Tool for navigating a composite presentation

• US 9,317,172 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2013
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Lowenberger, Aaron
• Application Number:
  US13/737,925
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124992A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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. 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 associated with the selected navigation marker, wherein only one navigation marker is associated with each particular section, wherein when an input to add a media clip to a particular section is received through a drag and drop of a graphical representation of the media clip over a navigation marker corresponding to the particular section, the media clip is added to a location within the particular section that corresponds to a location of a playhead in the composite display area.

2. The machine readable medium of claim 1, 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.

3. The machine readable medium of claim 2, 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.

4. The machine readable medium of claim 3, wherein the display of the composite media presentation is adjusted by performing a zooming operation at the section of composite media presentation, 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.

5. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein each section of the composite media presentation comprises a set of at least one media clip, wherein each particular navigation marker is a thumbnail image of a particular media clip within the set of media clips of the section associated with the particular navigation marker.

6. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein each section has a particular duration in the composite media presentation based on durations 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.

7. The machine readable medium of claim 1, 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 particular section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the particular navigation marker.

8. The machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein a subsequent placement of the particular element within the composite display area causes the media clip corresponding to the particular element to be added to the particular section of the composite media presentation.

9. 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 navigable section having a duration and at least one navigable section comprising multiple media clips of the composite presentation, wherein selection of a navigation marker causes the display in the composite display area of the navigable section associated with the selected navigation marker;

receiving input to add a media clip to a particular navigable section, wherein the input comprises a drag and drop of a graphical representation of the media clip over a particular navigation marker associated with the particular navigable section; and

automatically adding the media clip to a location within the particular navigable section of the composite media presentation that corresponds to a location of a playhead in the composite display area when the playhead is located within the particular navigable section.

10. The machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the media clips in the composite display area span along the timeline, each media clip having a particular duration, wherein the duration of each navigable section is based on a portion of the timeline over which the media clips in the navigable section span.

11. The machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein each selectable navigation marker is a thumbnail image from a media clip in the navigable section that is associated with the selectable navigation marker.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:

upon receiving a selection of the particular navigation marker associated with the particular navigable section when the particular navigable section is not displayed in the composite display area, presenting the particular navigable section by moving to the particular navigable section in the composite media presentation; and

displaying a directional indicator while moving to the particular navigable section of the composite media presentation that is associated with the particular navigation marker.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for, when the playhead is not within the particular navigable section, inserting the media clip at the end of the particular navigable section.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for, when the playhead is not within the particular navigable section, inserting the media clip at the beginning of the particular navigable section.

15. A method comprising:

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 navigable section having a duration and at least one navigable section comprising multiple media clips of the composite presentation, wherein selection of a navigation marker causes the display in the composite display area of the navigable section associated with the selected navigation marker;

receiving input to add a media clip to a particular navigable section, wherein the input comprises a drag and drop of a graphical representation of the media clip over a particular navigation marker associated with the particular navigable section; and

automatically adding the media clip to a location within the particular navigable section of the composite media presentation that corresponds to a location of the playhead in the composite display area.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

upon receiving a selection of the particular navigation marker associated with the particular navigable section when the particular navigable section is not displayed in the composite display area, presenting the particular navigable section by modifying a scale of the composite display area to fit the duration of the particular navigable section, wherein said presenting comprises;

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

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

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

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

in response to the input to add the media clip, scrolling to the particular navigable section of the composite media presentation associated with the particular navigation marker as the graphical representation of the media clip is dragged over the particular navigation marker.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

updating the existing duration of the particular navigable section after the media clip is added to the particular navigable 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 particular navigable section.

19. The method of claim 18 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 particular navigable section.