Digital still camera with still and motion image capabilities
View Patent ↗A camera has an image sensor mounted in a housing for receiving light and generating output signals representative of an image. A circuit processes the output signals in response to actuation of a shutter button mounted in the housing. A control circuit is connected to the processing circuit for selectively generating a first sequence of high resolution still image files or a second sequence of low resolution still image files and for executing firmware to convert the second sequence into a motion video sequence.
1. A method of selectively generating still or motion images with a digital camera, comprising the steps of:
selectively generating a first sequence of high resolution still image files in response to momentary actuation of a shutter button or a second sequence of low resolution still image files in response to actuation of the shutter button for a duration longer than a momentary actuation and storing the image files in the memory in accordance with a predetermined still image data compression standard;
selectively retrieving the low resolution image files from the memory;
converting the low resolution image files to a motion video sequence in accordance with a predetermined motion image data compression standard, the conversion being performed with firmware; and
storing the motion video sequence.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined still image data compression standard is JPEG and a plurality of JPEG files are generated.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined motion image data compression standard is MPEG.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the still image data compression is performed with a hardware JPEG file conversion component.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein the JPEG files are embedded in a plurality of corresponding EXIF files.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the sequence of low resolution images is taken at a rate sufficient to ensure substantially non jerky motion when the motion video sequence is replayed.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the rate is approximately thirty frames per second.
8. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the step of selectively displaying selected ones of the high resolution still images or the motion video sequence.
9. A camera, comprising:
an image sensor mounted in a housing for receiving light and generating output signals representative of an image;
a shutter button mounted to the housing;
a circuit for processing the output signals in response to actuation of the shutter button; and
a control circuit connected to the processing circuit for selectively generating a first sequence of high resolution still image files in response to momentary actuation of a shutter button or a second sequence of low resolution still image files in response to actuation of the shutter button for a duration longer than a momentary actuation and for executing firmware to convert the second sequence into a motion video sequence.
10. The camera of claim 9 wherein the still image files are generated in accordance with a predetermined still image data compression standard and the second sequence of low resolution still image files are converted into a motion video sequence in accordance with a predetermined motion image data compression standard.
11. The camera of claim 9 wherein the control circuit includes means for permitting a user to selectively observe on a display selected ones of the high resolution still image files or the motion video sequence.
12. The camera of claim 9 wherein the control circuit causes a markup file to be generated in response to user commands.