JP2003110663A - Mobile phone with camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile phone with camera that can pick up images as many as possible with the camera. SOLUTION: A DSP 110a receives a message from a base station and calculates an interval time T1 to await reception of the message (steps 200, 230), determines whether or not the interval time T1 is longer than an image pickup time T2 being a prescribed time and permits the image pickup with the camera 70 when the interval time T1 is longer than the time T2 being the prescribed time (Step 250).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera-equipped mobile phone equipped with a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a mobile phone, a mobile phone has been proposed which executes a camera image pick-up process while waiting.
In this, the image pickup by the camera and the display of the picked-up image on the color liquid crystal display are repeated. Therefore, the color liquid crystal display can dynamically display the captured image, and the color liquid crystal display can function as a finder.

[0003]

However, in general, in a mobile phone, it is necessary to intermittently receive a paging channel in order to receive a message indicating incoming call information, base station information, etc. in a standby mode.

If the paging channel reception process and the camera image pickup process are executed by different computers,
Although the reception process and the camera imaging process can be executed independently of each other, the cost is increased because a computer needs to be added.

On the other hand, if the receiving process and the camera image pick-up process are executed by the same computer, high cost can be avoided. In this case, it is necessary to prioritize the reception process over the camera imaging process and execute the camera imaging process as many times as possible while the reception process is not executed.
Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether or not the camera imaging process is possible without hindering the execution of the reception process.

In view of the above points, the present invention provides a camera-equipped mobile phone capable of increasing the number of times of camera image pickup by determining whether or not camera image pickup processing is possible without hindering execution of reception processing. The purpose is to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a camera-equipped mobile phone comprising a camera (70) for taking an image with a camera according to the invention of claim 1, which is a base station. A receiving means (200) for receiving a message from the user, a calculating means (230) for calculating a waiting time for waiting for the reception of the message, and determining whether or not the waiting time is longer than a predetermined time. A determination means (250) for determining whether or not camera image capturing by the camera is possible, and an image capturing means (260) for allowing the camera image capturing when the determination means determines that the camera image capturing is possible. Is characterized by.

As described above, by determining whether or not the standby time is longer than the predetermined time, it is determined whether or not the camera can image the camera. For this reason, it is possible to properly determine whether or not the camera is capable of capturing an image with the camera, and thus the number of times of capturing with the camera can be increased.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera-equipped mobile phone equipped with a camera (70) for taking an image of a camera, the receiving means (200) performing a process of receiving a message from a base station, and receiving the message. The first calculation means (230A) for calculating the standby time for waiting for the camera and the second calculation means (29 for calculating the imaging time required for camera imaging).
0) and whether or not the standby time is longer than the image capturing time to determine whether or not camera image capturing by the camera is possible, and camera image capturing is possible by the determining unit. And an image pickup means (260) for making a camera image by the camera when it is determined that

As described above, by determining whether or not the standby time is longer than the image capturing time, it is determined whether or not camera image capturing by the camera is possible. Here, the image pickup time is not a fixed value but is calculated, and whether or not camera image pickup by a camera is possible can be determined more favorably than in the invention according to claim 1. As compared with the invention described above, a larger number of camera images can be taken.

Here, as in the invention described in claim 3,
The camera has a camera device (71) that converts light received from an imaging target into electric charges and stores the electric charges. You may make it calculate by.

In the invention described in claim 4, the judging means is
It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not the camera is capable of capturing an image each time the reception unit finishes receiving the message.

As a result, since it is possible to make a lot of judgments as to whether or not camera image pickup is possible, it is possible to further increase the number of image pickups by the camera.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, a computer (110a) of a camera-equipped mobile phone equipped with a camera (70) for taking an image of a camera, and a receiving means (200) for receiving a message from a base station, Calculating means (230) for calculating a standby time for waiting for reception of a message
Then, by determining whether the standby time is longer than the predetermined time, it is determined whether the camera can be imaged by the camera, the determination means (250) and the determination means that the camera can be imaged. A program that functions as an image capturing unit (260) that causes a camera to capture an image when determined.

As described above, by determining whether or not the standby time is longer than the fixed time, it is determined whether or not the camera can image. Therefore, similarly to the invention described in claim 1, it is possible to satisfactorily determine whether or not camera image capturing by the camera is possible.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, a computer (110a) of a camera-equipped mobile phone equipped with a camera (70) for taking an image of a camera, and a receiving means (200) for receiving a message from a base station. , A first calculating means (230A) for calculating a standby time for waiting for the reception of a message, a second calculating means (290) for calculating an image capturing time required for camera image capturing, and the standby time is longer than the image capturing time. Judgment means (2) for judging whether or not camera image pickup by the camera is possible
50A), and a program that functions as an image capturing unit (260) that causes the camera to capture an image when the determination unit determines that the camera is capable of capturing an image.

As described above, by determining whether or not the standby time is longer than the image capturing time, it is determined whether or not camera image capturing by the camera is possible. Here, since the imaging time is calculated, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not camera imaging is possible.

Incidentally, the reference numerals in the parentheses of the above-mentioned respective means are examples showing the correspondence with the concrete means described in the respective embodiments described later.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a CDMA camera-equipped mobile phone according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing the front of the camera-equipped mobile phone, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing the back of the camera-equipped mobile phone.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the camera-equipped mobile phone includes a rectangular parallelepiped case 10, and a color liquid crystal display 20, a key operation unit 30, a microphone 40, and a speaker 50 are provided in front of the case 10. Is provided. Further, an antenna 60 which is formed to be expandable and contractible is arranged on the top of the case 10. As shown in FIG. 1B, a camera 70 is arranged on the back surface of the case 10.

Next, the schematic electric circuit configuration of the camera-equipped mobile phone will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic electric circuit configuration of a mobile phone with a camera.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the camera-equipped mobile phone, in addition to the color liquid crystal display 20, the key operation unit 30, the microphone 40, the speaker 50, the antenna 60 and the camera 70, the wireless unit 80 and the voice processing unit 90 are provided. , Storage unit 1
00, a control unit 110, and a drive circuit 120 are provided.

The color liquid crystal display 20 includes a controller 1
It is controlled by 10 to display various images. The key operation unit 30 has keys such as a call key, a call end key, and a cross key. When the user presses each key, a key press signal is output. Further, the microphone 40 receives the transmitted voice and outputs the transmitted voice signal to the voice processing unit 90, and the speaker 50
Receives the reception signal from the voice processing unit 90 and outputs the reception voice.

The antenna 60 receives the downlink communication signal from the base station using radio waves as a medium, and transmits the uplink communication signal to the base station using radio waves as a medium. The radio unit 80 is controlled by the control unit 110, modulates the transmission signal to generate an uplink communication signal, and outputs the uplink communication signal to the antenna 60. The wireless unit 80 is controlled by the control unit 110,
The downlink communication signal is received from the antenna 60, and the downlink communication signal is demodulated to obtain a demodulated signal.

The voice processing unit 90 is controlled by the control unit 110, performs digital-analog conversion processing on the demodulated signal to generate a reception signal, and outputs the reception signal to the speaker 50. In addition, the voice processing unit 90 includes the control unit 1
Controlled by 10, the analog-to-digital conversion processing is performed on the transmission signal to generate a transmission signal, and the transmission signal is output to the wireless unit 80.

The camera 70 has camera devices 71 arranged in a matrix shape toward the back side of the case 10, and each camera device 71 is provided with photodiodes 71r, 71g, 71b, respectively. .

The photodiode 71r receives red light from the object to be imaged, converts it into electric charge, and accumulates it. In addition, the photodiode 71g receives green light from the imaging target, converts it into electric charge, and stores the electric charge. And the photodiode 7
1b receives blue light from the imaging target, converts it into an electric charge, and stores it.

As a result, each camera device 71 converts the red light, the blue light, and the green light into respective charges by the photodiodes 71r, 71g, and 71b, and accumulates the converted charges.

The drive circuit 120 is controlled by the control unit 110 to detect the amount of electric charge accumulated in each camera device 71 and use the accumulated amount of electric charge as detection data in the storage unit 10.
Store to 0.

However, the amount of electric charge accumulated in each camera device 71 indicates the brightness of light received by each photodiode.
Therefore, the brightness of the light received by each photodiode is stored in the storage unit 100 as image data.

Charge accumulation time TZ of each camera device 71
Is calculated by the control unit 110, as will be described later, and is set to be shorter as the amount of light received by each camera device 71 is larger and longer as the amount of light received by each camera device 71 is smaller.

The storage unit 100 stores a computer program of the control unit 110 in addition to various data such as image data and an image pickup flag. The control unit 110 includes a digital signal processor (hereinafter referred to as DSP) 11
0a, the DSP 110a has a standby camera process,
Executes key scan processing, etc.

Since the DSP 110a executes the standby camera process based on the processing result of the key scan process, the key scan process will be described with reference to FIG. 3 prior to the standby camera process. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the key scan process. First, DSP110
a starts executing the computer program according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, it is determined whether or not the key operation unit 30 has been operated to start image pickup by the camera (step 3).
00). Here, when the key operation unit 30 is operated to start image pickup by the camera, the process proceeds to step 310,
The imaging flag of the storage unit 100 is set. On the other hand, when the key operation unit 30 is not operated to start camera image pickup, the image pickup flag of the storage unit 100 is held in the reset state.

Next, in step 320, it is determined whether or not the key operation unit 30 has been operated to end the image pickup by the camera. Here, when the key operation unit 30 is operated to end the image pickup by the camera, the process proceeds to step 330, and the image pickup flag of the storage unit 100 is reset. On the other hand, when the key operation unit 30 is not operated to end the camera imaging, the imaging flag of the storage unit 100 is held in the set state.

Next, the standby camera processing in the DSP 110a will be described with reference to FIGS. Figure 4
5 is a flowchart showing the camera image pickup process, and FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the camera image pickup process.

As shown in FIG. 5, the camera image pickup process is intermittently executed at each time Tm. Here, DSP110
a starts executing the computer program according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step 200, the built-in timer starts counting, and the paging channel is started to be received based on the signal received through the radio circuit 80 through the antenna 60. Then, in step 210,
It is determined whether or not the CDMA operation (processing such as paging channel reception, search, and display) is completed.

When the CDMA operation is completed, the time required for the CDMA operation (hereinafter referred to as the CDMA operation time Δt) is obtained by measuring the time by the built-in timer. However, the CDMA operation time Δt is the time required for receiving the paging channel, etc., and changes depending on the reception state of the paging channel and the processing amount of software.

Next, it is determined whether or not there is a camera image pickup request, and when the image pickup flag in the storage section 110 is set, it is determined that there is a camera image pickup request (step 22).
0). At this time, the interval time T1 until the next CDMA operation is calculated (step 230).

As shown in FIG. 5, the interval time T1 is a period from the completion timing tb1 of the current CDMA operation to the start timing tc of the next CDMA operation.

Here, the time interval Tm for starting the execution of the CDMA operation is determined by the communication protocol. So CDM
As described above, the A operation time Δt is obtained by measuring the time by the built-in timer. Further, by subtracting the CDMA operation time Δt from the time interval Tm, the interval time T1
Can be obtained (T1 = Tm−Δt).

Next, the time required for image pickup by the camera (hereinafter referred to as image pickup time T2) is called from the storage section 110 (step 240). However, the imaging time T2 is a predetermined fixed value, and the maximum time among the imaging times obtained by the experiment is adopted.

Next, it is determined whether or not the image pickup by the camera is possible by determining whether or not the interval time T1 is longer than the image pickup time T2 (step 250). Then, when the interval time T1 is longer than the imaging time T2, it is determined that camera imaging is possible, and the drive circuit 120 and the camera 70 image the camera (step 260).

Specifically, over the charge storage time TZ, each camera device 71 receives the light from the object to be imaged and stores the charge.

Along with this, the drive circuit 120 detects the amount of charge accumulated for each camera device 71, and the detected data is stored as image data in the storage section 100.
To memorize.

Further, the image data is called from the storage unit 100, and the called image data is subjected to image processing and displayed on the color liquid crystal display 20. As the image processing, color reduction processing, hue adjustment processing, and the like are adopted.

Next, it is determined whether or not camera image pickup is still required (step 270). Here, when the image pickup flag of the storage unit 100 is set, it is determined that the camera image pickup is continuously requested, and step 2
Proceed to 30. On the other hand, when the image pickup flag is reset, it is determined that the camera image pickup is not continuously requested, the camera image pickup is prohibited, and the sleep state is set.

According to this embodiment, the DSP 110a of the camera-equipped mobile phone receives the message from the base station and calculates the interval time T1 (standby time) for waiting for the reception of the message.

Here, by determining whether or not the interval time T1 is longer than the image capturing time T2 which is a fixed time, it is determined whether or not the camera 70 is allowed to capture an image. As a result, it is possible to favorably determine whether or not camera image capturing is permitted, and thus the number of camera image capturing operations can be increased.

Then, each time the CDMA operation time Δt is completed, it is determined whether or not camera image pickup is permitted. Therefore, it is suitable for increasing the number of times of imaging by the camera.

Further, in the present embodiment, an example of determining whether or not the interval time T1 is longer than the image capturing time T2 of a fixed time in determining whether or not to permit the camera 70 to capture an image will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be performed as follows. That is, the imaging time T
2 may not be a fixed time, but may be a predetermined time, and the predetermined time may be varied by various parameters. (Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, the image pickup time T2, which is a fixed time, is adopted in determining whether or not the camera image pickup is permitted. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The time T1a that has elapsed may be shorter than the imaging time T2 (T1a <T2).

In this case, from the end timing tb2 of actual camera image pickup to the start timing t of the next CDMA operation.
In the period up to c, it may be determined that the camera imaging is prohibited even though the camera imaging is possible.

Therefore, in the second embodiment, the image pickup time (hereinafter referred to as the image pickup time T3) is calculated before the image pickup by the camera, and it is determined whether or not the camera image pickup is permitted using the image pickup time T3.

In this embodiment, the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is adopted instead of the flowchart shown in FIG. However, steps 200 to 230 and 270 shown in FIG. 6 are the same as steps 200 to 230 and 27 shown in FIG.
It is the same as 0.

Therefore, the DSP 110a performs the camera image pickup process according to the flowchart shown in FIG. However,
The camera image capturing process is performed at the time Tm as in the first embodiment.
It is executed intermittently every time. First, the DSP 110a starts executing the computer program according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, after the processing of steps 200 to 220,
In step 230, the interval time T1 from the completion timing tb of the current CDMA operation to the start timing tc of the next CDMA operation is calculated.

Next, each image pickup parameter for camera image pickup is called from the storage section 110 (step 280). As each imaging parameter, the charge accumulation time TZ, the imaging illuminance data Da, the data processing time TX, the data transfer time TY, and the display time TV are adopted.

Here, the charge storage time TZ is the time when the charge is stored in each camera device 71 at the time of the previous photographing. The imaging illuminance data is an average value of the amount of electric charge accumulated in each camera device 71 at the time of the previous photographing.

The data transfer time TY is the time required to transfer the image data obtained by each camera device 71 to the color liquid crystal display 20 via the memory 100 through the drive circuit 120. The data processing time TX is
This is the time required for image processing of the image data from each camera device 71.

As the image processing, color reduction processing, hue adjustment processing and the like are adopted. Also, the data processing time T
X, the data transfer time TY, and the display time TV are preset.

Next, the image pickup time T3 required for image pickup by the camera is calculated (step 290). Specifically, the current charge storage time (hereinafter, simply referred to as charge storage time TZA),
The data processing time TX, the data transfer time TY, and the display time TV are added to obtain the imaging time T3 (= TZA + TX + T
Y + TV). Further, in the calculation of the charge storage time TZa, the image pickup illuminance data D, the predetermined threshold value, and the previous charge storage time TZ are adopted.

Then, the image pickup illuminance data D is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and when the image pickup illuminance data D is larger than the predetermined threshold value, the charge accumulation time TZa is obtained by subtracting a predetermined time Δtz from the charge accumulation time TZ. Required (TZa =
TZ-Δtz). On the other hand, when the image pickup illuminance data is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the charge accumulation time TZa is obtained by adding the predetermined time Δtz to the charge accumulation time TZ (TZa = TZ + Δtz).

Next, at step 250A, the interval time T1 is compared with the imaging time T3. Then, when the interval time T1 is longer than the imaging time T3, it is determined that camera imaging is possible, and the drive circuit 12
0 and the camera 70 capture an image of the camera (step 2
60A).

Specifically, over the charge storage time TZa,
Each of the camera devices 71 receives light from the imaging target and accumulates electric charges. Accordingly, the drive circuit 1
By 20, the stored charge amount for each camera device 71 is stored in the storage unit 100 as image data. Further, the image data from the storage unit 100 is subjected to image processing and displayed on the color liquid crystal display 20.

Next, at the time of this image pickup, the current image pickup illuminance data Da is obtained by averaging the charge amounts accumulated for each photodiode of the camera device 71, and the image pickup illuminance data Da and the charge storage time TZa are obtained. It is stored in the storage unit 110 for the next imaging (step 26).
1). After that, the procedure proceeds to Step 270, and when it is determined that the camera imaging is continuously requested, Step 2
Proceed to 30.

Next, a specific operation of the DSP 110a will be described based on the time chart shown in FIG. First, wake up CD at timing ta
Start the MA operation. After that, at timing tb1, the CD
When the MA operation is completed, the interval time T1 and the imaging time T3 are obtained at the timing tb1.

Accordingly, when the interval time T1 is longer than the image pickup time T3, it is determined that the camera can pick up the image, and the image is picked up by the camera.

Next, when the image pickup by the camera is completed at the timing tb2, at the timing tb2, the turban time T
1 ′ and the imaging time T3 ′ are obtained. Accordingly, when the interval time T1 ′ is longer than the imaging time T3 ′, it is determined that camera imaging is possible, and camera imaging is performed again.

Next, the image pickup by the camera is performed at the timing tb3.
When completed, the interval time T1 ″ and the imaging time T3 ″ are obtained at the timing tb3. Accordingly, when the interval time T1 ″ is shorter than the imaging time T3 ″, it is determined that camera imaging is impossible,
Prohibit camera imaging.

The features of this embodiment will be described below. First, the charge accumulation time TZa is obtained prior to camera image pickup, and the image pickup time T3 is calculated based on the charge accumulation time TZa.
Ask for. In addition to this, the interval time T1 (T
1′T1 ″) and comparing the image capturing time T3 with the interval time T1 to determine whether or not camera image capturing is possible.

Here, the image pickup time T3 is not a fixed value, but is calculated based on the charge accumulation time TZ at the time of the previous photographing. That is, since the image capturing time T3 is obtained based on the image capturing environment such as illuminance, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not camera image capturing is possible. Therefore, a larger number of camera image capturing can be performed as compared with the first embodiment. .

In implementing the present invention, the camera image pickup process and the CDMA operation may be executed by a computer other than the DSP.

In each of the above embodiments, the camera-equipped mobile phone having the camera 70 built-in has been described. However, the invention is not limited to this, and the image pickup process of the camera 70 and the paging reception process are executed by the same computer such as DSP. As long as it is a mobile phone, the camera 70 may be adopted separately from the mobile phone.

Further, in implementing the present invention, CDMA
A mobile phone of various types other than the mobile phone of the type may be applied.

Further, a program for executing the above-described functions is distributed via a network, or stored in a storage medium and distributed, and the program is downloaded by using the communication function of the mobile phone, installed, and used. It may be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a camera-equipped mobile phone according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic electric circuit configuration of the camera-equipped mobile phone shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a key scan process in the DSP shown in FIG.

4 is a flowchart showing standby camera processing in the DSP shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the standby camera process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing standby camera processing in the DSP according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing standby camera processing in the DSP according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

70 ... Camera, 110a ... DSP

Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C022 AA12 AC03 AC31 AC41 AC69                 5K027 AA11 GG08 HH26                 5K067 AA34 BB04 CC22 DD27 DD52                       FF05 GG11

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mobile phone with a camera, comprising a camera (70) for taking an image of a camera, the receiving means (2) performing a process of receiving a message from a base station.
00), a calculation means (230) for calculating a standby time for waiting for the reception of the message, and determining whether or not the standby time is longer than a predetermined time so that the camera captures the image by the camera. A determination means (250) for determining whether or not it is possible, and an image pickup means (2) for causing the camera to capture an image when the determination means determines that the camera can capture an image.
60) and a mobile phone with a camera. 2. A mobile phone with a camera, comprising a camera (70) for capturing an image, said receiving means (2) performing a process of receiving a message from a base station.
00), a first calculation means (230A) for calculating a standby time for waiting for the reception of the message, a second calculation means (290) for calculating an imaging time required for the camera imaging, and the standby time A determination unit (250A) that determines whether or not the camera can be imaged by the camera by determining whether or not is longer than the image capturing time; and that the camera can be imaged by the determination unit. An image pickup means (260) for causing the camera to take an image when the determination is made, and a camera-equipped mobile phone. 3. The camera has a camera device (71) for converting light received from an image-captured object into electric charge and storing the charge, and the second calculating means calculates the image-capturing time from the previous camera image-capture. 3. The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 2, wherein the calculation is performed according to the charge accumulation time at time. 4. The determining unit determines whether or not the camera can capture an image of the camera each time the receiving unit finishes receiving the message. The mobile phone with a camera described in 1 above. 5. A receiving means (2) for receiving a message from a base station by a computer (110a) of a camera-equipped mobile phone equipped with a camera (70) for taking an image of a camera.
00), a calculation means (230) for calculating a standby time for waiting for the reception of the message, and determining whether or not the standby time is longer than a predetermined time so that the camera captures the image by the camera. A determination means (250) for determining whether or not it is possible, and an image pickup means (2) for causing the camera to capture an image when the determination means determines that the camera can capture an image.
60) A program that functions as 6. Receiving means (2) for receiving a message from a base station by a computer (110a) of a camera-equipped mobile phone equipped with a camera (70) for taking an image of a camera.
00), a first calculation means (230A) for calculating a standby time for waiting for the reception of the message, a second calculation means (290) for calculating an imaging time required for the camera imaging, and the standby time A determination unit (250A) that determines whether or not the camera can be imaged by the camera by determining whether or not is longer than the image capturing time; and that the camera can be imaged by the determination unit. A program which, when determined, causes the camera to function as an image capturing means (260) for capturing an image with the camera.