CA2275798C - Wristworn or handheld video production facility or videoconferencing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A wearable or handheld apparatus for personal documentary photography and videography is described. In particular, a personal camera with personal viewfinder means is introduced. The camera system includes capture of video, from an optimal point of vantage and camera angle, with a concomitant cover activity such as checking the time of day on a wristwatch. This gives rise to a new form of personal diary, as well as a new genre of personal documentary video. Video of a subject such as an official behind a counter may be captured by a customer or patron of an establishment, in such a manner that the official cannot readily determine whether or not video is being captured with the concomitant cover activity.

Description

INTc'rA PERTY
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CSI,;., Patent Application , , of Bui ,: , , . : ~, ;nCT
PFiOPRiETE ~ui~, W. Steve G. Mann for WRISTWORN OR HANDHELD VIDEO PRODUCTION FACILITY
OR VIDEOCONFERENCING SYSTEM
of which the following is a specification:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to a wristworn or handheld portable elec-tronic camera system with computer and computer screen that functions also as a viewfinder.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In photography (and in movie and video production), it is often desirable to cap-ture events in a natural manner with minimal intervention or disturbance. In the present invention, the scenario to be considered is that of face-to-face conversation between two individuals, where one of the individuals wishes to either make an an-notated video diary of the conversation, or at least capture a picture of the other individual, without disrupting the natural flow of the conversation. In this context, it is desirable to create a personal video diary or personal documentary, or to have some kind of personal photographic or videographic memory aid that forms the visual equivalent of what the electronic organizers and personal digital assistants do to help us remember textual or syntactic information.
Current state-of-the-art photographic or video apparatus creates a visual dis-turbance to others and attracts considerable attention on account of the gesture of bringing the camera up to the eye. Even if the size of the camera could be reduced to the point of being negligible (e.g. no bigger than the eyecup of a typical cam-era viewfinder, for example), the very gesture of bringing a device up to the eye is unnatural and attracts considerable attention, especially in establishments such as department stores where photography is often prohibited. However it is in these very establishments in which a customer may wish, for example, to have a video record of the clerk's statement of the refund policy or the terms of a sale. Just as department stores often keep a video recording of all transactions (and often even a video record-ing of all activity within the establishment, sometimes including a video recording of customers in the department store fitting rooms or changerooms), the goal of the present invention is to assist, for example, a customer who may wish to keep a video record of a transaction, interaction with a clerk, manager, refund explanation, or the like, or at the very least, a system that enables the customer to capture a picture of an official who refuses to identify himself/herself.
Although there exist a variety of covert cameras such as cameras concealed beneath the jewels of necktie clips, cameras concealed in baseball caps, and cameras concealed in eyeglasses, these cameras tend to produce inferior images, not just because of the technical limitations imposed by their small size, but, more importantly because they usually lack a viewfinder means (e.g. means of viewing the image to adjust camera angle for best composition). Because of the lack of viewfinder means, the subject matter is not necessarily centered well in the viewfinder, or even captured by the camera, and thus these covert cameras are not well suited to personal documentary or for use in a personal photographic/videographic memory assistant.
A wearable camera system (called WearCam) has been disclosed in, for example, IEEE Computer, Vol 30, No 2, or equivalently http://wearcam.org/ieeecomputer.html (see also http://wearcomp.org/wearpubs.html), as well as in Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 8fi, No 11, or equivalently http://hi.eecg.toronto.edu/hi.htm.
Unfortunately em-bodiments of the WearCam invention typically require special preparation such as special clothing, and special wiring of the body a-priori. Such systems will work for

2 those dedicated to being constantly wired with various computational and sensory apparatus incorporated into special clothing, but there are a good many individuals who may wish to obtain a similar kind of convenience without a change of lifestyle.
The invention is related to the Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) such as the Palm Pilot, the so-called "Paper-Based AudioNotebook" (Lisa J. Stifelman Augmenting Real-World Objects: A Paper-Based Audio Notebook CHI'96 Conference Companion, pp. 199-200, April 1996), and the general ideas of personal electronic devices such as wristwatches, that can be used naturally while standing face-to-face with a person such as a department store manager or other official.
There is also an important connection to portable computers, mobile computing, and wearable computers (See for example, IEEE Computer, Vol 30 No 2).
U.S. Pat. No.4780864 describes a combination wristwatch and bike computer.
U.S. Pat. No.5852401 held by Casio corp., describes a distress sending wristwatch that transmits the last known GPS location it has sensed, during time of distress.
U.S. Pat. No.5738104 describes a wristwatch that senses EKG.
U.S. Pat. No.4106283 describes a wristwatch television.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The basic principle of the invention is that a camera is concealed in a device that has another purpose, where the other purpose of the device would involve looking at a display. This other non-picture-taking purpose of the device provides for a con-comitant cover activity. For example, the camera may be concealed in a wristwatch, and the display of the wristwatch may also serve as the viewfinder of the camera.
When the user wishes to take a picture, he or she pretends to check the time on the wristwatch. Checking the time is therefore a concomitant cover activity. The camera is mounted in the watch in such a way that it points out in front of the user, so that a person the user is talking to will be in field of view of the camera while the user is pretending to check the time. Moreover, the user can pretend he/she has trouble

3 focusing on the watch (as when a person who would normally wear bifocals has for-gotten his/her eyeglasses) and hold the watch some distance out from the eyes, so that it will be very close to the clerk or official that the user is taking a picture of.
This may be useful to capture close up pictures of identifying features of the official, such as the shape of pores in the official's skin - features that may help later provide positive identification of the perpetrator of a crime.
The wearer's eyeglasses may also be special eyeglasses that either contain a display device to receive input from a wristwatch mounted camera, or a downprism so that the wearer of the special glasses can look downward at a wristwatch or the like, with a portion of the vision. The downprism can be concealed to look like ordinary bifocal eyeglasses, where the lower portion of the eyeglasses comprises a prism that directs light coming from below into the eyes, so that the wearer can see almost directly downward within a small portion of the view.
In an alternative embodiment, the camera is mounted inside a PDA. In this case, pulling out a PDA and holding it in front of the body while looking at the display is a concomitant cover activity for taking a picture.
In another embodiment, the camera is mounted in a clipboard, so that writing or a clipboard is a concomitant cover activity. Thus the user can either pretend to take notes, or actually take notes, while capturing pictures or video at the same time.
The invention includes a camera and viewfinder for unobtrusively capturing video of exceptionally high compositional quality and possibly even artistic merit.
In summary, the apparatus of the invention works as follows:
~ the user engages in a concomitant cover activity;
~ the concomitant cover activity involves looking downward, intently at the top of a device that is held in front of the body and slightly below the head;
~ a camera in the device is aimed at a person or persons the user is talking to;
~ the electronic display is responsive to an output of the camera, so that it can

4 serve as a viewfinder, and perhaps also display other information such as zebra stripes in regions of overexposure, or focusing/exposure adjustment aids, as well as possibly compositional aids received from a compositional assistant (either software or one or more remotely located persons assisting the user);
~ the concomitant cover activity also includes interacting with the device (such as pushing a button on the wristwatch or writing on the screen of a PDA).
The concomitant cover activity may involve something as simple as resting the arm on a counter top, while wearing a wristwatch embodiment of the invention.
In addition to the fact that covert versions of the apparatus can be used to create investigative documentary videos having very good composition, the device need not necessarily be covert. Instead, it may merely be designed so that the subject of the picture or video cannot readily determine whether or not the apparatus is in use recording. Just as department stores and the like often have dark domes on their ceilings, so that customers do not know whether or not there are cameras in the domes (or which ones have cameras and even which way the cameras are pointed if there are cameras in the domes), the proposed invention creates a situation in which a department store clerk or the like will not know whether or not a customer's personal memory assistant is recording video. This uncertainty is created by having the camera positioned so that it will typically be pointed at a person at all times, whether or not it is actually being used.
In a handheld embodiment of the invention, a handheld pen-based computer or a combination clipboard and pen-based computer input device, hereafter referred to as "clipboard" (whether it be an electronic organizer, PDA, or a real pen and paper clipboard into which some electronic devices have been added) is used as the basis for the secondary activity.
A camera is built into the clipboard with the optical axis of the lens facing the direction from bottom to top of the clipboard, so that during normal face-to-face conversation, the person holding the clipboard will tend to point the camera at the other person while taking written notes of the conversation. In this manner, the intentionality (whether or not the person taking written notes is intending to point the camera at the other person) is masked by the fact that the camera will always be pointed at the other person by virtue of its placement in the clipboard.
Thus the camera lens opening need not necessarily be covert, and in fact, could be deliberately accentuated (e.g. made more visible) if desired. To understand why it might be desirable to make it more visible, one can look to the cameras in department stores, which are often placed in large dark smoked plexiglass domes. In this way they are neither hidden nor visible, but rather, they serve as an uncertain deterrent to criminal conduct. While they could easily be hidden inside smoke detectors, ventilation slots, or small openings, the goal of the dome is to make the camera conceptually visible yet completely hidden. In a similar manner, a large lens opening on the clipboard may, at times, be desirable, so that the subject will be reminded that there could be a recording, but will be uncertain as to whether or not such a recording is actually taking place. Alternatively, a large dark shiny plexiglass strip, made from darkly smoked plexiglass (typically lcm high and 22cm across) is installed across the top of the clipboard, as a very subtle yet visible deterrent to criminal behaviour and disrespect.
One or more miniature cameras are then installed behind the dark plexiglass, looking forward through it. In other embodiments, a camera is installed in a PDA, and then the top of the PDA is covered with dark smoky plexiglass.
The clipboard is fitted with an electronic display system which includes the capa-bility of displaying the image from the camera, so that it can serve as a viewfinder for aiming the camera at the subject. Moreover, the display is typically constructed so that it is visible only to the user of the clipboard, or, at the very least, so that the subject of the picture cannot readily see the display. Such concealment of the display may be accomplished through the use of a honeycomb filter placed over the display.
Such honeycomb filters are common in photography, where they are placed over lights to make the light sources behave more directionally. They are also sometimes placed over traffic lights where there is a wye intersection, so that the lights can only be seen from one direction, for example, so that the traffic lights do not confuse drivers on another branch of a wye intersection that faces almost the same way.
Alternatively, the display may be designed to provide an inherently narrow field of view, or other barriers may be constructed to prevent the subject from seeing the screen.
The function of the camera is integrated with the clipboard so that textual in-formation, as well as drawings, may be stored in a computer system, together with pictures or videoclips (hereafter still pictures and segments of video will both be re-ferred to as videoclips, with the understanding that a still picture is just a video sequence which is one frame in length).
Since videoclips are stored in the computer together with other information, these videoclips may be recalled by an associative memory working together with that other information. Thus tools like the UNIX "grep" command may be applied to videoclips by virtue of the associated textual information which typically resides as a videographic header. In this way, for example, one could grep for the word "meijer", and may find various videoclips taken during conversations with clerks in the Meijer department store. Thus such a videographic memory system may give rise to a memory recall of previous videoclips taken during previous visits to this particular department store, provided that one has been diligent enough to write down (e.g.
enter textually) the name of the department store upon each visit.
Videoclips are typically time-stamped (e.g. there exist file creation dates) and GPS-stamped (e.g. there exists global positioning system headers from last valid readout) so that one can search on setting (time+place).
Thus the video clipboard may be programmed so that the act of simply taking notes causes previous related videoclips to play back automatically in a separate window (in addition to the viewfinder window which should always remain active for continued proper aiming of the camera). Such a video clipboard may, for example, assist in a refund explanation by providing the customer with an index into previous visual information to accompany previous notes taken during a purchase. This system is especially beneficial when encountering department store representatives who do not wear name tags and who refuse to identify themselves by name (as is often the case when they know they have done something wrong such as disrespect a customer).
Thus the device is responsive to an input from the user, and the operation of the camera in recording or recall is thus under user-control. An alternative form of user input for wearable embodiments of the invention (e.g. the wristwatch camera) includes physiological input signals. The wristwatch camera, for example, could be responsive to heart rate and skin resistance, so that the capture rate increases when the heart beats faster and when the wearer sweats more. In this way, the user input does not require pressing buttons. During an argument with a clerk or official, the user's heart rate increases, and the user sweats profusely, triggering capture of the event.
The user input may also be in the form of speech recognition. For example, a wristwatch embodiment of the invention containing a microphone could recognize the phrase "it's getting late" as an instruction to the computer to capture a picture or to begin recording video. Thus the wearer could pretend to check the time on his wristwatch and at the same time, while sighting the shot by looking at the display (functioning as a camera viewfinder) remark, ostensibly to the person he is talking to (when in reality the wearer is making the remark to the watch), "oh well, it's getting late".
Variations of the same phrase could do different things. For example, the phrase "it's getting kind of late" could capture a low resolution picture for rapid transmission to the Internet, while the phrase "it's getting awfully late" could capture an awfully big file that might take longer to send, and the phrase "it's getting very late" could capture a picture at very high resolution.
Other phrases could trigger videoconferencing modes, for example, the phrase "oh, I've got to go pick up my wife" could open up a videoconferencing channel to a specific person (e.g. the wearer's spouse). These commands could be combined, so for example if the wearer wishes to capture a picture and also send it to his wife, he could remark: "oh well, it's getting very late! I've got to go pick up my wife.".
Alternatively, a switch elsewhere on the body can trigger the capture. For ex-ample, a switch concealed in the frame of a pair of eyeglasses works well when the wearer of the watch and glasses is pretending he has trouble focusing on the watch, since people often grab onto their glasses and pull them out to the end of their nose when they are having trouble focusing close. This could trigger transmission of video that would end when the glasses are pushed back up to the top of the nose.
Such an apparatus might also be of use in personal safety. Although there are a growing number of video surveillance cameras installed in the environment allegedly for "public safety", there have been recent questions as to the true benefit of such centralized surveillance infrastructures. Most notably there have been several exam-ples in which such centralized infrastructure has been abused by the owners of it (as in roundups and detainment of peaceful demonstrators). Moreover, "public safety"
systems may fail to protect individuals against crimes committed by members of the organizations that installed the systems. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention often implement the storage and retrieval of images by transmitting and recording im-ages at one or more remote locations. In some embodiments of the invention, images are transmitted and recorded in different countries, so that they would be difficult to destroy, in the event that the perpetrator of a crime or other misconduct in a high position of power and influence might wish to destroy evidence of his or her miscon-duct. By transmitting images to a wide variety of receive sites, there will hopefully be at least one such site out of reach of the perpetrator's sphere of totalitarian control.
Thus an Internet connected portable recording device, such as one that transmits pictures to the World Wide Web, or the like, ofFers the capability of preventing, or at least documenting misconduct of officials who might otherwise attempt to prohibit photography or videography inside their possibly corrupt establishments.

The invention allows images to be captured in a natural manner, without giving an unusual appearance to others (such as an abusive official).
Moreover, as an artistic tool of personal expression, the apparatus allows the user to record, from a new perspective, experiences that have been difficult to so record in the past. For example, a customer might be able to record an argument with a fraudulent business owner from a very close camera angle. This is possible using, for example, the clipboard embodiment of the invention, because a clipboard may be extended outward toward the person without violating personal space in the same way as might be necessary to do the same with a camera hidden in a tie clip, baseball cap, or sunglasses. Since a clipboard may extend outward from the body, it may be placed closer to the subject than the normal eye viewpoint in normal face-to-face conversation. As a result, the camera can capture a very close-up view of the subject. Such a view is often more desirable than the view obtainable from a telephoto lens located in eyeglasses (e.g. telephoto embodiment of the WearCam invention) because the close-up view also provides a dramatic and powerful composition, from underneath the subject's face, and is therefore most suitable, cinematographically, for best capturing the menacing nature of a corrupt or disrespectful official.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect this invention provides a method of positioning a camera to take a picture or video of a subject, where there is a concomitant cover activity, so that the camera is positioned without the subject's knowledge or at least without the subject's being certain as to whether or not said picture or video is being taken.
In another aspect this invention provides a means of recording a picture or video where the spatial extent (field of view) of the image may be ascertained without having to hold any device directly up to the eye.
In another aspect this invention provides such a method of taking a picture or video where the tonal characteristics of the picture may be ascertained without having to hold any device directly up to the eye.

In another aspect this invention provides such a method of taking a picture or video where no apparent difference in body movement or gesture between when a picture is being taken and when no picture is being taken is discernible by others.
In another aspect this invention provides the user with a means of determining the composition of the picture from a display device that is located such that only the user can see the display device, and so that the user can ascertain the composition of a picture or take a picture or video and transmit images) to one or more remote locations without the knowledge of others in the immediate environment, or without others in the environment being certain whether or not such picture or video is being captured.
In another aspect this invention provides a means and apparatus for a user to capture a plurality of images of the same scene or objects, in a natural process of simply rotating a small device around on a countertop, and then have these images combined together into a single image of increased spatial extent, spatial resolution, dynamic range, or tonal fidelity.
In another aspect this invention provides a camera with viewfinder means for col-laboration between the user of the apparatus and one or more other persons at remote locations through the manipulation of virtual objects such as cursors, or computer graphics renderings displayed upon the camera viewfinder.
In another aspect this invention allows multiple users of the invention, whether at remote locations or side-by-side, or in the same room within each other's field of view, to interact with one another through the collaborative capabilities of the apparatus.
In another aspect this invention allows multiple users of the invention, at remote locations, to collaborate in such a way that a virtual environment is shared in which camera-based camera-tracking of each user results in acquisition of video and subse-quent generation of virtual information being made available to the other(s).
In another aspect this invention allows multiple users of the invention, at the same location, to collaborate in such a way that multiple camera viewpoints may be shared among the users so that they can advise each other on matters such as composition, or so that one or more viewers at remote locations can advise one or more of the users on matters such as composition or camera angle.
In another aspect this invention allows multiple users of the invention, at different locations, to collaborate on a project or endeavour that may not pertain to photogra-phy or videography directly, but a project or endeavour nevertheless that is enhanced by the ability for each person to experience the viewpoint of another.
In another aspect this invention allows one or more remote participants at con-ventional desktop computers or the like to interact with one or more users of the invention, at one or more other locations, to collaborate on a project or endeavour that may not pertain to photography or videography directly, but a project or en-deavour nevertheless that is enhanced by the ability for one or more users of the invention to either provide or obtain advice from or to another individual at a remote location.
In another aspect this invention to facilitates a very close-up camera angle, from slightly below the subject of the picture or video, most notably so that the camera can be brought closer to the subject than would be acceptable for the body of the camera operator, so that the personal space of the subject can be violated more effectively than with a body-worn camera such as that of the WearCam invention.
In another aspect this invention facilitates the creation of a database comprising video records linked to associated user input such as hand-written notes, user heart rate, user sweatiness, etc..
In another aspect this invention facilitates concomitant cover activity together with user input.
In another aspect this invention provides the user with means of sending pictures to least one remote location.
In another aspect this invention provides the user with a personal safety device including means of notifying others at at least one remote location of potential danger.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples which in no way are meant to limit the scope of the invention, but, rather, these examples will serve to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a simple embodiment of the invention in which there is a camera borne by a personal digital assistant (PDA) which has a separate display attached to it to function as a viewfinder for the camera.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of an alternate embodiment of the camera system in which a graphics tablet is concealed under a pad of paper and an electronic pen is concealed inside an ordinary ink pen so that all of the writing on the paper is captured and recorded electronically together with video from the subject.
FIG. 3 illustrates a wristwatch embodiment of the invention in which a camera concealed inside the watch sends video to a covert body-worn computer system which transmits the video to a remote site where it is processed by one or more remote experts and advice from the remote experts) is displayed on a computer screen on the face of the watch together with time, date, and video from the camera (for viewfinder purposes).
FIG. 4 depicts a close-up view of the wristwatch display, which happens to be the display of a body-worn computer running XFree86 on top of the Linux operating system, which facilitates the display of an "xclock" together with other material such as video from the camera (so the display can function as a viewfinder), and various menu items suitable for a wristwatch videotelephone.
FIG. 5 depicts the rightward orientation of the camera for a wristwatch housing worn on the left hand, when the hand is extended outward with a long reach to get the camera closer to the subject.

FIG. 6 depicts a side view of the downward orientation of the camera, showing a side view of the wearer's wrist, and further details of the apparatus of the invention.
FIG. ? depicts a strain relief attachable to the inside of a shirt sleeve.
FIG. 8 depicts the block diagram of an embodiment of the invention including various involuntary inputs (biosensors of the invention for measuring physiological quantities) and voluntary inputs (pushbuttons, voice recognizer, etc.) that affect the capture of pictures.
FIG. 9a depicts the general appearance of the wristwatch videophone embodiment of the portable video production facility.
FIG. 9b depicts the nontransparent clockface in detail.
FIG. 9c depicts the transparent clockface in detail.
While the invention shall now be described with reference to the preferred em-bodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the intention is not to limit the invention only to the particular embodiments shown but rather to cover all alterations, modifications and equivalent arrangements possible within the scope of appended claims.
In all aspects of the present invention, references to "camera" mean any device or collection of devices capable of simultaneously determining a quantity of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations, or determining some other attribute of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations. Similarly references to "display" shall not be limited to just television monitors or traditional televisions used for the display of video from a camera near or distant, but shall also include computer data display means, computer data monitors, other video display devices, still picture display devices, ASCII text display devices and the like.
References to "video" shall include any signal that includes one or more streams of visible pictures, together with one or more audio channels from one or more mi-crophones. Thus the term "video" may, for example, refer to a signal recorded from two cameras and several microphones arranged in an array, to be later processed for beamforming purposes or to be processed in such a way as to project a nullspace toward unwanted audible interference such as the sound of a vacuum cleaner in the appliances section of a Sears department store during the shooting of a documenatary video there. The term "video" shall also be taken to include intermediate representa-tions of signals derived from cameras, microphones, and associated auxiliary sensors.
Examples of such intermediate representations shall include, but not be limited to, recording of some number M of audio channels from some number N of microphones, where M may be less than N. Examples of "video" may also include image represen-tations from multiple electromagnetic sensors represented as a single signal.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH
REFERENCE TO DRAWINGS
Fig 1 shows an embodiment of the invention built into a PDA 100. A video camera 110 captures a view of a person standing in front of the user of the PDA and displays the image on an auxiliary screen 120, which may be easily concealed by the user's hand while the user is writing or pertending to write on the PDA's screen 130 with pen 140. In commercial embodiments of the invention the auxiliary screen 120 may not be necessary, as it may be implemented as a window displaying the camera's view on a portion of the main screen 130. Annotations made on screen 130 with pen 140 may also be captured and stored together with videoclips from camera 110, so that there is a unified database in which the notes and annotations are linked with the video. An optional second camera 150 may be used if the user wishes to make a video recording of himself/herself while recording another person with camera 110.
In this way, both sides of the conversation may be simultaneously recorded by the two cameras, so that the resulting recordings could be edited later, so that there could, for example, be a cut back and forth between the two cameras to follow the natural flow of the conversation. Such a recording might, for example, be used for an investigative journalism story on corrupt department store owners who illegally chain their fire exits shut. In the early prototypes, an additional wire 160 was run up the sleeve of the user into a separate body worn pack 170 powered by its own battery pack 172. The body worn pack typically contains a computer system 174 which houses video capture hardware and is connected to a communications system 176 comprising packet radio terminal node controller (high level data link controller with modem) and radio, which typically establishes an Internet connection by way of antenna 178. The body-worn pack 170 would likely disappear in the final embodiment of the invention which would contain the functionality of the pack 170 inside the hand-held device 100.
Fig 2 depicts an alternate embodiment of the invention depicted in Fig 1 in which the invention is built into an ordinary clipboard 200. Video camera 210 displays on a miniature screen 220 mounted to the clipboard. A folded back piece of paper conceals the screen 220. The rest of the sheets of paper 231 are placed slightly below the top sheet 230, so that the user can write on them in a natural fashion.
From the perspective of someone facing the user (the subject), the clipboard will have the appearance of a normal clipboard in which the top sheet 230 appears to be part of the stack 231. Pen 240 is a combined electronic pen and real pen, so that the user can simultaneously write on the paper with real ink, as well as make an electronic annotation by virtue of a graphics tablet below the stack of paper 231, provided that the stack is not excessively thick. In this way there is a computer database linking the real physical paper with its pen strokes and the video recorded of the subject. From a legal point of view, real physical pen strokes may have some forensic value that the electronic material may not (e.g. if the department store owner asks the customer to sign something, or even just to sign for a credit card transaction, the customer may place it over the pad 231 and use the special pen 240 to capture the signature in the customer's own computer and index it to the video record). Wire 260 going from the clipboard, up the sleeve of the user, would be eliminated through construction of a self-contained video clipboard.

Fig 3 depicts a wristwatch embodiment 300 of the invention depicted in Fig 1.
Camera 310 points forward such that, for example, while a customer is wearing the wristwatch embodiment of the invention and is standing at a counter, he or she can place his or her arm naturally upon the counter and aim the camera 310 at the of ficial behind the counter without appearing unusual. The video of the official seen by camera 310 is displayed on display unit 320, so that display unit 320 functions as a viewfinder to assist the customer in aiming the camera 310. An optional second camera 350 may be included if the customer wishes to record himself/herself so that both sides of the conversation would be recorded. Cabling 360 runs from the cam-eras) 310 (and 350) inside the wrist strap, emerging at the back of the wrist strap where it will be concealed from view by the official. Cabling 360 runs up the sleeve of the wearer of the watch, to an Internet-connected body-worn computer system, the output of which runs back down cabling 360 out to the display 320. In this way video from camera 310 may be transmitted and recorded at remote sites, while the wearer of the wristwatch may be advised by a remote legal expert on the best approach for dealing with the corrupt or disrespectful official. In future embodiments, the cabling 360 may be eliminated, so that the unit would be either entirely self-contained, or would communicate wirelessly with a body-worn computer/repeater/internet gate-way station or a computer/repeater/internet gateway station carried in a briefcase or the like.
Interaction with the wristwatch version of the invention depicted in Fig 3 may be done through a pen-based or touch-based interface to the screen, in the form of a so-called "pie menu" as described in Callahan, Hopkins, Weiser and Shneiderman, 1988, or by using a "unistroke shorthand" as invented by Goldberg and Richardson, 1993.
Fig 4 depicts a natural choice of pie menu for a wristwatch display. Display is typically a computer screen with 480 pixels down and 640 pixels across, measuring approximately 0.7 inches on the diagonal. Upon display 400 is the image of a clock 1?

face, superimposed on top of a video signal from the camera. Time is displayed as a video picture, similar to the way that time is displayed on a UNIX workstation using the "xclock" program. Thus the "hands" of the clock 410 are realized by a video image in which pixels are darker (or lighter) in the region of the hands, and in this way the embodiment of the camera invention tells time. In the figure depicted here, the time is 4:03. Thus the device truly looks like an ordinary wristwatch (although one in which the hands are displayed electronically) because it is in fact a wristwatch, among other things. It is natural for such a wristwatch to have a circle 420 displayed on the screen, and to have numbers 430 displayed around the periphery of said circle. In this way it is easier to tell time, and also the numbers may be assigned a secondary meaning (e.g. select "0" to stop recording, "4" to kill all processes and halt the processor, "7"
to wake up the system from sleep mode, etc.).
Since humans are quite good at telling time, often the numbers are missing from many commercial wristwatches, and some wristwatches do not even have markings for each hour. Instead, we often rely on our heightened sense of visual acuity to discern the angle of the hands upon the clockface. Thus it is no surprise that the clock menu is usable without paying much attention to the face of the clock. The user just needs to stroke the face of the clock in the direction desired (e.g. stroke the clockface in the 2:00 direction to enter the number "2").
The entry of numbers on a touch sensitive clockface in the context of the current invention may be done as vectors (e.g. with no regard to location, only regard to direction). Thus a stroke from left to right is regarded as the number "3"
regardless of where the stroke begins or ends. A downwards stroke (e.g. from top to bottom) is regarded as the number "6" regardless of where the stroke begins or ends, and so on.
Thus telephone numbers can be easily entered into the device, and similarly an alphabet 440 can be constructed much like the alphabet of an automated DTMF
answering system used for voicemail and the like in telephony.
Such a menu may be implemented with touchscreen, or alternatively small push-buttons around the periphery of the clock face may be used. Since there are 12 pushbuttons on a telephone, and there are also 12 hours on a clock face, there can be a one to one correspondence between the numbers of the clockface and those of the telephone. The hours 10:00 and 11:00 are used for the symbols "*" and "#" of the telephone touchpad.
The data entered by way of the clock face menu is typically combined with the video recording made from the scene. Of course the amount of information taken down may be less than that in the embodiments of the invention described in Fig 1 and Fig 2, but the clock face menu is sufficient for entering a department store manager's name, which may be appended to the video file header, so that later a large database of recorded video may be navigated using these short text headers. Of course GPS
and file creation are also important as in the other embodiments of the invention.
Moreover, due to direct contact between the watch and the body, the pulse (heart rate), as well as skin conductivity (sweatiness index) of the wearer may be determined and this information may be appended to or recorded with the video signals.
This may facilitate, for example, a future search through all video in which the wearer's heart rate exceeds a certain threshold. It has been found that when a department store manager is dishonest with respect to refund policies, or a clerk refuses to tell a customer his~her name, that the customer's heart rate increases dramatically, and the customer often sweats profusely. Thus this extra information can later help locate moments of tension in a previously recorded argument at the refund counter.
Fig 5 depicts a rightward angling of the camera suitable for use when the wrist-watch is worn on the left hand which is extended outward toward the subject.
The new camera orientation 510 is such that the camera aims to the right of where it would have with the original camera orientation 310. The camera may swivel so that the user can select an orientation, or if the camera is fixed in manufacture, it may be desirable that it be angled slightly to the right, e.g. somewhere between the orientation of 310 and that of 510.

Fig 6 depicts a downward angling of the camera suitable for use when the wearer's arm 601 is extended outward toward the subject 605. The new camera orientation 610 is such that the camera aims downward slightly, relative to the housing 630. Thus the wearer 600 can extend the wrist 602 outward a little further and tip the watch face display 620 back toward wearer 600, and then the camera 610 will point straight ahead.
The wrist 602 is shown in cross section, and is shown greatly enlarged compared to the arm 601 of the wearer 600.
The wristwatch has a watchband made in two sections, a first inward portion 640, with velcro receptor 641 and a second outward portion 650 with velcro hooks 651.
The velcro strap is shown undone in the figure for clarity, while it will be understood that the velcro hooks 651 will be pressed against the velcro receptor 641 in actual use.
Wrist orientation 660 will be defined as "inward", and wrist orientation 670 will be defined as "downward", for purposes of this disclosure.
Wires from downward oriented camera 610 and display 620 emerge within insu-lation harness 680 which passes beneath inward portion 640 of the wrist band.
This wiring harness 680 emerges from the wristband 640 at a point between the down-wardmost point 671 and the innermost point 661. Wiring harness 680 is shown as a dashed line beyond this point, where it runs inside a shirtsleeve of the wearer, who is wearing a long sleeved shirt. Wiring harness 680 is anchored inside the shirtsleeve at a point 681 between the wrist and elbow. Wiring harness 680 continues on inside the wearer's shirt, to a body worn computer system 690, which is the processor that processes images from camera 610. Display 620 is connected to an output of body worn computer system 690, so that a camera viewfinder function on display 620 can be controlled by software. This control also facilitates videoconferencing in which display 620 can display video from the wearer of another similar device, instead of, or in addition to video from camera 610. Display 620 also shows output from com-puter system 690, such as ping statistics, netstat, and other functions of Internet connectivity, as well as text messages from a person at a remote location.
Computer system 690 typically runs the GNUX (GNUS-Linux) operating system with XF86 variant of X-windows. The screen 620 is typically 640 by 480 pixels in true 24 bit color, so that good image fidelity results. The GNUX (GNU+Linux) command oclock -transparent -geometry 480x480+80+0 is typically used to provide a nice clockface that fills almost the entire screen, yet is transparent so that live video can be seen in the root window beneath it. In this manner, the entire apparatus has the appearance of a wristwatch.
For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "oclock" shall be taken to mean any electronically displayed round clock face with electronically displayed hands, and not just that which typically runs under UNIX, GNUX, or X-windows. The oclock may comprise only two electronically displayed hands, a minute hand and an hour hand, or it may also include an electronically displayed sweep second hand, to give the clock a more lively appearance. An oclock may include an "O"-shaped ring encircling around the outside of the hands, but it is not necessary that this ring be present.
The clockface may or may not have numbers, depending on personal taste. It may also have an electronically displayed "jewel" at the top of the clockface, to make it easier for others to see the time, even if shown the display of the watch upside-down or sideways (as might be the case when onlookers ask the werer for the time).
The clockface of the oclock will typically be transparent so that only the hands, and possibly a jewel or "0"-shaped ring encircling around the outside of the hands will block what is underneath. The hands and possibly a jewel or "O"-shaped ring encircling around the outside of the hands may also be rendered partially transpar-ent, either by selection of an alpha blending parameter, or by other means, such as exclusive or of the pixel values in the region defined by these hands and possibly other clockface features.
Fig 7 depicts the strain relief for the wristwatch embodiment in which the sender sending pictures from camera to computer and from computer to display comprise wires. Cabling 360 runs up the forearm and is strain relieved inside the sleeve of the forearm with forearm strain relief 710. It then runs through a small loop 720 located at the elbow joint of the arm. Loop 720 provides enough slack that the arm can fold at the elbow without tugging at cabling 360, hence ensuring that cabling 360 will have a long life. Strain relief 730 is a further strain relief that clips to the inside of the shirt at the aftarm, near the biceps. Loop 740 is located at the shoulder joint to allow enough slack for the arm to rotate at the shoulder. Optional strain relief 750 is a further strain relief that clips inside the shirt at the torso area of the body.
Not all three strain reliefs 710, 730, and 750 are necessary, but preferably there is at least one such strain relief used.
Fig 8 depicts an embodiment of the invention in block diagram form. Processor 800 receives input from camera 810. Processor 800 may also send information back to camera 810 by way of camera control input 811, so that shutter speed, integration time, aperture, focus, or the like can be controlled by processor 800.
Alternatively, camera 810 may have a bidirectional link sending packets of video to processor with a high level protocol that involves bidirectional communication to confirm re-ceived packets and possibly retransmit when packets are lost. In this way control input 811 is not explicitly needed, and may be absorbed into a packet protocol that encompasses bidirectional data communications between processor 800 and camera 810.
Display 820 is responsive to an output of processor 800 so that it can show the wearer of the wristwatch the time of day, which is kept by a realtime clock of processor 800. Time of day is typically kept within a clock that has its own battery backup so that when processor 800 is turned off and later turned on, the time is still correct.
Time is typically set once (e.g. using the GNUX date command, followed by the GNUX /sbin/clock -w command), and then remains correct thereafter. A global positioning system built into the wristwatch may receive satellite signals so that the clock would automatically be set appropriately for a given time zone, and in this case, the time may be set to UTC or GMT at all times, with a correction for the time displayed in a given timezone.
In many embodiments, there is at least one microphone built into the watch for recording the audio portion of the video that is recorded by the camera 810.
Moreover, the microphone can also serve as a speech recognizes to accept commands from the user.
To watch previously recorded video upon display 820 there is typically one or two earpieces 840 that carry the audio portion of the video displayed on display 820, earpieces) 840 being responsive to an output of processor 800.
At least some of the functionality of processor 800 is typically controlled by vol-untary inputs 850 which may include pushbutton switches on the wristworn housing.
Additionally, heart rate, or full EKG waveform information determined from sensors in the watchband may also feed into processor 800. Other physiological quantities of the wearer, such as blood volume, blood flow related, etc., and a measure of sweatiness or skin conductivity may also feed into processor 800. These involuntary inputs 860 can be used by processor 800 to make inferences about such things as video capture frame rate, or whether or not to take one or more still pictures.
Additional outputs 870 may include direct electrical stimulation of the skin by way of a very small electric shock or the like, so that the wearer can unobtrusively obtain information from processor 800. Such information may include the time of day, encoded as various combinations of electric shocks. Vibrotactile devices may be used in place of electrodes, so that vibration is used instead of the electric shocks. A
combination of electric shocks and vibration may also be used to give greater overall resolution, allowing a larger number of distinctly perceptible output channels to be used.
Fig 9a depicts a wristwatch videophone embodiment of the portable video pro-duction facility, showing the buttons 900 on the watch, which may be used to set the time, select various modes, open up a secret videoconferencing channel, choose the form of encryption, select image compression quality, video capture frame rate, etc., as well as choose which clockface will be displayed.
The clock is represented electronically as an array of time-varying pixels, with a clockface 910 that has electronically represented hands upon it. Behind clockface 910 there is the main window 920 of the screen 620, showing the text of this patent ap-plication, which was prepared using the wristwatch-based computer with an external keyboard plugged into it.
Fig 9b depicts a closeup of the screen 620 of the wristwatch videophone embodi-ment of the portable video production facility. A clockface 910 has an electronically represented minute hand 911 and hour hand 912, as well as a second hand 913.
The second hand provides a lively appearance to the oclock, and would convince the aver-age person looking at the screen 620 that the apparatus was a wristwatch, especially if main window 920 were blacked out by selecting a blackout option from buttons 900. Pressing one of buttons 900 will then reveal the secret window 920 behind the clockface, whereupon the secret text of this patent application appears.
The oclock has displayed a jewel 914 so that a person asking the wearer what time it is can easily read the time even if the watch is seen upside down or sideways from the extended arm of the wearer. The "0"-shaped border 915 also helps further to define the shape of the oclock.
The oclock has a large border 919 that hides part or all of window 920, so that the clock is easier to read, and also so that the main window 920 is harder to read. A
single pressing of one of buttons 900 rapidly conceals window 920 behind clockshroud 919, which in actual use fills completely the screen 620 rather than just part of the screen as illustrated in the drawing. Thus the clockshroud would extend outward all the way to the edges of screen 620, so that none of main window 920 would be visible.
Text cursor 921 would also be hidden by clockshroud 919.
Fig 9c depicts a closeup of the screen 620 in secret mode, after a single pressing of one of the buttons 900 unconceals window 920 by making clockshroud 919 disappear.
In this mode the portion of the screen 929 that was covered by clockshroud 919 can now be read. Moreover, the jewel is eliminated, because this secret mode is for the eyes of the wearer only, and there is no longer a need to tell time when the clock is being observed from odd viewpoints. The second hand is also eliminated so it is not distracting to the wearer, who can now more easily read the entire screen 620.
A small handheld chortling keyboard such as that sold under the tradename Twid-dler (TM) manufactured by Handykey Corp, can be used to type with. A wireless version of a chortling keyboard may also be concealed in a pocket, so that with one hand in a pocket, the wearer can type short messages or computer commands while looking at the wristwatch display 620.
Text cursor 921 thus functions in a normal fashion once window 920 is selected.
There may be multiple windows like window 620, and some of these may be text, some may be graphics, and some may be live video or still pictures. Window 620 may be used to display live video from the camera, or it may be used to play back video.
Microphones and one or more earpieces are also part of the apparatus for use as a video recorder and player.
The function of the apparatus that allows windows to be quickly concealed by an opaque clock, or the like, is called a SECRETER, and the function of the apparatus that allows windows to be revealed is called an OPENER.
A SECRETER may perform a variety of functions such as hiding windows under an opaque barrier, or under a clock, and making the clock become more complex and busy. The OPENER may perform a variety of functions such as making the clock simpler, more transparent, or perhaps causing the clock to disappear altogether.
The OPENER may cause the clock hands to exclusive or with the background, so that the wearer can see right through the hands themselves.
Alternatively, some ore all of the information on the screen may be polarizationally covert, so that it is visible only while wearing polarized glasses. Material that is visible to everyone, such as the clockface, is not polarizationally dependent.
Material meant for the wearer only to see is polarizationally dependent, so that, for example, right circular polarized light represents the image for the wearer to see, and left circular polarized light is produced in the negative of the image, so that it cancels the right circularly polarized light, except for the wearer who wears special polarizing glasses that filter out the left circularly polarized negational light, which then no longer cancels the right circularly polarized light.
BENEFITS OF THE INVENTION
The vast proliferation of video surveillance throughout various establishments such as department stores, public parks, streets, and even changerooms (Newsweek, July 17, 1995) is propagated with a promise to a better, safer world. However, represen-tatives and architects of this surveillance superhighway may continue to be corrupt.
For example, although cameras reduce and deter shoplifting, there continue to be sit-uations where shopkeepers illegally chain shut fire exits, or refuse to be accountable in other ways {such as making promises with respect to refund policy and then failing to keep these promises later). Extreme situations include the murder of a customer suspected of {and falsely accused of) shoplifting by a department store owner (see, for example, the Latasha Harlins case) where the department store owner shot the customer in the back as she turned to walk out of the store.
Thus one benefit of the invention is to provide personal safety, and to ensure accountability to those who might otherwise escape accountability. These benefits are especially useful in a totalitarian regime (a regime which wishes to know everything about others but reveal nothing about itself). A typical department store (where video surveillance is used extensively yet photography and video by customers is prohibited) is a prime example of where the proposed invention may assist in providing some degree of balance with respect to mutual accountability.
Furthermore, the invention is useful as a new communications medium, in the context of collaborative photography, collaborative videography, and telepresence.

One way in which the invention can be useful for telepresence is in the creation of video orbits (collections of pictures that exist in approximately the same orbit of the projective group of coordinate transformations). A video orbit can be constructed using the clipboard embodiment in which a small rubber bump is made on the bottom of the clipboard right under the camera's center of projection. In this way, when the clipboard is rested upon a surface such as a countertop, it can be panned around this fixed point, so that video recorded from the camera can be used to assemble a panorama or orbit of greater spatial extent than a single picture. Similarly with the wristwatch embodiment, a small rubber bump on the bottom of the wristband allows the wearer to place the wrist upon a countertop and rotate the entire arm and wrist about a fixed point. Either embodiment is very well suited to shooting a high quality panoramic picture or orbit of an official behind a high counter, as is typically found at a department store, bank, or other organization.
Moreover, the invention may perform other useful tasks such as functioning as a personal safety device and crime deterrent by virtue of its ability to maintain a video diary transmitted and recorded at multiple remote locations. As a tool for photo-journalists and reporters, the invention has clear advantages over other competing technologies.
OTHER EMBODIMENTS
From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention provides a design for a hand-held or wrist-worn camera with viewfinder means.
As various changes can be made in the above embodiments and operating methods with-out departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Variations or modifications to the design and construction of this invention, within the scope of the appended claims, may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure herein. Such variations or modifications, if within the spirit of this invention, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing upon this invention.

Claims (49)

The embodiments of the invention in which I claim an exclusive property or privilege are defined as follows:

1. An incidentalist wristworn picture production facility including a wristworn housing, said housing containing a camera and electronic display, said picture production facility further including a portable processor responsive to an input of said camera, said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor, said camera arranged so that the optical axis of said camera is approximately parallel to the face of said display, said camera being nonretractably mounted so that it is in the same physical position whether or not it is actually being used, said picture production facility providing additional functionality for a concomitant cover activity.

2. A covert wristworn picture production facility including a wristworn housing, said housing containing a camera and electronic display, said picture production facility further including a portable processor responsive to an input of said camera, said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor, said camera arranged so that the optical axis of said camera is approximately parallel to the face of said display, said camera being covertly concealed within said housing, said picture production facility providing additional functionality for a concomitant cover activity.

3. An incidentalist handheld picture production facility including a handheld housing, said housing containing a camera and electronic display, said picture production facility farther including a portable processor responsive to an input of said camera, said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor, said camera arranged so that the optical axis of said camera is approximately paralel to the face of said display, said camera being nonretractably mounted so that it is in the same physical position whether or not it is actually being used, said picture production facility providing additional functionality for a concomitant cover activity.

4. A covert handheld picture production facility including a handheld housing, said housing containing a camera and electronic display, said picture production facility further including a portable processor responsive to an input of said camera, said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor, said camera arranged so that the optical axis of said camera is approximately parallel to the face of said display, said camera being covertly concealed within said housing, said picture production facility providing additional functionality for a concomitant cover activity.

5. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4, where said camera is mounted in said housing such that when a user of said picture production facility is looking at said display in a manner similar to the manner that one would normally look at said display during said concomitant cover activity, that said camera will be pointed at a person standing in front of said user of said picture production facility.

6. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4, where said housing is a flat clipboard, said display attached to said clipboard such that writing paper may be also attached to said clipboard to conceal said display from a person standing in front of the user of said clipboard when said clipboard is held in a normal position for writing, and where said camera will face said person standing in front of user of said clipboard when said clipboard is held in a normal position for writing, where the act of writing on said clipboard is said concomitant cover activity.

7. The picture production facility of Claim 6 further including a graphics tablet, said graphics tablet located below a pad of paper upon said clipboard, and further including a special pen, said special pen including means of marking, in ink, a sheet of paper on said pad of paper and where said special pen may be simultaneously tracked by said graphics tablet.

8. The picture production facility of Claim 6 further including a graphics tablet and graphics pen where said graphics pen includes means for electronic drawing and writing upon said graphics tablet, and where said graphics pen also includes real ink for writing on real paper while providing said electronic drawing and writing means.

9. The picture production facility of Claim 8 where picture signals from said camera, and data pertaining to said electronic drawing and writing means, are both stored each time the clipboard is used, said picture production facility further including means of electronic query of said data for corresponding handwritten notes or corresponding picture signal recordings.

10. A picture communication system including the picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4, and further including wireless communications system connected to said processor.

11. The picture communication system of Claim 10, where said picture communication system is a first picture communication system, and further including a second picture communication system, said display of said first picture communication system responsive to light entering the camera of said second picture communication system.

12. The picture communication system of Claim 10, where said picture communication system is a first picture communication system, and further including a second picture communication system, said display of said first picture communication system responsive to light entering the camera of said second picture communication system, and said display of said second picture communication system responsive to light entering the camera of said first picture communication system.

13. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4, where said picture production facility further includes means of limiting the movement of said housing to a constrained movement when said housing is placed upon a flat surface, where said constrained movement permits said camera to undergo approximately pure rotation, where the central axis of said rotation corresponds to a point close to the center of projection of said camera.

14. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4, further including a remote control, said remote control initiating capture of at least one picture, said remote control mounted on a pair of eyeglasses.

15. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4, further including eyeglasses with downprism.

16. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, or, Claim 4 where said housing is wristworn.

17. The picture production facility of Claim 16 where said housing has the appearance of an ordinary wristwatch, where said display shows time of day information, and where said concomitant cover activity is looking at said display to determine the time of day.

18. A portable picture production facility including a wristworn housing, said housing containing a camera and electronic display, said portable picture production facility further including processor responsive to an input of said camera, said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor, said camera being one of:
(a) nonretractably mounted so that it is in the same physical position whether or not it is actually being used; or (b) covertly concealed within said housing, said portable picture production facility providing additional functionality for a concomitant cover activity, said concomitant cover activity being the act of checking the time of day by looking at said display.

19. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 where said camera is angled downward such that its optical axis makes an angle of between fifteen (15) degrees and forty five (45) degrees with respect to a planar front surface of said display.

20. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 further including at least one sensor for measuring at least one physiological quantity of a wearer of said portable picture production facility, said processor responsive to an input from said sensor.

21. The portable picture production facility of Claim 20, said physiological quantity being heart rate, said portable picture production facility further including a sweatiness sensor, said processor also responsive to an output of said sweatiness sensor, said processor controlling capture of pictures from said camera in response to heart rate and sweatiness of a wearer of said portable picture production facility.

22. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 where said processor is also contained in said housing.

23. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 where said processor is partially located in a wireless attached to said housing.

24. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 further including wireless data communicator, said wireless data communicator connected to an antenna, said antenna being at least partially located in a watchband attached to said housing.

25. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 where said processor is bodyworn, said portable picture production facility including a first communications link for conveying picture signal from said camera to said processor, and a second communications link conveying processor signal from said processor to said display.

26. The portable picture production facility of Claim 25 where said first communications link and said second communications link are wires, both within a common wiring harness.

27. The portable picture production facility of Claim 25 where said first communications link anal said second communications link are wires, said wires being attachable with a strain relief to the inside of a shirt sleeve.

28. The portable picture production facility of Claim 27 where said wires emerge from said housing near the inward side of said housing, and run underneath the inward side of a wrist strap attached to said housing, said wires emerging from a point along the wrist strap that is between the inwardmost point and the downwardmost point when said strap would be worn by a wearer of said portable picture production facility.

29. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 further including a sensor system, said sensor system comprising at least one of:
~ wrist angle sensor; or ~ elbow angle sensor;
where the aim direction of said camera is responsive to an output of said sensor system.

30. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 further including a microphone, said portable picture production facility including a speech recognizer, said speech recognizes controlling the operation of said camera.

31. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18, where said camera is mounted in said housing such that when a wearer of said housing is looking at said display to determine the time of day, that said camera will be pointed at a person standing in front of said user of said portable picture production facility.

32. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 where said display is responsive to an output of said camera.

33. The portable picture production facility of Claim 18 further including an eyeglass-mounted display, said eyeglass-mounted display responsive to an output of said camera.

34. A wristwatch conversation capture system including the features of Claim where said camera is a first camera, and where said wristwatch conversation capture system further includes a second camera where said second camera is mounted in said housing such that when the wearer of said housing is looking at said display in a manner similar to the manner that one normally looks at a wristwatch to check the time of day, that said second camera will be pointed at the face of said wearer.

35. A wristwatch picture conferencing system including the features of Claim where said wristwatch picture conferencing system further includes means for wireless transmission of pictures from said camera to at least one remote location.

36. A wristwatch picture conferencing system including the features of Claim where said processor is a computer system wirelessly connected to a computer network, and where said picture conferencing system further includes means of transmitting pictures to a remote location while interacting with one or more remote entities by way of said display.

37. A wristwatch picture taking system including the features of Claim 18 where said processor is a computer system further including means for recording pictures from said camera, and where said wristwatch picture taking system includes means for a wearer of said housing to interact with said wristwatch picture taking system to control the recording process.

38. A wristwatch camera system including the features of Claim 18 where said processor is a computer system wirelessly connected to a computer network, and where said wristwatch camera system further includes means of transmitting pictures to a remote location, and means for a wearer of said housing to interact with said computer.

39. The wristwatch camera system as described in Claim 38 where said means of interacting with said computer system is by way of said display, said means of interacting with said computer system comprising data entry using a pie menu.

40. The wristwatch camera as described in Claim 39 where said pie menu is one in which the wearer of the apparatus is presented with 12 choices, where said 12 choices include the numerals 0 through 9 corresponding with the hours from midnight through 9:00 on a clockface presented on said display.

41. The wristwatch camera as described in Claim 40 where said 12 choices further include the symbols "*" and "#" corresponding with the hours of 10:00 and 11:00 on said clockface.

42. A portable picture production facility including a wristworn housing, said housing containing a camera, said portable picture production facility further including processor responsive to an input of said camera, and an eyeglass-mounted electronic display, said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor, said camera being one of:

(a) nonretractably mounted so that it is in the same physical position whether or not it is actually being used; or (b) covertly concealed within said housing, said portable pic pure production facility providing additional functionality for a concomitant cover activity, said concomitant cover activity being the act of checking the time of day by looking at said display.

43. A portable. picture production facility including a camera concealed in a fully-functional wristwatch, said portable picture production facility further including processor responsive to an input of said camera, and an eyeglass-mounted electronic display said electronic display being responsive to an output of said processor.

44. A portable picture production facility including a processor and wristworn housing, said wristworn housing bearing an electronic display, said electronic display responsive to said processor, said electronic display showing a transparent clock, said electronic display also responsive to a camera concealed in said wristworn housing, at least one picture from said camera being visible on said electronic display through said transparent clock.

45. The portable picture production facility of Claim 44 where said transparent clock is an oclock.

46. The portable picture production facility of Claim 44 where the hands of said transparent clock are formed by an exclusive or operation with said at least one picture.

47. The portable picture production facility of Claim 44 where said at least one picture is part of a sequence of pictures comprising live viewfinder feed from said camera, and where the hands of said transparent clock are formed by an exclusive or operation with pixel image arrays of pictures of said live viewfinder feed.

48. The portable picture production facility of Claim 44 further including a SE-CRETER, and OPENER.

49. The picture production facility of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, Claim 4, Claim 10, Claim 18, Claim 37, Claim 38, or, Claim 44, comprising a display showing polarizationally covert picture information, visible only to a wearer of special polarized eyeglasses.