Patent Publication Number: US-2006012832-A1

Title: Printer unit and electronic camera

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a printer unit and an electronic camera, and more specifically to a printer unit for use as incorporated into a digital camera, a mobile telephone, etc. and an electronic camera provided with the printer unit.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      An electronic camera which records an image as digital data is provided with a monitor in the camera body so that a taken image can be immediately confirmed. Recently, with the widespread use of electronic cameras, those with a built-in printer have been proposed in various types (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-13844, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-164185, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-232896, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-232909).  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In these cameras with a built-in printer, a monitor provided in a camera body is typically used to determine an image to be printed and issue a print instruction. However, in a conventional camera with a built-in printer, since the print recording surface from a camera does not match the display surface of a monitor provided in the camera body, it is troublesome to confirm an output print.  
      In addition, since the camera with a built-in printer is small and lightweight, it can be used as held in hand, and the posture is not always fixed. Therefore, an image displayed on the monitor can be inverted or turned depending on the holding in hand, making it difficult to confirm the image. . The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and aims at providing a printer unit and an electronic camera capable of easily confirming an image.  
      To attain the above-mentioned advantage, the first aspect of the present invention is a printer unit which has a display unit in a unit body, prints an image displayed on the display unit on a recording sheet at a print directive, and ejects a printed image through an outlet, and includes: a display posture detection device which detects a posture of the display unit in the gravity direction; a posture information read device which reads posture information added to an image to be displayed on the display unit; and a display control device which controls the vertical direction of an image displayed on the display unit so as to match the gravity direction according to the posture information about the display unit detected by the display posture detection device and the posture information about the image read by the posture information read device.  
      According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the display unit displays an image, the image is displayed on the display unit such that the vertical direction of the image matches the gravity direction independent of the posture of the display unit.  
      To attain the above-mentioned advantage, the second aspect of the present invention provides the printer unit based on the first aspect, and the recording sheet is ejected through the outlet such that the recording surface of the recording sheet on which the image is printed can be parallel to the display surface of the display unit and the recording surface of the recording sheet can be in the same direction of the display surface of the display unit.  
      According to the second aspect, the recording surface of the recording sheet on which the image is printed can be parallel to the display surface of the display unit, and the recording surface of the recording sheet can be in the same direction of the display surface of the display unit. Thus, the image displayed on the display unit and the printed image can be easily confirmed.  
      In addition, to attain the above-mentioned advantage, the third aspect of the present invention provides the printer unit based on the second aspect, and the display control device switches display such that the vertical direction of the image displayed on the display unit at a print directive matches the vertical direction of the image on the recording sheet ejected through the outlet.  
      According to the third aspect, when a print directive is issued, the display of the display unit is switched such that the vertical direction of an image displayed on the display unit matches the vertical direction of the image on the recording sheet ejected from the outlet. Thus, the direction of the image displayed on the display unit matches the direction of the image on the recording sheet ejected from the outlet, and the printed image can be quickly confirmed.  
      To attain the above-mentioned advantage, the fourth aspect of the present invention provides the printer unit based on the first to third aspects, and further includes a shooting posture detection device which is provided in an electronic camera which captures an image using an image pickup device, records the captured image on a storage medium, detects the posture of the image pickup device, and records on the storage medium the captured image with the posture information about the image pickup device detected by the shooting posture detection device.  
      According to the fourth aspect, the printer unit based on the first to third aspect is provided in an electronic camera. The electronic camera is provided with a shooting posture detection device which detects the posture of an image pickup device, and records on a storage medium the captured image with the posture information about the image pickup device detected by the shooting posture detection device.  
      To attain the above-mentioned advantage, the fifth aspect of the present invention provides an electronic camera which captures an image using an image pickup device and records the captured image on a storage medium, the electronic camera comprising a shooting posture detection device which detects a posture of the image pickup device, and a printer unit according to the first to third aspect, wherein the captured image is recorded on the recording medium with the posture information about the image pickup device detected by the shooting posture detection device and the recorded image is printed by the printer unit.  
      According to the printer unit and the electronic camera of the present invention, an image displayed on the display unit and a printed image can be easily confirmed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a front elevation of a mobile telephone to which the present invention is applied;  
       FIG. 2  is a rear elevation of a mobile telephone to which the present invention is applied;  
       FIG. 3  is a sectional view at  3 - 3  shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the electric configuration of a mobile telephone;  
       FIG. 5  shows the configuration of a posture detection sensor;  
       FIGS. 6A and 6B  show the operation status of the posture detection sensor;  
       FIGS. 7A and 7B  show the operation status of the posture detection sensor;  
       FIGS. 8A  to  8 D are explanatory views of the posture when an image is shot using a mobile telephone;  
       FIGS. 9A  to  9 D show the display status of the image to a normal liquid monitor  
       FIGS. 10A  to  10 D show the display status of a liquid crystal monitor when an image is reproduced;  
       FIGS. 11A  to  11 D show the display status of a liquid crystal monitor when an image is reproduced;  
       FIGS. 12A  to  12 D show the display status of a liquid crystal monitor when an image is reproduced;  
       FIGS. 13A and 13B  show the display status of a liquid crystal monitor when an image is printed;  
       FIGS. 14A and 14B  show the display status of a liquid crystal monitor when an image is reproduced and printed;  
       FIGS. 15A and 15B  show the display status of a liquid crystal monitor when an image is reproduced and printed;  
       FIG. 16  is a perspective view of a video camera to which the present invention is applied;  
       FIG. 17  is a perspective view of a watch to which the present invention is applied; and  
       FIG. 18  is a perspective view of a camera with a built-in printer to which the present invention is applied. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The best modes for embodying the printer unit and the electronic camera according to the present invention are explained below by referring to the attached drawings.  
       FIGS. 1 and 2  are respectively a front elevation and a rear elevation of a mobile telephone with a camera into which a printer unit and an electronic camera according to the present invention are applied.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a mobile telephone  10  and a telephone body  13  are configured by a display side housing  14  and an operation side housing  16 . The display side housing  14  is coupled with the operation side housing  16  using a hinge  18  as a folding device.  
      As shown in  FIG. 1 , a taking lens  20 , an antenna  22 , and a print unit cover  24  are provided outside the display side housing  14 . The taking lens  20  is configured by a short focus lens, and a picture is taken using the taking lens  20 . The print unit cover  24  is provided as detachable/attachable to the display side housing  14 , and an attachment unit  52  of a printer cartridge  50  described later is provided inside the print unit cover  24  (refer to  FIG. 3 ).  
      A print outlet  26  is provided on the side of the display side housing  14 . Through the print outlet  26  a recording sheet on which an image is printed is ejected.  
      Inside the display side housing  14 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , a liquid crystal monitor  28  and a receiver  30  are provided. A loudspeaker is mounted inside the receiver  30 , and the voice of a communication partner can be output through the loudspeaker.  
      Outside the operation side housing  16 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , a battery pack  32  is mounted as detachable/attachable.  
      On the side of the operation side housing  16 , a shutter button  34 , a print button  35 , and a medium slot  36  are provided. A memory card  38  is inserted into the medium slot  36  as detachable/attachable, and captured image data, etc. is recorded on the memory card  38 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 2 , an operation unit  40  and a transmitter  42  are mounted inside the operation side housing  16 . The operation unit  40  is configured by various operation buttons such as a dial button, communication button, a power ON/OFF button, a cross button, etc. Each button is assigned various functions depending on the available mode. A microphone is mounted inside the transmitter  42 . The microphone catches the voice of a user.  
       FIG. 3  is a sectional view at  3 - 3  shown in  FIG. 1 , and shows the configuration of the attachment unit  52  of the printer cartridge  50 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 3 , the attachment unit  52  of the printer cartridge  50  is mounted inside the print unit cover  24 .  
      The printer cartridge  50  is a unit which prints an image in an inkjet system on the recording surface of a predetermined recording sheet, and is provided as detachable/attachable to the  52 . The printer cartridge  50  is provided with a recording sheet tray  54 , a recording sheet feed mechanism  56 , a head  58 , and an ink tank (not shown in the attached drawings) as shown in  FIG. 3 .  
      The recording sheet tray  54  has a plurality of layered recording sheets  60 . The recording sheets  60  have the same aspect ratio as the liquid crystal monitor  28 , and their recording surfaces are parallel to and placed in the recording sheet tray  54  in the same direction as the display surface of the liquid crystal monitor  28 .  
      The recording sheet feed mechanism  56  is configured by a plurality of conveying roller, etc. driven by a motor not shown in the attached drawings and rolling so that the recording sheets  60  set on the recording sheet tray  54  can be fed sheet by sheet to the head  58 .  
      The head  58  prints an image using ink of four colors, that is, Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and B (black) stored in the ink tank on the recording surface of the recording sheets  60  fed by the recording sheet feed mechanism  56 .  
      The recording sheet  60  on which an image is printed is fed by the recording sheet feed mechanism  56  with the posture kept parallel to the display surface of the liquid crystal monitor  28 , and ejected through the print outlet  26 . At this time, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the recording surface of the recording sheet  60  on which an image is printed is placed in the same direction as the display surface of the liquid crystal monitor  28 , and ejected through the print outlet  26 .  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the electric configuration of a mobile telephone. As shown in  FIG. 4 , in addition to the components for providing a telephone facility such as a central processing unit (CPU)  110 , ROM  112 , RAM  114 , EEPROM  116 , a microphone  118 , an A/D converter  120 , a loudspeaker  122 , a D/A converter  124 , an audio processing circuit  126 , a communication circuit  128 , etc., the mobile telephone  10  further includes components for providing the functions of an electronic camera such as a CCD  130 , a timing generator (TA)  132 , an analog processing circuit  134 , an A/D converter  136 , an image input controller  138 , an image processing circuit  140 , a compression/decompression circuit  142 , a display circuit  144 , a medium controller  146 , etc., and components for providing the functions of a printer such as a print data generation circuit  148 , a printer control circuit  150 , etc. The mobile telephone  10  is further provided with a posture detection sensor  152  which detects the posture (=the postures of the liquid crystal monitor  28  and the CCD  130 ) of the telephone body  12  in the gravity direction.  
      The functions relating to a telephone are explained below. As described above, the telephone unit is configured mainly by the CPU  110 , the ROM  112 , the  113 , the EEPROM  116 , the microphone  118  the A/D converter  120 , the loudspeaker  122 , the D/A converter  124 , the audio processing circuit  126 , the communication circuit  128 , etc.  
      The CPU  110  functions as a control unit which integrally controls the operations of the entire mobile telephone, uses the RAM  114  as a work area, and controls each circuit in a mobile telephone according to a predetermined control program. The ROM  112  stores a program executed by the CPU  110  and various data required for control. The EEPROM  116  stores data such as the telephone number of the mobile telephone  10 , user-set information, etc.  
      The microphone  118  is provided inside the transmitter  42 . An analog audio signal input through the microphone  118  is converted to a digital audio signal by the A/D converter  120 , and input to the audio processing circuit  126 .  
      The audio processing circuit  126  processes the digital audio signal input by the A/D converter  120  under the control of the CPU  110 , and converts it to audio data in a predetermined format. The audio processing circuit  126  processes predetermined audio data and generates a digital audio signal output from the loudspeaker  122 .  
      The digital audio signal generated by the audio processing circuit  126  is converted to an analog audio signal by the D/A converter  124 , added to the loudspeaker  122  provided inside the receiver  30 , and output as voice from the loudspeaker  122 .  
      The communication circuit  128  performs a coding process of transmitting data through the antenna  22  under the control of the CPU  110 , and performs a decoding process on data received through the antenna  22 .  
      With the above-mentioned configuration, when a connection to a communication partner is established, an audio signal input through the microphone  118  is input to the audio processing circuit  126  through the A/D converter  120 . The audio signal input to the audio processing circuit  126  is treated in predetermined signal processing by the audio processing circuit  126 , and then transmitted to a base station from the antenna  22  through the communication circuit  128 .  
      A signal issued from the base station is received by the antenna  22 , demodulated by the communication circuit  128 , and input to the audio processing circuit  126 . The audio data input to the audio processing circuit  126  is treated in predetermined signal processing by the audio processing circuit  126 , converted to an analog audio signal by the D/A converter  124 , and output through the loudspeaker  122 .  
      Described below are the functions of a camera. As described above, a camera unit is configured mainly by the CCD  130 , the timing generator (TA)  132 , the analog processing circuit  134 , the A/D converter  136 , the image input controller  138 , the image processing circuit  140 , the compression/decompression circuit  142 , the display circuit  144 , the medium controller  146 , etc.  
      Relating to the entire operations, the CPU  110  integrally controls the operations as in the telephone unit. The CPU  110  uses the RAM  114  as a work area, and controls each circuit according to a predetermined control program stored in the ROM  112 .  
      The CCD  130  is arranged behind the taking lens  20 , and its photoreceiving surface has a number of photosensors (photoreceiving device) in two dimensions. The light passing through the taking lens  20  is converted to a signal charge of an amount depending on the quantity of incident light by each photosensor.  
      The timing generator (TG)  132  generates a timing signal for driving the CCD  130  at a command from the CPU  110 . The CCD  130  outputs a signal charge accumulated in each photodiode as a voltage signal (image signal) according to a timing signal applied from the timing generator (TG)  132 .  
      The analog processing circuit  134  performs a correlation duplex sampling process on the image signal sequentially output from the CCD  130 .  
      The A/D converter  136  converts analog image signals of R, G, and B output from the analog processing circuit  134  to the respective digital image signals.  
      The image input controller  138  accumulates the image signals for one image input from the A/D converter  136 , and stores them in the RAM  114  under the control of the CPU  110 .  
      The image processing circuit  140  generates image data by performing predetermined signal processing on the input digital image signal under the control of the CPU  110 .  
      The compression/decompression circuit  142  performs a compressing process on the input image data, generates compressed image data in a predetermined format, performs a decompressing process on the input compressed image data, and generates uncompressed digital image data under the control of the CPU  110 .  
      The medium controller  146  performs read and write control of data on the memory card  38  inserted into the medium slot  36  under the control of the CPU  110 .  
      The display circuit  144  generates a signal from input image data for display of an image indicated by the image data on the liquid crystal monitor  28  under the control of the CPU  110 .  
      With the above-mentioned configuration, the mobile telephone  10  can shoot an image by entering the shooting mode.  
      A shooting operation can be performed by pressing the shutter button  34 . When the shutter button  34  is pressed, the CCD  130  is exposed based on a predetermined stop value and a shutter speed. An image signal output from the CCD  130  is fetched to the image input controller  138  through the analog processing circuit  134  and the A/D converter  136 , and stored in the RAM  114 . An image signal stored in the RAM  114  is converted to image data by the image processing circuit  140 , applied to the compression/decompression circuit  142 , and compressed in a predetermined compression format (for example, JPEG). Then, it is recorded on the memory card  38  through the medium controller  146  as an image file (for example, Exif) in a predetermined recording format.  
      At this time, the posture information (=posture information about the CCD  130  =posture information about the image) at the shooting time of the telephone body  12  detected by the posture detection sensor  152  is recorded with the image data in the image file (for example, recorded in the tag format in the header portion of an image file).  
      During the shooting operation, images (through images) continuously captured by the CCD  130  are displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28 , and the user adjusts the angle of view, etc. while watching the through image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28 .  
      The image file recorded on the memory card  38  is read from the memory card  38  depending on the file selecting operation of a user, and reproduced on the liquid crystal monitor  28 . That is, when a user selects an image file to be reproduced, the compressed image data of the image file is read from the memory card  38 , and applied to the compression/decompression circuit  142 . The compression/decompression circuit  142  performs a predetermined decompressing process on the input compressed image data and applies the resultant data to the display circuit  144 . The display circuit  144  converts the input image data to data in the display signal format, and outputs the converted data to the liquid crystal monitor  28 . Thus, the image of the selected image file is reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28 .  
      The display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is performed by appropriately making a turn depending on the operation status and posture of the mobile telephone  10 . The display aspect of the liquid crystal monitor  28  is described later.  
      Described below is the function relating to the printer. As described above, the printer unit is mainly configured by the print data generation circuit  148  and the printer control circuit  150 .  
      Relating to the entire operation, the CPU  110  integrally controls a printer as with a telephone unit and a camera unit. The CPU  110  uses the RAM  114  as a work area, and controls each circuit based on a predetermined control program stored in the ROM  112 .  
      The print data generation circuit  148  generates print data to be printed on the printer cartridge  50  from input image data under the control of the CPU  110 .  
      The printer control circuit  150  controls the drive of the head  58  and the recording sheet feed mechanism  56  of the printer cartridge  50  under the control of the CPU  110 , and prints a predetermined image on the recording sheet  60 .  
      A print directive is executed by pressing the print button  35  during the regeneration of an image. When the print button  35  is pressed, the image data being reproduced is added to the print data generation circuit  148 , thereby generating print data. The CPU  110  controls the printer cartridge  50  through the printer control circuit  150  based on the generated print data, and the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is printed on the recording sheet  60 .  
      Described below is the configuration of the posture detection sensor  152  for detection of the posture of the telephone body  12 .  
      The posture detection sensor  152  is arranged inside the display side housing  14  as shown in  FIG. 5 , and is configured by a pair of hard balls  154 A and  154 B and a pair of touch sensors  156 A and  156 B.  
      The pair of hard balls  154 A and  154 B are arranged to be freely moved in cylinders  158 A and  158 B arranged inside the display side housing  14 . Each of the cylinders  158 A and  158 B is arranged to be inclined at 45°.  
      The pair of touch sensors  156 A and  156 B are respectively attached to the bottoms of the cylinders  158 A and  158 B and are turned on when the pair of hard balls  154 A and  154 B respectively touch them. The CPU  110  determines the posture of the telephone body  12  based on the output of the pair of touch sensors  156 A and  156 B.  
      That is, for example, as shown in  FIG. 6A , assume that the vertical direction of the telephone body  12  matches the gravity direction (hereinafter, the posture of the telephone body  12  at this time is referred to as a basic posture). In this case, the sensor outputs of the touch sensors  156 A and  156 B are turned on. Therefore, when the sensor outputs of the touch sensors  156 A and  156 B are ON, it is determined that the telephone body  12  takes the basic posture.  
      As shown in  FIG. 6B , assume that the telephone body  12  is turned 180 degrees from the basic posture, and the telephone body  12  is inverted about the gravity direction. In this case, the sensor outputs of the touch sensors  156 A and  156 B are OFF. Therefore, when the sensor outputs of the touch sensors  156 A and  156 B are OFF, it is determined that the telephone body  12  has made a 180° turn from the basic posture, that is, the telephone body  12  is inverted about the gravity direction.  
      As shown in  FIG. 7A , assume that the telephone body  12  is turned clockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture. In this case, the sensor output of the touch sensor  156 A is OFF, and the sensor output of the other touch sensor  156 B is ON. Therefore, when the sensor output of the touch sensor  156 A is OFF and the sensor output of the touch sensor  156 B is ON, it is determined that the telephone body  12  is turned clockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture.  
      As shown in  FIG. 7B , assume that the telephone body  12  is turned counterclockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture. In this case, the sensor output of the touch sensor  156 A is ON, and the sensor output of the other touch sensor  156 B is OFF. Therefore, when the sensor output of the touch sensor  156 A is ON and the sensor output of the touch sensor  156 B is OFF, it is determined that the telephone body  12  is turned counterclockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture.  
      Thus, the CPU  110  determines the posture of the telephone body  12  about the gravity direction based on the outputs of the touch sensors  156 A and  156 B, and controls the display of the liquid crystal monitor  28  according to the detected posture information.  
      The CCD  130  which captures an image and the liquid crystal monitor  28  which displays the image are provided in the display side housing  14  of the same telephone body  12  in the mobile telephone  10  in the present embodiment. Therefore, if the posture of the telephone body  12  (display side housing  14 ) is detected, the posture of the CCD  130  and the liquid crystal monitor  28  is detected. In this case, the sensor (shooting posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the CCD  130  and the sensor (display posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the liquid crystal monitor  28  are shared.  
      Described below is the display aspect of the liquid crystal monitor  28  depending on the posture of the telephone body  12 .  
      As described above, an image file recorded on the memory card  38  is read from the memory card  38  depending on the file selecting operation of a user, and is reproduced on the liquid crystal monitor  28 .  
      Assume that, as shown in  FIGS. 8A  to  8 D, the memory card  38  records an image file of four images, that is, an image (image A) shot as the basic posture of the telephone body  12 , an image (image B) shot as turned counterclockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture, an image (image C) shot as turned 180 degrees (inverted about the vertical direction) from the basic posture, and an image (image D) shot as turned clockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture.  
      Normally, when each image file is reproduced, an image is reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  in the same status as the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  when the image is shot. Therefore, when each image file is reproduced in the basic posture of the telephone body  12 , only the image (image A) shot when the telephone body  12  takes the basic posture is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  with the vertical direction matching the gravity direction as shown in FIGS.  9 A to  9 D. Similarly when each image file is reproduced with the telephone body  12  turned clockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture, only the image (image D) shot as turned clockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture is reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  with the vertical direction matching the gravity direction.  
      The above-mentioned display method requires changing the direction of the telephone body  12  and the face of a user depending on the direction of an image to be reproduced, thereby causing poor operability.  
      Therefore, in the mobile telephone  10  according to the present embodiment, the display of the liquid crystal monitor  28  is controlled such that the vertical direction of the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can constantly match the gravity direction according to the posture information (posture information about the telephone body  12  when a shooting operation is performed) about an image attached to the image data and the current posture information about the telephone body  12 .  
      That is, the CPU  110  reads the posture information about the image recorded on each image file when each image file is reproduced, and determines the current posture of the telephone body  12  from the output of the posture detection sensor  152 , and controls the display circuit  144  such that the vertical direction of the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can constantly match the gravity direction independent of the posture of the telephone body  12  as shown in  FIG. 10 .  
      As a result, for example, when each image file is reproduced with the telephone body  12  taking the basic posture, all images are reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  with the vertical directions matching the gravity direction as shown in  FIGS. 11A  to  11 D.  
      Similarly, when each image file is reproduced with the telephone body  12  turned counterclockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture, all images are reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  with the vertical directions matching the gravity direction as shown in  FIGS. 12A  to  12 D.  
      As described above, according to the mobile telephone  10  of the present embodiment, a reproduced image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  with the vertical direction of the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  constantly matching the vertical direction. Thus, an image can be appreciated with the same posture without changing the direction of the telephone body  12  depending on the direction of the image when it is shot.  
      Described above is the display aspect of the liquid crystal monitor  28  when an image is reproduced. When an image is printed, the display of the liquid crystal monitor  28  is switched as followed. That is, when a print directive is issued to an image being reproduced, the display is switched such that the vertical direction of the image to be displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can matches the vertical direction of the image on the recording sheet to be ejected through the print outlet  26 .  
      In the mobile telephone  10  according to the present embodiment, the image printed on the recording sheet  60  is recorded on the recording sheet in the same direction of the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  when the image is shot as shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B . Therefore, when a print directive is issued, the display status is switched to the direction when the image is shot.  
      Therefore, for example, although a print directive is issued when the image shot with the basic posture is reproduced with the basic posture as shown in  FIG. 14A , the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is not switched as shown in  FIG. 14B . However, when a print directive is issued while the image shot with the basic posture is being reproduced with the image turned counterclockwise 90 degrees from the basic posture as shown in  FIG. 15A , the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is switched to the display status at the time of the basic posture as shown in  FIG. 15B .  
      Thus, when an image is printed, the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is switched such that the vertical direction of the image to be displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can matches the vertical direction of the image on the recording sheet to be ejected through the print outlet  26 , thereby quickly and easily confirming the image being printed.  
      After completing the printing operation, the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is switched again such that the vertical direction of the image matches the gravity direction depending on the posture of the telephone body  12 .  
      As explained above, in the mobile telephone  10 , the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is controlled such that the vertical direction of the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can constantly match the gravity direction when the image is reproduced, and the display on the liquid crystal monitor  28  is controlled such that the direction of the image to be displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can matches the direction of the image on the recording sheet to be ejected through the print outlet  26  when the image is printed. Thus, a reproduced image and a printed image can be easily confirmed, thereby successfully providing a convenient mobile telephone  10 .  
      In the present embodiment, the printer unit according to the present invention is explained by referring to an example in which the printer unit is incorporated into a mobile telephone  10  with a camera. However, the present invention is not limited to this application. For example, a single printer can be configured as a mobile printer. As shown in  FIG. 16 , it can be incorporated into a video camera. In addition, it can be incorporated into a watch as shown in  FIG. 17 . When the present invention is applied to a video camera, an image printed on a printer is displayed on the monitor which is an image display unit. Furthermore, when the present invention is applied to a watch, the monitor which is a clock display unit can display an image printed on a printer.  
      In the present embodiment, an inkjet system is applied as a printing system. However, the printing system is not specifically limited to this application. For example, the inkjet system can be replaced with the sublimation type thermal transfer system using an ink ribbon. A thermosensitive system using a thermal paper can also be used. A dot impact system can be used, and a printing system using an instant film containing a developing process liquid can also be adopted.  
      Although a printing system is changed, the recording surface of the recording sheet on which an image is printed is placed in the same direction as the display screen on the liquid crystal monitor  28 , and is ejected through the outlet parallel to the display surface of the liquid crystal monitor  28 .  
      Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the print outlet  26  is formed on the side of the telephone body  12 . When the print outlet  26  is attached, the position is not restricted, and it can be provided on the top surface of the telephone body  12 . In this case, the recording surface of the recording sheet faces the same direction as the display surface on the liquid crystal monitor  28  so that sheet can be ejected parallel to the display surface of the liquid crystal monitor  28 .  
      Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the posture detection sensor is configured by a pair of hard balls and a pair of touch sensors. However, the configuration of the posture detection sensor is not limited to this application, but the posture of the telephone body can be detected using a sensor having a different configuration.  
      Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the display of the liquid crystal monitor  28  is controlled such that the vertical direction of the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor  28  can constantly match the gravity direction, but switch can also be made to the normal display status ( FIG. 9 ) at an instruction to switch the display from a user.  
      In addition, according to the present embodiment, since the CCD  130  which shoots an image and the liquid crystal monitor  28  on which an image is displayed are mounted on the same display side housing  14  of the telephone body  12 . Therefore, the sensor (shooting posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the CCD  130  and the sensor (display posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the liquid crystal monitor  28  are shared. For example, as shown in  FIG. 18 , when a monitor is mounted to the device body provided with a taking lens and a CCD to be freely rotated about the horizontal and vertical axes, it is necessary to separately mount the sensor (display posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the monitor and the sensor (shooting posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the device body (=posture of the CCD). Similarly, when the shooting unit provided with a taking lens and the CCD is mounted to be freely turned about the horizontal and vertical axes against the device body with the monitor, the sensor (shooting posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture of the shooting unit and the sensor (display posture detection sensor) for detecting the posture (posture of the monitor) of the device body are to be separately mounted.