JP2007067640A - Camera-equipped mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera-equipped mobile phone whereby one camera mechanism such as a rotary mirror mechanism can photograph an object on a front side or a rear side and which can process image data photographed on the front side and the rear side with a resolution different between both the sides. <P>SOLUTION: The camera attached mobile phone 10 with a function of using an optical path switching mechanism 13 to perform switching between object light made incident from the front side of the mobile phone 10 and object light made incident from the rear side and to lead the selected light to a camera unit 12 so as to photograph the video of an object includes: a first image processing section 14 for processing an image photographed by the camera unit 12 at a high resolution; a second image processing section 15 for processing the image at a resolution lower than the resolution of the first image processing section 14; and an image processing switching means 16 for performing switching between the first image processing section 14 and the second image processing section 15, and the image processing switching means 16 switches to the second image processing section 15 when the optical path switching mechanism 13 is subjected to drive control at a position where the object light made incident from the front side is led to the camera unit 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera-equipped mobile phone that can shoot a subject on either the front side or the back side using a single camera mechanism by a rotating mirror mechanism or the like, and in particular, on the front side and the back side. The present invention relates to a camera-equipped mobile phone in which the resolution of captured image data is switched.

  With the development of information processing technology and communication technology in recent years, various portable information communication terminal devices (hereinafter referred to as mobile terminal devices) have become widespread. Such a mobile terminal device is connected to an information distribution server or a desired website that provides various services via a network such as the Internet when the user is out, or receives the service, or acquires information, You can connect to your company's network and acquire information necessary for business.

  Recently, the hardware and software functions of mobile phones have been enhanced, and the functions of conventional mobile terminal devices have been enhanced, and there is a remarkable increase in the penetration rate of mobile phones. The number of operators providing data communication services using mobile phones is also increasing, and it is possible to receive various services such as banking, Internet sales, navigation, payment for transportation and convenience stores, etc. using mobile phones. It has become like this. In particular, mobile phones can be equipped with various options and applications, and the types of services that can be used are increasing.

  As an additional function of such a mobile phone, it is provided with a built-in camera. Using a camera-equipped mobile phone, users can shoot an arbitrary subject at any time and place without having to carry a digital camera individually, and electronically capture the image data captured using the packet communication function. It can be attached to an e-mail or the like and sent to its own computer device or sent to a friend or family member. In addition, proposals have been made to provide a service for sending captured image data to a server in a service center for storage or printing.

  Various types of mobile phones with cameras have been proposed. In general, a lens for imaging is provided on one of the front side and the back side of the mobile phone to shoot and use the user himself / herself. A scene or a person on the side facing the person can be photographed. In this case, the user needs to change the direction of the mobile phone so that the photographing lens faces the subject to be photographed.

  In order to eliminate the complexity of manipulating the direction of the mobile phone depending on the direction of the subject, a shooting lens is installed on the front or back side of the mobile phone, and the optical path is switched by a mirror etc. There are also known mobile phones that are configured and mobile phones that are each equipped with a camera unit on both the front side and the back side.

  For example, a mobile phone configured such that a photographing lens is installed on the front side or the back side of a mobile phone as in the former, and the optical path is switched by a mirror or the like to shoot with a common camera unit is, for example, the following patent document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-232546) and Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-60765).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the mobile phone disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with an image capturing means in the form of a digital video camera (202) at the upper end of a mobile phone (200), and a mirror (204). ) Is supported in a spaced relationship with the video camera. The mobile phone (200) has the normal functions of the display (206), earphone (208), microphone (210) and keypad (212). The dome-shaped mobile phone cover 212 is made of a see-through material such as transparent plastic. The video camera (202) is arranged in a fixed positional relationship with respect to the mobile phone (200), and the camera (202) is appropriately connected to send an image signal to the mobile mobile phone (200).

  The camera lens (214) of the camera (202) is facing upward, and the mirror (204) is mounted on the lens (214) so as to face each other. The mirror (204) is rotatably attached to the video camera (202) by a rotatable attachment 216 in the structure so that it can be rotated, pivoted or turned. The mirror (204) is supported on its central axis in the mirror plane. In the configuration of FIG. 4, the mirror (204) is oriented about the rotatable mounting (216) and its reflective surface faces the mobile phone user (218), so that the mirror is of the user (218). Direct the image to the video camera (202). These images are captured by the video camera (202), processed and transmitted by the mobile phone (200). With such a configuration, it is possible to eliminate the need to move the camera in order to capture a plurality of images.

Further, the mobile phone disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a short-distance shooting camera module 6 and a long-distance camera module fixedly installed in a back-to-back positional relationship within the casing of the mobile phone body. It is composed. In Patent Document 2, as in Patent Document 1, the optical path is switched by controlling the attitude of the rotating mirror mechanism, and the images of the subject on the front and back sides of the mobile phone are guided to a common camera unit. A mobile phone configured to shoot is also disclosed.
JP 2002-232546 A (FIGS. 2 and 4) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-60765 (FIGS. 1, 2, and 6)

  By the way, when analyzing the case of shooting a subject with such a camera-equipped mobile phone, the camera is pointed at the user himself / herself and the background as a subject, and the image data is transmitted to a family member or friend. In some cases, a person or a landscape is photographed as a subject facing the camera in a direction facing the user.

  The image data captured by the camera is processed by a dedicated image processing unit. For example, an image data file such as a color image having a predetermined number of pixels determined by the image processing unit built in the mobile phone, such as 1.2 million pixels or 300,000 pixels. Is configured. The user can attach the image data file to an e-mail and send it to a desired destination, output it to a removable storage medium, connect the removable storage medium to a personal computer, process it, and print it. You can use it out. Therefore, the resolution of the captured image data is determined by the specifications of the image processing unit built in the mobile phone.

  By the way, when an image taken with a camera is processed as described above to create an image data file and sent by e-mail or output to a removable storage medium, the size of the image data file depends on the communication speed and Affects storage capacity. Of course, high-resolution image data has a large amount of data and takes a long communication time, which is reflected in the packet communication fee, and occupies a large storage area when output to a removable storage medium.

  Image data taken by a user of a camera-equipped mobile phone, such as other people or landscapes, is stored as high-resolution data, and image data taken using himself as a subject is low without requiring high-resolution image data. Some users only need to be able to communicate and store as resolution image data. However, in the mobile phones disclosed in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and the like, since the image processing unit is common, images captured on the back side and the front side are not distinguished from each other, and image data with the same resolution is used. There is a problem that it is not possible to meet the needs of users as described above.

  As a result of various studies to solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application has provided a plurality of image processing units for creating image data having different modification degrees in the mobile phone, and the optical path from the subject on the back side and the front side. If the image data processing is performed by any one of the image processing units for the image obtained by photographing the front subject and the image obtained by photographing the rear subject in conjunction with the control of the mirror to switch to the above-mentioned problem Thus, the present invention has been completed.

  That is, the present invention has an object to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a camera-equipped mobile phone that can shoot an object on either the front side or the back side using a single camera mechanism by a rotating mirror mechanism or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a camera-equipped mobile phone that can process image data photographed on the front side and the back side with different resolutions.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
A camera-equipped mobile phone with a built-in camera unit and a function to switch the light of the subject incident from the front side of the mobile phone and the light of the subject incident from the back side of the mobile phone by the optical path switching mechanism and take it to the camera unit Phone,
The camera-equipped mobile phone includes a first image processing unit having a high resolution for processing an image captured by the camera unit, a second image processing unit having a lower resolution than the first image processing unit, and the first image. Image processing switching means for switching between the processing unit and the second image processing unit,
The image processing switching means switches to the second image processing means when the optical path switching mechanism is driven and controlled to a position for guiding the light of the subject incident from the front side to the camera unit. Mobile phone.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is the mobile phone with a camera according to claim 1,
The image processing switching means switches to the first image processing means when the optical path switching mechanism is driven and controlled to a position where the light of the subject incident from the back side is switched and led to the camera unit. The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is the camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1 or 2,
The image processing switching means is driven and controlled at a position where the optical path switching mechanism guides the light of the subject incident from the back side to the camera unit, or at a position where the optical path switching mechanism guides the light of the subject incident from the front side to the optical camera unit. It is characterized by determining whether or not the drive is controlled.

The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is the camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1 or 2,
According to the input from the operation / input unit, the image processing switching means is driven and controlled so that the optical path switching mechanism guides the light of the subject incident from the back side to the camera unit, or the optical path switching mechanism enters from the front side. It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not drive control is performed at a position where the subject is guided to the optical camera unit.

  In the invention according to claim 1, the mobile phone with mela includes a first image processing unit having a high resolution for processing an image photographed by the camera unit and a second image processing having a lower resolution than the first image processing unit. And an image processing switching means for switching between the first image processing section and the second image processing section, and the image processing switching means is a camera for detecting the light of the subject incident from the front side of the optical path switching mechanism. When the drive is controlled to the position leading to the unit, switching to the second image processing means is performed.

  Therefore, when the user takes a picture of himself / herself as a subject from the front side of the camera-equipped mobile phone, the image processing is performed by the image processing means with a low resolution. When sending to a removable storage medium or outputting to a removable storage medium, the amount of data is small and packet communication charges can be suppressed without requiring extra communication time, and when outputting to a removable storage medium, a large storage area is occupied. There is no longer to do.

  In the invention according to claim 2, in the camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1, the image processing switching means is located at a position where the optical path switching mechanism switches the light of the subject incident from the back side and guides it to the camera unit. If the drive is controlled, the first image processing means is switched. Therefore, when a user photographs a person or landscape as a subject from the back side of the camera-equipped mobile phone, image processing can be performed by an image processing means with high resolution.

  In the invention according to claim 3, in the camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1 or 2, the image processing switching means is a position where the light path switching mechanism guides the light of the subject incident from the back side to the camera unit. Whether the optical path switching mechanism is controlled to be guided to the optical camera unit of the subject incident from the front side. Therefore, it is possible to automatically switch between the first image processing means and the second image processing means depending on whether the subject is the back side or the front side.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the camera-equipped mobile phone according to the first or second aspect, the image processing switching means has the optical path switching mechanism incident from the back side in accordance with an input from the operation / input unit. It is determined whether the subject light is controlled to be guided to the camera unit or whether the optical path switching mechanism is controlled to be guided to the subject optical camera unit incident from the front side. Therefore, based on the input information of the operation / input unit, it is possible to determine whether the subject is the back side or the front side and automatically switch between the first image processing unit and the second image processing unit.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera-equipped mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an external view showing the external appearance of the camera-equipped mobile phone of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 (a) is a folded state, and FIG. 2 (b) is a view showing a developed state when in use. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the camera-equipped mobile phone shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile phone 10 with a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit 11, a camera unit 12, an optical path switching mechanism 13, a first image processing unit 14, a second image processing unit 15, and image processing. A switching unit 16, a packet communication control unit 17, a wireless communication unit 18, a call processing unit 19, a display unit 20, an operation / input unit 21, a memory 22 and the like are configured. The control unit 11 is mainly composed of a microprocessor, and includes storage means such as a RAM and a ROM as in a general computer device, and the operation of each part is controlled by a program stored in these storage means. . Hereinafter, the camera-equipped mobile phone 10 is simply referred to as a mobile phone.

  The wireless communication unit 18 is a wireless communication interface that performs wireless communication with a mobile phone base station, and packet data for voice communication and data communication is transmitted and received with the mobile phone base station by wireless communication. The call processing unit 19 includes a speaker for voice output, a microphone for voice input, a voice codec having a function for encoding and decoding voice, and a function for changing the reception volume and microphone sensitivity. Used for. The operation / input unit 21 is composed of numeric keys, alphabet keys, function buttons for selecting various functions of the mobile phone, a touch pad, a jog dial, and the like, and is a part that performs input for operating the mobile phone 10. The display unit 20 configured by a liquid crystal display or the like displays operation screens and imaging of various applications, and displays related screens according to inputs input from the operation / input unit 21. The display unit 20 side on which this image is displayed is the front surface.

  The mobile phone 10 includes a camera unit 12, a mirror and a prism, and an optical path switching mechanism 13 that switches the optical path from the subject by rotationally controlling the posture thereof. Lenses that capture light from the subject are provided on the front side and the back side of the mobile phone 10. The optical path switching mechanism 13 is controlled to rotate toward the back side, and the image of the subject on the back side is guided to the camera unit 12. An image of the subject on the back side can be taken. Further, the optical path switching mechanism 13 can be rotationally controlled to face the front side, and the image of the subject on the front side can be guided to the camera unit 12 to shoot the image of the subject on the front side. This mechanism can be configured by adopting the structure disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.

  2A and 2B are views showing the appearance of the mobile phone 10 shown in FIG. 1, in which FIG. 2A shows a folded state, and FIG. 2B shows a state where it is unfolded during use. As shown in FIG. 2 (a), a lens L2 is provided on the surface on the back side of the mobile phone 10 when used, and the front surface of the mobile phone 10 is shown as shown in FIG. A lens L1 is provided on the side. In the present invention, the surface on which the screen of the display unit 20 faces the user side in the state where the mobile phone 10 is used is defined as the front side, and the back side is the surface on the back side with respect to the user in that state. Define as side.

  When the operation / input unit 21 is operated and the mobile phone 10 is pointed at the subject and selection is made to photograph the subject from the front lens L1, the optical path switching mechanism 13 displays the image of the subject incident from the front lens L1. The drive is controlled to a position leading to the unit 12. Similarly, when selection is made to shoot a subject from the lens L2 on the back side, the optical path switching mechanism 13 is driven and controlled to a position for guiding the image of the subject incident from the lens L2 on the front side to the camera unit 12. In either case, the subject image is also displayed on the display unit 20 so that the user can check the subject image.

  The subject image captured by the camera unit 12 is subjected to image processing by the first image processing unit 14 or the second image processing unit 15 to create an image data file. The first image processing unit 14 and the second image processing unit 15 are image processing units configured by an ASIC or the like mounted on a general camera-equipped mobile phone, and each of images captured by the camera unit 12 is predetermined. Process to resolution image data. For example, the first image processing unit 14 processes a still image captured by the camera unit 12 into image data with a resolution of 1.2 million pixels and a moving image with a resolution of 300,000 pixels, and the second image processing unit 15 processes the still image with 300,000 pixels, The moving image is processed into image data with a resolution of 150,000 pixels.

  Data of an image captured by the camera unit 12 is sent to the first image processing unit 14 or the second image processing unit 15 for image processing. The image processing switching unit 16 is linked to the optical path switching mechanism 13 by the first image processing unit 16. Switching to either the processing unit 14 or the first image processing unit 15 is controlled. For example, when the optical path switching mechanism 13 is positioned at a position for guiding the light from the lens L2 on the back side to the camera unit, the image processing switching unit 16 sends the image captured by the camera unit 12 to the first image processing unit 14. When the optical path switching mechanism 13 is positioned at a position for guiding the light from the lens L1 on the front side to the camera unit, the image processing switching unit 16 outputs the second image captured by the camera unit 12. Switching control is performed so that the image data is sent to the image processing unit 15.

That is, when photographing the subject on the back side of the mobile phone 10, it is a case of photographing a person or landscape located in the direction facing the user, and the photographed still image is an image of 1.2 million pixels and the moving image is an image of 300,000 pixels. The first image processing unit 14 to process data is selected in conjunction with the optical path switching mechanism 13. Accordingly, an image obtained by photographing the subject from the back side is processed as high-resolution image data.

On the other hand, when the subject on the front side of the mobile phone 10 is photographed, it is a case where the user himself or his background is photographed, and the photographed still image is processed into image data of 300,000 pixels and the moving image is processed into image data of 150,000 pixels. The second image processing unit 15 is selected in conjunction with the optical path switching mechanism 13. Therefore, an image obtained by photographing the subject from the front side is processed as image data that does not have a high resolution.

  The image captured by the camera unit 12 in this way is image data processed by either the high-resolution first image processing unit 14 or the low-resolution image processing unit 15 in conjunction with the control of the optical path switching mechanism 13. Thus, it can be temporarily stored in the memory 22 and transmitted to a desired destination as an attached file such as an electronic mail transmitted via the packet communication control unit 17 or output to a removable storage medium. In that case, the image data processed by the second image processing unit 15 which is a low-resolution image processing unit does not have a large amount of data, can be transmitted to a desired destination without increasing the communication load, and is output to a removable storage medium. If you do not need a large storage area.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure at the time of taking a picture of the mobile phone 10 described above. When the user operates the operation / input unit 21 in the process of step S10, designates the camera function of the mobile phone 10 and selects to photograph the subject from the front lens L1, the optical path is switched in the process of step S11. The mechanism 13 is driven and controlled to a position for guiding the image of the subject incident from the front lens L1 to the camera unit 12. When the shutter key is operated in the process of step S12, the camera unit 12 takes a picture of the subject.

  In the process of step S13, the image switching unit 16 determines whether the subject is photographed from the front side or the back side from the position where the optical path switching mechanism 13 is positioned, and enters from the front lens L1. When it is determined that the driving control of the subject image to the camera unit 12 is performed, the image is switched to the second image processing unit 15, and the image captured by the camera unit 12 is subjected to image processing by the second image processing unit 15. A data file is created, and the image data is temporarily stored in the memory 22 in the process of step S16.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in the process of step S13 that the image switching unit 16 is controlled to be driven to a position where the image of the subject incident from the lens L2 on the back side is guided to the camera unit 12, the switching to the first image processing unit 14 is performed. The image captured by the camera unit 12 is processed by the second image processing unit 15 to create an image data file, and the image data is temporarily stored in the memory 22 in the process of step S16.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the image processing switching unit switches between the first image processing unit and the second image processing unit by determining the state in which the optical path switching mechanism is driven and positioned has been described. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, based on the operation of the operation / input unit, it is determined whether the subject is to be shot from the front side or the back side, and the first image processing unit, the second image processing unit, It is also possible to adopt a configuration for switching between.

  As described above in detail, according to the camera-equipped mobile phone according to the present invention, a subject on either the front side or the back side can be photographed using one camera mechanism by a rotating mirror mechanism or the like. In a camera-equipped mobile phone, image data taken on the front side and the back side can be processed with different resolutions. For this reason, image data created by an image processing unit with a low resolution is small in data amount and does not require extra communication time when sent by e-mail or output to a removable storage medium. In addition, when outputting to a removable storage medium, a large storage area is not occupied.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile phone with a camera concerning the Example of this invention. 2A and 2B are external views showing the external appearance of the camera-equipped mobile phone in FIG. 1, in which FIG. 2A is a folded state, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the mobile phone with a camera of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional mobile phone with a camera.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mobile phone 11 ... Control part 12 ... Camera and imaging part 13 ... Mirror rotation control part 14 ... 1st image processing part 15 ... 2nd image processing part 16 ... Image processing switching unit 17 ... Packet communication control unit 18 ... Wireless communication unit 19 ... Call processing unit 20 ... Display unit 21 ... Operation / input unit 22 ... Memory

Claims (4)

Built-in camera unit with a display unit on the front side that displays the subject. The light path switching mechanism switches between the subject light incident from the front side of the mobile phone and the subject light incident from the back side, leading to the camera unit. A camera-equipped mobile phone with a function to shoot a subject image,
The camera-equipped mobile phone includes a first image processing unit having a high resolution for processing an image captured by the camera unit, a second image processing unit having a lower resolution than the first image processing unit, and the first image. Image processing switching means for switching between the processing unit and the second image processing unit,
The image processing switching means switches to the second image processing means when the optical path switching mechanism is driven and controlled to a position for guiding the light of the subject incident from the front side to the camera unit. Mobile phone. The image processing switching means switches to the first image processing means when the optical path switching mechanism is driven and controlled to a position where the light of the subject incident from the back side is switched and led to the camera unit. The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1. The image processing switching means is driven and controlled at a position where the optical path switching mechanism guides the light of the subject incident from the back side to the camera unit, or at a position where the optical path switching mechanism guides the subject light incident from the front side to the optical camera unit. The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether the drive is controlled. According to the input from the operation / input unit, the image processing switching means is driven and controlled so that the optical path switching mechanism guides the light of the subject incident from the back side to the camera unit, or the optical path switching mechanism enters from the front side. 3. The camera-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether the subject is driven and controlled to a position to be guided to the optical camera unit.

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