Optimized enhancement of digital images

A method of enhancing an unmodified image stored in a memory of a computer system having a processor, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving image enhancement codes from the memory, each image enhancement code describing an image enhancement manipulation to be performed on the image;
• altering an order in which the image enhancement codes are applied to the unmodified image to optimize the image enhancement;
• merging selected ones of the image enhancement codes to be applied to the unmodified image to optimize the image enhancement;
• receiving the unmodified image from the memory;
• and
• applying, using the processor, the image enhancement codes to the unmodified image to produce an enhanced image.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for displaying an image stored in the memory of a computer system, the instructions comprising:

• instructions for receiving a request to display an enhanced version of the image;
• instructions for retrieving, responsive to the received request to display the enhanced version of the image, a plurality of image enhancement codes from the memory, each image enhancement code describing an enhancement to be performed on the image;
• instructions for altering an order in which the image enhancement codes are applied to the image to achieve a desired optimization of the enhancement;
• instructions for merging selected ones of the image enhancement codes to achieve a desired optimization of the enhancement;
• and
• instructions for applying the altered and merged image enhancement codes to the digital image to produce the enhanced version of the image.

An image processing system for storing and enhancing digital images, the image processing system comprising:

• an original image archive for storing a plurality of digital images;
• an original sequence archive for storing sequences of image enhancement codes for operating on associated ones of the plurality of digital images stored in the original image archive;
• an optimizer coupled to the original image archive and the original sequence archive for optimizing the image enhancement codes to produce optimized image enhancement codes for operating on associated ones of the plurality of digital images stored in the original image archive;
• an alternate sequence cache coupled to the optimizer for storing optimized image enhancement codes produced by the optimizer;
• an image processor coupled to the optimizer for applying optimized image enhancement codes stored in the alternate sequence cache to the associated digital images to produce enhanced images;
• and
• an enhanced image cache coupled to the image processor for storing the enhanced images produced by the image processor.

A method of optimizing a sequence of enhancement codes describing enhancements to be performed on a digital image, comprising the steps of:

• assigning a type to each enhancement code in the sequence;
• partitioning the sequence into sub-sequences delineated by enhancement codes of a first type;
• commuting pairs of enhancement codes within each sub-sequence, wherein a first code in a pair is of a second type and a second code in a pair is of a third type, to produce two groups of enhancement codes within each sub-sequence;
• and
• merging selected enhancement codes within each group within each sub-sequence.