JP2000050133A - Portable object for low power consumption, especially watch having camera and radio data transmitting means - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable object whose power consumption is considerably low, especially a watch containing a digital camera and a radio data transmitting means. SOLUTION: A watch 1 especially as a portable object contains a camera for taking a photograph which is digitized later by an analog/digital converter and is stored in a memory circuit. The portable object contains an electronic module which processes digital data corresponding to a picture stored in the portable object and radio-transmits it to a remote electronic reception device 36.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable object with low power consumption, and more particularly to a timepiece including a digital camera and wireless data transmission means.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A portable object with low power consumption generally refers to any type of portable object that consumes about 5 to 50 mW for a current in the range of 1 to 10 mA. Clocks such as wristwatches including a case in which a digital camera is housed are already known. Thus, the wearer of such a watch will have a permanently available camera and can take pictures of, for example, landscapes, family members, or people who have met at work meetings. Once the pictures are taken, they are digitized by an analog / digital converter and stored in a memory circuit. The stored pictures must then be transferred to a remote electronic processing and receiving device, conventionally a personal computer or PC. This transfer operation is performed by an electric cable having one end connected to a clock and the other end connected to a PC. An image transfer cable can be connected to the latter by, for example, ohmic contact made by a part of the watch.

[0003] This solution has the advantage that it is economical in terms of power consumption. Wired transmission of digital data corresponding to pictures stored in memory can be performed at very low currents. Furthermore, during this transfer operation, the power supply of the watch can generally be ensured by the computer itself connected to the main power supply. Conversely, a major drawback of wire transmission lies in the fact that the ohmic contacts required for connecting the transfer cable are extremely detrimental to the closure of the watch. This contact actually constitutes an opening from which moisture, water and debris can easily penetrate the watch case and impair proper operation of the watch. Numerous applications are also known in which a photograph stored by a digital camera is transferred to a remote computer via a radio frequency link after shaping the image signal.

As an example, Serel Franc discloses a safety system for vehicles that transport people, such as taxis.
Reference may be made to EP 0 680 818 filed by ce. In this system, an analog signal from a photographic camera is converted to digital data, compressed, and then transmitted by a wireless transmitter to a central taxi bureau. At the central office, the digital signal is captured by a radio receiver and then decoded by a decoder located at the output of the receiver. Finally, the image is displayed on a television monitor. This system is convenient because a taxi can take pictures of passengers when they carry them. Once the transportation has been carried out successfully and the passenger has paid, the photo is deleted. However, such communication systems using radio frequency radio waves have the disadvantage of consuming large amounts of current. This explains why such solutions have not been used to date, for example on wristwatch-type portable objects with limited power availability. In the case of a taxi, the battery of the vehicle has a power storage capacity large enough to secure power for the camera and the radio frequency radio data transmission means.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned problems and disadvantages by proposing a portable object with very low power consumption, in particular a wristwatch comprising a digital camera and wireless data transmission means. It is to be.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides
A low power consumption portable object that includes a camera for images that is later digitized by an analog / digital converter and then stored in a memory circuit, the digital object corresponding to the image stored in the portable object. A portable object, further comprising an electronic module for processing data and wirelessly transmitting to a remote electronic receiving device.

As a result of the features of the present invention, digital data corresponding to an image stored on a portable object can be transferred to a remote electronic receiving device via a wireless link. Thus, it is no longer necessary to provide a connector for connecting the data transfer wires, whereby a complete watertight seal can be achieved, especially in the case of watches. The lack of a connector can greatly simplify the construction of such a watch by eliminating a considerable number of mechanical parts, thus avoiding the inherent adjustment problems. In addition, the transfer cable is an accessory,
It is easy to forget, but in the case of the present invention, there is no need to worry about it.

The transfer of data stored on a portable object over a wireless link is made possible by careful selection of the components that make up the electronic module for data processing and wireless transmission. This choice is guided by the desire to obtain an electronic module with the lowest operational power consumption. For this purpose, and according to another advantageous feature of the invention, the processing module for the data corresponding to the image stored on the portable object and the wireless transmission module have an architecture dedicated to digital compression computation of the data. Including a processing circuit. In another aspect of the invention, data stored on the portable object is transferred over a radio frequency link to a remote electronic receiving device. In another aspect of the invention, data stored on the portable object is transferred to a remote electronic receiver via an infrared link.

[0009]

Other features and advantages of the present invention are:
It will become more apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention, which is described in connection with the accompanying drawings and is given by way of purely illustrative and non-limiting example. The invention is not limited to wireless transmission of data corresponding to an image stored on a portable object in a particular frequency range. Furthermore, although the following description relates to watches, in particular watches, the invention is not limited to such watches. that is,
Typically, the power consumption is about 5 to 50 mW for a current in the range of 1 to 10 mA, the camera is located in it,
The image can be easily applied to any other portable object that is first digitized by an analog-to-digital converter and then stored in memory. Finally, the invention is equally applicable to wireless transmission of any kind of digital data stored on a portable object.

First, FIG. 1 will be described. This shows a timepiece according to the present invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1. For example, a wristwatch-type timepiece 1 includes a case 2 made of metal or plastic material in a conventional manner according to well-known injection molding techniques. The watch 1 is housed in a case 2,
It also includes a clock actuating mechanism (not shown) which serves as an hour hand and a minute hand, respectively, and which is coupled to time indicators 4, 6 which move on the dial 8. The watch 1 is made watertight by a crystal glass 10 and a glass rim 12. The glass rim is fixedly attached to the case 2 by, for example, bonding or ultrasonic welding. The case 2 is used, for example, to wind a screw of a timepiece operating mechanism of the timepiece 1, or to use the time indicators 4, 6
Middle part 1 with crown 16 mounted to adjust the display of
4 inclusive. The strands 18, 20 of the watch band 22
As in the conventional case, the timepiece 1 is fixed to the intermediate portion 14 of the case 2 and allows the timepiece 1 to be mounted on the wrist 24 of the user.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG.
At 4 is an opening 26 for accommodating a lens assembly 28 of the digital camera 30. The opening 26 is made of a transparent material, for example organic glass, and is closed by a front plate 32 which ensures a complete watertight sealing of the case 2 of the watch 1. One of the important features of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The clock 1 includes an electronic module 34 for processing digital data corresponding to the stored images and for wireless transmission to a remote electronic receiving device 36.

As shown in FIG. 3, the receiving device 36 includes a clock 1, a personal computer 38,
0 or an interface with an external peripheral device such as the television monitor 42. The receiving device 36 can be removed and moved. It is a camera 3
0 and especially intended to allow easier management of the digital data transmission protocol to one of the peripheral devices 38, 40 or 42. Needless to say, the receiving device 36 can be omitted. In such a case, the data corresponding to the image stored in the watch 1 is converted into a format compatible with the peripheral device in advance by transmitting the data to be transmitted to the selected external peripheral device 38,4,4.
0 or 42 directly.

For example, turning the crown 16 allows the user to control the digital camera 30. FIG.
As shown in FIG.
4, 46, 48 and 50. These cells indicate the current mode of operation of the camera 30, i.e. whether the device is switched on or off, whether it is ready to take the next picture, the continuous display mode of the pictures already taken. , Or whether the transfer of digital data corresponding to the image stored in the watch 1 to the remote electronic receiving device 36 has started. The window 52 formed in the dial 8 has
There is also an electro-optical display cell DISP for displaying the scene to be photographed or for continuous display of pictures already taken and temporarily stored in the watch 1.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown various operating devices constituting the electronic data processing and wireless transmission module 34 according to the present invention. According to a first advantageous feature of the present invention, the image sensor SENS of the digital camera 30
Uses COMOS technology. This is the sensor SEN
This means that each photosensitive element of S includes a certain number of CMOS transistors that perform pre-processing of the analog signal output by sensor SENS. Integrated circuits that use CMOS transistors have the advantage that they are characterized by very low power consumption, which only uses current during switching, and quiescent consumption down to the leakage current of such transistors. Is reduced. The sensor SENS preferably has a resolution of 640 × 480 pixels. Each pixel contains 256 density values and is encoded with 8 bits.

According to another advantageous feature of the invention, the image sensor SENS is connected to the display cell DISP by an analog link ANALOG. This solution helps to reduce power consumption when using the display cell DISP as a viewfinder in a conventional camera. With this solution, the scene to be photographed can be displayed directly on the display cell DISP. Without this analog link ANALOG, each scene to be photographed must be digitized beforehand and then processed by the processor before being displayed on the display cell DISP. It is clear that such a process is disadvantageous in terms of power consumption.

During photographing, the analog signal generated by the image sensor SENS is converted to digital data by an analog / digital converter CAN1. Next, these digital data are temporarily stored in a preferably DRAM-type memory MEM1 having a data storage capacity of, for example, 320 Kbytes. The data processing and wireless transmission module 34 according to the invention also comprises a microprocessor PROCESS monitoring the proper operation of the input, processing and transmission process of the digital data corresponding to the images stored in the watch 1.

According to a particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the microprocessor PROCESS forms the data temporarily stored in the memory MEM1, preferably on the same chip as the microprocessor PROCESS, and performs a digital compression calculation of the data. It can be transferred to a data processing circuit COMP with a dedicated architecture to ensure. This basic configuration of the invention is very advantageous from a power consumption point of view. Data digital compression has to perform a number of basic computational operations to ensure the same task, and therefore is not characterized by a microprocessor that uses a significant amount of current, but is characterized by low power consumption It constitutes a repetitive task which is preferably performed by an auxiliary circuit. After compression, the compressed digital data can be stored in the memory MEM2 for a long time. This memory is desirably of the SRAM type, that is, capable of performing a static operation without having to periodically update stored information. Although more expensive, SRAM memory
Preferred over DRAM memory due to lower power consumption. The memory MEM2 has a data storage capacity of, for example, 320 Kbytes.

Prior to instructing the transfer of data corresponding to the image stored in watch 1 to remote electronic receiver 36, the user may wish to first display the photographed picture on display cell DISP. is there. In such a case,
The compressed data stored in the memory MEM2 is read out by the microprocessor PROCESS, partially decompressed and finally displayed on the cell DISP,
It is converted into an analog signal by the digital / analog converter CAN2. For conventional electro-optic display cells, the data displayed on the screen must be updated periodically by refreshing the charge representing such data, even if the data has not changed. You will notice something. This is, of course, very disadvantageous in terms of power consumption. In a preferred alternative embodiment of the invention, the display cell DI
The SP is a permanent reflective cell display, called a bistable or memory display, where data displayed on the screen is refreshed only while moving from one scene to the next.

The compressed data stored in the memory MEM2 is transferred to the remote electronic receiving device 36 via the transmitter TRANSMITT. This transfer is preferably 27 MH
It can run at a data rate of about 100 kbit / s over a wireless link at a frequency of z, or at a data rate of about 114 kbit / s over an infrared link in the low infrared range. It is clear that the invention is not limited to these specific frequency ranges, but can envisage other data transmission frequencies. In the case of a wireless link, when the watch 1 is made of metal, it is advantageous to carry out data transmission through the crystal glass 10 of the watch 1. In the case of an infrared link, data transmission can occur through crystal glass 10 or through lens 28 of camera 30. According to another advantageous feature of the invention, the electronic module 34 may also include a receiver RECEIV for receiving messages transmitted by the remote electronic device 36. These may in particular be confirmation messages indicating that the data transfer from the watch 1 has been completed and that it has been carried out successfully.

The various components of the electronic data processing and wireless transmission module 34 according to the present invention are conventionally
A data bus DATA BUS through which data and program instructions to be processed pass, and an address bus ADDRES through which address signals transmitted by the microprocessor PROCESS for address registers pass.
They are connected to each other by S BUS. Obviously, various simple modifications and variations will fall within the scope of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wristwatch according to an embodiment of the present invention including a camera and processing of data corresponding to an image stored in the wristwatch and wireless transmission means.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the back of the wristwatch shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of a data transmission system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of various devices that make up an electronic module for processing and wireless transmission of data corresponding to an image stored on a portable object.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Clock 2 Case 4 Hour indicator (hour hand) 6 Hour indicator (minute hand) 8 Dial 10 Crystal glass 12 Glass rim 14 Intermediate part 16 Crown 22 Watch band 26 Opening 28 Lens assembly 30 Digital camera 32 Front plate 34 Electronic module 36 Remote electronic receiver

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04B 10/22 H04N 1/00 (72) Inventor Joachim Grup Switzerland Schieh-2003 Neuchâtel-Paul-Lauran 12 Ar (72) Inventor Emil Zuerveger, Switzerland, Schaich-4514, Lomisville Vogäkerstrasse 6, (72) Inventor Laurent Loutier, Switzerland, Schiech-1138

Claims (13)

[Claims] An analog / digital converter (CAN1)
A lens assembly (28) for taking pictures that are digitized by and stored in a memory circuit (MEM1).
(30) equipped with an image sensor (SENS)
And including an electronic module (34) for processing digital data corresponding to the image stored in the portable object and wirelessly transmitting it to a remote electronic receiver (36). A portable object that features. 2. A data processing and wireless transmission module (34) for processing data corresponding to an image stored on a portable object comprises a data processing circuit (COMP) having a dedicated architecture for ensuring digital compression calculations of the data. The portable object according to claim 1, comprising: 3. Each of the digitized data is a DR
AM type and SRAM type memory circuits (MEM1, ME
The portable object according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the portable object is stored in M2). 4. The portable object according to claim 1, comprising a display cell (DISP). 5. The portable object according to claim 4, wherein the display cell (DISP) is a memory reflection cell. 6. A portable object according to claim 1, wherein the image sensor (SENS) uses CMOS technology. 7. An image sensor (SENS) is connected to a display cell (DIS) via an analog link (ANALOG).
The portable object according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the portable object is connected to P). 8. A portable device according to claim 1, wherein the data stored on the portable object is transferred to a remote electronic receiving device via a radio frequency link. Object. 9. The portable object according to claim 8, wherein the transfer of the data stored in the portable object over a radio frequency link is performed at a frequency of 27 MHz. 10. The portable device according to claim 1, wherein data stored in the portable object is transferred to a remote electronic receiving device via an infrared link. object. 11. The portable object according to claim 10, wherein the transfer of the data stored in the portable object via the infrared link is performed in the low-speed infrared range. 12. A digital camera (30) for data transmission.
A portable object according to any of claims 10 or 11, characterized in that it is performed through a lens assembly (28). 13. An electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic module comprises a receiver for receiving messages transmitted by the remote electronic device. The portable object as described.