System and method of organizing data to facilitate access and streaming

• US 20040167916A1
• Filed: 02/24/2004
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.), Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eleftheriadis, Alexandros, Basso, Andrea, Puri, Atul, Schmidt, Robert Lewis, Kalva, Hari
• Granted Patent: US 7,428,547 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1217 on discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/213 Read-only discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2545 CDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23412 for generating or manipulating the scene composition of objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

File formats systems and methods are disclosed that provide a framework that integrates concepts, such as objects based audio-visual representation, meta-data and object oriented programming, to achieve a flexible and generic representation of the audiovisual information and the associated methods to operate on the audiovisual information. A system and method are disclosed for storing data processed from presentation data. The data is stored according to a method comprising coding input presentation data by identifying objects from within the presentation data, coding each object individually and organizing the coded data into access layer data units. The access layer data units are stored throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein. A plurality of extended segments are also stored, each of the extended segments further comprising one or more of the access layer data units that include protocol specific data, the extended segments each represented by a extended segment header. The data of an accessible object is also stored, including an accessible object header and identifiers of the plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments being a member of the same object.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium storing data processed from input presentation data, the processed data stored by a method comprising:

coding each object identified within input presentation data individually into coded data;

organizing the coded data into access layer data units; and

storing the access layer data units throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

storing data of an accessible object, including an accessible object header and identifiers of a plurality of the layer data units, the plurality of access layer data units being temporally contiguous, each of the temporally contiguous access layer data units being a member of the same object.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the accessible object header includes data representing the segment table, an accessible object temporal extension, and a number of the temporally contiguous access layer data units contained in the accessible object.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the accessible object header further includes a segment size if the segment size was constant and resynchronization points if the resynchronization points were present.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the temporally contiguous access layer data units are organized into a plurality of extended segments, the extended segments each represented by an extended segment header.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the extended segment header includes data representing an access layer data unit table, resynchronization point positions, a master or slave flag, and an extended segment temporal extension.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the header portion of the segment includes data representing a number of the access layer data units contained in the same object, a size of an access unit, a number of the resynchronization points per an access unit, an average number of resynchronization points per one of the access layer data units, and an access layer data unit table.

8. A method for storing coded data organized into access layer data units from input presentation data, the method comprising:

storing the access layer data units throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

9. A computer-readable medium storing data processed from presentation data, the data stored according to a method comprising:

coding input presentation data by;

identifying objects from within the presentation data;

coding each object individually; and

organizing the coded data into access layer data units; and

storing the access layer data units throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

storing data associated with a logical object, including a logical object header and identifiers of a plurality of access layer data units, each of the plurality of access layer data units being a member of the same object.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of access layer data units are not temporally adjacent.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of access layer data units are members of different objects.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the logical header includes data representing a logical object table, a logical object temporal extension, resynchronization points, and decodability points.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the header portion of the segment includes data representing a number of an access layer data units contained in the same object, a size of an access unit, a number of the resynchronization points per an access unit, an average number of resynchronization points per one of the access layer data units, and an access layer data unit table.

15. A computer-readable medium storing coded data organized into access layer data units processed from presentation data, the data stored according to a method comprising:

storing the access layer data units throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method of storing the data on the computer-readable medium further comprises:

storing a plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments further comprising one or more of the access layer data units that include protocol specific data, the extended segments each represented by a extended segment header.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method of storing the data on the computer-readable medium further comprises:

storing data of an accessible object, including an accessible object header and identifiers of the plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments being a member of the same object.

18. A computer-readable medium storing coded MPEG-4 data organized into access layer data units processed from input presentation data, the data stored according to a method comprising:

storing the access layer data units throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method of storing the data on the computer-readable medium further comprises:

storing a plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments further comprising one or more of the access layer data units that include protocol specific data, the extended segments each represented by an extended segment header.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method of storing the data on the computer-readable medium further comprises:

storing data of an accessible object, including an accessible object header and identifiers of the plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments being a member of the same object.

21. A system for processing coded data organized into access layer data units from input presentation data, the system comprising:

a storage unit;

a processor unit connected to the storage unit, the processor unit processing the access layer data unit according to the steps;

storing the access layer data units in the storage unit throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor unit further performs the step:

storing data of an accessible object in the storage unit, including an accessible object header and identifiers of a plurality of the layer data units, the plurality of access layer data units being temporally contiguous, each of the temporally contiguous access layer data units being a member of the same object.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the accessible object header further includes a segment size if the segment size was constant and resynchronization points if the resynchronization points were present.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the temporally contiguous access layer data units are organized into a plurality of extended segments, the extended segments each represented by an extended segment header.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the extended segment header includes data representing an access layer data unit table, resynchronization point positions, a master or slave flag, and an extended segment temporal extension.

26. The system of claim 26, wherein the header portion of the segment includes data representing a number of the access layer data units contained in the same object, a size of an access unit, a number of the resynchronization points per an access unit, an average number of resynchronization points per one of the access layer data units, and an access layer data unit table.

27. A system for processing MPEG-4 data organized into access layer data units processed from input presentation data, the system comprising:

a storage unit;

a processor unit connected to the storage unit, the processor unit storing the MPEG-4 input presentation data by;

storing the access layer data units in the storage unit throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor unit further performs the step:

storing a plurality of extended segments in the storage unit, each of the extended segments further comprising one or more of the access layer data units that include protocol specific data, the extended segments each represented by an extended segment header.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the processor unit further performs the step:

storing data of an accessible object in the storage unit, including an accessible object header and identifiers of the plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments being a member of the same object.