PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE HAVING A ROTARY UNIT

• US 20100176802A1
• Filed: 08/11/2006
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Huguet, Pascal
• Application Number:
  US12/063,722
• Publication Number:
  US 20100176802A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/207.250
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2205/40 Position sensors comprising arrangements for concentrating or redirecting magnetic flux
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/145 influenced by the relative movement between the Hall device and magnetic fields see G01R33/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0264 for a camera module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/20 including a rotatable camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/14 Systems for two-way working H04N7/12, H04N7/173 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable electronic device comprising: —a housing; —a rotary unit, which can be rotated relative to the housing, and —detection means for detecting a rotational position of the rotary unit. Said detection means comprises: —a magnetic transmitter (10) attached to the rotary unit, for supplying a magnetic field, —a magnetic receiver (11) attached to the housing, which receiver comprises a magnetic field sensor (103) and a magnetic flux guiding arrangement for increasing the magnetic field through the magnetic field sensor.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device (20) comprising:

a housing (26);

a rotary unit (1), which can be rotated relative to the housing; and

detection means for detecting a rotational position of the rotary unit, said detection means comprising;

a magnetic transmitter (10) attached to the rotary unit, for supplying a magnetic field,

a magnetic receiver (11) attached to the housing, which receiver comprises a magnetic field sensor (103) and a magnetic flux guiding arrangement for increasing the magnetic field through the magnetic field sensor.

2. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnetic flux guiding arrangement comprises two plates (105,106), each plate being connected on opposite ends of the magnetic field sensor (103).

3. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnetic flux guiding arrangement comprises a magnetically permeable material.

4. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnetic transmitter (10) is a magnet.

5. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnetic field sensor (103) is a Hall effect sensor.

6. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotary unit is a camera unit for capturing image and/or video sequence.

7. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 6, further comprising image processing means for modifying the image captured by the camera unit depending on the rotational position detected by the magnetic means.

8. A portable electronic device (20) as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a display (23), wherein the camera unit (1) comprises a camera lens (7), wherein the detection means are able to detect a predetermined rotational position of the camera unit where the display and the camera lens are on opposite sides of the housing (26), and wherein the image processing means are adapted to reverse the image captured by the camera unit if said camera unit is in said predetermined rotational position.

9. A portable electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device is a cordless or mobile phone.

10. A device for detecting a rotation angle of a rotation around an axis of rotation, said device comprising:

a rotary magnetic transmitter (10), for supplying a magnetic field,

a fixed magnetic receiver (11), which receiver comprises a magnetic field sensor (103) and a magnetic flux guiding arrangement for increasing the magnetic field through the magnetic field sensor.