JP4238601B2 - Mobile terminal device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device, and more particularly to a foldable camera-equipped mobile phone.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A mobile phone that is a mobile terminal is often used in which a display unit and a key operation unit are foldable and have an imaging function by a digital camera. For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the display unit and the key operation unit are maintained in an intermediate state (intermediate angle) between an open state and a closed state, and placed on a plane such as a desk, and the display unit A structure has been proposed in which a camera attached to the rear surface captures a subject (mobile phone user) stably without shaking.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2002-295445 (FIG. 4, pages 2 to 4)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the mobile phone shown in Patent Document 1 described above, a camera is attached to the back of the display unit, and when the user is photographed by the camera, the mobile phone is placed on a desk or the like in a stable state without shaking. The self-timer is used to make it easy for the user to perform an imaging operation at a remote position.
[0005]
However, when a subject placed on a plane such as a desk is copied, for example, a business card or the like, it is difficult to realize with a mobile phone having the above structure. The reason is that because the camera is mounted on the back of the display unit, you cannot place a mobile phone on the desk and take a picture of the business card on the desk, and the user must hold the mobile phone in his hand to operate it. Is necessary, has a problem in stability, and causes a hand shake.
[0006]
In general, a mobile phone is equipped with a single-focus camera, and the main purpose is to take a photograph of a person or the like. Therefore, when close-up photography is performed at a short distance, a clear image is obtained without being focused. There will be no. Therefore, when photographing a business card on a desk at a short distance, it is difficult to obtain a clear image that can read characters such as a business card without being focused.
[0007]
In order to capture small characters with a digital camera, it is necessary to provide an autofocus function using an optical lens, which hinders cost reduction and reduction in size and weight of the mobile phone.
[0008]
An object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal device that can easily realize a close-up function of characters such as business cards without increasing the cost or increasing the size.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, the key operation unit and the display unit are mobile terminal devices that are rotatably connected by the rotation unit, and the key operation unit and the display unit are 180 degrees in a predetermined plane. An angle maintaining mechanism that maintains an intermediate predetermined angle between 0 degrees, and an imaging unit that is provided in the rotation unit and that captures an object on the plane at an angle maintained by the angle maintaining mechanism. seen including a portable terminal device, wherein the portions in contact with the plane of said angle maintaining the display unit and the key operation section at an angle which is maintained by a mechanism is characterized in that it is chamfered so as to contact the plane face can get.
[0010]
In addition, a shutter key provided on the side surface of the key operation unit is included , and the predetermined angle is set to 90 degrees or less.
[0011]
Further, the brightness of the display light of the display unit is controlled in conjunction with the shutter operation of the imaging means, the display unit is a liquid crystal, and the display light is a backlight of the liquid crystal It is characterized by being. Furthermore, the imaging means includes a single focus lens, and includes image processing means for performing image processing by the imaging means to extract characters.
[0012]
The operation of the present invention will be described. A mobile phone that is a mobile terminal device has a display unit and a key operation unit that are foldable, and many of them have an imaging function by a digital camera. When taking a close-up of a business card placed on a flat surface in an intermediate state (intermediate angle) between the opened state, it is necessary to take an image while maintaining the mobile phone at this intermediate angle without shaking.
[0013]
Therefore, in the present invention, the portion of the display unit and the key operation unit that are in contact with the plane is configured to be in parallel with the plane so as to be in surface contact with the plane to maintain and ensure stability. A camera for capturing an image of the subject on the deformed surface at the maintained intermediate angle is provided in the rotating unit portion of the display portion and the key operation portion. A stable image can be obtained by controlling the luminance of the display light to be maximized in conjunction with the shutter.
[0014]
At this time, since the distance between the subject and the camera is kept constant, the camera can use a single focus lens, and the structure and focus control of the camera can be simplified. It is also easy to perform correction processing by performing image processing with a camera, and only characters such as business cards can be extracted from the captured image.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side view when a subject 30 such as a business card is photographed. In both drawings, equivalent parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. .
[0016]
A mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an upper casing unit 1 having a liquid crystal display unit (LCD) 5, a lower casing unit 2 that is a key operation unit having a dial key 7 and four-direction and determination keys 6, A rotary unit (hinge part) 3 is provided for connecting the upper and lower casing parts 1 and 2 so as to be rotatable. The rotating unit 3 allows the upper and lower housing parts 1 and 2 to rotate as indicated by arrows in the figure, and is in an open state close to 180 degrees (state such as a call) and a closed state of 0 degrees (folded state). It is possible.
[0017]
In addition, 8 is a receiver opening part and 9 is a transmitter opening part. Reference numeral 4 denotes a camera as an imaging means, which is attached to the rotating unit 3 and functions as a movable camera. It is assumed that the shutter key 10 of the camera 4 is provided on the side surface of the lower housing part 2.
[0018]
At each end of the upper and lower housing parts 1 and 2 on the opposite side to the rotating unit, notched parts 11 and 21 that are chamfered at a certain angle with respect to the display surface and the operation surface are provided. As shown in FIG. 2, these notches 11 and 21 have portions that are in contact with the placement surface (plane) of the subject 30 of the upper and lower casings 1 and 2 when the subject 30 such as a business card is photographed by the camera 4. It is assumed that chamfering is performed so as to be parallel to the mounting surface so as to come into surface contact.
[0019]
The operation of the folding cellular phone according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper housing unit 1 can perform two-stage opening / closing operations of the rotation operation A and the rotation operation B around the rotation unit 3. From the talking state, which is the open state shown in FIG. 1, the upper camera unit 1 is rotated to move the movable camera unit 4 of the rotating unit 3 to the subject 30 as shown in FIG. The camera can be in close-up by directing it vertically.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 2, this close-up-capable state is a predetermined angle intermediate between an open state of approximately 180 degrees and a closed state of 0 degrees for the upper and lower casing parts 1 and 2, but preferably 90 degrees or more. It is good to make it almost the following acute angle. The reason for this is that if the angle becomes obtuse, the distance between the camera and the subject becomes so small that the lens becomes thick, making it difficult to use other than close-up photography, and the application is limited.
[0021]
Further, by applying a force to the portion of the rotation unit 3 and rotating the upper housing 1 as in the rotation operation B, the closed state is established.
[0022]
In the close-up state shown in FIG. 2, the rotary unit 3 is stopped at the rotated position as in the rotation operation A, and the notches 11 and 21 on the end surface of the upper housing portion 1 and the end surface of the lower housing portion 2 are By both being parallel to the subject placement surface, the mobile phone is fixed in a stable state. Accordingly, close-up photography of the subject 30 is possible by operating the shutter key 10 in this state. At this time, the subject 30 may be irradiated with the backlight of the LCD 5 in conjunction with the operation of the shutter key 10. Note that the backlight at this time is preferably controlled to have the maximum illuminance.
[0023]
The image data thus captured is corrected and corrected into a clear image using an LSI for image processing, and characters included in the image are extracted and converted into character information, which is printed on a business card or the like. It is stored in the memory as address information such as name, telephone number and address. Since these image processing and processing such as character information extraction are well known, the description thereof is omitted here.
[0024]
In addition, since the distance between the camera 4 and the subject 30 in the close-up state shown in FIG. 2 is a predetermined constant value, it can be a single focus lens, and image processing can be performed easily and effectively. It is.
[0025]
The position of the shutter key 10 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1, but can be provided at a location where the user can easily operate in the close-up state shown in FIG. In addition to the close-up camera 4, it is obvious that a long-distance camera or a close-up camera may be provided on the front surface or the back surface of the upper housing 1. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to the mobile phone but also to other information processing terminals.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
The effects of the present invention are as follows.
[0027]
The first effect is that when capturing relatively sized text, such as business cards, with the camera, the angle and distance from the subject can be kept constant, and shooting can be performed in a stable state, thus preventing camera shake and providing a clear image. It is possible to shoot.
[0028]
The second effect is that when photographing in a dark place, a close-up of a mobile phone without a flash or light can be performed by using a liquid crystal backlight.
[0029]
The third effect is that, even when a close-up photo of a subject such as a business card is taken with a mobile phone with a fixed shooting range using a single-focus lens, the image is not focused and the image is blurred. Since the range of the optimum correction value can be limited because the image is taken, only the character information can be efficiently restored by image processing.
[0030]
The fourth effect is that only character information such as a business card can be stored in the memory with only character information instead of an image, so that it is possible to save a memory use area.
[0031]
The fifth effect is that the name information, address, telephone number, and the like can be easily input to the address book by recognizing character information such as a business card by application software.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view showing a camera use state in the embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Upper housing 2 Lower housing 3 Rotating unit 4 Movable camera 5 LCD
6 Four-way key and Enter key 7 Dial key 8 Receiver opening 9 Transmitter opening 10 Shutter key 11, 12 Notch 30 Subject

Claims (7)

The key operation unit and the display unit are portable terminal devices that are rotatably connected by a rotation unit,
An angle maintaining mechanism for maintaining the key operation unit and the display unit at a predetermined angle intermediate between 180 degrees and 0 degrees in a predetermined plane;
An imaging means provided on the rotating unit for imaging a subject on the plane at an angle maintained by the angle maintaining mechanism ;
A portable terminal device , wherein a portion of the key operation unit and the display unit that are in contact with the plane at an angle maintained by the angle maintaining mechanism is chamfered so as to be in surface contact with the plane . The mobile terminal device according to claim 1 , further comprising a shutter key provided on a side surface of the key operation unit .   The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined angle is set to 90 degrees or less. Wherein in conjunction with the shutter operation of the imaging means, the of claims 1 to 3 or serial mounting, characterized in that forming the brightness control of the display lights on the display unit the portable terminal device.   The portable terminal device according to claim 4, wherein the display unit is a liquid crystal, and the display light is a backlight of the liquid crystal.   The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit includes a single focus lens and includes an image processing unit that performs image processing by the imaging unit to extract characters.   The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal device is a mobile phone.

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