JP4018582B2 - Mobile communication terminal with camera and flash function - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in which a camera function and a flash function are separately provided in a housing having an operation unit and a housing having a display unit, respectively.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) can transmit and receive voice information, character information, and image information. In particular, since there is an increasing need for transmitting and receiving image information taken by a camera, a mobile communication terminal equipped with a camera is becoming popular. In addition, lighting is necessary to shoot a subject in a dark place, and a camera with a flash function has been proposed (Patent Document 1).
[0003]
By the way, as a portable communication terminal provided with a camera and a flash, an image displayed on the display unit is provided with a display unit on a surface other than the surface having the photographing window of the camera, as in the portable communication terminal described in Patent Document 1. A display unit is provided on a surface having a shooting window of a camera and a light emission window of a flash, such as a camera that shoots a subject other than the user while viewing the camera, or a portable communication terminal described in Patent Document 2. It has been proposed that the user himself / herself can be photographed while confirming the image displayed on the screen, and that an optical viewfinder is provided so that subjects other than the user can be photographed by the optical viewfinder.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-345899 A [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-320454
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, since the camera and the flash are provided at a predetermined position of the same housing in the portable communication terminals described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, the manner in which the flash is applied to the subject is changed. There was a problem that the degree of freedom of photography could not be obtained.
[0006]
In addition, this type of mobile communication terminal is premised on shooting by pressing an operation key with a finger while holding it with one hand, so there is a high possibility of camera shake during shooting. There is also a disadvantage that it is difficult to carry out well.
[0007]
In addition, recently, a mobile communication terminal in which a display unit and an operation unit are provided in separate housings and the two housings are connected to each other is equipped with a camera and a flash function. The camera and the flash are provided at predetermined positions in the same housing, and there is no freedom of shooting like the portable communication terminals described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, and there is a risk of camera shake during shooting. there were.
[0008]
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide flash light to a subject from a user's favorite position at the time of shooting, and to stably shoot a mobile communication terminal. An object of the present invention is to provide a portable communication terminal having a camera and a flash function that can be used.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
That is, the invention according to claim 1 is configured such that the first casing and the second casing that are overlapped with each other can be relatively rotated around an axis line along the overlapping direction of the two casings. In the portable communication terminal having a camera and a flash function, each of which includes an operation unit and a display unit in the first and second casings, respectively, a flash is provided in the first casing, and the second The camera is provided with a camera, and the camera's shooting window and the flash's light emission window can be positioned in a shootable state by rotating both the casings from the overlapping position. And
[0010]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the mobile communication terminal having the camera and the flash function according to the first aspect, the two housings are photographed by an overlapping position, a photographing window of the camera, and a light emission window of the flash. It is possible to position at each possible rotation angle position.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the portable communication terminal having the camera and the flash function according to the first or second aspect, the flash light emission window is located at the second housing at the overlapping position of the two housings. It is characterized by being covered by the body.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the portable communication terminal having the camera and flash function according to any one of the first to third aspects, the surface of the first housing having the flash emission window is arranged on the surface of the first casing. A display surface of the display unit is provided.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the mobile communication terminal having the camera and flash function according to any one of the first to third aspects, the first of the flash on the side opposite to the surface having the light emission window. The display surface of the said display part is provided in the housing | casing surface, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the portable communication terminal having the camera and flash function according to any one of the first to third aspects, a subject is formed on a surface of the first casing having the flash emission window. It is provided with the reflective surface which visually recognizes.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the mobile communication terminal having the camera and flash function according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, any one of a plurality of operation keys constituting the operation unit. One operation key functions as a photographing button of the camera.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the mobile communication terminal having a flash function and the camera according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the second casing is opposed to the first casing. A side surface adjacent to the surface is provided with at least one operation key among a plurality of operation keys constituting the operation unit, and one operation key provided on the side surface of the second housing functions as a shooting button of the camera. It was made to do.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the component parts described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to the description unless otherwise specified. It is just an example.
[0012]
1 is a perspective view showing an example of a mobile communication terminal having a camera and a flash function according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the mobile communication terminal of FIG. 1 viewed from the front side, and FIG. 3 is a mobile phone of FIG. It is the reverse view which looked at the open state of the communication terminal from the reverse side.
The illustrated mobile communication terminal having a camera and a flash function includes a first casing 10 and a second casing 11, and both casings 10, 11 are centered on a rotating shaft 16 and both casings 10, 11. It is relatively rotatable around an axis along the overlapping direction. That is, the first housing 10 rotates relative to the second housing 11 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The state shown in FIG. 1 is a state in which the casings 10 and 11 are overlapped so that the overlapping area is maximized (the relative positional relationship between the casings 10 and 11 in this state is hereinafter referred to as the overlapping position). .
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, the first casing 10 of the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes a display unit 15, and the front side 10 b of the first casing 10 includes a display surface 15 a of the display unit 15. is doing. The display unit 15 is a liquid crystal display, for example. The second housing 11 is provided with an operation unit 14 including operation keys 14a and 14b, and the main operation keys 14a are arranged on the front side 11b of the second housing 11 and are auxiliary. The operation keys 14b are arranged on the side surface 11c adjacent to the front side 11b of the second casing 11. When the user of the mobile communication terminal handles character information, the user can visually recognize the information displayed on the display surface 15a and can operate various functions of the mobile communication terminal using the operation keys 14a or 14b. Yes.
[0014]
The first casing 10 is provided with a flash (not shown), a flash light emission window 13 is provided on the back side 10a of the first casing 10, and the second casing 11 has a camera ( (Not shown), and a shooting window 12 of the camera is provided on the back surface side 11a of the second casing 11. The photographing window 12 is a photographing lens, and an imaging element such as a CCD or a CMOS is mounted behind the photographing window 12 to constitute an electronic camera. The light emission window 13 of the flash is a transparent plate, and a light emitting element such as a white LED or a discharge tube and a reflector that reflects light from the light emitting element are mounted behind the light emission window 13 to constitute a flash. It is supposed to be. Then, by rotating both the housings 10 and 11 shown in FIG. 1 relatively from the overlapping position, the state shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 can be obtained. Both the window 12 and the light emission window 13 of the flash can be exposed, and the camera is ready for photographing.
[0015]
If comprised in this way, the user of the said portable communication terminal will rotate the 1st housing | casing 10 relatively with respect to the 2nd housing | casing 11, and the light emission window 13 of a flash will be the imaging | photography window of a camera. 12 can be arranged at the user's preferred position. That is, the flash light can be given to the subject from the position desired by the user.
[0016]
As for the relative angular position of the first casing 10 with respect to the second casing 11, the rotational angle positions and the overlapping positions at which the photographing window 12 of the camera and the light emission window 13 of the flash can be photographed. It is comprised so that positioning is possible. That is, a recess (not shown) is provided at a predetermined position around the rotation shaft 16 on the back surface side 10 a of the first housing 10, and the rotation shaft is provided on the front side 11 b of the second housing 11. A convex portion (not shown) that can be fitted into the concave portion is provided around 16, and the convex portion is biased toward the first housing 10 by an elastic member such as a spring. And when the said housings | casings 10 and 11 rotate relatively, if the said convex part comes to the position of the said recessed part, a convex part will fit in a recessed part and will come to position both housing | casing 10 and 11. FIG. ing. Note that when a certain force is applied in the direction of rotation of the housings 10 and 11, the convex portion moves to the second housing 11 side, the fitting with the concave portion is released, and the rotation can be started again. It is like that.
[0017]
Then, in order to perform camera shooting using this mobile communication terminal, when shooting with the longitudinal direction of the second casing 11 being vertically oriented as shown in FIG. 3, and as shown in FIG. In any case where the longitudinal direction of the casing 11 is taken sideways, the flash light emission window 13 can be arranged so as to be positioned immediately above the imaging window 12 of the camera. The flash emission window 13 is positioned directly beside the camera shooting window 12 both when shooting with the longitudinal direction of the camera 2 taken vertically and when shooting with the longitudinal direction of the second housing 11 turned horizontally. The position of the light emission window 13 of the flash can be freely adjusted according to the user's preference, and various images can be taken by applying the flash light to the subject from various angles. Can That.
[0018]
The mobile communication terminal shown in FIG. 1 assigns a function as a shooting button to any one of the operation keys 14a and the operation keys 14b among the plurality of operation keys 14a and 14b constituting the operation unit 14. Depending on the setting, the flash light can be emitted or not emitted from the light emission window 13 when the photographing button is pressed. For this reason, there is no need to provide a separate shooting button. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when shooting with the camera in the open state in which both housings 10 and 11 are rotated 180 ° from the overlapping position, the shooting is performed. The user can easily take a picture by pressing the operation key 14a to which the button is assigned, and, as shown in FIG. When photographing with a camera while being rotated 90 ° with respect to the housing 10, photographing can be easily performed by pressing the operation key 14 b to which a photographing button is assigned.
[0019]
In particular, as shown in FIG. 5, when shooting a subject in a horizontal position, a user's finger can easily reach the shooting button while holding the mobile communication terminal with both hands, and the mobile communication terminal is operated with one hand. It is possible to shoot in a more stable state. This makes it difficult for shooting defects such as camera shake to occur.
[0020]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the flash light emission window 13 is covered by the second casing 11 at the overlapping position of the casings 10 and 11.
[0021]
Thereby, when not in use, the light emitting window 13 of the flash can be prevented from being damaged, and clear flash light can always be provided.
[0022]
In the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, it is preferable to provide a reflective surface 17 on the back surface side 10 a of the first housing 10 having the flash emission window 13. With this configuration, when performing self-photographing, the user can take a picture while confirming his / her appearance with the reflecting surface 17, so that self-photographing can be performed satisfactorily.
[0023]
In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the back surface side 10 a of the first housing 10 having the flash light emission window 13 is provided with a display surface 15 a of the display unit 15 instead of the reflection surface 17. Even if the display unit 15 displays an image of the user who is the subject, good self-photographing can be performed.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a camera and a flash function that can provide flash light to a subject from a user's favorite position during shooting and can stably shoot a mobile communication terminal. Can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a mobile communication terminal having a camera and a flash function according to the present invention.
2 is a front view of the mobile communication terminal of FIG. 1 as viewed from the front side.
FIG. 3 is a back view of the mobile communication terminal of FIG. 1 as viewed from the back side.
4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a state when photographing is performed in a horizontal position in the mobile communication terminal of FIG.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an example of a photographing method by the mobile communication terminal of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a back view showing another example of a mobile communication terminal having a camera and a flash function according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 1st housing | casing 11 2nd housing | casing 12 Camera 13 Flash 14 Operation part 14a Operation key 15 Display part 17 Reflecting surface

Claims (8)

The first casing and the second casing that are overlapped with each other are configured to be relatively rotatable around an axis along the overlapping direction of the two casings. In a mobile communication terminal having a separate operation unit and display unit on the body,
The first casing is provided with a flash, the second casing is provided with a camera, and the two casings are rotated from the overlapping position so that the shooting window of the camera and the light emission window of the flash are provided. A mobile communication terminal having a camera and a flash function, characterized in that the camera can be positioned in a state where photographing is possible.   The said both housing | casing can be positioned in each rotation angle position from which a superposition position and the imaging | photography window of the said camera, and the light emission window of the said flash | flash can be image | photographed. A mobile communication terminal with a camera and flash function.   3. The mobile communication terminal having a camera and a flash function according to claim 1, wherein a light emission window of the flash is covered with the second casing at a position where the two casings are overlapped with each other. .   The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a display surface of the display unit on a surface of the first housing having the light emission window of the flash. Communication terminal.   4. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising: a display surface of the display unit on a surface of the first casing on a side opposite to a surface having the light emission window of the flash. Mobile communication terminal with flash function.   4. The camera and flash function according to claim 1, wherein a reflection surface for visually recognizing a subject is provided on a surface of the first housing having the light emission window of the flash. Mobile communication terminal.   The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein any one of the plurality of operation keys constituting the operation unit functions as a shooting button of the camera. A mobile communication terminal having a flash function.   The second casing includes at least one operation key among a plurality of operation keys constituting the operation unit on a side surface adjacent to the surface facing the first casing in the second casing, and the second casing The portable communication terminal having a camera and a flash function according to claim 1, wherein one operation key provided on the side of the camera functions as a shooting button of the camera.

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