Method and apparatus for improving playback of interactive multimedia works
First Claim
1. A method for presenting a multimedia work on a playback device comprising the steps of:
- loading resources required for presenting a first segment of said multimedia work on said playback device into memory accessible by said playback device;
presenting said first segment of said multimedia work on said playback device;
identifying possible alternative succeeding segments that may be selected for presentation subsequent to said first segment;
assigning a priority ranking to said possible alternative succeeding segments of said first segment wherein said step of assigning a priority ranking to possible succeeding segments of said first segment comprises the steps of;
assigning a probability factor that represents an estimate of the likelihood each of said possible succeeding segments will be selected;
assigning a cost factor that represents an estimate of the time used to present each of said possible succeeding segments to said playback device;
deriving said priority ranking from said probability factors and said cost factors;
loading resources required by said possible succeeding alternative segments into memory accessible by said playback device according to said priority ranking.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention comprises a system for delivering an interactive multimedia work from a storage device, for example a hard disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, a network server, etc. to a playback device, for example a personal computer, in a manner that provides improved performance regardless of the playback sequence selected by a user. In one embodiment of the present invention, for each segment of an interactive multimedia work, a probability factor is assigned to each possible alternative succeeding segment. In addition a retrieval and delivery time cost factor is also assigned to each possible succeeding segment. In one embodiment of the invention, the time cost factor for each resource is assigned a fixed value. In another embodiment, the time cost factor is recalculated periodically to reflect changes in location and status of resources. The probability and time cost factor for each possible succeeding segment are combined to produce a relative priority ranking. Resources for the possible succeeding segments are pre-loaded according to the relative priority ranking. As a result, the latency time between the time a segment is selected as a result of user input and the time at which execution of the segment begins is reduced and the performance of a multimedia work improved. In one embodiment of the invention, in addition to delivering resources in the order of a relative priority ranking, the resources are also stored according to the relative priority ranking, thereby reducing the average seek time needed to find and retrieve resources and further improving playback performance.
129 Citations
105 Claims
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1. A method for presenting a multimedia work on a playback device comprising the steps of:
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loading resources required for presenting a first segment of said multimedia work on said playback device into memory accessible by said playback device; presenting said first segment of said multimedia work on said playback device; identifying possible alternative succeeding segments that may be selected for presentation subsequent to said first segment; assigning a priority ranking to said possible alternative succeeding segments of said first segment wherein said step of assigning a priority ranking to possible succeeding segments of said first segment comprises the steps of; assigning a probability factor that represents an estimate of the likelihood each of said possible succeeding segments will be selected; assigning a cost factor that represents an estimate of the time used to present each of said possible succeeding segments to said playback device; deriving said priority ranking from said probability factors and said cost factors; loading resources required by said possible succeeding alternative segments into memory accessible by said playback device according to said priority ranking. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for storing resources of a multimedia work on a storage device comprising the steps of:
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identifying possible alternative succeeding segments that may be selected for presentation during playback of said multimedia work subsequent to presenting a first segment of said multimedia work; assigning a first priority ranking to said possible alternative succeeding segments of said first segment wherein said step of assigning a first priority ranking to possible succeeding segments of said first segment comprises the steps of; assigning to each of said possible succeeding segments a probability factor that represents an estimate of the likelihood each of said possible succeeding segments will be selected; assigning a cost factor that represents an estimate of the time used to present each of said possible succeeding segments for playback; deriving said first priority ranking from said probability factors and said cost factors; storing resources required by said possible alternative succeeding segments on said storage device according to said first priority ranking. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for storing resources of a multimedia work on a storage device comprising the steps of:
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identifying possible alternative succeeding segments that may be selected for presentation during playback of said multimedia work subsequent to presenting a first segment of said multimedia work; assigning a first priority ranking to said possible alternative succeeding segments of said first segment wherein said step of assigning a priority ranking to possible succeeding segments of said first segment comprises the steps of; assigning to each of said possible succeeding segments a probability factor that represents an estimate of the likelihood each of said possible segments will be selected; assigning a cost factor that represents an estimate of the time used to present each of said possible succeeding segments for playback; deriving said first priority ranking from said probability factors and said cost factors. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for presenting a multimedia work on a playback device, said method comprising the steps of:
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loading resources required for presenting a first segment of said multimedia work on said playback device into memory accessible by said playback device; presenting said segment of said multimedia work on said playback device; identifying possible alternative succeeding segments that may be selected for presentation subsequent to said first segment; assigning a priority ranking to said possible alternative succeeding segments of said first segment wherein said step of assigning a priority ranking to possible succeeding segments of said first segment comprises the steps of; assigning to each of said possible succeeding segments a probability factor that represents an estimate of the likelihood each of said possible succeeding segments will be selected; assigning a cost factor that represents an estimate of the time used to present each of said possible succeeding segments to said playback device; deriving said priority ranking from said probability factors and said cost factors; loading resources required by said possible alternative succeeding segments into memory accessible by said playback device according to said priority ranking. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87)
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88. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for storing resources of a multimedia work on a resource storage device, said method comprising the steps of:
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identifying possible alternative succeeding segments that may be selected for presentation during playback of said multimedia work subsequent to presenting a first segment of said multimedia work; assigning a first priority ranking to said possible alternative succeeding segments of said first segment wherein said step of assigning a first priority ranking to possible succeeding segments of said first segment comprises the steps of; assigning to each of said possible succeeding segments a probability factor that represents an estimate of the likelihood each of said possible succeeding segments will be selected; assigning a cost factor that represents an estimate of the time used to present each of said possible succeeding segments for playback; deriving said first priority ranking from said probability factor and said cost factor; storing resources required by said possible alternative succeeding segments on said storage device according to said first priority ranking. - View Dependent Claims (89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105)
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Specification