Hi Clive,
> I had a dream, a few years ago now, and certainly months before the > announcement of the digital film replacement patent. It went something > like this.....
Many people have conceived of this for many years, just like Foveon isn't the first to come up with the idea of their sensor, people have bantered this idea around for over a decade. The idea is actually the easy part with devices like this, it's the implementation that is difficult, and why there isn't a film cartridge as Silicon Image tried to come up with, or as you have invisioned.
Don't stop thinking, but realize that many many others have come up with the same, or some variant, probably long before you may have, (not meaning to sound snide, just realistic) and that talk is easier than actually doing.
Now, the comment on your "design", is that there is a lot more to it than what you have invisioned, and some of what you have invisioned won't work. One is that the imaging device captures the image all at once, and typical shutter curtains are only a slit above a certain shutter speed (typically, the flash sync speed). There is also no fixed distance between the film cartridge area and the film plane, and there is also no standardized film gate...so one cartridge will not fit all. Keep in mind that the CCD, plus the anti-aliasing filter plus the Bayer filter has to fit AT the film plane...and not interfere with the shutter. Typically, there is simply not enough room, both in front of the CCD and behind it. That is why a replacement back solves some of these issues, but not all of them.
Regards,
Austin