JP2000253117A - Potable communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable communication terminal which can reduce adverse effects against the antenna gain without increasing its size and also can protect a camera when it is dropped by preparing an image pickup means and an antenna with its tip part set higher than the position of the image pickup means that is set with respect the terminal main body. SOLUTION: A camera 11 is removably attached to the main body of a portable communication terminal 10, and an antenna 12 is mounted on the upper part of the terminal main body with its tip part set higher than the camera 11 that is set with respect to the terminal main body with regard to the receiving sensitivity of radio waves and the better operability of the terminal 10. Then an image processing part is prepared in a housing of the terminal 10 to process the image data. With such a constitution, it is possible to miniaturize the body of the camera 11 that is mounted on the terminal main body, to reduce the adverse effects against the gain of the antenna 12 and also to reduce direct impact against the camera 11, even when the terminal 10 is dropped on a floor or the ground since the tip part of the antenna 12 touches the floor or the ground earlier than the camera 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable telephone, a PHS
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal that performs wireless communication such as (personal handyphone system).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable telephones, PHSs (personal telephones),
2. Description of the Related Art Portable communication terminals that perform wireless communication such as a handyphone system are widely used, and further improvements in functions are expected. In addition, it has become possible to increase the amount of information that can be transmitted and received by the mobile communication terminal by changing the wireless communication system. Therefore, it has been considered that not only voice data for a call but also video data including a moving image is transmitted and received by a mobile communication terminal. For this purpose, a configuration in which a camera is mounted on a terminal body has been proposed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration in which a camera 2 is mounted on a portable communication terminal 1. The mobile communication terminal 1 shown in FIG. 3 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped terminal body, and has a thickness sufficient to be held by one hand.
In addition, on one side surface of the terminal body, a display screen of the display unit 3 configured by a liquid crystal display or the like, a keyboard for performing an operation for a function provided in the mobile communication terminal 1, and the like are provided. Further, the camera 2 and the antenna 4 are mounted on the upper part of the terminal main body in a state where it is held with one hand so that the display screen of the display unit 3 can be visually recognized and the keyboard can be operated.

The antenna 4 is generally provided above the terminal body for reasons of radio wave reception sensitivity and operability. The antenna 4 is extended during communication, and is partially provided inside the body as shown in FIG. 3 when not in use. Can be stored.

If the camera 2 including the optical system needs to have a certain size, it is difficult to provide the camera 2 on the same side surface where the display unit 3 and the keyboard are provided. In view of the fact that it is possible to operate the device while holding the device, it is difficult to provide the device on another side surface portion. Therefore, as shown in FIG. Another reason for providing the upper part is that the face of the other party can be almost straightened while the face of the other party is being viewed on the display unit 3.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional portable communication terminal 1, as shown in FIG. 3, there has been proposed a configuration in which the camera 2 and the antenna 4 are both mounted on the upper part of the terminal body.

However, in the case of the configuration shown in FIG. 3, since the antenna 4 and the camera 2 are close to each other, a situation occurs in which the gain of the antenna 4 is reduced by the metal object of the camera 2. That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the antenna 4 approaches the camera 2,
Since the portion is grounded and absorbs radio waves, the gain of the antenna 4 is reduced. Therefore, in the conventional mobile communication terminal 1, the antenna 2 is sufficiently extended and the camera 2
The antenna gain is ensured by setting the height to be higher than the height of the antenna, thereby enabling stable communication.

In order to reduce the influence of the camera 2 on the antenna gain as described above, the camera 2 and the antenna 4 may be separated as much as possible as shown in FIG. This is a possible configuration if the size of the terminal body is sufficiently larger than the mounting size of the camera 2 and the antenna 4, and is difficult for the portable communication terminal 1 that requires miniaturization for carrying. .

Further, as described above, it is assumed that the influence of the camera 2 is avoided by extending and using the antenna 4 at the time of communication, so that the conventional portable communication terminal 1 is connected to the main body of the antenna 4. At the time of storage, as shown in FIG. 3, the height of the distal end portion of the antenna 4 is lower than the height of the normal camera 2 with respect to the terminal body. In this case, if the mobile communication terminal 1 is dropped on the ground or the floor, the camera 2 is likely to land first, so that the camera 2 is a precision instrument and is usually variable so that the angle of the camera can be changed. It was very fragile with some parts.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and reduces the adverse effect on the antenna gain without increasing the size of the terminal even when the camera is mounted on the terminal main body. An object is to provide a mobile communication terminal capable of protection.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portable communication terminal for performing wireless communication, comprising: an image pickup means mounted on a terminal body; And an antenna provided so as to be positioned above.

According to such a configuration, since the height of the tip of the wireless communication antenna is provided higher than the height of the image pickup means (camera) mounted on the terminal body, Even if a camera is mounted near the antenna and radio waves are absorbed, gain can be ensured at the antenna portion above the height of the camera. Further, even if the mobile communication terminal is dropped on the floor or the ground, the tip of the antenna is more likely to land before the camera, so that a direct impact on the camera is reduced and the camera is not easily broken.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external configuration of a mobile communication terminal 10 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a camera 11 is mounted on a mobile communication terminal 10 in the present embodiment.

The portable communication terminal 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped terminal body and has a thickness sufficient to be held by one hand. A display unit 13 constituted by a liquid crystal display or the like is provided on one side surface of the terminal body.
And a keyboard (not shown) for operating the functions provided in the mobile communication terminal 10. Furthermore, the camera 11 and the antenna 12 are mounted on the upper part of the terminal body in a state where the terminal 11 is held with one hand so that the display screen of the display unit 13 can be visually recognized and the keyboard can be operated.

The camera 11 is mounted on the terminal body so as to be detachable, for example, and is electrically connected via a connector. The camera 11 is mainly a component of an optical system, and converts an image into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal to an image processing unit 30 (described later) provided inside the housing of the mobile communication terminal 10. By providing the image processing unit 30 for processing image data inside the housing of the mobile communication terminal 10, the size of the camera 11 mounted on the terminal body is reduced, the adverse effect on the antenna gain of the antenna 12 is reduced, and the attachment / detachment is performed. Is easy. In addition, the mounting position of the camera 11 is substantially coincident with the vertical axis of the mobile communication terminal 10, so that the image capturing direction of the camera 11 can be easily directed to a target. Further, only the camera 11 is mounted with a movable part so that the shooting direction can be changed.

The antenna 12 is mounted on the upper part of the terminal body for reasons of radio wave reception sensitivity and operability, and is configured such that the height of the tip is higher than the height of the camera 11 relative to the terminal body. . In addition, when the antenna 12 is configured to be usable by being extended, the height of the distal end portion of the antenna when stored is higher than the height of the camera 11 with respect to the terminal body.

FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration of the portable communication terminal 10 shown in FIG.

The portable communication terminal 10 has functions of an antenna 12, a display unit 13, a control unit 14, a memory 16, a radio unit 18, a voice input / output unit 22, a keyboard 24, a power supply unit 26, and an image processing unit 30. It is provided and configured.

The antenna 12 transmits and receives radio waves, and is connected to the radio unit 18.

The display unit 13 is constituted by a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays various information under the control of the image processing unit 30.

The control unit 14 controls the entire portable communication terminal 10 and realizes various functions by executing a program stored in the memory 16 in addition to a voice control function for making a voice call. The voice control function of the control unit 14 digitizes the voice signal input via the voice input / output unit 22 and encodes the voice signal by a predetermined voice coding method to generate coded voice data. In addition to decoding encoded audio data received via the wireless unit 18, the encoded audio data is converted into an analog signal to generate an audio signal, which is supplied to the audio input / output unit 22 to output audio.

The memory 16 stores various information as required, in addition to programs for realizing various functions.

The radio unit 18 transmits and receives information by radio communication via the antenna 12 under the control of the control unit 10.

The voice input / output unit 22 is composed of a microphone, a speaker, an earphone, or the like, and is a part for transmitting and receiving a voice call. The audio signal input by the audio input / output unit 22 is output to the audio control function of the control unit 14, and the audio is output according to the audio signal from the control unit 14.

The keyboard 24 is operated by a user to input various information to the mobile communication terminal 10, and is used to input telephone numbers and characters, dial keys used for inputting characters, and instruct the user to determine various settings. Other keys, a redial key for instructing execution of redial, a menu key for displaying various selection menus, an arrow key for instructing selection of items in the menu and switching of display screens, Various keys are provided. These keys may be keys provided exclusively, or a single key may be assigned a plurality of functions.

The power supply unit 26 supplies power to each unit constituting the portable communication terminal 10. The power supply unit 26 always supplies power to at least the portable communication terminal 10 and the keyboard 24, and can turn on / off power supply to each unit under the control of the control unit 14.

The image processing section 30 has a function of controlling the display of the display section 13 and encoding / decoding data under the control of the control section 14, and converts the video signal input by the camera 11 into a digital signal. The encoded image signal data is encoded by a predetermined encoding method, and the encoded image signal data is output to the control unit 14. The image processing unit 30
Decodes the coded image data supplied from the control unit 14, converts the coded image data into an analog signal, generates an image signal, and causes the display unit 13 to display the image signal. By providing the image processing unit 30 inside the main body housing of the mobile communication terminal 10, the camera 11 mounted on the terminal main body is mainly used as an optical system, thereby realizing miniaturization.

Next, the portable communication terminal 1 in the present embodiment
The effect of 0 will be described.

The antenna 12 of the portable communication terminal 10 according to the present embodiment is configured so that the height of the tip thereof is higher than the height of the camera 11 with respect to the terminal main body (when retracted). Fig. 4 shows the relationship with 11
The result is as shown in FIG. Therefore, even if radio waves are absorbed by the camera 11, the effective gain is ensured at the antenna portion A shown in FIG. 4B because the tip of the antenna 12 is higher than the height of the camera 11. be able to.

The length A shown in FIG. 4B is determined according to the wavelength length of a frequency band in which the portable communication terminal 10 performs wireless communication. However, even if a radio wave is absorbed by the camera 11 even in a portion other than A of the antenna 12, it is not completely invalid.
The length of the antenna portion A is determined in consideration of other factors such as a distance between the camera 11 and the antenna 12 and a ground area (such as a metal case inside the terminal housing). Further, when the antenna portion A is a helical antenna, the length of the antenna portion A can be made shorter in appearance.

Further, by making the height of the tip of the antenna 12 higher than the height of the camera 11 with respect to the terminal body, the size of the portable communication terminal 10 is reduced, and the mounting position of the camera 11 is set on the vertical axis. By matching, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, even when it is necessary to mount the camera 11 and the antenna 12 near each other so as to overlap with each other, a gain is secured in a portion A of the antenna 12 higher than the camera 11. Therefore, stable communication is possible. In other words, the size of the mobile communication terminal 10 can be reduced without considering the adverse effect of the camera 11 on the antenna gain.

Further, since the tip of the antenna 12 is higher than the height of the camera 11 with respect to the terminal body (when stored), even if the portable communication terminal 10 is dropped on the ground or floor from the direction in which the camera 11 is mounted. Also antenna 1
The front end portion of the camera 2 lands first, and the camera 11 is not directly impacted. Therefore, the camera 11 which is a precision instrument
Will be spared. Even in the worst case, even if the camera is dropped vigorously, only the inexpensive antenna 12 is destroyed, and the relatively expensive camera 11 is prevented from being destroyed. Further, the antenna 12 has a simple configuration, so that it can be easily reinforced, and a countermeasure can be easily taken in consideration of a case where the antenna 12 is dropped vigorously.

The present invention can be arbitrarily modified without departing from the gist. For example, the antenna may be fixed instead of telescopic. The antenna reinforcement structure is also optional, and the antenna reinforcement structure and the camera holding structure may be integrated. Furthermore, the camera has been described as having a movable portion so that the shooting direction can be changed, but the direction may be any of the left, right, up, and down directions.

[0034]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the height of the tip of the antenna is provided to be higher than the height of the camera mounted on the terminal body, the antenna is provided near the antenna. Even if the camera is mounted and radio waves are absorbed, gain can be secured at the antenna portion above the height of the camera. Further, even if the mobile communication terminal is dropped on the floor or the ground, the tip of the antenna is more likely to land before the camera, so that a direct impact on the camera is reduced and the camera can be hardly broken.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exemplary view showing an external configuration of a mobile communication terminal 10 according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the mobile communication terminal 10 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration in which a camera 2 is mounted on a conventional portable communication terminal 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between an antenna mounted on the mobile communication terminal and a camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Portable communication terminal 11 ... Camera 12 ... Antenna 13 ... Display part 14 ... Control part 16 ... Memory 18 ... Wireless part 22 ... Voice input / output part 24 ... Keyboard 26 ... Power supply part 30 ... Image processing part

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kennori Yamaguchi 3-term, Asahigaoka, Hino-shi, Tokyo F-term in the Toshiba Hino Plant (reference) 5J047 AA04 AB06 FA02 5K023 AA07 BB03 BB06 HH07 LL05 MM20 MM25 5K067 AA01 AA33 BB04 EE02 KK01 KK17

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A portable communication terminal for performing wireless communication, comprising: an image pickup means mounted on a terminal body; and a height of a tip portion is higher than a height of the image pickup means with respect to the terminal body. A mobile communication terminal comprising an antenna. 2. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup unit and the antenna are mounted on an upper part of the terminal body.