Multimedia file format

• US 7,411,590 B1
• Filed: 08/09/2004
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Sheeler, Stephen, Boyd, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Kimbinh T
• Application Number:
  US10/914,979
• Time in Patent Office: 1,464 Days
• Field of Search: 345/473, 345/440, 345/426, 345/419, 345/474, 345/475, 703/3, 703/11
• US Class Current: 345/473
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4488 Object-oriented

Abstract

An automatically readable medium encoded with a time-based media file which comprises a factory object which uniquely identifies the instantiation of an object of a particular type. The factory object can be one of the following: a scene object; a behavior object; or a filter object. The scene object can include at least one of the following: global setting for the scene; or the last settings used to render to a resulting time-based media file. The scene object can ultimately contain a reference to media used by the object. A scene object can include a reference to another scene object.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium encoded with a time-based media file comprising a factory object which uniquely identifies the instantiation of an object of a particular type wherein said factory object is one of the following:

an object that represents a scene, wherein the scene object comprises a reference to media used by the scene object;

an object that represents a behavior;

or

an object that represents a filter.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein said scene object includes at least one of the following:

global setting for the scene;

or

last settings used to render to a resulting time-based media file.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein said scene object includes another scene object.

4. A computer-readable data structure, encoded on a computer-readable medium, for representing a multimedia file comprising factory objects which uniquely identify the instantiation of an object of a particular type, the structure comprising:

factory descriptions for describing factory objects;

an object that represents a scene, wherein the scene object comprises a reference to media used by the scene object; and

settings for user interface parameters specifying how the scene object is displayed.

5. The data structure of claim 4, wherein the settings for the user interface parameters are readable by user interface elements comprising at least one of a viewer, project panel, timeline, curveeditor, and audioeditor for presentation to a user.

6. The data structure of claim 4, wherein the settings for the user interface parameters are writeable by user interface elements comprising at least one of a viewer, project panel, timeline, curveeditor, and audioeditor.

7. The data structure of claim 4, wherein the scene object comprises at least one of audio tracks, scene settings, export settings, layers, and footage used in the scene.

8. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the scene settings comprise global settings for a scene.

9. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the scene settings comprise last settings used to render to a resulting multimedia file.

10. The data structure of claim 4, wherein a factory description comprises an image.

11. The data structure of claim 4, wherein a factory description comprises a master.

12. The data structure of claim 4, wherein a factory description comprises a throw.

13. The data structure of claim 4, wherein a factory description comprises a filter.

14. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the export settings specify a multimedia format for viewing a resulting multimedia file.

15. The data structure of claim 14, wherein the multimedia format comprises a QuickTime format.

16. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the layers comprise scene objects.

17. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the layers comprise filter objects.

18. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the layers comprise behavior objects.

19. The data structure of claim 4, wherein the scene object is associated with a behavior.

20. The data structure of claim 4, wherein the scene object is associated with a filter.

21. The data structure of claim 19, wherein the behavior comprises a throw behavior.

22. The data structure of claim 20, wherein the filter comprises a contrast filter.

23. The data structure of claim 7, wherein the footage can be used by multiple scene objects.

24. The data structure of claim 4, wherein the user interface parameters are organized hierarchically.

25. A method for processing a multimedia data file, the method comprising:

reading a multimedia data file organized according to a data structure comprising;

factory descriptions for describing factory objects;

an object that represents a scene, wherein the scene object comprises a reference to media used by the scene object; and

settings for user interface parameters specifying how the scene object is displayed;

parsing the data file according to the data structure; and

displaying the data file.

26. A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer program code embodied therein for processing a multimedia data file, the computer program code adapted to;

read a multimedia data file organized according to a data structure comprising

factory descriptions for describing factory objects;

an object that represents a scene, wherein the scene object comprises a reference to media used by the scene object; and

settings for user interface parameters specifying how the scene object is displayed;

parse the data file according to the data structure; and

display the data file.