Multimedia player component object system

A method of presenting multimedia data to a user on a system having processor with an attached storage and a multimedia device for presenting the multimedia data to the user under the control of the processor, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) creating a multimedia component player object in the storage of the processor, the multimedia component player object including at least one port for exchanging multimedia information, and including first method commands for controlling the multimedia device and second method commands for controlling the flow of multimedia data through the at least one port;
• (b) controlling the multimedia device with the first multimedia component player object method commands;
• (c) creating a multimedia device object for connection to the multimedia device;
• (d) connecting the at least one port of the multimedia component player object, to the multimedia device object to exchange multimedia data therebetween;
• and
• (e) executing the second method commands for routing selected portions of the multimedia data from the multimedia component player object port through the multimedia device object to the multimedia device.

A multimedia framework for creating a multimedia application which processes multimedia data in response to an execution request, the multimedia framework comprising:

• a subclassable media component base class for deriving media component subclasses;
• a media sequence class for deriving media subclasses directed to particular types of multimedia content, wherein objects created from the media sequence class and subclasses thereof represent digitized multimedia data;
• a player class, derived from the media component base class, used to instantiate player objects, which comprise a data component and a member function component for performing at least one of a storing operation of a media sequence object to a storage, an accessing operation of a media sequence object from a storage, and a presenting operation of a media sequence object to a presentation device;
• means, responsive to a creation request, for instantiating a player object from the player class;
• means, responsive to a connection request, for connecting a player object into a topology of media component objects, created from the media component class and subclasses thereof;
• and
• means, responsive to the execution request, for executing the topology of media component objects.

Apparatus for presenting multimedia data to a user under control of an application program in a computer system having a processor controlled by the application program and a storage under the control of, and attached to, the processor, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a multimedia data source under control of the application program for generating a sequence of multimedia data and for storing the sequence of multimedia data in the storage;
• (b) a multimedia data presentation device;
• (c) means for creating a multimedia player component object having method commands for controlling data processing by the multimedia player component object;
• and
• (d) means, controlled by the application program, for providing the sequence of multimedia data to the multimedia player component object and for executing the data processing control method commands so that the multimedia player component object provides an application program controlled sequence of multimedia data to the multimedia data display device.

A method for displaying multimedia data under control of an application program operating in a computer system having a processor controlled by the application program, a storage and a multimedia data display device, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating a sequence of multimedia data;
• (b) storing the sequence of multimedia data in the storage;
• (c) creating a multimedia component class library having a multimedia component base class and a plurality of multimedia component subclasses derived from the multimedia component base class, each of the plurality of multimedia component subclasses corresponding to a multimedia data display device
• (d) using one of the multimedia component subclasses to create a multimedia player component object having method commands for controlling data processing by the multimedia player component object;
• (e) providing the sequence of multimedia data to the multimedia player component object;
• and
• (f) executing the data processing control method commands so that the multimedia player component object provides an application program controlled sequence of multimedia data to the multimedia data display device.