Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A video still camera in which an image of a photographic subject is converted to digital image data and the digital image data is compressed and stored in memory. The digital image data is first reversibly compressed by a high speed reversible encoder and temporarily stored in a buffer memory. The compressed data is then read from the buffer memory and restored by a reversible code regenerator, after which the restored data is irreversibly compressed and stored on a memory card. By compressing the stored image data before placing it in the buffer memory, the number of frames of image data possible for storage is increased. Furthermore, the capacity of the buffer memory may be decreased while maintaining transmission speed. The still camera may also include a code character memory which stores a code character representing the quantity of data encoded by the reversible encoder, and a parameter setting unit which sets parameters for controlling the irreversible data compression. The parameters set by the parameter setting unit are based upon the data quantity stored in the code character memory.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim