Methods, apparatus, and systems for storing, retrieving and playing multimedia data

• US 6,745,368 B1
• Filed: 06/11/1999
• Issued: 06/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Liberate Technologies
• Inventors: Scheyen, Peter G. N., Boucher, Antoine, McRae, Paul E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): QUELER, ADAM M
• Application Number:
  US09/330,904
• Time in Patent Office: 1,817 Days
• Field of Search: 707/501.1, 715/501.1, 715/500.1, 715/513, 725/110, 725/114
• US Class Current: 715/205
• 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: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43072 of multiple content streams on the same device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Various embodiments of the invention provide increased speed and decreased computer processing for playing and navigating multimedia content by using two types of data objects for displaying the multimedia content. The first data object type includes rendered multimedia content data. The second data object type provides semantic content corresponding to the rendered multimedia content. The storage medium in which these two types of data objects are contained is referred to as a rendered cache. The semantic content can include locations, sizes, shapes, and target universal resource identifiers of hyperlinks, multimedia element timing, and other content play instructions. The very fast play of content stored in the rendered cache is due to the elimination of the steps of laying out the content, rendering the content, and generating the semantic representation of the content. These steps are required each time the content is played after retrieval from a conventional cache. The only steps required for playing content from the rendered cache are to read the rendered content, read the semantic content, restore the semantic representation, and play the content. A traditional web browser visiting a web site that resides in a rendered cache provides an almost instantaneous display of the web site. The caching mechanism provided by various embodiments of the invention is independent of content file format and the stored semantic content file format. As long as a client application, such as a content browser, can recognize and play the multimedia content and recognize and interpret the semantic content, the application can realize the benefits provided by the rendered cache.

Claims

1. In a system for storing, retrieving and playing multimedia data, said system having a server coupled to the Internet, said server communicating with a settop box at a user location further including a display device, a method comprising:

receiving an Internet web page as HTML formatted data containing at least one hyperlink, said Internet web page associated with a given URL;

rendering said HTML formatted data into an MPEG encoded object;

storing said MPEG encoded object in a rendered cache memory;

forming a semantic representation of said MPEG encoded object wherein said semantic representation includes the location of said hyperlink relative to said MPEG encoded object;

storing data corresponding to said semantic representation of said MPEG encoded object in said rendered cache memory wherein said data corresponding to said semantic representation is indexed by said given URL of said Internet web page;

receiving a request from said settop box to retrieve said Internet web page having said given URL;

reading said data corresponding to said semantic representation indexed by said given URL from said rendered cache memory;

assembling an MPEG representation of said Internet web page from said data corresponding to said semantic representation and said MPEG encoded object to form an Internet web page in MPEG format;

transmitting said Internet web page in MPEG format to said settop box; and

displaying said Internet web page in MPEG format on said display device at said settop box.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said semantic representation further includes the size of said hyperlink.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said semantic representation further includes the shape of said hyperlink.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said semantic representation further includes the target index URL of said hyperlink.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from said settop box to said server to scroll said Internet web page;

reading said data corresponding to said semantic representation indexed by said given URL from said rendered cache memory;

assembling a scrolled MPEG representation of said Internet web page from said data corresponding to said semantic representation and said MPEG encoded object to form a scrolled Internet web page in MPEG format;

transmitting said scrolled MPEG representation of said scrolled Internet web page to said settop box at said user location; and

displaying said scrolled Internet web page in MPEG format on said display device at said settop box.

6. In a system server for storing and retrieving multimedia data, a server method comprising:

receiving an Internet web page as HTML formatted data containing at least one hyperlink, said Internet web page associated with a given URL;

rendering said HTML formatted data into an MPEG encoded object;

storing said MPEG encoded object in a rendered cache memory;

forming a semantic representation of said MPEG encoded object wherein said semantic representation includes the location of said hyperlink relative to said MPEG encoded object; and

storing data corresponding to said semantic representation of said MPEG encoded object in said rendered cache memory wherein said data corresponding to said semantic representation is indexed by said given URL of said Internet web page.

7. A system in accordance with claim 6, wherein said semantic representation further includes the size of said hyperlink.

8. A system in accordance with claim 6, wherein said semantic representation further includes the shape of said hyperlink.

9. A system in accordance with claim 6, wherein said semantic representation further includes the target index URL of said hyperlink.

10. A system in accordance with claim 6, further including a settop box at a user location, said method further comprising:

receiving a request from said settop box to said server to scroll said Internet web page;

reading said data corresponding to said semantic representation indexed by said given URL from said rendered cache memory;

assembling a scrolled MPEG representation of said scrolled Internet web page from said data corresponding to said semantic representation and said MPEG encoded object to form a scrolled Internet web page in MPEG format; and

transmitting said scrolled Internet web page in MPEG format to said settop box at said user location.

11. In a system for storing, retrieving and playing multimedia data, said system having a server coupled to the Internet, said server communicating with a settop box at a user location further including a display device, a method for displaying an animated gif image comprising:

receiving an Internet web page as HTML formatted data containing at least one image in animated gif format, said Internet web page associated with a given URL;

rendering said HTML formatted data containing said image in animated gif format into respective first and second MPEG encoded objects;

forming a semantic representation of said first and second MPEG encoded objects wherein said semantic representation includes the timing of said image in animated gif format, said semantic representation including at least one time interval;

storing said first and second MPEG encoded objects in a rendered cache memory;

storing data corresponding to said semantic representation of said first and second MPEG encoded objects in said rendered cache memory;

receiving a request from said settop box to retrieve said Internet web page having said given URL;

reading said data corresponding to said semantic representation from said rendered cache memory;

assembling a first MPEG representation of said Internet web page from said data corresponding to said semantic representation and said first MPEG encoded object;

transmitting said first MPEG representation of said Internet web page to said settop box;

displaying said first MPEG representation of said Internet web page on said display device;

assembling, after said time interval, a second MPEG representation of said Internet web page from said data corresponding to said semantic representation and said second MPEG encoded object;

transmitting said second MPEG representation of said Internet web page to said settop box; and

displaying said second MPEG representation of said Internet web page on said display device.

12. A system method in accordance with claim 11, wherein said semantic representation further includes the location of said animated gif image.

13. A system method in accordance with claim 11, wherein said semantic representation further includes the size of said animated gif image.

14. In a system server for storing, retrieving and playing multimedia data, said system having a server coupled to the Internet, said server communicating with a settop box at a user location, a method at said server for transmitting an animated gif image comprising:

receiving an Internet web page as HTML formatted data containing at least one image in animated gif format, said Internet web page associated with a given URL;

rendering said HTML formatted data containing said image in animated gif format into respective first and second MPEG encoded objects;

forming a semantic representation of said first and second MPEG encoded objects wherein said semantic representation includes the timing of said image in animated gif format, said semantic representation including at least one time interval;

storing said first and second MPEG encoded objects in a rendered cache memory;

storing data corresponding to said semantic representation of said first and second MPEG encoded objects in said rendered cache memory;

receiving a request from said settop box to retrieve said Internet web page having said given URL;

reading said data corresponding to said semantic representation from said rendered cache memory;

assembling a first MPEG representation of said Internet web page from said semantic representation and said first MPEG encoded object;

transmitting said first MPEG representation of said Internet web page to said settop box;

assembling, after said time interval, a second MPEG representation of said Internet web page from said semantic representation and said second MPEG encoded object; and

transmitting said second MPEG representation of said Internet web page to said settop box.

15. A system method in accordance with claim 14, wherein said semantic representation further includes the location of said animated gif image.

16. A system method in accordance with claim 14, wherein said semantic representation further includes the size of said animated gif image.