Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03B—APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FOR PROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
  • G03B43/00—Testing correct operation of photographic apparatus or parts thereof
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof

Definitions

• a camera exchange system which includes a plurality of one-time use digital cameras, each camera including an authentication means; and at least one refurbishing station for refurbishing used, returned cameras by replenishing consumables of each of said returned cameras, the authentication means of each camera authenticating whether or not said at least one refurbishing station is authorised to effect refurbishing of said camera.
• Each camera may retail at a price of X currency units, each camera costing approximately Y currency units to manufacture where Y is less than 0.5X.
• currency unit is to be understood as US$1, £1, AU$1, Japanese YenlOO, Italian LirelOOO, or the like.
• the consumables which are replenished may include ink, a supply of paper and batteries of the power supply.
• Figure 6 shows a three dimensional view of the insertion of a platen forming part of the camera
• Figure 7 shows the installation of the re-assembled chassis in a front shell of a casing of the camera
• FIG. 1 a flow chart of a camera exchange system or a method of exchanging cameras is illustrated and is designated generally by the reference numeral 10.
• the camera in question is a low cost, recyclable, one-time use, print on demand, digital camera 12 ( Figure 2) and will be described in greater detail below.
• old cameras is meant a camera which has been used by a user to take a predetermined number of pictures.
• the camera 12 is a digital, instant printing camera.
• the camera 12 has a supply of print media 16 ( Figure 4) for enabling twenty-five pictures to be printed.
• these pictures will be referred to as exposures.
• a camera 12 when new has a manufacturing cost of Y currency units.
• the currency unit used in this description will be the US dollar.
• the manufacturing cost of the camera is estimated to be slightly less than $10.00 and, more particularly, in the region of about $9.50. Specifically, a costing analysis reveals that the manufacturing cost of such a camera is in the region of $9.48.
• New cameras are supplied to retailers by the manufacturer at a cost of approximately $10.00 so that the return to the manufacturer, in respect of new cameras, will be of the order of about 0.5%.
• the camera is retailed by the retailer at a cost of $20.00.
• the old or used camera 12 is returned to the collection depot where a refund of $5.00 is made to the person returning the camera.
• the net price to the consumer is $15.00.
• the cost to the consumer for each photo is of the order of $0.60. This equates almost exactly to the present cost of a developed, printed photo taken using a conventional film camera.
• the consumer effectively, obtains a digital, instant printing camera at a price similar to that of a disposable, one-time use conventional film camera and the cost of each image or exposure of the digital camera 12 is of the same order as that of the conventional camera.
• the camera 12 is a digital camera, it is not necessary for the camera 12 to be returned for processing. Accordingly, an incentive needs to be given for the used cameras 12 to be returned; hence the refund. It is felt that, should adult consumers not bother to return the cameras, it is still likely that children or low income members of the community would return the cameras to obtain the refund.
• the camera 12 When the used camera 12 is returned, the camera 12 is refurbished and replenished. The refurbished camera is re-packaged and returned to the retailer.
• the ratio of used cameras which are recycled and returned into the market to new cameras will be of the order of 9:1 assuming an estimated camera return-for-refund rate of 90%. Should this figure be obtained, it is estimated that the total gross margin as a percentage of sales which the manufacturer will achieve will be in the order of 77%.
• the camera 12 has a casing 18 made up of a front shell 20 and a rear shell or lid 22.
• the casing 18 has a coated paper sleeve 24 covering a major part thereof.
• the camera 12 has a viewfinder 26, an imaging lens 28 and an "exposure" taking button 30.
• the chassis 38 carries all internal components of the camera. For a more detailed description of these components, reference is made to our co-pending US application number 09/113,102 referred to above.
• the supply of print media 16 is in the form of a roll of coated paper carried on a former 40. It will be appreciated that, once the twenty-five exposures have been made, all that will remain in the used camera 12 is the former 40. An end member 42 of the chassis is removed to enable the former 40 to be removed.
• the former 40 houses batteries 44 for the camera 12 therein to render the camera 12 compact. Accordingly, when the end member 42 of the chassis 38 has been removed, access can be gained to the used batteries 44 which are replaced by fresh batteries.
• the cartridge 48 further includes a cover member 54 which mates with the carrier 50 to define three chambers 56, 58 and 60.
• Each chamber 56, 58 and 60 carries a different color ink therein so that full color printing can be achieved by the print head chip 52.
• Each chamber 56, 58 and 60 houses a damping means in the form of a sponge 62, 64 and 66, respectively, therein for damping movement of ink within the chambers 56, 58 and 60.
• An end wall 68 of the carrier 50 has labyrinthine openings 70 defined therein. These openings 70 are exposed by removal of a seal 72 when it is desired to refill the chambers 56, 58 and 60. Accordingly, to refill the chambers 56, 58 and 60, a plug 74 is removed. The plug 74 has three prongs 76. Each prong 76 closes off an inlet port to one of the chambers 56, 58 and 60. Accordingly, ink is charged into each of the chambers. For example, cyan ink may be received in the chamber 56, magenta ink may be received in the chamber 58 and yellow ink may be received in the chamber 60. Once the chambers 56, 58 and 60 have been charged with new ink, the plug 74 is replaced and a new seal 72 is applied to cover the openings 70.
• the refilling of the ink cartridge is shown at step 78 in Figure 1 of the drawings.
• the replenished camera, without the case, is then ready for testing (step 80 in Figure 1).
• the caseless camera, as shown in Figure 5 of the drawings, is then tested by the automatic test routine, hi particular, the camera is tested to ensure paper feed and ink flow.
• the authentication station communicates with the chip 82 via a standard joint test action group (JTAG) interface. This interface also is provided for the testing routine. To ensure that the cameras are only refilled with quality print media and ink at a properly authorised refill station, the camera 12 authenticates the refill station rather than vice versa. The secure protocol is communicated to the refill station during the automated test procedure via the interface when the new ink is inserted into the cartridge 48.
• JTAG joint test action group
• F[X] Returns F ⁇ [X], the result of applying a one-way function F to X based upon the secret key K.
• the protocol is as follows: System requests Random[] from ChipT;
• Protocol 1 is implemented with F as an asymmetric encryption algorithm, there is no advantage over the symmetric case - the keys needs to be longer and the encryption algorithm is more expensive in silicon. Protocol 1 must be implemented with 2 Authentication Chips in order to keep the key secure. This means that each System requires an Authentication Chip and each consumable requires an Authentication Chip.
• Paper, from the supply 16, is wound about a platten 86 (Figure 6).
• the platten 86 has a paper cutting mechanism 88 thereon which, once an image has been printed on the paper and the paper has been fed out of an ejection slot 90 ( Figure 8) of the rear cover or shell 22 of the casing 18, cuts that piece from the remainder of the supply 16.
• the cutting mechanism 18 includes a pawl 92 which engages ratchet-like teeth 94 of an exposure counter 96 during the cutting operation to advance the counter by one. Should the chip 82 determine that the refurbishing station is an authorised station, the counter 96 is reset as shown at step 98 in Figure 1 of the drawings.
• a new sleeve 24 is applied to the casing 18.
• the sleeve 24 is held in position by a slot surround 102.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Studio Devices (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
• Cameras Adapted For Combination With Other Photographic Or Optical Apparatuses (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=3700848

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 2000
  • 2000-09-13 KR KR1020037002752A patent/KR100821000B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-09-13 WO PCT/AU2000/001094 patent/WO2002023268A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-09-13 EP EP00962094A patent/EP1323002A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-09-13 AU AU2000273955A patent/AU2000273955B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2000-09-13 JP JP2002527856A patent/JP4409830B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-09-13 CN CNB008198063A patent/CN1302331C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-09-13 IL IL15434100A patent/IL154341A0/xx active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-09-13 AU AU7395500A patent/AU7395500A/xx active Pending
• 2003
  • 2003-02-06 IL IL154341A patent/IL154341A/en unknown
  • 2003-02-07 ZA ZA200301056A patent/ZA200301056B/en unknown

Patent Citations (4)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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