Patent ID: 8375302
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: G06F,G11B,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method for use with storyboards, each of which represents a plurality of cells arranged according to a timeline, said method comprising: presenting a first storyboard to a user, wherein the first storyboard represents a plurality of cells arranged according to a timeline; receiving first media content items from the user for association with one or more of a first plurality of cells in the first storyboard, at least a first cell of the first plurality of cells receiving a nested plurality of storyboards different from the first storyboard; receiving editing decisions from the user for editing the first media content items in the first storyboard; analyzing at least one of color histogram information and motion vector information of the first storyboard based on the received editing decisions; based on said analysis, determining one or more changes to each of the first media content items; based on the received editing decisions and the determined changes, defining a user-specific style associated with each of the first plurality of cells of the first storyboard, said user specific style specifying at least the following cell properties for each cell: said user specific style further defining a rendering order of the nested plurality of storyboards, said user specific style further comprising nested user-specific styles, each of the nested user-specific styles corresponding to one of the nested plurality of storyboards; analyzing the edited first media content items and the first storyboard to define, without any further user input, metadata representing the user-specific style, said metadata defining one or more cell properties associated with each of the first plurality of cells in the first storyboard, said metadata further defining storyboard properties describing characteristics of the first storyboard, wherein said storyboard properties are different from said one or more cell properties; overriding a defined value for a corresponding one of the cell properties with a defined value for at least one of the storyboard properties when said defined value for at least one of the storyboard properties conflicts with said defined value for the corresponding one of the cell properties; applying the user-specific style to second media content items provided by the user to create a second storyboard having a second plurality of cells, said second plurality of cells conforming to the cell properties defined by the metadata associated with the user-specific style associated with each of the first plurality of cells of the first storyboard, said applying further comprising selecting, based on the cell properties, a subset of less than all of the second media content items for association with the second plurality of cells; combining the created second storyboard with the second media content items to produce output data including at least one of output audio data and output video data; displaying the output data to the user; and when the user is permitted to override the end transition effect, receiving from the user changes to the end transition effect and applying the changes to the end transition effect.