Patent ID: 7712108

Claim:
A system comprising: one or more computer-readable media; an application program interface embodied on the one or more computer-readable media and which can be utilized to present a presentation; the application program interface comprising: a plurality of open methods that can be called by an application, the open methods comprising a parameter for specifying a destination for the presentation, a parameter for specifying a full topology to be used for the presentation, and at least a parameter for specifying a data source for the presentation; wherein collectively, the parameters for specifying a data source enable data sources to be specified in different manners, wherein said one parameter for specifying the data source specifies a partial topology object that defines sources, sinks, and transforms to be used in the presentation, wherein the partial topology is converted into a full topology if the application did not provide the parameter for specifying the full topology to be used for the presentation as part of the call to the open method; a plurality of methods that enable the media engine to configure a media session for a presentation, wherein a media session provides an API for building, configuring, and manipulating a pipeline of components for media flow control between an origin and one or more destinations; a method for ascertaining the state of the media engine that causes the presentation to be presented; a method for ascertaining capabilities of the media engine; a method to start processing media samples that are the subject of the presentation; a method to stop processing media samples; and a method to pause media sample processing.