Content-aware progress bar

Abstract

In one example, a method for providing content-aware progress bar includes receiving a command from a user via an input device to present a visual media on a display device, retrieving a progress bar associated with the visual media, wherein the progress bar includes a plurality of sections, and where each section of the plurality of sections corresponds to one scene of a plurality of scenes of the visual media, and wherein the each section visually indicates a type of content contained in the one scene, a location of the one scene in the visual media, and a duration of the one scene, presenting the visual media on the display device, and displaying the progress bar on the display device in a manner that is time-synchronized to the visual media.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a processing system including at least one processor, a command from a user via an input device to present a visual media on a display device;   retrieving, by the processing system, a progress bar associated with the visual media, wherein the progress bar comprises a plurality of sections, and where each section of the plurality of sections corresponds to one scene of a plurality of scenes of the visual media, and wherein the each section visually indicates a type of content of a plurality of types of content contained in the one scene, a location of the one scene in the visual media, and a duration of the one scene;   presenting, by the processing system, the visual media on the display device; and   displaying, by the processing system, the progress bar on the display device in a manner that is time-synchronized to the visual media, wherein the displaying is performed when a change in the type of content is coming up in the visual media within a predefined period of time, wherein the progress bar is hidden at all other times, wherein the progress bar is configured to display a plurality of visual indicators, and wherein each visual indicator of the plurality of visual indicators comprises at least one of: a color, a pattern, an image, or a graphic to represent a specific type of content of the plurality of types of content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sections is ordered in the progress bar according to an order in which the plurality of scenes occur in the visual media. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the each section visually indicates the type of content contained in the one scene by displaying the color that corresponds to the type of content in accordance with a key that is configurable by the user. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the each section visually indicates the type of content contained in the one scene by displaying the pattern that corresponds to the type of content in accordance with a key that is configurable by the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the each section visually indicates the type of content contained in the one scene by displaying the image that corresponds to the type of content in accordance with a key that is configurable by the user. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the each section visually indicates the duration of the one scene by a size of the each section. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the processing system, a signal via the input device to skip at least one scene of the plurality of scenes, wherein the signal is initiated by an interaction of the user with the progress bar.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 skipping, by the processing system, the at least one scene in response to the signal.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the skipping comprises fast forwarding through the at least one scene. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the processing system presents a dialog to the user to confirm that the at least one scene should be skipped after receiving the signal but prior to the skipping. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 blurring, by the processing system, frames of the at least one scene in response to the signal.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 muting, by the processing system, audio of the at least one scene in response to the signal.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 scrambling, by the processing system, audio of the at least one scene in response to the signal by altering a playback speed of the audio.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the progress bar is configured to display selected visual indicators corresponding to selected types of content for which the user indicates a desire to be warned and to omit at least one visual indicator for a type of content for which the user indicates a desire to not be warned. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating, by the processing system, an appearance of the progress bar on the display device as the visual media is presented, so that the appearance of the progress bar on the display device indicates a current scene of the plurality of scenes that is currently being presented on the display device.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing system is configured to automatically skip scenes containing a first type of content of the plurality of types of content in the visual media during playback of the visual media and to present a dialog to the user to indicate that an upcoming scene in the visual media containing the first type of content is to be skipped prior to skipping the upcoming scene during the playback. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the dialog presents an option to enter a passcode to prevent the upcoming scene from being skipped during the playback. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 hiding, by the processing system, the progress bar in response to a request from the user via the input device.   
     
     
         19 . A device comprising:
 a processing system including at least one processor; and   a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 receiving a command from a user via an input device to present a visual media on a display device; 
 retrieving a progress bar associated with the visual media, wherein the progress bar comprises a plurality of sections, and where each section of the plurality of sections corresponds to one scene of a plurality of scenes of the visual media, and wherein the each section visually indicates a type of content of a plurality of types of content contained in the one scene, a location of the one scene in the visual media, and a duration of the one scene; 
 presenting the visual media on the display device; and 
 displaying the progress bar on the display device in a manner that is time-synchronized to the visual media, wherein the displaying is performed when a change in the type of content is coming up in the visual media within a predefined period of time, wherein the progress bar is hidden at all other times, wherein the progress bar is configured to display a plurality of visual indicators, and wherein each visual indicator of the plurality of visual indicators comprises at least one of: a color, a pattern, an image, or a graphic to represent a specific type of content of the plurality of types of content. 
   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 receiving a command from a user via an input device to present a visual media on a display device;   retrieving a progress bar associated with the visual media, wherein the progress bar comprises a plurality of sections, and where each section of the plurality of sections corresponds to one scene of a plurality of scenes of the visual media, and wherein the each section visually indicates a type of content of a plurality of types of content contained in the one scene, a location of the one scene in the visual media, and a duration of the one scene;   presenting the visual media on the display device; and   displaying the progress bar on the display device in a manner that is time-synchronized to the visual media, wherein the displaying is performed when a change in the type of content is coming up in the visual media within a predefined period of time, wherein the progress bar is hidden at all other times, wherein the progress bar is configured to display a plurality of visual indicators, and wherein each visual indicator of the plurality of visual indicators comprises at least one of: a color, a pattern, an image, or a graphic to represent a specific type of content of the plurality of types of content.