Media-editing application with anchored timeline

• US 8,910,046 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2011
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Matsuda, Ken, Cerf, Dave, Khan, Itrat U., Diephouse, Matthew D., Meaney, Brian, De Marco, Vincenzo, McCommons, Jordan P., LaSalle, Louis
• Primary Examiner(s): ABDUL-ALI, OMAR R
• Application Number:
  US13/151,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20120210230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: 715/723, 715/724, 715/725
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

A media application of some embodiments includes a timeline, which is a composite display area for displaying media clips that are part of the composite media presentation. The timeline of some embodiments includes a primary lane called a spine as well as one or more anchor lanes. The spine represents a primary sequence of media, which, in some embodiments, does not have any gaps. When a clip is deleted or removed from the timeline, the media-editing applications automatically closes the gap created in place of the clip. The clips in the anchor lanes are anchored to a particular position along the spine. Anchor lanes may be used for compositing (e.g., removing portions of one video and showing a different video in those portions), B-roll cuts (i.e., cutting away from the primary video to a different video whose clip is in the anchor lane), audio clips, or other composite presentation techniques.

Claims

1. A method of defining a media-editing application for creating a composite media presentation from a plurality of media clips, the method comprising:

defining a composite display area for placing media clips to specify the composite media presentation; and

in the composite display area;

defining a central compositing lane for placing a primary sequence of media clips; and

defining above and below the central compositing lane a set of anchor lanes for placing media clips that are anchored to the media clips in the primary sequence by a set of anchors, wherein an anchored media clip in an anchor lane is anchored to a media clip in the primary sequence by an anchor having a position that defines a relationship between media contents of the anchored media clip and the media clip in the primary sequence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an anchor lane in the composite display area is for placing different media clips of different media types.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of anchor lanes includes two or more anchor lanes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the central compositing lane is for placing different media clips of different media types.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining a preview display area for displaying the composite media presentation; and

in the composite display area;

defining a first playhead for specifying editing positions; and

defining a second playhead for (i) tracking cursor position, (ii) associating cursor position with frames of the composite media presentation, and (iii) causing the associated frames to be displayed in the preview display area.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining a clip browser for displaying media clips available for bringing into the composite display area; and

defining a tool for selectively extracting one type of media content from a media clip from the clip browser to the composite display area as a new media clip.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining a customizing tool for changing appearances of the media clips displayed in the composite display area.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a media clip placed in the composite display area includes at least one of an audio waveform and a thumbnail of an image, the method further comprising defining a customizing tool for changing ratios between the audio waveform and the thumbnail in a media clip displayed in the composite display area.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a media clip displayed in the composite display area includes a waveform that represents audio content of the media clip, the method further comprising defining a tool for adjusting the waveform of the media clip in order to control volume level of the audio content of the media clip.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a media clip displayed in the composite display area includes a waveform that represents audio content of the media clip and a set of thumbnail images that represents video content of the media clip, the method further comprising defining a tool for visually separating the waveform away from the set of thumbnails of the media clip.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a media clip displayed in the composite display area includes a waveform that represents audio content of the media clip and a set of thumbnail images that represents video content of the media clip, the method comprising defining a tool for separating the audio content of the media clip from the media clip as a separate media clip.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of anchor lanes and the central compositing lane comprise visual indications for visually distinguishing an anchor lane from the central compositing lane.

13. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a media-editing application for creating a composite media presentation from a plurality of media clips, the application comprising:

a composite display area for placing media clips to specify the composite media presentation, the composite display area including;

a primary lane for placing a primary sequence of media clips; and

a plurality of secondary lanes for placing media clips that are anchored to media clips in the primary lane by a set of anchors, wherein a media clip in a secondary lane is anchored to a media clip in the primary sequence by an anchor having a position that defines a relationship between media contents of the anchored media clip and the media clip in the primary sequence.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein a secondary lane in the composite display area is for placing different media clips of different media types.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein a set of secondary lanes includes two or more secondary lanes.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the primary lane is for placing different media clips of different media types.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a tool for inserting a media clip between two adjacent media clips of the primary sequence placed in the primary lane.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a tool for appending a media clip to a last media clip of the primary sequence placed in the primary lane.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a tool for replacing a first media clip in the primary sequence placed in the primary lane with a second media clip.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a tool for replacing a set of media clips displayed in the composite display area into a compound media clip, wherein the compound media clip represents the set of media clips.

21. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a tool for receiving timecode values and performing editing operations on the composite media presentation based on the received timecode values.

22. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises:

a preview display area for displaying the composite media presentation; and

a playhead for (i) tracking acursor position within the composite display area, (ii) associating the cursor position with frames of the composite media presentation, and (iii) causing the associated frames to be displayed in the preview display area, wherein the preview display area concurrently displays two frames associated with the cursor position.

23. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a clip browser for displaying media clips available for bringing into the composite display area, wherein when a first media clip is brought from the clip browser to the composite display area using a cursor and anchored to a second media clip in the primary sequence, a position of an anchor that connects the first media clip to the second media clip is determined based on a position of the cursor relative to the first media clip.

24. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises a tool for changing a position of an anchor relative to an anchored clip.

25. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises:

a preview display area for displaying the composite media presentation;

a playhead for (i) tracking a cursor position within the composite display area, (ii) associating the cursor position with frames of the composite media presentation, and (iii) causing the associated frames to be displayed in the preview display area; and

a tool for determining frames to display in the preview display area based on the cursor position.

26. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the application further comprises:

a playhead for specifying editing positions in the composite display area; and

a tool for placing the playhead to the left of the left-most media clip of the composite media presentation displayed in the composite display area in response to a click operation performed on a region of the composite display area that is to the left of the left-most media clip of the composite media presentation.

27. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 26, wherein the tool is further for placing the playhead at a position within the composite display area on which a click operation is performed.

28. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a media-editing application for creating a composite media presentation, the media-editing application comprises sets of instructions for:

displaying a first plurality of media clips in a central compositing lane of a composite display area, wherein the first plurality of media clips is part of a primary sequence of media clips;

displaying a second plurality of media clips in an anchor lane of the composite display area, wherein each media clip in the second plurality of media clips is anchored with an anchor to a media clip in the central compositing lane;

associating a set of media clips in the anchor lane to form a secondary sequence of media clips; and

replacing a set of anchors corresponding to the set of media clips with an anchor that anchors the set of media clips to a media clip in the central compositing lane.

29. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the set of instructions for associating the set of media clips comprise a set of instructions for creating a container for the set of media clips in the anchor lane, wherein the replacing anchor anchors the container to the media clip in the central compositing lane.

30. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 29, wherein the container for the set of media clips is a compositing lane for the set of media clips.

31. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein each sequence of media clips does not have gaps among the media clips in the sequence.

32. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the set of instructions for associating comprises a set of instructions for creating placeholder media clips to display in place of any gaps existed between two media clips in the set of media clips in the anchor lane before forming the secondary sequence of media clips.

33. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the media-editing application further comprises a set of instructions for inserting the secondary sequence of media clips between two media clips in the central compositing lane.

34. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the media-editing application further comprises a set of instructions for appending the secondary sequence of media clips to the primary sequence of media clips in the central compositing lane.