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Abstract

The present invention comprises a system for delivering an interactive multimedia work from a storage device, for example a hard disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, a network server, etc. to a playback device, for example a personal computer, in a manner that provides improved performance regardless of the playback sequence selected by a user. In one embodiment of the present invention, for each segment of an interactive multimedia work, a probability factor is assigned to each possible alternative succeeding segment. In addition a retrieval and delivery time cost factor is also assigned to each possible succeeding segment. In one embodiment of the invention, the time cost factor for each resource is assigned a fixed value. In another embodiment, the time cost factor is recalculated periodically to reflect changes in location and status of resources. The probability and time cost factor for each possible succeeding segment are combined to produce a relative priority ranking. Resources for the possible succeeding segments are pre-loaded according to the relative priority ranking. As a result, the latency time between the time a segment is selected as a result of user input and the time at which execution of the segment begins is reduced and the performance of a multimedia work improved. In one embodiment of the invention, in addition to delivering resources in the order of a relative priority ranking, the resources are also stored according to the relative priority ranking, thereby reducing the average seek time needed to find and retrieve resources and further improving playback performance.

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First Claim