Image capture device

Abstract

An image capture device has a first image transfer method for storing a captured digital image on a storage medium and transferring the digital image to a communication device, and a second image transfer method for storing the digital image on the storage medium, reading the digital image from the storage medium and then transferring the digital image to the communication device. The first image transfer method or the second image transfer method is manually or automatically set.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An image capture device, comprising:
 an image capture unit that captures an image;   a first internal memory that stores an image file corresponding to the image captured by the image capture unit;   a first interface unit that stores the image file stored in the first internal memory to a storage medium;   a second interface unit that transfers the image file stored in the first internal memory to a communication device; and   a control unit that selects one of a first image transfer method and a second image transfer method based on a data transfer rate between the image capture device and the communication device and a data transfer rate between the image capture device and the storage medium,   wherein if the first image transfer method is selected, the control unit controls the first interface unit to store the image file stored in the first internal memory to the storage medium and controls the second interface unit to transfer the image file stored in the first internal memory to the communication device, and   wherein if the second image transfer method is selected, the control unit controls the first interface unit to store the image file stored in the first internal memory to the storage medium, controls the first interface unit to read the stored image file from the storage medium, and then controls the second interface unit to transfer the read file to the communication device.