligatory advertising is played by the multimedia player, wherein the second transmission rate is slower than the first transmission rate.

15. A method comprising: transmitting streaming data to a data storage medium that is accessible to a device having a multimedia player, the streaming data comprising an advertising-sponsored content portion and an associated obligatory advertising portion, the obligatory advertising portion being first transmitted to the data storage medium; and in response to a determination that the obligatory advertising portion has been played in the multimedia player, transmitting the advertising-sponsored content portion to the data storage medium; maintaining a first time variable that assumes a value corresponding to a moment when a navigation message is received from the multimedia player; maintaining a second time variable reflecting a portion of the streaming data that a user is attempting to play and is incremented, decremented, and paused in response to navigation messages received from the multimedia player; and maintaining a maximum value time variable during playing of the advertising-sponsored content portion, the maximum value time variable assuming the maximum value reached by the second time variable.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the obligatory advertising portion is transmitted to the data storage medium by a first server and the advertising-sponsored content is transmitted to the data storage medium by a second server.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the data storage medium is a cache.

18. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the streaming data is transmitted to the data storage medium in packets using a version of the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) protocol.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the advertising-sponsored content portion is transmitted to the data storage medium in response to receiving a play request from the multimedia player.

20. An apparatus comprising: a server computing device configured to transmit streaming data to a data storage medium that is accessible to a device having a multimedia player, the streaming data comprising advertising-sponsored content and obligatory advertising, the obligatory advertising being transmitted to the data storage medium prior to transmission of the advertising-sponsored content; the server computing device configured to transmit the advertising-sponsored content to the data storage medium after determining that substantially all of the obligatory advertising portion has been played in the multimedia player; the server computing device configured to maintain a first time variable that assumes a value corresponding to a moment when a navigation message is received from the multimedia player and a second time variable reflecting a portion of the streaming data that a user is attempting to play and is incremented, decremented, and paused in response to navigation messages received from the multimedia player; and the server computing device is configured to maintain a maximum value time variable during playing of the advertising-sponsored content portion, the maximum value time variable assuming the maximum value reached by the second time variable.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the server is configured to transmit the advertising-sponsored content to the data storage medium after determining that substantially all of the obligatory advertising has been played in the multimedia player and the server receives a play request from the multimedia player.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the server is configured to transmit the obligatory advertising at a first transmission rate and the advertising-sponsored content at a second transmission rate until after substantially all of the obligatory advertising is played by the multimedia player, wherein the second transmission rate is slower than the first transmission rate.

23. A method comprising: transmitting streaming data to a data storage medium that is accessible to a device having a multimedia player, the streaming data comprising an advertising-sponsored content portion and an associated obligatory advertising portion; wherein the obligatory advertising portion is transmitted to the data storage medium at a first transmission rate and the advertising-sponsored content portion is transmitted to the data storage medium at a second transmission rate slower than the first transmission rate until after substantially all of the obligatory advertising portion is played by the multimedia player; maintaining a first time variable that assumes a value corresponding to a moment when a navigation message is received from the multimedia player; maintaining a second time variable reflecting a portion of the streaming data that a user is attempting to play and is incremented, decremented, and paused in response to navigation messages received from the multimedia player; and maintaining a maximum value time variable during playing of the advertising-sponsored content portion, the maximum value time variable assuming the maximum value reached by the second time variable.

24. The method according to claim 23 wherein the second transmission rate is sufficiently slow to permit the obligatory advertising portion to be entirely transmitted to the data storage medium and entirely played by the multimedia player prior to the entire advertising-sponsored content portion being transmitted to the data storage medium.

25. The method according to claim 23 , wherein the transmission rate of the advertising-sponsored content portion changes in response to a play control mode of the multimedia player.

26. The method according to claim 25 , wherein the play control mode of the multimedia player comprises a stop mode and/or a pause mode, the transmission of the advertising-sponsored content being stopped or paused when the play control mode of the multimedia player is determined to be in the stop mode and/or pause mode.

27. The method according to claim 23 , wherein the second transmission rate increases when the obligatory advertising portion is determined to have been entirely played by the multimedia player.

28. The method according to claim 23 , wherein the obligatory advertising portion is transmitted to the data storage medium from a first server and the advertising-sponsored content is transmitted to the data storage medium from a second server.