A method and system for delivering data over a network to a large number
of clients, which may be suitable for building large-scale
Video-on-Demand (VOD) systems. In current VOD systems, the client may
suffer from a long latency before starting to receive requested data that
is capable of providing sufficient interactive functions, or the reverse,
without significantly increasing the network load. The method utilizes
two groups of data streams, one responsible for minimizing latency while
the other provides the required interactive functions. In the
anti-latency data group, uniform, or non-uniform or hierarchical
staggered stream intervals may be used. The system may have a relatively
small startup latency while users may enjoy most of the interactive
functions that are typical of video recorders including fast-forward,
forward-jump, and so on. Furthermore, the system can maintain the number
of data streams, and therefore the bandwidth, required.