Patent ID: 8466973

Claim:
A computer device for executing multiple computer program applications in parallel, wherein one of said program applications is a digital picture taking application, the computer device comprising: a camera comprising an optical system, at least one electronic image sensor providing raw image data from the optical information received from the optical system and an image data compressor for compressing the raw image data provided by the electronic image sensor into a compressed picture data stream (CPS), the image data compressor being operative to generate the CPS with a variable and externally controllable compression rate; a display for displaying pictures taken with the camera; an imaging subsystem configured to perform digital imaging processing tasks and comprising a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer for buffering the CPS; a computing subsystem for executing the computer program applications, the computing subsystem comprising a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory and at least one non-volatile memory; a data bus interfacing the computing subsystem with the imaging subsystem; a bus bandwidth manager for monitoring available CPU utilization and bus bandwidth in dependence on activities of the computer program applications and for allocating bus bandwidth to active computer program applications; and an imaging control means for controlling a compression rate of the image data compressor depending on available bus bandwidth; wherein the imaging subsystem is operative to send an overflow warning signal to the imaging control means on a direct control line and the imaging control means is operative to instruct the image data compressor on another direct control line to increase the compression rate of the CPS.