Abstract:
A PDA for connecting with a digital image capture module. The PDA includes a connecting device and attaching devices that form electrical and mechanical connections between the PDA and the digital image capture module, which includes corresponding devices. As described, the PDA becomes a tool with extended digital image capturing functions.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a PDA (personal digital assistant), and more particularly, to a PDA for connecting with a selectively installed digital image capture device to provide some specific image-capturing function.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    A PDA has a suitable size for carrying, an adequate memory, an operating ability, and a large enough LCD (liquid crystal display) panel to display results satisfactorily. It is becoming more popular as a portable electrical device and recently, a main trend product in information appliances.  
           [0005]    A Palm Series, whose memory size ranges from 8 MB to 32 MB and offers models with a color or black-and-white LCD panel, occupies the largest market-share. The standby time of the Palm Series can last up to one week. The Palm Series also provides a connecting cable for digital data interchange between the PDA and a PC (personal computer). However, the PDA has a drawback. It is the lack of extend-ability to peripheral equipment. This influences the efficiency of using the PDA.  
           [0006]    A digital camera and a digital video camera are the two dominating products in the portable electrical device field for connecting with a digital image capture device. An analog image, captured by the cameras lens, is processed by a chip into a digital data form and then stored in a predetermined memory. Similarly, the digital video camera captures consecutive analog images with its lens. These images are also processed by a chip into a digital data form and stored in a predetermined memory.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0007]    It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a PDA for connecting with a digital image capture module to solve the extend-ability problem.  
           [0008]    The claimed invention includes a PDA, a liquid crystal display panel, a slot installed on a first side of a housing of the PDA, a first connector including a plurality of contacts for transmitting electrical power and data installed on a second side of the housing of the PDA, and a digital image capture module which is detachable from the PDA.  
           [0009]    It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the PDA for connecting with the digital image capture module can extend the PDA&#39;s ability to use peripheral equipment, effectively improving the usefulness of the PDA.  
           [0010]    These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a PDA according to the present invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 a  is a three-dimensional drawing of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 b  is a front view of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 c  is a top view of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 d  is a bottom view of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 e  is a left-hand-side view of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 f  is a right-hand-side view of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 g  is a rear view of the PDA of FIG. 1.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a digital image capture module according to the present invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 2 a  is a three-dimensional drawing of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 b  is a front view of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 c  is a top view of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 d  is a bottom view of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 e  is a left-hand-side view of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 f  is a right-hand-side view of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 2 g  is a rear view of the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 3 is a state diagram of a combination between the PDA of FIG. 1 and the digital image capture module of FIG. 2.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 4 is another state diagram of a combination between the PDA of FIG. 1 and the digital image capture module of FIG. 2. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0029]    Please refer to FIG. 1 for an illustration of a PDA  10 , which is a portable digital electrical device, with memory, a display device, and an operating processor. The data, which is usually input by touching the panel with a handpen (not shown), is transformed into a digital form and stored in memory. The PDA  10  has a wide application and generally serves as an electrical book, an electrical notebook, or an electrical business card album. Of course, the PDA  10  can also interchange data with another PDA or a PC by wire or by a wireless transmission port.  
         [0030]    As shown in FIG. 1, the PDA  1   0  according to the present invention, comprises a housing  19 , an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel  11 , operating buttons  12 , a handpen slot  13 , a pair of engaging slots  14 , a first connector  15 , a pair of protrusions  16 , a switch  17 , and an infrared transmitter  18 . The LCD panel  11  occupies as large an area as possible of the housing  19  to better display results. Disposed on the same side of the housing  19  as the LCD panel  11 , several operating buttons  12  provide specific auxiliary operations, such as paging, executing a program, and cursor movement. The handpen is the most important input device. Therefore, there is the handpen slot  13  disposed on the right-hand-side of the housing  19  and is used for safekeeping of the handpen when not in use. The switch  17  is used to turn on or off the PDA  10 . The infrared transmitter  18  provides a wireless transmission function. The PDA  10 , of course, can be assembled with other built-in transmission modules, such as a blue-tooth chip module or an IEEE 802.11 module.  
         [0031]    The pair of engaging slots  14  is located on an end of the housing  19 . The first connector  15  and the pair of protrusions  16  are formed on a second side of the housing  19 . The first connector  15  as shown in FIG. 1 g , comprises  14  holes and serves as an electrical power and data transmitter. The first connector  15  can be used with a charger to charge the PDA”s  10  built-in battery. Additionally, the PDA  10  can interchange digital information with a PC using the first connector  15 . According to the present invention, the first connector  15  can also be used to connect the PDA  10  with a digital image capture device. FIG. 1 c  illustrates that the first connector  15  forms an L-shaped socket on housing  19  to mate with a connector on the digital image capture module, fixing the capture module on the housing  19 . The capture module and the connection of the capture module are described in more detail in the following paragraphs.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 2 illustrates a structure of the capture module  20 . The capture module  20  comprises a case  30 , a movable lens unit  21 , a pivot  22  between the lens unit  21  and the case  30 , release buttons  23  which are formed on a second side of the case  30 , a pair of latches  24  which are mated with the engaging slots  14  of the PDA  10 , a second connector  25  which is mated with first connector  15  of the PDA  10 , a pair of sockets  26 , a switch  27 , a chassis  28 , and a flash unit  29 . The existing PDA  10  comprises a computer and a wireless communication function. Therefore, the PDA  10 , when combined with the capture module  20 , can serve as a digital camera in a video conference. During a video conference, the LCD panel  11  and the image capturing lens unit  21  should point in the same direction, allowing two-way visual communication via a wireless communication transmission. This is why the present invention comprises an apparatus allowing the position of the lens unit  21  to be adjusted.  
         [0033]    Shown as in FIG. 2, the lens unit  21 , connected to the mainframe of the case  30  by way of pivot  22 , will rotate from 0 degrees to 180 degrees allowing the lens unit  21  to point in the same direction as the LCD panel  11 . The direction of lens unit  21  can be further adjusted by repositioning the PDA  10 .  
         [0034]    The most obvious difference between the capture module  20  and an ordinary digital camera is that the capture module  20  does not comprise memory or a display panel. Therefore, the capture module  20  does not contain a digital image capturing function until connected to the PDA  10 . The above combination uses the PDAs  10  built-in drive program. The LCD panel  11  will serve as a display panel and the image captured by the above combination will be stored in memory. The other parts of the capture module  20 , such as the flash unit  29 , all perform the same purpose as those in a conventional digital camera.  
         [0035]    The capture modules  20  second connector  25  has  14  pins and mates with the first connector  15  of the PDA  10 . The second connector  25  and the first connector  15  are used to transmit electrical power or data. The pair of sockets  26  on the case  30  is mated with the protrusions  16  disposed on the second side of the housing  19 , so the case  30  can be accurately positioned on the housing  19 . When users attach the capture module  20  to the PDA  10 , the L-shaped movable latches  24  will enter the engaging slots  14  and the capture module  20  will fix onto the PDA  10 . When users want to remove the capture module  20  from the PDA  10 , pressing the release buttons  23  will move the latches  24  to a release position, allowing easy removal of the capture module  20  from the PDA  10 .  
         [0036]    The capture module  20  can be turned on or off by the switch  27 . Of course, the PDAs  10  operating system needs a built-in drive program or a plugn-play model for the capture module  20  to function.  
         [0037]    It is worthwhile to notice that the capture module  20  comprises a chassis  28  that is approximately perpendicular to the capture module”s  20  main frame and is used to cradle the PDA  10 . Thus, the capture module  20  will combine with the PDA  10  more completely and the user will feel the combination easier to operate. Of course, the PDA  10  also contains a built-in plugn-play drive program. When the capture module  20  is plugged into the PDA  10 , the PDA”s  10  drive program will operate the capture modules  20  digital image capturing function and display a captured image on the LCD panel  11 .  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 3 illustrates an assembled state diagram according to the present invention. The combination of the PDA  10  and the capture module  20  is used exactly the same way as using a digital camera. A digital image signal captured by the capture module  20  is transmitted to the PDA  10  through a connection between the first connector  15  and the second connector  25 . This signal is shown on the LCD panel  11  and directly stored into memory. FIG. 4 illustrates another assembled state diagram according to the present invention. The rotation of the lens unit  21  can be adjusted through the PDAs  10  position and can also be set to a specified angle. As shown in FIG. 4, the lens unit  21  has been rotated exactly 180 degrees. In this configuration, the LCD panel  11  and the image capturing lens unit  21  point in the same direction allowing two-way visual communication via a wireless communication transmission.  
         [0039]    In contrast to the prior art, the present invention can provide a PDA that can connect with a digital image capture module, solving the problem of insufficient extend-ability to peripheral equipment.  
         [0040]    Following the detailed description of the present invention, those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. For example, the other end of the digital image capture module  30  can form a first connector  15  to attach to other modules allowing the PDA  10  to simultaneously perform more functions. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.