JP2008286935A - Attachable/detachable illuminator for cellular phone with camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose a strobe device which can be used for most of cellular phones without attaching any condition to the cellular phone when the strobe device is attached to the cellular phone. <P>SOLUTION: An insertion case part 30 of the attachable/detachable illuminator 20 into which the cellular phone 1 is inserted is equipped with a window 25 where the display part 5 of the cellular phone 1 is exposed when the cellular phone 1 is inserted. The inner wall of the insertion case part 30 is covered with a light guide member 32. The built-in strobe device detects that the cellular phone 1 is inserted to a predetermined position and automatically starts charging. Infrared light emitted from a light emitting part for infrared communication nearly simultaneously with photographing release passes through the light guide member 32 and reaches the photodetector of a strobe circuit and becomes light emission trigger. The attachable/detachable illuminator 20 is equipped with a video light as illumination for a moving picture in addition to the strobe device as illumination for a still picture. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an illumination device that can be attached to and detached from a mobile phone with a built-in digital camera.

  In recent years, mobile phones have been widely used, and many of them have built-in digital cameras. Some portable telephones with a built-in digital camera include a built-in LED that can be used as auxiliary light so that it can be photographed even in a dark place such as a room. However, the auxiliary light by the LED is not sufficient as the amount of light for photographing, and therefore mounting of a strobe device having a larger amount of light than the LED has been studied. However, although the strobe device can emit a larger amount of light than the LED, since it is large in size, if it is built in, the mobile phone becomes large, which hinders portability. In view of this, a portable telephone device that can be mounted from the outside when necessary, or a flash device that can be mounted on a portable telephone device is known. For example, they are Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 below.

  The strobe device described in Patent Document 1 includes a plug that can be inserted into and removed from an earphone jack of a mobile phone, and emits light when receiving a power supply and an imaging start signal from the mobile phone.

The strobe device described in the following Patent Document 2 is a device in which a USB connector provided in the strobe device is used by being inserted into a USB connector of a mobile phone, and the user replaces the mobile phone with a new one. However, if a newly purchased mobile phone has a USB connector, a strobe device can be used.
JP 2003-043557 A JP 2006-162738 A

  However, although the strobe device described in Patent Document 1 is connected to an earphone jack of a mobile phone, the earphone jack is not unified and varies depending on the manufacturer and model. Further, the position of the earphone jack or the position of the USB connector provided in the strobe device described in Patent Document 2 also differs depending on the manufacturer and model. Since these positions are not determined on the premise that the strobe device is attached, many of them are arranged at an unsuitable place as the attachment position of the strobe device. If a person is photographed in a state where the strobe device is disposed below the photographing lens, a good image may not be obtained, such as an uncomfortable shadow. For this reason, when a user buys a new mobile phone, he / she has to buy a strobe device, which is a wasteful expense. Also, if you have several mobile phones in your family and you purchase a single strobe device, you may not be able to share and use the strobe device if the phone company or manufacturer is different. Arise.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and when a strobe device is mounted on a mobile phone, a strobe device usable for most mobile phones can be used without attaching any conditions to the mobile phone. The purpose is to propose.

  The detachable illumination device for a mobile phone with a camera according to the present invention includes a strobe device that emits a flash toward a subject by a release of the camera, and an insertion case portion that inserts the mobile phone on a side opposite to a direction of light emitted from the strobe device. Is provided. The strobe device includes a light receiving element that receives, as a photographing instruction signal, infrared light transmitted from a light emitting unit for infrared communication of the mobile phone when the camera is released.

  The strobe device includes delay means for delaying light emission after the light receiving element receives the infrared light. Alternatively, the mobile phone emits the infrared light with a predetermined time delay from the release of the camera by a preinstalled program, downloaded application software, or a built-in delay circuit.

  The insertion case portion includes an insertion slot into which the mobile phone is inserted, a window that exposes the display portion of the mobile phone when the mobile phone is inserted, and a light guide member. The light guide member is formed of, for example, a transparent resin and is exposed on the inner wall surface. The incident surface receives the infrared light. The incident infrared light is incident on a light receiving element provided in the strobe device. And an exit surface that injects toward. The light guide member covers most or half of the inner wall surface of the insertion case portion into which the mobile phone is inserted, and the inner wall surface of the light guide member that covers the inner wall surface is incident on the infrared light. It becomes a surface. When the light guide member is transparent or close to it, the light guide member does not necessarily include a window exposed by the display unit.

  The strobe device includes a detection contact piece arranged so that a part thereof enters the insertion space of the insertion case portion. The detection contact piece is pressed and turned on by the mobile phone when the mobile phone is inserted to a predetermined position of the insertion case portion, and charging of a discharge capacitor provided in the strobe device starts.

  The insertion case portion includes a plurality of spacers capable of adjusting a width dimension or a thickness dimension of the insertion port or the inner wall, and when the mobile phone is inserted into the insertion case section by adjusting the spacer, Is lost. The spacer is substantially U-shaped with a window that the display unit of the mobile phone is exposed, but if it is transparent or close to it, it does not necessarily have to have a window that the display unit is exposed. There is no need.

  The detachable illumination device for a camera-equipped mobile phone includes a video light for moving image shooting and a selection switch, and can switch between illumination for still image shooting and lighting for moving image shooting.

  The detachable illumination device for a camera-equipped mobile phone according to the present invention is applicable to almost any mobile phone that is commercially available or will be commercially available regardless of the type of mobile phone that can be used. Since it is arranged above the camera of the mobile phone, it can be arranged in the same manner as a normal camera and a good captured image can be obtained.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile phone 1 with a camera function includes an upper housing 2 and a lower housing 3, and when not in use, the surface illustrated by a hinge portion 4 that connects the two is on the inside. Can be folded. A display unit 5 composed of a liquid crystal display is arranged on the inner surface of the upper housing 2, and the contents corresponding to various transmission / reception modes are displayed during a call, and the subject is displayed during shooting. You can check the composition of the image. On the inner surface of the lower housing 3, a dial button 6 for inputting a telephone number and the like, and a number of soft keys 7 for selecting and determining various modes at the time of calling and photographing are arranged.

  As shown in FIG. 2, on the outer surface of the upper housing 2, a built-in camera taking lens 8 and a photometric window 9 for measuring the brightness of external light, reflected light of a strobe light, and the like are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile phone 1 includes a communication function unit 10 for making a phone call and mail, a camera function unit 11 for taking a subject, a timekeeping unit 12 having a clock pulse and a clock function, and a display of the display unit 5. Display controller 13 for controlling the light, infrared communication light emitting unit 14 and infrared communication light receiving unit 15 for infrared communication, infrared modulation unit 16 and their data controller 17, a ROM in which system programs are recorded, and various types of externally captured A system memory 18 having a RAM function for writing information, application software, and the like, and a control unit 19 for controlling all these functions and information are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a strobe case 21 that is a housing of the detachable illumination device 20 according to the present invention includes a front cover 22, a base member 23, and a rear cover 24. The rear cover 24 is partially cut away (see FIG. 1), and a window 25 is provided so that the display unit 5 is exposed when the cellular phone 1 is inserted into the insertion case unit 30. ing. Further, the rear cover 24 is provided so that the emission surface 26b of the display member 26 for displaying that the charging of the detachable illumination device 20 is completed is exposed.

  The base member 23 and the rear cover 24 are combined to form an insertion case portion 30. The insertion case 30 includes a light guide member 32 sandwiched between the base member 23 and the rear cover 24. The light guide member 32 has a thin bowl shape having an opening on the bottom of the cube, is formed of a transparent resin, and includes a window that exposes the display unit. An inner wall surface 33 of the light guide member 32 forms an insertion space 35 into which the mobile phone 1 is inserted, and the mobile phone 1 is inserted from an insertion port 31 formed at a lower portion of the light guide member 32. The

  The light guide member 32 has a function of transmitting infrared light emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 of the cellular phone 1 to the light receiving element 51 installed on the circuit board 41. The light guide member 32 is provided with a convex portion 34 having an emission surface 34b for emitting infrared light incident from an inner wall surface 33. The convex portion 34 penetrates the base member 23, and the emission surface 34b is a front cover. Exposed to the side. When a board unit 40 (to be described later) is housed in the base member 23, the light receiving element 51 provided on the circuit board 41 and the exit surface 34b approach each other with a slight gap therebetween.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the board unit 40 emits light with a strobe circuit 60 (see FIG. 6) in which various semiconductors soldered on an electric circuit pattern printed on a circuit board 41 and a discharging capacitor 46 are connected. A strobe device 49 comprising a unit 42, a video light 55 used for moving image shooting, a selection switch 27 for selecting whether to supply electric energy to the strobe device 49 or the video light 55, a power battery 48, and the like are provided. . The light emitting unit 42 includes a xenon tube 43 that is a light source, a reflector 44, and a diffusion plate 45 (see FIG. 4).

  A video light 55 that is provided on the circuit board 41 and is exposed from the front cover 22 to illuminate a subject during moving image shooting includes three white diodes 56 and is provided side by side with the light emitting unit 42 of the strobe device 49. Power is supplied to the white diode 56 from the power battery 48. Further, the operation portion 27a of the selection switch 27 for switching between the light emission of the video light 55 and the strobe light emission is exposed from a hole 23a provided on the side surface of the base member 23 (see FIG. 1).

  As shown in FIG. 6, the strobe circuit 60 includes a charging circuit 61 that charges the discharging capacitor 46, a trigger circuit 62 that emits light from the xenon tube 43, and a dimming circuit 63 that controls the amount of light emitted.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the substrate unit 40 is stored in a storage space formed by the base member 23 and the cover 22. On the back surface of the circuit board 41, a light receiving element 51 that receives the infrared light, a light emitting diode 52 that emits light when charging of the discharging capacitor 46 is completed, and a power supply battery 48 to the strobe circuit 60 or the A detection contact piece 53 that permits supply of power to the video light 55 and a terminal land 54 are provided. When the detachable illumination device 20 is assembled, a part of the detection contact piece 53 passes through the hole 23c provided in the base member 23 and the hole 32c provided in the light guide member 32 and is inserted. When the mobile phone 1 enters the insertion space 35 of the case portion 30 and is inserted to a predetermined position in the insertion space 35, the mobile phone 1 is pressed by the mobile phone 1, and the distal end portion 53 a is connected to the terminal land 54. Contact. As a result, charging of the discharging capacitor 46 is started.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the infrared communication light-emitting portion 14 provided in the mobile phone 1 is provided at the tip of the upper housing 2, but this position differs depending on the type of the mobile phone. . In addition to the position indicated by 14 in the figure, for example, it is disposed at any one of positions 81 to 85. However, the light guide member 32 provided in the detachable illumination device 20 covers all of these positions regardless of the position indicated by the light emitting unit for infrared communication. The infrared light emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 or 81 to 85 arranged at the position of the light always enters the light guide member 32. Accordingly, the detachable illumination device 20 can be applied to almost any model.

  Next, the operation of the detachable illumination device 20 according to the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, the upper housing 2 of the mobile phone 1 is loaded into the insertion space 35 of the external strobe 20. At this time, for example, when there is a gap in the thickness direction of the cellular phone 1, the spacers 71 and 72 are inserted as necessary. The mobile phone 1 is loaded into the insertion space 35 without play by the spacers 71 and 72, and the detection contact piece 53 that has entered the insertion space 35 is pushed to the outside of the insertion space 35.

  The detection contact piece 53 pushed by the mobile phone 1 comes into contact with a land 54 provided at the tip 53a of the circuit board 41. At this time, if the selection switch 27 has selected strobe shooting, the power supply battery 48 starts supplying power to the strobe circuit 60 and the charging circuit 61 starts charging the discharging capacitor 46. When the charging of the discharging capacitor 46 is completed, the light emitting diode 52 emits light. The light emitted from the light emitting diode 52 is incident from an incident surface 26a provided at one end of the display member 26 formed of transparent resin, proceeds while being totally reflected, and is emitted from an emission surface 26b provided at the other end. . The exit surface 26b shines brightly by the emitted light, indicating that the strobe device 49 has been charged.

  The photographer who confirms the completion of charging of the strobe confirms that the mobile phone 1 is set to the photographing mode. Set if not set. Thereafter, the photographing lens 8 shown in FIG. The subject image is displayed on the display unit 5. When the composition button is determined and the decision button 7a is pressed, the image is captured for a certain period of time. In the case of flash photography, the flash must be fired during image capture. However, since there is a slight delay between the time when the enter button 7a is pressed and the start of image capture, the light emission timing is determined by this delay time. Must be considered. If light is emitted immediately without taking the delay time into consideration, the strobe emits light before starting to capture an image, and the photographed image becomes insufficient in light quantity.

  Therefore, the cellular phone device 1 emits infrared light from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 with a slight delay after the decision button 7a is pressed (photographing release). The infrared light emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 strikes the inner wall surface 33 of the light guide member 32 substantially perpendicularly, and therefore enters the light guide member 32. The infrared light that has entered the inside is repeatedly totally reflected and then exits from an exit surface 34 b that is an end surface of the convex portion 34 provided on the light guide member 32. Since the light receiving element 51 is disposed at an opposing position close to the emission surface 34b, the light receiving element 51 detects the infrared light. As a result, the trigger circuit 52 is activated and the Xe tube 43 emits light. Since the infrared light emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 is emitted with a slight delay from the shooting release, the strobe can be made to emit light during image capture, and thus a good image can be obtained. It is done.

  Here, when the mobile phone 1 does not emit infrared light from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 even when the determination button 7a is pressed (photographing release) in the camera photographing mode, Application software for setting the release signal and delay time is downloaded from the service site using the communication function 10 and installed in the system memory 18. This application software causes infrared light to be emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 (see FIG. 7) after a predetermined time delay from pressing (shooting release) of the decision button 7a (see FIG. 1) of the cellular phone 1. This program is used as a light emission trigger signal of the strobe device 49.

  Since the delay time from when the determination button 7a is pressed to when the captured image starts to be captured varies depending on the manufacturer or model of the cellular phone 1, it is necessary to adjust the emission timing of the infrared light. Here, when the application software is installed in the mobile phone 1, the light emission timing is set in accordance with the mobile phone 1.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the setting of the delay time is previously selected from (A) to (E) shown in the figure and stored in the system memory 18. For example, when the image capture timing of the mobile phone 1 is a delay time as shown in (a), a good image can be obtained only when (c) or (d) is selected. Select c) or d) and install. The setting of the delay time can be selected from a list prepared in advance. If there is no list, one is arbitrarily selected from (a) to (e) shown in FIG. 4 to perform test shooting, find an appropriate one, and set it.

  Next, another embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The detachable illumination device 90 shown in FIG. 10 has a delay circuit that enables adjustment of the light emission timing, and when the mobile phone 20 presses the decision button 7a (shooting release) in the camera shooting mode state, This is a type in which infrared light is immediately emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit 14 and can cope with the case where the delay time cannot be set. The delay time setting switch 92 provided on the substrate unit 91 of the detachable illumination device 90 has five stop positions, and includes five terminals and one common terminal corresponding to each stop position.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the strobe circuit 95 at this time includes a trigger circuit 96 having a delay circuit 97. The five terminals are connected to the delay circuit 97, and each sets a delay time shown in FIG. 9, for example. As a result, infrared light is emitted with a momentary delay from the release. As a result, the Xe tube 43 emits light while the camera function unit 11 of the cellular phone device 1 captures a captured image.

  In the embodiment, the wall forming the insertion space 35 is formed by the inner wall surface 33 of the light guide member 32. However, the size of the light guide member 32 may be reduced. As shown in FIG. 7, since the infrared communication light emitting units are often arranged at the tip of the mobile phone, for example, the area on the back side 1/3 of the insertion space 35 is covered with a light guide member, and the rest The insertion space 35 may be formed by the inner wall of the base member 23 or the rear cover 24.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the upper casing 2 of the cellular phone 1 of the type in which the upper casing 2 and the lower casing 3 are folded is inserted and used. However, the light emitting unit for infrared communication is the lower casing 3. May be used by inserting the lower housing 3.

  Moreover, the detachable illumination device 20 according to the present invention can be used for a portable telephone device of the type in which the upper housing 2 and the lower housing 3 are integrally formed and cannot be folded.

It is a perspective view which shows the state which mounted | wore the mobile telephone with a camera with the removable illumination apparatus of this invention. It is the figure which looked at FIG. 1 from the front. It is a block diagram of a mobile phone with a camera. It is sectional drawing which decomposed | disassembled some detachable illuminating devices. It is a figure which shows the state which removed the front cover and was seen from the front. It is a figure which shows the electric circuit of a detachable illuminating device. It is a figure which shows the position of the light emission part for infrared communications. It is sectional drawing which looked at FIG. 1 from the side. It is explanatory drawing of the light emission timing of infrared light. It is a figure which shows the state which removed the front cover and looked at the detachable illuminating device of another embodiment from the front. It is a figure which shows the electric circuit of the detachable illuminating device of another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cellular phone 2 Upper housing | casing 3 Lower housing | casing 5 Display part 8 Shooting lens 14,81-85 Infrared communication light emission part 20,90 Detachable illuminating device 21 Strobe case 22 Front cover 23 Base member 24 Rear cover 25 Window 26 Display member 27 Selection switch 30 Insertion case portion 31 Insertion port 32 Light guide member 33 Inner wall surface 34 Convex portion 35 Insertion space 40, 91 Board unit 41 Circuit board 42 Light emitting portion 43 Xe tube 46 Discharge capacitor 48 Power supply battery 49 Strobe device 51 Light receiving element 52 Light emitting diode 53 Detection contact piece 55 Video light 56 White LED
60, 95 Strobe circuit 62, 96 Trigger circuit 71, 72 Spacer 92 Delay time setting switch 97 Delay circuit

Claims (5)

An insertion case portion having a window into which a mobile phone with a camera is inserted and the display portion of the mobile phone is exposed;
A light receiving element that receives infrared light emitted from the infrared communication light emitting unit of the mobile phone in response to the release of the camera, and the camera takes a picture when the light receiving element receives the infrared light. A strobe device having a light emitting unit that emits a flash toward the subject;
A detachable illumination device for a mobile phone with a camera, comprising:   2. The detachable illumination device for a camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the strobe device includes delay means for delaying light emission of the light emitting unit for a predetermined time after the light receiving element receives the infrared light. .   The insertion case portion is exposed to an inner wall surface of the insertion case portion, and has a light incident surface on which the infrared light is incident, and a light emission surface that emits the incident infrared light toward the light receiving element. The detachable illumination device for a camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising a guide member.   4. A detachable camera-equipped cellular phone according to claim 1, further comprising a power switch that automatically turns on when the cellular phone is inserted to a predetermined position of the insertion case. Type lighting device.   5. The detachable illumination device for a camera-equipped mobile phone includes a selection switch for switching between illumination for still image shooting and illumination for moving image shooting, and a video light for moving image shooting. A detachable illumination device for a mobile phone with a camera.

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