APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INTELLIGENT MULTIMEDIA COMPRESSION AND DISTRIBUTION

1 . A method comprising:

storing multimedia content compressed using a first compression type in an interim storage buffer, said first compression type being that at which said compressed multimedia content was transmitted by a multimedia content broadcaster;

converting said compression type of said multimedia content from said first compression type to a second compression type; and

storing said multimedia content compressed using said second compression type in a long term storage buffer.

2 . The method as in claim 1 wherein converting comprises:

decompressing said multimedia content compressed using said first compression type; and

recompressing said multimedia content using said second compression type, said second compression type providing relatively greater compression than said first compression type.

3 . The method as in claim 1 wherein converting is performed as a background task.

4 . The method as in claim 1 wherein said first compression type is DV25 compression and said second compression type is MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4.

5 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising streaming said multimedia content from said long term storage buffer to a decompression module and then to a multimedia rendering device responsive to a user request to view said multimedia content.

6 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising automatically streaming said multimedia content remaining in said interim storage buffer to a decompression module once said compressed multimedia content stored in said long term storage buffer has been streamed to said rendering device, if any multimedia content remains in said interim storage buffer when said long term storage buffer is empty.

7 . The method as in claim 1 wherein said multimedia content is broadcast video content.

8 . The method as in claim 7 wherein said broadcast video content is transmitted from a cable television provider.

9 . The method as in claim 7 wherein said broadcast video content is a Webcast transmitted over a data network.

10 . The method as in claim 7 wherein said broadcast video content is transmitted from a satellite content provider.

11 . The method as in claim 7 wherein decompression of said multimedia content compressed at said second compression type is performed in real time by a general purpose processor.

12 . The method as in claim 1 wherein said first compression type is MPEG-2 and said second compression type is Real Video 8.

13 . A method comprising:

compressing an incoming multimedia signal in real time to produce first-compressed multimedia content;

storing said first-compressed multimedia content;

converting said first-compressed multimedia content to second-compressed multimedia content having a different compression format than said first-compressed multimedia content; and

storing said second-compressed multimedia content.

14 . The method as in claim 13 wherein at said different compression format is selected by a user.

15 . The method as in claim 13 further comprising:

decompressing said second-compressed multimedia content prior to transmitting said multimedia content to a multimedia rendering device.

16 . The method as in claim 15 further comprising:

decompressing said first-compressed multimedia content after said second-compressed multimedia content has been decompressed and transmitted.

17 . The method as in claim 13 wherein converting comprises converting said first-compressed multimedia content to said second-compressed multimedia content as a background task.

18 . The method as in claim 13 wherein said first-compressed multimedia content is compressed using intra-frame coding and said second-compressed multimedia content is compressed using inter-frame coding.

19 . The method as in claim 18 wherein said intra-frame coding is DCT coding and said inter-frame coding comprises motion compensation and frame differencing.

20 . The method as in claim 18 wherein said intra-frame coding utilizes ADPCM compression and said inter-frame coding utilizes DCT-based compression.

21 . A system for storing and playing back multimedia content comprising:

means for storing multimedia content compressed using a first compression type in an interim storage buffer, said first compression type being that at which said compressed multimedia content was transmitted by a multimedia content broadcaster;

means for converting said compression type of said multimedia content from said first compression type to a second compression type; and

means for storing said multimedia content compressed using said second compression type in a long term storage buffer.

22 . The system as in claim 21 wherein the means for converting comprises:

means for decompressing said multimedia content compressed using said first compression type; and

means for recompressing said multimedia content using said second compression type, said second compression type providing relatively greater compression than said first compression type.

23 . The system as in claim 21 wherein the means for converting comprises a CPU performing a compression algorithm as a background task.

24 . The system as in claim 21 wherein said first compression type is DV25 compression and said second compression type is MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4.

25 . The system as in claim 21 further comprising means for streaming said multimedia content from said long term storage buffer to a decompression module and then to a multimedia rendering device responsive to a user request to view said multimedia content.

26 . The system as in claim 21 further comprising means for automatically streaming said multimedia content remaining in said interim storage buffer to a decompression module once said compressed multimedia content stored in said long term storage buffer has been streamed to said rendering device, if any multimedia content remains in said interim storage buffer when said long term storage buffer is empty.

27 . A system for storing and playing back multimedia content comprising:

first compression means for compressing an incoming multimedia signal in real time to produce first-compressed multimedia content;

first storage means for storing said first-compressed multimedia content;

second compression means for converting said first-compressed multimedia content to second-compressed multimedia content having a different compression format than said first-compressed multimedia content; and

second storage means for storing said second-compressed multimedia content.

28 . The system as in claim 27 further comprising:

first decompression means for decompressing said second-compressed multimedia content prior to transmitting said multimedia content to a multimedia rendering device.

29 . The system as in claim 27 further comprising:

second decompression means for decompressing said first-compressed multimedia content after said second-compressed multimedia content has been decompressed and transmitted.

30 . The system as in claim 27 wherein said first compression means comprises intra-frame coding and said second compression means comprises inter-frame coding.

31 . The system as in claim 30 wherein said intra-frame coding is DCT coding and said inter-frame coding comprises motion compensation and frame differencing.

32 . The system as in claim 30 wherein said intra-frame coding utilizes ADPCM compression and said inter-frame coding utilizes DCT-based compression.

33 . The system as in claim 27 wherein said second compression means comprises a general purpose CPU executing a compression algorithm as a background task.

34 . The system as in claim 33 wherein said second compression means further comprises one or more swap files utilized by said CPU during execution of said compression algorithm.

35 . The system of clam 27 wherein said different compression format is selected by a user.

36 . A computer-readable medium comprising program instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

storing multimedia content compressed using a first compression type in an interim storage buffer, said first compression type being that at which said compressed multimedia content was transmitted by a multimedia content broadcaster;

converting said compression type of said multimedia content from said first compression type to a second compression type; and

storing said multimedia content compressed using said second compression type in a long term storage buffer.