Patent attributes
One embodiment provides a system for assembling a reconstructable content stream. The system obtains a content collection that includes a plurality of content components and generates a manifest. An entry in the manifest corresponds to a content component. The system obtains a set of stream-construction rules, generates a stream-construction manifest by attaching the set of stream-construction rules to the manifest, and constructs a set of stream objects based on the stream-construction rules. A respective stream object may include an embedded chunk of a content component. The system signs the set of stream objects and assembles the reconstructable content stream by including the stream-construction manifest followed by the set of stream objects, thereby enabling an intermediate node to extract and store one or more content components and to reconstruct, at a later time, stream objects for the one or more content components based on the stream-construction manifest and the stored components.