Multimedia plug-in using dynamic objects

• US 6,167,404 A
• Filed: 11/04/1997
• Issued: 12/26/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avid Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avid Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Michaud, Nicolas, Barszczewski, Peter, DeCoste, Marc-Andre, Pronovost, Sophie, Morcos, Nader, Ibrahim, Peter, Desbois, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEURANTIN, JEAN B
• Application Number:
  US08/963,737
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707/102, 707/103, 709/328
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The present invention concerns a multimedia presentation computer program that includes method and apparatus for sharing presentation functions between portions of the program by means of an interface that is implemented as one or more dynamically linked custom programs that perform one or more functions as the multimedia presentation computer program executes. A number of interface methods in the multimedia presentation computer program are declared and are implemented in the custom program The interface methods of the custom program are made accessible to the multimedia presentation computer program by means of an identifier. A host program within the multimedia presentation computer program communicates with the custom program by means of custom program parameters that at least in part define operation of the custom program. The custom program executes and thereby implements its one or more functions for use by the multimedia presentation computer program.

Claims

1. In a multimedia presentation computer program, a method for adding functionality to the computer program by means of an interface that includes a dynamically-linked custom program that performs one or more functions of the multimedia presentation computer program, said method comprising the steps of:

a) declaring a number of interface methods in the multimedia presentation computer program which are implemented by a custom program;

b) making the interface methods of the custom program accessible to the multimedia presentation computer program by means of an identifier;

c) defining a host program within the multimedia presentation computer program for communicating with the custom program by means of custom program parameters that at least in part define operation of the custom program;

d) providing the custom program with a multimedia input from the multimedia presentation computer program; and

e) causing the custom program to implement its one or more functions on the multimedia input for providing the multimedia presentation computer program with the implemented one or more functions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of making the custom program accessible is accomplished by means of a globally unique identifier for the custom program that is made up of a sequence of numbers chosen large enough to generally avoid duplication with identifiers used to identify other custom programs.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the custom program is implemented with two dynamically linked objects, one of said dynamically linked objects for implementing the one or more functions and a second for implementing a user interface.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the two dynamically linked objects share properties that are designated by globally unique identifiers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the multimedia presentation computer program registers multiple dynamically linked objects that define families of multimedia effects.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the custom program provides the implemented functions as one or more outputs to the multimedia presentation computer program, and the one or more outputs are graphic images that are transformations of at least one input image.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more outputs are graphic images that are animations of an input graphic image.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the multimedia program implements a persistance method to allow a state of the dynamically linked object to be saved and reloaded from a storage medium.

9. The method of claim 1 where the presentation function performed by the dynamically linked object can be undone by communicating with the multimedia presentation software.

10. A stored program for use with a multimedia presentation computer program executing in a computing operating environment that maintains a registry, said multimedia program providing a plurality of presentation functions, said program comprising:

a) one or more dynamically-linked custom programs, each said custom program receiving a multimedia input from the multimedia presentation computer program, implementing one or more functions on the respective multimedia input, and providing the multimedia presentation computer program with the implemented one or more functions;

b) host software that forms part of the multimedia presentation computer program and provides an interface for communicating with one or more dynamically-linked computer programs; and

c) helper functions for registering the one or more dynamically-linked custom programs in the operating system registry to allow the host program interface to communicate with the dynamically-linked custom programs.

11. The stored program of claim 10 wherein the step of making the custom program accessible is accomplished by means of a globally unique identifier for the custom program that is made up of a sequence of numbers chosen large enough to generally avoid duplication with identifiers used to identify other custom programs.

12. The stored program of claim 10 wherein each presentation function is implemented with two dynamically linked objects, one of said dynamically linked objects for implementing the functionality of the object and a second dynamically linked object for implementing a user interface that allows a user to control the presentation functions.

13. The stored program of claim 12 wherein the two dynamically linked objects share properties that are communicated by globally unique identifiers.

14. The stored program of claim 10 wherein the multimedia presentation computer program registers multiple dynamically linked objects that define families of multimedia effects.

15. The stored program of claim 14 wherein the custom program provides the implemented functions as one or more outputs to the multimedia presentation computer program, and the one or more outputs are graphic images that are transformations of at least one input image.

16. In a multimedia presentation program, a method for implementing multimedia presentation functions by means of a COM object interface that communicates with one or more dynamically-linked COM objects, said method comprising the steps of:

a) declaring a number of COM object interface methods in the multimedia presentation computer program;

b) implementing the interface methods to define the functionality of the one or more dynamically-linked COM objects;

c) making the interface methods to the COM objects accessible to the multimedia presentation computer program by means of a unique identifier;

d) defining a host program within the multimedia presentation computer program for communicating with the COM object by means of custom program parameters that at least in part define operation of the presentation computer program;

e) providing the COM object with a multimedia input from the multimedia presentation computer program; and

f) causing the COM object to implement its interface methods on the multimedia input for providing the multimedia presentation computer program with the implemented presentation functions.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of making the COM object accessible is accomplished by means of a globally unique identifier for the COM object;

said COM object globally unique identifier made up of a sequence of numbers chosen large enough to generally avoid duplication with identifiers used to identify other custom programs.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the multimedia presentation functions are implemented with two dynamically linked COM objects, one of said dynamically linked COM objects for performing a presentation function and a second dynamically linked COM object for implementing a user interface for use in defining the presentation function.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the multimedia presentation functions are organized into families of multimedia effects.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the COM object provides the multimedia presentation functions as one or more outputs to the multimedia presentation computer program, and the one or more outputs are graphic images that are transformations of at least one input image.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the COM object provides the multimedia presentation functions as one or more outputs to the multimedia presentation computer program, and the one or more outputs are graphic images that are animations of an input graphic image.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the multimedia computer program implements a persistence method to allow a state of the COM object to be saved and reloaded from a storage medium.

23. The method of claim 19 where the presentation function performed by the COM object can be undone by communicating with the multimedia presentation software.