Method and apparatus for producing still video images using electronic motion video apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An electronic camera apparatus, comprising:
- an electronic optical sensing apparatus, said electronic optical sensing apparatus sensing optical images and converting sensed images to an electronic signal;
a buffer memory;
a video storage medium interface for storing video images captured by said optical sensing apparatus on a storage medium; and
a controller which operates said electronic camera apparatus in at least one mode, said at least one mode including a first mode wherein said controller concurrently causes said video storage medium interface to store motion video captured by said optical sensing apparatus on a video storage medium at a first resolution, and to temporarily store a video frames captured by said optical sensing apparatus in said buffer memory, and responsive to a first user command, saves at least one frame from said buffer memory in a persistent form at a second resolution, said second resolution being finer than said first resolution.
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Abstract
An electronic video camera temporarily records and saves motion video in a relatively high-resolution form in a frame aging buffer. While video frames are saved in high-resolution form, it is possible to extract a relatively high-resolution still image from the buffer. The camera holds the video data in high-resolution form a limited time, eventually “aging” it as more frames are captured. The motion video is stored in persistent storage in a lower resolution form. At the user'"'"'s option, relatively higher resolution frames from the buffer can also be saved.
58 Citations
34 Claims
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1. An electronic camera apparatus, comprising:
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an electronic optical sensing apparatus, said electronic optical sensing apparatus sensing optical images and converting sensed images to an electronic signal;
a buffer memory;
a video storage medium interface for storing video images captured by said optical sensing apparatus on a storage medium; and
a controller which operates said electronic camera apparatus in at least one mode, said at least one mode including a first mode wherein said controller concurrently causes said video storage medium interface to store motion video captured by said optical sensing apparatus on a video storage medium at a first resolution, and to temporarily store a video frames captured by said optical sensing apparatus in said buffer memory, and responsive to a first user command, saves at least one frame from said buffer memory in a persistent form at a second resolution, said second resolution being finer than said first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for operating an electronic camera apparatus, comprising the steps of:
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capturing a sequence of optical images with an electronic optical sensing apparatus;
storing motion video images from said sequence of optical images on a motion video storage medium at a first resolution;
temporarily storing image data from said sequence of optical images in a buffer, said step of temporarily storing image data being performed concurrently with said step of storing motion video images; and
responsive to a user command, saving at least some images from said buffer in a persistent form at a second resolution, said second resolution being finer than said first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for operating an electronic camera apparatus, comprising the steps of:
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capturing a continuous stream of optical images with an electronic optical sensing apparatus;
temporarily storing image data from said continuous stream of optical images in a circular buffer, said circular buffer being continuously overwritten by new image data from said continuous stream of optical images;
responsive to a user command, saving at least some image data from said buffer in a persistent form. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A program product for controlling the operation of an electronic camera apparatus, said electronic camera apparatus having an electronic optical sensing apparatus for sensing optical images and converting sensed images to an electronic signal, said program product comprising a plurality of processor executable instructions recorded on signal-bearing media, wherein said instructions, when executed by at least one programmable processor of said electronic camera apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the steps of:
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capturing a sequence of optical images with said electronic optical sensing apparatus;
storing motion video images from said sequence of optical images on a motion video storage medium at a first resolution;
temporarily storing image data from said sequence of optical images in a buffer, said step of temporarily storing image data being performed concurrently with said step of storing motion video images; and
responsive to a user command, saving at least some images from said buffer in a persistent form at a second resolution, said second resolution being finer than said first resolution.
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Specification