On-screen image adjustments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9424799-B2
Application number	US-201113284757-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2011
Priority date	Oct 28, 2011
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

Methods and systems are described to adjust colors of digital images by using color control tools overlaid on the digital images to be adjusted. In one aspect, a method includes displaying, within a graphical user interface (GUI) and superimposed on a digital image being manipulated, a color control tool configured to cause change of a selected color within the digital image in accordance with user input specifying movement within the GUI. The color control tool includes a plurality of new color indicators, each indicating a new color to which the selected color will change in response to an associated predetermined movement within the GUI. The method also includes receiving via the color control tool user input specifying a direction of movement within the GUI relative to the plurality of new color indicators, and changing the selected color to match the new color indicator associated with the specified direction of movement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that, when executed by data processing apparatus of a mobile device, cause the mobile device to perform operations comprising:
presenting, within a graphical user interface (GUI) of the mobile device, a digital image comprised of a plurality of colors;
receiving user input selecting a location within the digital image, the selected location having a color;
in response to the receiving of the user input selecting the location, displaying within the GUI, and superimposed on the selected location within the digital image, a color control tool configured to cause change of the color of the selected location within the digital image in accordance with user input specifying movement within the GUI, the color control tool including a reference color indicator indicating the color of the selected location, the reference color indicator being surrounded by a plurality of new color indicators, each new color indicator including a new color to which the color of the selected location will change in response to an associated predetermined movement in the GUI from the reference color indicator toward the new color indicator;
receiving via the color control tool user input specifying a direction and a length of movement within the GUI from the reference color indicator toward one of the plurality of new color indicators, such that a magnitude of the change of the color of the selected location is determined based on the specified length of the movement; and
changing, while the specified length of the movement is between first and second predefined lengths, the color of the selected location within the digital image to match a new color included in the one of the plurality of new a color indicators associated with the specified direction of movement, wherein as part of said changing,
indicating that the first predefined length of the specified movement has been reached by removing the plurality of new color indicators except for the new color indicator associated with the specified direction of movement, and
indicating that the second predefined length of the specified movement has been reached by removing the new color indicator associated with the specified direction of movement.

2. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , where
for each one of the plurality of new color indicators, the new color indicated by the one new color indicator is obtained from the color of the selected location by applying an associated color effect of a plurality of color effects corresponding to the plurality of respective new color indicators, each one of the plurality of color effects comprising two or more color transformations that are combined in an associated predefined proportion, and
the plurality of new color indicators includes a plurality of labels, each label of a respective new color indicator including a corresponding color effect from among the plurality of color effects to be applied in response to the associated predetermined movement in the GUI, wherein the plurality of labels surround the reference color indicator.

3. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , where the operations further comprise updating a display in real time to show a result of said changing the color of the selected location in response to the received user input via the color control tool.

4. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , where the operations further comprise, prior to said removing the new color indicator associated with the specified direction of movement, gradually fading the displayed color control tool as the specified length of the movement increases from the first predefined length to the second predefined length.

5. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the color control tool is centered on the selected location within the digital image.

6. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the user input selecting the location within the digital image comprises a touch input, and wherein an outer boundary of the reference color indicator encompasses an area within the digital image in which the touch input is received.

7. A method performed by one or more processes executing on a computer system, the method comprising:
presenting, within a graphical user interface (GUI) of a mobile device, a digital image comprised of a plurality of colors;
receiving user input selecting a location within the digital image, the selected location having a color;
in response to the receiving of the user input selecting the location, displaying, within the GUI and superimposed on the selected location within the digital image, a color control tool configured to cause change of the color of the selected location within the digital image in accordance with user input specifying movement within the GUI, the color control tool including a reference color indicator indicating the color of the selected location, the reference color indicator being surrounded by a plurality of new color indicators, each new color indicator including a new color to which the color of the selected location will change in response to an associated predetermined movement within the GUI from the reference color indicator toward the new color indicator;
receiving via the color control tool user input specifying a direction and a length of movement within the GUI from the reference color indicator toward one of the plurality of new color indicators, such that a magnitude of the change of the color of the selected location is determined based on the specified length of the movement; and
changing, while the specified length of the movement is between first and second predefined lengths, the color of the selected location within the digital image to match a new color included in the one of the plurality of new color indicators associated with the specified direction of movement, wherein as part of said changing,
indicating that the first predefined length of the specified movement has been reached by removing the plurality of new color indicators except for the new color indicator associated with the specified direction of movement, and
indicating that the second predefined length of the specified movement has been reached by removing the new color indicator associated with the specified direction of movement.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising updating a display in real time to show a result of said changing the color of the selected location within the digital image to match the new color indicator associated with the received user input via the color control tool.

9. The method of claim 7 where, for each one of the plurality of new color indicators, the new color indicated by the one new color indicator is obtained from the color of the selected location by applying an associated color effect of a plurality of color effects corresponding to the plurality of respective new color indicators, each one of the plurality of color effects comprising two or more color transformations that are combined in an associated predefined proportion.

10. The method of claim 9 , where the two or more color transformations combined in the associated predefined proportion comprise either of gamma, luminance, saturation, contrast or brightness adjustments.

11. A system comprising:
a mobile device display; and
at least one processor and storage configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
presenting, within a graphical user interface (GUI) on the mobile device display, a digital image com

Assignees

• Bhatt Nikhil
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Bhatt Nikhil

Classifications

• G06F3/04897

  Special input arrangements or commands for improving display capability · CPC title

• G09G5/02 Primary

  characterised by the way in which colour is displayed {(details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607)} · CPC title

• G09G2320/0666

  for control of colour parameters, e.g. colour temperature · CPC title

• G09G2354/00

  Aspects of interface with display user · CPC title