WO2008084892A1

WO2008084892A1 - Flash module having light guide for portable communication terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2008084892A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/000685
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hwa Kyung Choi; Dong Soo Kim
Original assignee: Alti-Electronics Co., Ltd
Priority date: 2007-01-11
Filing date: 2007-02-08
Publication date: 2008-07-17
Also published as: KR100782565B1; JP2009517722A; CN101326731A

Abstract

Provided is a flash module with a light guide for a portable communication terminal. The flash module includes: a light source portion for generating light; a light guide having one end coupled to the light source portion and uniformly diffusing and deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion to be emitted to the other end; and a lens portion arranged at a location adjacent to the other end of the light guide to externally transfer the emitted light.

Description

FLASH MODULE HAVING LIGHT GUIDE FOR PORTABLE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a flash module for a portable communication terminal, and more particularly, to a flash module for a portable communication terminal in which a light guide is arranged between a light source and a flash lens of a portable communication terminal to uniformly diffuse and deflect light to be emitted to the flash lens. Background Art

[2] Recently, as electronic and communication industries rapidly develop, a portable communication terminal is also developing rapidly. A portable communication terminal has supplemental functions in addition to a voice call function to satisfy users various desires. The portable communication terminal is currently in a trend of being light-weight, compact and small-sized, and portable communication terminal manufactures are doing their best to meet the above-described requirements.

[3] The supplemental function may include a camera function, an MP3 player function, and a game function.

[4] In particular, a camera module for providing a camera function is now in a trend of pursuing a high definition of more than a 2-million pixel level. In addition to the camera module, a lighting device for performing a flash function when taking a photograph is employed in the portable communication. As the lighting component, a light emitting diode (LED) is usually used.

[5] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a flash module of a conventional portable communication terminal. Referring to FIG. 1, a portion communication terminal 11 comprises a camera 13 and a lens portion 25 adjacent to the camera 13. A light source portion 21 is arranged at a rear of the lens portion 25. FIG. 1 shows a slide-type portable communication terminal, but even though a lighting device of FIG. 1 can be applied to other-type portable communication terminals, there is no big difference.

[6] It is most efficient for the camera 13 to use the light source portion 21 having an illumination angle, which is an area that light of an LED reaches a subject, corresponding to an angle of view, but it is not easy to fit an illumination angle of the light source portion 21 into the camera s angle of view due to technical problems.

[7] Besides, in case where the light source portion 21 is located at a rear of the lens portion 25, since the LED is excellent in traveling straight, when light is emitted from the light source portion 21, a brightness of a central portion is excellent, but there are dark portions according to an angle. Also, most of subjects are a person, and so due to brightness of light emitted in a straight line at a central portion, a person pictured feels bad at a short distance. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[8] The present invention is directed to a flash module for a portable communication terminal in which a light guide is arranged between a light source and a flash lens of a portable communication terminal to uniformly diffuse and deflect light to be emitted to the flash lens. Technical Solution

[9] An aspect of the present invention provides a flash module with a light guide for a portable communication terminal, comprising: a light source portion for generating light; a light guide having one end coupled to the light source portion and uniformly diffusing and deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion to be emitted to the other end; and a lens portion arranged at a location adjacent to the other end of the light guide to externally transfer the emitted light.

[10] The light source portion has one of a fluorescent lamp, a cathode-luminescence phosphor lamp, an light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), or a plasma lighting system (PLS) as a light source.

[11] The light guide is made of one of poly methyl meta acrylate, poly carbonate, and glass. A surface of the light guide is coated with one of silver, aluminum, nickel, and titanium. The light guide has a cross section of a circular shape, an ellipse shape or a polygonal shape. The light guide has a reflecting surface for deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion.

[12] The light source and the light guide may be integrated, the light guide and the lens portion may be integrated, or the light source, the light guide and the lens portion may be integrated. Advantageous Effects

[13] As described above, according to the present invention, since the light guide is employed in the flash module for the portable communication terminal, light irradiated into the light guide is uniformly diffused and deflected so that light can be efficiently emitted to the flash lens, leading to excellent light efficiency. Thus, the illumination angle can be set corresponding to the angle of view of the camera. Brief Description of the Drawings

[14] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a flash module of a conventional portable communication terminal;

[15] FIGs. 2 and 3 show a flash module having a light guide for a portable com- munication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[16] FlG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the portable communication terminal with the flash module having a light guide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[17] FlG. 5 shows a result of an experiment for measuring light efficiency in the portable communication terminal with the conventional flash module; and

[18] FlG. 6 shows a result of an experiment for measuring light efficiency in the portable communication terminal with the inventive flash module.

[19] * Description of Major Symbol in the above Figures

[20] 11 : portable communication terminal 13 : camera

[21] 21 : light source portion 24 : light guide

[22] 25 : lens portion 213: light source

Mode for the Invention

[23] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various types. Therefore, the present exemplary embodiments are provided for complete disclosure of the present invention and to fully inform the scope of the present invention to those ordinarily skilled in the art.

[24] Servers constituting a broadcast content management system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings.

[25] FlGs. 2 and 3 show a flash module having a light guide for a portable communication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FlG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the portable communication terminal with the flash module having a light guide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FlG. 5 shows a result of an experiment for measuring light efficiency in the portable communication terminal with the conventional flash module, and FlG. 6 shows a result of an experiment for measuring light efficiency in the portable communication terminal with the inventive flash module.

[26] Referring to FlGs. 2 and 3, the flash module having the light guide for the portable communication terminal comprises a light source portion 21 for emitting light, a light guide 23 for uniformly diffusing and deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion 21 through one end thereof to be emitted toward the other end portion thereof, and a lens portion 25 located at the other end portion of the light waveguide to transfer light from the light guide 23 to an external portion.

[27] The light source portion 21 comprises a light source 213 and a light source reflecting portion, and the light source 213 is located at a central portion of the light source portion 210.

[28] As the light source 213, a fluorescent lamp, a cathode-luminescence phosphor lamp, an light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), or a plasma lighting system (PLS) may be used. The PLS is a new-concept light source in which a plasma light emitting principle is applied by using a microwave. A principle of the PLS is that a microwave generated in a magnetron in a chamber having a predetermined gas injected therein collides with a gas atom to become a highly ionized plasma state for thereby emitting light.

[29] The light source reflecting portion reflects light emitted from the light source 213 toward the inside of the light guide 23 to thereby improve light efficiency. To this end, the light source reflecting portion is made of a high-reflectivity material and may be coated with silver (Ag).

[30] The light guide 23 may be made of one of poly methyl meta acrylate, poly carbonate, and glass.

[31] The light guide 23 is usually made of transparent acrylic resin such as poly methyl meta acrylate (PMMA) and has a hollow tube shape. The PMMA is high in degree of strength, is rarely transformed and is high in transmittance for visible rays.

[32] The light guide 23 is designed such that light irradiated to the inside thereof is continuously total-reflected.

[33] Preferably, the whole surface of the light guide 23 is coated with one of silver, aluminum, nickel, and titanium. Also, the light guide 23 made of aluminum may be coated with silver (Ag) and then coated with titanium again in order to prevent it from being transformed due to heat.

[34] If the whole surface of the light guide 23 is coated with a metal, light irradiated to the light guide 23 is not externally emitted and is emitted to the lens portion 25 located at the other end portion as is , thereby minimizing light loss.

[35] The light guide 23 has a tube shape whose cross section has a circular shape, an ellipse shape and a polygonal shape, and its shape can be modified in consideration of a type of the portable communication terminal and a location of the flash module. The light guide 23 may further comprise a reflecting surface for deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion 21. As shown in FIGs. 2 and 3, an L-shaped internal edge surface of the light guide 23 for deflecting light serves as the light reflecting surface 233.

[36] An angle of the reflecting surface 233 is preferably determined so that light can be emitted at an illumination angle corresponding to an angle of view of the camera.

[37] The portable communication terminal is recently in a trend of being slim and small- sized. Components are separately arranged in FIG. 4, but for the sake of slim and small-sized portable communication terminal, the light source portion 21 and the light guide 23 may be integrated, the light guide 23 and the lens portion 25 may be integrated, or all of the light source portion 21, the light guide 23 and the lens portion 25 may be integrated, which depends on a type of the portable communication terminal.

[38] An effect of the present invention can be proved by FlGs. 5 and 6. As shown in

FlG. 5, in the portable communication terminal with the conventional flash module, light is concentrated on a central portion to be then emitted. To the contrary, as shown in FlG. 6, in the portable communication terminal with the inventive flash module, light is not concentrated but is uniformly distributed to be then emitted. Light efficiency of the portable communication terminal with the conventional flash module is 45.6%, whereas light efficiency of the portable communication terminal with the inventive flash module is 53.7%.

[39] While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

[1] A flash module with a light guide for a portable communication terminal, comprising: a light source portion for generating light; a light guide having one end coupled to the light source portion and uniformly diffusing and deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion to be emitted to the other end; and a lens portion arranged at a location adjacent to the other end of the light guide to externally transfer the emitted light. [2] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light source portion has one of a fluorescent lamp, a cathode-luminescence phosphor lamp, an light emitting diode

(LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), or a plasma lighting system

(PLS) as a light source. [3] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light guide is made of one of poly methyl meta acrylate, poly carbonate, and glass. [4] The flash module of claim 1, wherein a surface of the light guide is coated with one of silver, aluminum, nickel, and titanium. [5] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light guide has a cross section of a circular shape, an ellipse shape or a polygonal shape. [6] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light guide has a reflecting surface for deflecting light irradiated from the light source portion. [7] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light source and the light guide are integrated. [8] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light guide and the lens portion are integrated. [9] The flash module of claim 1, wherein the light source, the light guide and the lens portion are integrated.