If Apple follows through on a new patent (number 20120096361) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, you may soon be able to generate a geographically based slideshow of the digital media items — such as photos and videos — on your OS X and iOS devices.
Per the patent, a slideshow framework receives user-specified digital images, ordering them according to time of capture, organizing the ordered images into groups, each group corresponding to a different geographical region, and generating a slideshow of the user-specified images using maps of the different geo-graphical regions and visual transitions between the different geographical regions.
Here’s Apple’s background on the invention: “Digital photography and digital videography have simplified taking, viewing, storing, and reproducing media content such as still images and video. Photographs can be taken either using high-end equipment such as digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras, low resolution cameras including point-and-shoot cameras and cellular telephone devices with suitable capabilities.
“Video can be taken either using high-end professional equipment, hand held cameras such as a camcorders, digital video cameras, and cellular telephone devices with suitable capabilities. In either case, a geographical location (e.g., a pair of latitude and longitude coordinates) at which a photo or video was captured can be recorded, either by the image capture device itself or potentially a separate device such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, and associated with the digital photo or video. Once captured, digital photos and video clips can be transferred from one location to another location such as from one data storage device to another data storage device, or from one location on a data storage device to another location on a data storage device.
“Software applications or utilities can be used to store, display, and edit digital media content obtained from a camera, video camera, or any other electronic image in a digital format. Such software applications provide a user in possession of a large repository of digital media content with the capabilities to organize, view, and edit digital photographs and video clips.”
Robert Van Osten is the inventor.