Patent ID: 6512541
Filing Date: 2003-01-28
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A circuit for use in a digital camera to capture digital images of near and far scenes, comprising:a signal processing circuit that can be configured to operate in a still capture mode and a video capture node, in the still capture mode the circuit is to process first pixel signals that define an electronic still image of a far scene, the first pixel signals to be generated by a first pixel area of a sensor area of a sensor array in response to the pixel area being illuminated by an optical image of the far scene, and in the video capture mode, the signal processing circuit is to process second pixel signals that define each of a plurality of electronic images of a near scene, the plurality of electronic images of the near scene to be prepared for transmission to a display device via a computer peripheral bus, the second pixel signals to be generated by a second pixel area of the sensor array in response to the second area being illuminated by a plurality of optical images of the near scene, the optical images of the near scene being smaller than the optical image of the far scene so that the second area is smaller than the first area and the second signals are a subset of the first signals, the circuit is to process the second signals and not others of the first signals in the video capture mode.