The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Radiance Technologies Inc. a patent for scheduling and executing data-transfer rates over the Internet, satellite or other IP-based networks. A second patent for controlling data transfer rates is pending, the company said Tuesday.

The patents incorporate algorithms that enable scheduling and secure delivery for terabytes of digital content, forming the basis for Radiance's TrueDelivery application.

Algorithms in TrueDelivery separate the file into multiple "linear packages," or packets, that are sent almost simultaneously, rather one by one. "The sender transmits packet 'A,' and before it's done transmitting the data, packet 'B' begins to transmit," said Tom Engdahl, president and CEO at Radiance, Los Altos, Calif. "Most transmission software sends one packet at a time, and then waits for acknowledgement before sending the next."

Engdahl said before the packet transmits, Radiance's software pulses the user's network to determine the optimal size data packets to send. The software encrypts and compresses the data file to remove replicated "1s" and "0s" in the file.

Server and desktop software keep track of each byte and packet sent, and where it sits in the transmission process. Knowing where the file resides allows Radiance to resend files in the middle of a transmission if, for example, the network goes down.

"To send the large files efficiently, you have to understand what happens in the pipeline," said Josh Greenbaum, principal analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting. "These days you hit send to transmit a file on the Internet and the black box takes over."

Radiance gives you an "intelligent view" into the transmission by breaking up the file and allowing companies to track individual packets through the process, Geenbaum said. There are many ways to transmit and share large files across the Internet, but not extremely large files similar to those sent by Onstream Media Corp.

Welcome news for Onstream, which delivers audio and video content from television commercials to movies. "We take content from film crews and movie production houses and transport those files over a somewhat unsecured Internet link," said Randy Selman, Onstream CEO. "We know the movie studios will like the idea of having a tracking system and much more secure link to transport the files."

Onstream recently signed up with Radiance to support Discovery Education by facilitating and tracking data transmissions for digital assets. The company uses the technology in both its digital media services group to support more than 700 post- and production houses, as well as the digital asset management services group that processes and distributes digital content. "The file size varies from between 20 and 30 megabytes to several hundred gigabytes," Selman said.