JP2006191387A - Portable telephone set with camera function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone set with a camera function which can improve the visibility of a display screen even in a bright place without increasing power consumption or the size of the display screen. <P>SOLUTION: The folding portable telephone set with the camera function is provided with at least an open/close detection part 12 for monitoring the open/close state of the folding portable telephone set, a camera part 5 to be started at the time of detecting the open state by the open/close detection part 12, an illuminance detection part 11 for detecting illuminance by using image pickup data inputted by the camera part 5, a character size switching part 9 for switching the sizes of characters to be displayed on the display screen, and a character thickness switching part 10 for switching the thickness of characters. When the illuminance of external light detected by the illuminance detection part 11 is a previously determined reference value and more, the size or thickness of characters to be displayed on a character input picture or a character reference picture is controlled so as to be increased or thickened, so that the visibility of characters displayed on the display part can be surely improved even in a bright place. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile phone, and more particularly to a display control function in a mobile phone with a camera function.

  In a conventional mobile phone, when a character displayed on the display unit or a character input operation is performed in a bright place where the external light illuminance is large, the screen becomes whitish so that the character becomes difficult to see. Therefore, in order to prevent such problems, an illuminance sensor is provided on the mobile phone, and measures such as detecting the external light illuminance according to the procedure shown in FIG. 6 and increasing the brightness of the backlight of the liquid crystal display device according to the external light illuminance are taken. It was done.

  Also, in Patent Document 1 below, an irradiation level adjusting unit is provided in a camera-equipped mobile phone including a display unit that displays display information such as characters and images, an irradiation unit that functions as a backlight of the display unit, and an imaging unit. A technique for automatically adjusting the illumination level of the backlight according to the ambient brightness by this illumination level adjusting means is disclosed.

JP 2002-344598 (page 3-7, FIG. 1)

  Here, the environment in which the mobile phone is used varies, and the ambient illuminance changes greatly. Therefore, in the method of improving the visibility by increasing the luminance of the backlight, the power supplied to the backlight must also be largely changed. As a result, there is a problem that the power consumption increases and the call time and standby time are shortened. In addition, there is a problem that the circuit configuration of the power supply system becomes complicated in order to greatly change the power supplied to the backlight.

  Furthermore, when an illuminance sensor for detecting ambient illuminance is separately installed, the size of the mobile phone becomes large, which is a serious problem for mobile phones that are required to be downsized.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its main purpose is to carry a camera-equipped mobile phone that can improve the visibility of a display screen even in a bright place without increasing power consumption or size. To provide a telephone.

  In order to achieve the above object, a mobile phone according to the present invention is a mobile phone having a camera function, and an illuminance detection means for detecting ambient illuminance using the camera function and display based on the detected illuminance. And at least switching means for setting a character form displayed on the means to either the first form set as a default or a second form different from the first form.

  In the present invention, the switching means sets the size of the character to either a first size set as a default or a second size larger than the first size, or the character The thickness may be configured to include at least one of a first thickness set as a default or a second thickness larger than the first thickness, The means preferably sets the size or thickness of the character to the second size or the second thickness when the detected illuminance is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value.

  The mobile phone of the present invention is a mobile phone having a camera function, and is displayed on the display means based on the illuminance detection means for detecting ambient illuminance using the camera function and the detected illuminance. And switching means for setting the display color of the screen to either the first display color set as a default or a second display color different from the first display color.

  In the present invention, the switching means selects a character color displayed on the display means as either a first character color set as a default or a second character color different from the first character color. Or a means for setting the background color of the display means to either a first background color set as a default or a second background color different from the first background color. In the above-mentioned means, when the detected illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference value, the character color or background color is changed to the second character color or the second character color. It is preferable to set the background color.

  In the present invention, at least one of the means may be configured to be manually switchable by operating the operation means.

  Moreover, in this invention, the said illumination intensity detection means can be set as the structure which detects the said illumination intensity based on the imaging data acquired using the said camera function.

  The present invention further includes an open / close detecting means for detecting an open / closed state of the foldable mobile phone, and the camera function is activated when the open / close detecting means determines that the mobile phone is open. It can be set as the structure controlled so that the said imaging data may be acquired.

  Moreover, in this invention, after the said illumination intensity is detected by the said illumination intensity detection means, it can also be set as the structure controlled so that the said camera function may stop.

  As described above, the present invention detects ambient illuminance based on imaging data acquired using a camera function provided in advance in the mobile phone, and when the ambient illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference value, Controls such as increasing the size of characters, increasing the thickness of characters, changing the background color and character color, etc. are performed, so the visibility of the display screen can be improved even in bright places without increasing power consumption or size. Can be reliably improved.

  According to the camera-equipped mobile phone of the present invention, the visibility of characters displayed on the display screen can be improved without increasing power consumption even in a bright place where the illuminance of outside light is large. The reason is that the brightness of the backlight is not changed in accordance with the surrounding illuminance, but the display color such as the character size and thickness, the background color and the character color is changed.

  Moreover, according to the camera-equipped mobile phone of the present invention, an increase in size can be prevented. The reason is not to newly install an illuminance sensor to detect the illuminance of the surroundings, but to detect the illuminance of the surroundings based on imaging data acquired using a camera function provided in advance in the mobile phone. It is.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an open / close detection unit that monitors an open / close state of a foldable mobile phone with a camera function, a camera unit that is activated upon detection of an open state of the open / close detection unit, and a camera unit The illuminance detection unit that detects the illuminance using the captured image data, the character size switching unit that switches the character size displayed on the display screen, the character thickness switching unit that switches the character thickness, the background color A switching means for switching the form or display color of a character, such as a background color switching unit for switching, a character color switching unit for switching a character color, and the external light illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit is predetermined. If the value exceeds the standard value, do not increase the size of the characters displayed on the character input screen or character reference screen, make the characters thicker, or change the background color or character color. Since the control of is performed, it is possible to reliably improve the visibility of the characters displayed on the display unit even in a bright place.

  In order to describe the above-described embodiment of the present invention in more detail, a mobile phone with a camera function according to a first example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing an external configuration of a mobile phone with a camera function according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the mobile phone with a camera function. It is. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone with camera function.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the camera function mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment includes a first housing 2 in which a main display unit 4a, a sub display unit 4b, a camera unit 5 and the like are arranged, a number key, a direction key, It is comprised with the 2nd housing | casing 3 by which operation parts 6, such as a special function key, are arrange | positioned, and the 1st housing | casing 2 and the 2nd housing | casing 3 are connected with the hinge so that opening and closing is possible.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone 1 with a camera function according to the present embodiment includes a wireless communication unit 7 that performs telephone communication, mail transmission / reception, web screen reception, and the like, and a liquid crystal display that displays characters and images. Display unit 4 such as a display or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, an operation unit 6 for inputting characters displayed on the display unit 4 and operating various functions, and open / close detection for monitoring the open / closed state of the mobile phone 1 with a camera function Unit 12, camera unit 5 that is activated upon detection of the open state of open / close detection unit 12, storage unit 13 that stores various information such as illuminance reference value, character size, and character thickness, and each of the above means A control unit 8 that performs control, and the control unit 8 includes an illuminance detection unit 11 that detects illuminance using imaging data captured by the camera unit 5 and a character size switching unit 9 that performs character size switching. And sentence And a character thickness switching unit 10 for switching the thickness of the.

  When the external light illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11 is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value, the character size switching unit 9 displays characters in a large size, and the character thickness switching unit 10 displays thick characters. When the external light illuminance is smaller than the reference value, the character size switching unit 9 and the character thickness switching unit 10 do not switch the character form, and control to display the character with the default size or thickness. I do.

  Here, the character size and thickness are automatically switched based on the ambient light illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11, but these means can be switched manually by key operation of the operation unit 6. It may be. Here, both the character size and the character thickness are switched, but only one of the characters may be switched.

  Moreover, the specific numerical value of the reference value is not particularly limited, and may be a predetermined illuminance such as a standard outdoor illuminance or an illuminance set by the user operating the operation unit 6. In addition, the size of the character (second size) displayed when the ambient light illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference value may be larger than the size (first size) set as a default, or may be a predetermined size. It is good also as the size arbitrarily set by the user. Similarly, the thickness of the character displayed when the external light illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference value (second thickness) may be thicker than the default thickness (first thickness). The thickness may be a predetermined thickness or may be arbitrarily set by the user. Furthermore, the enlargement rate of the character size and the change rate of the thickness may be constant, or may be changed according to the illuminance of outside light.

  Next, the operation of the mobile phone with camera function 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S101, when the automatic switching function of the character form by illuminance is set to ON, in step S102, the open / close detection unit 12 monitors the open / close state of the mobile phone 1 with a camera function, and determines the open state. If detected, in step S103, the camera unit 5 is activated to acquire imaging data. Here, in order to improve operability, the camera unit 5 is automatically activated when the open / close detection unit 12 detects an open state. However, the timing at which the camera unit 5 is activated is not limited to the above configuration. The user may operate the operation unit 6 to manually activate the camera unit 5.

  Next, in step S104, the illuminance detection unit 11 detects the illuminance based on the imaging data acquired by the camera unit 5 (for example, specifies the illuminance according to the output voltage of the image sensor), and then in step S105, the camera The function of the unit 5 is stopped. Here, in order to improve operability, the camera unit 5 automatically stops when the illuminance detection unit 11 detects illuminance. However, the timing at which the camera unit 5 is stopped is not limited to the above configuration, The user may operate the operation unit 6 to manually stop the camera unit 5. Here, the illuminance is detected based on the imaging data. However, for example, when information such as an exposure time and a gain is generated by the camera unit 5, the illuminance is detected based on the information. Good.

  Next, in step S106, the illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11 is compared with the reference value stored in advance in the storage unit 13. If the detected illuminance is equal to or greater than the reference value, the character size switching unit is determined in step S107. 9 increases the character size, and the character thickness switching unit 10 performs switching such as increasing the character thickness. On the other hand, if the detected illuminance is smaller than the reference value, in step S108, the character size and thickness are set as default. In step S109, various operations such as inputting characters in the set form and displaying the e-mail received by the wireless communication unit 7 in the set form are executed, and the process returns to step S101 to perform similar processing. repeat.

  In step S101, when the automatic switching function of the character form based on illuminance is set to OFF, it is determined whether or not the setting for switching the character size and thickness is made in step S110, and the setting is switched. In this case, in step S107, the character size switching unit 9 enlarges the character size or the character thickness switching unit 10 increases the character thickness in the same manner as described above. In step S109, various operations such as character input and display are executed with the character size and thickness set as default.

  Thus, according to the mobile phone 1 with the camera function of the present embodiment, the detected illuminance is compared with the illuminance detected based on the imaging data acquired using the camera function and the predetermined reference value. When the value is greater than or equal to the value, the character size switching unit 9 or the character thickness switching unit 10 displays large or thick characters on the display unit 4, so that the characters displayed on the display unit 4 even in a bright place The visibility of can be improved reliably.

  Next, a mobile phone with a camera function according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the mobile phone with camera function according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone with camera function.

  In the first embodiment described above, when the illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11 is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value, the character displayed on the display unit 4 is changed to be larger or thicker. However, in the present embodiment, instead of the configuration for changing the character form, or in addition to the configuration for changing the character form, the display color such as the background color or the character color of the screen of the display unit 4 is changed. .

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the mobile phone 1 with a camera function according to the present embodiment displays a character and an image with a wireless communication unit 7 that performs telephone communication, mail transmission / reception, web screen reception, and the like. A display unit 4 that performs input of characters to be displayed on the display unit 4 and operation of various functions, an open / close detection unit 12 that monitors an open / close state of the mobile phone 1 with a camera function, and an open / close detection unit 12 A camera unit 5 that is activated upon detection of an open state; a storage unit 13 that stores various information such as a reference value of illuminance, a background color, and a character color; and a control unit 8 that controls each of the above units. The control unit 8 includes an illuminance detection unit 11 that detects illuminance using imaging data captured by the camera unit 5, a background color switching unit 14 that switches the background color of the display unit 4, and character color switching. And a character color switching unit 15.

  When the ambient light illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11 is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value, the background color switching unit 14 and the character color switching unit 15 change the background color and the character color, or darken the color. When the background color and the character color are increased, the screen and characters that have become whitish due to the external light are made easier by reversing the black and white, and the external light illuminance is smaller than the reference value, the background color switching unit 14 The character color switching unit 15 performs control to display in the display color set as a default without switching the background or the character color.

  Here, the background color and the character color are automatically switched based on the ambient light illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11, but these means can be switched manually by key operation of the operation unit 6. May be. Further, both the background color and the character color may be switched, or only one of them may be switched. As in the first embodiment, the illuminance reference value is not particularly limited, and may be a preset illuminance or an illuminance set by the user. In addition, the background color and the character color when the external light illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference value may be different from the colors set as default, may be a specific color, or may be changed according to the external light illuminance. .

  Next, the operation of the mobile phone with camera function 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S201, the open / close detection unit 12 monitors the open / close state of the mobile phone 1 with a camera function. When the open / close state is detected, in step S202, the camera unit 5 is activated to acquire imaging data. Also in this embodiment, the timing for starting the camera unit 5 is not limited to the above configuration, and the user may operate the operation unit 6 to manually start the camera unit 5.

  Next, in step S203, the illuminance detection unit 11 detects the illuminance based on the imaging data acquired by the camera unit 5, and then stops the function of the camera unit 5 in step S204. Also in this embodiment, the timing for stopping the camera unit 5 is not limited to the above configuration, and the user may manually stop the camera unit 5 by operating the operation unit 6, or the camera unit 5. When information such as exposure time and gain is generated, the illuminance may be detected based on such information.

  Next, in step S205, the illuminance detected by the illuminance detection unit 11 is compared with a reference value stored in advance in the storage unit 13, and if the detected illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference value, the background color switching unit is determined in step S206. 14 and the character color switching unit 14 perform display color switching such as changing the background and character color, darkening the color, increasing the contrast between the background and the character, and reversing the black and white. If it is smaller than the reference value, in step S207, the background color and the character color are left set by default, and in step S208, a character is input with the set display color, or an email received by the wireless communication unit 7 is received. Various operations such as displaying with the set display color are executed, and the process returns to step S201 to repeat the same processing.

  Thus, according to the mobile phone 1 with the camera function of the present embodiment, the detected illuminance is compared with the illuminance detected based on the imaging data acquired using the camera function and the predetermined reference value. If the value is greater than or equal to the value, the background color switching unit 14 or the character color switching unit 15 changes the color type, color, contrast, or the like of the background or character, so that it is displayed on the display unit 4 even in a bright place. Character visibility can be improved with certainty.

  In the first embodiment, the mobile phone 1 with camera function is provided with a character size switching unit 9 and a character thickness switching unit 10, and in the second embodiment, the background color switching unit 14 is provided in the mobile phone 1 with camera function. The character color switching unit 15 is provided, but one or more means selected from the four units of the character size switching unit 9, the character thickness switching unit 10, the background color switching unit 14, and the character color switching unit 15 are provided. Any configuration may be used.

  Moreover, although the example which changes the size of a character, thickness, background color, and a character color was shown in said each Example, this invention is not limited to the said Example, The space | interval of a character ( It is also possible to widen the space between characters or lines, or change the font. In each of the above embodiments, the mobile phone 1 with a foldable camera function has been described as an example. The same applies to the above.

  The present invention may be any portable device having a camera function and display means, and can be similarly applied to a digital camera, a portable terminal device having a camera function, a game machine, and the like.

It is a top view which shows the external appearance structure of the mobile telephone with a camera function which concerns on 1st Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the mobile phone with a camera function concerning the 1st example of the present invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the mobile telephone with a camera function based on 1st Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the mobile telephone with a camera function which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the mobile telephone with a camera function based on the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the conventional mobile telephone.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile phone with a camera function 2 1st housing | casing 3 2nd housing | casing 4 Display part 4a Main display part 4b Sub display part 5 Camera part 6 Operation part 7 Wireless communication part 8 Control part 9 Character size switching part 10 Character thickness Switching unit 11 illuminance detection unit 12 open / close detection unit 13 storage unit 14 background color switching unit 15 character color switching unit

Claims (11)

In mobile phones with camera functions,
Illuminance detection means for detecting ambient illuminance using the camera function;
Switching means for setting the character form displayed on the display means to either the first form set as a default or the second form different from the first form based on the detected illuminance. And at least a mobile phone. The switching means is
Means for setting the size of the character to either a first size set as a default or a second size larger than the first size, or
A means for setting the thickness of the character to either a first thickness set as a default or a second thickness larger than the first thickness is included. Item 2. The mobile phone according to Item 1.   The means sets the size or thickness of the character to the second size or the second thickness when the detected illuminance is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value. The mobile phone according to claim 2.   4. The mobile phone according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the means is configured to be manually switchable by operation of an operation means. In a mobile phone equipped with a camera function stage,
Illuminance detection means for detecting ambient illuminance using the camera function;
Based on the detected illuminance, the display color of the screen displayed on the display means is either a first display color set as a default or a second display color different from the first display color. A mobile phone comprising at least switching means for setting. The switching means is
Means for setting the color of the character displayed on the display means to either a first character color set as a default or a second character color different from the first character color; or
Including at least one of a first background color set as a default or a second background color different from the first background color as a background color of the display means The mobile phone according to claim 5.   The means sets the character color or background color to the second character color or the second background color when the detected illuminance is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value. The mobile phone according to claim 6.   The mobile phone according to claim 6 or 7, wherein at least one of the means is configured to be manually switchable by operating an operation means.   The cellular phone according to claim 1, wherein the illuminance detection unit detects the illuminance based on imaging data acquired using the camera function. An open / close detecting means for detecting an open / closed state of the foldable mobile phone;
10. The mobile phone according to claim 9, wherein when the mobile phone is determined to be in an open state by the open / close detection means, the camera function is activated to control to acquire the imaging data.   The mobile phone according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the camera function is controlled to stop after the illuminance is detected by the illuminance detection means.

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