Steven Sasson joined Kodak after graduating from 1973 and became an engineer in the applied electronics research center. 1974, he undertook the important task of inventing the "handheld electronic camera". The following year, the first prototype was born in the laboratory, and he became the "father of digital cameras".
"When the prototype was first shown to investors, they asked when the product would become a consumer product. I replied that it will take about 15 ~ 20 years for this product to enter ordinary consumers' families. "
Cezanne's judgment is quite accurate. The development of digital cameras is a long road. From the end of 1970 to the beginning of 1980s, Kodak Lab produced more than 1000 patents related to digital cameras.
It lays a foundation for the architecture and development of digital cameras, and makes them step by step towards reality. 1989, Kodak finally launched the first commercial digital camera.
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A brief history of development
The history of digital cameras can be traced back to the 1940s and 1950s. 195 1 year, bing crosby's laboratory invented the video recorder (VTR), which can record the current pulses in TV broadcasting on magnetic tape. By 1956, the video recorder began mass production. It is considered to be the result of electronic imaging technology.
In the 1960s, before astronauts were sent to the moon, NASA had to survey the surface of the moon. However, engineers found that the analog signal sent back by the detector was mixed with other rays in the universe, so weak that the receiver on the ground could not convert the signal into a clear image.
So engineers have to find another way. After that, digital image technology developed faster, mainly due to the technical competition during the Cold War. These technologies are also mainly used in the military field, and most spy satellites adopt digital image technology.
As early as the 1960s, the research and development of "CCD chip" began. 1969, george smith and willard boyle of Bell Laboratories combined videophone with semiconductor bubble storage technology.
A charge "bubble" device is designed, which is photographed by a digital camera to make the charge conduct along the semiconductor surface, and the prototype of CCD device is invented for the first time.
At that time, CCD was invented to improve the storage technology, and the component itself was also used as a simple memory. Later, people realized that CCD can take and store images by photoelectric effect.
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