Claims
- 1. A mobile phone comprising:
a first housing; a second housing; a hinge housing for rotatably connecting the first housing to the second housing; a rotational camera lens housing contained in the hinge housing; and an exposurer formed in the hinge housing, for exposing a camera lens in a plurality of positions according to the rotation of the camera lens housing.
- 2. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the exposurer comprises:
a first opening formed on a first side surface of the hinge housing; a second opening formed on an outer circumferential surface of the hinge housing; and a third opening spaced a predetermined distance from the second opening.
- 3. The mobile phone of claim 2, wherein the first opening is larger than the second and third openings, and the second and third openings are identical in shape.
- 4. The mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising an angle controller for manually controlling a rotational angle of the camera lens housing.
- 5. The mobile phone of claim 4, wherein the angle controller is formed on an edge of a bottom surface of the first housing, adjacent to the camera lens housing.
- 6. The mobile phone of claim 4, wherein the angle controller comprises:
a teeth gear partially protruding from an edge of the first housing, for rotating with respect to a hinge axis parallel to a hinge axis of the camera lens housing; and at least one gear installed in the hinge housing, for transferring rotation force of the teeth gear to the camera lens housing.
- 7. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the camera lens housing is spherical in shape.
- 8. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the first housing comprises:
a key array including a plurality of keys arranged on a top surface of the first housing; a microphone; and a battery pack attached to a bottom surface of the first housing.
- 9. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the second housing comprises:
an auxiliary display on a top surface of the second housing; a main display on a bottom surface of the second housing; and a speaker.
- 10. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the hinge housing comprises:
a pair of side hinge arms integrally formed with the first housing; a center hinge arm between the side hinge arms, integrally formed with the second housing; and a camera lens hinge arm formed along a hinge axis of the side hinge arms.
- 11. The mobile phone of claim 10, wherein the camera lens housing is contained in the hinge housing to be rotatable within a predetermined first angle around a predetermined rotational axis.
- 12. The mobile phone of claim 11, wherein the predetermined first angle is 180°.
- 13. A mobile phone comprising:
a first housing; a second housing for rotating in an advancing and receding direction to and from the first housing around a first hinge axis, facing the first housing, and turning crosswise to the first housing around a second hinge axis, which is perpendicular to the first hinge axis; a hinge housing extended along the first hinge axis between the first and second hinge housings; a rotational camera lens housing rotatably contained in the hinge housing, for rotating around a third hinge axis perpendicular to the first hinge axis and spaced a predetermined distance from the second hinge axis; and an exposurer formed in the hinge housing, for exposing a camera lens at a plurality of positions according to the rotation of the camera lens housing around the third hinge axis.
- 14. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the exposurer comprises:
a first opening formed on the hinge housing along the first hinge axis; a second opening formed on an outer circumferential surface of the hinge housing, spaced a predetermined distance from the third hinge axis; and a third opening opposite to the second opening with respect to the third hinge axis.
- 15. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein when the second housing is closed to the first housing, the second hinge axis is parallel to the third hinge axis, when the second housing is fully opened from the first housing, the third hinge axis is tilted to the third hinge axis, and when the second housing is opened at 90° from the first housing, the second hinge axis is perpendicular to the third hinge axis.
- 16. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the second hinge axis rotates around the first hinge axis and is perpendicular to the first hinge axis, and the third hinge axis is one of parallel, perpendicular, and tilted to the second hinge axis.
- 17. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the first housing comprises:
a key array including a plurality of keys arranged on a top surface of the first housing; a microphone; and a battery pack attached to a bottom surface of the first housing.
- 18. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the second housing comprises:
an auxiliary display on a top surface of the second housing; a main display on a bottom surface of the second housing; and a speaker.
- 19. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the hinge housing comprises:
a pair of side hinge arms integrally formed with the first housing; a center hinge arm between the side hinge arms, integrally formed with the second housing; and a camera lens hinge arm formed along a hinge axis of the side hinge arms.
- 20. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the camera lens housing is contained in the hinge housing to be rotatable within a predetermined first angle around a predetermined rotational axis.
- 21. The mobile phone of claim 20, wherein the first angle is between 90° and 180°.
- 22. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the first opening is larger than the second and third openings, and the second and third openings are identical in shape.
- 23. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the camera lens housing is spherical.
- 24. The mobile phone of claim 13, further comprising an angle controller for manually controlling rotational angle of the camera lens housing.
- 25. The mobile phone of claim 24, wherein the angle controller is formed on an edge of a bottom surface of the first housing, adjacent to the camera lens housing.
- 26. The mobile phone of claim 24, wherein the angle controller comprises:
a teeth gear partially protruding from an edge of the first housing , for rotating around a fourth hinge axis parallel to the third hinge axis of the camera lens housing; and at least one gear installed in the first housing, for transferring a rotation force of the teeth gear to the camera lens housing.
- 27. A camera lens assembly for a mobile phone, comprising:
a cylindrical camera lens hinge arm at a side portion of the mobile phone, for providing a first hinge axis defined lengthwise and a third hinge axis perpendicular to the first hinge axis; a camera lens housing contained in the camera lens hinge arm, for rotating around the first and third hinge axes; a first control knob rotatably engaged with an end of the camera lens hinge arm, for rotating the camera lens housing around the first hinge axis; and a second control knob rotatably engaged on an outer circumferential surface of the camera lens hinge arm, for rotating the camera lens housing around the third hinge axis.
- 28. The camera lens assembly of claim 28, wherein the first control knob is positioned on the first hinge axis and rotates around the first hinge axis, and the second control knob is positioned on the third hinge axis and rotates around the third hinge axis.
- 29. The camera lens assembly of claim 27, wherein the first control knob has a first opening penetrating along the first hinge axis.
- 30. The camera lens assembly of claim 27, wherein the camera lens hinge arm comprises a pair of second openings adjacently positioned on an outer circumferential surface of the camera lens hinge arm, and a third opening opposite to the second openings with respect to the third hinge axis.
- 31. The camera lens assembly of claim 27, further comprising:
a pair of guide grooves formed circumferentially on the outer circumferential surface of the camera lens housing to provide a rotation trajectory to the camera lens housing, and crossing each other at predetermined positions, the intersections of the guide grooves being symmetrical with respect to the respective first and third hinge axes; a first guide protrusion protruding along the first hinge axis from an inner surface of the first control knob and fit into one of the guide grooves; and a second guide protrusion protruding along the third hinge axis from the inner surface of the second control knob and fit into the other guide groove.
- 32. The camera lens assembly of claim 31, further comprising:
a mounting groove sunk from the outer circumferential surface of the camera lens hinge arm; and a rotation hole formed in the mounting groove, in correspondence with the second guide protrusion, for protruding the second guide protrusion inward the camera lens hinge arm, wherein the second control knob is symmetrical with respect to the third hinge axis and the rotation hole is formed within a predetermined angular range with respect to the rotation of the second control knob around the third hinge axis.
- 33. The camera lens assembly of claim 27, further comprising:
a stopper protrusion protruding along the first hinge axis from a surface of the camera lens housing, spaced a predetermined distance from the first hinge axis; a tension plate fixed within the camera lens hinge arm, facing the camera lens housing, and brought into close contact with the camera lens housing by elastic force; and at least one stopper hole formed on the tension plate along a rotation trajectory of the stopper protrusion.
- 34. A camera lens assembly for a mobile phone, comprising:
a cylindrical camera lens hinge arm at a side portion of the mobile phone, for providing a first hinge axis defined lengthwise and a third hinge axis perpendicular to the first hinge axis; a first rotational member engaged rotatably around the first hinge axis in the camera lens hinge arm; a camera lens housing engaged with the first rotational member rotatably around the third hinge axis; and a second rotational member linked to the first rotational member via the camera lens housing, for moving along the first hinge axis and rotating the camera lens housing around the third hinge axis.
- 35. The camera lens assembly of claim 34, further comprising:
at least one first link arm extended along the first hinge axis from the first rotational member; at least one second link arm extended along the first hinge axis from the second rotational member, facing the first link arm; and at least one pair of link protrusions formed on the camera lens housing and rotatably engaged with ends of the first and second link arms.
- 36. The camera lens assembly of claim 35, wherein the camera lens housing is cylindrical and includes a pair of link protrusions at each of both ends of the camera lens housing.
- 37. The camera lens assembly of claim 35, further comprising a pair of first link arms and a pair of second link arms and link holes are formed on ends of the first and second link arms, in correspondence with the link protrusions.
- 38. The camera lens assembly of claim 37, wherein the link holes on the ends of the second link arms are elongated in a direction perpendicular to the first hinge axis.
- 39. The camera lens assembly of claim 34, wherein the second rotational member comprises an exposing opening formed along the first hinge axis.
- 40. The camera lens assembly of claim 34, further comprising a knob engaged with an end of the second rotational member, for rotating the first rotational member, the camera lens housing, and the second rotational member around the first hinge axis.
- 41. The camera lens assembly of claim 34, wherein the camera lens hinge arm comprises a pair of second openings adjacently positioned on the outer circumferential surface of the camera lens hinge arm, and a first opening opposite to the second openings with respect to the third hinge axis.
- 42. A mobile phone comprising:
a first housing; a second housing connected to the first housing rotatably around a hinge axis extended in one direction; a hinge housing for rotatably connecting the first housing to the second housing; and a rotational camera lens housing contained in the hinge housing, wherein the camera lens housing rotates within the hinge housing to enable photographing along the hinge axis and in a direction perpendicular to the hinge axis.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
23301/2003 |
Apr 2003 |
KR |
|
56031/2003 |
Aug 2003 |
KR |
|
PRIORITY
[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to applications entitled “Mobile Phone Having Rotational Camera Lens Housing” filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Apr. 14, 2003 and Aug. 13, 2003; and assigned Ser. Nos. 2003-23301 and 2003-56031, respectively, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.