Patent ID: 8631326

Claim:
A method for defining a media-editing application, the method comprising: defining a hierarchical structure for a timeline that includes pieces of content, the hierarchical structure comprising at least two levels of hierarchy; defining items at each level of the hierarchy, the items at the lowest level of the hierarchy for representing the pieces of content and the items at each of the other levels for representing segments of time in the timeline; and defining associations for associating items at the lowest level of the hierarchy with items representing segments of time at a higher level of the hierarch such that a first segment of time is associated with a plurality of pieces of content at least two of which do not overlap in the timeline, wherein when a boundary of the first segment of time in the timeline is not shared with boundaries of any of the plurality of pieces of content with which the first segment of time is associated, at least one of the plurality of pieces of content is associated with the first segment of time in addition to a second, different segment of time.