Displaying interconnects having an appearance indicating data characteristics

Abstract

A method for determining a depth ordering between two planes in a 3D workspace of an application is provided. The method includes projecting vectors from a reference position through points of interest on the planes, determining corresponding points on the other plane, determining a number of points of interest on a first plane having a depth lower than its corresponding point and a number of points of interest on a second plane having a depth lower than its corresponding point, and setting the depth ordering based on these numbers. A method for displaying interconnects between nodes of a tree displayed in an application is provided. A node represents a multimedia item or a function and an interconnect represents data passed between two nodes. The method includes displaying an interconnect in the tree having an appearance indicating at least one characteristic of the data being passed between two nodes.

1 - 6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . A method for displaying interconnects that connect nodes of a process tree displayed in a multimedia application of a computer system the method comprising:
 displaying a plurality of nodes of the process tree, each node representing one of a multimedia item and a function being performed on at least one multimedia item; and   displaying a plurality of interconnects that indicates a flow of data through the process tree, each interconnect representing data being passed between a pair of nodes that the interconnect connects and having   a particular graphical appearance that indicates one or more characteristics of the data being passed between the pair of nodes that the interconnect connects.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , each interconnect representing the flow of data between the pair of nodes that the first interconnect connects indicates a first node of the pair of nodes as outputting the data and a second node of the pair as inputting the data connected by the interconnect. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the data is at least one of audio data, textual data, image data and video data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the particular graphical appearance of each interconnect and the data characteristics indicated by the appearance are user configurable. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein each multimedia item is at least one of a text item, an image, a video clip, and an audio clip. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein a first interconnect has a first graphical appearance that indicates a first set of characteristics of the data being passed between a first pair of nodes that the first interconnect connects,
 wherein a second interconnect has a second graphical appearance that indicates a second set of characteristics of the data being passed between a second pair of nodes that the second interconnect connects, the second appearance being different from the first appearance and the second set of characteristics being different the first set of characteristics.   
     
     
         13 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program executable by at least one processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
 displaying a set of interconnects that connect nodes of a process tree displayed in a multimedia application of a computer system, each node representing a multimedia item or a function being performed on at least one multimedia item, each interconnect (i) indicating a direction of data being passed between a pair of nodes that the interconnect connects and (ii) representing a type of data being output from one node of the pair to another node of the pair; and   displaying each interconnect of a plurality of interconnects in the set of interconnects as having a particular display appearance that indicates at least one characteristic of the type of data being output from one node to the other node, wherein at least one interconnect of the plurality of interconnects has at least two different display appearances comprising a color display appearance that indicates a first characteristic of the type of data and a line pattern display appearance that indicates a second characteristic of the type of data.   
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 21 , wherein the particular display appearance and the characteristic of the type of data indicated by the particular display appearance are user configurable. 
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of interconnects comprises first and second interconnects that have different color and line pattern display appearances to indicate first and second characteristics of the type of data, wherein (i) the first characteristic associated with the first interconnect is different from the first characteristic associated with the second interconnect and (ii) the second characteristic associated with the first interconnect is different from the second characteristic associated with the second interconnect. 
     
     
         24 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 23 , wherein displaying each interconnect of the plurality of interconnects comprises sets of instructions for:
 displaying the first interconnect in a first color and the second interconnect in a second color that is different from the first color in order to graphically indicate that the first characteristic of the type of data represented by the first interconnect is different from the first characteristic of the type of data represented by the second interconnect; and   displaying the first interconnect in a first line pattern and the second interconnect in a second line pattern that is different from the first line pattern in order to graphically indicate that the second characteristic of the type of data represented by the first interconnect is different from the second characteristic of the type of data represented by the second interconnect.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprise a plurality of characteristics. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein each interconnect comprises a connection connecting a pair of nodes, wherein the particular graphical appearance of each interconnect is applied to the connection between the pair of nodes of the interconnect. 
     
     
         27 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program executable by a processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
 displaying a plurality of nodes of a process tree that indicates a flow of data propagated through the plurality of nodes, each node representing one of a multimedia item and a function being performed on at least one multimedia item; and   displaying a plurality of interconnects that connect the nodes of the process tree, each interconnect displayed in one or more graphical appearances and representing data being propagated between a pair of nodes that the interconnect connects,   wherein first and second graphical appearances of a first interconnect indicate first and second characteristics of the data represented by the first interconnect,   wherein first and second graphical appearances of a second interconnect indicate first and second characteristics of the data represented by the second interconnect,   wherein each of the first and second graphical appearances of the first and second interconnects are different from each other in order to indicate different first and second characteristics of the data represented by the first and second interconnects.   
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein the characteristic of data comprises a value of the data. 
     
     
         29 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein the set of instructions for displaying the plurality of interconnects comprises a set of instructions for displaying the graphical appearances of each interconnect as an inherent visual quality of the interconnect. 
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein the set of instructions for displaying the plurality of interconnects comprises a set of instructions for embodying the graphical appearances for each interconnect within the interconnect in order to display the interconnect with the graphical appearances. 
     
     
         31 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein each interconnect comprises a connection connecting a pair of nodes, wherein the set of instructions for displaying the plurality of interconnects comprises a set of instructions for applying the graphical appearances to the connection between the pair of nodes of each interconnect. 
     
     
         32 . A computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising a graphical user interface (“GUI”), said GUI comprising:
 a display area for displaying a process tree of a media application of a computer system, the process tree comprising a plurality of interconnects connecting a plurality of nodes of the process tree, each interconnect representing data being passed between a pair of nodes, each node representing a multimedia item or a function performed on a multimedia item; 
 a display area for displaying a plurality of selectable graphical display appearances, each graphical display appearance indicating a different characteristic of data; and 
 a set of controls for receiving a selection of one or more graphical display appearances to apply to each interconnect that represents data with the characteristics indicated by the selected graphical appearances, wherein the selection of a particular graphical display appearance is applied to a plurality of interconnects when the plurality of interconnects represent data having the particular characteristic of data indicated by the particular graphical display appearance. 
 
     
     
         33 . The computer readable medium of  claim 32 , wherein each interconnect comprises a connection connecting a pair of nodes, wherein the particular graphical display appearance is applied to each interconnect by applying the particular graphical display appearance to the connection between the pair of nodes of the interconnect. 
     
     
         34 . The computer readable medium of  claim 32 , wherein a plurality of graphical display appearances are applied to an interconnect that represents data having a plurality of characteristics. 
     
     
         35 . The computer readable medium of  claim 34 , wherein the plurality of graphical display appearances is a first plurality of graphical display appearances applied to a first interconnect, wherein a second different plurality of graphical display appearances are applied to a second interconnect that represents data having a plurality of characteristics that are different from the plurality of characteristics indicated by the first plurality of graphical display appearances. 
     
     
         36 . The computer readable medium of  claim 32 , wherein a default interconnect appearance is displayed for each interconnect having data that is not indicated by a selectable display appearance.