A method and system for performing chaincast communication to multiple
communication systems within a system of coupled electronic devices. In
one implementation the electronic devices can be computer systems and the
system of coupled electronic devices includes the Internet. The present
invention provides a system wherein a broadcast source communicates
broadcast information (e.g., encoded audio radio content, encoded
audio/video television content, program instructions, etc.) to a first
group of electronic devices. The first group of electronic devices can be
instructed by a transmission scheduler to then communicate (e.g.,
forward) the broadcast information to other electronic devices which
devices can also be instructed to communicate to more devices, etc.,
thereby reducing the bandwidth requirements of the communication channel
between the broadcast source and the first group of electronic devices.
Slight communication delays may be encountered by the transmission
forwarding, but these delays can typically be tolerated in broadcast
transmissions (e.g., radio content, television content, seminars, etc.).
The transmission scheduler, coupled to the Internet, is used to track and
manage which devices are forwarding broadcast information to which other
devices. The transmission scheduler is able to re-route communications
when one or more devices terminates or to provide better communication
load sharing across the system. The communication is "chaircast" because
the forwarding from one device to another, to another, etc., creates a
logical communication "chain" from the broadcast server to the receiving
devices.