The present invention relates generally to systems that utilize virtual titles to reference audio visual content, and more specifically relates to a system and method for avoiding redundant copying of content when using virtual titles.
The copying of audio visual content from a source medium (e.g., hard drive) to a destination medium (e.g., optical disc) is a common practice. Certain devices that provide this functionality rely on virtual titles (VTs) that act as pointers to pieces of the content being copied or played back. A virtual title is generally defined as a collection of ordered playing intervals, where each play interval is a reference to a complete or part of an audio video stream or file. Thus, by instructing the device to copy a virtual title (e.g., scene 1) to a destination medium, the virtual title points to the actual content, which can then be copied.
One of the problems with using virtual titles in this manner is that multiple virtual titles may point to the same, or portions of the same, content. That is, there may be content used by more than one virtual title. When this occurs, the shared content may be copied multiple times, especially when virtual titles are copied separately over time. The result is both a waste of computational and storage resources.
When, for example, audio visual (AV) content is copied from a hard disc drive (HDD) to a recordable removable disc (RRMD), the AV content on the RRMD will be associated with a new identifier (e.g., Title Number) that will depend on the standard used by the RRMD. Thus, the content to be copied has two presentations, one that is associated with the content on the HDD side, and one that is associated with the content on the RRMD side. At the time of the copying, there exists a relationship between the two presentations. However, after the copying is complete (i.e., the disc is ejected), the relationship is lost, and there is no way of determining where the content on the RRMD originated from. Thus, when two or more VTs share (i.e., point to) the same content or audio visual title (AVT), and two or more separate copying operations take place to the same RRMD, the shared AV content gets recopied during each copying operation on the RRMD.
The problem is shown in detail in
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method that will avoid the redundant copying of shared content when using virtual titles.
The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems, as well as others, by providing a system and method for avoiding redundant copying of shared content when using virtual titles by tracking each copy transaction on both the source and destination medium utilizing a unique identifier. In a first aspect, the invention provides a virtual title copying system that prevents redundant copying of content from a source medium to a destination medium during a copy transaction, comprising: a system that determines if a content section to be copied has an associated copy transaction identifier at the source and destination medium; and a system that generates and assigns a new copy transaction identifier to the source and destination medium during the copy transaction if no copy transaction identifier exists at the source and destination medium.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a virtual title copying method that prevents redundant copying of content from a source medium to a destination medium, comprising: initiating a copy of a virtual title that points to a content section on the source medium; determining if the content section has an associated copy transaction identifier at the source and destination medium; if the associated copy transaction identifier does not exist at the source and destination medium prior to the copy transaction, then: copying the virtual title and content section to the destination medium; and generating and assigning a new copy transaction identifier to the content section at the source and destination medium; and if the associated copy transaction identifier does exist at the source and destination medium, then: creating the virtual title at the destination medium to reference an existing content section at the destination medium associated with the existing copy transaction identifier.
In a third aspect, the invention provides a program product stored on a recordable medium that prevents redundant copying of content from a source medium to a destination medium during a copy transaction, comprising: means for determining if a content section to be copied has an associated copy transaction identifier at the source and destination medium; and means for generating and assigning a new copy transaction identifier to the source and destination medium during the copy transaction if no copy transaction identifier exists at the source and destination medium prior to the copy transaction.
These and other features of this invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to
As noted above, it is possible that two different VTs can point to the same AVT 20. Copy transaction manager 14 prevents multiple or redundant copies of AVTs from being copied to the destination medium 16 when this situation occurs. To achieve this, copy transaction manager 14 first looks on both the source and destination medium for copy transaction (CT) data associated with the AVT 20 to be copied. If a match exists for the AVT 20 to be copied, then no actual copying of the AVT 20 is required. Instead, the virtual title 11 created on the destination medium 16 during the copy operation simply references the existing AVT 20. If no matching CT data exists for the AVT 20 to be copied, then copy transaction manager 14 copies the AVT 20 to the destination medium 16, and records the CT data on both the source and destination medium for future reference.
As shown in more detail in
Referring back to
If no matching CT identifiers exist between the source medium 12 and destination medium 16, then generating system 26 creates and assigns a new CTS 18 with a unique CT identifier 30 for the source medium 12 and a new CTD 22 with the same unique identifier 22 for the destination medium 16. Copy transaction manager 14 may also include a deletion system 28 for deleting CTS records 18 and CTD records 22 from the respective medium when the associated AVT 20 is deleted there from. Referring again to
It is understood that the systems, functions, mechanisms, methods, engines and modules described herein can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. They may be implemented by any type of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein. A typical combination of hardware and software could be a general-purpose computer system with a computer program that, when loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein. Alternatively, a specific use computer, containing specialized hardware for carrying out one or more of the functional tasks of the invention could be utilized. In a further embodiment, part or all of the invention could be implemented in a distributed manner, e.g., over a network such as the Internet.
The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods and functions described herein, and which—when loaded in a computer system—is able to carry out these methods and functions. Terms such as computer program, software program, program, program product, software, etc., in the present context mean any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: (a) conversion to another language, code or notation; and/or (b) reproduction in a different material form.
The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously, many modifications and variations are possible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined by the accompanying claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB05/52959 | 9/9/2005 | WO | 3/9/2007 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60609091 | Sep 2004 | US |