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US006496361B2
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,496,361 B2
Kim et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Dec. 17,2002
(54) EMBEDDED CMOS CAMERA IN A LAPTOP COMPUTER
(75) Inventors: Jason S. Kim, Campbell, CA (US);
Richard T. Hsu, San Jose, CA (US)
(73) Assignee: Acer Incorporated (TW)
( * ) Notice: This patent issued on a continued prosecution application filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d), and is subject to the twenty year patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2).
Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/192,837
(22) Filed: Nov. 16, 1998
(65) Prior Publication Data
US 2001/0014006 Al Aug. 16, 2001
(51) Int. CI. G06F 1/16
(52) U.S. CI 361/683; 361/686; 395/893;
348/376
(58) Field of Search 361/683, 686,
361/705.01; 395/893; 348/376
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,359,362 A 10/1994 Lewis et al 348/15
5,402,170 A 3/1995 Paralski et al 348/211
5,463,742 A 10/1995 Kobayashi 395/281
5,550,754 A 8/1996 McNelley et al 364/514 A
5,576,757 A 11/1996 Roberts et al 348/207
5,634,144 A 5/1997 Mauro et al 396/57
5,708,853 A * 1/1998 Sanemitsu 395/893
5,710,728 A 1/1998 Danielson et al 364/707
5,748,441 A 5/1998 Loritz et al 361/683
5,768,163 A * 6/1998 Smith, II 364/705.01
5,983,073 A * 11/1999 Ditzik 455/11.1
6,094,700 A * 7/2000 Deschepper et al 710/129
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Pathak, Sanjiv, "The Zoomed Video Port for PC Cards," Copyright PCMCIA Mar. 1996, pp. \-A.
* cited by examiner
Primary Examiner—Darren Schuberg
Assistant Examiner—Yean-Hsi Chang
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Townsend and Townsend
and Crew LLP
(57) ABSTRACT
A laptop computer includes a video camera mounted to the lid, preferably embedded into the bezel above the display. The camera includes a CMOS imaging array, video data from which is communicated along a dedicated path from the camera to a graphics controller for output to the display, thereby bypassing the system bus. This makes it possible to display full frame, full data rate video with minimum impact on the overall system performance. Panning and zooming are implemented by software that controls the addresses in the pixel array from which data are transferred to the graphics controller's associated display memory.
16 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets
