Patent Application
20110292277
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile phone accessory, and more particularly, to an external photoflash assembly for a mobile phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most of the mobile phones each are equipped with a camera lens to have the function of photographing to meet users' needs. However, in consideration of power consumption and cost, such mobile phones are usually not equipped with any photoflash in such a way that their camera lenses can only be used for better photographing quality under the environment of sufficient light; otherwise, the insufficient light may cause worse photographing quality based on such camera lenses. Therefore, how to install a photoflash to the existing mobile phone to break through the use limitation for the conventional mobile phone has been being always the issue noted in the this industry.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an external photoflash assembly, which can be mounted to a mobile phone and can be conveniently operated.
The foregoing objectives of the present invention are attained by the external photoflash assembly composed of a back cover, a control circuit, an illuminant, and a battery. The back cover includes a base portion and two lateral portions extending outward from two sides of the base portion. The control circuit is mounted to the back cover. The illuminant is electrically connected with the control circuit. The battery is electrically connected with the control circuit.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the two lateral portions of the back cover are arc-shaped in sectional view for covering two sides of the mobile phone. The external photoflash assembly further includes an illuminant switch and a master switch. The illuminant switch is electrically connected with the illuminant and the control circuit and located to correspond to a shutter button of the mobile phone. The control circuit is a printed circuit board mounted to the base portion of the back cover for mounting the illuminant, the battery, and the illuminant switch thereon. The master switch is electrically connected with the control circuit, the battery, and the illuminant. Besides, one of the lateral portions is provided with a switch hole or an elongated hole; the switch hole located to correspond to the master switch, and the elongated hole extends parallel to a long side of such lateral portion. The base portion is provided with a lens hole, an illuminant hole, and an arc-shaped hole; the lens hole corresponds to a camera lens of the mobile phone in size and location, the illuminant hole is adapted to receive the illuminant therein, and the arc-shaped hole runs through the base portion and is located to correspond to the illuminant switch. The illuminant has a plurality of LEDs of various colors. The control circuit includes a switchover circuit for switching the LEDs for the different colors.
In another embodiment, the external photoflash assembly further includes a charging terminal electrically connected with the battery. The control circuit, the illuminant, and the battery are mounted to the back cover via a plate member. The back cover includes two channels, two first convexities, and two second convexities. The first and second convexities are formed at the two channels. The plate member includes two extended ribs for insertion into the two channels respectively. Each of the extended ribs has a third convexity for engagement with the second convexity.
In another embodiment, the back cover further includes a slot and a through hole. The slot is adapted for insertion of the plate member. The through hole runs through the slot for the charging terminal to pass through.
In another embodiment, the control circuit further includes a wireless signal receiver.
Referring to
The back cover 20 is mounted to an external periphery of the mobile phone 12 and includes a base portion 22 and two lateral portions 24. The base portion 22 has a lens hole 221, an illuminant hole 223, and an arc-shaped hole 225. The lens hole 221, the illuminant hole 223, and the arc-shaped hole 225 all run through a top side and a bottom side of the back cover 20. The lens hole 221 corresponds to the camera lens 123 in size and location. The two lateral portions 24 is arc-shaped in sectional view, extending outward from two sides of the base portion 22, for covering two sides of the mobile phone 12. One of the two lateral portions 24 has an elongated hole 241 extending parallel to a long side thereof for the insertion of other button switches (not shown) of the mobile phone 12. The other lateral portion 24 has a switch hole 227.
The control circuit 26 is a printed circuit board and mounted to an internal side of the base portion 24, having a switchover circuit 261.
The illuminant 28 is fixed onto the circuit board 26, electrically connected with the control circuit 26, and received in the illuminant hole 223. In this embodiment, the illuminant 28 has a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) having different colors. Such LEDs can be replaced by a xenon lamp.
The battery 30 is fixed onto the control circuit 26 and electrically connected with the control circuit 26.
The illuminant switch 32 is fixed onto the control circuit 26 and electrically connected with the control circuit 26 for the user to push so as to control the timing of illumination thereof. The illuminant switch 32 and the shutter button 121 are located at the top and bottom sides of the mobile phone 12 separately, corresponding to each other in position to facilitate the user to push the illuminant switch 32 and the shutter button 121 at the same time. Besides, the arc-shaped hole 225 corresponds to the illuminant switch 32 in position and a part of the base portion 24 that the arc-shaped hole 225 surrounds is subject to deformation resulting from an external force, thus facilitating the user to activate the illuminant switch 32.
The master switch 34 is fixed onto the control circuit 26 and electrically connected with the control circuit 26, the battery 30, and the illuminant 28, for cutting off the power source for the control circuit 26 and the illuminant 28 in whole. The master switch 34 corresponds to the switch hole 227 in position to facilitate the user to operate.
In light of the above structure, the user can sleeve the back cover 20 of the external photoflash assembly 10 onto the mobile phone 12. When it is intended to take a photo, the user can turn on the master switch 34 and then push the shutter button 12 and the illuminant switch 32 at the same time to enable the illuminant 28 to illuminate what is being photographed while the camera lens 123 is taking a photo of it, further improving the photographing quality based on the camera lens 123. The switchover circuit 261 can switch the LEDs of the illuminant 28 for different colors, so the user can push and hold the illuminant switch 32 for a while to activate the switchover circuit 261 to further adjust the illuminative colors of the illuminant 28.
In light of the spirit of the present invention, the external photoflash assembly can be structurally modified. Referring to
The plate member 54 is adapted to mount the control circuit 44, the illuminant 46, the battery 48, the illuminant switch 50, and the master switch 52 thereon. The back cover 42 has two channels 421, two first convexities 423, and two second convexities 425 (
The charging terminal 56 is electrically connected with the battery 48 and the control circuit 44 to facilitate connection with a power supply (not shown) for charging.
The plate member 54, the control circuit 44, the illuminant 46, the battery 48, the illuminant switch 50, and the master switch 52 can be assembled to constitute a replacement set 58. Because the plate member 54 is detachably connected with the back cover 42, the user can purchase a number of the replacement sets 58 as spare parts to facilitate replacing the replacement set 58 while the battery 48 is dead or according to the ambient environment and the illuminative colors of the illuminants 46.
Referring to
Referring to
Although the present invention has been described with respect to specific preferred embodiments thereof, it is in no way limited to the specifics of the illustrated structures but changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims.
