Patent ID: 6930709

Claim:
An integrated Internet camera for transmitting digital images to an Internet address, comprising: an image pickup; an optical system for forming an image on the image pickup; an image capturing circuit, for capturing digital images from the image pickup; a network interface device connectible to the Internet for transmission of the digital image files to the Internet; a file transfer device for communicating, via the network interface device, with a destination shell account at a predetermined Internet address and for transferring the digital image files to the destination shell account according to a predetermined file transfer protocol, the digital image files in the destination shell account then being available to users accessing the Internet; a transport control device for packetizing the digital image files according to a predetermined Internet transport control protocol and for controlling addressing of the packetized digital image files to the predetermined Internet address; a self-initiating transmission initiating device for self-initiating a connection with the Internet via said transport control device and said network interface device; a first scheduling device, including at least one timer, for scheduling transfer of the digital image files to the destination shell account by said transport control device and said file transfer device; a microcontroller that controls the operations and communication between each of said optical system, said image capturing circuit, said network interface device, said file transfer device, transport control device, said transmission initiating device, and said first scheduling device; and a camera body, within which are housed all of said image pickup device, said optical system, said image capturing circuit, said network interface device, said file transfer device, transport control device, said self-initiating transmission initiating device, said first scheduling device, and said microcontroller.