US 5475539

Patent Overview: US5475539A — "Image data recording system including memory card"

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5475539](/patent/US5475539)/en

Bibliographic data (as listed): Assignee — Casio Computer Co Ltd. Inventor — Masaharu Orii. Priority date — 1987-04-30 (claimed from JP62107651A). Filing date — 1994-06-07 (application US08/255,121). Publication/grant — 1995-12-12. Legal status listed as "Ceased"; anticipated expiration 2012-12-12. Classification includes H04N1/2158 (intermediate information storage for one or a few pictures using a detachable storage unit) and H04N1/2112 (using still video cameras).

Purpose: The patent addresses drawbacks of prior electronic still cameras — magnetic-disk types recording analog FM signals, and semiconductor-memory types requiring more than 2 M bits per still image (over 100 M bits for 50 images), which the text says is not practically available. The stated object is a still image recording system with a compact camera body that can store a relatively large quantity of still images in a detachable memory unit.

Plain-language scope: Per the described invention, the system comprises: a housing; optical means forming an optical image on a plane in the housing; image data processing means producing digital electronic image data from that image; memory means (e.g., a memory card with at least one semiconductor memory chip) detachably mounted to the housing and electrically coupled to the processing means for storing the digital image data; output terminal means in the housing for outputting that data; and control means controlling writing to, and reading from, the detachable memory means. A peripheral memory means outside the housing may be detachably coupled to the output terminal means, and a display means may be coupled to the output terminal means or peripheral memory means. The detachable memory may be re-used or erased. The excerpt summarizes FIG. 1–11 subject matter, including a camera apparatus, video tape recorder, and recording formats.

What the excerpt does not establish: It contains no claim text, so specific claim scope cannot be quoted. It omits details of the memory-card interface, the second embodiment, figures, and the full description. It provides no findings on validity, litigation, ownership transfers, or prior art, and the listed legal status and assignee are expressly stated not to be legal conclusions or warranties.

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