Pictures Using Voice Commands and Automatic Upload

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for enabling user friendly interaction with a camera system. Specifically, the inventive system and method has several aspects to improve the interaction with a camera system, including voice recognition, gaze tracking, touch sensitive inputs and others. The voice recognition unit is operable for, among other things, receiving multiple different voice commands, recognizing the vocal commands, associating the different voice commands to one camera command and controlling at least some aspect of the digital camera operation in response to these voice commands. The gaze tracking unit is operable for, among other things, determining the location on the viewfinder image that the user is gazing upon. One aspect of the touch sensitive inputs provides that the touch sensitive pad is mouse-like and is operable for, among other things, receiving user touch inputs to control at least some aspect of the camera operation. Another aspect of the disclosed invention provides for gesture recognition to be used to interface with and control the camera system.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A camera system comprising:
 (a) a camera that is operable to take and store pictures, and that includes: (i) a lens, (ii) an image sensor, (iii) at least one microphone, (iv) a voice recognizer, (v) a controller, (vi) a WIFI interface, and (vii) a touch sensitive display;   (b) the controller including a control program having instructions to control and respond to the voice recognizer;   (c) the voice recognizer coupled to the at least one microphone and the controller, and configured to receive and process sounds into recognized words;   (d) the camera further configured to maintain and store a plurality of recognizable words having different plain meanings and commonly associated with taking a picture, the recognition of any of which will cause the camera to take a picture;   (e) wherein the voice recognizer is operable to receive a first and a second human sound spoken by the same person, and the voice recognizer is operable to recognize:
 (i) the first human sound as a first human spoken word from among the plurality, the recognized first human spoken word being assigned by the control program to be a command for the camera to take a picture, and 
 (ii) the second human sound as a second human spoken word from among the plurality, the recognized second human spoken word being different from the first human spoken word and also assigned by the control program to be the same camera command to take a picture; 
   (f) the controller configured to:
 (i) cause the camera to take a picture in response to the voice recognizer recognizing either the first or second human spoken word and to store the picture in a local memory in the camera; and 
 (ii) automatically upload the picture stored in the local memory of the camera via the WIFI interface and an internet connection to a location at an internet picture hosting website as instructed by a user of the camera, but only if predetermined conditions are met, the predetermined conditions including at least the controller receiving:
 (1) an indication from the WIFI interface that the system can make an internet connection via the WIFI interface; and 
 (2) an indication from the local memory that a user has elected an option to designate at least one picture stored in the local memory to be uploaded to the internet picture hosting website. 
 
   
     
     
         22 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the system further comprises a cell phone. 
     
     
         23 . The camera system of  claim 22  wherein the controller is configured to determine if the recognized word is for one of either camera operation or cell phone operation. 
     
     
         24 . The camera system of  claim 22  wherein the voice recognizer is configured to recognize at least one spoken word to control dialing of the cell phone. 
     
     
         25 . The camera system of  claim 22  wherein the voice recognizer is configured to recognize spoken words in association with text messaging over the cell phone. 
     
     
         26 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the controller is further configured to execute an internet browser program and display the internet picture hosting website on the touch sensitive display. 
     
     
         27 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the controller is configured to automatically cause at least one of the pictures stored in the local memory to be sent to a location associated with an email account. 
     
     
         28 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the plurality of recognizable words having different plain meanings and commonly associated with taking a picture are pre-assigned. 
     
     
         29 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the camera is configured to learn words from user input for the voice recognizer to recognize and for the controller to associate with specific commands. 
     
     
         30 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the camera includes an indicator that is activated if the voice recognizer is unable to recognize a command from a sound received at the microphone. 
     
     
         31 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein one of the words is “snap.” 
     
     
         32 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein one of the words is “cheese.” 
     
     
         33 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein one of the words is “shoot.” 
     
     
         34 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein one of the words is “click.” 
     
     
         35 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the voice recognizer is configured to receive and process a third human sound to be recognized as a third word that is different from the first and second words and is used by the control program to perform a second camera command. 
     
     
         36 . The camera system of  claim 35  wherein the controller is configured to delay the second camera command for an intentional period of time after the voice recognizer recognizes the third word. 
     
     
         37 . The camera system of  claim 21  further comprising a zoom lens coupled to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to accept user input from the touch sensitive display screen to determine the amount of zoom to be imparted to the zoom lens. 
     
     
         38 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the controller is configured to receive input regarding focus of the lens from the touch sensitive display. 
     
     
         39 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the controller is configured to cause pictures to be uploaded over the internet for storage at an internet picture hosting website and to be transmitted to another party. 
     
     
         40 . The camera system of  claim 21  wherein the controller is configured to enable the user to select specific pictures stored in the local memory to be uploaded to the internet picture hosting website.