Portable electronic picture recording device with nonvolatile electronic memory

Claim 1

A portable electronic picture recording device comprising: a camera which generates an analog picture signal for at least one frame of images; an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter for converting the analog picture signal too digital picture data; a signal processing and control circuit having means for compressing the digital picture data for storage in an electronic memory and for retrieving and expanding the digital picture data into television signals for display on a television receiver, respectively, wherein said signal processing and control circuit further includes means for processing data for picture signal frames in a plurality of modes, including single-picture, and scene shooting (sequence) modes and wherein said signal processing and control circuit further includes a first filter for reducing said digital picture data for storage and a second filter for data expansion upon playback; said electronic memory having a very large plurality of erasable, programmable, nonvolatile memory cells for storing digital picture data for a plurality of picture signal frames without the need for constant power supply; a digital-to-analog (D/aA) converter for converting restored digital picture data into analog output signals; and a power supply for supplying power to said signal processing and control circuit without the need for constantly supplying power to said electronic memory to maintain the data stored therein.