SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IN-BROWSER PHOTO EDITING

• US 20080285892A1
• Filed: 03/19/2008
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bitnik, Inc.
• Inventors: Massena, Darrin, Sposato, Jonathan, Harrington, Mike
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,420 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/311
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00132 in a digital photofinishing system, i.e. a system where digital photographic images undergo typical photofinishing processing, e.g. printing ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00137 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00151 with selective access
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00164 at a remote location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00167 Processing or editing H04N1/00196 - H04N1/00201 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00183 Photography assistance, e.g. displaying suggestions to the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2183 the stored images being distributed among a plurality of different locations, e.g. among a plurality of users

Abstract

An in-browser photo-editing application method and system. The method may typically include retrieving an image for manipulation along with a set of image manipulation instructions at a client computer and engaging a manipulation to the image from the client computer. Then, the client computer records image manipulation instructions simultaneous to displaying user edits. The set of image manipulation instructions are transmitted to the server when a mirror of the user'"'"'s manipulated image is desired on the server. The server performs the manipulation instructions on its own copy of the original image to produce the mirror image. Copies of the pre-manipulated and post-manipulated image as well as the manipulation instructions may be stored at several locations including the client computer, the server computer or even a remote storage computer.

Claims

1. A computer-related method, comprising:

at a client computer, selecting an image for manipulation;

retrieving the selected image for manipulation to the client computer and to a server computer;

selecting at least one manipulation instruction and executing the manipulation instruction at the client computer to manipulate the retrieved image;

transmitting information about the at least one manipulation instruction to the server computer; and

executing the at least one manipulation instruction at the server computer to manipulate the image at the server computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieving the image further comprises retrieving the image from a data store at the client computer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieving the image further comprises retrieving the image from a data store at a remote computer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieving the image further comprises retrieving the image from a remote computer over a computer network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the at least one manipulation instruction with the manipulated image at the server computer after the manipulation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the at least one manipulation instruction with the manipulated image at a remote location after the manipulation.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a manipulated copy of the image at the server computer after the manipulation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing an unmanipulated copy of the image at the server computer before the manipulation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that at least one manipulation instruction was stored with the retrieved image; and

transmitting information about the at least one manipulation instruction to the client computer with the retrieved image.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user interface for suitable for image manipulation within a web browsing application.

11. A system for manipulating digital image in a computer-network environment, the system comprising:

a client computer having a web browser application executing thereon and having an in-browser image manipulation application executing within the context of the web browser application; and

a server computer communicatively coupled to the client computer over the computer network, the server computer having a server image manipulation service executing thereon;

wherein the in-browser image manipulation application is operable to implement a set of instructions for manipulating an image and produce a manipulated image at the client computer; and

wherein the server image manipulation service is operable to receive the set of instructions implemented at the client computer and produce a manipulated image at the server.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the web browser application comprises a web browser from the group comprising:

Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Navigator, and Safari.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the manipulation comprises a manipulation from the group comprising:

resize, crop, color manipulation, rotate, sharpen, enhance, remove red-eye, remove blemish, add tone effect, reverse image, reverse exposure, add, delete, and modify element.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a remote computer communicatively coupled to the client computer and the server computer, the remote computer operable to store digital images such that the client computer may retrieve an image for manipulation.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for:

selecting an image for manipulation;

retrieving the selected image for manipulation to the client computer and to a server computer;

selecting at least one manipulation instruction and executing the manipulation instruction at the client computer to manipulate the retrieved image;

transmitting information about the at least one manipulation instruction to the server computer; and

executing the at least one manipulation instruction at the server computer to manipulate the image at the server computer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the retrieving the image further comprises retrieving the image from a data store at the client computer.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the retrieving the image further comprises retrieving the image from a data store at a remote computer.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the retrieving the image further comprises retrieving the image from a remote computer over a computer network.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 having further computer-executable instructions for:

determining that at least one manipulation instruction was stored with the retrieved image; and

transmitting information about the at least one manipulation instruction to the client computer with the retrieved image.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 having further computer-executable instructions for storing the at least one manipulation instruction with the manipulated image at the server computer after the manipulation.