Tool for Navigating a Composite Presentation

• US 20130124992A1
• Filed: 01/09/2013
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lyons, Charles, Van Wazer, Wendy, Diener, Lisa, DeVore, Douglas, Warner, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 9,317,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• 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 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• 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

Abstract

A computer readable medium storing a media editing application for creating media presentations is described. The application includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI has (1) a composite display area for displaying graphical representations of a set of media clips that are part of the composite presentation and (2) a navigation tool including several selectable navigation markers associated with several navigable locations in the composite presentation. The selection of a navigation marker causes the composite display area to present the navigable location in the composite presentation that is associated with the selected navigation marker.

Claims

1-32. -32. (canceled)

33. A machine readable medium storing a media editing application for execution by at least one processing unit, said application comprising a graphical user interface (GUI), said GUI comprising:

a composite display area for displaying a plurality of graphical representations of a plurality of media clips that are part of a plurality of sections of a composite media presentation that the application creates by compositing the plurality of media clips; and

a navigation tool comprising a plurality of selectable navigation markers associated with the plurality of sections of the composite media presentation, at least one section comprising at least two different media clips, the selection of a navigation marker causing the composite display area to present the section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the selected navigation marker, only one navigation marker associated with each particular section.

34. The machine readable medium of claim 33, wherein the composite display area comprises a timeline associated with a duration of the composite media presentation, the plurality of sections spanning different portions along the timeline, wherein a span size of the portion of each section is based on a duration of the section, wherein at least two sections spanning different portions along the timeline have different durations.

35. The machine readable medium of claim 34, wherein the composite display area presents the section associated with the selected navigation marker by (i) determining a viewing range based on the span size of the section and (ii) adjusting the display of the composite media presentation to fit the determined viewing range.

36. The machine readable medium of claim 35, wherein the display of the composite media presentation is adjusted by performing a zooming operation at the section of composite media presentation.

37. The machine readable medium of claim 36, wherein the zooming operation is for zooming in on the section of the composite media presentation when the section is smaller than the viewing area and for zooming out from the section when the section is larger than the viewing area.

38. The machine readable medium of claim 33, wherein the sections associated with the navigation markers comprise at least one media clip in the composite media presentation.

39. The machine readable medium of claim 38, wherein each particular navigation marker is a thumbnail image of a particular media clip within the particular set of media clips of a particular section that is associated with the particular navigation marker.

40. The machine readable medium of claim 38, wherein each section has a particular duration in the composite media presentation based on durations of the different sets of media clips in the section, wherein a first section comprising a first set of media clips has a different duration than a second section comprising a second set of media clips.

41. The machine readable medium of claim 38, wherein all of the sections have the same duration and span contiguous portions of the composite media presentation.

42. The machine readable medium of claim 33, wherein the GUI further comprises a media display area for displaying a plurality of selectable elements corresponding to a plurality of media clips that are available for placement in the composite media presentation, wherein a selection of a particular element and placement of the particular element over a particular navigation marker causes the composite display area to present the section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the particular navigation marker.

43. The machine readable medium of claim 42, wherein the placement of the particular element within the composite display area causes the media clip corresponding to the particular element to be added to the section of the composite media presentation.

44. A machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a plurality of graphical representations of media clips along a timeline for a composite media presentation in a composite display area of a media-editing application;

displaying a plurality of selectable navigation markers associated with a plurality of navigable sections in the composite media presentation, each section having a duration and at least one section comprising multiple media clips of the composite presentation;

receiving user input to select a navigation marker; and

presenting, in the composite display area, the navigable section associated with the selected navigation marker by moving to the associated section in the composite media presentation.

45. The machine readable medium of claim 44, wherein the media clips in the composite display area span along a timeline, each media clip having a particular duration, wherein the duration of each section is based on a portion of the timeline over which the media clips in the section span.

46. The machine readable medium of claim 44, wherein each selectable navigation marker is a thumbnail image from a media clip in the section that is associated with the selectable navigation marker.

47. The machine readable medium of claim 44, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for displaying a directional indicator while moving to the particular section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the particular navigation marker.

48. A method for:

displaying a plurality of graphical representations of media clips along a timeline for a composite media presentation in a composite display area of a media-editing application;

displaying a plurality of selectable navigation markers associated with a plurality of navigable sections in the composite media presentation, each section having a duration and at least one section comprising multiple media clips of the composite presentation;

receiving user input to select a navigation marker; and

presenting, in the composite display area, the navigable section associated with the selected navigation marker by modifying a scale of the composite display area to fit the duration of the section.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein presenting the navigable section comprises:

comparing a duration of a viewable portion of the composite display area at a current scale to a duration of the selected section;

when the duration of the section exceeds the duration of the viewable portion, zooming out of the section of the composite media presentation to fit the section in the viewable portion; and

when the duration of the viewable portion exceeds the duration of the section, zooming in on the section to fit the section in the viewable portion.

50. The method of claim 48 further comprising:

receiving user input to add a media clip to the composite media presentation by placing the media clip over a particular navigation marker; and

in response to the user input to add the media clip;

scrolling to a particular section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the particular navigation marker; and

adding the media clip to the particular section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the particular navigation marker.

51. The method of claim 50 further comprising:

updating the existing duration of the section after the media clip is added to the section; and

when the updated duration differs from the existing duration by more than a threshold amount, modifying the scale of the composite display area to fit the updated duration of the section.

52. The method of claim 51 further comprising displaying a zoom indicator when the updated duration differs from the existing duration by more than the threshold amount, said zoom indicator displayed while modifying the scale of the composite display area to fit the updated duration of the section.