Every iPhone user knows the pain of sifting through numerous editing tools just to adjust a single element in a photograph. Not only does this dip into valuable time, but these existing tools also require more energy from the device itself, draining your battery quicker. Well, Apple has given a beam of hope with its latest patent – US20230319224A1. Titled "User interfaces for managing visual content in a media representation," this patent aims to make the process of managing and editing visual content on iPhone a smoother experience.
Editing photos or videos on an iPhone can be a tedious task. There's a lot of swiping, zooming, and tapping involved. Not to mention the numerous confusing tools at our disposal that may seem intimidating to the average user. This process becomes more trying when the device’s battery life is put into consideration.
According to the patent summary, Apple is developing a new system that can switch up the background, copy elements inside the picture, modify parts of it, add descriptions to various symbols, and even create quick animations of things that are present in the images or videos. This technique not only reduces the cognitive burden on a user, enhancing productivity but also conserves battery by decreasing wastage on redundant user inputs.
Imagine a world where you could change the background of a photo taken in your living room to a gorgeous beach in Hawaii. Perhaps you'd like to copy an object from one photo to another to make it look like your pet was in the room with you. Or maybe, the ability to create a quick animation for your social media channels from the comfort of your phone sounds good to you? This patent has the potential to make this world possible and opens a wide range of possibilities for iPhone users.
Figures accompanying the patent show a number of user interfaces and diagrams illustrating the proposed changes like managing the background of media, copying subjects of a media representation, converting portions of a media representation, and providing descriptions for symbols in a media representation.
However, it’s worth remembering that just because Apple has filed a patent for a certain technology, it doesn’t always mean that such a feature will be definitely available in a future product. That's just how the unpredictable world of patents work.
P.S: This article is based on patent number US20230319224A1 proposed by Apple Inc. The changes proposed in this patent are currently in the hypothetical stage and there is no confirmed information about its release in the market.