US 6,292,213 B1 · Micro video camera usage and usage monitoring

Abstract

Micro video cameras are sufficiently portable, miniature and weather-resistant for ands-free use by an athlete or vacationer who wishes to wear it (or attach it to a base support structure about him or herself) and self-record his or her own amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, underwater or otherwise. Disclosed usages include an instance of a skier recording hands-free his or her own skiing activity from his or her own perspective. An alternative disclosed usage includes one or more ski instructors video recording a student while actually giving the lesson. Another disclosed usage includes a theme park configuration. In this last configuration, visitors are given a personal storage medium like a cassette. At most rides or attractions, a micro video camera is available just there for loan to the visitor to get a video record just at that ride or attraction. At the end of the ride or attraction, the visitor takes the storage medium along with him or her to the next ride or attraction, and continually adds to the video record of the rides and attractions. Usage monitoring includes a rental network structure as well as supervision of the rental network for efficient sharing of the rental resource, ie., the micro video cameras, as well as a rental-inventory control, allocation and accounting data handling system. Making these micro video cameras viable for rental provides usage opportunities for customers who would like to use them but haven't spent the money to actually own one.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of sharing rental inventory of micro video camera recorder sets among a network of affiliates who provide rental services of the micro video camera recorder sets to the end-users thereof, comprising the steps of:

providing a global inventory of a rental resource comprising a multiplicity of micro video camera recorder sets;
providing a plurality of network affiliates who provide rental services of the micro video camera recorder sets to the end-users thereof who rent from the network affiliates;
structuring the composition of the network affiliates such that various ones of the network affiliates have fluctuating busy and slack seasons which don't all coincide among another;
providing a network supervisor and giving the network supervisor resource-sharing authority over the global inventory of micro video camera recorder sets;
allocating each network affiliate an adjustable local inventory of the micro video camera recorder sets, each which local inventory is drawn from the global inventory and each which local inventory may range from all to none of the micro video camera recorder sets;
generating a data stream on each network affiliate including at least one of historic values of actual rental activity and projected values of prospective rental activity;
sharing the global inventory among the network affiliates based on findings by the network supervisor given the data stream, such that, under the resource-sharing authority of the network supervisor, micro video camera recorder sets are transferable among the network affiliates in periodic adjustment of any given network affiliate's local inventory.

4 more elements

A method by which theme park visitors can acquire a video record of plural activities at a theme park, comprising the steps of:

providing a portable video storage medium to any participating theme park visitor for personal use thereby;
providing a plurality of video-enabled stations in the theme park and supplying each video-enabled station with a local inventory of micro video camera recorder sets;
allowing the participating theme park visitor while visiting a given station chosen from among the plurality of video-enabled stations, optional use of a given micro video camera recorder set chosen from the local inventory;
acquiring a video record of the participating theme park visitor's visit to the given station by means including operatively coupling the video storage medium with the given micro video camera recorder set;
completing the video record of that visit to the given station by means including the participating theme park visitor retrieving the video storage medium from the given micro video camera recorder set for personally carrying thereafter for optional use at a visit to any other video-enabled station to allow addition to the video storage medium a video record of such visit to such other video-enabled station.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Micro video camera usage and usage monitoring

Life of this patent

Micro video camera usage and usage monitoring

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20