A real-time multimedia composition layer
Stefan C. Müller, Simon Schubiger-Banz, Matthias Specht · 2006
We introduce a light-weight multimedia composition layer which is situated on top of existing music, sound, and graphics frameworks and libraries. The layer provides applications with a programming interface for multimedia composition, automating real-time media processing and synchronisation. Our work facilitates the mapping of media frameworks to a unified processing graph. We present a graph segmentation algorithm that solves the problem of communication between threads of multiple frameworks while providing global consistency and without affecting processing performance. In addition, support for logical and physical time is included and enables framework-independent realisation of complex multimedia designs. The paper discusses the layer's architecture in detail and shows how multimedia applications can efficiently exploit its capabilities.