Patent ID: 7712106

Claim:
A method implemented at a computing device having a processor and cache memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the method comprising: generating, at the computing device, a source chain for use in a development project, the source chain comprising a series of filters to process and render media content, wherein generating the source chain comprises: associating the source chain with a source required to support execution of the development project; searching one or more caches to determine whether the source chain associated with the source is available within the one or more caches; in an event the source chain is available, retrieving the source chain for integration within the development project, wherein the source chain is retrieved from a memory location denoted by an associated one or more pointers in the one or more caches; and in an event the source chain is not available, assembling the source chain by identifying processing objects required to pre-process the media content provided by the source in accordance with development project definitions; and caching the source chain when it is not currently required in the development project, wherein caching the source chain comprises: generating an identifier which is uniquely assigned to the source chain; and storing the identifier along with a pointer to memory occupied by the source chain in a cache of pointers, wherein the source chain is cached only in an event it is subsequently required in the development project, or a future development project.