Switching of media presentation

• US 8,453,056 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Madhuvan, Thomas, Myron Clifford, Saunders, Richard William
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANK, ANDREW L
• Application Number:
  US12/262,556
• Publication Number:
  US 20090119688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 715/716, 715/800, 715718-720, 715/722, 345/428
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system and method for switching presentation of media between two or more processes without interruption is described. This system and method can enable a user to enjoy media presented in a process and then switch the presentation of that media to another process without interruption in the media. Further, this system and method can enable a user to switch back and forth between media presentation within one application and another application without interruption.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting media via a first application; and

switching the presenting of the media from the first application to a second application according to a work context that is transferred from the first application to the second application, the work context describing at least one user defined aspect to customize the presenting of the media in either said application, the switching performed via an application programming interface (API) that provides an interface to a common renderer application for communications to hook both said applications to the common renderer application to enable the one common renderer application to be used to perform rendering of the media for both said applications, the API operable to communicate the work context and media between both said applications to enable continuous rendering of the media while switching sending of the rendered media between said first application and said second application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first application is a lightweight presentation component.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second application is a lightweight presentation component.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the work context includes information regarding a location on a display device for presenting the media.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first application is configured as a browser and the second application is configured as a full-featured media presentation application.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first application includes controls for selecting basic media presentation services.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second application includes controls for selecting advanced media presentation services.

8. One or more computer readable storage media comprising instructions executable by a computer to:

output media for presenting via a first application according to a work context describing user defined aspects to customize the presenting of the media including specialized aspects of user interfaces used to present the media;

obtain the work context from the first application;

continuously render the media while transferring the work context to a second application and switching output of the rendered media between the first application and the second application using a single common rendering component to render the media for both the first application and the second application; and

output the media for presenting via the second application according to the transferred work context to reproduce the user defined aspects.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the work context includes information regarding a location on a display device for presenting the media.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the user defined aspects comprises at least one of:

a volume level;

a user interface color;

an icon size;

user interface customizations;

or a brightness level.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the common rendering component is implemented as a stand-alone application.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the common rendering component is implemented as a component of either the first application or the second application.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, transferring the work context to the second application comprises hooking both of the first application and the second application to a running object table of an operating system to enable communication between the first application and the second application.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions to hook the first application and the second application one to another to enable communication of the work context and the media between the first application and the second application.

15. A computer comprising:

a processor;

memory coupled to the processor; and

one or more modules stored in the memory and executable via the processor to;

present media via a browser application; and

switch the presenting of the media from the browser application to a media application according to a work context that is transferred from the browser application to the media application, the work context describing a location on a display device specified for presenting the media and user defined aspects to customize the appearance of user interfaces used to present the media in both of the browser application and the media application, the switching being performed via an application programming interface (API) operable to communicate the work context and media between both said applications to enable continuous rendering of the media while switching sending of the rendered media between the browser application and the media application using a common renderer application that renders the media for both the browser application and the media application.

16. The computer of claim 15, wherein one or more modules are further executable to switch the presenting of the media from the media application to a third application using the application programming interface (API) to communicate the work context and media between the media application and the third application.

17. The computer of claim 15, wherein the one or more modules are further executable to switch the presenting of the media from the media application back to the browser application using the application programming interface (API) to communicate the work context and media between the media application and the browser application.

18. The computer of claim 15, wherein the common renderer application is implemented as a component of the media application.

19. The computer of claim 15, wherein the common renderer application is implemented as a stand-alone application.