This application is directed to the field of organization and presentation of information, and more particularly to the field of building and displaying instant presentations from notes and documents in individual and shared content collections.
Business, educational, cultural and many other types of presentations have long become an organic feature of a modern society. Many millions of presentations are made daily in corporate meeting rooms, classrooms, auditoria and are shared via online conferences and viewed by participants of real and virtual meetings on all types of devices and platforms.
In more than three decades since the start of development of mainframe computerized presentation techniques, the presentation industry has acquired numerous mass market software applications and online solutions. Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Open Office Impress, Prezi, SoftMaker Presentations and many other desktop, online and mobile applications are facilitating creation of presentations and their display to audience. Presentation software titles include hundreds of useful features for automated creation of custom layouts, text and image presentations, business graphics, charting, animations within and between components, visual effects, clip art libraries with access to online image and photo resources, various presentation modes, and many other characteristics.
Notwithstanding important changes in the ways people conduct business meetings, learn, and make decisions that are facilitated by the presentation industry, analysts and general public are extensively discussing challenges and even damaging effects of low quality presentations. By some estimates, a direct economic damage of improper presentations is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars per day, primarily because of a wasted time of meeting participants that suffer through overloaded and unsubstantial presentations.
Part of an ongoing conflict between the traditional presentation culture and the needs of a fluid, information intense and time conscious contemporary business and personal lifestyles rests in the very nature of presentations. Pre-canned sets of materials built to convey a concrete idea in a relatively static manner and with an inevitable deferral because of the time taken to create and polish a presentation may risk staying behind an audience. As was pointed out in a recent media review of PowerPoint 2013, “The new Presenter view is impressive . . . but asking speakers to concentrate on their own screens could be the exact wrong thing to do.” Therefore, real-time updates to presentations may be highly desirable; but for traditional presentations, modifications typically occur as an offline activity and are virtually impossible during meetings; additionally, a presentation mode itself, once it is shared with an audience, is often a view-only mode where even the presenter does not have access to editing tools.
Growing use of personal and business content management systems, such as the Evernote Service and software developed by the Evernote Corporation of Redwood City, Calif., concentrates at the user fingertips information collected in different ways and in different formats. The formats include text, images, audio, web and document clips, handwritten notes created in integrated applications like Penultimate by Evernote, document and image markups built with Skitch by Evernote and with other similar software, attachments in a variety of layouts created by different applications, multiple content collections in the form of individual, shared and business-wide notebooks, multiple tagging, flexible search techniques, and augmented intelligence. All of the aspects of a content management system turn the system into an instant business collaboration and learning tool. The features of a content management system are in line with the dynamic, up-to-date business style, but may lack adequate presentation tools and workflows adapted to instantaneous changes in information and satisfying user needs for fast updates, including updates during presentations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a presentation system and workflow for personal, shared and business oriented content collections allowing users to combine a high visual quality of presentations with easy and dynamic workflow for creating and presenting materials, simple navigation and an ability to edit presentations on the fly.
According to the system described herein, presenting content includes selecting a subset of content items from a content collection, where at least some of the subset of content items includes a plurality of objects selected from the group of categories consisting of: text, images, web clips, HTML clips, audio clips, video clips, links to external web content, document attachments, and multimedia attachments and includes displaying content items from the subset of content items on a presentation screen, where intelligent navigation facilitates scanning through objects included with each of the content items. The intelligent navigation may use a dedicated button, a keyboard shortcut and/or a multi-touch gesture for scanning through objects. The intelligent navigation may allow scrolling through objects by category. Presenting content may also include automatically forming a first cover note having a first table of contents listing titles of at least a first portion of the subset of content items and corresponding links thereto. A presentation sequence for the content items may be directed by the first cover note in an order of selection of the content items. Clicking a link shown on the first cover note may cause a corresponding one of the content items to be opened. A second cover note, embedded in the first cover note, may be provided where the second cover note may include a second table of contents listing titles of at least a second portion of the subset of content items and corresponding links thereto, the second portion being different than the first portion. Each of the subset of content items that is edited while being displayed on the presentation screen may cause the presentation screen to be updated while being viewed. Editing functionality may be provided by at least one other device separate from a device controlling the presentation screen. Editing functionality may be provided by a plurality of other devices separate from the device controlling the presentation screen. Editing functionality may be provided by at least one other screen separate from the presentation screen. A presenter may control the at least one other screen. The presentation screen and the at least one other screen may be provided on a multi-screen configuration of a single device. An animated cursor may be used to emphasize portions of the subset of content items displayed on the presentation screen. The animated cursor may leave a fading trace indicating a previous location of the fading cursor. The animated cursor may be controllable by at least one of: a computer mouse and a touch device. At least one of the subset of content items shown on the presentation screen may include an external link and clicking on the external link may cause a corresponding item to be displayed on the presentation screen. The corresponding item may be opened using a native application for the corresponding item. Text may be enlarged and displayed in a uniform font prior to being displayed on the presentation screen. Colors applied to the text may be unsaturated and/or converted into a smaller palette. The presentation screen may be a screen of a mobile device. The mobile device mobile device may use an operating system selected from the group consisting of: iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone OS, Blackberry OS and mobile versions of Linux OS.
According further to the system described herein, computer software, provided in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, presents content. The software includes executable code that selects a subset of content items from a content collection, where at least some of the subset of content items includes a plurality of objects selected from the group of categories consisting of: text, images, web clips, HTML clips, audio clips, video clips, links to external web content, document attachments, and multimedia attachments and executable code that displays content items from the subset of content items on a presentation screen, where intelligent navigation facilitates scanning through objects included with each of the content items. The intelligent navigation may use a dedicated button, a keyboard shortcut and/or a multi-touch gesture for scanning through objects. The intelligent navigation may allow scrolling through objects by category. The software may also include executable code that automatically forms a first cover note having a first table of contents listing titles of at least a first portion of the subset of content items and corresponding links thereto. A presentation sequence for the content items may be directed by the first cover note in an order of selection of the content items. Clicking a link shown on the first cover note may cause a corresponding one of the content items to be opened. A second cover note, embedded in the first cover note, may be provided where the second cover note may include a second table of contents listing titles of at least a second portion of the subset of content items and corresponding links thereto, the second portion being different than the first portion. Each of the subset of content items that is edited while being displayed on the presentation screen may cause the presentation screen to be updated while being viewed. Editing functionality may be provided by at least one other device separate from a device controlling the presentation screen. Editing functionality may be provided by a plurality of other devices separate from the device controlling the presentation screen. Editing functionality may be provided by at least one other screen separate from the presentation screen. A presenter may control the at least one other screen. The presentation screen and the at least one other screen may be provided on a multi-screen configuration of a single device. An animated cursor may be used to emphasize portions of the subset of content items displayed on the presentation screen. The animated cursor may leave a fading trace indicating a previous location of the fading cursor. The animated cursor may be controllable by at least one of: a computer mouse and a touch device. At least one of the subset of content items shown on the presentation screen may include an external link and clicking on the external link may cause a corresponding item to be displayed on the presentation screen. The corresponding item may be opened using a native application for the corresponding item. Text may be enlarged and displayed in a uniform font prior to being displayed on the presentation screen. Colors applied to the text may be unsaturated and/or converted into a smaller palette. The presentation screen may be a screen of a mobile device. The mobile device mobile device may use an operating system selected from the group consisting of: iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone OS, Blackberry OS and mobile versions of Linux OS.
The proposed system automatically builds, displays and allows inline navigation and modification of presentations directly from entries of a content collection (hereinafter, notes) thus eliminating a need in standalone presentations and allowing presenters and viewers to concentrate on content.
Notes in a presentation may be reformatted to deliver high visual quality and to allow graphical differentiation between various content types. A dedicated navigation scheme within a presented note, including intelligent pagination, allows viewing of all note components, including text, images and attached documents, in large size and in a logical succession of the components.
A direct presentation from a content collection may include an individual note or a set of notes. Multiple notes may be selected individually by a presenter or may include all notes labeled by a selected tag or multiple tags, all notes in a selected notebook, and other filtered sets of notes, for example, all notes satisfying a search term or all notes taken in a certain geographical area, such as notes corresponding to a selected set of locations in an Evernote Atlas.
For direct presentations containing multiple notes, a Cover Page note—an enhanced table of contents—may be automatically built. The Cover Page note may include links to each note in a selected set and may also include a summary of a corresponding presentation, additional sections, etc. Intelligent navigation of a multi-note presentation may be provided where the system assists in scanning through notes and through embedded internal and external links, including external web pages.
Direct presentations may be instantly editable in multi-screen or multi-computer configurations where a presenter or other users with sufficient permissions may edit notes in a presentation; edited notes may be instantly updated and displayed with a minimal latency to meeting participants.
Some of the features of direct presentations from content collections are explained in more details below.
During initial formatting for presentation, the content of a note may be split into several layers: text, images, web and other HTML clips, audio and video clips and links, document and multimedia attachments, etc. Each layer may have formatting and rendering rules for the layer, for example:
Two different navigation modes may be provided for each individual note included in a direct presentation:
A special highlighting tool—a Laser Pointer—may be used for emphasizing portions of content of notes and external documents. The Laser Pointer may be an animated color cursor leaving a fading trace and quickly moving, like a shooting star, by a curved trajectory, in a direction of the content to which the presenter is pointing. The Laser Pointer may have customizable colors and may be controlled by a computer mouse or a touch device (clicking or tapping and holding may convert The Laser Pointer into a regular cursor for content manipulations).
Clicking links within presented notes may open linked objects, such as other notes, external web pages or other external documents. Linked notes and external web pages may be displayed in a same presentation view. Additionally or alternatively, a special control, such as a button, a multi-touch gesture or a keyboard shortcut, may allow opening external objects in a corresponding native applications, such as web browsers, PDF editors, office applications, etc., in order to facilitate operating these objects. For example, entering credentials to access protected content may be deferred to native applications.
Every time a set of notes is selected via direct user actions or as a result of filtering a content collection by tags, notebooks, search results, locations or other filters, a Cover Note may be instantly added to the collection by a single click, multi-touch gesture or by executing a keyboard shortcut. Initially, the Cover Note may include a table of contents, which has a listing of titles of selected notes and links each title to a respective note. A presenter may further edit a Cover Note to provide a presentation title, an abstract or summary, add sections, comments to note titles, etc.
A direct presentation does not require a Cover Note but, if a Cover Note has been built, the presentation may be directed by the Cover Note. Thus, starting a direct presentation with a Cover Note and clicking an embedded note link may open the corresponding note; after viewing the note and pressing a Next button (or a corresponding keyboard shortcut), the presentation may return to the Cover Note and may automatically progress to the next note link and highlight the link, inviting the user to open the next note in a presentation. This allows for a persistent and intuitive navigation interface whereby a dedicated button, keyboard shortcut (for example, pressing an Enter button) or a multi-touch gesture (say, a swipe to the right as a metaphor of the next action or item) may be used to progress through the whole multi-note presentation.
Direct presentations from content collections may also allow for multiple Cover Notes at different levels and may be link-driven. Every time a note link or an external link is opened by a presenter, the Next action may return the presentation to a note where the original link has resided and may progress to a next link and highlight. Obviously, the presenter may override such automatic link-driven presentation order and scroll notes or documents in an arbitrary order.
As Cover Notes for direct presentations accumulate, the Cover Notes may be stored by the system within content collections or may be stored separately; Cover Notes may be automatically augmented with presentation dates and may be associated with other events, such as scheduled meetings in individual or shared calendars. Additionally, Cover Notes may be systematically searched, archived by the system or purged when the Cover Notes are not needed anymore.
Editing direct presentations on-the-fly may be available in a multi-screen or a multi-device mode. In a multi-screen mode, the system may automatically recognize the presence of a local and an external screen and may, by a request of the presenter, designate a local screen for note editing. On an editing screen, a content collection may be opened in an editing mode; presented notes may be instantly modified by a presenter or by another authorized user; simultaneously, the presenter may have access to all presentation tools for navigation, highlighting and other instruments for controlling presentation flow on the external screen. Alternatively, in a multi-device mode, editing and presentation functions may be split between two or more devices, rather than between two screens, so that the presenter, individually or with help by other viewers, may edit notes on an appropriate device. Modified notes may appear in the presentation with a slight delay and may replace original notes. Collaborative editing of all or some of the notes in a presentation may also be available; collaborative editing may be partially or completely supervised by a presenter or may be completely unsupervised.
Embodiments of the system described herein will now be explained in more detail in accordance with the figures of the drawings, which are briefly described as follows.
The system described herein provides a mechanism for creating, organizing, rendering, viewing, navigating and modifying direct presentations of notes from content collections.
Flexible instant presentations save time for building formal presentations and allow presenters and viewers to focus on presented materials.
Referring to
After the step 625, processing proceeds to a step 630, where the presenter presents and navigates the note in a main view. After the step 630, processing proceeds to a test step 635, where it is determined whether there is a need to view images, attachments or other objects separately from the note. If so, processing proceeds to a step 640, where the system switches to a document view mode, as explained elsewhere herein (see, for example,
If it is determined at the test step 645 that the presenter needs to highlight note elements, then processing proceeds to a step 650 where the presenter uses the Laser Pointer as needed for highlighting. After the step 650, processing proceeds to a test step 655, which also follows the test step 645 in case when there is no need to highlight note elements. At the test step 655, it is determined whether note editing is possible (various conditions for note editing on an editing screen or a separate device are explained elsewhere herein). If so, processing proceeds to a test step 660 where it is determined if the presented needs to edit the presentation. If so, processing proceeds to a step 665, where the presenter or other users modify the presentation and display changes.
After the step 665, processing proceeds to a test step 670, which may be independently reached from the test step 660 if there is no need to edit the presentation. At the test step 670, it is determined whether the presenter has pressed Next or Previous navigation buttons. If so, processing proceeds to a step 675 where the system obtains another note following the chosen navigation tool (Next/Previous) and a navigation scheme (for example, a link-centric scheme explained in connection with
Various embodiments discussed herein may be combined with each other in appropriate combinations in connection with the system described herein. Additionally, in some instances, the order of steps in the flowcharts, flow diagrams and/or described flow processing may be modified, where appropriate. Subsequently, elements and areas of screen described in screen layouts may vary from the illustrations presented herein. Further, various aspects of the system described herein may be implemented using software, hardware, a combination of software and hardware and/or other computer-implemented modules or devices having the described features and performing the described functions.
Note that mobile device(s) capable of running the system described herein may include software that is pre-loaded with the device, installed from an app store, installed from a desktop (after possibly being pre-loaded thereon), installed from media such as a CD, DVD, etc., and/or downloaded from a Web site. The mobile device may use an operating system such as iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone OS, Blackberry OS and mobile versions of Linux OS.
Software implementations of the system described herein may include executable code that is stored in a computer readable medium and executed by one or more processors, including one or more processors of a desktop computer. The desktop computer may include software that is pre-loaded with the device, installed from an app store, installed from media such as a CD, DVD, etc., and/or downloaded from a Web site. The computer readable medium may be non-transitory and include a computer hard drive, ROM, RAM, flash memory, portable computer storage media such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a flash drive, an SD card and/or other drive with, for example, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or any other appropriate tangible or non-transitory computer readable medium or computer memory on which executable code may be stored and executed by a processor. The system described herein may be used in connection with any appropriate operating system.
Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the specification or practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Prov. App. No. 61/858,660, filed Jul. 26, 2013, and entitled “DIRECT PRESENTATIONS FROM CONTENT COLLECTIONS,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61858660 | Jul 2013 | US |