Two-dimensional timeline display of media items

• US 7,954,065 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ubillos, Randy
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAO H
• Application Number:
  US11/771,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20080152298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,432 Days
• Field of Search: 715784-786, 715790-794, 715848-853, 715/748, 715763-765, 715/840
• US Class Current: 715/793
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/326 used signal is a video-frame or a video-field (P.I.P.)
• 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 computer-implemented method includes displaying, within a user interface in a digital media system, a media pane having a vertical direction and horizontal direction, displaying, within the media pane, a plurality of thumbnail groups, each thumbnail group comprising one or more thumbnails collectively representing a corresponding media item, a first thumbnail group being displayed as arranged in a first row extending across the media pane in the horizontal direction such that the first thumbnail group is displayed substantially adjacent to a first vertical edge of the media pane and subsequent thumbnail groups are displayed substantially adjacent to one another in the first row until a thumbnail group in the first row is displayed substantially adjacent to a second vertical edge of the media pane, and displaying a next thumbnail group in a second row vertically displaced from the first row.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, in a digital media system, a media item for display in a plurality of thumbnails that collectively represent the media item, wherein the media item includes a plurality of frames, and wherein each thumbnail represents a portion of the plurality of frames of the media item, each portion including at least two frames;

displaying, within a media pane that is displayed within a user interface in the digital media system, an initial one or more thumbnails of the plurality of thumbnails in a first row extending across the media pane in such that a first thumbnail of the initial one or more thumbnails is displayed substantially adjacent to a left vertical edge of the media pane and subsequent thumbnails of the initial one or more thumbnails are displayed substantially adjacent to one another to the right of the first thumbnail in the first row;

determining that a last thumbnail of the initial one or more thumbnails is displayed substantially adjacent to a second vertical edge of the media pane, and

in response to the determining, displaying a next thumbnail that follows the last thumbnail in a second row vertically displaced from the first row, wherein a position on a thumbnail corresponds to a frame included in a portion of the plurality of frames that the thumbnail represents;

detecting that a position indicator is placed at a position on a first thumbnail of the plurality of thumbnails; and

displaying, within the first thumbnail, the frame of the media item to which the position of the position indicator on the first thumbnail corresponds, in response to the detecting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an order of display of the thumbnails in the plurality of thumbnails corresponds to progression of time in the media item going from left to right in a horizontal direction and top to bottom in a vertical direction.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, within a pane adjacent to the media pane, the frame of the media item that is displayed in the first thumbnail.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second row is below the first row.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein adjacent rows are separated by a gutter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the media items comprise one or more of video clips and image stills.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of thumbnails in a row or a number of rows, or both, automatically changes in response to a user varying the size of the media pane.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein thumbnails of the plurality of thumbnails in a row are displayed continuously without a space in between adjacent thumbnails.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying another plurality of thumbnails in the media pane, wherein a first thumbnail of the other plurality of thumbnails is separated from a last thumbnail in the plurality of thumbnails by a space.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of thumbnails is variable in response to user input.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of thumbnails are hidden from display in response to user input.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the thumbnails have a uniform horizontal dimension and a uniform vertical dimension.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of thumbnails are displayed in a manner analogous to words in a word processing application user interface.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a thumbnail is assigned a time period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the time period is variable based on user input.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein altering the time period causes the number of thumbnails to be altered.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more thumbnails of the plurality of thumbnails are displaced on different vertically displayed rows.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

displaying, within a user interface in a digital media system, a media pane having a vertical direction and a horizontal direction;

displaying, within the media pane, a plurality of thumbnail groups, each thumbnail group comprising one or more thumbnails collectively representing a corresponding media item, a first thumbnail group being displayed as arranged in a first row extending across the media pane in the horizontal direction such that the first thumbnail group is displayed substantially adjacent to a first vertical edge of the media pane and subsequent thumbnail groups are displayed substantially adjacent to one another in the first row until a thumbnail group in the first row is displayed substantially adjacent to a second vertical edge of the media pane;

displaying a next thumbnail group in a second row vertically displaced from the first row;

detecting a movement of a position indicator in the horizontal direction across a thumbnail group; and

in response to the detecting, displaying a media item to which the thumbnail group corresponds within one or more thumbnails of the thumbnail group.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein an order of display of the thumbnails in the first thumbnail group corresponds to an order in which the corresponding media items were captured, wherein progression of time corresponds to positioning of the thumbnails going from left to right in the horizontal direction and top to bottom in the vertical direction.

20. The medium of claim 18, wherein the first vertical edge comprises a left edge of the media pane and the second vertical edge comprises a right edge of the media pane.

21. The medium of claim 18, wherein the second row is below the first row.

22. The medium of claim 18, wherein adjacent rows are separated by a gutter.

23. The medium of claim 18, wherein the media items comprise one or more of video clips and image stills.

24. The medium of claim 18, wherein a number of thumbnail groups in a row or a number of rows, or both, automatically changes in response to a user varying the size of the media pane.

25. The medium of claim 18, wherein thumbnails in the first thumbnail group are displayed continuously.

26. The medium of claim 18, wherein a first thumbnail of a subsequent thumbnail group displayed in the media pane is separated from a last thumbnail in a previous thumbnail group.

27. The medium of claim 18, wherein a number of thumbnails in a thumbnail group is variable in response to user input.

28. The medium of claim 18, wherein one or more thumbnail groups are hidden from display in response to user input.

29. The medium of claim 28, wherein hiding one or more thumbnail groups from display causes remaining visible thumbnail groups to be re-arranged to fill gaps corresponding to the hidden thumbnail groups.

30. The medium of claim 18, wherein each of the thumbnails have a uniform horizontal dimension and a uniform vertical dimension.

31. The medium of claim 18, wherein the thumbnail groups are displayed in a manner analogous to words in a word processing application user interface.

32. The medium of claim 18, wherein a thumbnail is assigned a time period.

33. The medium of claim 32, wherein the time period is variable based on user input.

34. The medium of claim 33, wherein altering the time period causes the number of thumbnails in a thumbnail group to be altered.

35. The medium of claim 18, wherein one or more thumbnails within a single thumbnail group are displaced on different vertically displayed rows.

36. The medium of claim 18, wherein displaying the media item to which the thumbnail group corresponds within one or more thumbnails of the thumbnail group in response to detecting the movement of the position indicator in the horizontal direction across the thumbnail group comprises displaying the media item from beginning to end or from end to beginning if the movement of the position indicator in the horizontal direction is from left to right or from right to left, respectively.