Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides a camera module which can provide a rotation operation function on the basis of maintaining a narrow frame design.
The invention provides an electronic device which can provide a rotation operation function of a camera module on the basis of maintaining a narrow frame design.
The camera module is suitable for being installed on a body of an electronic device. The camera module comprises a camera unit, a sliding part and a flexible connecting piece. The camera unit is rotatably disposed on the body and has a lens and a first magnetic attraction portion. The sliding part is slidably arranged on the machine body, and one of the machine body and the sliding part is provided with a second magnetic suction part. The flexible connecting piece is arranged on the machine body and is connected with the camera unit and the sliding piece. The camera unit is connected with the second magnetic part in an attracting way through the first magnetic part and rotates between a closed position and an open position. When the camera unit is at the closed position, the lens, the sliding part and the flexible connecting piece are hidden in the body. When the camera unit is located at the opening position, the camera unit pulls the flexible connecting piece to drive the sliding piece to move, so that the lens and the flexible connecting piece are exposed out of the machine body.
The electronic device of the invention comprises a body and a camera module. The camera module is mounted on the body. The camera module comprises a camera unit, a sliding part and a flexible connecting piece. The camera unit is rotatably disposed on the body and has a lens and a first magnetic attraction portion. The sliding part is slidably arranged on the machine body, and one of the machine body and the sliding part is provided with a second magnetic suction part. The flexible connecting piece is arranged on the machine body and is connected with the camera unit and the sliding piece. The camera unit is connected with the second magnetic part in an attracting way through the first magnetic part and rotates between a closed position and an open position. When the camera unit is at the closed position, the lens, the sliding part and the flexible connecting piece are hidden in the body. When the camera unit is located at the opening position, the camera unit pulls the flexible connecting piece to drive the sliding piece to move, so that the lens and the flexible connecting piece are exposed out of the machine body.
In an embodiment of the invention, the flexible connecting member includes a flexible connecting interface and a flexible material. The flexible connecting interface is electrically connected with the lens, and the flexible material covers the flexible connecting interface.
In an embodiment of the invention, the flexible connection interface includes a flexible printed circuit board, and the flexible material includes a flexible fabric.
In an embodiment of the invention, the first magnetic attraction portion includes a magnet.
In an embodiment of the invention, the second magnetic attraction portion is disposed at one end of the sliding member adjacent to the camera unit or at one end of the body adjacent to the camera unit.
In an embodiment of the invention, the second magnetic part includes a magnetic member or a magnet.
In an embodiment of the invention, the sliding member has a limit bump disposed on an end of the sliding member opposite to the camera unit. The limit bump corresponds to a limit stop point in the machine body.
In an embodiment of the invention, the camera module further includes a reset element disposed between the body and an end of the sliding element opposite to the camera unit. The reset piece accumulates a reset force when the camera unit rotates from the closed position to the open position, and drives the sliding piece to move into the machine body by releasing the reset force when the camera unit rotates from the open position to the closed position.
In an embodiment of the invention, when the camera unit is in the open position, the flexible connecting member is pulled to drive the sliding member to move to protrude out of the body, so that the camera unit is supported between the protruding sliding member and the body.
In an embodiment of the invention, the camera unit further includes a third magnetic portion disposed on a side of the camera unit opposite to the lens, and the body further includes a fourth magnetic portion disposed on an outer side of the body. The camera unit is fixed on the outer side of the machine body through the suction connection of the third magnetic suction part and the fourth magnetic suction part.
In an embodiment of the invention, the body includes an upper body and a lower body pivotally connected to each other. The camera module is mounted on the upper body, and the lower body is correspondingly provided with a notch so as to accommodate the camera module when the upper body and the lower body are overlapped with each other.
In view of the above, in the camera module and the electronic device of the invention, the camera unit is connected to the body or the sliding member through the first magnetic attraction portion disposed on the camera unit and the second magnetic attraction portion disposed on the sliding member, and rotates between the closed position and the open position. When the camera unit is in the closed position, the lens, the sliding member and the flexible connecting member are hidden in the body to provide the privacy protection function of the camera module. When the camera unit is located at the opening position, the camera unit pulls the flexible connecting piece to drive the sliding piece to move, so that the lens and the flexible connecting piece are exposed out of the machine body, and the camera operation function of the camera module is provided. Therefore, the combination of the first magnetic part and the second magnetic part can replace the solid rotating shaft. Therefore, the camera module and the electronic device can provide the rotation operation function of the camera module on the basis of maintaining the narrow frame design.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the invention more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Detailed Description
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 1, in the present embodiment, an electronic device 50 includes bodies 52 and 54 and a camera module 100. Specifically, the electronic device 50 is, for example, a notebook computer, and includes a body 52 having a screen unit and the like as an upper body and a body 54 having a keyboard unit and the like as a lower body. The bodies 52, 54 are rotatably connected to each other, i.e., the body 52 can rotate relative to the body 54 to stand on the body 54 into an open state or to overlap the body 54 into a closed position. The camera module 100 is mounted on the body 52, and more particularly, is disposed at an edge of the body 52, preferably at the center of the edge. Further, the body 54 is correspondingly provided with a notch 56 to accommodate the camera module 100 when the bodies 52, 54 are overlapped with each other. However, in other embodiments not shown, the electronic device may also be a device with a single body (such as a tablet computer, etc.), and the invention is not limited thereto.
Fig. 2A is a partial schematic view of the camera module of fig. 1. Fig. 2B and 2C are schematic views illustrating the camera module of fig. 2A in other states. Referring to fig. 1 to fig. 2C, in the present embodiment, the camera module 100 includes a camera unit 110, a sliding member 120 and a flexible connecting member 130. The camera module 100 is mounted on the body 52, and the camera unit 110 can rotate between a closed position (shown in fig. 2A) and an open position (shown in fig. 2C) relative to the body 52. The rotation may be, but is not limited to, a user manually pushing the camera unit 110 to rotate relative to the body 52. Therefore, when the user does not need to use the camera module 100, the camera unit 110 can be rotated to the closed position (as shown in fig. 2A) to provide the privacy protection function, and when the user needs to use the camera module 100, the camera unit 110 can be rotated to the open position (as shown in fig. 2C) to provide the camera operation function (such as video, video recording, photographing, etc.). In order to maintain the narrow frame design of the electronic device 50, the electronic device 50 and the camera module 100 do not use a common physical hinge, but otherwise provide the function of rotating the camera module 100 between the closed position and the open position relative to the body 52.
Specifically, in the present embodiment, the camera unit 110 is rotatably disposed on the body 52 and has a lens 112 and a first magnetic attraction 114. The sliding member 120 is slidably disposed on the body 52, and one of the body 52 and the sliding member 120 (for example, the sliding member 120) has a second magnetic attraction portion 122. The flexible connecting member 130 is disposed on the body 52 and connects the camera unit 110 and the sliding member 120. Thus, the camera unit 110 can rotate between the closed position (as shown in fig. 2A) and the open position (as shown in fig. 2C) by the attraction connection between the first magnetic attraction portion 114 and the second magnetic attraction portion 122. When the camera unit 110 is located at the closed position (as shown in fig. 2A), the lens 112, the sliding member 120 and the flexible connecting member 130 are hidden in the body 52, and when the camera unit 110 is located at the open position (as shown in fig. 2C), the camera unit 110 pulls the flexible connecting member 130 to drive the sliding member 120 to move, so that the lens 112 and the flexible connecting member 130 are exposed from the body 52.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the body 52 includes an inner cover 52a and an outer cover 52b, wherein the inner cover 52a is, for example, a cover body serving as an operation surface of the body 52, the outer cover 52b is, for example, another cover body serving as an appearance surface of the body 52, and electronic components (such as the camera module 100 and a screen component not shown) for constituting the body 52 are disposed between the inner cover 52a and the outer cover 52 b. Thus, the camera unit 110 is located at one end of the inner cover 52a and the outer cover 52b, and the flexible connecting member 130 and the sliding member 120 are connected to the camera unit 110, thereby moving between the inner cover 52a and the outer cover 52b relative to the body 52 when the camera unit 110 rotates relative to the body 52.
Furthermore, the first magnetic part 114 includes a magnet disposed on one side of the lens 112. The second magnetic attraction portion 122 includes a magnetic member (e.g., an iron member) disposed at an end of the slider 120 adjacent to the camera unit 110, but the second magnetic attraction portion 122 may also be a magnet, and although the second magnetic attraction portion 122 is illustrated as a part of the slider 120, when the second magnetic attraction portion 122 is a magnetic member, the second magnetic attraction portion 122 may also be disposed over the slider 120 (i.e., the entire slider 120 has magnetism), and the invention is not limited thereto. Therefore, the first magnetic attraction portion 114 and the second magnetic attraction portion 122 can be attracted to each other without any other external force, so that the camera unit 110 and the slider 120/body 52 can be maintained at predetermined relative positions (e.g., a closed position or an open position).
In addition, the flexible connecting member 130 includes a flexible connecting interface 132 and a flexible material 134, wherein the flexible connecting interface 132 includes a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC) board electrically connected to the lens 112, and the flexible material 134 includes a flexible cloth covering the flexible connecting interface 132 for shielding and protecting. In other words, the flexible material 134 and the flexible connecting interface 132 are stacked together, and are mounted on the camera unit 110 (further electrically connected to the lens 112) and fixed to an end of the sliding member 120 adjacent to the camera unit 110 by a fixing member (e.g., a screw). However, the composition and connection manner of the flexible connecting element 130 can be adjusted according to the requirement (e.g. only having the flexible connecting interface 132 and not having the flexible material 134), and the invention is not limited thereto.
Thus, as shown in fig. 2A, when the camera unit 110 is located at the closed position, the lens 112, the sliding member 120 and the flexible connecting member 130 are hidden in the body 52. In particular, when the electronic device 50 of fig. 1 is in the closed state (i.e., the bodies 52 and 54 are stacked on each other), the camera unit 110 is located in the closed position and can be received in the recess 56, and when the electronic device 50 of fig. 1 is in the open state (i.e., the body 52 is standing on the body 54), the camera unit 110 can also be located in the closed position and provide the privacy protection function.
Next, as shown in fig. 2B, when the camera unit 110 rotates from the closed position to the open position, the user first pushes the camera unit 110 to rotate relative to the body 52. At this time, since the first magnetic attraction portion 114 and the second magnetic attraction portion 122 are attracted to each other, even though no physical rotation axis is disposed between the electronic device 50 and the camera module 100, the camera unit 110 can rotate relative to the body 52 through the attraction connection between the first magnetic attraction portion 114 and the second magnetic attraction portion 122. As long as the first magnetic attraction portion 114 and the second magnetic attraction portion 122 are located within a predetermined distance (as shown in fig. 2B), the camera unit 110 can be stably rotated relative to the body 52. In this process, the camera unit 110 pulls the flexible connecting member 130, and the sliding member 120 is driven by the flexible connecting member 130 to move in a direction out of the body 52. In other words, the sliding member 120 is configured to move/slide between the inner cover 52a and the outer cover 52b relative to the body 52 by the driving of the camera unit 110 and the flexible connecting member 130.
Subsequently, as shown in fig. 2C, when the camera unit 110 is located at the open position, the camera unit 110 pulls the flexible connecting member 130 to drive the sliding member 120 to move, so that the lens 112 and the flexible connecting member 130 are exposed from the body 52. In particular, when the camera unit 110 is in the open position, the flexible connecting member 130 is pulled to drive the sliding member 120 to move to protrude from the body 52, so that a recess is formed between the sliding member 120 and the outer cover 52b of the body 52, and the camera unit 110 can be supported between the protruding sliding member 120 and the outer cover 52b of the body 52 (i.e., on the recess). The second magnetic attraction portion 122 disposed on the slider 120 still maintains the attraction connection with the first magnetic attraction portion 114 disposed on the camera unit 110. Thus, when the electronic device 50 of fig. 1 is in an open state (i.e., the body 52 stands on the body 54), the camera unit 110 can be further located at an open position to provide a camera operation function.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, when the camera unit 110 is located at the open position, the flexible connecting element 130 is also pulled out of the body 52 to be exposed. At this time, since the flexible material 134 covers the flexible connection interface 132, the flexible connection interface 132 can be shielded and protected by the flexible material 134, the protruded sliding member 120 and the camera unit 110. In addition, since the flexible material 134 is an exposed portion of the flexible connecting member 130, the surface of the flexible material 134 can be provided with a decorative pattern according to the requirement. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be modified according to the requirement (for example, only the flexible connecting interface 132 can be disposed without disposing the flexible material 134).
Fig. 3A is another partial schematic view of the camera module of fig. 1. FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the camera module of FIG. 3A in other states. Referring to fig. 2A to fig. 3B, in the present embodiment, the camera module 100 further includes a reset element 140 disposed between the body 52 and an end of the sliding element 120 opposite to the camera unit 110. More specifically, the restoring member 140 is disposed between the inner cover 52a and the outer cover 52b, and connects the end 124 of the sliding member 120 with the bottom wall 52c of the housing 52. The reset 140 is in an initial state (shown in fig. 3A) when the camera unit 110 is in the closed position (shown in fig. 2A). Further, the reset element 140 is stretched (as shown in fig. 3B) when the camera unit 110 rotates from the closed position (as shown in fig. 2A) to the open position (as shown in fig. 2C) to accumulate a reset force, and is restored to the initial state (as shown in fig. 3A) by releasing the reset force and drives the sliding element 120 to move into the body 52 when the camera unit 110 rotates from the open position (as shown in fig. 2C) to the closed position (as shown in fig. 2A).
In this embodiment, since the restoring force of the restoring element 140 is smaller than the attraction force between the first magnetic attraction part 114 and the second magnetic attraction part 122, when the camera unit 110 is located at the open position, under the condition that the first magnetic attraction part 114 and the second magnetic attraction part 122 are attracted to each other, the restoring element 140 is maintained in the stretching state, and the sliding element 120 is driven to move into the body 52 by releasing the restoring force until the first magnetic attraction part 114 and the second magnetic attraction part 122 are released from attraction in the process that the camera unit 110 rotates from the open position to the closed position. At this time, the flexible connecting element 130 is also hidden in the body 52 again along with the driving of the sliding element 120. It should be noted that the resetting element 140 is provided to facilitate the resetting of the sliding element 120 and the flexible connecting element 130, but in other embodiments not shown, the sliding element 120 and the flexible connecting element 130 can also be reset by self-weight or manually by a user, and the invention is not limited to the type and arrangement of the resetting element 140.
Fig. 4A is a partial schematic view of a camera module according to another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 4B and 4C are schematic views illustrating the camera module of fig. 4A in other states. Referring to fig. 4A to 4C, in the present embodiment, the camera module 100a also has a structure and a function similar to those of the camera module 100 shown in fig. 2A to 2C, and a main difference is that in the camera module 100a, one of the body 52 and the sliding member 120 (for example, the body 52) has a second magnetic attraction portion 52 d. More specifically, the second magnetic portion 52d includes a magnetic member (e.g., an iron member) disposed at an end of the body 52 (e.g., the cover 52b) adjacent to the camera unit 110, but the second magnetic portion 52d may also be a magnet, and although the second magnetic portion 52d is illustrated as a part of the cover 52b, when the second magnetic portion 52d is a magnetic member, the second magnetic portion 52d may also be disposed over the cover 52b (i.e., the entire cover 52b has magnetism), and the invention is not limited thereto. Therefore, the first magnetic attraction portion 114 and the second magnetic attraction portion 52d can be attracted to each other without any other external force, so that the camera unit 110 and the slider 120/body 52 can be maintained at predetermined relative positions (e.g., a closed position or an open position).
Thus, as shown in fig. 4A, when the camera unit 110 is located at the closed position, the lens 112, the sliding member 120 and the flexible connecting member 130 are hidden in the body 52, thereby providing the privacy protection function. Next, as shown in fig. 4B, when the camera unit 110 rotates from the open position to the open position, the user first pushes the camera unit 110 to rotate relative to the body 52 through the attraction connection between the first magnetic attraction part 114 and the second magnetic attraction part 52 d. In this process, the camera unit 110 pulls the flexible connecting member 130, and the sliding member 120 is driven by the flexible connecting member 130 to move in a direction out of the body 52. Subsequently, as shown in fig. 4C, when the camera unit 110 is located at the open position, the camera unit 110 pulls the flexible connecting member 130 to drive the sliding member 120 to move, so that the lens 112 and the flexible connecting member 130 are exposed from the body 52. At this time, the camera unit 110 is carried on the recess formed by the sliding member 120 and the outer cover 52b, and the second magnetic portion 52d disposed on the body 52 still maintains the attraction connection with the first magnetic portion 114 disposed on the camera unit 110. Thus, when the electronic device 50 of fig. 1 is in an open state (i.e., the body 52 stands on the body 54), the camera unit 110 can be located at an open position to provide camera operation functions.
Accordingly, the second magnetic attraction portion is not limited to being disposed on the body 52 or the sliding member 120. Furthermore, in other embodiments not shown, an embodiment in which the second magnetic attraction portion 52d is disposed on the body 52 (for example, the outer cover 52b) and the second magnetic attraction portion 122 is disposed on the sliding member 120 may also be adopted. That is, either or both of the body 52 and the slider 120 may be provided with a so-called "second magnetic attraction portion". As long as the first magnetic attraction portion 114 of the camera unit 110 and the second magnetic attraction portion 122/52d on the sliding member 120/the body 52 can be attracted to each other to provide the function of rotating the camera unit 110 relative to the body 52 instead of a physical rotation axis, the invention is not limited thereto.
Fig. 5 is a partial schematic view of a camera module of yet another embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 5, in the present embodiment, the camera module 100b also has a structure and a function similar to those of the camera module 100 shown in fig. 2A to 2C, and the main difference is that in the camera module 100b, the camera unit 110b further includes a third magnetic attraction portion 116 disposed on a side of the camera unit 110b opposite to the lens 112, and the body 52 further includes a fourth magnetic attraction portion 52e disposed on an outer side of the body 52 (e.g., the outer cover 52 b). Thus, after the camera unit 110b is located at the open position shown in fig. 2C, the camera unit 110b can be further turned outward and fixed to the outer side of the body 52 (e.g., the outer cover 52b) by the third magnetic attraction portion 116 and the fourth magnetic attraction portion 52e being attracted to each other.
Specifically, in the present embodiment, the length of the flexible connecting member 130 is set to be longer than the length of the flexible connecting member 130 shown in fig. 2A to 2C, so as to allow the camera unit 110b to be further turned from the open position (shown in fig. 2C) to the outside of the body 52. At this time, although the first magnetic attraction part 114 and the second magnetic attraction part 122 are difficult to attract each other due to the distance between the camera unit 110b and the slider 120 becoming longer, the camera unit 110b can be fixed to the outside of the body 52 (e.g., the outer cover 52b) by the attraction connection of the third magnetic attraction part 116 and the fourth magnetic attraction part 52e because the third magnetic attraction part 116 and the fourth magnetic attraction part 52e are additionally provided on the camera unit 110b and the body 52. Thus, when the electronic device 50 of fig. 1 is in an open state (i.e., the body 52 stands on the body 54), the camera unit 110b can be further turned to the outside of the body 52 to provide camera operation functions at different angles, in addition to being able to rotate between the closed position (as shown in fig. 2A) and the open position (as shown in fig. 2C).
In addition, in the embodiment, since the camera unit 110b can be further turned outward from the open position, the camera module 100b is also provided with a mechanism for preventing the camera unit 110b from moving excessively. Specifically, referring to fig. 5, in the present embodiment, the sliding member 120b has a limiting bump 126 disposed at an end of the sliding member 120b opposite to the camera unit 110b (i.e., the end 124 of the sliding member 120 b). The body 52 has a pair of limit stops 52f, which are disposed on the inner cover 52a and the outer cover 52b respectively and are opposite to each other. Thus, the limit protrusion 126 corresponds to the limit stop 52f in the body 52 to limit the moving range of the sliding member 120b relative to the body 52. However, in other embodiments not shown, the limit bump 126 and the limit stop point 52f may be disposed on the end of the sliding member 120b and the body 52 adjacent to the camera unit 110b instead. Thus, the sliding member 120b does not protrude from the body 52 during the sliding process, and the camera unit 110b is supported by the outer cover 52b and fixed to the second magnetic portion 122 through the first magnetic portion 114. Therefore, the invention does not limit the arrangement positions and the arrangement of the limit bumps 126 and the limit stops 52f, and can be adjusted according to the requirements.
Preferably, the positions of the limiting protrusion 126 and the limiting stopping point 52f are set such that, when the sliding member 120b stops moving relative to the machine body 52 by the limiting protrusion 126 abutting against the limiting stopping point 52f, the camera unit 110b can be turned over to a position where the third magnetic attraction portion 116 and the fourth magnetic attraction portion 52e can be attracted and connected. That is, the arrangement of the limit bump 126 and the limit stop point 52f can prevent the sliding member 120b from moving excessively, but does not affect the function of the camera unit 110b flipping outwards to connect the third magnetic portion 116 and the fourth magnetic portion 52 e. Therefore, the arrangement of the limiting bump 126 and the limiting stop 52f can also be applied to the camera module 100 shown in fig. 2A to 2C and the camera module 100a shown in fig. 4A to 4C, so that the operation of the camera modules 100 and 100a is more stable.
In summary, in the camera module and the electronic device of the invention, the camera unit is attracted and connected by the first magnetic attraction portion (e.g. magnet) disposed on the camera unit and the second magnetic attraction portion (e.g. magnetic member or magnet) disposed on the body or the sliding member to rotate between the closed position and the open position. When the camera unit is in the closed position, the lens, the sliding member and the flexible connecting member are hidden in the body to provide the privacy protection function of the camera module. When the camera unit is located at the opening position, the camera unit pulls the flexible connecting piece to drive the sliding piece to move, so that the lens and the flexible connecting piece are exposed out of the machine body, and the camera operation function of the camera module is provided. Therefore, the combination of the first magnetic attraction part and the second magnetic attraction part can replace the entity rotating shaft, namely, the camera module and the electronic device can omit the setting of the entity rotating shaft, and the first magnetic attraction part and the second magnetic attraction part are used for providing the function of the camera unit rotating relative to the body. Therefore, the camera module and the electronic device can provide the rotation operation function of the camera module on the basis of maintaining the narrow frame design.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.