Sharing images and comments across different devices

• US 9,116,596 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Roman, Peter W., Dickens, Joshua B., Dellinger, Richard R.
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US13/631,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20130332855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,060 Days
• Field of Search: 715/751, 715/753, 715/764, 715/765, 715/810, 715/835, 715/838, 705/319, 709/204
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Some embodiments provide tools that allow a user to share content on one device with multiple other users using different devices. To facilitate the sharing operations, the content sharing tools allow the user to (1) create a shared stream that represents a set of shared content and (2) invite one or more recipients to subscribe to the shared stream. When a recipient subscribes to the shared stream, the set of content is streamed across one or more of his or her devices. The content sharing tools of some embodiments can be used to exchange comments regarding the stream'"'"'s content.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing sets of instructions that when executed by at least one processing unit of a device provides a user interface (UI) for sharing a plurality of image streams, each image stream created by a subscriber and shared by one or more other subscribers, the UI comprising:

a first display area for displaying a plurality of images;

a set of image sharing tools for (i) receiving a selection of a set of images from the first display area to create an image stream, (ii) sharing the set of images with a group of subscriber devices, and (iii) exchanging comments with the group of subscriber devices regarding the set of images in the created image stream and images in one or more image streams created by other subscriber devices; and

a second display area for displaying a notification regarding a new comment associated with a shared image, wherein the notification is displayed on a subscriber device that created the image stream comprising the shared image and on a subscriber device that has previously left a comment regarding the shared image, wherein the notification is not displayed on a subscriber device that has not created the image stream comprising the shared image and has not previously left a comment regarding the shared image.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the UI further comprises a selectable item that when selected causes the first display area to display images that are shared with the group of subscriber devices and exclude any images that are not shared with the group of subscriber devices.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein each image that is associated with at least one comment is displayed in the first display area with a marking or number that identifies a number of comments associated with the image.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein each image that is associated with at least one comment is displayed in the first display area with a marking that indicates whether the image is associated with at least one unread comment or is not associated with any unread comment.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 4, wherein the marking is displayed in a first color to indicate that the image is associated with at least one unread comment or is displayed in a second different color to indicate that the image is not associated with any unread comment.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein each image that is associated with a plurality of comments is displayed in the first display area with a marking that identifies whether the subscriber device has previously left at least one comment regarding the same image.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the notification is displayed with at least one of the new comment, a name of the subscriber that posted the new comment, a thumbnail representation of the image associated with the new comment.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein a selection of the notification causes the image associated with the new comment to be displayed in the first display area with the new comment.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of image sharing tools comprises a selectable item that when selected associates an image in the set of images with a marking that indicates a liking of the image.

10. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing sets of instructions that when executed by at least one processing unit of a device provides a user interface (UI) for sharing a plurality of image streams, each image stream created by a subscriber and shared by one or more other subscribers, the UI comprising:

a display area for displaying a plurality of images; and

a set of image sharing tools for (i) receiving a selection of a set of images from the display area, (ii) sharing the set of images with a group of subscriber devices, (iii) exchanging comments with the group of subscriber devices regarding the set of image, and (iv) displaying a unitary multi-state marker on each image that is associated with a set of comments regarding the image, the multi-state marker displayed on each image comprising;

a first state to indicate that the subscriber device has previously left at least one comment regarding the image and the image is associated with at least one unread comment, and

a second state to indicate that the subscriber device has not previously left any comments regarding the image and the image is associated with at least one unread comment.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, the UI further comprising a selectable item that when selected causes the display area to display images that are shared with the group of subscriber devices and exclude any images that are not shared with the group of subscriber devices.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the multi-state marker further comprises a number that identifies a number of comments associated with the image.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the multi-state marker is displayed in a first color to indicate that the image is associated with at least one unread comment or is displayed in a second different color to indicate that the image is not associated with any unread comment.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the display area is a first display area, wherein the UI further comprises a second display area to display a notification regarding a new comment associated with an image in the set of images.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the notification is displayed with at least one of the new comment, a name of the subscriber that posted the new comment, a thumbnail representation of the image associated with the new comment.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein a selection of the notification in the second display area causes the image associated with the new comment to be displayed in the first display area with the new comment.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the notification is displayed on a subscriber device that created the image stream comprising the image associated with the new comment and on a subscriber device that has previously left a comment regarding the image associated with the new comment, wherein the notification is not displayed on a subscriber device that has not created the image stream comprising the shared image and has not previously left a comment regarding the shared image.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, the multi-state marker displayed on each image further comprising:

a third state to indicate that the subscriber device has previously left at least one comment regarding the image and all comments associated with the image have been read, and

a fourth state to indicate that the subscriber device has not previously left any comments regarding the image and all comments associated with the image have been read.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of image sharing tools comprises a selectable item that when selected associates an image in the set of images with a marking that indicates a liking of the image.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the multi-state marker is displayed with a first shape that indicates the image is associated with at least one comment left by the subscriber device or displayed with a second shape that indicates the image is not associated with any comments left by the subscriber device.

21. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the multi-state marker is displayed with a first color that indicates the image is associated with at least one comment left by the subscriber device or displayed with a second color that indicates the image is not associated with any comments left by the subscriber device.

22. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the multi-state marker is displayed with a first shape that indicates the image is associated with at least one unread comment or displayed with a second shape that indicates the image is not associated with any unread comment.