AU2008255211A1 - Distributing personal media content with applications - Google Patents

Description

S&F Ref: 886339 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name and Address Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, of 30-2, Shimomaruko 3 of Applicant: chome, Ohta-ku, Tokyo, 146, Japan Actual Inventor(s): Ernest Yiu Cheong Wan Address for Service: Spruson & Ferguson St Martins Tower Level 35 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 (CCN 3710000177) Invention Title: Distributing personal media content with applications The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 5845c(1 887481 1) DISTRIBUTING PERSONAL MEDIA CONTENT WITH APPLICATIONS TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION The current invention relates to the creation of a recording medium for playing back personal digital media content. Whilst the present disclosure is applicable to a range of recording media, a particular implementation relates to the creation of a BLU 5 RAYm disc for playing back personal digital video content. DESCRIPTION OF BACKGROUND ART Digital video cameras record captured videos to an internal hard disk or a portable (or removable) recording medium such as a tape, a flash memory card or stick, a digital versatile disc (DVD) or a BLU-RAYm disc. Although a user can quickly review 10 the videos on the camera's small liquid crystal display (LCD), the videos are most often intended to be viewed on a television (TV) or other device having a display of significant size. For cameras that record to portable recording medium, such as a flash memory card or stick, a DVD or a BLU-RAYm disc, a user can insert the portable recording medium to a computer or an appropriate player and play the videos back without further 15 processing. For cameras that record to a hard disk or tape, a user has to import or otherwise transfer the videos to a computer to either play the videos back on the computer (provided that an appropriate software or hardware player has been installed on the computer), or execute a computer program on the computer to create a DVD or BLU RAYT disc for playing back the videos on a DVD or BLU-RAYT player that is 20 connected to a TV. On a flash memory card or stick, the recorded videos appear as separate files in the card's directory structure. When the memory card or stick is inserted into a media player or a computer, a file browser application is typically executed to display the 1887126_1 886339_specildoge -2 directory structure and the video files in a graphical user interface (GUI). For each media player and computer operating system, a user has to use a different file browser and learn a new user interface. As for DVD and BLU-RAYTm discs created by a video camera or a computer 5 program, typically, a set of title menu screens are created that are reproducible on the GUI of a player to allow the user to browse through the video items on the disc. Each video on the disc is represented by a small thumbnail image created using a video frame extracted from the video. The menu and thumbnail data are written to specific files at specific locations on the disc in accordance with the DVD or BLU-RAYTM specification 10 so that resident GUI software on the DVD or BLU-RAYTm player will be able to display the menu screens and thumbnails. Typically, the menu screens consist of pages of thumbnails that a user has to go through or otherwise traverse sequentially in order to locate a video of interest. While the menu screens provide a familiar interface to the user across different DVD and BLU-RAYTm players and similar menu screens are used in 15 browsing a small number of chapters of a movie DVD and a movie BLU-RAYTM disc, such menu screens have been found to be not appropriate for browsing through the large number of personal video items on a DVD and BLU-RAYTm disc. Standards exist for some portable recording media to allow player application programs to be published with media content. An example of such a standard is CD-i 20 (Compact Disc Interactive). Another example is an AutoRun mechanism which is used to automatically start player application programs on portable recording media on a WindowsTm device (that is, a device running a variant of the WindowsTm operating system (OS)). However, due to the limited capability of the player devices, these application programs still provide very basic features with very limited interactivity. For 1887126_1 886339_speci-idoge -3 instance, examples of authoring software that create a Photo CD operate to copy a CD-i application to the CD being created. The CD-i application in that instance supports only basic operations such as thumbnails browsing, rotation of pictures and zooming. In summary, a user may locate a media item using title menu screens, a resident 5 file browser of the player, or a file browser that comes with the portable media. Once located, the user may display information such as video format, creation date, etc. about the video, or play back the video. The user may also perform standard play operations (such as play, rewind, fast forward and pause) while playing back or otherwise reproducing the video. 10 Nevertheless, existing user interfaces for navigating through media items on portable media do not work well for personal digital media collections where the number of media items is large, such as for personal (home) movies/videos. Some recording media also require a user to learn a new user interface every time a different media player is used. In addition, only a standard set of basic operations on the media item are 15 supported by the media players. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of recording at least one media item captured by a camera and a set of applications to a first portable recording medium. The set of applications are to be run 20 on a player of the first portable recording medium. The method is performed within the camera and comprises reading from a second portable recording medium information about a set of data components required by said set of applications when said second portable recording medium is inserted into the camera, wherein the second portable recording medium is also pre-loaded with said set of applications. The method 1887126_1 886339_speciIdoge -4 reconfigures the camera to generate and store the required data components. The method stores those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while capturing and encoding each media item and analyses the captured media items to generate and store other required data components. The method then 5 writes the captured media items, the set of applications and the stored generated data to the first portable recording medium. Other aspects and variations of this method are also disclosed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS At least one embodiment of the present invention will now be described with 10 reference to the following drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a data processing architecture for a camera configured for recording media content on a recording medium; Fig. 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method of recording media items and applications to a recording medium; 15 Fig. 3 is an example of an XMvL file that stores application information; Fig. 4 is an example of an application data file; and Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a general purpose computer system arranged to operate as a portable recording medium burner device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION INCLUDING BEST MODE 20 To make useful media applications, such as an effective browser for navigating through large number of personal media items, available to a user on all players of a portable medium, the arrangements presently disclosed publish those media applications on the portable recording medium together with the media content. To overcome limitations on the capability of the standard players and support media applications that 1887126_1 886339_speci-idoge -5 are normally beyond the capability of the standard players, a camera is presently disclosed that generates and stores additional information about the media content on the portable recording medium along side the media content. The additional information required is application specific and is referred to herein as "application data". Two 5 different media applications, however, may require the same type of application data. A copy of each of the media applications is stored in the firmware of the camera and copied to each recording medium created (i.e. upon which personal media content, such as still images, audio, and video, is recorded) by the camera. A user may also choose to have just a subset of the media applications copied to the recording medium 10 with their personal media content. Reducing the number of media applications reduces the time required for generating, and the space required for storing, the application data. It also reduces unnecessary drain on a battery of the camera. To allow a user the choice of a wide variety of media applications and user interfaces, alternatively, the media applications can be pre-loaded onto otherwise "blank" 15 recording media. A user can purchase or otherwise select a "blank" recording medium, pre-configured with the required set of media applications, for subsequently recording their personal media content. Publishing media applications on such "blank" recording media avoids the need to carry media applications in the firmware of the camera and allows a larger set of media applications to be published. It also allows new media 20 applications to be released and existing media applications to be updated without requiring a user or manufacturer to upgrade firmware in the camera. Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the key functional components of a digital camera 110. A control module 120 such as a microprocessor or microcontroller executes firmware stored in a non-volatile firmware memory 125 to control the various operations 1887126_1 886339_speciIdoge -6 of the camera 110. A user input module 155 couples to control buttons and the like (not illustrated) of the camera 110 to convert a button press or the dial of a control knob into an electrical signal for the control module 120 to process. A power management module 160 regulates the power supplied to various modules of the camera 110 and monitors the 5 power level of a battery (not illustrated). A capture module 135 operates the focusing and zooming mechanism, the shutter and the flash (not illustrated) of the camera 110 to capture images. The module 135 digitises the captured images and stores the raw digitised images temporarily in a local memory 130, preferably formed of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). A media processing module 140 is configured to 10 process the raw digitised images stored in the DRAM memory 130, to compress the processed images, and to then write the compressed images to a portable, and thus portable, recording medium 190 configured to be coupled to the camera 110 via a medium IO module 150. Compressed images stored in the recording medium 190 may be retrieved from the recording medium 190 when such is coupled to the camera 110 15 using the medium 10 module 150 and then decompressed by the media processing module 140. The media processing module 140 can render the uncompressed images for visual reproduction via a display module 145, which typically includes an LCD device. The display module 145 may further overlay other information, such as the creation timestamp or a colour histogram of the image being displayed, on top of the image as 20 displayed. The camera architecture of Fig. 1 applies to both digital still cameras and digital video cameras. In the case of a digital video camera, the images form a moving image sequences (or video). The capture module 135 is also configured to capture and digitise audio as well as images while the media processing module 140 has to process and 1887126_1 886339_spedIdoge -7 compress both audio and moving image sequences. The compression of a moving image sequence may exploit the temporal redundancy of the images in addition to the spatial redundancy of each image. The control module 120 executes the firmware code on a microprocessor to 5 control the various operations of the camera 110, and further makes use of the media processing module 140 to perform image/video processing. The media processing module 140 uses either an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) digital image processor or a high-performance microprocessor that includes a digital signal processor (DSP) to support auto focus, auto exposure and auto white balance functions and to 10 provide rapid image/video processing such as image scaling and image/video compression and decompression. Fig. 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method 200 of recording media items and applications to a portable recording medium. The method 200 is preferably implemented as a software application, notably as firmware stored in the memory 125 of 15 the camera 110 and executable by the control module 120 in concert with other components of the camera 110 as illustrated in Fig. I to record media items 192 and other such content 196 together with applications 194 upon the portable recording medium 190. The method 200 commences with step 205 where the medium 10 module 150 signals to the control module detection of the recording medium 190. This may 20 involve detecting a USB or other DRAM memory device, or insertion of an optical disc (DVD or BLU-RAYm) into an appropriate disc drive forming the 10 module 150. When a new recording medium is detected in step 205, step 210 follows where the camera 110 is set up or otherwise configured to store and record a basic set of camera settings such as resolution of photo/video, and media related data components such as 1887126_1 886339_specijldoge -8 creation timestamp. These basic data components form at least part of a set of required data components including application data used either by the camera 110 or by other devices and software applications that are commonly used to manage and reproduce the media items to be recorded on the medium 190. The set of required data components is 5 preferably stored by the control module 120 in the DRAM memory 130. The software application of the method 200 then causes the camera 110 to search the recording medium 190 for any special set of folders and files that can be used for storing pre-loaded media applications, and information about the or any pre-loaded applications 194. If step 235 finds or otherwise identifies such pre-loaded applications 10 and information about the applications, information on the pre-loaded applications including their data components requirements is then retrieved in step 240 and the set of data components required by the applications is added to, to thereby extend, the set of required data components in the DRAM memory 130. Step 245 is then executed to reconfigure the camera 110 to generate and record 15 the extended set of required data components onto the medium 190. If no new portable recording medium 190 is detected in step 205 or no information about pre-loaded application is found on the new portable recording medium in step 235, the set of required data components is unchanged before the camera 110 is configured in step 245. In one implementation, that uses BD-RE (BLU-RAYm Disc Recordable) as the 20 recording medium 190, Java@ media applications are packaged into a jar file, 00000.jar, and pre-loaded to a /BDMV/JAR folder of a multi-session BD-RE. An XML file, 00000.xml, containing information about the pre-loaded applications 194 including their application data requirements 196 is generated, as will be described, to be stored in the same folder in the medium 190. 1887126_1 886339_speciidoge -9 Fig. 3 shows an example XML file 300 that stores application information in this implementation. A value 320 of an xmlns attribute 315 of the root element 310, <appinfo> of the file 300, specifies the namespace of elements 310, 330, 340, 350, 360 and 370 in the file 300, thus allowing the camera 110 to verify that the XML file is in a 5 format and uses vocabularies that are understood by the camera 110. In this example, the value 320, "urn:xyz-com.bdj" is a unique Uniform Resource Name (URN). In this particular implementation, the namespace "urn:xyz-com.bdj" defines a specific set of data components. Each data component definition includes a unique name such as "zoom", "video_segment", etc. and an XML representation to allow an application to 10 parse the application data that is to be generated and stored in XML files. The root element 310, <appinfo>, indicates that the file 300 contains application information. Information about each pre-loaded application is grouped under an <application> element 330. A <name> element 340 under the <application> element 330 specifies a user-friendly name for the application while a <class> element 350 15 specifies the Java@ class in the jar file, 00000.jar, to be used for running the application on a BD-J player. A <data> element 360 contains a list of <component> elements 370 each specifying one data component that is defined in the namespace and required by the application. The particular example of Fig. 3 provides a media browser application which requires "zoom" data, "video-segment" and "video segment/thumbnail" data 20 from the camera 110 to provide more advanced browsing and playback features to a user. The "zoom" data marks the portions of a video that correspond to a zooming shot and allows a user to jump to zoom in/out portions of a video. The "videosegment" data divides a video into shorter segments and allows a user to playback a video in short segments while the "video segment/thumbnail" data provides thumbnails that a user can 1887126_1 886339_speclIidoge -10 use on a GUI to identify the video segments to play back. The naming of data components reflects the hierarchical relationship of the data components. The slash separating "videosegment" and "thumbnail" (line 9 of the file 300) indicates that "thumbnail" is a child component of the "videosegment" data component. This reflects 5 the fact that the generation of the thumbnail data for a video segment is dependent on the existence of the "video-segment" data of the video segment. The first data component in a multi-level data component name, for instance "video-segment" in "video segment/thumbnail", is referred to as a top-level data component. Returning to Fig. 2, when the camera 110 captures a photo/video, as a result of 10 the revised camera configuration, the control module 120 operates in step 250 to store the camera settings specified in the set of required data components in the DRAM memory 130. For instance, information about changes in the zoom setting of the camera 110 during the shooting of a video are normally discarded. However, the reconfiguration of the camera 110 as a result of the example application information of Fig. 3, will cause 15 such zoom setting changes to be stored in memory 130 for recording to the recording medium 190 later. Required data components such as the size of a compressed frame of video, that are produced while encoding the photo/video, are also stored in step 250. The configuration step 245 also instructs the camera 110 to store additional data - additional camera settings as well as data generated by the encoding of the video by the 20 media processing module 140, for example in the MPEG-2 format as performed in step 250, and which are required to support a subsequent analysis step 260. These data components are in addition to those specified in the application information file and depend on the input requirements of specific algorithms used by the camera 110 to analyse the media items in step 260. For example, for a camera 110 that captured video 1887126_1 886339_speci-idoge - 11 in the MPEG-2 format, the video is encoded into I-, P- and B- frames. Information about the reference frame of a B-frame is encoded in the video file and not available without decoding the MPEG-2 video. If information about such reference frames is required by the video segmentation algorithm of the camera 110 to segment a video clip to generate 5 the "videosegment" data components, then information about the reference frame of the B-frames will be stored in the memory 130 while the video is being captured, encoded and stored in step 250. In addition, depending on the capability of the camera 110, some image/video processing such as face detection, may also be performed while the image/video is being 10 captured to generate some of the required data components such as "faceposition". These data components are also generated and stored in memory 130 in step 250. In step 260, the captured media items that are stored in the DRAM 130 are analysed to generate other required data components. Some data components can only be generated after the media items have been captured because the analysis uses all the 15 data of a media item or data from multiple media items. For instance, an algorithm used by the camera 110 for generating "videosegment" data component may achieve video segmentation by detecting significant changes in the size of the compressed frames of the video. It may need frame size statistics computed from all the frames of the video to set thresholds for detecting segment boundaries. Hence, the analysis of step 260 can only be 20 performed after the whole video has been captured. The results of analysis are also stored in the DRAM 130. In step 270, the captured media items 192 and data components required by the pre-loaded applications (that is, the application data) are written to the portable recording medium 190 while any pre-loaded applications on the recording medium 190 are 1887126_1 886339_spec.I-doge -12 retained. Alternatively, any pre-loaded applications can be copied from the recording medium 190 to the memory 130 of the camera 110, the recording medium 190 may then be reformatted, and then the captured media items, the data components and the applications written then to the reformatted recording medium 190. For some recording 5 media such as BLU-RAY"m disc, the later approach, while more time consuming and requiring of more memory 130 on the camera 110, can remove redundant data structures from the resulting recording medium 190 and improve retrieval speed. In one example, a BD-RE (BLU-RAYm Disc Recordable) is used as the recording medium 190. Here, Java@ media applications are packaged into a jar file, 10 00000.jar, and pre-loaded to the /BDMV/JAR folder of a multi-session BD-RE. Also the (nnnnn.m2ts) files of the captured video clips are written to the /BDMV/STREAM folder of the BD-RE and the associated clip information files (nnnnn.clpi), which contains information about the video streams, are written to the /BDMV/CLIPINF folder in accordance with the BLU-RAYm specification. The data components required by the 15 pre-loaded applications are written to application data files in the /BDMV/META/APPDATA folder. Data components that are item-specific are stored in the item's own application data file which is named appdatannnnn.xml, where nnnnn is the same unique number used for the item's video stream file and clip information file. Data components that are related to all the video items are stored in the file, 20 appdata.xml. Both type of application data file are XML files with the same XML structure. Data components, such as thumbnail data, can also be written to files in a subfolder of the folder /BDMV/META/APPDATA and referenced in the application data files. 1887126_1 886339_spedidoge - 13 Fig. 4 shows an example application data file 400, appdata_00010.xml, of a media item. A value 420 of the xmlns attribute 415 of the root element 410, <appdata>, specifies the namespace of the elements 410, 430, 460, 470 and 480 in the file 400, thus allowing the camera 110 to verify that the XML file is in a format and uses 5 vocabularies that are understood by the camera 110. In this particular example, the value 420, "um:xyz-com.bdj" is a unique Uniform Resource Name (URN). The root element 410, <app_data>, indicates that the file contains application data required by applications. Data related to each data component is grouped under a <data_component> element 430. The name attribute 440 of the <datacomponent> 10 element 430 specifies the name of a top-level data component such as "zoom" and "video_segment". Under the "zoom" <data-component> element, each <zoom> element 460 contains the zoom setting used for a sequence of video frames. Under the "video-segment" <datacomponent> element, each <video-segment> element 470 specifies the start and end frame of a video segment while a corresponding <thumbnail> 15 element 480 specifies the location of an image file for representing the video segment. The particular value <thumbnail> value 490, "image/tOO010_1001_1035.jpg", indicates that a JPEG file in the folder /BDMV/METAIMAGE/ is to be used for the thumbnail. While the above examples use a BLU-RAY T M disc for distributing pre-loaded applications and recording media content and application data, other portable recording 20 media, such as a flash memory card, or an SD card can also be used instead of a BLU RAY disc. Using the arrangements of the present disclosure, one can also use one (first) portable recording medium for distributing pre-loaded applications and another (second) portable recording medium for recording the media items, the applications and the 1887126_1 886339_specilidoge -14 application data. For example, many DVD/BLU-RAYm cameras use an SD card for recording photos and a DVD/BLU-RAYm disc for recording videos. In another implementation, a camera obtains applications distributed on a SD card, being a first portable recording medium, and records photos/videos, a copy of the applications, and 5 the required application data to a DVD/BLU-RAYTm disc, being second portable recording medium. In yet another implementation, an SD card, being a first portable recording medium, is pre-loaded or pre-recorded with information about the data requirements of a set of applications and one or more URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) for downloading 10 the applications from a computer network, such as the Internet, an intranet or a local area network. In this implementation, the camera 110 uses the information on the SD card to configure itself to generate the required application data and then record the photo/video and the generated application data to the SD card. The SD card, operating as the medium 190, may then be removed from the camera 110 and inserted into a BLU 15 RAYm burner device. The burner device reads the URL of the applications from the application information file on the SD card 190 and downloads the applications from the computer network before recording the content of the SD card plus the downloaded applications to a BLU-RAY

T

m disc, being a second portable recording medium. The burner device mentioned above may be formed by dedicate apparatus 20 configured primarily or solely for that purpose, or alternatively may be implemented using an appropriately configured general purpose computer system 500, such as that shown in Fig. 5 wherein at least some of the processes discussed above are implemented as software, such as one or more application programs executable within the computer system 500. In particular, the steps of method of burning a portable recordable medium, 1887126_1 886339_speciIdoge - 15 such as a BLU-RAY"r disc are effected by instructions in the software that are carried out within the computer system 500. The instructions may be formed as one or more code modules, each for performing one or more particular tasks. The software may also be divided into two separate parts, in which a first part and the corresponding code 5 modules performs the disc creation methods and a second part and the corresponding code modules manage a user interface between the first part and the user. The software may be stored in a computer readable medium, including the storage devices described below, for example. The software is loaded into the computer system 500 from the computer readable medium, and then executed by the computer system 500. A computer 10 readable medium having such software or computer program recorded on it is a computer program product. The use of the computer program product in the computer system 500 preferably effects an advantageous apparatus for creation of a portable recording medium. As seen in Fig. 5, the computer system 500 is formed by a computer module 501, 15 input devices such as a keyboard 502 and a mouse pointer device 503, and output devices including a printer 515, a display device 514 and loudspeakers 517. An external Modulator-Demodulator (Modem) transceiver device 516 may be used by the computer module 501 for communicating to and from a communications network 520 via a connection 521. The network 520 may be a wide-area network (WAN), such as the 20 Internet or a private WAN. Where the connection 521 is a telephone line, the modem 516 may be a traditional "dial-up" modem. Alternatively, where the connection 521 is a high capacity (e.g.: cable) connection, the modem 516 may be a broadband modem. A wireless modem may also be used for wireless connection to the network 520. 1887126_1 886339_specijdoge -16 The computer module 501 typically includes at least one processor unit 505, and a memory unit 506 for example formed from semiconductor random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). The module 501 also includes an number of input/output (1/0) interfaces including an audio-video interface 507 that couples to the 5 video display 514 and loudspeakers 517, an I/O interface 513 for the keyboard 502 and mouse 503 and optionally a joystick (not illustrated), and an interface 508 for the external modem 516 and printer 515. In some implementations, the modem 516 may be incorporated within the computer module 501, for example within the interface 508. The computer module 501 also has a local network interface 511 which, via a connection 10 523, permits coupling of the computer system 500 to a local computer network 522, known as a Local Area Network (LAN). As also illustrated, the local network 522 may also couple to the wide network 520 via a connection 524, which would typically include a so-called "firewall" device or similar functionality. The interface 511 may be formed by an Ethemeta circuit card, a wireless Bluetooth"' or an IEEE 802.11 wireless 15 arrangement. The interfaces 508 and 513 may afford both serial and parallel connectivity, the former typically being implemented according to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards and having corresponding USB connectors (not illustrated). Storage devices 509 are provided and typically include a hard disk drive (HDD) 510. Other 20 devices such as a floppy disk drive and a magnetic tape drive (not illustrated) may also be used. An optical disk drive 512 is typically provided to act as a non-volatile source of data. Portable memory devices, such optical disks (e.g.: CD-ROM, DVD), USB-RAM, and floppy disks for example may then be used as appropriate sources of data to the system 500. 1887126_1 886339_specijIdoge - 17 The components 505 to 513 of the computer module 501 typically communicate via an interconnected bus 504 and in a manner which results in a conventional mode of operation of the computer system 500 known to those in the relevant art. Examples of computers on which the described arrangements can be practised include IBM-PCs and 5 compatibles, Sun Sparcstations, Apple MacTM or alike computer systems evolved therefrom. For burning applications and the creation of portable recording media, the computer system 500 is provided with a receptacle 532 configured to receive an SD card 530 of the camera 110. The receptacle couples to the 1/0 interface 508 permitting the 10 computer module 501 to read media items, data and where appropriate applications from the SD card 530. Further, in this configuration, the optical disc drive 512 is configured as a DVD/BLU-RAYTm drive having both read and write capability and into which a recordable optical disc 534 is insertable. In the burner implementation discussed above, a portable recording medium such 15 as the SD card 530 is loaded in the camera 110 with media items and data and the above mentioned URLs and this data is read and stored temporarily in the HDD 510 or memory 506. From this a burner application according to the present disclosure can used the stored URLs to access the network via the interface 508 or 511 to permit the computer module 501 to download the applications necessary for playing or reproduction of the 20 recorded media items. Once downloaded, the recorded media items, other data and the downloaded applications are recorded onto the disc 534 when such is inserted into the drive 512. As such, combinations of the camera 110, the SD card 530, the computer 500 and the disc 534 form a system for the creation of portable recording media. 1887126_1 886339_speciIdoge - 18 Typically, the burner application programs discussed above are typically resident on the hard disk drive 510 and read and controlled in execution by the processor 505. Intermediate storage of such programs and any data fetched from the networks 520 and 522 and the SD card 530 may be accomplished using the semiconductor memory 506, 5 possibly in concert with the hard disk drive 510. In some instances, the burner application programs may be supplied to the user encoded on one or more CD-ROM and read via the corresponding drive 512, or alternatively may be read by the user from the networks 520 or 522. Still further, the burner software can also be loaded into the computer system 500 from other computer readable storage media. Computer readable 10 storage media refers to any storage medium that participates in providing instructions and/or data to the computer system 500 for execution and/or processing. Examples of such media include floppy disks, magnetic tape, CD-ROM, a hard disk drive, a ROM or integrated circuit, a magneto-optical disk, or a computer readable card such as a PCMCIA card and the like, whether or not such devices are internal or external of the 15 computer module 501. Examples of computer readable transmission media that may also participate in the provision of instructions and/or data include radio or infra-red transmission channels as well as a network connection to another computer or networked device, and the Internet or Intranets including e-mail transmissions and information recorded on Websites and the like. 20 The second part of the burner application programs and the corresponding code modules mentioned above may be executed to implement one or more graphical user interfaces (GUs) to be rendered or otherwise represented upon the display 514. Through manipulation of the keyboard 502 and the mouse 503, a user of the computer system 500 and the application may manipulate the interface to provide controlling commands 1887126_1 886339_specildoge -19 and/or input to the applications associated with the GUI(s). In a further implementation, the set of applications may be stored in the firmware memory 120 of the camera 110. A user of the camera 110 may then configure the camera 110 to add a subset of applications to the portable recording medium 190 together with the captured content. 5 INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The arrangements described are applicable to the consumer electronics and camera industries and the computer and data processing industries, and particularly for the recording of images and videos on a camera to facilitate subsequent reproduction of the recorded content. 10 The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications and/or changes can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, the embodiments being illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the type of portable memory medium may be varied and different types of such media may be mixed (e.g. SD memory and DVD, USB memory and BLU-RAY'm disc, 15 and so on). (Australia Only) In the context of this specification, the word "comprising" means "including principally but not necessarily solely" or "having" or "including", and not "consisting only of'. Variations of the word "comprising", such as "comprise" and "comprises" have correspondingly varied meanings. 20 1887126_1 886339_speci-idoge

Claims (18)

1. A method of recording at least one media item captured by a camera and a set of applications to a first portable recording medium wherein said set of applications are to 5 be run on a player of said first portable recording medium, said method being performed within the camera and comprising the steps of: (a) reading from a second portable recording medium information about a set of data components required by said set of applications when said second portable recording medium is inserted into the camera, wherein said second portable recording 10 medium is also pre-loaded with said set of applications; (b) reconfiguring the camera to generate and store said required data components; (c) storing those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while capturing and encoding each media item; 15 (d) analysing the captured media items to generate and store other required data components; and (e) writing said captured media items, said set of applications and said stored generated data to said first portable recording medium. 20

2. A method of recording at least one media item captured by a camera and a set of applications to a first portable recording medium, wherein said set of applications are to be run on a player of said first portable recording medium, said method comprising the steps of: 1887126_1 886339_spedIdoge -21 (a) reading from a second portable recording medium information about a set of data components required by said set of applications when said second portable recording medium is inserted into the camera; (b) reconfiguring the camera to generate and store said required data 5 components; (c) storing those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while capturing and encoding each media item; (d) analysing the captured media items to thereby generate and store other required data components; 10 (e) reading from said second portable recording medium a set of URLs for downloading said set of applications from a computer network; (f) downloading said set of applications from the computer network using said set of URLs; and (g) writing said captured media items, said set of applications and said stored 15 generated data to said first portable recording medium.

3. A method according to claim I or 2 wherein said first and second portable recording medium are the same portable recording medium. 20

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said writing of said set of applications retains said set of applications that is pre-loaded on said recording medium. 1887126_1 886339_specildoge - 22 5. A method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the portable recording media are selected from the group consisting of: a flash memory card, a DVD, a USB memory device, a BLU-RAYm disc.

5

6. A method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the storing of step (d) is performed in a dynamic memory of the camera.

7. A computer readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon, the program being executable to perform the method of claim 1 or 2. 10

8. A camera comprising a capture module by which media items are captured, a dynamic memory for at least intermediate storage of the captured media items, a firmware memory, a control module, and at least one interface by which a portable recording medium is removably connectable to said camera, said firmware memory 15 having recorded therein a program executable by said control module to: (a) read from a portable recording medium, when connected to said at least one interface, at least information about a set of data components required by a set of applications recorded on said portable recording medium, the set of applications to be run on a player of the captured images; 20 (b) reconfigure the camera to generate and store said required set of data components; (c) store in the dynamic memory those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while the capture module captures the media items; 1887126_1 886339_specijdoge -23 (d) analyse the captured media items to generate and store in the dynamic memory other required data components; and (e) write said captured media items and said stored generated data from said dynamic memory to said portable recording medium while retaining said set of pre 5 loaded applications on said portable recording medium.

9. A camera according to claim 8 wherein (i) said portable recording medium of step (a) is a first portable recording medium and step (a) further comprises reading said set of applications from said first 10 recording medium for storage in said dynamic memory; and (ii) said portable recording medium of step (e) is a second portable recording medium and step (e) further comprises writing said set of applications to said second portable recording medium. 15

10. A camera according to claim 9 wherein said at least one interface comprises a first 1/0 interface configure to couple to said first portable recording medium and a second 1/0 interface configured to couple to said second portable recording medium.

11. A camera according to claim 8 wherein said portable recording medium is 20 selected from the group consisting of a flash memory card, a DVD, a USB memory device, a BLU-RAYTm disc.

12. A camera comprising a capture module by which media items are captured, a dynamic memory for at least intermediate storage of the captured media items, a 1887126_1 886339_speclldoge - 24 firmware memory, a control module, and at least one 1/0 interface by which a portable recording medium is removably connectable to said camera, said firmware memory having recorded therein a program executable by said control module to: (a) read from a (first) portable recording medium, insertable into said at least 5 one 11O interface, at least information about a set of data components required by a set of applications required for reproduction of recorded media items, the first portable recording medium being pre-recorded with a set of URLs for downloading said set of applications from a computer network; (b) reconfigure the camera to generate and store said required data 10 components in the dynamic memory; (c) store in the dynamic memory those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while the capture module captures the media items; (d) analyse the captured media items to generate and store in the dynamic 15 memory other required data components; (e) record from the dynamic memory to the first portable recording medium the captured media items and the data components; wherein the first portable recording medium is subsequently insertable to a burner device for recording to a second portable recording medium, the burner device being operable 20 to: (i) read from said first portable recording medium the set of URLs; (f) downloading said set of applications from the computer network using said set of URLs; and 1887126 1 886339_specildoge -25 (g) writing said captured media items from said first portable recording medium, said set of applications and said stored generated data to said second portable recording medium. 5

13. A system for creation of a creation of a portable recording medium, said system comprising a camera, a first portable recording medium, a burner device and a second portable recording medium, said camera comprising a capture module by which media items are captured, a dynamic memory for at least intermediate storage of the captured media items, a 10 firmware memory, a control module, and at least one 11O interface by which the first portable recording medium is removably connectable to said camera, said firmware memory having recorded therein a program executable by said control module to: (a) read from the first portable recording medium, when inserted into said at least one 1/0 interface, at least information about a set of data components 15 required by a set of applications required for reproduction of recorded media items, the first portable recording medium being pre-recorded with a set of URLs for downloading said set of applications from a computer network; (b) reconfigure the camera to generate and store said required data components in the dynamic memory; 20 (c) store in the dynamic memory those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while the capture module captures the media items; (d) analyse the captured media items to generate and store in the dynamic memory other required data components; 1887126_1 886339_speci~jdoge - 26 (e) record from the dynamic memory to the first portable recording medium the captured media items and the data components; said burner device comprising an I/O interface by which the first portable recording medium can be coupled to the burner device, a connection to a computer 5 network and a drive unit into which a second portable recording medium is insertable for recording to said second portable recording medium, said burner device being operable to: (i) read from said first portable recording medium the set of URLs; (f) download said set of applications from the computer network using said 10 set of URLs; and (g) write said captured media items from said first portable recording medium, said set of applications and said stored generated data to said second portable recording medium. 15

14. A method of recording at least one media item captured by a camera a portable recording medium, said method being performed within the camera and comprising the steps of: (a) reading from a memory of said camera information about a set of data components required by a set of applications to be run on a player of the portable 20 recording medium to reproduce the at least one media item, the memory of the camera storing said set of applications; (b) reconfiguring the camera to generate and store said required data components; 1887126 1 886339_speci-ldoge - 27 (c) storing those required data components that are settings of the camera or data generated by the camera while capturing and encoding each media item; (d) analysing the captured media items to generate and store other required data components; and 5 (e) writing said captured media items, at least a subset of the set of applications, and said stored generated data, to said portable recording medium.

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein the memory of the camera is a firmware memory. 10

16. A method of recording substantially as described herein with reference to any one of the embodiments as that embodiment is illustrated in the drawings.

17. A camera substantially as described herein with reference to any one of the 15 embodiments as that embodiment is illustrated in the drawings.

18. A portable recording medium recorded according to the method of claim 16. Dated this 10th day of December 2008 20 CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA Patent Attorneys for the Applicant Spruson&Ferguson 1887126_1 886339_speciidoge