Patent ID: 7283881

Claim:
A method comprising: maintaining a pool of memory available for allocation to a plurality of transform filters executing at a privileged level; allocating a portion of the pool of memory to one of the plurality of transform filters to use to store audio data, wherein the portion comprises sufficient memory to store a data structure including: a data portion that can include one of: audio data, a pointer to a chain of additional data structures that include the audio data, and a pointer to a data buffer; a structure byte count portion that identifies the size of the data structure; a channel group portion that identifies which of a plurality of channel groups the data identified in the data portion corresponds to; a presentation time portion indicating when audio data is to be rendered; a flag portion indicating whether the data portion includes either the pointer to the chain of additional data structures or one of either the audio data or the pointer to the data buffer; and an event byte count portion that identifies, if the data portion does not include the pointer to the chain of additional data structures, whether the data portion includes the audio data or a pointer to the data buffer; and returning the allocated portion to the pool of memory after the plurality of transform filters have finished processing the audio data.