Olympus Exhibits I-Mode-Based Remote Control System
for Digital Camera
October 24, 2000 (TOKYO) -- At World PC Expo 2000, which ended Oct. 21, Olympus
Optical Co., Ltd. displayed a trial photo-taking/distribution system employing remote
operation of a digital camera by mobile phone or personal handyphone system.
The system enables an i-mode mobile phone
or other Internet-capable mobile phones to
operate a digital camera by remote control to
take images and then have these images
shown on the phone display.
The entire system consists of a digital camera
to be placed far away, a server to control the
overall operation, a hard disk drive for storing
image data and a mobile phone as a user
terminal.
Data communication between the digital
camera and the server is possible through
LAN and ISDN networks, as well as a mobile
telecommunication network using a PHS or
mobile phone. An advantage of employing
the mobile telecommunication network is to
save construction labor which cabled
communication needs, according to an
Olympus official.
When a user selects and sends out the
"shooting" command out of the i-mode menu
to the server, the server establishes a
connection to the outlying digital camera,
operates it to take images and saves these
images as JPEG data. Afterwards, the server
edits and tunes the stored images to a size
suitable for browsing by i-mode, and then
sends data to the i-mode phone.
To receive images after sending the shooting
command, it requires about 20 seconds in use
as an i-mode PHS phone for data
communication with the digital camera and
about 60 minutes in use as an i-mode mobile
phone. The stored images are available for
attaching to e-mails and uploading to Web
sites.
Olympus expects this system to be used
under circumstances that need be monitored
remotely such as restaurants, construction
sites and expressways. The company also suggests that the system is useful for regular
shooting at scenic sites to be uploaded to a Web site to show hourly changes. |
