A method for acquiring a plurality of digital images operated on a device having an integrated camera, an application independent from the operating system and an application program interface (API), the application program interface adapted to receive preprocessing instructions from the application, the method comprising the steps of: generating a first request to acquire a first image, the first request including a first preprocessing instruction comprising selectable preprocessing functions; generating a second request to acquire a second image, the second request including a second preprocessing instruction comprising selectable preprocessing functions; acquiring first image data in accordance with the first request; preprocessing the first image data in accordance with the first preprocessing instruction by the application program interface to generate a first preprocessed image, said application program interface being adapted to activate preprocessing functions in response to said first preprocessing instruction; acquiring second image data in accordance with the second request; preprocessing the second image data in accordance with the second preprocessing instruction by said application program interface to generate a second preprocessed image, said application program interface being adapted to activate preprocessing functions in response to said second preprocessing instruction, wherein the application program interface processes using a pipeline configuration the first request including a first preprocessing instruction and the second request including a second preprocessing instruction, the pipeline configuration comprising the preprocessing functions connected in series where the output of one function is the input of the next function, and different functions of the first preprocessing instruction are performed on the first image data in parallel with other functions of the second preprocessing instruction being performed on the second image data; outputting the first preprocessed image and second preprocessed image to the application. generating a first request to acquire a first image, the first request including a first preprocessing instruction comprising selectable preprocessing functions; generating a second request to acquire a second image, the second request including a second preprocessing instruction comprising selectable preprocessing functions; acquiring first image data in accordance with the first request; preprocessing the first image data in accordance with the first preprocessing instruction by the application program interface to generate a first preprocessed image, said application program interface being adapted to activate preprocessing functions in response to said first preprocessing instruction; acquiring second image data in accordance with the second request; preprocessing the second image data in accordance with the second preprocessing instruction by said application program interface to generate a second preprocessed image, said application program interface being adapted to activate preprocessing functions in response to said second preprocessing instruction, wherein the application program interface processes using a pipeline configuration the first request including a first preprocessing instruction and the second request including a second preprocessing instruction, the pipeline configuration comprising the preprocessing functions connected in series where the output of one function is the input of the next function, and different functions of the first preprocessing instruction are performed on the first image data in parallel with other functions of the second preprocessing instruction being performed on the second image data; outputting the first preprocessed image and second preprocessed image to the application. <EOS>