US 7,624,021 B2 · Universal container for audio data

Abstract

Storing audio data encoded in any of a plurality of different audio encoding formats is enabled by parametrically defining the underlying format in which the audio data is encoded, in audio format and packet table chunks. A flag can be used to manage storage of the size of the audio data portion of the file, such that premature termination of an audio recording session does not result in an unreadable corrupted file. This capability can be enabled by initially setting the flag to a value that does not correspond to a valid audio data size and that indicates that the last chunk in the file contains the audio data. State information for the audio data, to effectively denote a version of the file, and a dependency indicator for dependent metadata, may be maintained, where the dependency indicator indicates the state of the audio data on which the metadata is dependent.

Claims44

Dependent claims

A method for handling audio information, comprising:

storing a set of chunks in a single audio file, wherein said set of chunks includes an audio data chunk and a plurality of metadata chunks;
wherein each chunk of said set of chunks includes metadata indicating a chunk size;
storing, as part of said single audio file, a flag that initially is in a first state to indicate that a last chunk in said single audio file is said audio data chunk that contains audio data;
while parsing said single audio file, a computing device performing the steps of determining whether said flag is in said first state;
and
if said flag is in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk based on a file size of said single audio file and a starting position of said last chunk in said single audio file;
and
if said flag is not in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk by reading audio data chunk size information stored in said single audio file.

5 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

storing a set of chunks in a single audio file, wherein said set of chunks includes an audio data chunk and a plurality of metadata chunks;
wherein each chunk of said set of chunks includes metadata indicating a chunk size;
storing, as part of said audio file, a flag that initially is in a first state to indicate that a last chunk in said single audio file is said audio data chunk that contains audio data;
while parsing said single audio file, performing the steps of determining whether said flag is in said first state;
and
if said flag is in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk based on a file size of said single audio file and a starting position of said last chunk in said single audio file;
and
if said flag is not in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk by reading audio data chunk size information stored in said single audio file.

5 more elements

A method for storing audio information, the method comprising:

storing a set of chunks in a single audio file, wherein said set of chunks includes an audio data chunk and a plurality of metadata chunks;
wherein said audio data chunk includes packets that correspond to a stream of encoded audio;
wherein each chunk of said set of chunks includes metadata indicating
a chunk version;
a chunk size;
and
a chunk type;
wherein said set of chunks includes a format chunk that precedes said audio data chunk in said single audio file, said format chunk including metadata indicating a number of sample frames per second of said audio data in said stream;
data indicating the general kind of data in said stream;
how many bytes are in each packet of data;
how many sample frames are in each packet of data;
how many channels are in each frame of data;
how many bits of sample data are for each channel in a frame of data;
wherein at least one of said metadata chunks includes a flag that initially is in a first state to indicate that a last chunk in said single audio file is said audio data chunk that contains said audio data;
while parsing said single audio file, a computing device performing the steps of determining whether said flag is in said first state;
and
if said flag is in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk based on a file size of said single audio file and a starting position of said last chunk in said single audio file;
and
if said flag is not in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk by reading audio data chunk size information stored in said single audio file;
storing, as part of said single audio file,
metadata information that includes one or more metadata values that have a dependency on a particular state of said audio data;
state information for said audio data that identifies a current version of said audio data;
and
one or more dependency indicators, wherein each of the one or more dependency indicators is associated with one or more of said one or more metadata values, wherein each dependency indicator identifies a version of the audio data on which the one or more metadata values that are associated with said each dependency indicator are dependent;
changing said state information in response to changes made to said audio data;
and
while parsing said single audio file, a computing device determining whether a metadata value of said one or more metadata values is valid based on a comparison between a dependency indicator associated with said metadata value and said state information for said audio data.

24 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

storing a set of chunks in a single audio file, wherein said set of chunks includes an audio data chunk and a plurality of metadata chunks;
wherein said audio data chunk includes packets that correspond to a stream of encoded audio;
wherein each chunk of said set of chunks includes metadata indicating
a chunk version;
a chunk size;
and
a chunk type;
wherein said set of chunks includes a format chunk that precedes said audio data chunk in said single audio file, said format chunk including metadata indicating a number of sample frames per second of said audio data in said stream;
data indicating the general kind of data in said stream;
how many bytes are in each packet of data;
how many sample frames are in each packet of data;
how many channels are in each frame of data;
how many bits of sample data are for each channel in a frame of data;
wherein at least one of said metadata chunks includes a flag that initially is in a first state to indicate that a last chunk in said single audio file is said audio data chunk that contains said audio data;
while parsing said single audio file, performing the steps of determining whether said flag is in said first state;
and
if said flag is in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk based on a file size of said single audio file and a starting position of said last chunk in said single audio file;
and
if said flag is not in said first state, then determining a size for said audio data chunk by reading audio data chunk size information stored in said single audio file;
storing, as part of said single audio file,
metadata information that includes one or more metadata values that have a dependency on a particular state of said audio data;
state information for said audio data that identifies a current version of said audio data;
and
one or more dependency indicators, wherein each of the one or more dependency indicators is associated with one or more of said one or more metadata values, wherein each dependency indicator identifies a version of the audio data on which the one or more metadata values that are associated with said each dependency indicator are dependent;
changing said state information in response to changes made to said audio data;
and
while parsing said single audio file, determining whether a metadata value of said one or more metadata values is valid based on a comparison between a dependency indicator associated with said metadata value and said state information for said audio data.

24 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Universal container for audio data

Life of this patent

Universal container for audio data

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims44