1. A method of distributing a layered media stream via a managed server and a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising:
hosting, by the managed server, a media content stream comprising a plurality of media information layers, wherein at least two combinable layers of said plurality of media information layers may be combined into a renderable bitstream, and wherein layers in combination comprise an improvement to the renderable bitstream;
receiving by the managed server a request from a client for said media content stream, wherein said client is currently eligible to receive via a plurality of sources said at least two combinable layers, but wherein said client is currently eligible to receive from the managed server only a subset of said combinable layers, said client being ineligible to receive from the managed server at least an ineligible one of said combinable layers;
making said subset of said combinable layers available to a client from the managed server; and
making said ineligible one of said combinable layers available from the managed server to a distribution peer within the peer-to-peer network so as to make said ineligible one of said combinable layers available to said client and other peers within the peer-to-peer network from said distribution peer.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said subset of said combinable layers are independently renderable.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said ineligible one of said combinable layers comprises an improvement to said subset of said combinable layers only in combination with said subset of said combinable layers.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said ineligible one of said combinable layers is made available only to said distribution peer.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising notifying a client that said ineligible one of said combinable layers is available through participation in the peer-to-peer network.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising making available said ineligible one of said combinable layers from the managed server to a client that is not a distribution peer.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein said client paid a fee for access to said ineligible one of said combinable layers.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said subset of said combinable layers are independently renderable.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein said improvement comprises a variation in at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio, a bit depth, an encoding format, a spatial resolution, and a temporal resolution.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said subset of said combinable layers comprises an advertisement and said at least one additional layer provides an improvement comprising at least one of removing, obscuring, resizing, replacing, and altering said advertisement.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising making available said ineligible one of said combinable layers to peers within the peer-to-peer network in accordance with past activity as a distribution peer.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein said ineligible one of said combinable layers comprises a decryption key.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein said managed server acts as said distribution peer.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein a peer comprises a selected one of mobile phone, personal digital assistant, set-top box, game console, portable media player, and personal computer.
15. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 1.
16. A computer apparatus having a processor and memory containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the method of claim 1.
17. A method of distributing a layered media stream via a managed server and a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising:
hosting a media content stream comprising a plurality of media information layers, wherein at least two combinable layers of said plurality of media information layers may be combined into a renderable bitstream, and wherein additional layers in combination comprise an improvement to the renderable bitstream;
receiving by the managed server a request from a client for said media content stream, wherein said client is currently eligible to receive via a plurality of sources said at least two combinable layers, but wherein said client is currently eligible to receive from the managed server only a subset of said combinable layers, said client being ineligible to receive from the managed server at least an ineligible one of said combinable layers;
making said subset of said combinable layers available from the managed server to a plurality of clients without regard for their participation in the peer-to-peer network;
notifying said plurality of clients by the managed server that at least one peer-distributed layer of said media content stream is available to clients that participate in the peer-to-peer network; and
making said ineligible one of said combinable layers available from the managed server to a distribution peer within the peer-to-peer network so as to make said ineligible one of said combinable layers available to other peers within the peer-to-peer network from said distribution peer.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein said improvement comprises a variation in at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio, a bit depth, a spatial resolution, and a temporal resolution, such that said improved renderable bitstream is suitable for rendering on a mobile device.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein said additional layers are suitable for rendering on a mobile device.
20. The method of claim 17, further comprising making available said ineligible one of said combinable layers from the managed server to a client that is not a distribution peer.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein said client paid a fee for access to said ineligible one of said combinable layers.
22. The method of claim 17, wherein said ineligible one of said combinable layers is made available only to said distribution peers.
23. The method of claim 17, further comprising making available said ineligible one of said combinable layers to peers within the peer-to-peer network in accordance with past activity as a distribution peer.
24. The method of claim 17, wherein a peer comprises a selected one of mobile phone, personal digital assistant, set-top box, game console, portable media player, and personal computer.
25. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 17.
26. A computer apparatus having a processor and memory containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the method of claim 17.
27. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a client computer, are operative to:
request from a server a media content stream comprising a plurality of media information layers, wherein at least two combinable layers of said plurality of media information layers may be combined into a renderable bitstream, and wherein additional layers in combination comprise an improvement to the renderable bitstream;
obtain at least one subset of said combinable layers from said server;
receive a notification from said server that at least one ineligible one of said combinable layers is available via the peer-to-peer network;
in response to receiving said notification, request and obtain said ineligible one of said combinable layers from a distribution peer in the peer-to-peer network, wherein said client is currently eligible to receive via a plurality of sources said at least two combinable layers, but wherein said client is currently eligible to receive from said distribution peer in the peer-to-peer network only a subset of said combinable layers, said client being ineligible to receive from said distribution peer in the peer-to-peer network at least an ineligible one of said combinable layers;
make said ineligible one of said combinable layers available to other peers within the peer-to-peer network; and
render to an output device a media content stream derived from said subset of said combinable layers and said ineligible one of said combinable layers.
28. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein said server is said distribution peer.
29. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein said distribution peer obtained said ineligible one of said combinable layers from said server.
30. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein said server is a network service provider.
31. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 27.
32. A non-transient computer apparatus having a processor and memory containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the method of claim 27.
33. A method of adaptively distributing a layered media stream via a managed server and a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising:
hosting a media content stream comprising a plurality of media information layers, wherein at least two combinable layers of said plurality of media information layers may be combined into a renderable bitstream, and wherein additional layers in combination comprise an improvement to the renderable bitstream;
receiving by the managed server a request from a client for said media content stream, wherein said client is currently eligible to receive via a plurality of sources said at least two combinable layers, but wherein said client is currently eligible to receive from the managed server only a subset of said combinable layers, said client being ineligible to receive from the managed server at least an ineligible one of said combinable layers;
making said subset of said combinable layers available from the managed server to a plurality of clients without regard for their participation in the peer-to-peer network;
while a demand fulfillment condition is met:
making said ineligible one of said combinable layers available from the managed server to a plurality of clients without regard for their participation in the peer-to-peer network; and
while said demand fulfillment condition is not met:
making said ineligible one of said combinable layers available from the managed server only to a plurality of distribution peers within the peer-to-peer network so as to make said ineligible one of said combinable layers available to other peers within the peer-to-peer network from said plurality of distribution peers.
34. The method of claim 33, wherein a plurality of said other peers within the peer-to-peer network are distribution peers, such that another of said other peers within the peer-to-peer network may obtain said ineligible one of said combinable layers from a first distribution peer that obtained said ineligible one of said combinable layers from a second distribution peer.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the number of distribution peers from which said ineligible one of said combinable layers is available varies in proportion to overall demand for said ineligible one of said combinable layers.
36. The method of claim 33, wherein said demand fulfillment condition comprises at least one of a minimum network bandwidth availability threshold and a maximum number of layer requests threshold.
37. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 33.
38. A computer apparatus having a processor and memory containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the method of claim 33.
39. A method of distributing a layered media stream, the method comprising:
hosting a media content stream comprising a plurality of media information layers, wherein at least two combinable layers of said plurality of media information layers may be combined into a renderable bitstream, and wherein additional layers in combination comprise an improvement to the renderable bitstream;
receiving by the managed server a request from a client for said media content stream, wherein said client is currently eligible to receive via a plurality of sources said at least two combinable layers, but wherein said client is currently eligible to receive from the managed server only a subset of said combinable layers, said client being ineligible to receive from the managed server at least an ineligible one of said combinable layers;
making said subset of said combinable layers available to a plurality of clients without regard for their participation in the peer-to-peer network;
while a demand fulfillment condition is met:
making said ineligible one of said combinable layers available to a plurality of clients without regard for their participation in the peer-to-peer network; and
while said demand fulfillment condition is not met:
making said subset of said combinable layers available to a plurality of distribution peers within the peer-to-peer network so as to make said subset of said combinable layers of said media content stream available to other peers within the peer-to-peer network from said plurality of distribution peers;
making said ineligible one of said combinable layers available only to a plurality of distribution peers within the peer-to-peer network so as to make said ineligible one of said combinable layers available to other peers within the peer-to-peer network from said plurality of distribution peers; and
notifying said plurality of clients that said ineligible one of said combinable layers is available to clients that participate in the peer-to-peer network.
40. The method of claim 39, wherein a plurality of said other peers within the peer-to-peer network are distribution peers, such that another of said other peers within the peer-to-peer network may obtain said ineligible one of said combinable layers from a first distribution peer that obtained said ineligible one of said combinable layers from a second distribution peer.
41. The method of claim 40, wherein the number of distribution peers from which said ineligible one of said combinable layers is available varies in proportion to overall demand for said ineligible one of said combinable layers.
42. The method of claim 39, wherein said demand fulfillment condition comprises at least one of a minimum network bandwidth availability threshold and a maximum number of layer requests threshold.
43. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 39.
44. A computer apparatus having a processor and memory containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the method of claim 39.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A process for the printing of images comprising:
providing a roller having a surface;
providing an array of styli opposed to the surface;
providing a flow of liquid ink containing charged ink particles between the array of styli and the surface;
providing voltage to the styli creating a voltage bias between at least one stylus in the array of styli and the surface; and
plating at least some charged ink particles onto the surface in response to the voltage bias;
wherein the providing the voltage bias step and the plating step are performed substantially contemporaneous,
wherein the voltage applied to the styli is greater than any residual voltage of the roller.
2. The process of claim 1, wherein the ink particles are retained on the surface in a pattern of distribution that corresponds to a pattern of voltage supplied by the styli.
3. The process of claim 1, wherein the voltage bias between the at least one stylus and the surface of the roller is at least 100V.
4. The process of claim 1, wherein the voltage bias is maintained for a period of time less than about 2,000 microseconds.
5. The process of claim 1, wherein the voltage bias is maintained for a period of time less than 1,000 microseconds.
6. The process of claim 1, wherein the voltage bias is maintained for a period of time less than or equal to about 500 microseconds.
7. The process of claim 1, wherein the surface is substantially free of photoconductor material.
8. The process of claim 1, wherein the roller is a cylinder having a length parallel to a central axis of the cylinder and the stylus array covers more than 50% of the length of the cylinder.
9. The process of claim 1, wherein the voltage bias is established and discharged in less than about 1000 milliseconds.
10. The process of claim 1, wherein the providing of a flow of liquid ink containing charged ink particles occurs between the array of styli and the surface at a first physical location without formation of a latent image at the first physical location and without deposition of image-forming material at a subsequent location.
11. The process of claim 1, wherein the voltage is provided to only the styli.
12. The process of claim 11, further comprising providing data to the styli, the data causing the ink to plate in a desired image onto the surface.
13. The process of claim 1, wherein the ink flow provided is substantially perpendicular to the arrangement of the styli.
14. The process of claim 1, further comprising providing a gap between the surface and the styli.