Polaroid Corporation

Highpoint Systems, Inc.

William R Pope

William A Shelton

Jonathan B Green

A remote ordering system provides a user the ability to build and edit one or more order lists, resident in memory within a user device, and the further ability to review and manipulate a user interpretable display of the contents of such lists. A system comprising merchant stock databases, a data format/transfer computer (DFTC), and display/processor units (DPUs) (the user devices) enable creation and transmission of the order lists. Coded data read into each DPU identifies items to be added to the order lists. A DPU database contains user-discernable item information stored according to the associated coded data and is capable of learning new or updating old item information when in communication with the merchant database. Item information can be automatically or manually deleted to free DPU memory.

Remote ordering system

A photographic camera apparatus is provided with an automatic illumination and exposure control system for controlling a pair of scanning type shutter blade elements as well as a flash fire and quench signal directed to a quench strobe operatively associated therewith. The camera apparatus may be operated in either a 'fill-in' flash mode of operation or an ordinary flash mode. During the 'fill-in' flash mode of operation, the time delay in quenching the strobe is progressively decreased as a function of increasing ambient scene light intensity so that the shutter blade elements admit progressively less reflected strobe light from the subject during the finite time required for the shutter blade elements to close.

Scene light responsive variable quench time delay for quench strobe

A time delay circuit is provided to control a quench strobe so that the quench strobe may be utilized in conjunction with a camera of the type having an automatic exposure control system for controlling a pair of scanning shutter blade elements having respective primary apertures therethrough for collectively defining a gradually varying effective aperture size as a function of the position of the blade elements together with corresponding photocell sweep secondary apertures therethrough for movement in correspondence with the primary apertures to define a small secondary effective aperture for admitting the passage of scene light to a photocell. The time delay circuit is made responsive to the shutter blade closing command signal from the camera control system to provide a quench signal to the strobe only after a predetermined time delay thereby compensating for the fact that the command signal anticipates for the additional light admitted by the shutter blade elements during the time required for the shutter blade elements to close when an ordinary flash lamp is utilized.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

William R Pope