Digital object information via category-based histograms
View Patent ↗Embodiments of the present invention relate to an effective method of representing a set of digital objects across at least two category-based dimensions for facilitating efficient access to such objects. These digital objects are typically media objects such as digital image files, digital video clips, digital audio objects, such as “MP3” files, or other digital documents that can be collected by a user and distributed over a variety of storage media and storage locations.
1. A method for providing information pertaining to digital objects stored by one or more computer-accessible memories, the method implemented at least in part by a computer and comprising the steps of:
displaying a sequence of histograms, said histograms showing different time period instances, said histograms each subdividing a respective said time period instance into a plurality of subdivisions, said subdivisions each having a representation of a number of digital objects associated with the respective said subdivision;
during said displaying step, accepting a first user input designating one or more of said subdivisions of one of said histograms to provide designated subdivisions;
responsive to said user input, modifying said displaying to graphically emphasize said designated subdivisions and corresponding subdivisions of one or more others of said sequence of histograms; and
providing an output based on the digital objects associated with the emphasized subdivisions.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the subdivisions is associated with a temporal portion of its corresponding time period instance.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the subdivisions is associated with an equal or substantially equal portion of its corresponding time period instance.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the subdivisions is associated with a larger or smaller portion of its corresponding time period instance than another subdivision.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein all of the subdivisions in a histogram account for the entire time period instance represented by the corresponding histogram.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the time period instances are years and the subdivisions are months.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein all of the subdivisions in a histogram do not account for the entire time period instance represented by the corresponding histogram.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the subdivisions is associated with an event.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the events is a holiday or birthday.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the subdivisions is associated with a subject identifiable in a digital object's content.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the identifiable subjects is associated with a person.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the identifiable subjects is associated with a place.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the identifiable subjects is associated with a physical object.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the histograms show successive time period instances.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said modifying step graphically emphasizes corresponding subdivisions of all of said histograms.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first axis of each histogram pertains to a time period instance and a second axis of each histogram pertains to the subdivisions.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the representations are bars or lines whose heights or high points indicates a number of digital objects.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first axes and the second axes of the histograms have equal or substantially equal length.
19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the representations are bars or lines whose height indicates the number of digital objects, and wherein the heights of the bars or lines extend in a direction perpendicular to the second axis.
20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first axis of each histogram has a length determined at least by a maximum number of digital objects associated with any one of the histogram's subdivisions.
21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the representations are bars or lines whose height indicates the number of digital objects, and wherein the heights of the bars or lines extend in a direction parallel to the second axis.
22. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second axis of each histogram has a length determined at least by a maximum number of digital objects associated with any one of the histogram's subdivisions.
23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the representations comprise two characteristics, one of which indicates the number of digital objects in a set of digital objects associated with the respective subdivision, and the other of which indicates the number of digital objects in a subset of the set of digital objects associated with the respective subdivision.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the subset of the set of digital objects is only those digital objects in the set of digital objects meeting one or more user-defined query parameters.