Patent ID: 7024051

Claim:
A method for customizing a digital imaging device for at least one particular user by storing at least one firmware component in a programmable memory of the digital imaging device which controls the operation of the digital imaging device, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing customization software which can access a plurality of firmware components providing different image appearances, the customization software producing a plurality of images of the same scene having a corresponding plurality of different appearances; (b) the user selecting one of the plurality of images having a preferred appearance to cause the customization software to access the corresponding firmware component(s); and (c) providing the selected corresponding firmware component(s) to the digital imaging device and programming the programmable memory of the digital imaging device to store the corresponding firmware component(s) to thereby customize the digital imaging device; wherein the digital imaging device includes a display and wherein step (a) includes displaying on the display an image corresponding to a current parameter setting and a plurality of images corresponding to alternative parameter settings that can be selected by the user.