Patent ID: 7103677

Claim:
A multi-media editing system comprising: a first software-implemented matrix switch comprising one or more first input pins and one or more first output pins, the one or more first input pins being routable to the one or more first output pins, the first matrix switch being configured to process one or more uncompressed data streams and output an uncompressed output data stream; a second software-implemented matrix switch comprising one or more second input pins and one or more second output pins, the one or more second input pins being routable to the one or more second output pins, the second matrix switch being configured to process one or more compressed data streams and output a compressed output data stream; and a third software-implemented matrix switch comprising multiple third input pins and multiple third output pins, the multiple third input pins being routable to the multiple third output pins, the third matrix switch being configured to receive the uncompressed output data stream from the first switch and the compressed output data stream from the second switch and process the uncompressed output and the compressed output streams to provide a single compressed output data stream that represents a user-defined multi-media editing project in which a user can construct said editing project by operating one or more sources of multimedia content that provide said one or more uncompressed and said one or more compressed data streams, wherein at least one of said first, second and third matrix switches comprises a scalable plurality of said first, second and third input pins and a scalable plurality of said first, second and third output pins, wherein individual input pins of said scalable plurality of said first, second and third input pins can be iteratively coupled to individual output pins of said scalable plurality of said first, second and third output pins based at least in part on the user's operation on said one or more sources of multimedia content; a software-implemented compressor element coupled with the third switch and configured to receive and compress the output uncompressed stream into a second compressed output data stream; and a feedback path between the compressor element and an input pin of the third switch configured to provide the second compressed output data stream to the third switch's input pin.