Patent ID: 7555540

Claim:
A method of processing multimedia data, the method comprising: generating a topology of connections between one or more multimedia components in a topology generating element, the topology describing the one or more multimedia components, and the connections between them, including a set of input multimedia streams, one or more sources for the input multimedia streams, a sequence of operations to perform on the multimedia data, and a set of output multimedia streams; transmitting, by a media session, the topology to a media processor, wherein the media processor and the topology generating element are controlled by the media session and wherein the media session is controlled by a media engine that provides an interface to a control application; implementing, by the media processor, the topology by instantiating and setting up the one or more multimedia components as described by the topology, implemented topology of one or more multimedia components operable to process the multimedia data; and passing the multimedia data according to the implemented topology, the passing governed by the media processor wherein the media processor is responsible for communications between the one or more multimedia components and wherein the multimedia data flows between the media processor and the one or more multimedia components rather than directly between the one or more multimedia components themselves, wherein the multimedia data flows from the one or more sources into the media session and then out of the media session and into the media processor where the multimedia data is passed between the media processor and the one or more multimedia components and then out of the media processor and into a media sink.