EP2493191

A method for hierarchically requesting contents in a Hypertext Transfer Protocol, HTTP, streaming system is provided, which includes: receiving a service information obtaining request transmitted from a client; returning a service information obtaining request response including media presentation description information to the client, in which the media presentation description information includes Uniform Resource Locators, URLs, corresponding to multi-level service contents; receiving a service request message being a GET message transmitted from the client, in which the request message includes the URLs of the multi-level service contents determined by the client according to service requirements and the media presentation description information; and returning a service request message response to the client, in which the service request message response includes the service contents corresponding to the URLs of the service contents determined by the client according to the service requirements and the media presentation description information, so that the contents are searched for directly according to the URLs, thereby improving processing efficiency.