Sharing live advanced streaming format indexed files

• US 20040028042A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gates, Matthijs A., Srinivasan, Jai, Ferriere, Philippe
• Granted Patent: US 7,286,748 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

A computing system connected to storage medium and one or more rendering devices receives streamed multimedia data. The multimedia data is encoded in a format, such as an Advanced Streaming Format, that is conducive to storing the multimedia data in files having appended indexes. Upon receiving the multimedia data, the multimedia data is written to file structures within the storage medium, while at the same time maintaining a real-time index for each file in a shared memory. After a file is complete, the real-time index is appended to the completed file and deleted from the shared memory. When a request for data is received that pertains to a file that does not have an appended index, the computing system obtains any necessary file index information from the real-time index in the shared memory, thereby enabling the requested data to be accessed.

Claims

1. In a computing system that receives multimedia data from a data source, the computing system including a storage medium configured for storing packets of the multimedia data within at least one file of the storage medium, and wherein the at least one file includes a header, a data section, and an index, a method for enabling the stored packets of the multimedia data to be accessed from the at least one file by at least one reader application at the same time multimedia data is being written to the at least one file, the method comprising:

an act of receiving multimedia data to be stored within the storage medium of the computing system;

an act of creating a first file in the storage medium, the first file being configured for storing the received multimedia data;

an act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to a data section of the first file as the multimedia data packets are received; and

an act of creating a real-time header of the first file, the real-time header including header information and being disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file; and

an act of creating a real-time index of the first file, wherein the real-time index is disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the header information includes up-to-date header information that is used to determine a reserved size of the first file and a number of data samples written to a data section of the first file, and wherein the real-time index includes up-to-date index information of the first file.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the multimedia data includes one of MPEG and ASF data.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data stored to the first file includes ASF data.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further including an act of receiving a request from at least one reader application for data contained in the first file, the request occurring prior to appending the first file with a completed index.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the requested data includes multimedia data, and wherein the method further includes an act of directing the at least one reader application to a data section of the first file to enable the at least one reader application access the requested multimedia data.

7. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the request for data includes a request for index information contained in the real-time index.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the method further includes an act of directing the at least one reader application to the real-time index to enable the at least one reader application access the requested index information.

9. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the request includes a request for header information contained in the real-time header, the header information including one of a description of the size of the first file and the number of data samples written to the data section of the first file.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the method further includes an act of directing the at least one reader application to the real-time header to enable the at least one reader application access the requested header information.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further including an act of appending the real-time index to the end of the first file upon completing the act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to the data section of the file.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, further including an act of deleting the real-time index from the shared memory portion of the storage medium.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, further including an act of updating a header section of the first file with the real-time header upon completing the act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to the data section of the file.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, further including an act of deleting the real-time header from the shared memory portion of the storage medium.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the real-time index and the real-time header are created by a file sink module of the computing system.

16. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of creating a file includes acts of designating a byte size portion of the file for the file header, designating a byte size portion of the file for the data section, and designating a byte size portion of the file for an

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the byte size portion of the file designated for the appended index is about 4 gigabytes.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the byte size portion of the file designated for the data section is about 2⁶⁴ bytes minus the byte size portion of the file designated for the appended index and the header.

19. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first file appears to be complete to the at least one reader application while the first file is only partially filled.

20. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the real-time index contains information that identifies the location of the multimedia data packets contained in the first file.

21. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of writing packets of multimedia data to includes writing the packets to a portion of the storage medium allocated for the first file.

22. A method as recited in claim 1, further including the following:

an act of creating a second file in the storage medium, the second file being configured for storing newly received multimedia data;

an act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to a data section of the second file as the multimedia data packets are received;

an act of creating a real-time header of the first file, the real-time header including header information and being disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the second file; and

an act of creating a real-time index of the second file, wherein the real-time index of the second file is disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the second file.

24. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the header information includes up-to-date header information that is used to determine a reserved size of the first file and a number of data samples written to a data section of the first file, and wherein the real-time index includes up-to-date index information of the first file.

23. In a computing system that receives multimedia data from a data source, the computing system including a storage medium configured for storing packets of the multimedia data within at least one file of the storage medium, and wherein the at least one file includes a header, a data section, and an index, a method for enabling the stored packets of the multimedia data to be accessed from the at least one file by at least one reader application at the same time multimedia data is being written to the at least one file, the method comprising:

an act of receiving multimedia data to be stored within the storage medium of the computing system;

the step for storing the packets of the multimedia data in the storage medium of the computing system as the multimedia data is received by the computing system;

an act of creating a real-time header of the first file, the real-time header including header information and being disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file; and

an act of creating a real-time index of the first file, wherein the real-time index is disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file.

25. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the multimedia data includes one of MPEG and ASF data.

26. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the step for storing the packets of the multimedia data includes an act of creating a first file in the storage medium, the first file being configured for storing the received multimedia data.

27. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the step for storing the packets of the multimedia data includes an act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to a data section of the first file as the multimedia data packets are received.

28. A method as recited in claim 23, further including an act of appending the real-time index to the end of the first file upon completing the act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to the data section of the file.

29. A method as recited in claim 28, further including an act of deleting the real-time index from the shared memory portion of the storage medium.

30. A method as recited in claim 23, further including an act of updating a header section of the first file with the real-time header upon completing the act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to the data section of the file.

31. A method as recited in claim 30, further including an act of deleting the real-time header from the shared memory portion of the storage medium.

32. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the act of creating a file includes an act of designating a byte size portion of the file for the file header, designating a byte size portion of the file for the data section, and designating a byte size portion of the file for an index.

33. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the byte size portion of the file designated for the appended index is about 4 gigabytes.

34. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the byte size portion of the file designated for the data section is about 264 bytes minus the byte size portion of the file designated for the appended index and the header.

35. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the first file appears to be complete to the at least one reader application.

36. A computer program product for use in a computing system that receives multimedia data from a data source, the computing system including a storage medium configured for storing packets of the multimedia data within at least one file of the storage medium, and wherein the at least one file includes a header, a data section, and an appended index, the computer program product being configured to implement a method for enabling the stored packets of the multimedia data to be accessed from the at least one file by at least one reader application at the same time multimedia data is being written to the at least one file, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon the following:

computer-executable instructions for implementing the method including;

an act of receiving multimedia data to be stored within the storage medium of the computing system;

an act of creating a first file in the storage medium, the first file including a header and being configured for storing the received multimedia data;

an act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to a data section of the first file as the multimedia data packets are received;

an act of creating a real-time header of the first file, the real-time header including header information and being disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file; and

an act of creating a real-time index of the first file, wherein the real-time index is disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file.

37. A computer program product as recited in claim 36, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include system memory.

38. The computer program product as recited in claim 36, wherein the multimedia data includes one of MPEG and ASF multimedia data.

39. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein the multimedia content includes at least one of audio data and video data.

40. The computer program product as recited in claim 36, wherein the data source includes one of the Internet, a broadcast station, a file, and a DVD.

41. In a computing system that receives multimedia data from a data source, the computing system including a storage medium configured for storing packets of the multimedia data within at least one file of the storage medium, and wherein the at least one file includes a header, a data section, and an index, a method for enabling the stored packets of the multimedia data to be accessed from the at least one file by at least one reader application at the same time multimedia data is being written to the at least one file, the method comprising:

an act of receiving multimedia data to be stored within the storage medium of the computing system;

an act of creating a first file in the storage medium, the first file including a header and being configured for storing the received multimedia data;

an act of writing-the packets of the multimedia data to a data section of the first file as the multimedia data packets are received;

an act of creating a real-time header of the first file, the real-time header including header information and being disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file;

an act of creating a real-time index of the first file, wherein the real-time index is disposed within a shared memory portion of the storage medium that can be accessed by the at least one reader application at the same time the multimedia data is being written to the data section of the first file;

an act of receiving a request from at least one reader application for multimedia data contained in the first file, the request for multimedia data occurring prior to appending the first file with a completed index; and

an act of directing the at least one reader application to the real-time index to enable the at least one reader application access the requested multimedia data.

42. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein the multimedia data includes audio and video data that is stored in an ASF format.

43. A method as recited in claim 41, further including an act of appending the real-time index to the end of the first file upon completing an act of writing the packets of the multimedia data to the data section of the file.

44. A method as recited in claim 43, further including an act of deleting the real-time index from the shared memory portion of the storage medium upon appending the real-time index to the end of the first file.

45. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein the request for multimedia data includes a request for information that is contained within the real-time index.

46. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein the at least one file includes more than one file.

47. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein the at least one reader application includes more than one reader application.