KR20040024325A - Camera apparatus for mobile telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A camera device for a portable phone is provided to build a camera and a shutter in an ear-microphone necklace of a portable phone without increasing a signal line, thereby magnifying a degree of freedom of the camera and reducing size of the portable phone. CONSTITUTION: A portable phone comprises as follows. A power unit(100) supplies power. A control and sound processor(110) processes video data, a control signal, and a transceived sound signal. A signal converter(120) divides paths according to a kind of an external signal. A camera built-in ear-microphone necklace comprises as follows. A camera(150) receives the power, converts an external video into an electrical signal, and outputs the electrical signal. A shutter(180) generates the control signal. An earphone(170) transmits the sound signal to a user. A microphone(160) transmits an external sound to the control and sound processor(110). A camera/send switch(140) selects one of outputs of the camera(150) and the microphone(160), and selects one of signals lines of the earphone(170) and the shutter(180).

Description

Camera device for mobile phone {CAMERA APPARATUS FOR MOBILE TELEPHONE}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a camera device for use in a mobile phone, and more particularly, to a camera device for a mobile phone that is easy to carry and has a beautiful appearance while providing improved degrees of freedom in the camera direction.

As the functions of the portable terminal have advanced, functions beyond the wireless communication such as a camera function and a multimedia playback function have been added to the portable terminal beyond simple wireless communication means.

Such multimedia functions are being gradually expanded by improving display parts of mobile terminals and realizing high-speed communication, and have already been commercialized so that mobile terminals can be used as ultimate portable entertainment systems.

Among the multimedia functions, the camera function and the multimedia playback function are the most popular advanced functions, and the quality of the screen is high enough to be able to shoot through the camera and to watch video on video (VOD).

Therefore, the configuration of the mobile terminal also includes a camera function in many cases, according to the technological advancement of the digital camera, the camera function applied to the mobile terminal has also developed a lot, such a technical advance of the camera itself and the image obtained through this BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION With the rapid development of the display unit capable of displaying, mobile phones with camera functions are becoming more and more common.

Let's look briefly at the types of cameras currently applied to mobile phones.

First, FIG. 1 is an appearance of a mobile phone with a built-in camera.

As shown, the camera 15 embedded in the upper and lower connection portions of the flip type mobile phone 10 opens the flip, rotates the built-in camera 15 in a desired direction, and then looks at the screen appearing on the display of the mobile phone 10. You can save the scene you want by pressing the shutter assigned to the keypad.

Therefore, the screen must be checked while pressing the shutter portion of the keypad, and the built-in camera vibrates while the shutter is pressed. In addition, since the camera can be rotated only in the direction of the arrow shown, it has only a limited degree of freedom. Therefore, in order to use the camera 15, the entire mobile phone must move, and the size of the mobile phone 10 is also as large as the camera 15 because the connection part cannot be reduced to a certain size or less in order to embed the camera 15. You lose.

2 is an appearance of a mobile phone to which a detachable camera that can be attached and detached through an earphone terminal for a mobile phone is applied.

As shown, since the camera 25 is connected through the earphone terminal of the mobile phone 20, the strength of the connection portion is considerably weak, and since the size of the camera 25 is larger than that of the connection portion, the connection portion may be easily damaged. It is possible to damage the camera 25 and the mobile phone 20 by contact during the camera 25 connection. However, since it can be separated and stored compared to the built-in of Figure 1 does not affect the size of the mobile phone (20).

However, since the camera 25 also can move only in a limited direction like the built-in camera shown in FIG. 1, the degree of freedom of the camera 25 may be limited.

As described above, there is a problem that affects the size of the mobile phone or breaks the connection part frequently because the camera is embedded in the mobile phone or uses a detachable camera having a protruding connection. There was a problem in that the freedom and limitation of the fixed appearance were not beautiful.

In view of the above problems, the present invention allows the camera and the shutter to be embedded in a necklace with an ear microphone, which is a mobile phone accessory, thereby reducing the burden on the connecting portion without increasing the size of the camera and maximizing the freedom of the camera itself to capture a narrow spot. Its purpose is to provide a camera device for a mobile phone that enables even.

1 is an appearance of a conventional camera-equipped mobile phone.

2 is an appearance of a conventional mobile phone with a removable camera.

3 is an example of a camera-attached ear microphone necklace to which the present invention is applied.

4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

*** Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing ***

100: power supply unit 110: control and sound processing unit

120: signal switching unit 130: connection

140: camera / call selection switch 150: camera unit

160: microphone unit 170: earphone unit

180 shutter

The present invention for achieving the above object is a mobile phone having a camera function and the camera device for a mobile phone consisting of a camera built-in ear microphone necklace connected through the earphone connector of the mobile phone, the mobile phone to the outside power source A power supply unit for supplying a signal, a control and sound processor for processing image data, a control signal, and a sound signal transmitted and received from the outside, and a signal switching unit for dividing a path according to a signal type inputted and outputted to the outside; The built-in ear microphone necklace is a camera unit for receiving power from the power supply unit and converts an external image into an electrical signal and outputs it, and a shutter unit for generating a control signal to be applied to the control and sound processing unit to store the image from the camera. And an earphone unit for transmitting the sound signal from the control and sound processor to the user, a microphone unit for transmitting external sound to the control and sound processor, and an output of the camera unit and the microphone unit according to a user's selection. And a camera / call switch for selecting one of the signal lines of the earphone unit and the shutter unit.

In order to describe the present invention as described above, reference is made to the embodiments of FIGS. 3 to 4.

Figure 4 illustrates the external configuration of the camera built-in ear microphone necklace used in the present invention, the specific configuration method may be variously changed.

As shown, the necklace body 30, the necklace string 34, the mobile phone link 33, the microphone 36, the earphone 37, the mobile phone connection jack 38 to form a conventional ear microphone necklace. It is basically equipped. In general, the ear microphone necklace, which is provided as an accessory when purchasing a mobile phone, is used to make a call using a microphone and an earphone connected through the earphone connection jack of the mobile phone. In this case, the call / end button includes a basic call without manipulating the mobile phone. Becomes possible. In this case, the connection signal lines used are three signal lines, a signal line for earphone, a signal line for microphone, and a ground line. In the case of the answer / end button, since the signal level is different from that of the microphone, the microphone wires are used at the same time, so in general, three signal wires are used.

However, four signal lines are used to add other functions or to use only a removable camera. In addition, up to four signal wires are universal for the earphone jacks used so far, and the cost is higher because they have to be customized.

Therefore, in the present invention, only four signal lines are used to use the general ear microphone function and at the same time use the camera function and the shutter function.

As shown, the camera built-in ear microphone necklace of this embodiment uses an earphone jack 38 having four signal lines. It also has a switch 31 and a camera shutter 32 that can additionally switch call / camera functions. When the call function is activated, the camera shutter 32 is connected to the output signal line of the microphone 36 and may serve as a call / end key.

In addition, the necklace main body 30 has a built-in camera 35 so that the user can move the necklace main body 30 to direct the subject and then easily photograph using the camera shutter 32 on the side.

This configuration can increase the camera shooting freedom while increasing the portability of the camera, it is possible to shoot the situation inside the narrow space, or can be taken while moving freely. In addition, the size is completely wrapped in one hand can be taken without shaking with one hand.

Now, a specific configuration of the present invention for enabling such a configuration will be described through a block diagram.

FIG. 4 is an embodiment of the present invention, in which a part to be added to a mobile phone and a camera built-in ear microphone necklace part are connected to each other.

First, the mobile phone is a power supply unit 100 for supplying power to the outside, the control and sound processor 110 for processing image data, control signals and sound signals transmitted and received from the outside, and is input from the outside It includes a signal switching unit 120 for dividing the path according to the signal type. Naturally, the mobile phone has various components for carrying out the mobile phone function inside.

The built-in ear microphone necklace is a camera unit 150 that receives power from the power supply unit 100 and converts an external image into an electrical signal and outputs the control signal to be applied to the control and sound processing unit to store an image from the camera. A shutter unit 180 for generating a signal, an earphone unit 170 for transmitting a sound signal from the control and sound processor, a microphone unit 160 for transmitting external sound to the control and sound processor, Camera / call switch 140 for selecting one of the output of the camera unit 150 and the microphone unit 160 and one of the signal lines of the earphone unit 170 and the shutter unit 180 according to the user's selection It includes. Of course, there are also necklace straps, hooks, and earphone jacks for connecting necklaces and cell phones.

First, the earphone connection unit 130 refers to a connection (earphone jack) between the mobile phone and the camera built-in ear microphone necklace.

The power supply 100 is applied to the camera unit 150 and the microphone unit 160, and the microphone unit 160 may not have power. In addition, an output signal of the camera unit 150 and an output signal of the microphone unit are selected by the camera / call switch 140, and only one of these signals is output to the mobile phone to be connected to the control and sound processor 110. do. In addition, although not shown, when the output of the shutter unit 180 made of a switch is connected to the output of the microphone unit 160 and the camera / call switch 140 is in the 'call' state of the shutter unit 180 The signal can be used as a call / end switch signal.

The signal line input to the earphone 170 and the output line of the shutter unit 180 are also selected by the camera / call switch 140, and a signal line connected to one of them is connected to the control and sound processor 110. The signal line is branched through the signal switching unit 120 to the sound output unit going to the earphone and the control signal receiving unit which receives the control signal from the shutter unit 180. In this case, since the sound signal is output to the earphone unit 170 and the control signal is applied from the shutter unit 180, the signal switching unit 120 may be configured to branch the signal according to the direction of the signal.

That is, when the user places the camera / call switch 140 in the 'call' state, the signal lines to the earphone connection unit 130 are four of the power line, the microphone signal line (call / end signal line), the earphone signal line, and the ground line, respectively. When the user places the camera / call switch 140 in the 'camera' state, the signal lines to the earphone connection unit 130 are four of the power line, the camera signal line, the shutter signal line, and the ground line, respectively.

Therefore, it is possible to use the camera and shutter in the ear microphone necklace while using only 4 signal wires.The camera is inserted into the necklace, which is beautiful in appearance and easy to carry, and it is also a concern for loss, which is one of the disadvantages of the removable camera. There is no.

As described above, the present invention maximizes the degree of freedom of the camera by embedding the camera and the shutter in the necklace with the ear microphone, which is a mobile phone accessory, without increasing the signal line. Compared to the removable type that inserts the camera directly into the earphone jack, it can reduce the size and reduce the possibility of damage to the mobile phone and the camera, and make it easy to carry. .

Claims (3)

A mobile phone camera device comprising a mobile phone having a camera function and a built-in ear microphone necklace connected through an earphone connector of the mobile phone, The mobile phone includes a power supply unit for supplying power to the outside, a control and sound processing unit for processing image data, control signals, and transmitted / received audio signals received from the outside, and for dividing a path according to a signal type inputted and outputted to the outside. A signal switching unit; The built-in ear microphone necklace is a camera unit for receiving power from the power supply unit and converts an external image into an electrical signal and outputs it, and a shutter unit for generating a control signal to be applied to the control and sound processing unit to store the image from the camera. And an earphone unit for transmitting the sound signal from the control and sound processor to the user, a microphone unit for transmitting external sound to the control and sound processor, and an output of the camera unit and the microphone unit according to a user's selection. And a camera / call switch for selecting one of the signal lines of the earphone unit and the shutter unit. The camera apparatus of claim 1, wherein the output of the shutter unit is connected to the output of the microphone unit and is used as a 'call / end' switch when the shutter unit is in a call state. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the signal switching unit is configured to automatically switch signals in accordance with the direction of an external signal.