MULTI-POINT REPRESENTATION

• US 20080034325A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ording, Bas
• Granted Patent: US 8,261,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method that presents a preview of a set of images in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a device. To generate the preview, the method initially selects a subset of images that includes several images in the set but not all the images in the set. After selecting the subset of images, the method concurrently displays the images in the selected subset as the preview of the set of images.

Claims

1. A method of providing a preview of a set of images in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a device, the method comprising:

a) selecting a subset of images that includes a plurality of images in the set but not all the images in the set; and

b) concurrently displaying the selected subset of images as the preview representation of the set of images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein concurrently displaying the selected subset of images comprises concurrently displaying thumbnail version of the selected subset of images.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein concurrently displaying thumbnail version comprises displaying a single composite thumbnail that includes multiple sections, each section representing a smaller version of one of the images in the selected subset.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein concurrently displaying thumbnail version comprises displaying one thumbnail for each of a plurality of images in the selected subset.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein concurrently displaying the selected subset of image comprises displaying an icon in the GUI, said icon representing the set of images, said icon having a graphical component formed at least partially by the selected subset of images.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said icon is moveable within the GUI.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is the GUI of an operating system of the device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the GUI includes a folder structure of the operating system, wherein the folder structure includes an icon that represents the set of images, wherein said icon includes a graphical component that includes the concurrently displayed subset of images.

9. The method of claim 7,

wherein the GUI includes a nested GUI folder structure of the operating system,

wherein the nested GUI folder structure includes an icon that represents the set of images,

wherein the method further comprises receiving a selection of the icon;

wherein the concurrent displaying of the selected subset of images is after receiving the selection of the icon.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the operating system performs a search to retrieve a set of results that match a search criteria, wherein the graphical user interface displays the set of retrieved results, and the set of images are part of the retrieved results.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is the graphical user interface of an application that executes on the device, the device having an operating system that is different than the application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the application is an image editing application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of images is a video presentation.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of images is a slide presentation.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a sequence of images in the set of images after concurrently displaying the selected subset of images.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

gradually changing the concurrent display of the subset of images into a display of a single image before displaying the sequence of the images.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving input form a user to provide the display of the sequence of images after concurrently displaying the subset of images and before displaying the sequence of images.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the displayed sequence of images is a motion picture.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein concurrently displaying the subset of images comprises displaying at least one image in the subset larger than at least another image in the subset.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein one image in the subset is larger than at least two other images in the subset.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein concurrently displaying the subset of images comprises displaying all images in the subset with the same size.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the images in the subset are displayed in the same horizontal row.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein at least two different images in the subset are displayed in two different horizontal rows.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the concurrently displayed subset of images comprises concurrently displaying the images in the subset of images based on an order that the images appear in the set of images.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of images comprises selecting images in the set of images at specified intervals in the set of images.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the specified intervals are user-adjustable intervals.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of images comprises selecting images in the set of images when differences between successive images in the set exceeds a threshold to indicate a potential scene change in the motion picture.

28. A computer readable medium that stores sets of instructions for providing a preview of a set of images in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a device, the sets of instructions comprising instructions for:

a) selecting a subset of images that includes a plurality of images in the set but not all the images in the set; and

b) concurrently displaying the selected subset of images as the preview representation of the set of images.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the set of instructions for concurrently displaying the selected subset of images comprises a set of instructions for concurrently displaying thumbnail version of the selected subset of images.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the set of instructions for concurrently displaying the selected subset of image comprises a set of instructions for displaying an icon in the GUI, said icon representing the set of images, said icon having a graphical component formed at least partially by the selected subset of images.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the sets of instructions further comprising a set of instructions for displaying a sequence of images in the set of images after concurrently displaying the selected subset of images.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the sets of instructions further comprising a set of instructions for gradually changing the concurrent display of the subset of images into a display of a single image before displaying the sequence of the images.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein the sets of instructions further comprising a set of instructions for receiving input form a user to provide the display of the sequence of images after concurrently displaying the subset of images and before displaying the sequence of images.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the images are concurrently displayed based on an order that the images appear in the set of images.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the set of instructions for selecting the subset of images comprises a set of instructions for selecting images based on a set of criteria that are user-adjustable.

36. A graphical user interface (GUI) for a device, the GUI comprising:

a preview representation of a set of images,

the set of images including a subset of images that include a plurality of images in the set but not all images in the set,

said preview representation concurrently displaying the images in the subset.

37. The GUI of claim 36, wherein the concurrently displayed images includes a thumbnail version of the selected subset of images.

38. The GUI of claim 37, wherein the thumbnail version comprises a single composite thumbnail that includes multiple sections, each section representing a smaller version of one of the images in the selected subset.

39. The GUI of claim 37, wherein the thumbnail version comprises one thumbnail for each of a plurality of images in the selected subset.

40. The GUI of claim 36 further comprising an icon that represents the set of images, said icon having a graphical component formed at least partially by the concurrent display of images.

41. The GUI of claim 40, wherein said icon is moveable within the GUI.

42. The GUI of claim 36 further comprising an icon that represents the set of images, wherein the concurrent displaying of the selected subset of images is after receiving the selection of the icon.

43. The GUI of claim 36, wherein the images in the concurrent display are arranged based on an order that the images appear in the set of images.

44. A computer readable medium that stores sets of instructions for providing a preview of a presentation in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a device, the sets of instructions comprising instructions for:

a) specifying a plurality of access points for accessing a presentation having a plurality of sections; and

b) concurrently displaying the plurality of access points as a set of pictorial images, wherein each access point is user selectable and is for accessing a different section of the presentation;

c) presenting a first particular section of the presentation when a first access point is selected.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the sets of instructions further comprises a set of instructions for presenting a second particular section of the presentation when a second access point is selected.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the set of instructions for concurrently displaying the plurality of access points comprises a set of instructions for concurrently displaying a plurality of images, each particular image representing a particular access point.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein the set of instructions for specifying a plurality of access points comprises generating the plurality of images from the presentation.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 47, wherein each image is a thumbnail image of the image'"'"'s corresponding section in the presentation.

49. The computer readable medium of claim 47, wherein the presentation has multiple sections, wherein each image is an image of one section of the presentation, wherein the number of images is fewer than the number of sections.

50. A computer readable medium that stores sets of instructions for providing a preview of a presentation in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a device, the sets of instructions comprising instructions for:

a) generating a plurality of images from the presentation; and

b) concurrently displaying the plurality of images as the preview of the presentation.

51. The computer readable medium of claim 50, wherein the presentation has multiple sections, wherein each image is an image of one section of the presentation, wherein the number of images is fewer than the number of sections.

52. The computer readable medium of claim 51, wherein each image in the concurrent display is user selectable, the sets of instructions further comprising a set of instructions for presenting a particular section of the presentation when a particular image associated with the particular section is selected by a user.