Mobile telephone
View Patent ↗There is provided a mobile telephone in which a camera portion is rotatably provided in a coupling partition for rotatably coupling a first casing and a second casing with each other, a main display part and a manipulating part are provided in a casing surface which is hidden in a condition in which the first casing and the second casing are folded to each other. And a subdisplay part and an image pick-up button are provided in a first casing surface which is always exposed, and a switch for changing over the display condition of the subdisplay part between a camera mode and an equipment status display mode is provided, whereby the image pick-up by the camera portion can be simply carried out with no affection by folding motion of the casings.
1. A mobile telephone comprising a body housing having a first casing and a second casing which are rotatably coupled with each other through the intermediary of a coupling portion, a camera portion mounted to the body housing, a mode change-over switch for changing over operation between a talk mode and an image pick-up mode, and a setting key, the first casing and the second casing of the body housing which are coupled to each other through the intermediary of the coupling portion being set in two conditions, that is, a first condition in which the first casing and the second casing are opened from each other and a second condition in which the first casing and the second casing are folded onto each other, the first casing incorporating a main display part in a surface which is exposed in the first condition but is hidden in the second condition, and a subdisplay part in a surface which is exposed in the second condition, said second casing incorporating a manipulating part in a surface which is exposed in the first condition but which is hidden in the second condition, in an image pick-up mode, an image picked up by the camera portion being displayed on the main display part in the first condition but on the subdisplay part in the second condition, the setting key being arranged in a surface which is exposed in the second condition, and being set as an image pick-up manipulation key in the image pick-up mode, but as a change-over manipulation key for changing over images on the subdisplay part in the talk mode.
2. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the coupling portion incorporates a pair of arm parts for rotatably supporting said first casing and the second casing, and said camera portion is rotatably supported at its opposite ends by the pair of arm parts in a device storage space defined between the pair of arm parts.
3. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 2 , wherein said camera portion is arranged in a projected area of said pair of arm parts, said coupling portion is formed so as to overhang from the casing surface incorporating therein said main display part and a manipulating part in the first condition, the casing surface which is exposed in the second condition and which includes said arm parts surrounding around said camera portion is formed therein with an arcuated cut-out part around a lens part of the camera portion as a center.
4. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 3 , wherein the camera portion is rotated at least over an angle of 180 deg.
5. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 1 , said mode change-over switch can change over the image pick-up mode of the camera portion between a still image mode and an animation mode.
6. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said setting key incorporates a pair of buttons which are arranged on a side of the subdisplay part which is opposed to the camera portion, and one of the pair of buttons is set as an image pick-up button in the image pick-up mode in the second condition.
7. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 6 , wherein the image pick-up button is set as a recording starting button when the image pick-up mode is in the animation mode, but as an image pick-up key in the still image mode.
8. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said first casing incorporates the main display part in a casing surface which is exposed in the first condition, and the subdisplay part and the setting key in a casing surface opposed to the casing surface in which the main display part is incorporated, the second casing incorporates ten keys and a cursor key in a casing surface which is exposed in the first condition, a battery storage part in a casing surface opposed to the casing surface in which the ten keys are incorporated, a battery being accommodated in the battery storage part, and a mode change-over switch in a casing side surface connecting the two opposed casing surface, said coupling portion incorporates a rotary shaft for foldably coupling said first casing and the second casing with each other, and said camera portion is rotatably coupled in said coupling portion at the center thereof, the rotary axis of the camera portion being aligned with the rotary shaft of said coupling portion.
9. A mobile telephone as set forth in claim 8 , further comprising an arm part for foldably supporting said first casing and said second casing, and said camera portion is rotatably supported on one side of said arm part through the intermediary or a rotary shaft aligned with the rotary shaft of the coupling portion.