Patent ID: 7518634

Claim:
A cylindrical camera module for a compact pen-shaped printer system comprising: a cylindrical camera portion having a principal axis between a viewfinder and an eyepiece; a cylindrical base portion, said camera portion being movable between a first position aligned on a common axis with said base portion, and a second position wherein the principal axis of the camera portion is not aligned with an axis of said base portion; an image sensor within said camera portion that captures an image of a scene; an image processor within said camera portion that processes said captured image for transfer to a cylindrical printer module; and a connector at an end of said base portion for connecting said camera module to said printer module via a bus providing power from said printer module to said camera module and data between said camera module and said printer module, the camera module being operable only when connected to the printer module at the connector, said connected camera and printer modules defining at least part of said pen-shaped printer system.