Patent ID: 8432456

Claim:
A digital camera capable of sharing digital images using a plurality of host computers, comprising: an imaging sensor; an optical system for imaging a scene onto the imaging sensor; an image capture control for initiating an image capture operation; memory for storing captured digital images and for storing installation software that can be used to install digital image sharing software on the plurality of host computers; a user interface for designating captured digital images to be shared; and a communication interface for communicating with a host computer, wherein the communication interface can be configured to use a first logical protocol where the digital camera appears to the host computer as a data storage device and a second logical protocol where the digital camera appears to the host computer as an image capture device; wherein when the digital camera is connected to a host computer the processor causes the communication interface to use the first logical protocol so that the host computer can access the installation software stored in the memory to install the digital image sharing software on the host computer; and wherein when the digital image sharing software is running on the host computer it sends commands to the digital camera to cause the processor to switch the communication interface to use the second logical protocol and subsequently to cause digital images that have been designated for sharing to be transferred to the host computer; wherein the commands sent to the digital camera to cause the processor to switch the communication interface to use the second logical protocol include: a command to set a transient mode flag; and a command to power cycle the digital camera; wherein when the digital camera power cycles, instructions executed by the digital camera set the communication interface to use the second logical protocol in response to detecting that the transient mode flag is set.