Conventional camcorders use a variety of storage formats including digital video cassettes, mini-DV cassettes, or DVD-R discs that offer a limited amount of memory to store data. One of the major shortcomings of the existing camcorder technology is that the memory runs out too soon. Once a portion of the memory has been recorded, there is less memory available for further recording. Then when the memory is full, users have to return to their home/work computer or media station to transfer the recorded data from the camera to free up the memory. This creates inconvenience and inflexibility for recording on the go.
WO 2006/044476 to Vanman describes an electronic camera mounted to a police vehicle with a circular buffer that is constantly recording. When the camera reaches the end of the memory it records from the beginning of memory, erasing the earliest recorded data. Such technology is often employed with surveillance cameras for long and continuous recording with little or no supervision. However, Vanman does not distinguish or differentiate any data that is of importance. To save data in the buffer, the user of the Vanman device needs to transfer important portions of the buffer wirelessly to a central office or physically to a DVD disc, or else risk having the interesting data be recorded over during loop recording. Such transfers are processor intensive and may not be possible when the central office is out of range or an empty DVD disc is unavailable.
Vanman and all other extrinsic materials identified herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
EP 1064783 to Mann describes a camera mountable to a pair of eyeglasses that continuously saves recorded images to a circular buffer in a computer on the user's waist. When a user wants to save a piece of recorded video, the user must stop recording and offload the data at another location before the user can record again. Mann also discusses streaming the images directly to a wireless memory that may have a larger capacity; however, this means that the camera does not work in the absence of a wireless connection. U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,799 to Hattori et al. also describes storing data in a memory having an archival portion. However, Hattori fails to address sending data to a remote memory.
Thus, there is still a need for a recording camera that provides better recording and editing functions.