Time-based media processing system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In pursuit of these objectives, the present invention embodies a new paradigm for computational media processing which is comprised of two fundamental components: Content Representation (automatically, semi-automatically, and manually generated descriptive data that represent the content of media signals) Functional Dependency (functional relationships that operate on content representations and media signals to compute new media content) The invention combines these two techniques to create time-based media processing systems, which manipulate representations of media content in order to compute new media content.
The invention is intended to support a paradigm shift from the direct manipulation of simple temporal representations of media (frames, timecodes, etc.
), to the interactive computation of new media from higher level representations of media content and functional dependencies among them.
This paradigm of media processing and composition enables the production of traditional media (e.
g.
, movies, television programs, music videos, etc.
) to be orders of magnitude faster than current methods.
As such, uses of the invention may have fundamental consequences for the current industrial processes of media production, distribution, and reuse.
By means of content representation and functional dependency, the current invention creates a production process for computational media components which can determine what they contain, and how they can be processed, adapted, and reused.
In accordance with the present invention, a media signal is processed in a media parser to obtain descriptive representations of its contents.
Each content representation is data that provides information about the media signal, and is functionally dependent on the media signal.
Depending upon the particular data type of the content representation, different kinds of information can be obtained about the media, and different types of operations can be performed on this information and the media it is functionally dependent upon