Abstract: A method for reducing shutter latency while maintaining low dark current in the imager and minimizing energy consumption in a digital camera, the method including the steps of providing an imager operating in accumulation mode; and substantially continuous flushing of charges from the imager before capturing an exposure of an image with a time between vertical transfers greater than or equal to time between vertical transfers during normal image readout so that, if continuous flushing for a time necessary to readout substantially all rows of pixels has occurred, the exposure may be captured with substantially zero latency.

Abstract: A method for reducing shutter latency while maintaining low dark current in the imager and minimizing energy consumption in a digital camera, the method including the steps of providing an imager operating in accumulation mode; and substantially continuous flushing of charges from the imager before capturing an exposure of an image with a time between vertical transfers greater than or equal to time between vertical transfers during normal image readout so that, if continuous flushing for a time necessary to readout substantially all rows of pixels has occurred, the exposure may be captured with substantially zero latency.

Abstract: An electronic camera is provided as a module that attaches to the signal bus of a PC-compatible computer. The camera includes a minimum of components, particularly an image sensor and an A/D converter, and a PC-compatible interface connector for mating with a bus extension connector on the computer. By directly presenting digitized data from the camera to the signal bus of the computer through the bus connector, the camera can be kept relatively simple and the computer can be relied upon to perform image processing, storage, and display.

Abstract: An electronic camera operates with a small, portable computer having a card interface of the type used for communicating with a removable memory card. The camera includes an image sensor for converting an image into an electrical signal, an A/D converter for converting the electrical signal into a digital signal, and a signal processor for interfacing the digital signal to the card interface, ordinarily a slot receptacle, on the computer. By defining the interface to include a mechanical extender that physically interconnects the camera to the card slot on the computer, the camera and computer are linked in a high speed interface as a convenient, hand-held unit.