Patent Document ID: 6148148
Application ID: 09086671
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An automatic picture taking system in the form of a photobooth comprising a housing, a background boundary surface, and a picture taking zone for accommodating a person defined between said housing and said background boundary surface, said housing containing: a) an electronic imaging camera which is operable when actuated to produce an image output in the form of storable electronic image data representative of an image of said person in said zone, b) a visual display device arranged to display a picture to said person in said zone, c) a printer arranged to produce a print of a picture displayed on said visual display device, d) processing means for receiving, and storing said image data produced by said camera, e) data storage means storing further data representing a plurality of user-selectable supplementary images, f) combining means for automatically combining in a user-selectable mode said isolated image data representing at least one image of said person with said further data representing at least one user-selected supplementary image thereby to produce combined data representing a plurality of combinations of said image of said person and said user-selected supplementary image, g) control means operable when actuated to initiate, prior to printing, automatic display for user selection on said visual display device of said at least one image of said person, said plurality of supplementary images, and said combinations of images, and to control operation of said printer, h) user controls operable by the person to effect selection of at least one of a plurality of combination modes, selection of at least one of said images of said person, selection of at least one of said supplementary images, and selection of at least one of said combinations of images, while the images are automatically displayed on said visual display device by said control means, wherein after said user selection of said at least one combination of images, said control means effects operation of said printer to produce at least one print of at least one selected combination of images.