Digital camera with reduced image buffer memory and minimal processing for recycling through a service center

A method of capturing and processing data of image frames, comprising:

• generating digital data representative of pixels of a plurality of image frames in sequence in a plurality of primary colors from an image sensor within a hand held camera that includes an array of photosensitive elements, wherein generating the digital data includes:
• reading from the sensor, a strip of pixel data comprising a subset of pixel data corresponding to a predefined number of rows of pixels in a portion of the sensor, wherein each row comprises color pixels in an alternating sequence of two of the plurality of primary colors, and wherein the rows of pixels are arranged in a line-by-line mosaic of the sensor;
• defining a plurality of color arrays from the strip of pixel data, wherein each color array comprises a subset of the strip of pixel data such that the subset corresponds to one of the plurality of primary colors;
• independently compressing each of the plurality of color arrays within a single image frame based at least in part on at least one scale factor and one or more quantization tables, wherein each scale factor is applied to a plurality of quantization table values within at least one quantization table to adjust each quantization table value within the single image frame such that each color array is compressed one time;
• and
• storing in a volatile memory internal to the camera, the compressed data of each of the plurality of color arrays;
• storing data representative of the generated digital data in a non-volatile memory internal to the camera without affecting the stored data by any of the following within the camera:
• (a) processing the generated digital data sufficient to be able to display images of said plurality of image frames,
• (b) processing the generated digital data into a luminance/chrominance format, and
• (c) storing at least one fill frame of data representative of the generated digital data in a frame buffer at one time,
• subsequently transferring the stored digital data from the non-volatile memory of the camera to a workstation, and
• processing the stored digital data within the workstation in a manner sufficient to be able to display images of said plurality of image frames including processing the transferred digital data into a YUV format.