Rotatable Camera Module for Mobile Device Visual Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of handheld electronic devices often become engrossed in applications, leading to diminished visual awareness of their surroundings, which can be dangerous and result in accidents.
Innovation Solution
A camera module with a rotatable image sensor and motor, controlled by a processor, allows the user to maintain awareness of their environment by adjusting the camera's field of view to display images from the image sensor on the device's display, even when the user's attention is focused elsewhere.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the user focuses attention on the device display for applications, then application functionality is improved, but visual awareness of surroundings deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a visual copy of the camera's field of view by displaying captured images on the device screen. This allows users to see what the camera captures without physically turning their head, effectively copying the function of visual surveillance onto the display device.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera acts as an intermediary between the user and their surroundings. Instead of requiring direct visual contact with the environment, the camera captures images and transmits them to the display, serving as a mediator that conveys environmental information to the user indirectly.
2Device complexity
If the camera field of view is fixed, then device complexity is reduced, but the ability to detect obstacles in different directions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the fixed camera system into a dynamic one by enabling the camera to rotate and change its field of view. This allows the camera to actively scan different directions and detect obstacles anywhere in the surrounding environment, not just in a fixed forward direction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds rotational freedom to the camera system, transitioning from a single fixed viewing angle to a multi-directional detection capability. By introducing rotation around a vertical axis, the system gains detection capability in multiple spatial dimensions while maintaining relatively simple hardware architecture.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the camera rotates to capture images from different directions, then obstacle detection capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the camera module multi-functional by enabling it to perform both forward-facing capture and rotated capture from different directions. A single camera unit serves multiple detection functions by rotating to different angles, eliminating the need for multiple separate cameras positioned at different locations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the user's visual awareness of their surroundings, enabling them to detect obstacles and hazards, thereby reducing the risk of accidents while using the device.
Implementation Method 1
An image sensor able to sense an image in a field of view that is centered around a line of sight
Implementation Method 2
A motor in the handheld electronic device may be controllable by a processor of the handheld electronic device to adjust an angle of rotation of the camera module
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2-1~2-2
Figure 3
AI summary
In a handheld electronic device (500), a motor (538) is controllable to adjust, as a function of input received at a user-input element (510) of the device, an angle of rotation (534) of a camera module (524) about a rotation axis (526) of the camera module. The camera module is physically coupled to a housing (502) of the device. An image sensor (528) is embedded in the camera module and senses an image (400) in a field of view that is centered around a line of sight (124). The line of sight is perpendicular to the rotation axis. An orientation (548) of the housing relative to a direction of gravity (546) is sensed, and the motor is controlled to rotate the camera module and hence the line of sight about the rotation axis to achieve a particular angle (550) between the line of sight and the direction of gravity.