Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Vinayak A Bhalerao

Eric Ledoux

Robin L Goldstein

Paul L Kollmorgen

Salim Alam

Charles Wu

Eric Robert Berman

John Ian Ferrell

George T Hu

Michael Hinkley Van Kleeck

Edward Low Mills

A method and system are provided for allowing a sound designer to design and implement interactive soundscapes based on existing waveform audio files, MIDI files, or audio streams. This is accomplished by using a set of tools consisting of an authoring tool for creating specifications of interactive soundscapes visually without having to write complex code, and a graph builder object that recreates the authored soundscape and interacts with it in real-time according to its specification. To give non-programmers the ability to specify and test how a soundscape will interact with programmatic events and user input in an application, the following tools are also provided: an interface to construct a 'control panel;' a graphical 'trigger-condition-action' specification that defines what actions to take when input from the control panel or application interface is received; a preview mode that enables the sound designer to interact with the soundscape in the same way that the application will; and the ability to save the soundscape as a file that can be edited or used at run-time to recreate the soundscape. Once the interface between the soundscape and the application has been agreed to, the tools allow the sound designer to work independently of the programmer of the media application.

Method and system for authoring a soundscape for a media application

A method and system are provided for allowing a sound designer to design and implement interactive soundscapes based on existing waveform audio files, MIDI files, or audio streams. This is accomplished by using a set of tools consisting of an authoring tool for creating specifications of interactive soundscapes visually without having to write complex code, and a graph builder object that recreates the authored soundscape and interacts with it in real-time according to its specification. To give non-programmers the ability to specify and test how a soundscape will interact with programmatic events and user input in an application, the following tools are also provided: an interface to construct a &ldquo;control panel;&rdquo; a graphical &ldquo;trigger-condition-action&rdquo; specification that defines what actions to take when input from the control panel or application interface is received; a preview mode that enables the sound designer to interact with the soundscape in the same way that the application will; and the ability to save the soundscape as a file that can be edited or used at run-time to recreate the soundscape. Once the interface between the soundscape and the application has been agreed to, the tools allow the sound designer to work independently of the programmer of the media application.

First and second computing devices each contain an object store which store objects indicative of file data. Synchronization components are provided to synchronize the objects while efficiently overcoming problems associated with synchronizing files.

File object synchronization between a desktop computer and a mobile device

A central processing unit (CPU) is coupled to a computer display for displaying graphic and other information. The CPU is further coupled to a pointer control device such as a pen, stylus or mouse that permits the user to selectively position a pointer and activate an action handle on the display associated with a data object. Activation of the action handle signals the CPU of selections associated with the data object. Tapping or clicking on the action handle causes display of a context menu containing at least one command that may be invoked with respect to the data object. Dragging the action handle indicates movement or dragging of the action handle and the corresponding data object for an operation associated with dragging such as drag-and-drop. The use of action handles in association with data objects eliminates ambiguity between actions intended to create digital ink with respect to a pen-based computer system and actions intended to invoke a command or other interaction with the computer system.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Vinayak A Bhalerao