Multiple entity control of access restrictions for media playback

Flow

[0048] In one embodiment of the invention, client 110 may generate a media resource request and transmit the request to server 702. In one embodiment the media resource request may indicate a content class to which the requested media resource is associated and one or more requestor-specific attributes. The requestor-specific attributes may include, but are not limited to the name of the requesting user, the network address of the user's client, the type and version of user agent employed, authorization information such as passwords and encryption keys, requestor entitlements / authorizations including content control attributes, and so forth.

[0049] In one embodiment, server 702 may access a data structure such as table 600 to identify a network address for an appropriate third-party host server for the requested media resource. For example, if a media resource request including a URL such as “start.real.com / rd?pid=CNN—222&URL=foo.smi” were to be received by server 702, where “CN...