Abstract:
A network configuration file is generated at a host computer and downloaded to a digital camera. This file contains instruction information for communicating with a selected destination via a communications interface. The digital camera includes a “send” button or LCD icon which allows the user to easily transmit one or more images via a wired or wireless communications interface to a desired destination, which among other possibilities may be an Internet Service Provider or a digital photofinishing center. When the user selects this option, the communications port settings, user account specifics, and destination connection commands are read from the network configuration file on the removable memory card. Examples of these settings include serial port baud rate, parity, and stop bits, as well as account name and password.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)  
       [0001]     This application is a division of application U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/855,375 filed May 15, 2001 entitled “Automatically Transmitting Images From An Electronic Camera To A Service Provider Using A Network Configuration File” by Ward et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to electronic photography. More specifically, the invention relates to a digital camera that interfaces with a host computer.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Digital cameras, such as the Kodak Digital Science DC25™ camera, allow images to be utilized on a home computer (PC) and to be incorporated into e-mail documents and personal home pages on the World Wide Web. Presently, images must be copied to the PC and transmitted as e-mail, for example using an online service or an Internet Service Provider (ISP), via a modem from the user&#39;s PC. It would be desirable to be able to transmit pictures directly from the digital camera instead of first transferring the pictures to a PC. For instance, on a vacation trip, it is desirable to immediately share pictures with friends or relatives via e-mail or Internet access. It is also desirable to transmit pictures from a location without PC access in order to free up camera storage to take additional pictures. There are a wide variety of connection means to online services such as America On Line, ISPs, and bulletin board services. Each of these services typically requires an account name and password, as well as local telephone access numbers, and specific communications settings. It would be difficult to provide an easy-to-use means with buttons or menus on a small digital camera to input and/or modify all of these required settings.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the communicating with a selected destination via a communications interface. The digital camera includes a “send” button or LCD icon which allows the user to easily transmit one or more images via a wired or wireless communications interface to a desired destination, which among other possibilities may be an Internet Service Provider or a digital photofinishing center. When the user selects this option, the communications port settings, user account specifics, and destination connection commands are read from the network configuration file. Examples of these settings include serial port baud rate, parity, and stop bits, as well as account name and password.  
         [0005]     In addition, information about which image or images to transmit is entered using the user buttons on the digital camera. This information is used to automatically establish a connection, log-in to the desired destination, and to transmit the image. The transmission may occur immediately after the pictures are taken, for example if the camera has a built-in cellular phone modem, or at a later time, when the camera is connected to a separate unit (such as a dock, kiosk, PC, etc.) equipped with a modem. In the latter case, a “utilization file” is created to provide information on which images should be transmitted to which account.  
         [0006]     These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]      FIG. 1  is a system block diagram of the invention.  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the steps used to automatically transmit images using the network configuration file.  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of an image file.  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing several versions of the network configuration file. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     Because imaging systems and devices are well known, the present description will be directed in particular to elements forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, apparatus in accordance with the present invention. Elements not specifically shown or described herein may be selected from those known in the art. Some aspects of the present description may be implemented in software. Unless otherwise specified, all software implementation is conventional and within the ordinary skill in the programming arts.  
         [0012]     A system block diagram of the invention is shown in  FIG. 1  including an electronic still camera  10 , a host computer(PC)  12  and a service provider  14 . The camera includes an optical section  20  for imaging a scene upon a CCD sensor  22  and generating an image signal, a liquid crystal display (LCD)  24  for displaying images and other information, a number of user input buttons  26 , both permanent memory  28  and removable memory  30 , and an internal communications interface  32  (e.g., modem). This interface may connect to a variety of known networks, such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), ISDN, an RF cellular phone network, or Ethernet. The camera  10  also includes a microprocessor  34  for generally controlling the camera functions, as well as the interchange of data with the host PC  12  and the memory card  30  through a host PC interface  36  and a memory card interface  38 , respectively. Besides the host PC  12 , the system includes a network connection  40  to the online service or ISP (Internet Service Provider)  14 . Alternately, the network  40  can connect to the user&#39;s home PC  12 .  
         [0013]     When the camera  10  is first purchased (or at any time thereafter), it is connected to the PC  12  via the host PC  36  interface and a software application (stored on a disc  45 ) running on the host PC  12  will enable the user to specify the name of a destination ISP or online service and to input from the host PC keyboard  44  the appropriate communication settings and account information. This information generates a network configuration file, which then can then be downloaded to the camera  10  through the host PC interface  36 , which may be a wired or infrared (e.g., IrDA) interface, and written to the camera&#39;s internal memory  28  and/or the removable memory card  30 . Alternatively, a host PC equipped with a memory card reader/writer  42  can write the information directly to the card  30  without connecting the camera through its host PC interface  36 . Also, this information could be predetermined by the user and stored in a “preferences” file on the host PC  12  and then transferred to the camera  10  from this file without further intervention by the user. Multiple sets of destination services can be stored on the memory card  30 . Typically, keyword or graphic descriptors (e.g., icons) accompany the information in the network configuration file about destination services to enable easy access by the camera user.  
         [0014]     The steps used to automatically transmit images using the network configuration file are shown in  FIG. 2 . After disconnecting the camera from the host PC, the user operates the camera to take pictures (step  50 ). This is typically done at a remote location, for example while traveling to another city. As the user takes or reviews images on the image LCD display, the decision can be made to transmit one or more images (step  52 ). This is done by choosing one of the keywords or icons in a menu  54  shown in  FIG. 2 , which are displayed on the LCD  24  and selected, e.g., through the user buttons  26 . (Note that a camera will typically only include a subset (only those desired by the user) of all the different services shown.) The selected image files may be tagged with a code (step  56 ) indicating which service is requested, as shown in  FIG. 3 . (Alternately, an “image utilization” file can be created in the camera storing a list of images to be transmitted by a particular method, as described in the cross-referenced copending patent application (U.S. Ser. No. 60/037,963). As described in that patent application, the details of an order, e.g., number of print copies to be made from an image and the size of the prints and/or a list of images to be e-mailed to various recipients, is written into the “utilization” file, which identifies the order and includes pointers to the image files that store the images required to “fulfill” the order. The “utilization” file is stored in the internal memory  28  or the memory card  30 .)  
         [0015]     Next, the system determines whether a request exists to send an image (step  58 ). If no request is present, the image and associated data is stored in either permanent memory  28  or the memory card  30  (step  59 ). (Typically, all images are initially saved in memory whether eventually sent or not.) Otherwise, if there is a request to send an image, the user ensures that the camera is connected to the appropriate service (wired telephone line, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.) and pushes a “send” button in the user button section  26 , or selects a “send” menu option on the LCD  24 . The camera then utilizes the appropriate network configuration file, shown in  FIG. 4 . Each network configuration file contains items such as the protocol type, phone number, etc., as described in Appendix I. The user password may be checked against the password in the network configuration file to ensure that the user is authorized to connect the camera to the desired service (step  60 ). Alternately, the stored password in the appropriate configuration file can be used. Next, the camera uses the parameters in the configuration file to establish communications with the service and send one or more image files as selected by the user (steps  62 ). The service receiver interprets the system commands issued by the camera from the network configuration file list and sends appropriate feedback (such as “transfer in progress” and “transfer complete”) which are interpreted by the camera and displayed on the LCD  24  (steps  64 ).  
         [0016]     For example, when the camera uses a normal wired telephone (Public Switched Telephone Network) connection (i.e., network  40 ) to the camera&#39;s internal modem  32 , after the user selects the images to be sent and presses the “send” button, the camera performs the following steps without user intervention: 
    1) Read the appropriate connection parameters from the network configuration file (on the memory card  30  or internal camera memory  28 ), dial the phone and establish the connection to the destination service  14 .     2) Read the user&#39;s account name and password and transmit these to “log-on” to the service  14 .     3) Using the appropriate communications protocol (FTP, mailto, etc.), transmit the selected image or images to the destination service  14 .    
 
         [0020]     The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. However, it will be appreciated that variations and modifications can be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.  
       APPENDIX I  
       [0021]     These are descriptions of the tags listed in the previous drawing:  
         [0000]     Protocol Type  
         [0022]     Each communication method has its own protocol, or rules to communicate. This tag identifies that protocol and where to find it. For example, the Network may use TCP/IP and a modem may use XModem.  
         [0000]     Phone Number  
         [0023]     This is the number of the receiving service. If internet access is requested, this could be the number of the Internet Service Provider. For ISDN, some systems require two phone numbers, dialed and connected to in sequence.  
         [0000]     Default Settings  
         [0024]     Standard settings that make the communications device compatible with the imaging device.  
         [0000]     Modem Control String  
         [0025]     Modem and communications devices have a command language that can set them up before they are used. For example, modems have many options controlled by command strings including volume level, the amount of time the carrier is allowed to fail before the system hangs up, and so on.  
         [0000]     Account Data  
         [0026]     This can be internet account data, charge number data, phone card data, billing address, and data related to the commerce part of the transmission.  
         [0000]     Password  
         [0027]     Any password needed to get into the communications system. Other passwords to get into the remote application or destination are located in the System Commands section.  
         [0000]     System Commands  
         [0028]     These are commands that control the end destination.  
         [0000]     Error Protocol  
         [0029]     In cellular and some other wireless communications, error protocols are used to increase the robustness of the link. For example, MNP10 or ETC may be used for cellular links.  
         [0000]     Radio Type  
         [0030]     The type of radio used for this communications feature may be identified here. Some cell phones have modems built in, others will have protocols for many communications functions built in. The radio type will make the imaging device adapt to the correct interface.  
         [0000]     IOC  
         [0031]     ISDN Ordering Code identifies what features are available on the ISDN line provided by the teleco. It is used to establish the feature set for that communications link.  
         [0000]     Internet Service Provider  
         [0032]     This identifies the actual service provider and any specific information or sequence of information that the service wants to see during connection and logoff. It also tells the device how to handle the return messages, like “time used” that are returned by the server.  
         [0000]     Commands to Receiver  
         [0033]     This may be a list of commands to control the receiving application. For example, a command to print one of the images and save the data to a particular file on a PC may be embedded here.  
         [0000]     Return Status Requests  
         [0034]     This tag can set up the ability of the application to tell if an error has occurred, or what the status of the application might be. The data here will help the device decide if it should continue communicating and a set user interface response can be developed around this feedback.