METHOD FOR GENERATING MEDIA COLLECTIONS
A user interface is used for selecting a time duration for a media collection shelf. The media shelf can be populated with graphical elements corresponding to selected media assets, where the cumulative time duration of selected media assets should not exceed the time duration of the media collection shelf. When placed within the media collection shelf, a graphical element corresponding to a media asset is scaled in proportion to the time duration of the media asset as compared to the time duration of the media collection shelf. Optionally, selected media assets within the media collection shelf are played back in a particular order specified by a user.
1 . A method for generating a user interface comprising the steps of:
generating a display area containing graphical elements corresponding to a plurality of media assets, where each graphical element corresponds to a media asset from the plurality of media assets;
generating a media collection shelf that has a horizontal length proportional to a selected time duration value; and
generating the media collection shelf with a graphical element of a selected media asset from the plurality of media assets, wherein the graphical element of a selected media asset is scaled horizontally in proportion to the time duration of the media asset compared to the selected time duration value of the media collection shelf.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining whether the time duration of the media asset exceeds the value of the selected time duration value of the media collection shelf, and generating a message indicting this condition if true, otherwise generating the media collection shelf with the graphical element of the selected media asset is performed.
3 . The method of claim 2 comprising the additional steps of:
calculating a cumulative value of time for media assets previously selected by totaling the time duration value of all previously selected media assets that populate the media collection shelf; and
repeating the populating step for newly selected media assets from the plurality of media assets until the cumulative value of time is equal to the selected time duration of the media collection shelf.
4 . The method of claim 2 comprising the additional steps of:
calculating a cumulative value of time for media assets previously selected by totaling the time duration value of all previously selected media assets that populate the media collection shelf; and
indicating media assets that can be selected for inclusion within the media shelf collection when the cumulative value of time is less than the selected time duration of the media collection shelf by changing the graphical elements associated with the media assets that can be selected for inclusion.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the media assets that can be selected for inclusion are selected by calculating the media assets that have times of duration that are less than the difference of the selected time duration of the media collection shelf and the cumulative value of time for media assets previously selected.
6 . The method of claim 1 comprising the additional step of playing all of the media assets from the plurality of media assets whose elements populate the media collection shelf.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the playback of the media assets is performed in an order where the graphical elements of media assets in the media collection shelf towards the left edge of the shelf are played before the graphical elements of the media asset towards the right of the shelf.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein a label is assigned to the media collection shelf.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein a previously selected media asset is deleted from the media collection shelf by activating a delete function.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphical elements of the plurality of media assets are scaled horizontally in accordance to their corresponding ratings.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets comprise audio, video, applications, and pictures.
12 . A device for generating a user interface comprising the steps of:
means for generating a display area containing graphical elements corresponding to a plurality of media assets, where each graphical element corresponds to a media asset from the plurality of media assets;
means for generating a media collection shelf that has a horizontal length proportional to a selected time duration value; and
means for generating the media collection shelf with a graphical element of a selected media asset from the plurality of media assets, wherein the graphical element of a selected media asset is scaled horizontally in proportion to the time duration of the media asset compared to the selected time duration value of the media collection shelf.