Method and apparatus for reducing data events that represent a user's interaction with a control interface

A computer readable medium storing a computer program for editing media content, said computer program for execution by at least one processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

• receiving a plurality of data events representing a parameter of a signal during a time period, each data event of the plurality of data events comprising a parameter value of the signal and a time-based value for the parameter value that corresponds to an instance in time during the time period;
• receiving a user selected display preference specifying a reduced display representation that comprises a smaller set of the plurality of data events;
• iteratively processing sets of three data events in the plurality of data events to identify the smaller set of data events by eliminating one of the three data events for at least one set by comparing a parameter value of one of the three data events to parameter values of the other two data events;
• and
• displaying the reduced display representation on a display interface, the reduced display representation comprising the smaller set of the plurality of data events that excludes eliminated data events.

A computer readable medium storing a computer program for editing a particular content having an audio parameter, said computer program having a graphical user interface (“GUI”), said GUI comprising:

• a user selectable interface tool for adjusting a gain level of the audio parameter to produce a plurality of time based parameter values representing adjustments to the gain level over a duration;
• a display area for displaying a first display representation comprising a first set of data events for representing the plurality of time based parameter values;
• and
• a particular selectable display preference which when selected causes the computer program to perform an automated machine process that (i) identifies a set of data events to eliminate from the first display representation, and (ii) generates a second display representation comprising a second set of data events for alternatively representing the plurality of time based parameter values within the display area by using a smaller set of data events than the first display representation.

A computer readable medium of a computer system storing a computer program for editing a particular content, said computer program for execution on a computer system, said computer program having a graphical user interface (“GUI”), the GUI comprising:

• a first display area for displaying the particular content, the particular content having a particular parameter for at least one of a video signal and audio signal represented by a plurality of time based parameter values;
• at least one user selectable tool for editing the particular content;
• a second display area for displaying at least (i) a first display representation comprising a first set of data events for representing the plurality of time based parameter values and (ii) a second display representation comprising a second set of data events for representing the plurality of time based parameter values with fewer data events than the first display representation;
• and
• a particular selectable display preference which when selected toggles between displaying at least the first display representation and the second display representation within the second display area, wherein the GUI retains the plurality of time based parameter values in a storage device of the computer system in order to switch the display of the second display area between the first display representation and the second display representation when a user changes the display preference.

For a media editing application stored on a computer readable medium, said media editing application for execution by a processor, a method for specifying a graphical user interface (GUI) of the media editing application to edit media content having an audio parameter, the method comprising:

• providing a user selectable interface tool for adjusting a gain level of the audio parameter to produce a plurality of time based parameter values representing adjustments to the gain level over a duration;
• providing a user selectable setting for graphing the plurality of parameter values within a display area of the media content editing application;
• providing an automated machine process which performs:
• (i) a first process to produce a first display representation comprising a first set of data events for representing the plurality of parameter values within the display area when the user selectable setting specifies displaying a larger set of the plurality of parameter values, and
• (ii) a second process to produce a second display representation comprising a smaller set of data events than the first set of data events, the second set of data events for alternatively representing the plurality of parameter values within the display area, wherein the media editing application retains the plurality of data values in a storage device in order to switch between displaying the first display representation and the second display representation during runtime operation of the media editing application.

For a media editing application stored on a computer readable medium, said media editing application for execution by a processor, a method for specifying a graphical user interface (GUI) of the media editing application to edit a particular content, the method comprising:

• providing a first display area for displaying the particular content, the particular content having a particular parameter for at least one of a video signal and audio signal represented by a plurality of time based parameter values;
• providing at least one user selectable tool for editing the particular content;
• providing a second display area for displaying at least (i) a first display representation comprising a first set of data events for representing the plurality of time based parameter values and (ii) a second display comprising a second set of data events for representing the plurality of time based parameter values with fewer data events than the first display representation;
• and
• providing a particular selectable display preference which when selected toggles between displaying at least the first display representation and the second display representation within the second display area, wherein the GUI retains all plurality of time based parameter values in a storage device in order to switch the display of the second display area between the first display representation and the second display representation when a user changes the display preference.

A computer readable medium storing a computer program for editing content having a particular parameter for at least one of a video signal and audio signal, said computer program comprising a graphical user interface (“GUI”), said GUI comprising:

• a user interface tool for defining a plurality of parameter values for the particular parameter at different instances in time associated with playback of the content;
• a display area for displaying a first display representation comprising a first set of data events for representing the plurality of parameter values;
• and
• a particular selectable display preference from which a user selects one of at least two display preferences to cause the display area to display a second display representation comprising a smaller set of the first set of data events than the first display representation,
• wherein the particular selectable display preferences causes the display area to display the second display representation by configuring a process that eliminates parameter values that are within a specified range of a connecting function, said connecting function connecting two non-adjacent parameter values.

A computer readable medium storing a computer program for editing a particular content having a particular parameter for at least one of a video signal and audio signal represented by a plurality of time based parameter values, said computer program having a graphical user interface (“GUI”), the GUI comprising:

• a first display area for displaying the particular content;
• at least one tool for editing the particular content;
• a second display area for displaying a plurality of display representations for the plurality of time based parameter values;
• and
• a particular selectable display preference comprising a plurality of selectable options, each option for producing a different display representation comprising different sets of data events for representing the plurality of time based parameter values within the second display area, the different display representations comprising at least two of
• (i) a first set of data events representing the full set of the plurality of data values,
• (ii) a second set of data events representing a first subset of the plurality of data values, and
• (iii) a third set of data events representing a second subset of the plurality of data values, wherein the first subset comprises a greater number of time based parameter values than the second subset but fewer time based parameter values than the full set of the plurality of time based parameter values,
• said particular selectable display preference for switching between the different display representations in the second display area at any time during operation of the GUI.