Non-destructive editing for a media editing application

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for defining a data structure that represents an edited image managed by an image editing application. The defining of the data structure includes defining an identifier for identifying an original version of the edited image. The defining of the data structure includes defining a set of identifiers for identifying a set of edit instructions for applying edits to the original version of the edited image. The defining of the data structure includes defining a set of cached images for storing a set of different versions of the edited image.

Description

CLAIM OF BENEFIT TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61 / 607,524, filed Mar. 6, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61 / 607,525, filed Mar. 6, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61 / 607,554, filed Mar. 6, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61 / 607,569, filed Mar. 6, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61 / 607,574, filed Mar. 6, 2012; and U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled “Color Adjustors for Color Segments”, with attorney docket number APLE.P0355P, filed May 15, 2012. U.S. Provisional Patent Applications 61 / 607,524, 61 / 607,525, 61 / 607,554, 61 / 607,569, 61 / 607,574, and U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. ______, with attorney docket number APLE.P0355P, are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]Today, many image editing applications provide a number of different tools to managed and manipulate digital images. Examples of such applications are iPhoto, wh...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent application described in the patent uses a data structure to manage images, which is designed to maintain the original image when it is modified. The application also caches frequent access versions of the image to provide quick viewing through a graphical user interface (GUI). Users can switch between the current edited version and the original image using a non-destructive method. Additionally, the application allows users to send images to other users running the application in a non-destructive manner, ensuring that the original image and all previous edits are viewable by others.

Problems solved by technology

This usually results in the user spending an inordinate amount of time editing the image, and, at the end, the user may still not be able to edit the image in way that the user wishes.

In many instances, the user knows what the user wants the image to look like, but the user either lacks the knowledge to produce the desired appearance of the image and / or the user cannot find the tools in the image editing application that allows the user to produce the desired appearance.

Thus, many users may need to spend a large amount of time learning to use the media editing application.

Therefore, if a user makes a mistake or wishes to changed or undo edits, the user has to start over by editing the original image file or the user has to fix the mistake by further editing the image.

Images