Apple is always looking for ways to improve photography on the iPad and, especially, the iPhone. Now the company has been granted a patent (number 10,136,048) for a user interface for camera effects.
In the patent filing Apple says that some techniques for managing camera effects using electronic devices are “generally cumbersome and inefficient.” For example, modifying the visual effects in viewfinders such that captured images and recorded videos exhibit the visual effects often requires extensive user input and is imprecise.
Another example: some existing techniques use a complex and time-consuming user interface, which may include multiple key presses or keystrokes. Apple says that existing techniques require more time than necessary, wasting user time and device energy, and wants to change this.
Here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: “The present disclosure generally relates to user interfaces. In some examples, the electronic device transitions between user interfaces for capturing photos based on data received from a first camera and a second camera. In some examples, the electronic device provides enhanced zooming capabilities that result in visual pleasing results for a displayed digital viewfinder and for captured videos.
“In some examples, the electronic device provides user interfaces for transitioning a digital viewfinder between a first camera with an applied digital zoom to a second camera with no digital zoom. In some examples, the electronic device prepares to capture media at various magnification levels. In some examples, the electronic device enhanced capabilities for navigating through a plurality of values.”
Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day.
