KR100689442B1 - Method and apparatus for utilize half-pressing of the shutter in a mobile commnication terminal having camera module - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of using a half shutter function in a mobile terminal having a camera module, the method comprising: switching a camera phone having the camera module driven by a half shutter key for exposure and focus adjustment and a shutter key for shooting to a shooting mode; And automatically controlling exposure and focus of the subject according to the press of the shutter button halfway, and when the shutter key is pressed, photographing according to the stored exposure and setting information. In addition, the shutter button has a half shutter function that focuses and is separately photographed so that the operation is simple and the exposure and focusing information are stored, so that the information can be taken with the adjusted information during the next shooting.

Mobile communication terminal, camera phone, CCD, light quantity, shutter, half shutter

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UTILIZE HALF-PRESSING OF THE SHUTTER IN A MOBILE COMMNICATION TERMINAL HAVING CAMERA MODULE}             

1A to 1B illustrate a mobile communication terminal having a camera module according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a view showing the structure of a mobile communication terminal having a camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit for the half-shutter key according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit for the half-shutter key according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus using a half-shutter function of a mobile communication terminal having a camera module.

In general, a mobile communication terminal refers to a device that provides a communication function such as a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA) that can make a call or exchange data while moving.

Recently, mobile communication terminals are being used regardless of age or sex and are becoming indispensable items for modern people. Such a mobile communication terminal provides various menus so that a user can directly set and operate a ring type, a ring size, an alarm, a lock, and a transmission / reception restriction as the technology develops.

On the other hand, there are several types of mobile communication terminals, the main function of course is to talk to the other party, but there are also various additional functions as well as a function for exchanging various information. Among the additional functions of the mobile communication terminal, the mobile communication terminal may include a camera to capture and store an image of an object desired by the user of the mobile communication terminal, or transmit a captured image.

A mobile communication terminal with a camera function is called a "camera phone". The initial 300,000-pixel camera phone was released and started to spread, and 3 million-megapixel camera phones were released. However, despite the high pixels, the size of the camera lens or the size of the charge coupled devices (hereinafter referred to as "CCD") is limited in size to be mounted on a mobile phone. As a result, the focal length of the lens is shorter than that of a digital camera of the same pixel, and the smaller the CCD, the smaller the amount of light.

However, because portraits or snapshots that do not require details for convenient portability and simplicity are sufficient, they are widely used by many users. With the advancement of the camera phone, manual functions that were used only in digital cameras, such as brightness or shutter speed adjustment, optical / digital zoom adjustment, shooting mode adjustment or half-press of the shutter function, are gradually applied to the camera phone. It is used.

The half-shutter function refers to the half-press of the camera's shutter button, which focuses and focuses the camera's exposure. Whether the camera is in focus or not can be checked through the liquid crystal display of the camera display. When the camera is not in focus, the user may obtain a blurred picture. Therefore, the shutter is completely pressed after checking the focus.

In the use of the half-shutter function of the camera phone according to the prior art operating as described above, after taking a picture with focus, the focus information is released and there is an inconvenience of having to focus again the next time. The function was provided together, and there was a difficulty in operation such as not using the half shutter and simply pressing the shutter.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention, which was devised to solve the problems of the prior art operating as described above, is to provide an automatic exposure and focus function by separately providing a half shutter key in a mobile communication terminal having a camera module.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of storing information focused and exposed after pressing a half-shutter key of a mobile communication terminal having a camera module, so that shooting can be performed with the focused information at the next shooting.

Embodiment of the present invention, which was created to achieve the above object, in the method of using the half-shutter function in the camera phone, a camera driven by a half-shutter key for adjusting exposure and focus and a shutter key for shooting Switching the phone to a shooting mode, automatically adjusting the exposure and focus of the subject according to the pressing of the shutter button, and when the shutter key is pressed, the exposure adjusted according to the pressing of the shutter button halfway; And photographing according to the focus adjustment information.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a device for using a half-shutter function in a camera phone, comprising: a display unit which shows a subject to a user in a shooting mode of the camera phone, a key input unit having a half shutter key and a shutter key; The controller automatically adjusts the exposure and focus of the subject according to the pressing of the shutter button halfway, and if the shutter key is pressed afterwards, the controller which performs shooting according to the exposure and focus control information adjusted according to the pressing of the shutter button halfway. It is characterized by including.

Hereinafter, the operating principle of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a known function or configuration may unnecessarily flow the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Terms to be described later are terms defined in consideration of functions in the present invention, and may be changed according to intentions or customs of users or operators. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the contents throughout the specification.

1A to 1B are diagrams illustrating a mobile communication terminal having a camera module according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the mobile communication terminal 100 having a camera module, a half shutter key 120 is separately provided next to the shutter key 110 so that the user adjusts exposure and focus using the half shutter key 120 and then presses the half shutter. When the key is pressed, the exposure and focus are stored and the camera lens is moved to take a picture using a shutter key 110 on a desired background or subject. In this case, if the shutter button 120 is separately provided, it is not necessary to mean that the shutter button is pressed halfway, but the shutter button is pressed halfway. Will be called "half shutter".

2 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal having a camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A mobile communication terminal having the camera module will be referred to as "camera phone" hereinafter. Referring to FIG. 2, the controller 200 controls the overall operation of the camera phone. The memory unit 240 stores a predetermined program that controls the overall operation of the camera phone. When the overall operation of the camera phone is performed by the controller 200, the memory unit 240 stores data input and output and data transmitted from the image service system center. Store in a predetermined set area.

The camera module 210 converts an image or a video digitally and stores the image or video in the memory unit 240 under the control of the controller 200. The key input unit 220 includes a plurality of numeric keys and function keys, and generates corresponding key data when the user presses a predetermined key and outputs the corresponding key data to the controller 200. The display unit 230 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying various kinds of information, is controlled by the controller 200, and the key data generated by the key input unit 220 and various kinds of the controller 200. It receives and displays the information signal.

The wireless unit 260 performs wireless communication with the base station, and amplifies and filters signals transmitted and received to enable wireless signal exchange between the control unit 200 and the base station.

The audio unit 250 modulates the voice signal input through the microphone (MIC) into a wireless signal under the control of the control unit 200, and also when a ring signal is generated from the base station and when using various additional functions of the camera module 210. In order to send a signal through a speaker (Speaker).

In the camera phone in which the camera module 210 is installed as described above, the user sets the camera additional function through the key input unit 220, and the controller 200 controls the camera module 210 by operation control corresponding to the camera additional function. Shoot the subject through.

3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the control unit for the half-shutter key according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, in operation 300, the camera phone 210 is switched to a shooting mode to activate the camera module 210. The subject viewed from the camera module 210 is displayed on the display unit 230, and the user presses the shutter button halfway through the display information. In step 310, the control unit 200 confirms that the shutter button is pressed by the key input unit 220, and then, in step 320, the exposure and focus of the subject viewed through the display unit 230 of the camera phone is controlled by the control unit 200. Adjust automatically.

If the exposure and focus are focused, the exposure and focus adjustment is completed, the user is exposed and focused through the display unit 230 of the camera phone or the sound reproduction using the speaker of the audio unit 250. The control unit 200 controls to recognize the. Next, in step 330, the controller 200 temporarily stores the adjusted exposure and focus adjustment information in the memory unit 240.

When the user presses the shutter key of the camera phone in step 340, the image is taken according to the stored exposure and focus control information. In this case, the stored exposure and focus adjustment information may be automatically released and deleted from the memory unit 240. Alternatively, the exposure and focus control information may be stored in the memory unit 240 after the photographing and used in the next photographing.

4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the control unit for the half-shutter key according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, in operation 400, the camera phone 210 is switched to the shooting mode to activate the camera module 210. The subject viewed from the camera module 210 is displayed on the display unit 230, and the user presses the shutter button halfway through the display information. After the first press of the half-shutter key is confirmed by the control unit 200 through the key input unit 220 in step 410, the exposure and focus of the subject viewed through the display unit 230 of the camera phone are adjusted in step 420. .

If the exposure and focus are automatically adjusted by the camera phone to adjust the exposure and focus, the display and display are completed on the display unit 230 of the camera phone or the speaker of the audio unit 250 is completed. The controller 200 controls the user to recognize that the user is exposed and focused through sound reproduction. In operation 430, the controller determines whether the second press of the half-shutter key is pressed by the controller, and stores the exposure and focus adjustment information currently adjusted in the memory unit 240 in operation 440. In operation 450, when the user presses the shutter key of the camera phone, the user may shoot according to the stored exposure and focus adjustment information, move to another subject, and continue shooting with the stored exposure and focus adjustment information. In operation 440, the adjusted exposure and focus information may be stored in plural and are sequentially stored in a memory. Among the stored exposure and focus information, the desired exposure and focus information is selected by using keys provided in the digital camera and photographed.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

In the present invention operating as described in detail above, the effects obtained by the representative ones of the disclosed inventions will be briefly described as follows.

According to the present invention, the shutter button has a half shutter function for focusing and exposing the camera phone separately. The operation is simple, and the exposure and focusing information can be stored. It is effective.

Claims (5)

In the method of using the half-shutter function in a mobile communication terminal having a camera module, Converting a mobile communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as a "camera phone") having a camera module driven by a half-shutter key for adjusting exposure and focus and a shutter key for shooting, to a shooting mode; Automatically adjusting exposure and focus of the subject according to the pressing of the shutter button halfway; And when the shutter key is pressed, photographing according to the exposure and focus adjustment information that is adjusted according to the pressing of the half-shutter key. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: displaying on the display unit of the camera phone that the adjusted exposure and focus adjustment are completed or outputting an effect sound using a speaker of an audio unit. In the mobile communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as "camera phone") having a camera module, the device using the half-shutter function, A display unit which shows a subject to a user in a shooting mode of the camera phone; A key input unit including a half shutter key and a shutter key, The controller automatically adjusts the exposure and focus of the subject according to the pressing of the shutter button halfway, and if the shutter key is pressed afterwards, the controller which performs shooting according to the exposure and focus adjustment information adjusted according to the pressing of the shutter button halfway. Apparatus using a half shutter function, characterized in that it comprises. The method of claim 3, wherein the display unit, Device for using the half-shutter function, characterized in that indicating that the adjustment of the exposure and focus has been completed. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the effect sound indicating that the adjustment of the exposure and focus is completed is an audio unit that reproduces through a speaker.

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