Method of displaying an audio and/or video signal in a graphical user interface (GUI)

1. A method of manipulating an audio and/or video signal in a graphical user interface (GUI), said signal comprising at least two components, each of which having a first variable which varies against a second variable, said method comprising:

determining that the variables of said components are the same and have an equal scale;

defining an axis with the first variable forming the ordinate and the second variable forming the abscissa;

selecting one component to be a primary component;

displaying said components on the axis in the GUI by manipulating said primary component to be distinguished from the other component; and

advising a user, through the GUI, that at least one of the components does not have the same variables in response to determining that the at least one of the components does not have the same variables.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which said primary component is distinguished from the other component by varying the light intensity.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 , in which there are three or more components and each of the other components have the same light intensity.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 , in which there are three or more components and all of the other components are distinguished from each other by varying the light intensity.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which said primary component is distinguished from the other component by varying the colour.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which said primary component is distinguished from the other component by varying the type of line display.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising changing the primary component by selecting the other component to be the primary component and changing the former primary component to be the other component.

8. A computer readable medium containing a program code for manipulating an audio and/or video signal in a graphical user interface (GUI), said signal comprising at least two components, each of which having a first variable which varies against a second variable, said method comprising:

determining that the variables of said components are the same and have an equal scale;

defining an axis with the first variable forming the ordinate and the second variable forming the abscissa;

selecting one component to be a primary component;

displaying said components on the axis in the GUI by manipulating said primary component to be distinguished from the other component; and

advising a user, through the GUI, that at least one of the components does not have the same variables in response to determining that the at least one of the components does not have the same variables.

9. In a computer system, including a disc drive incorporating a system computer program, a display having a screen electrically connected to said disc drive, a method of manipulating an audio and/or video signal in a graphical user interface (GUI), said signal comprising at least two components, each of which having a first variable which varies against a second variable, said method comprising:

determining that the variables of said components are the same and have an equal scale;

defining an axis with the first variable forming the ordinate and the second variable forming the abscissa;

selecting one component to be a primary component;

displaying said components on the axis in the GUI by manipulating said primary component to be distinguished from the other component; and

advising a user, through the GUI, that at least one of the components does not have the same variables in response to determining that the at least one of the components does not have the same variables.

10. In a computer system as claimed in claim 9 , said method further comprising:

storing in said disc drive said primary component and said other component;

recording any changes to said primary component; and

redisplaying said primary component with said changes and said other component.

11. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

presenting, through the GUI, a request to a user as to whether a scale of a component is to be changed.

12. A method as in claim 1 further comprising selecting another component to be the primary component to replace the one component.

13. A medium as in claim 8 , wherein the method further compromises comprises:

presenting, through the GUI, a request to a user as to whether a scale of a component is to be changed.

14. A medium as in claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

selecting another component to be the primary component to replace the one component.

15. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for presenting data having at least two components, each of which having a first variable which varies against a second variable, the instructions, when executed by a data processing system cause the system to perform a method comprising:

determining that the variables of a first set of components are the same;

defining a set of axes with a set of the variables of the first set of components;

determining that the variables of a second set of components are not the same as the variables of the first set and, in response, advising a user, through a graphical user interface (GUI), that the second set cannot be presented, on a graph in the GUI, with the first set.

16. A method for presenting data having at least two components, each of which having a first variable which varies against a second variable, the method comprising:

determining that the variables of a first set of components are the same;

defining a set of axes with a set of the variables of the first set of components;

determining that the variables of a second set of components are not the same as the variables of the first set and, in response, advising a user, through a graphical user interface (GUI), that the second set cannot be presented, on a graph in the GUI, with the first set.