Patent ID: 7800650

Claim:
A combined portable viewfinder and digital camcorder system for enabling a user to automatically toggle the camcorder between various operating modes while maintaining both hands spaced from said digital camcorder, said combined viewfinder and digital camcorder system comprising: a digital camcorder provided with a transceiver electrically coupled thereto; a portable headset removably positioned on a user head, said portable headset including a base member spanning across a top surface of the user head for removably securing said headset to the user head, a view-finding arm pivotally mated directly to said base member, said view-finding arm including a view-finding lens operably mated to a distal end thereof, a transceiver in communication with said digital camcorder transceiver, a user interface electrically coupled directly to said headset transceiver, said user interface including a plurality of control buttons disposed on an outside surface of said view-finding arm, means for automatically actuating said digital camcorder to a recording mode such that an image is automatically captured and recorded when said view-finding arm is articulated to a lowered position defined directly in front of a line-of-sight of the user, means for selectively actuating said digital camcorder to a recording mode such that an image is selectively captured and recorded when said view-finding arm is articulated to a lowered position defined directly in front of a line-of-sight of the user and when the line-of-sight is adapted away from an initial rested position, means for manually actuating said digital camcorder to a recording mode such that an image is manually captured and recorded when said view-finding arm is articulated to a lowered position defined directly in front of a line-of-sight of the user and when a designated one of said control buttons is engaged to an on position, and a digital imaging data interface circuit electrically coupled to each of said automatic recording means and said selective recording means and said manual recording means respectively for converting the captured image into a format understood by said digital camcorder and thereby enabling said digital camcorder to record the captured image identified along the line-of-sight of the view-finding arm.