Techniques to manage media files

• US 20070294324A1
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sather, Dale, Reneris, Kenneth, Gates, Matthijs A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,387 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1009 using page tables, e.g. page table structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/652 Page size control
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Techniques to manage media files may be described. An apparatus may comprise a media processing sub-system having a processor, a memory, and a communications interface. The memory may store a media file manager for execution by the processor. The communications interface may receive multiple media streams of media information. The media file manager may store the multiple media streams in a single file using a hierarchy of name-value pairs. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An article comprising a machine-readable storage medium containing instructions that if executed enable a system to receive multiple media streams of media information, and store said multiple media streams in a single virtual file using a hierarchy of name-value pairs.

2. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to partition said virtual file into one or more long pages of a first defined length, partition a long page into one or more short pages of a second defined length, reference short pages by a reference value representing an offset value within a long page, and long pages by a reference value representing an offset value comprising said first defined length divided by said second defined length.

3. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to store a file header for said virtual file in a first short page of said virtual file.

4. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to bind a name representing a globally unique identifier or text string to a value representing a resident value, a short value, or a long value, to form each name-value pair.

5. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to reference a short page from a page table, reference a table page from said short page, and reference a data page from said table page.

6. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to manage free space for said virtual file using a first recycled page table and a second recycled page table for an array of short pages and long pages, respectively.

7. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to write state information to a recovery log to recover said virtual file.

8. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to partition said virtual file into one or more long pages and short pages, write a portion of said long pages and short pages to a cache, and access said cached pages with multiple threads.

9. The article of claim 1, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to partition said virtual file into multiple resources each having a lock, and read media information from said virtual file by multiple applications using said resource locks.

10. An apparatus comprising a media processing sub-system having a processor, a memory, and a communications interface, said memory storing a media file manager for execution by said processor, said communications interface to receive multiple media streams of media information, said media file manager to store said multiple media streams in a single virtual file using a hierarchy of name-value pairs.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising multiple media readers to read media information for said different media streams from said virtual file.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising a storage device coupled to said processor, said storage device having machine-readable media, said media file manager to store media information for said media streams to said virtual file using non-contiguous portions of said machine-readable media.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, said media file manager to partition said virtual file into one or more long pages of a first defined length, partition a long page into one or more short pages of a second defined length, and reference short pages by a reference value representing a sequential offset value within a long page, and long pages by a reference value representing a sequential offset value comprising said first defined length divided by said second defined length.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, said virtual file comprising a page table, said page table comprising an array of long pages and short pages, said short pages to reference one or more table pages, and said table pages to reference one or more data pages.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, said virtual file comprising a first recycled page for said short pages and a second recycled page for said long pages, said recycled pages to indicate free storage space for said virtual file.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving multiple media streams of media information; and

storing said multiple media streams in a single virtual file using a hierarchy of name-value pairs.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising:

partitioning said virtual file into one or more long pages of a first defined length;

partitioning a long page into one or more short pages of a second defined length;

referencing short pages by a reference value representing an offset value within a long page, and long pages by a reference value representing an offset value comprising said first defined length divided by said second defined length.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising storing a file header for said virtual file in a first short page of said virtual file.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising binding a name representing a globally unique identifier or text string to a value representing a resident value, a short value, or a long value, to form each name-value pair.

20. The method of claim 16, comprising:

referencing a short page from a page table;

referencing a table page from said short page; and

referencing a data page from said table page.