Patent ID: 6987927

Claim:
A portable, hand-held, digital picture image data transfer and repository device for displaying a user's digital photographs, said repository device being embodied in a housing operable to receive digital picture image data and being connectable to a user's notebook or desktop computer and being of a size which can be held in a user's palm, said repository device comprising: a housing of a size to be held in the palm of a user's hand and including at least one port operable to receive digital camera picture image data including a copy of the contents of a memory of a digital camera containing picture image data previously captured by a digital camera, and at least one port operable to couple said portable repository device to a user's computer and to receive digital picture image data from said user's computer; a battery embodied in said housing for supplying electrical power; a mass storage device embodied in said housing having at least one gigabyte of storage operatively coupled to receive and store said copy of the contents of a memory of a digital camera containing picture image data previously captured by a digital camera, said mass storage device being accessible for receiving picture image data resident in a user's computer; data processing circuitry embodied in said housing for controlling the transfer of data to and from said mass storage device, said processing circuitry being operable to determine whether a request has been made to transfer picture image data from a user's computer to said mass storage device; a display device embodied in said housing for displaying to a user a plurality of graphical images depicting picture image data; at least one user interface key embodied in said housing including a copy key for initiating the copying of the contents of a memory of a digital camera containing picture camera data previously captured by said digital camera from said memory of said digital camera to said mass storage device; and an input/output interface, coupled to said mass storage device, for use in transferring image data between said mass storage device aud said user's computer, said input/output interface being compatible with an interface of said user's computer.