Claims
- 1. In a computer system, a method for delivery and playback of multimedia works comprising:executing in a media player a first media segment of a media work, wherein said media work comprising a plurality of media segments; determining a second media segment to be played later than said first media segment, wherein each one of said first media segment and said second media segment comprises at least one media resource, and wherein said determining a second media segment comprising: obtaining a plurality of media segments; associating a probability factor with each one of said plurality of media segments; and ranking said plurality of media segments based on said probability factor; and delivering said at least one media resource to said media player.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said media work further comprises an interactive media work.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said media work further comprises a plurality of branch points marking at least one transition between said plurality of media segments.
- 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said first media segment further comprises an opening segment of said media work.
- 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said executing in said media player said first media segment of said media work further comprises loading said at least one media resource into a memory of a device for playing media resources.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said at least one media resource comprises image data having at least one encoding scheme.
- 7. The method of claim 5 wherein said at least one media resource comprises video data having at least one encoding scheme.
- 8. The method of claim 5 wherein said at least one media resource comprises sound data having at least one encoding scheme.
- 9. The method of claim 5 wherein said at least one media resource comprises multimedia data having at least one encoding schemes.
- 10. The method of claim 5 wherein said executing in said media player said first media segment of said media work further comprises playing said at least one media resource.
- 11. The method of claim 1 wherein said executing in said media player said first media segment of said media work further comprises loading said at least one media resource through a communications channel.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said communications channel comprises a data communication network.
- 13. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining said second media segment to be played later than said first media segment further comprises:obtaining a probability factor for transitioning from said first media segment to said second media segment; obtaining a cost factor associated with said second media factor; and obtaining a ranking factor based on said probability factor and said cost factor.
- 14. The method of claim 13 wherein said probability factor comprises a probability datum for said second media segment to be played later than said first media segment.
- 15. The method of claim 13 wherein said probability factor comprises a user input.
- 16. The method of claim 13 wherein said probability factor comprises computer generated random data.
- 17. The method of claim 13 wherein said probability factor comprises computer-generated data based usage history.
- 18. The method of claim 13 wherein said probability factor comprises computer generated data based on lack of user input.
- 19. The method of claim 13 wherein said probability factor comprises using a Markov state machine to model said media work.
- 20. The method of claim 1 wherein said delivering said one or more media resources to said media player further comprises obtaining memory availability information from said media player.
- 21. The method in claim 1 wherein said delivering said one or more media resources to said media player further comprises pre-loading one or more of said media resources into said media player.
- 22. An apparatus for delivering and playing multimedia works comprising:a processor; memory coupled to said processor; a mechanism utilizing said memory, said mechanism configured to execute in a media player a first media segment of a media work, wherein said media work comprises a plurality of media segments; said mechanism configured to determine a second media segment to be played later than said first media segment, wherein each one of said first media segment and said second media segment comprises at least one media resource, and wherein said mechanism configured to determine a second media segment is further configured to: obtain a plurality of media segments; associate a probability factor with each one of said plurality of media segments; and rank said plurality of media segments based on said probability factor; and said mechanism configured to deliver said at least one media resource to said media player.
- 23. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for delivering and playing multimedia works on a resource storage device, said method comprising the steps of:executing in a media player a first media segment of a media work, wherein said media work comprises a plurality of media segments; determining a second media segment to be played later than said first media segment, wherein each one of said first media segment and said second media segment comprises at least one media resource; and delivering said at least one media resource to said media player.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/792,484, filed Jan. 31, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,712.
US Referenced Citations (14)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/792484 |
Jan 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/563598 |
|
US |