Systems for generating and managing filter strings in a filter graph

• US 20050060712A1
• Filed: 10/05/2004
• Published: 03/17/2005
• 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 7,472,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence

Abstract

In accordance with at least one embodiment, a systems generates a source chain for use in a development project, and caches the source chain when it is not currently required in the development project.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

one or more computer-readable media;

one or more processors;

computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

load one or more source processing chains to support execution of a development project, the source processing chains comprising a series of filters to process and render media content; and

determine whether each of the one or more processing chains will be subsequently required during execution of this or another development project and, if so, caching those filter chains which will be subsequently required.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to load the one or more processing chains by at least:

identifying which source(s) will be required to support execution of the next M seconds of the development project;

searching one or more cache(s) to determine whether the source processing chain(s) associated with the source(s) are available within the one or more cache(s); and

retrieving the one or more processing chains from a memory location denoted by an associated one or more pointers in the cache for integration with the development project.

3. The computing system of claim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine whether processing chain(s) retrieved from the cache(s) satisfy processing requirements of the development project; and

modify one or more objects of one or more of the processing chain(s) retrieved from the cache(s) that do not satisfy the processing requirements of the development project.

4. The computing system of claim 3, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to modify the one or more objects by at least performing one or more of adding processing objects to the processing chain(s), removing one or more processing objects from the processing chain(s), or changing one or more operating attributes of one or more processing objects within the processing chain(s).

5. The computing system of claim 2, wherein M is at least as long as necessary to construct a processing chain.

6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to determine whether a processing chain will subsequently be required by at least:

determining whether any future calls to a source coupled to the processing chain exist within this development project; and

determining whether any future calls to a source coupled to the processing chain may be received during execution of future development projects.

7. The computing system of claim 6, wherein it is assumed that each processing chain may well be required to support future execution of this or a future development project.

8. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to cache the processing chain by at least:

assigning the processing chain a unique identifier; and

storing the unique identifier along with a pointer to a memory location occupied by the processing chain in a cache.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the unique identifier is one or more of a source file handle, a source file name, a random numeric identifier uniquely assigned to the processing chain, a graphical icon, and an alphanumeric character.

10. A computing system comprising:

one or more computer-readable media;

one or more processors;

computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

generate a source chain for use in a development project, the source chain comprising a series of filters to process and render media content; and

cache the source chain when it is not currently required in the development project.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the processing chain is cached only if it will subsequently be required in the development project, or a future development project.

12. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to cache the source chain by at least:

generating an identifier which is uniquely assigned to the processing chain; and

storing the identifier along with a pointer to memory occupied by the processing chain in a cache of processing chain pointers.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the identifier is one or more of a source file handle, a file name, an icon, a randomly generated number uniquely assigned to the processing chain, and an alphanumeric identifier.

14. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to at least:

identify a need for a source processing chain; and

retrieve a suitable processing chain from a cache of such processing chains.

15. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to at least:

integrate the retrieved processing chain into the development project.

16. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to at least:

modify one or more attributes of the retrieved processing chain before integration into the development project.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein modification to the retrieved processing chain may include one or more of adding processing objects to the processing chain, removing processing objects from the processing chain, and altering one or more processing characteristics of one or more processing objects of the processing chain.

18. A system comprising:

one or more computers, each of which comprising;

a plurality of sources; and

an interface, selectively coupled to the plurality of sources, to generate and implement a development project of processing chains, wherein the interface loads a processing chain for each of the plurality of sources at a point during the execution of the project when the chain is required, and wherein the interface is configured to unload at least a subset of the chains when they are not required, the processing chain comprising a series of filters to process and render media content.

19. A system according to claim 18, wherein the interface only loads those processing chains required during the next M seconds of project execution, and if a current chain-count does not exceed a threshold, T.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein M is less than a time required to load a processing chain.

21. A system according to claim 19, wherein if the currently loaded chain-count has reached a threshold, T, the interface identifies one or more currently loaded chains that can be unloaded.

22. A system according to claim 21, wherein the interface identifies one or more currently loaded chains that will not be used during the next N seconds to unload.

23. A system according to claim 21, wherein the interface determines whether the identified one or more chains will be required during subsequent execution of the project, or in a future project and, if so, caches the identified chain(s).

24. A system according to claim 23, wherein the interface assigns a unique identifier to processing chains to be cached, and stores the unique identifier along with a pointer to memory wherein the processing chain resides in a processing chain cache.

25. A system according to claim 18, wherein the interface removes the identified chains from the active project and caches the removed chains.

26. A system according to claim 18, wherein the interface loads processing chains by first searching a cache of processing chains for a suitable match.

27. A system according to claim 26, wherein if the interface identifies a suitable match, the processing chain is retrieved from memory for integration within the processing project.

28. A system according to claim 27, wherein the interface modifies one or more attributes of the retrieved processing chain before integration within the processing project.

29. A system according to claim 28, wherein modifying the processing chain, the interface performs one or more of adding one or more processing objects to the processing chain, removing one or more processing objects from the processing chain, or modifying one or more processing characteristics of one or more processing objects within the processing chain.