Patent Publication Number: US-2011050957-A1

Title: Image capturing device and quick turn-on method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to image capturing devices and, particularly, to an image capturing device and a quick turn-on method thereof. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     With the development of electro-optical imaging technology, image capturing devices are widely used now. Typically, when we want to capture an image, we need turn on the image capturing device first, the image capturing device will initialize various components thereof, such as image capturing module, main memory etc, before the image capturing device is ready to capture an image. However, because there are so many components needing to be initialized when turning on the image capturing device, the whole process takes up a long time, as a result, an important image capturing opportunity may be missed. 
     What is needed, therefore, is an image capturing device and a quick turn-on method thereof to overcome or at least mitigate the above-described problem. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present image capturing device and quick turn-on method thereof can be better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principle of the present image capturing device and quick turn-on method thereof. In the drawings, all the views are schematic. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic, functional block diagram of an image capturing device according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart of a quick turn-on method of the image capturing device of  FIG. 1  according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an image capturing device  100  according to an exemplary embodiment, is shown. The image capturing device  100  includes a quick turn-on button  10 , a first initialization module  20 , a second initialization module  30 , an image capturing module  40 , an auxiliary memory  50 , a main memory  60 , and an image transmission module  70 . The image capturing device  100  can be a digital still camera, a video camera, a mobile phone etc. 
     When a user is in a hurry rather than turning on the device  100  by some standard way, the user instead activates the quick turn-on button  10  to quickly start the image capturing device  100 . The quick turn-on button  10  can be disposed on a casing (not shown) of the image capturing device  100 . 
     The first initialization module  20  is configured for initializing the image capturing module  40  and the auxiliary memory  50  when the quick turn-on button  10  is triggered by being, for example, pressed. 
     The image capturing module  40  can be used for capturing images after being initialized by the first initialization module  20 . The image capturing module  40  can be controlled by a shutter button (not shown) to capture images. In the present embodiment, in order that the image capturing device  100  can capture images as soon as possible after the quick turn-on button  10  is triggered, the image capturing module  40  will capture a predetermined number of images automatically after being initialized by the first initialization module  20  when the quick turn-on button  10  is used. 
     The auxiliary memory  50  is used for storing the images captured by the image capturing module  40  after the image capturing device  100  is started by the quick turn-on button  10 . The capacity of the auxiliary memory  50  is much smaller than that of the main memory  60 , thus, the time for initializing the auxiliary memory  50  can be much shorter than the time for initializing the main memory  60 . The auxiliary memory  50  can be a random access memory. 
     The second initialization module  30  is configured for initializing the main memory  60  and the image transmission module  70  after the image capturing module  40  and the auxiliary memory  50  are initialized by the first initialization module  20 . 
     The image transmission module  70  is configured for transmitting images from the auxiliary memory  50  to the main memory  60  after the main memory  60  is initialized. The main memory  60  can be a memory card. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a quick turn-on method of the image capturing device  100  of  FIG. 1  is also provided. The method includes the following steps. 
     Step S 101 : starting the image capturing device  100  by the quick turn-on button  10 . 
     Step S 102 : initializing the image capturing module  40  and the auxiliary memory  50 . In the present embodiment, the first initialization module  20  is configured for initializing the image capturing module  40  and the auxiliary memory  50 . 
     Step S 103 : capturing images and storing the images into the auxiliary memory  50 . 
     Step S 104 : initializing the main memory  60  and the image transmission module  70 . In the present embodiment, the second initialization module  30  is configured for initializing the main memory  60  and the image transmission module  70 . 
     Step S 105 : transmitting images from the auxiliary memory  50  to the main memory  60 . In the present embodiment, the image transmission module  70  is configured for transmitting images from the auxiliary memory  50  to the main memory  60 . 
     In the present embodiment, the image capturing device  100  initializing the image capturing module  40  and the auxiliary memory  50  first, therefore, the image capturing device  100  can capture images as soon as possible after the quick turn-on button  10  being triggered. 
     While certain embodiments have been described and exemplified above, various other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing disclosure. The invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described and exemplified, and the embodiments are capable of considerable variation and modification without departure from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.