In order to reduce the delay and/or loss of packets caused by thetransmission through a large number of routers on the Internet, a directconnection is established between a client (or its proxy) and a server if theclient (or its proxy) and the server are connected to the same alternativesubnetwork. Control management information, including the type ofsubnetwork to which each is connected, as well as the address of the client(or its proxy) and the server are transmitted to the other on the Internet in anoptional HTTP header field. After receipt of the addressing information, adirect connection is established on the alternative subnetwork between theclient (or its proxy) and the server for purposes of streaming information fromthe server to the client.
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