Interface and related methods for reducing source accesses in a development system

• US 20020097257A1
• Filed: 12/06/2000
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rudolph, Eric H., Miller, Daniel J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,774,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence

Abstract

A method of generating a filter graph of a development project is presented comprising identifying a plurality of source clips comprising the development project, wherein each source clip represents an access to a source, and combining two or more accesses for two or more source clips into a single access if the two or more source clips satisfy one or more criteria.

Claims

1. A method of generating a development project, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of source clips comprising the development project, wherein each source clip represents an access to a source; and

combining two or more accesses for two or more source clips into a single access if the two or more source clips satisfy one or more criteria.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria include one or more of the clips are source time aligned, the clips are project time aligned, and the clips will share a common processing chain.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein to be source time aligned, the two clips are adjacent to one another in the source.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein to be project time aligned, a request for the two clips must appear adjacent to one another in the development project.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein to share a common processing chain, the two clips must contain identical media types requiring identical pre-processing by the development project.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein a render engine of a media processing system analyzes each of a plurality of source calls to identify calls to a common source, and to combine source clip accesses wherever possible.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating a filter graph representation of the development project, wherein the number of invoked instances of the source is reduced by combining source accesses where possible.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein if the clips do not satisfy the one or more criteria, a render engine will generate a separate source chain for each of the uncombinable accesses, requiring a separate simultaneous instances of the source to be invoked with in the filter graph.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating a source clip reuse list, denoting source clip timing information, wherein the reuse list is used to generate a composite timeline graph of the development project.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein combining one or more clips comprises:

identifying accesses to clips which are project and/or source aligned and require common preprocessing from the reuse list based, at least in part, on the source clip timing information; and

replacing the multiple accesses in the reuse list with a single access if the one or more criteria is met.

11. A storage medium comprising a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed, implement a method according to claim 1.

12. A computing system comprising:

a storage medium comprising a plurality of executable instructions; and

an execution unit, coupled to the storage medium, to execute at least a subset of the plurality of executable instructions to implement a method according to claim 1.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the render engine generates a source clip reuse list, denoting source clip timing information for all of the clips requested in a development project, wherein the reuse list is used to generate a composite timeline graph of the development project.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein the render engine analyzes the source clip reuse list to identify two or more accesses to a common source which satisfy the one or more criteria.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein the one or more criteria include one or more of the clips are project time aligned, the clips are source time aligned, and the clips will share a common processing chain.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein the render engine combines multiple accesses to a commensurate multiple source clips into a single access of a single source clip representative of the multiple source clips and updates the reuse list accordingly, if the multiple source clips satisfy at least a subset of the one or more criteria.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein the render engine generates a filter graph for the user-defined development project reflecting combined source accesses, where possible.

19. A system according to claim 16, wherein the render engine combines multiple accesses for source clips from a common source into a single access when the source clips satisfy each of the criteria.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the render engine updates the reuse list to reflect the combined source accesses.

21. A system according to claim 20, wherein the render engine generates a filter graph from the updated reuse list, reflecting the combined source accesses.

13. A system comprising:

a user-defined media processing project, including one or more accesses for clips from one or more sources; and

a render engine, responsive to the media processing project to generate a filter graph representation of the user-defined media processing project, wherein the render engine identifies multiple accesses to an associated multiple source clips from a common source, and combines two or more of such source clips which are determined to satisfy one or more criteria.

22. A storage medium comprising a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed, implement a render engine, exposed to a media processing system to facilitate development of media processing projects, wherein the render engine is responsive to the media processing project to generate a filter graph representation of the user-defined media processing project, wherein the render engine identifies multiple accesses to an associated multiple source clips from a common source, and combines two or more of such source clips which are determined to satisfy one or more criteria.

23. A storage medium according to claim 22, wherein the render engine utilizes one or more of the clips are project time aligned, source time aligned, and/or would share a common processing chain as criteria for combining two or more source clips into a single source clip satisfied by a single access.

24. A storage medium according to claim 23, wherein the render engine generates a reuse list denoting all source clip accesses for a development project, and analyzes the reuse list to identify multiple source clips from a single source which satisfy the one or more criteria.

25. A storage medium according to claim 24, wherein the render engine updates the reuse list to include combined source clips, where possible, and generates a filter graph from the updated reuse list.