General purpose data container method and apparatus for implementing AV/C descriptors

• US 6,691,096 B1
• Filed: 10/28/1999
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Staats, Erik P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US09/429,233
• Time in Patent Office: 1,566 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103, 707/104, 700/83, 710/5, 710/8, 710/105, 709/224, 725/20, 725/80, 348/473
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a data management system for AV/C descriptor data. The system includes a data container hierarchical structure. The system also includes a methodology for compiling data from the containers into a read buffer upon receipt of a request from a requester. The data presented to the requestor will preferably be in a format that may be understood by other device requesters that may or may not be utilizing this same container system.

Claims

1. A method of managing AV/C object list descriptor data stored in memory, the descriptor data comprising an externally visible address space, the method comprising:

compiling a plurality of containers in said memory from said AV/C object list descriptor data wherein each of said plurality of containers includes a portion of said AV/C descriptor data;

registering one or more fields within each said each of said plurality of containers; and

arranging said plurality of containers into a logical hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating addresses in said memory with each of said one or more fields sequentially enumerated within each container in said plurality of containers.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising mapping said fields to a prescribed field list.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

accessing any field within any of said plurality of containers independently from any other ones of said plurality of containers; and

reading data from any field within any of said plurality of containers without affecting access to any other of said plurality of containers.

5. In a memory space, an AV/C object list descriptor management system, comprising:

a plurality of descriptor data containers wherein each of said plurality of data containers stores a portion of AV/C object list descriptor data, the descriptor data comprising an externally visible address space;

one or more data fields within each of said plurality of containers; and

wherein said plurality of containers is arranged in a hierarchical format.

6. The AV/C object list descriptor management system of claim 5, further comprising unique address registers of said memory space associated with each of said one or more data fields in each of said plurality of containers.

7. The AV/C object list descriptor management system of claim 6, further comprising means for building a read buffer in response to a read descriptor request, said read buffer presented in a standardized list format.

8. The AV/C descriptor object list management system of claim 7 wherein said means for building a read buffer includes means for mapping said unique address registers to said standardized list format fields.

9. The AV/C object list descriptor management system of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of child containers, said plurality of child containers including at least an object list header container, and an object list entries container reflecting the number of object list entries include therebeneath, said object list entries container including at least one child container in the form of an object list entry.

10. A method for compiling an AV/C object list descriptor readable buffer from one or more data containers, each of said one or more data containers storing a portion of AV/C descriptor data in a memory, the descriptor data comprising an externally visible address space, said method comprising:

identifying a top level data container from said one or more containers;

initializing compilation attributes for reading data from said one or more data containers into a readable buffer;

sequentially reading data from said one or more data containers; and

copying said read data into said readable buffer.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein step of said initializing said compilation attributes comprises:

establishing said readable buffer in a memory space and setting a readable buffer offset to zero.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of sequentially reading said data includes recursively searching for responsive data, said recursive search initialized with said initialized compilation attributes.

13. A method for reading AV/C descriptor container data from one or more data containers each storing a portion of AV/C descriptor data stored in memory into a readable buffer upon receipt of an address request and request length from a requester, the descriptor data comprising an externally visible address space, the method comprising:

ascertaining which container, of the one or more containers, holds the initial address of the request;

reading all data available and responsive to the request within the ascertained container; and

copying the read data to a read buffer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising recursively reading data from any other sequentially addressed containers, one at a time, until the request is satisfied within the constraints of available containers.