Creating a theme used by an authoring application to produce a multimedia presentation

• US 7,840,905 B1
• Filed: 12/20/2003
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Alsina, Thomas, Weber, Ralf
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Núñez; Jordany
• Application Number:
  US10/742,957
• Time in Patent Office: 2,530 Days
• Field of Search: 715/765, 715/500, 345/619
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

A menu theme is created using a menu theme description file that contains a general description of each object (such as a drop zone area, selectable menu buttons, menu title, theme background, etc.) contained in the menu theme. In addition, the menu theme description file contains a path to one or more patch files for each object in the menu theme, the patch file being used to render the object. The patch file contains a description of an arrangement of modules including a list of the modules and relationships between them. In some embodiments, a patch file is created using a composer application that displays a graphical representation of the patch file and translates the graphical representation to a textual representation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining a set of objects to be included in a menu theme template for producing a multimedia menu comprising a plurality of user-selectable menu controls for navigating a multimedia presentation, said set of objects comprising a drop zone area object for receiving and displaying content selected by a user while the multimedia menu is being authored,

wherein said defining comprises defining properties for the set of objects in a menu theme description file;

defining a set of modules for rendering the set of objects, each module providing a particular functionality for rendering a particular object in the set of objects;

defining a set of paths to said set of modules; and

defining a rendering engine for compositing a user-editable version of the menu theme template based on the properties defined in the menu theme description file and the set of objects rendered according to the set of modules, said rendering engine using the set of paths to identify the set of modules, said menu theme template for allowing the user to author the multimedia menu.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the properties of the drop zone area object comprise position and size of the drop zone area object in the menu theme template.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendered drop zone area object in the menu theme template comprises an area for displaying the content that is dropped into the drop zone area object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the properties are defined in Extensible Markup Language (XML).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the set of paths comprise comprises defining a patch file that comprises a description of the set of modules and relationships between the set of modules.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of modules comprises a special effect module, wherein the drop zone is further for displaying the content by using the special effect module to apply a visual effect to the content.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the menu theme description file in a menu theme bundle; and

storing one or more content files in the menu theme bundle.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining a reference to a content file in the menu theme description file, wherein said reference comprises data for importing said content file.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the content file comprises data of a multimedia graphic, animation movie, or audio clip.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a particular object in the menu theme template comprises at least two components, and

said defining said set of paths comprises creating a path to multiple sets of data for each component of the particular object, wherein each of said sets of data is for rendering a component of the particular object.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of objects further comprises a selectable menu button having at least one of a textual component and a graphical component.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the graphic component comprises a drop zone area for allowing the user to select a multimedia graphic to be presented in the graphic component by dropping the multimedia graphic into the drop zone area.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the drop zone area object is an object having a drop zone area that allows the user to view the content in the drop zone area when the drop zone area receives the content selected by the user.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said set of paths comprises, for each object, a path to a patch file that is used to render the object.

15. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor, the computer program comprising:

a set of instructions for defining a set of objects to be included in a menu theme template for producing a multimedia menu comprising a plurality of user-selectable menu controls for navigating a multimedia presentation, said set of objects comprising a drop zone area object for receiving and displaying content selected by a user while the multimedia menu is being authored, wherein said set of instructions for defining the set of object comprises a set of instructions for defining properties for the set of objects in a menu theme description file;

a set of instructions for defining a set of modules for rendering the set of objects, each module providing a particular functionality for rendering a particular object in the set of objects;

a set of instructions for defining a set of paths to said set of modules; and

a set of instructions for defining a rendering engine for compositing a user-editable version of the menu theme template based on the properties defined in the menu theme description file and the set of objects rendered according to the set of modules, said rendering engine using the set of paths to identify the set of modules, said menu theme template for allowing the user to author the multimedia menu.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the rendered drop zone area object in the menu theme template comprises an area for displaying the content that is dropped into the drop zone area object.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the properties are defined in Extensible Markup Language (XML).

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of instructions for defining the set of paths comprises a set of instructions for defining a patch file that comprises a description of the set of modules and relationships between the set of modules.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of modules comprises a special effect module, wherein the drop zone is further for displaying the content by using the special effect module to apply a visual effect to the content.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer program further comprises:

a set of instructions for storing the menu theme description file in a menu theme bundle; and

a set of instructions for storing one or more content files in the menu theme bundle.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for defining a reference to a content file in the menu theme description file, wherein said reference comprises data for importing said content file.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the content file comprises data of a multimedia graphic, animation movie, or audio clip.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein:

a particular object in the menu theme template comprises at least two components, and

said set of instructions for defining said set of paths comprises a set of instructions for creating a path to multiple sets of data for each component of the particular object, wherein each of said sets of data is for rendering a component of the particular object.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of objects further comprises a selectable menu button having at least one of a textual component and a graphical component.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the graphic component comprises a drop zone area for allowing the user to select a multimedia graphic to be presented in the graphic component by dropping the multimedia graphic into the drop zone area.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the drop zone area object is an object having a drop zone area that allows the user to view the content in the drop zone area when the drop zone area receives the content selected by the user.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein said set of paths comprises, for each object, a path to a patch file that is used to render the object.

16. The computer readable medium of 15, wherein the properties of the drop zone area object comprise position and size of the drop zone area object in the menu theme template.

29. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a storage storing;

a menu theme library comprising a menu theme template that includes a set of objects for producing a multimedia menu comprising a plurality of user-selectable menu controls for navigating a multimedia presentation, said set of objects comprising a drop zone area object for receiving and displaying content selected by a user while the multimedia menu is being authored, wherein properties for the set of objects are defined in a menu theme description file;

a set of modules identified by a set of paths for rendering the set of objects, each module providing a particular functionality for rendering a particular object in the set of objects; and

a rendering engine for compositing a user-editable version of the menu theme template based on the properties defined in the menu theme description file and the set of objects rendered according to the set of modules, said rendering engine using the set of paths to identify the set of modules, said menu theme template for allowing the user to author the multimedia menu.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the properties of the drop zone area object comprise position and size of the drop zone area object in the menu theme template.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the rendered drop zone area object in the menu theme template comprises an area for displaying the content that is dropped into the drop zone area object.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the properties are defined in Extensible Markup Language (XML).

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the set of paths is defined in a patch file that comprises a description of the set of modules and relationships between the set of modules.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein the set of modules comprises a special effect module, wherein the drop zone is further for displaying the content by using the special effect module to apply a visual effect to the content.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the storage further stores:

a menu theme bundle for storing (i) the menu theme description file and (ii) one or more content files.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein a reference to a content file is defined in the menu theme description file, wherein said reference comprises data for importing said content file.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the content file comprises data of a multimedia graphic, animation movie, or audio clip.

38. The system of claim 29, wherein the set of objects further comprises a selectable menu button having at least one of a textual component and a graphical component.