Media clip auditioning used to evaluate uncommitted media content

• US 8,555,169 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2009
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pendergast, Colleen, Stikich, Michaelle, Cerf, Dave, Langmacher, Tom, Swenson, Anne, Niles, Gregory, Holland, Jerremy, Meaney, Brian, Schulz, Egan, Lyons, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUONG H
• Application Number:
  US12/433,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20100281375A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,622 Days
• Field of Search: 715/716, 715719-724, 715/726, 715730-732
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• 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 readable medium (CRM) storing a media editing application for creating media presentations is described. The application includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI has (1) a display area for displaying a composite presentation that the application creates by compositing a plurality of media clips, (2) a composite display area for displaying graphical representations of a set of media clips that are part of the composite presentation, (3) an audition display area for displaying graphical representations of a set of media clips that are candidates for adding to the composite presentation at a particular location, and (4) an audition tool for creating an audition set for a particular location in the composite display area, where the audition set is a user modifiable set of clips, each of which is for individual placement at the particular location for inclusion in the composite presentation.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

at least one processor for executing sets of instructions; and

a memory that stores a program for creating a composite media presentation, the program comprising;

sets of instructions for providing a composite display area for displaying a set of graphical representations that represent a set of committed media clips that are committed to be a part of the composite presentation;

sets of instructions for providing an audition tool for creating an audition set associated with a particular location in the composite display area, the audition set comprising a plurality of media clips associated with the particular location, wherein only one media clip of the audition set is active in the composite presentation and inactive media clips are candidates for inclusion in the composite presentation at the particular location;

sets of instructions for providing a range selector for selecting, in the composite display area, a portion of the composite presentation that includes the particular location associated with the audition set; and

sets of instructions for providing a preview display area for automatically playing back the media clips within the selected portion of the composite presentation in a loop such that the selected portion is played back a number of times based on a number of different media clips in the audition set, each playback using a different one of the media clips in the audition set.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the audition tool comprises an audition selection item for invoking an audition session.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for providing an indicator for indicating a subset of media clips in the audition set for playback in the composite presentation.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for providing an indicator for indicating which media clip of the audition set is active during playback.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the audition tool is further for creating, at the particular location in the composite display area, a graphical indication that identifies the particular location as a location in the composite display area with which an audition set is associated.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the graphical indication comprises a symbol superimposed over a particular graphical representation of the audition set.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the graphical representation of the audition set has a first visible appearance and a graphical representation of a committed media clip has a second visible appearance.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the first and second visible appearances are different colors.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the first and second visible appearances are different sizes.

10. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit creates a composite media presentation, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

providing a composite display area for displaying a set of graphical representations that represent a set of committed media clips that are committed to be a part of a composite presentation;

providing an audition tool for creating an audition set associated with a particular location in the composite display area, the audition set comprising a plurality of media clips associated with the particular location, wherein only one media clip of the audition set is active in the composite presentation and inactive media clips are candidates for inclusion in the composite presentation at the particular location;

providing a range selector for selecting, in the composite display area, a portion of the composite presentation that includes the particular location associated with the audition set; and

providing a preview display area for automatically playing back the media clips within the selected portion of the composite presentation in a loop such that the selected portion is played back a number of times based on a number of different media clips in the audition set, each playback using a different one of the media clips in the audition set.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for providing an audition selection item for invoking an audition session.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the audition selection item is further for ending an audition session.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the audition selection item is further for defining a particular media clip as a candidate for placement at a particular location in the composite display area before adding the particular media clip to the composite display area.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the particular media clip is selected from a media library using a drag and drop operation to select and drag the media clip to an audition display area.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the audition tool is further for placing at least one clip in a particular audition set for the particular location, when a user invokes the audition tool using the audition selection item, selects the particular location in the composite display area, and selects at least one clip from a media library to add to the particular audition set.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for providing an audition display area for managing and displaying the audition set.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein the audition tool is further for placing at least one clip in a particular audition set for the particular location, when a user (1) invokes the audition tool using an audition selection item, (2) selects the particular location in the composite display area, and (3) selects at least one clip from a media library to add to the particular audition set by moving the at least one clip to the audition display area.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the audition tool is further for exchanging at least one candidate media clip associated with the particular location with the active media clip.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the audition tool is further for sequentially exchanging each candidate media clip associated with the particular location with the active clip.

20. A method for providing a media-editing application for creating composite media presentations, the method comprising:

providing a composite display area for displaying a set of graphical representations that represent a set of committed media clips that are committed to be a part of a composite presentation;

providing an audition tool for creating an audition set associated with a particular location in the composite display area, the audition set comprising a plurality of media clips associated with the particular location, wherein only one media clip of the audition set is active in the composite presentation and inactive media clips are candidates for inclusion in the composite presentation at the particular location;

providing a range selector for selecting, in the composite display area, a portion of the composite presentation that includes the particular location associated with the audition set; and

providing a preview display area for automatically playing back the media clips within the selected portion of the composite presentation in a loop such that the selected portion is played back a number of times based on a number of different media clips in the audition set, each playback using a different one of the media clips in the audition set.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the audition tool is further for creating a graphical indicator at the particular location in the composite display area to identify the candidate media clips as associated with the particular location.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the graphical indicator for a committed media clip is different from the graphical indicator for the candidate media clips.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the graphical indicator for the audition set comprises a symbol placed over a particular graphical representation of the audition set.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the graphical indicator for the audition set comprises a marker over at least a section of a particular graphical representation of the audition set.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the composite display area comprises a plurality of different locations representing a plurality of different times in the composite presentation.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the composite display area further comprises a timeline for organizing the set of graphical representations that represent the set of committed media clips, wherein different locations correspond to different points along the timeline.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of media clips in the composite presentation comprises at least one audio clip and at least one video clip.

28. The method of claim 20 further comprising providing an audition commit item for removing a particular media clip from the candidate media clips and adding the particular media clip to the set of committed media clips that are committed for inclusion in the composite presentation.