Media portability and compatibility for different destination platforms

• US 8,578,259 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Jeffrey Chao-Nan, Li, Barn-Wan, Lui, Kai Chung
• Primary Examiner(s): Stork, Kyle
• Assistant Examiner(s): Velez-Lopez, Mario M
• Application Number:
  US12/346,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169753A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,770 Days
• Field of Search: 715/201, 715/204, 715/731, 709/231, 709/246, 375/240.01, 375/240.02, 375/240.16, 348/557
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs

Abstract

Tools and techniques for media portability and compatibility for different destination platforms are provided. These tools may receive commands to launch a media portability capability, and may receive source media as input for transformation. These tools may also receive indications of profile settings for specifying how to transform the source media for enhanced portability on destination systems for playback. The source media may be transformed in response to the profile setting, with the transformed media inserted into a document. The tools may then distribute the document to the destination system for playback.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising:

a computing device; and

a memory capable of storing computer-executable instructions thereon that, when loaded into the computing device and executed, cause the computing device to,

receive at least one command to launch a media portability capability,

receive at least one instance of source media comprising video media as input for transformation,

automatically determine at least one profile setting based on data communicated from and representing a configuration of at least one destination system, the at least one profile setting specifying how to transform the source media for enhanced portability on the at least one destination system for playback and how to achieve a targeted visual quality when rendering the transformed media on the at least one destination system,

transform the source media in response to the profile setting into an intermediate media result that is not a final viewable media result for presentation on any destination system,

define a first alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the first alpha mask specifies first visual effects for application to the intermediate media result to generate a first final media result for playback on the destination system,

insert the intermediate media result and the first alpha mask into at least one document,

receive at least a second instance of a source media for transformation,

transform the second instance of the source media in response to the profile setting into a second intermediate media result that is not a final viewable media result for presentation on any destination system,

define a second alpha mask associated with the second instance of the source media, wherein the second alpha mask specifies second visual effects for application to the second intermediate media result to generate a second final media result for playback on the destination system,

insert the second intermediate media result and the second alpha mask into the document, and distribute the document to the at least one destination system for playback of the first final media result generated by the first alpha mask on the at least one destination system, and the second final media result generated by the second alpha mask on the at least one destination system.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to receive at least one command to launch an application associated with the document.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to define the profile setting to reduce a document size of the transformed media relative to a document size of the source media.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to define the profile setting to transform the source file into a format compatible with the destination system.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to select a format for encoding the source media based on performance capabilities of the destination system.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to present an interactive user interface for obtaining the profile setting.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to define a plurality of the profile settings, wherein the profile settings represent different trade-offs between a plurality of different factors related to transforming the source media into the transformed media for distribution to the destination systems.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions to:

receive an indication of at least a further profile setting for specifying how to transform the source media for enhanced portability on at least a further destination system for playback;

transform the source media in response to the further profile setting;

insert the transformed media into at least a further document associated with the software application; and

distribute the document at least to the further destination system for playback.

9. A computer-implemented process comprising:

receiving at least one command to launch a media portability capability provided by a first computing system;

receiving at least one instance of source media as input for transformation on the first computing system;

automatically determining at least one profile setting based on data communicated from and representing a configuration of at least one destination system, the at least one profile setting specifying how to transform the source media comprising visual media to achieve a targeted visual quality on the at least one destination computing system for playback;

transforming the source media in response to the profile setting into an intermediate media result that is not a final viewable media result for presentation on any destination system;

define an alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the alpha mask specifies visual effects for application to the intermediate media result to generate a final media result for playback on the destination system;

inserting the intermediate media result and the alpha mask into at least one document; and

distributing the document to the at least one destination system for playback of the final media result generated by the alpha mask on the at least one destination system.

10. Apparatus comprising:

a computing device; and

a memory capable of storing computer-executable instructions thereon that, when loaded into the computing device and executed, cause the computing device to

receive at least one command to launch a media portability capability provided by a software application into which the media portability capability is integrated,

receive at least one instance of source media as input for transformation into portable media compatible with a plurality of destination systems,

automatically define a plurality of profile settings based on data communicated from and representing configurations of the destination systems, wherein the profile settings represent different trade-offs between a plurality of different factors related to transforming the source media into the portable media for distribution to the destination systems,

receive a selection of one of the profile settings, from the plurality of profile settings, for specifying how to transform the source media comprising video media for enhanced portability and compatibility when played back on at least one of the destination systems,

transform the source media into the portable media in response to the selected profile setting into an intermediate media result that is not a final viewable media result for presentation on any destination system,

define a first alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the first alpha mask specifies visual effects for application to the intermediate media result to generate a first final media result for playback on the destination system,

insert the intermediate media result and the first alpha mask into at least one document associated with the software application,

receive at least a second instance of source media for transformation,

transform the second instance of the source media in response to the profile setting into a second intermediate media result that is not a final viewable media result for presentation on any destination system,

define a second alpha mask associated with the second instance of the source media, wherein the second alpha mask specifies second visual effects for application to the second intermediate media result to generate a final second media result for playback on the destination system,

insert the second intermediate media result and the second alpha mask into the document, and distribute the document at least to the destination system for playback of the final media result generated by the alpha mask on the at least one destination system, and the final second media result generated by the second alpha mask on the at least one destination system.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising instructions to:

receive an indication of at least a further profile setting for specifying how to transform the source media for enhanced portability on at least a further destination system for playback;

transform the source media in response to the further profile setting;

insert the transformed media into at least a further document associated with the software application; and

distribute the document at least to the further destination system for playback.