Patent ID: 7350224

Claim:
A method for controlling an integrated, network-capable camera, comprising: forming an image on an image pickup device of an optical system; capturing digital images, from the image pickup device via an image capturing circuit, as digital image files; scheduling a transfer of the digital image files to a destination computer at a selected network address on a computer network, according to a first scheduling device including at least one timer; packetizing the digital image files and addressing the digital image files to the selected network address according to a transport control device; self-initiating a connection with the computer network according to a transmission initiating device, the connection being established via the transport control device and via a network interface device connectible to the computer network; communicating with the destination computer at the selected network address on the computer network; transferring the digital image files via a file transfer device to the destination computer by transmitting the digital image files across the computer network according to a predetermined file transfer protocol; and controlling operations and communications of each of the optical system, the image capturing circuit, the network interface device, the file transfer device, the transport control device, the transmission initiating device, and the first scheduling device by a same microcontroller, wherein the image pickup device, the optical system, the image capturing circuit, the network interface device, the file transfer device, the transport control device, the transmission initiating device, the first scheduling device, and the microcontroller are housed within a camera body of the integrated, network-capable camera.