METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING CAMERA FUNCTION IN PORTABLE TERMINAL

• US 20110298940A1
• Filed: 05/19/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: CHEONG, Cheol-Ho, KIM, Dong-Hoon
• Granted Patent: US 8,625,020 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/45 for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for operating a camera function in a portable terminal are provided. State information representing at least one of a direction and a rotation state of the portable terminal is obtained, and at least one of a sequence of reading an image from a camera sensor and an appropriate user interface is determined depending on the state information. Thus, the camera function is performed depending on the determined sequence or user interface.

Claims

1. A method for operating a camera function in a portable terminal, the method comprising:

obtaining state information representing at least one of a direction and a rotation state of the portable terminal;

determining at least one of a sequence of reading an image from a camera sensor and a user interface depending on the state information; and

performing the camera function depending on at least one of the sequence and user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information is obtained using at least one of an accelerometer sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a horizontal angle measuring sensor, a touch sensor, and a user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the camera function depending on the determined sequence comprises:

displaying an image input from the camera sensor on a screen according to the determined sequence; and

storing a relevant image according to the determined sequence.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the user interface depending on the state information comprises changing a function of at least one key related to capturing that correspond to the state information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the user interface depending on the state information comprises changing a region for displaying at least one capture icon displayed on a screen depending on the state information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one camera to operate among a plurality of cameras mounted in the portable terminal using at least one of the state information of the portable terminal, whether a folder or a slide of the portable terminal is opened, an executed application, and a key button or an icon provided to the portable terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the application requires two cameras to operate,

determining a region for displaying input images of the respective two cameras; and

displaying an image input from each camera on the determined region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information represents one of a horizontal orientation mode, a vertical orientation mode, a 0-degree rotation state, a 90-degree rotation state, a 180-degree rotation state and a 270-degree rotation state.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is changed depending on the state information to enable a user to control the camera function regardless of the orientation of the portable terminal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequence of reading an image from a camera sensor is selectively determined based on the state information so that an orientation of an input image is stored and displayed in the portable terminal is in the same direction.

11. An apparatus for operating a camera function in a portable terminal, comprising:

a state information recognizer for obtaining state information representing at least one of a direction and a rotation state of the portable terminal; and

a controller for determining at least one of a sequence of reading an image from a camera sensor and a user interface depending on the state information, and controlling the camera function for capturing, storing and displaying an input image depending on at least one of the sequence and user interface.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the state information is obtained using at least one of an accelerometer sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a horizontal angle measuring sensor, a touch sensor, and a user interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller displays an image input from the camera sensor on a screen according to the determined sequence and store a relevant image according to the determined sequence.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a memory map for storing the input image from the camera sensor has a size corresponding to a maximum number of horizontal pixels of the portable terminal.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller changes a function of at least one key related to capturing depending on the state information.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller changes a region for displaying at least one capture icon displayed on a screen depending on the state information.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of cameras, wherein the controller determines at least one camera to operate among the plurality of cameras using at least one of the state information of the portable terminal, whether a folder or a slide of the portable terminal is opened, an executed application, and a key button or an icon provided to the portable terminal.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein when the application requires two cameras to operate, the controller determines a region for displaying input images of the respective two cameras, and controls to display an image input from each camera on the determined region.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user interface is changed depending on the state information to enable a user to control the camera function regardless of the orientation of the portable terminal.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sequence of reading the input image from a camera sensor is selectively determined based on the state information so that an orientation of an input image is stored and displayed in the portable terminal is in the same direction.