Patent Application
20090104935
1. Field
The present invention generally relates to portable electronic devices, and particularly to a portable electronic device with an image pickup device.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, portable electronic devices, such as portable computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones are now in wide spread use. Along with the increasingly widespread use of such devices, there is a demand for developing portable electronic devices with multifunction, such as incorporating an image pickup function. Meanwhile, volume reduction is also a trend for such products.
Camera module of the portable electronic devices are generally equipping with, for example, a wide-angle lens module and a zoom lens module for achieving wide-angle image pickup function and zooming image pickup function, respectively. However, with both the wide-angle lens module and zoom lens module arranged in the portable electronic devices, volume of the portable electronic devices increases dramatically.
What is needed, therefore, is a portable electronic device with multiple image pickup functions and having reduced volume.
A portable electronic device is provided. In one present embodiment, the portable electronic device includes a housing and a main body. The housing has an image pickup window. The main body is accommodated in the housing. The main body includes a first lens module, a second lens module, a rotatable base and a driving element. The rotatable base carries the first lens module and the second lens module thereon. The driving element is configured for driving the rotatable base to rotate to selectively allow the first lens module or the second lens module to be aligned with the image pickup window.
Another portable electronic device is provided. In one present embodiment, the portable electronic device includes a housing, a supporting base, a plurality of camera modules and a driving element. The housing has an image pickup window. The supporting base is received in the housing. The supporting base is rotatable about a rotating axis. The camera modules are mounted on the supporting base. Each of the camera modules includes an image sensor and a lens module. Each lens module has an optical axis perpendicular to the rotating axis. The optical axes of the lens modules extend radially with respect to the rotating axis. The driving element is configured for driving the supporting base to rotate to selectively align one of the camera modules with the image pickup window.
Advantages and novel features of the present portable electronic device will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The components in the drawing are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate two preferred or exemplary embodiment of the present portable electronic device, in various form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe embodiments of the present portable electronic device in detail.
Referring to
The housing 110 includes a front portion 111 and a rear portion 112. The front portion 111 and the rear portion 112 are assembled with each other to accommodate the main body 120, as shown in
The main body 120 includes a first lens module 11, a second lens module 12, a rotatable base 121 and a driving element 122. The first lens module 111 and the second lens module 12 are disposed on the rotatable base 121 by adhesive, as shown in
The driving element 122 is connected to the rotatable base 121, which is disposed corresponding to the image pickup window 113. The driving element 122 can drive the rotatable base 121 to rotate to selectively allows one of lens modules 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 to be aligned with the image pickup window 113 to capture an image of an object outside the image pickup window 113. Particularly, the driving element 122 includes a motor 1221 and a transmission element 1222. The motor 1221 drives the transmission element 1222. The transmission element 1222 is connected to the rotatable base 121 so as to transmit the rotatable force to rotate the rotatable base 121. Additionally, the main body 120 can further include a circuit (not shown) electrically connected to the driving element 122. The circuit can control the driving element 122 to operate. However, the rotatable base 121 is not limited to be driven automatically. Alternatively, the rotatable base 121 can be rotated manually. In the present embodiment, the transmission element 1222 includes a gear. The motor 1221 can be an electrostatic micromotor or a magnetic microstepping motor.
Referring to
In addition, optical axes of the lens modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 are parallel to the axis N associated with the rotatable base 121. The openings of lens modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 are configured for allowing light to enter and facing the same direction toward the image pickup window 113. For obtaining desired images, the specific lens modules 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 can be selected and driven to align with the image pickup window 113 by rotating the rotatable base 121. In such case, the portable electronic device 100 can further include a switch 191 configured for activating or deactivating the driving element 122 to operate at will so as to allow the desired lens module 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 to perform image pickup by user.
In use, when a specific lens module 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 is selected for image capturing, the circuit generates a controlling signal and transmits it to the motor 1221. The motor 1221 drives the transmission element 1222 connected to the rotatable base 121. Therefore, the rotatable base 121 can rotates clockwise or counter-clockwise by the rotatable force transmitted from the transmission element 1222. Particularly, the rotatable base 121 is driven to rotate at an angle unit β to allow the lens module 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 to be aligned with the image pickup window 113. In the present embodiment, the degree of the angle unit β is the same as the degree of the inclined angle α, e.g. 72 degrees.
For example, if the lens module 11 faces the image pickup window 113, i.e. at a start position, and the lens module 12 is selected by user, the rotatable base 121 rotates one angle unit β, i.e. 72 degrees, in a clockwise direction to allow the desired lens module 12 to face the image pickup window 113. After that, if another lens module 13 is selected, the rotatable base 121 rotates again to advance one more angle unit β to allow the lens module 13 to face the image pickup window 113. In such case, the portable electronic device 100 can further include a sensor disposed on the rotatable base 121 (not shown). The sensor can be a magnetic sensor or an optical sensor to detect the value of the rotated angle units β of the rotatable base 121. Moreover, for storing the data of movement of the lens modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 the portable electronic device 100 can further include a memory module to storing such data. Therefore, the positions of the lens modules 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 can be detected and be memorized/stored for facilitating the desired lens module 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 to be rotated to desired position.
However, the mechanism for position the desired lens module 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 is not limited to what mentioned above. As mentioned above, the lens module 12 and the lens module 13 can be selected separately to be aligned with the image pickup window 113. After the lens module 12 aligning with the image pickup window 113, the rotatable base 121 can rotate in counter-clockwise direction to return to the position where the lens module 11 faces the image pickup windows 113. Then, the rotatable base 121 is driven to rotate two angle units β, i.e. 144 degrees, in clockwise direction so as to allow the lens module 13 to align with the image pickup window 113.
Referring to
The portable electronic device 200 of the second embodiment is similar to the portable electronic device 100 of the first embodiment. The difference is that an image pickup window 213 is defined on a front portion 211 of the housing 210. Particularly, the image pickup window 213 in the present embodiment is provided on the top side of the portable electronic device 200. In addition, a rotatable base 221 in the present embodiment has a plurality of receiving spaces 2212 disposed along the circumference thereof, as shown in
In conclusion, by ways of disposing the lens modules with different optical functions on the rotatable base, the portable electronic device can easily achieve multiple image pickup functions. In addition, the portable electronic device in such design is compact.
Finally, it is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are intended to illustrate rather than limit the invention. Variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed. The above-described embodiments illustrate the scope of the invention but do not restrict the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200710202194.3 | Oct 2007 | CN | national |
