Selective image editing in a browser

• US 20080225057A1
• Filed: 07/10/2006
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosenstein, Justin, Hertzfeld, Andrew, Sites, Richard L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,631,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

Methods, tools, and systems are provided for editing an image in a browser. One method includes presenting an image in a browser, receiving a selection identifying an area of an image to transform and a transformation and transforming the area of the image in the browser without interaction with the server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing an image in a browser;

triggering an invocation of an editor in the browser;

displaying an editor in the browser, the editor including a control for invoking a transformation operation;

receiving user input to transform the image including receiving from a user in the browser a definition of an area of the image to transform and an effect to apply to the area;

transforming the image in the browser;

determining that transforming the image is complete; and

providing transformation data to the server including information defining the transformation.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

returning a modified image to the browser after receipt of the transformation data, the modified image having a uniform resource locator (URL) and being transformed in accordance with the transformation data.

3. The method of claim 1 where providing an image includes selecting an image using a web page creation tool.

4. The method of claim 1 where displaying an editor includes displaying a dialog box including the control.

5. The method of claim 1 where transforming the image in the browser does not require interaction with the server.

6. A method comprising:

providing an image in a browser;

triggering an invocation of an editor in the browser;

displaying an editor in the browser, the editor including a control for invoking an effect on the image;

receiving user input to apply the effect to the image including receiving from a user a definition of an area of the image to apply the effect; and

applying the effect to the image in the browser without interaction with a server.

7. The method of claim 6 where the effect is a blend, the method further comprising

blending the area with either a color or a second image in the browser, the second image or color associated with the effect;

receiving user input to define the amount of blending;

blending the first and second image in the browser in accordance with the user input.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising

determining that editing the image is complete;

and

providing effect data to the server including information defining the effect, the area and the blend amount.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising

returning a modified image to the browser after receipt of the effect data, the modified image having a uniform resource locator (URL) and with an effect applied in accordance with the effect data.

10. The method of claim 7 where applying the effect includes determining the second image based on the effect.

11. The method of claim 7 where applying the effect includes executing a script to define a blend layer including the second image and combine the blend layer with the image.

12. The method of claim 11 where combining the blend layer and the image includes determining an opacity of the blend layer.

13. The method of claim 7 where the effect is brightness and the second image is an image that is substantially white or the color is white.

14. The method of claim 7 where the effect is darkness and the second image is substantially black or the color is black.

15. The method of claim 7 effect is color desaturation and the second image is a color desaturated representation of the image.

16. The method of claim 7 further comprising requesting a grayscale image from the server and providing the grayscale image to the browser as the second image.

17. The method of claim 7 where the effect is sharpness and the second image is a sharpened version of the image.

18. The method of claim 7 where the effect is enhancement and the second image is an enhanced version of the image.

19. The method of claim 6 where providing an image includes selecting an image using a web page creation tool.

20. The method of claim 6 where displaying an editor includes displaying a dialog box including the control.

21. The method of claim 6 where applying the effect to the image in the browser does not require interaction with the server.

22. The method of claim 6 where the effect combines two distinct images and where the method includes receiving user input to select the second image from among a plurality of images that are available to the browser, and combining the image and the second image includes defining an opacity of the second image to be used in the blend, and blending the image and the second image at the defined opacity level.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for providing an image in a browser;

means for triggering an invocation of an editor in the browser;

means for displaying an editor in the browser, the editor including a control for invoking a transformation operation;

means for receiving user input to identify an area of the image and transform the area of the image;

means for transforming the area of the image in the browser without interaction with a server; and

means for providing transformation data to the server including information defining the image, the area and the transformation.

24. A computer program product in a medium including instructions for causing a computer to:

provide an image in a browser;

trigger an invocation of an editor in the browser;

display an editor in the browser, the editor including a control for invoking a transformation operation;

receive user input to identify an area of the image and transform the area of the image;

transform the area of the image in the browser without interaction with a server; and

provide transformation data to the server including information defining the image, the area and the transformation.

25. A method comprising presenting an image in a browser, receiving a selection identifying an area of an image to transform and a transformation and transforming the area of the image in the browser without interaction with the server.

26. The method of claim 25 where receiving a selection includes receiving a selection from a list of transformations.

27. A method comprising:

selecting an image for editing, the image being presented in a browser;

editing the image in accordance with user instructions including identifying an area of the image to edit, selecting edits to apply to the area and presenting an edited version of the image in the browser; and

after editing the image in the browser, providing data to a server including an image identifier and transformation data indicative of the edits made in the browser and in accordance with the user instructions.

28. An apparatus comprising:

means for presenting an image in a browser;

means for receiving a selection from a user to transform the image including an indication of an area of the image to transform; and

means for transforming the area of the image in the browser without interaction with the server.

29. An apparatus comprising:

means for selecting an image for editing, the image being presented in a browser;

means for editing the image in accordance with user instructions including instructions identifying an area of the image to edit and selecting edits to apply to the area;

means for presenting an edited version of the image in the browser; and

after editing the image in the browser, means for providing data to a server including an image identifier and transformation data indicative of the edits made in the browser and in accordance with the user instructions.

30. A method comprising:

selecting an image for editing, the image being presented in a browser;

receiving from a user in the browser a definition of an area of the image to edit and an effect to apply to the area;

transmitting area and effect data to a server; and

receiving and displaying in the browser an edited image in accordance with the area and effect data from the browser.