Video recording apparatus

Abstract

A low cost video recording apparatus for one time recording on a recording medium, comprises a casing (15) which houses a video cassette tape, a lens (1), a microphone (16), a colour CMOS sensor, a signal processing module, a write head and a drive unit, in operational relation to each other. Also provided is a view finder (21) and an operating switch (22). The casing (15) has formed thereon a tear strip (20) used for opening the casing once recording has been completed. Removal of the cassette tape also involves disabling of tape guide components. Since one time recording only is possible with no playback or rewind, the life requirements for the various components can be considerably reduced.

Description

[0001] This application is a division of co-pending application Ser. No. 10 / 365,483, filed on Feb. 13, 2003. Application Ser. No. 10 / 365,483 is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 319,962 filed on Jun. 14, 1999 which is a national stage Application of PCT / NZ97 / 00612 filed on Dec. 11, 1997 under 35 U.S.C. § 371, which claims priority of New Zealand Application No. 299938 filed Dec. 13, 1996. The entire contents of each of the above-identified applications are hereby incorporated by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a video recording apparatus. For convenience only the present invention will be described in relation to a form of a video tape recorder commonly referred to as a camcorder wherein information related to moving images is stored in a video tape, for which the invention may be particularly applicable. However, the invention is not limited to this and also covers for example forms of video recorders where a magnetic disc ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] By providing a low cost video recording apparatus as described above, which is designed for making just a single recording on a recording medium, (either partially or fully filling the recording medium), the life requirements for the various components can be considerably reduced together with their cost, so that the apparatus can even be disposable. Moreover in the case of, for example, a video tape recording medium, there is no requirement for complicated mechanisms for rewinding the video tape and playback of the information recorded thereon. Furthermore, the design can be such that components are factory fitted relative to the tape, thus ensuring accurate alignment without the need for careful design, as with conventional video recorders. In addition, power requirements can be considerably reduced, and hence a low cost compact power unit can be used.

[0014] The lens may be similar to a lens such as used with a conventional video camcorder, with either manual or auto focus features. However, since the life of the lens need only be that required for recording of a single video tape, the lens may be made much more cheaply, and the structure for mounting the lens components can be less rigid, since there is no requirement for example to withstand rough handling over an extended period as with conventional video camcorder. Alternatively, there may be provided a device for fitting a lens, in which case a separate and perhaps more expensive lens may be fitted to the video recording apparatus, and removed after use. In this way, different types of lenses, for example wide angle, tele-photo, fish eye lenses may be used with the same basic video recording apparatus. Moreover cost of the basic unit may be reduced, so as to be more attractive to the consumer.

[0020] The device for limiting the life of the components may involve any suitable arrangement whereby one or more components is disabled or made unusable. The main requirement for limiting the life being to ensure that the device cannot be reused, at least without some form of repair or component replacement or resetting, thus ensuring the limited life of some of the components is not exceeded, and the performance of the unit and quality of the recording is not compromised.

Problems solved by technology

Such devices however are still relatively expensive due in part to the requirement for reliability and long life of the components, and the complicated mechanism and extra components incorporated into most types of devices for providing loading and ejecting of the recording medium, and in the case of magnetic tape, rewinding of the recording tape, and playback from the recording tape of recorded images.

It is also unwise to allow the video recorder to be used by children.

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