Image capturing device having electromagnetic wave signal transmitting and receiving functions

An image capturing device having electromagnetic wave signal transmitting and receiving functions is disclosed. The image capturing device has a circuit board, a lens module and a wireless radio frequency unit. The circuit board is electrically connected to the main board. The lens module has a housing. The housing has a barrel body and an antenna arranged inside the barrel body. The antenna is electrically connected to the circuit board. The wireless radio frequency unit is electrically connected to the circuit board. Since the antenna is arranged inside the lens module.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a lens, in particularly to an image capturing apparatus, which is capable of receiving and emitting electromagnetic wave signals.

2. Description of Related Art

As the technology keeps improving, the trend of electronics device such as personal computers, personal digital assistant (PDA) and mobile phone is towards lightweight and compact. That increases the portable convenience for users.

The modern electronic devices having several functional modules built therein. For instance, the camera module in the electronic device can capture images around the user. After the images are captured, they can be transferred by the electronic devices through various kinds of communication network and then shared with people. That has become a popular social networking for friends and relatives to share their recently activities.

For transmitting the images captured by the lens module, an antenna is needed to build in the portable electronic device to transfer or receive files of the images. Larger-sized antennas usually have better performance on transmitting and receiving. However, they occupy more space in the electronic devices or are too large to arrange inside the electronic device. In contrary, the small-sized antenna can not provide equivalent performance on transmitting and receiving.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the main objective of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, arranging the antenna inside the lens module to provide the transmitting and receiving functions and to downsize the electronic device.

For achieving the above objective, the present invention provides an image capturing device having electromagnetic wave signal transmitting and receiving functions, for arranging inside an electronic device and electrically connected to a main board of the electronic device. The image capturing device has a circuit board, a lens module and a wireless radio frequency unit. The circuit board is electrically connected to the main board. The lens module has a housing. The housing has a barrel body and an antenna arranged inside the barrel body. The antenna is electrically connected to the circuit board. The wireless radio frequency unit is electrically connected to the circuit board.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A detailed description of the present invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1andFIG. 2show an image capturing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image capturing device has electromagnetic wave signal transmitting and receiving functions. The image capturing device has a lens module1, a circuit board2and a wireless radio frequency unit3.

The lens module1has a housing11. An optical lens12is arranged at a front end of the housing11for receiving exterior image light. An image capturing unit13is arranged at a rear end of the housing11for receiving the image light passing from the optical lens12. The image capturing unit13can be a complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor or a charge coupled device. In another aspect, the housing11has a barrel body111(asFIG. 3shows) and an antenna14arranged inside the barrel body111. The antenna14is inserted into the cavity of mold before the material to form the barrel body111is injected into the cavity. After the injection, the antenna14is embedded inside the barrel body111. In this embodiment, the antenna14is of spiral shaped, planar shaped, rod shaped and circular shaped. The image capturing unit13is electrically connected to the circuit board2. The antenna14is also electrically connected to the circuit board2.

The circuit board2is electrically connected with the image capturing unit13of the lens module1and the antenna14. An analog/digital converter21is arranged on the circuit board2and electrically connected to the image capturing unit13. The analog/digital converter21can receive the analog signal outputted from the image capturing unit13and convert the analog signal into digital signal for further processing by the main board of the electronic device.

The wireless radio frequency unit3is electrically connected to the circuit board2. The wireless radio frequency unit3can transmit and receive signals through the antenna14. The wireless radio frequency unit3can be a reader/writer device, a RFID reader/writer device, or apply near field communication technology. The wireless radio frequency unit3also can be a Wi-Fi module, or a Bluetooth module.

AsFIG. 2andFIG. 3show, while operating the image capturing device, the exterior images can pass through the optical lens12and be received by the image capturing unit13. Then, the analog/digital converter21on the circuit board2can transform the analog signals to digital signals, and transmit the digital signals through the flat cable4and to the main board51of the electronic device5for further processing and displaying.

After signals are received by the antenna14inside the housing11, the signals will be processed by the wireless radio frequency unit3and transmitted through the circuit board2and the flat cable4to the main board51of the electronic device5.

When transmitting signals, the signals can be transferred by the main board51of the electronic device5through the flat cable4and to the circuit board2. And then the wireless radio frequency unit3on the circuit board2will transmit the signals through the antenna14.

AsFIG. 5shows, the wireless radio frequency unit3can be operated at the frequency of 13.56 MHz. In case that the wireless radio frequency unit3is a RFID reader/writer device, which is able to read information stored in the RFID tag61attached on the object6and write information into the RFID tag61.

AsFIG. 6shows, when two electronic devices5are approaching each other, information can be transmitted between the two electronic devices5through the antenna14inside the housing11.