System and related interfaces supporting the processing of media content

• US 20040250256A1
• Filed: 07/01/2004
• Published: 12/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rudolph, Eric H., Miller, Daniel J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,947,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols

Abstract

A software enabled, matrix switch is presented wherein a scalable plurality of inputs, coupled to media content sources, provide media content which is recursively routed through select media processing object(s) coupled to a scalable plurality of matrix switch outputs in accordance with a user-defined media processing project.

Claims

1. A software enabled, matrix switch comprising:

a scalable plurality of inputs, dynamically coupled to select source(s) to receive media content; and

a scalable plurality of outputs, dynamically coupled to select object(s), wherein the software enabled, matrix switch recursively routes media content through the select object(s) to manipulate the received media content in accordance with a user-defined media processing project.

2. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 1, wherein the scalable plurality of inputs are implemented as software objects dedicated to communicating information from a software object to the switch.

3. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 2, wherein the software objects are component object model (COM) objects.

4. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 2, wherein the scalable plurality of outputs are implemented as software objects such as, for example, component object model (COM) objects.

5. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory space, shared among the plurality of inputs and outputs to receive and buffer media content from various sources until presentation to one of the plurality of outputs.

6. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 5, wherein the memory space is comprised of two segments, first segment dedicated to the scalable plurality of inputs and a second segment dedicated to the scalable plurality of outputs.

7. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 6, wherein the second segment is dedicated to a primary output which is coupled to a rendering object.

8. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 7, wherein the second segment is dedicated to an independent output processing thread supporting the rendering object.

9. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 1, wherein the matrix switch is generated by a render engine in a media processing filter graph to selectively couple one or more inputs to one or more outputs recursively processing media content through a plurality of software objects in accordance with a user-defined media processing project.

10. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 9, further comprising a programming grid, generated by the render engine in accordance with the user-defined media processing project, to control routing of the media content from the scalable plurality of one or more inputs to the scalable plurality of one or more outputs.

11. A software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 1, further comprising:

a programming grid, generated by a render engine in accordance with a user-defined media processing project, to dynamically couple select ones of the scalable plurality of inputs to select ones of the scalable plurality of outputs.

12. A storage medium comprising a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed, implement the software enabled, matrix switch according to claim 1.

13. A computing device comprising:

a storage device having a plurality of executable instructions; and

an execution unit, coupled to the storage device, to execute at least a subset of the plurality of executable instructions to implement the software enabled matrix switch of claim 1.

14. A media processing system comprising:

a source to provide media content; and

a software enabled, matrix switch filter, coupled to the source, to receive the media content on one or more of a scalable plurality of inputs and selectively route the content to object(s) coupled to one or more of a scalable plurality of output(s), to recursively transform the received content prior to rendering.

15. A media processing system according to claim 14, the matrix switch filter further comprising a programming grid, dynamically generated by the media processing system to recursively route media content from one or more of the scalable plurality of inputs to the objects coupled to one or more of the scalable plurality of outputs, in accordance with a user defined media processing project.

16. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the objects coupled to the scalable plurality of outputs include one or more of a transition filter, an effects filter and/or a render filter.

17. A media processing system according to claim 14, further comprising:

a render engine, exposing the source and the software enabled, matrix switch filter to higher-level applications, to enable a user to generate a media processing project.

18. A media processing system according to claim 17, wherein the render engine automatically generates a filter graph reflecting a user-defined media processing project.

19. A media processing system according to claim 18, the matrix switch comprising:

a programming grid, automatically generated by the render engine, to define which of the scalable plurality of inputs are coupled to each of the scalable plurality of outputs during execution of the media processing project.

20. A media processing system according to claim 19, wherein the render engine dynamically generates the programming grid to control the software enabled, matrix switch filter to recursively route media content through the one or more objects coupled to the scalable plurality of output(s) in accordance with the user-defined media processing project.

21. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the matrix switch filter includes memory space to buffer content received from one or more input(s) for routing to one or more of the output(s).

22. A media processing system according to claim 21, wherein the memory space includes a buffer segment dedicated to an independent output thread, wherein the matrix switch filter insulates upstream processing from downstream processing, and vice versa.

23. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the media processing system invokes an instance of the software enabled, matrix switch filter for each type of media sourced in the media processing project.

24. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the software enabled, matrix switch filter is implemented in software as an object of an operating system executing on a computing system implementing the media processing system.

25. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the matrix switch filter is implemented as a component object model (COM) object of an operating system executing on a computing system implementing the media processing system.

26. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the scalable plurality of inputs and the scalable plurality of outputs are implemented as software objects of an operating system executing on a computing system implementing the media processing system.

27. A media processing system according to claim 14, wherein the dynamic routing of media content from source(s) to output object(s) is facilitated by a plurality of object calls performed by the matrix switch in accordance with a user-defined media processing project.

28. A system according to claim 14, wherein the objects are media processing filters.

29. A storage medium comprising a plurality of computer executable instructions which, when executed, implement a media processing system according to claim 14.

30. A computing system comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of computer executable instructions; and

an execution unit, coupled to the storage medium, to execute at least a subset of the plurality of computer executable instructions to implement the media processing system according to claim 14.

31. A storage medium comprising a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed, implement a software enabled matrix switch in a media processing system to recursively route media content from one or more of a scalable plurality of inputs through media processing objects coupled to one or more of a scalable plurality of outputs, in accordance with a user defined media processing project.

32. A storage medium according to claim 31, wherein the matrix switch filter is implemented as an object of an operating system.

33. A storage medium according to claim 32, wherein the plurality of inputs and/or the plurality of outputs are implemented as objects of an operating system.

34. A storage medium according to claim 31, wherein the matrix switch includes a programming grid, dynamically generated to selectively couple one or more of the scalable plurality of inputs to one or more of the scalable plurality of outputs to recursively process media content through one or more media processing objects coupled to the outputs, in accordance with the user-defined media processing project.

35. A storage medium according to claim 34, wherein modifications to the user-defined media processing project are dynamically reflected in an updated version of the programming grid in the matrix switch, eliminating the need to tear down and reconstitute an entire filter graph to effect the modification.

36. A storage medium according to claim 31, further comprising instructions to implement a render engine, to communicate with higher level applications and generate a filter graph including one or more instances of a matrix switch filter to recursively process media content through one or more media processing objects in accordance with a user-defined media processing project.

37. A computing system implementing a media processing system, the computing system comprising:

a media content source; and

a render engine, coupled to the media content source, to generate a filter graph of media processing objects including a matrix switch filter to recursively process media content through the media processing objects in accordance with a user-defined media processing project.

38. A computing system according to claim 37, wherein the render engine dynamically generates a programming grid to control routing of media content through the matrix switch filter.

39. A computing system according to claim 37, wherein the media content source is one or more of a media file, an audio/video device coupled to the computing system, and the like.

40. A computer-implemented method comprising:

implementing a matrix switch for processing media content in accordance with a user-defined media processing project, the matrix switch comprising;

a scalable plurality of inputs dynamically coupleable to select source(s) to receive media content; and

a scalable plurality of outputs dynamically coupleable to select object(s);

processing the media content by;

dynamically coupling one or more of the inputs to one or more of the sources to receive the media content; and

dynamically coupling one or more of the outputs to the select object(s) to recursively route media content through the select object(s) to manipulate the received media content in accordance with the user-defined media processing project.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein said implementing comprises implementing the scalable plurality of inputs as software objects dedicated to communicating information from a software object to the matrix switch.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein said implementing comprises implementing the scalable plurality of outputs as software objects.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the software objects are implemented as component object model (COM) objects.

44. The method of claim 40 further comprising providing a memory space and sharing the memory space among the plurality of inputs and outputs effective to receive and buffer media content from various sources until presentation to one of the plurality of outputs.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein said act of providing comprises providing at least two memory space segments, a first of which is dedicated to the scalable plurality of inputs, a second of which is dedicated to the scalable plurality of outputs.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein said act of implementing is performed, at least in part, by a render engine in a media processing filter graph that is configured to generate said matrix switch.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising generating a programming grid to control routing of the media content from the scalable plurality of inputs to the scalable plurality of outputs.

48. The method of claim 47 further comprising dynamically updating the programming grid responsive to modifications to the user-defined media processing project without tearing down and reconstituting an entire filter graph to effect the modifications.

49. The method of claim 42, wherein one or more of said objects comprise one or more of a transition filter, an effects filter or a render filter.