Providing host media processing functionality to a guest operating system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024111556-A1
Application number	US-202217958106-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2022
Priority date	Sep 30, 2022
Publication date	Apr 4, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

The techniques disclosed herein enable a guest operating system (OS) to access and use a media processing component configured on a host OS. The guest OS provides, via an API, a request to create an instance of the media processing component (e.g., a codec, an encryption/decryption component, a DRM component). In association with the request, the guest OS allocates space in memory for media data that is to be processed by the instance of the media processing component configured on the host OS. The guest OS stores the input media data in the allocated memory and provides, via the API, reference(s) to locations of the allocated memory. The reference(s) to the locations of the allocated memory enable the host OS to retrieve the input media data and process the input media data using the instance of the media processing component configured on the host OS.

First claim

1 . A method implemented by a host operating system comprising:
receiving, from a guest operating system via an application programming interface, a request to perform a media processing operation using an instance of a media processing component configured on the host operating system; receiving, from the guest operating system via the application programming interface, a reference to memory allocated for input media data on which the media processing operation is to be performed using the instance of the media processing component, wherein the memory is shared between the guest operating system and the host operating system; retrieving the input media data from the memory using the reference to the memory; producing processed media data by performing the media processing operation on the input media data using the instance of the media processing component; and sending, to the guest operating system, an indication that the media processing operation has been performed on the input media data.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the media processing component configured on the host operating system implements hardware functionality that is unavailable to a corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the media processing component configured on the host operating system comprises a first type of codec; the corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system comprises a second type of codec that is different than the first type of codec; and the media processing operation comprises encoding or decoding the input media data.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the hardware functionality is implemented via hardware-accelerated encoding or decoding.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the media processing component configured on the host operating system comprises a first type of encryption/decryption component; the corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system comprises a second type of encryption/decryption component that is different than the first type of encryption/decryption component; and the media processing operation comprises encrypting or decrypting the input media data.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the media processing component configured on the host operating system comprises a first type of Digital Rights Management component; a corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system comprises a second type of Digital Rights Management component that is different than the first type of Digital Rights Management component; and the media processing operation comprises Digital Rights Management enforcement.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the input media data comprises a frame of a video and the host operating system is configured to receive the request on a per-frame basis.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a target color space for display from the guest operating system; converting the processed media data from a current color space to the target color space; and in response to the converting, rendering the processed media data for display in the target color space.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating, based on the request, the instance of the media processing component.

10 . A method implemented by a guest operating system comprising:
sending, to a host operating system via an application programming interface, a request to perform a media processing operation using an instance of a media processing component configured on the host operating system; storing input media data in memory shared between the guest operating system and the host operating system; sending, to the host operating system via the application programming interface, a reference to the memory, the reference to the memory enabling the host operating system to retrieve the input media data and to perform the media processing operation on the input media data using the instance of the media processing component configured on the host operating system; and receiving, from the host operating system, an indication that the media processing operation has been performed on the input media data.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising allocating, in association with the request, the memory shared between the guest operating system and the host operating system.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the media processing component configured on the host operating system implements hardware functionality that is unavailable to a corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the media processing component configured on the host operating system comprises a first type of codec; the corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system comprises a second type of codec that is different than the first type of codec; and the media processing operation comprises encoding or decoding the input media data.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the hardware functionality is implemented via hardware-accelerated encoding or decoding.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the media processing component configured on the host operating system comprises a first type of encryption/decryption component; the corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system comprises a second type of encryption/decryption component that is different than the first type of encryption/decryption component; and the media processing operation comprises encrypting or decrypting the input media data.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the media processing component configured on the host operating system comprises a first type of Digital Rights Management component; a corresponding media processing component configured on the guest operating system comprises a second type of Digital Rights Management component that is different than the first type of Digital Rights Management component; and the media processing operation comprises Digital Rights Management enforcement.

17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the input media data comprises a frame of a video and the guest operating system is configured to provide the request on a per-frame basis.

18 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
loading a plugin to create the application programming interface; and performing an enumeration operation, via the plugin, to identify a type of the media processing component configured on the host operating system.

19 . A device comprising:
a processing system; and computer-readable storage media storing a host operating system that, when executed by the processing system, cause the device to:
receive, from a guest operating system via an application programming interface, a request to perform a media processing operation using an instance of a media processing component configured on the host operating system;
receive, from the guest operating system via the application programming interface, a reference to memory allocated for input media data on which the media processing operation is to be performed using the instance of the media processing component, wherein the memory is shared between the guest operating system and the host operating system;
retrieve the input media data from the memory using the reference to the memory;
produce processed media data by performing the m

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Polinger Anton Victor
• Stankiewicz Marcin
• Pathirana Isuru Chamara
• Rajeev Kumar
• Sharma Isha
• Evans Glenn Frederick
• Wozniak Matthew R

Classifications

• G06F9/45545 Primary

  Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45583

  Memory management, e.g. access or allocation · CPC title

• G06F2009/45587

  Isolation or security of virtual machine instances · CPC title