Sanctioned transcoding of digital-media content

• US 7,738,766 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kiilerich, Dennis A, Gupta, Madhuvan, Silverman, Andrew L., Olson, Kipley J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chowdhury; Nigar
• Application Number:
  US11/108,301
• Publication Number:
  US 20060232448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,884 Days
• Field of Search: 386/1, 386 45- 46, 386125-126
• US Class Current: 386/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/156 Availability of hardware or computational resources, e.g. encoding based on power-saving criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/40 using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4398 involving reformatting operations of audio signals details of audio signal transcoding G10L19/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440218 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01

Abstract

Described herein are one or more implementations for transferring formatted digital media content (“formatted-media-content”) from a source device (e.g., a desktop computer) to a target media-playback device (e.g., a MP3 player). The formatted-media-content may need to be converted from a source format to a target format before it is transferred. An implementation seeks permission from a source-format-agent associated with the source format of the formatted-media-content, to perform a format-conversion (“transcoding”).

Claims

1. In a source device configured to couple to a target media-playback device, a method comprising the acts of:

selecting digital media content intended for transfer from a source device to a coupled target media-playback device, wherein the selected to-be-transferred media content has a defined format, which is associated with a source-format-agent;

assigning a transfer priority to the selected to-be-transferred media content to indicate a relative desirability of the selected to-be-transferred media content;

determining a target format of the selected to-be-transferred media content specified by the coupled target media-playback device, wherein the target format is a format of the selected to-be-transferred media content that is playable on the coupled target media-playback device;

determining whether the source-format-agent sanctions transcoding the selected to-be-transferred media content, wherein a lack of at least one positive answer from the source-format-agent is interpreted as a refusal to sanction the transcoding;

if transcoding is sanctioned, transcoding the selected to-be-transferred media content into the target format by converting the selected to-be-transferred media content from the defined format to the target format and sampling the selected to-be-transferred media content to a different bit rate for compatibility with the coupled target media-playback device;

if transcoding is sanctioned, transferring the transcoded media content to the coupled target media-playback device.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein, if transcoding is not sanctioned, then not performing the transcoding and transferring acts.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining the defined format of selected to-be-transferred media content.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selecting act is carried out, at least in part, by user selection of digital media content stored on the source device.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of determining a target format is carried out by examining one or more stored files of configuration data.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of determining whether the source-format-agent sanctions transcoding is carried out by interrogating the source-format-agent.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of determining whether the source-format-agent sanctions transcoding is carried out by examining one or more stored files of configuration data.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the defined format and the target format are different formats, each format defines a specific pre-established arrangement or organization of digital media data for storage on computer-readable storage media and each format has one or more codecs associated therewith for compressing, decompressing, or both the digital media data arranged in that format.

9. In a source device configured to couple to a target media-playback device, a method comprising the acts of:

selecting digital media content intended for transfer from a source device to a coupled target media-playback device, wherein the selected to-be-transferred media content has a defined format, which is associated with a source-format-agent;

determining a target format specified by the coupled target media-playback device, wherein the target format is a format of the selected to-be-transferred media content that is playable on the coupled target media-playback device;

determining whether to transcode the selected to-be-transferred media content into the target format, wherein transcoding the selected to-be-transferred media content into the target format comprises at least;

converting the selected to-be-transferred media content from the defined format to the target format and sampling the selected to-be-transferred media content to a different bit rate for compatibility with the coupled target media-playback device;

in response to a determination to not transcode, transferring the selected to-be-transferred media content to the coupled target media-playback device.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the act of determining whether to transcode is based, at least in part, upon whether the target format matches the defined format of the selected to-be-transferred media content.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the digital media content is selected from a group consisting of digital audio, digital still images, and digital video.

12. A method as recited in claim 9 wherein the selected to-be-transferred media content is associated with a source-format-agent and in response to a determination to transcode, then the method further comprises that acts of:

interrogating the source-format-agent to determine if the source-format-agent will sanction transcoding the selected to-be-transferred media content;

if transcoding is sanctioned, transcoding the selected to-be-transferred media content into a target format, specified by the coupled target media-playback device;

if transcoding is sanctioned, transferring the transcoded media content to the coupled target media-playback device.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising determining the defined format of selected to-be-transferred media content.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the selecting act is carried out, at least in part, by user selection of digital media content stored on the source device.

15. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the interrogating act is carried out by interrogating the source-format-agent and storing the response in one or more stored files of configuration data.

16. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the interrogating act is carried out by examining one or more stored files of configuration data.

17. A method comprising the acts of:

selecting digital media content of a source device, wherein the selected media content has a defined format, which is associated with a source-format-agent, the defined format being a specific pre-established arrangement or organization of digital media data for storage on computer-readable storage media and the defined format having one or more codecs associated therewith for compressing, decompressing, or both the digital media data arranged in that format;

interrogating the source-format-agent to determine if the source-format-agent will sanction a format-specific action to be performed with the selected media content to transcode the selected media content into a target format by converting the selected media content from the defined format to the target format and down-sampling the selected media content to a lower bit rate for compatibility with a target media-playback device, wherein the target format is a format of the selected media content that is playable on the target media-playback device;

if the source-format-agent sanctions the action, then performing the sanctioned action with the selected media content.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein a format-specific action is selected from a group consisting of playing the selected media content, copying the selected media content, transcoding the selected media content, transferring the selected media content from a source device to the target media-playback device, and burning removable computer-readable media with the selected media content.

19. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein a format-specific action comprises at least one of the following:

playing the selected media content, copying the selected media content, transcoding the selected media content, transferring the selected media content from a source device to the target media-playback device, or burning removable computer-readable media with the selected media content.

20. A method for sanctioned transcoding of digital-media content between a source device and a coupled target media playback device, the method comprising:

selecting digital media content intended for transfer from a source device to a coupled target media-playback device, wherein the selected to-be-transferred media content has a defined format which is associated with a source-format-agent;

determining the defined format of selected to-be-transferred media content;

determining a target format of media content specified by the coupled target media-playback device, wherein the determining the target format includes examining one or more stored files of configuration data, and the target format is a format of the selected to-be-transferred media content that is playable on the target media-playback device;

determining whether the source-format-agent sanctions transcoding the selected to-be-transferred media content by;

interrogating the source-format agent;

examining the one or more stored files of configuration data; and

determining whether the target format matches the defined format of the selected to-be-transferred media content;

wherein if transcoding is sanctioned;

transcode the selected to-be-transferred media content into the target format by converting the selected to-be-transferred media content from the defined format to the target format and down-sampling the selected media content to a lower bit rate for compatibility with the coupled target media-playback device; and

transfer the transcoded media content to the coupled target media-playback device; and

wherein if transcoding is not sanctioned;

transferring the selected to-be-transferred media content to the coupled target media-playback device if the target format matches the defined format;

or

not performing the transcoding and transferring acts,

wherein the defined format and the target format are different formats, each format defines a specific pre-established arrangement or organization of digital media data for storage on computer-readable storage media and each format has one or more codecs associated therewith for compressing, decompressing, or both the digital media data arranged in that format.