A camera phone is a mobile phone which has a camera built-in and is coupled with a server-based infrastructure or protocol, such as MMS that allows the user to instantly share pictures and video with someone that has a device adapted to receive pictures and video. Typically the receiving device must have a web browser with messaging or must be capable of decoding and displaying MMS information, as opposed to an ordinary telephone for example. The picture and video are usually delivered after the message recipient requests they be sent in response to a notification of a picture or video message received at a server. This is designed to manage bandwidth and device resources and be "well behaved" to others.
There have been over the years many video phones and cameras that include communications technologies. None of them had focused on the integration to the wireless Internet, allowing to share media instantly with anyone anywhere. Such experiments include for example in 1995 a device that was known as the AppleVideophone/PDA[1]. There were several digital cameras with cellular phone transmission capability shown by companies such as Kodak, Olympus in the early 90s[2]There was also a digital camera with cellular phone designed by Shosaku Kawashima of Canon in Japan in May 1997 [3].
In Japan, two competing projects were run by Sharp and Kyocera in 1997. Both had cell phones with integrated cameras. However, the Kyocera system was designed as a peer-to-peer video-phone as opposed to the Sharp project which was initially focused on sharing instant pictures. That was made possible when the Sharp devices was coupled to the Sha-mail infrastructure designed in collaboration with American technologist, Kahn. The Kyocera team was led by Mr. Kazumi Saburi [4][5]
In mid-1996 in Menlo Park, California, Ricoh Corporation designed an early wireless system for image transfer from a digital camera and cellular telephone to a networked computer on the internet.
A year later, in California, on June 11th 1997, Philippe Kahn made the first public demonstration of a complete seamless cellular phone and camera solution that he had personally built, instantly sharing pictures taken in real time with over 2000 people around the world.[1][2]. Kahn partnered first with J-Phone in Japan.
The first commercial camera phone complete with infrastructure was the J-SH04, made by Sharp Corporation, had an integrated CCD sensor, with the Sha-Mail (Picture-Mail in Japanese) infrastructure developed in collaboration with Kahn's LightSurf venture, and marketed by J-Phone in Japan today owned by Softbank. The first commercial deployment in North America of camera phones was in 2002. The Sprint wireless carriers deployed over 1 million camera phone manufactured by Sanyo and launched by the PictureMail infrastructure (Sha-Mail in English) developed and managed by LightSurf.
Like most complex technology-based systems, there are several patents and technologies relevant to aspects of the camera phone. The advent of the CMOS sensor is an enabling technology for mass production.
Camera phones share pictures instantly and automatically via a sharing infrastructure integrated with the carrier network. They do not use connecting cables or removable media to transfer pictures. Personal computer intervention is not necessary. Some camera phones use CMOS image sensors, due largely to reduced power consumption compared to CCD type cameras, which are also used. The lower power consumption prevents the camera from quickly depleting the phone's battery. Images are usually saved in the JPEG file format, and the wireless infrastructure manages the sharing. The sharing infrastructure is critical and explains the early successes of J-Phone and DoCoMo in Japan as well as Sprint and other carriers in the United States and the widespread success worldwide. Over 1 billion camera phones will be shipped in 2008.
Major manufacturers include Sharp, Nokia, Sanyo, Samsung, Motorola, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, and LG Electronics.. The resolution is typically in the megapixel range.
Social impact
Camera phones have had a broad social impact over the past decade. In a recent radio interview, Philippe Kahn discusses the social impact of the camera phone [6].
While camera phones have been found useful by tourists and for other common civilian purposes, as they are cheap, convenient, and portable; they have also posed controversy, as they enable surreptitious photography. A user may pretend to be simply talking on the phone or browsing the internet, drawing no suspicion, and be able to photograph a person or place illegally or against that person's wishes.
As a network-connected device, megapixel camera phones are playing significant roles in crime prevention, journalism and business applications as well as individual uses. They are also prone to abuse such as voyeurism, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement. Because they can be used to share media almost immediately, they are a potent personal content creation tool. On January 17th, 2007, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan to encourage people to use their camera-phones to capture crimes happening in progress or dangerous situations and send them to emergency responders. Through the program, people will be able to send their images or video directly to 911.[3]
Enforcing bans on camera phones has proven nearly impossible. They are small and numerous and their use is easy to hide or disguise, making it hard for law enforcement and security personnel to detect or stop use.
From time to time, organizations and places have prohibited or restricted the use of camera phones and other cameras because of the privacy, security, and copyright issues they pose. Such places include the Pentagon, federal and state courts (see, for instance, [7]), museums, theaters, and local fitness clubs. Schools have banned them over the concern that they could be used to take images of notes that can be used in order to cheat on exams. One country, Saudi Arabia, in April 2004, banned the sale of camera phones nationwide for a time before reallowing their sale in December 2004 (although pilgrims on the Hajj were allowed to bring in camera phones). In South Korea and Japan, all camera phones sold in the country must make a clearly audible sound whenever a picture is taken: These laws are intended to reduce the number of up-skirt photos taken. In Singapore, camera phones are banned at companies or facilities that have an association with national security. In Europe, some BDSM conventions and play parties ban cellphones altogether to prevent camera phone abuse. However, camera phones are everywhere today, with projected sales for 2008 of over 1 billion units worldwide.
There is the occasional anecdote of camera phones linked to industrial espionage and the activities of paparazzi, as well as some hacking into wireless operators' network.
Camera phones have also been used to discreetly take photographs in museums, performance halls, and other places where photography is prohibited. However, as sharing is automatic and instantaneous, even if the action is discovered, it is too late, as the image is already out of reach, unlike a photo taken by a digital camera that only stores images locally for later transfer.
The newer camera phones also support video-clips and sometimes peer-to-peer video calls. Camera phone video and photographs taken in the immediate aftermath of the 2005 London bombings were featured worldwide. CNN executive Jonathan Klein predicts camera phone footage will be increasingly used by news organizations. The ability to immediately share media from anywhere at anytime makes every citizen a potential real-time news-reporter.
Camera phones with video capability have become even more controversial than those that can only take stationary photos. They have opened up a new wave of illegal or otherwise questionable discreet videotaping. For example, on December 30, 2006, the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was filmed by a video camera phone, and posted on the internet for all to see (see video). A guard was arrested a few days later.
Laws
As with any recording media, owners of camera phones must be aware of local, state, and national laws pertaining to photographing or videotaping. Laws that are present may vary from one jurisdiction to the next, and may be stricter in some places and more lenient in others, so it is important to know the laws present in one's location. Typical laws in the United States are as follows:
It is generally legal to photograph or videotape anything and anyone on any public property, with some exceptions.
Filming of private property from within the public domain is legal, with the exception of an area that is generally regarded as private, such as a bedroom, bathroom, or hotel room. (For example, you may take a picture of the exterior of a house from the street, but not the bedroom with the open curtain).
Many places now have laws prohibiting filming private areas under a person's clothing without that person's permission. This also applies to any filming of another within a public restroom or locker room. Some jurisdictions have completely banned the use of a camera phone within a restroom or locker room in order to prevent this. It is expected that all 50 states will eventually have laws pertaining to surreptitiously filming a person's genetalia.
Filming of high-profile structures, such as airports, railroads, bridges, tunnels, or certain landmarks may be banned. [citation needed] Additionally, taking a photograph while on an airplane is banned in many places, and many mass transit systems prohibit taking photographs or videos while on board buses or trains or inside of stations. Photography and videography are also prohibited in the U.S. Capitol, in courthouses, and in government buildings housing classified information. Bringing a camera phone into one of these buildings is not permitted either.
Filming while on private property follows many restrictions. The owner of the property is permitted to film their own property. However, they must receive permission from others on the property to be allowed to film that person.
In order to film someone else's property, permission must be received from the owner.
Photographing or videotaping a tourist attraction, whether publicly or privately owned, is generally considered legal, unless explicitly prohibited by posted signs.
Photographing of privately-owned property that is generally open to the public (i.e. retail) is permitted unless explicitly prohibited by posted signs.
Some jurisdictions have laws regarding filming while in a hospital or health care facility. Where permitted, such filming may be useful in gathering evidence in cases of abuse, neglect, or malpractice.
One must not to hinder the operations of law enforcement, medical, emergency, or security personnel by filming.
Any filming with the intent of doing unlawful harm against a subject may be a violation of the law in itself.
History and Developments
The camera phone, like many complex systems, is the result of converging and enabling technologies. There are dozens of relevant patents dating back as far as the 1960s that are relevant. Compared to digital cameras of the 90s, a consumer-viable camera in a mobile phone would require far less power and a higher level of camera electronics integration to permit the miniaturization. The CMOS active pixel image sensor "camera-on-a-chip" developed at the by Dr. Eric Fossum and his team in the early 1990s achieved the first step of realizing the modern camera phone as described in a March 1995 Business Week article. While the first camera phones as successfully marketed by J-Phone in Japan used CCD sensors and not CMOS sensors, more than 90% of camera phones sold these days use CMOS image sensor technology.
On June 11th 1997, Philippe Kahn instantly shared the first pictures from the maternity ward where his daughter Sophie was born. For the first time a sharing infrastructure and an integrated cell-phone/camera combo augured the birth of instant visual communications. [4][5]
Because camera phones are small devices susceptible to image blurring because of unwanted hand motion or longer exposures, a lot of emphasis in the development of the smart phone is now focused on improving image quality.
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