Optimizing media player memory during rendering

• US 20040078357A1
• Filed: 10/17/2002
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: LaChapelle, Kevin Leigh, Mercer, Ian Cameron
• Granted Patent: US 7,054,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/2
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/213 Read-only discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/216 Rewritable discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/218 Write-once discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2545 CDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2575 DVD-RAMs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Optimizing operation of a media player during rendering of media files. The invention includes authoring software to create a data structure and to populate the created data structure with obtained metadata. The invention also includes rendering software to retrieve the metadata from the data structure and to identify media files to render. In one embodiment, the invention is operable as part of a compressed media format having a set of small files containing metadata, menus, and playlists in a compiled binary format designed for playback on feature-rich personal computer media players as well as low cost media players.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing operation of a media player, said media player accessing a computer-readable medium for rendering media files stored thereon, said computer-readable medium further storing memory optimizing data associated with the media files, said method comprising:

obtaining metadata for one or more selected media files;

creating a data structure accessible by the media player prior to rendering the selected media files;

populating the created data structure with said obtained metadata; and

storing the populated data structure on the computer-readable medium with the selected media files.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium stores data in a plurality of sessions, and wherein storing comprises storing the populated data structure in the last session on the computer-readable medium.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating numerical identifiers with the selected media files, said numerical identifiers being ordered sequentially and each corresponding to a respective one of the selected media files; and

storing said numerical identifiers in the data structure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected media files comprise a playlist or a menu image file or both.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

organizing the selected media files by directory; and

sorting the organized media files, wherein said organizing and said sorting facilitate searching the selected media files.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining metadata directly from the selected media files or from a network server via a data communication network, or both.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises binary data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining comprises generating a playlist referencing one or more of the selected media files.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected media files are each associated with a directory name, and further comprising:

determining a numerical identifier for each directory name; and

populating the data structure with the determined numerical identifier.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

compressing the selected media files; and

wherein the media files are compressed before storing on the computer-readable medium.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises identifying a logical sector number for each of the selected media files.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining menu information identifying the selected media files.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining a thumbnail image corresponding to one or more of the selected media files.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises creating a playlist identifying one or more of the selected media files.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises identifying a language corresponding to menu information associated with the selected media files.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata contain content-related data and wherein the content-related data is selected from one or more of the following:

title, composer, performer, genre, studio, director, rating, artist, and description of content of the corresponding media file.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

18. In a media authoring tool, one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for optimizing operation of a media player, said media player accessing a computer-readable medium for rendering media files stored thereon, said computer-readable medium further storing memory optimizing data associated with the media files, said components comprising:

a preparation module for obtaining metadata for one or more selected media files;

an initialization module for creating a data structure adapted accessible by the media player prior to rendering the selected media files;

an organization module for populating the created data structure from the initialization module with the obtained metadata from the preparation module; and

a writer module for storing the populated data structure from the organization module on the computer-readable medium with the selected media files.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the organization module associates numerical identifiers with the selected media files, said numerical identifiers being ordered sequentially and each corresponding to a respective one of the selected media files, and wherein the organization module stores the numerical identifiers in the data structure.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the preparation module identifies a logical sector number for each of the selected media files.

21. A method of optimizing operation of a media player, said media player accessing a computer-readable medium for rendering media files stored thereon, said computer-readable medium further storing memory optimizing data associated with the media files, said method comprising:

retrieving the memory optimizing data stored on the computer-readable medium prior to rendering the media files, said memory optimizing data being associated with one or more selected media files stored on the computer readable medium; and

identifying the selected media files in response to the retrieved memory optimizing data, said selected media files adapted to be rendered by the media player.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the memory optimizing data comprises text and binary data, and further comprising displaying at least a portion of the text data by the media player in connection with the selected media files to which the memory optimizing data is associated during rendering of the selected media files.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein identifying comprises identifying the selected media files from a plurality of media files stored on the computer-readable medium.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

obtaining metadata associated with the selected media files via the memory optimizing data; and

displaying the obtained metadata to a user on a display associated with the media player.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said obtaining comprises reading logical sector numbers via the memory optimizing data, said logical sector numbers each identifying a respective one of the selected media files.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising identifying a logical sector number for one of the selected media files by matching a file system storing said one of the selected media files to a file name associated with said one of the selected media files.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein said obtaining comprises reading menu information from the memory optimizing data, said menu information identifying the selected media files.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said reading comprises reading menu information from the memory optimizing data for one of the selected media files.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein said menu information corresponds to a location in a menu associated with the selected media files, further comprising storing a reference to said menu information.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining a thumbnail image via the memory optimizing data, said thumbnail image corresponding to one or more of the selected media files.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein said obtaining comprises reading a playlist from the memory optimizing data, said playlist identifying one or more of the selected media files.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein said obtaining comprises identifying a language from the memory optimizing data, said identified language corresponding to menu information associated with the selected media files.

33. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

storing the obtained metadata in memory associated with the media player; and

deleting the displayed metadata from the memory.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein the metadata contain content-related data and wherein the content-related data is selected from one or more of the following:

title, composer, performer, genre, studio, director, rating, artist, and description of content of the corresponding media file.

35. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 21.

36. A media player having one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable components for optimizing operation of the media player, said media player accessing a computer-readable medium for rendering media files stored thereon, said computer-readable medium further storing memory optimizing data associated with the media files, said components comprising:

an input module for retrieving the memory optimizing data stored on the computer-readable medium prior to rendering the media files, said memory optimizing data being associated with one or more selected media files stored on the computer readable medium; and

a filter module for identifying the selected media files in response to the retrieved memory optimizing data from the input module, said selected media files adapted to be rendered by the media player.

37. The media player of claim 36, wherein the memory optimizing data comprises text and binary data, and further comprising a user interface module for displaying at least a portion of the text data in connection with the selected media files to which the memory optimizing data is associated during rendering of the selected media files.

38. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module identifies the selected media files from a plurality of media files stored on the computer-readable medium.

39. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module obtains metadata associated with the selected media files via the memory optimizing data, and wherein the filter module displays the obtained metadata to a user on a display associated with the media player.

40. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module reads logical sector numbers via the memory optimizing data, said logical sector numbers each identifying a respective one of the selected media files.

41. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module reads menu information from the memory optimizing data, said menu information identifying the selected media files.

42. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module obtains a thumbnail image via the memory optimizing data, said thumbnail image corresponding to one or more of the selected media files.

43. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module reads a playlist from the memory optimizing data, said playlist identifying one or more of the selected media files.

44. The media player of claim 36, wherein the filter module identifies a language from the memory optimizing data, said identified language corresponding to menu information associated with the selected media files.

45. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing memory optimizing data associated with one or more media files stored thereon, said memory optimizing data optimizing operation of a media player, said media player accessing the computer-readable medium for rendering the media files, said data structure comprising:

a header including an offset field storing a reference to textual and binary data associated with one or more media files; and

a directory table matching directory numbers to directory names associated with the one or more media files, wherein the header references the media files by the directory numbers.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the directory table has sequentially numbered entries each corresponding to one of the directory names.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the entries each identify a parent directory for said one of the directory names.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the header includes separate offset fields for audio media files, video media files, and still image media files.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, further comprising a locale identifier having a language field storing a language identifier identifying a language of textual metadata associated with the media files.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the textual and binary metadata contain content-related data and wherein the content-related data is selected from one or more of the following:

title, composer, performer, genre, studio, director, rating, artist, and description of content of the corresponding media file.

51. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the metadata comprise one or more of the following associated with the media files:

menu information, playlist information, and thumbnail images.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, further comprising a sector field storing a logical sector number for each of the media files.

53. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the computer-readable medium stores data in sectors, and wherein the offset field is stored at a sector boundary.