Object-aware transitions

• US 8,694,889 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2010
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tilton, James Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Hur, Ece
• Application Number:
  US12/776,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20100223554A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• Field of Search: 715/730, 715/732, 345/619, 345/473, 345/949
• US Class Current: 715/732
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/949 Animation processing method

Abstract

Approaches are described in which objects within slides are identified, automatically or by a user, and each object is individually manipulable during slide transitions. The individual manipulation applied to each object during a transition may also be automatically determined or specified by a user. The persistence of an object between slides may be taken into account in the manipulation of the object during slide transition such that objects present on both a incoming and outgoing slide are handled differently than those objects present on only one of the slides.

Claims

1. A method for animating transitions between slides in a computer-implemented slide show presentation, comprising:

providing first computer-executable code which, when executed by a processor, identifies objects on an outgoing slide and of incoming slide, wherein the objects are editable components that have been added to the respective incoming slide or outgoing slide and that can be removed from the respective incoming slide or outgoing slide;

providing second computer-executable code which, when executed by the processor, performs a comparison of the objects to identify only instances of the same objects being present on both the incoming slide and the outgoing slide, wherein the identification is based at least in part on one or more of a file name, a file extension, a path, or a file location, and wherein objects determined to be the same are categorized as being one of a hard match or a soft match, where hard matches are identical in form or only differ in appearance between the incoming slide and outgoing slide with respect to location, rotation, scale, or opacity and where soft matches differ in appearance between the incoming slide and outgoing slide in a manner that cannot be reconciled by translating, rotating, scaling, or changing the opacity of the respective object;

providing third computer-executable code which, when executed by the processor, determines a respective animation for each of the same objects identified that transitions each respective instance of a same object from how the same object appears on the outgoing slide to how it appears on the incoming slide, wherein the respective animation for hard matches comprises one or more of translating, rotating, scaling, or changing the opacity of the respective same object and wherein the respective animation for soft matches comprises a fade-out and a fade-in to transition dissimilar features; and

providing fourth computer-executable code which, when executed by the processor, displays the respective animations when the outgoing slide transitions to the incoming slide.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising providing fifth computer-executable code which, when executed by the processor, determines a respective introduction animation for each of the objects present on only the incoming slide and determines a respective removal animation for each of the objects present on only the outgoing slide.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective introduction animations each comprise one or more of increasing the opacity of the respective object, increasing the scale of the respective object, decreasing the scale of the respective object;

or sliding the respective object inward from an edge of a screen.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective removal animations each comprise one or more of decreasing the opacity of the respective object, decreasing the scale of the respective object, increasing the scale of the respective object;

or sliding the respective object outward toward an edge of a screen.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the fourth computer-executable code, when executed by the processor, displays the introduction animations and the removal animations when the outgoing slide transitions to the incoming slide.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison comprises comparing metadata associated with each identified object to identify objects that are the same.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison comprises a pairwise comparison of the identified objects.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective animations for the same objects comprise one or more of translations, rotations, changes in scale, or changes in opacity that transition a respective same object from how it appears on the outgoing slide to how the respective same object appears on the incoming slide.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective animations for the same objects do not cause the respective same objects to appear or disappear from view.

10. Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising a computer program product, the computer program product comprising routines which, when executed on a processor, perform the following:

for a plurality of objects on a first slide and a second slide, automatically determining instances of the same objects being present on the first slide and the second slide, wherein the plurality of objects are capable of being placed on or removed from either or both of the first slide and the second slide, wherein the automatic determination is based at least in part on one or more of a file name, a file extension, a path, or a file location;

characterizing objects determined to be the same on the first slide and the second slide as being either a hard match or a soft match, wherein hard matches are identical in form or only differ in appearance between the first slide and the second slide with respect to location, rotation, scale, or opacity and wherein soft matches differ in appearance between the first slide and the second slide in a manner that cannot be reconciled by translating, rotating, scaling, or changing the opacity of the respective same object;

generating an animation for each of the same objects that transitions each respective instance of a same object from how the same object appears on the first slide to how the same object appears on the second slide, wherein the respective animation for hard matches comprises one or more of translating, rotating, scaling, or changing the opacity of the respective same object and wherein the respective animation for soft matches comprises a fade-out and a fade-in to transition dissimilar features; and

displaying the animation when transitioning from the first slide to the second slide.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the animation comprises one or more of moving, rotating, resizing, or changing the opacity of the respective same object to resolve differences between the respective same object as presented on the first slide and as presented on the second slide.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein automatically determining whether the same object is present on the second slide comprises comparing at least a name of a file associated with the object.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein displaying the animation comprises drawing the respective same object along an animation path based on an animation run time.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the respective same object comprises one or more of a graphic, an image, a photo, a line drawing, a clip-art, a chart, a table, a character or string of characters, or an embedded video clip.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the plurality of objects are placed or manipulated on the respective first slide and second slide using one or more editing features of a presentation application.

16. Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising a computer program product, the computer program product comprising routines which, when executed on a processor, perform the following:

for a plurality of objects on a first slide and a second slide, identifying instances where the same object has been placed on the first slide and on the second slide of a slideshow presentation, wherein the identification is based at least in part on one or more of a file name, a file extension, a path, or a file location;

characterizing objects determined to be the same on the first slide and the second slide as being either a hard match or a soft match, wherein hard matches are identical in form or only differ in appearance between the first slide and the second slide with respect to location, rotation, scale, or opacity and wherein soft matches differ in appearance between the first slide and the second slide in a manner that cannot be reconciled by translating, rotating, scaling, or changing the opacity of the respective same object

generating an animation for each of the same objects for transitioning each respective instance of a same object on both the first slide and the second slide from how the respective same object appears on the first slide to how the same object appears on the second slide, wherein the animation comprises a number of sequential steps that are determined based upon a run time associated with the animation, and wherein the respective animation for hard matches comprises one or more of translating, rotating, scaling, or changing the opacity of the respective same object and wherein the respective animation for soft matches comprises a fade-out and a fade-in to transition dissimilar features; and

displaying the animation when the first slide transitions to the second slide.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the run time generally corresponds to a transition time allotted for transitioning between the first slide and the second slide.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein identifying the respective same object as being present on the second slide comprises comparing metadata associated with the object.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the sequential steps of the animation depict incremental changes in the position, orientation, opacity or size of the respective same object.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the animation is generated based at least in part on a refresh rate associated with the transition between the first slide and the second slide.