Copying of animation effects from a source object to at least one target object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9589381-B2
Application number	US-13840108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2008
Priority date	Jun 12, 2008
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

A method and a processing device may be provided for copying animation effects of a source object to one or more target objects of a presentation. The source object and the target objects may be included in presentation templates, or presentation slides of presentation files. The one or more target objects may be included in a same presentation slide as the source object, a different presentation slide as the source object, a same presentation file as the source object, a different presentation file as a source object, a same presentation template as a source object, or a different presentation template as the source object. Animation effects that are supported by a target object may be copied from the source object to the target object. When copying one or more animation effects from the source object to multiple target objects, timing of the animation effects may be serial or concurrent.

First claim

We claim as our invention:

1. A machine-implemented method for replicating an animation effect from one object to another in a presentation file, the machine-implemented method comprising:
receiving a selection, from a user, of a source object included in a presentation slide of the presentation file, the source object having an associated animation effect;
receiving an indication of a desired operation for copying only the animation effect associated with the source object to one or more other objects in the presentation file; and
in response to receiving the indication of the desired operation for copying only the animation effect associated with the source object,
allowing the user to select a preexisting target object in either a preexisting target presentation slide or a preexisting target presentation template of the presentation file;
receiving a selection of the preexisting target object; and
in response to receiving the selection of the preexisting target object,
deleting one or more animation effects from the selected preexisting target object; and
subsequent to deleting the one or more animation effects from the selected preexisting target object, copying only the animation effect associated with the source object from the source object to the selected preexisting target object, wherein
the method is implemented by a processing device.

2. The machine-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the selection of the preexisting target object,
merging timing information of the animation effect associated with the source object to produce merged timing information;
deleting timeline information from the preexisting target presentation slide, the deleted timeline information being related to the one or more animation effects of the selected preexisting target object; and
subsequent to deleting timeline information from the preexisting target presentation slide,
eliminating one or more gaps in the timeline information of the preexisting target presentation slide; and
copying the merged timing information to the timeline information of the preexisting target presentation slide.

3. The machine-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
the desired operation further includes serially copying only the animation effect associated with the source object to each of a plurality of preexisting target objects, and
copying only the animation effect includes copying the animation effect serially to each of the plurality of preexisting target objects.

4. The machine-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the copying only the animation effect to each of the plurality of the preexisting target objects is indicated by double-clicking on an operation icon with a pointing device.

5. The machine-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
the desired operation further includes copying only the animation effect associated with the source object to each of a plurality of preexisting target objects, and
adding the copied animation effect to a timeline of the preexisting target presentation slide including the plurality of preexisting target objects, such that the copied animation effects are to be performed concurrently, with respect to each of the plurality of preexisting target objects.

6. The machine-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
the desired operation including copying only the animation effect associated with the source object to a plurality of preexisting target objects is indicated by double-clicking on an operation icon; and
receiving a selection of each of the preexisting target objects by detecting a click on each of the plurality of preexisting target objects via a pointing device.

7. The machine-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the preexisting target presentation slide is different from the presentation slide that includes the source object.

8. A processing device comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory connected to the at least one processor, the memory including instructions for the at least one processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by the processing device, a selection of a source object, the source object having at least one associated animation effect;
receiving, by the processing device, a selection of an operation for copying only at least one animation effect of the source object to at least one preexisting target object;
in response to receiving the selection of the operation for copying only the at least one animation effect of the source object,
receiving, by the processing device, a selection of the at least one preexisting target object; and
in response to receiving the selection of the at least one preexisting target object,
deleting any animation effects from the selected at least one preexisting target object and
subsequent to deleting animation effects from the selected preexisting target object, copying, by the processing device, only the at least one animation effect from the source object to the at least one preexisting target object.

9. The processing device of claim 8 , wherein the copying only at least one animation effect from the source object to the at least one preexisting target object further comprises:
copying only the at least one animation effect from the source object to the at least one preexisting target object in a second preexisting presentation file, the second preexisting presentation file being different from a first presentation file including the source object.

10. The processing device of claim 8 , wherein the copying only at least one animation effect from the source object to the at least one preexisting target object further comprises:
skipping copying of ones of the at least one animation effect of the source object to one of the at least one preexisting target object when the ones of the at least one animation effect is not supported by the ones of the at least one preexisting target object.

11. The processing device of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
providing, by the processing device, a preview of the at least one animation effect on one of the at least one preexisting target object.

12. The processing device of claim 8 , wherein:
a first object of the source object and the at least one preexisting target object is included in a presentation template, and
a second object of the source object and the at least one preexisting target object is included in a slide of a presentation file.

13. The processing device of claim 8 , wherein:
the receiving a selection of an operation for copying only at least one animation effect of the source object to at least one preexisting target object further comprises:
detecting a double-click of a pointing device on an icon for copying animation effects, and
the receiving a selection of at least one preexisting target object further comprises:
receiving a selection of a plurality of preexisting target objects when the double-click of the pointing device is detected on the icon for copying animation effects.

14. The processing device of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
subsequent to deleting animation effects from the selected preexisting target object,
copying the at least one animation effect from the source object to each of the plurality of preexisting target objects one at a time, and
adding timing information with respect to the at least one animation effect to a timeline of a presentation template or a presentation slide including a preexisting target object of the plurality of preexisting target objects.

15. A machine-implemented method for replicating an animatio

Assignees

• Zhao Jason Xiaobo
• Shi Xiaoyan
• Zhang Jiang
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Zhao Jason Xiaobo
• Shi Xiaoyan
• Zhang Jiang

Classifications

• G06T13/00 Primary

  Animation · CPC title

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title