Abstract:
A battery module of a mobile phone includes a camera module for capturing digital images, a memory for storing digital images captured with the camera module, a first interface for connecting to the mobile phone for transmitting captured digital images from the battery module to the mobile phone, a battery cell for supplying electrical power, and a plurality of battery contacts for contacting corresponding battery connectors of the mobile phone and for providing electrical power supplied by the battery cell to the mobile phone.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to digital imaging, and more particularly, to a mobile phone battery having a camera module formed thereon for providing a mobile phone using the mobile phone battery with the functionality of a digital camera.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Mobile phones with built in digital camera functionality, also known as camera phones, have rapidly grown in popularity. Many people carry a mobile phone with them everywhere they go. Therefore, having a mobile phone that can take digital pictures allows users to take pictures quickly and conveniently.  
         [0005]     Unfortunately, many people already own a mobile phone that is not a camera phone. Currently, there is no easy way to upgrade a mobile phone that is not a camera phone to provide the functionality of a camera phone. Although many people would like to own a camera phone, they have difficulty justifying the purchase of a new camera phone when they already have an existing mobile phone.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is therefore an objective of the claimed invention to introduce a mobile phone battery having a camera module formed thereon in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.  
         [0007]     According to the claimed invention, a battery module of a mobile phone includes a camera module for capturing digital images, a memory for storing digital images captured with the camera module, a first interface for connecting to the mobile phone for transmitting captured digital images from the battery module to the mobile phone, a battery cell for supplying electrical power, and a plurality of battery contacts for contacting corresponding battery connectors of the mobile phone and for providing electrical power supplied by the battery cell to the mobile phone.  
         [0008]     It is an advantage of the claimed invention that mobile phones that do not offer digital camera functionality can quickly and easily become camera phones by swapping out a normal battery with the battery module of the present invention having the camera module formed thereon. Thus, older mobile phones can be converted into camera phones, eliminating the need to buy a new camera phone.  
         [0009]     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, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a mobile phone and a battery module according to the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a diagram of a front side of the battery module according to the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a side view of the mobile phone having the battery module installed according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]     The present invention battery module allows a regular mobile phone not having digital camera functionality to become a camera phone by simply inserting the battery module into the mobile phone.  
         [0014]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram of a mobile phone  10  and a battery module  30  according to the present invention. A cavity  12  of the mobile phone  10  is formed for receiving the battery module  30 . When a user of the mobile phone  10  wishes to use the mobile phone  10  as a camera phone, the user can swap out a normal battery of the mobile phone  10  with the battery module  30  shown in  FIG. 1 . A rear side of the battery module  30  is shown in  FIG. 1 . When the battery module  30  is inserted into the cavity  12  of the mobile phone  10 , only a front side of the battery module  30  is visible. The rear side of the battery module  30  contains circuitry of the battery module  30  that a user does not need to access while utilizing the digital camera features of the mobile phone  10 .  
         [0015]     The battery module  30  contains a camera module  32 , which contains the circuitry needed for taking digital pictures. The camera module  32  can be used for taking still pictures or dynamic pictures such as movie clips or animated picture sequences. Like other digital cameras, the camera module  32  may contain a CCD or CMOS image sensor. After the camera module  32  takes digital images, the digital images are stored in a flash memory  34  of the battery module  30 . While the flash memory  34  may be replaced with other types of memory, the flash memory  34  is preferred for its nonvolatile nature when the mobile phone  10  is powered off.  
         [0016]     The battery module  30  also contains a battery cell  40  for providing power to the electrical components of the battery module  30  such as the camera module  32  and the flash memory  34 . In addition, the battery cell  40  provides power to the mobile phone  10  when the battery module  30  is inserted into the cavity  12  of the mobile phone  10 . The battery module  30  contains battery contacts  44  that make electrical contact with corresponding battery connectors  14  of the mobile phone  10  for providing the mobile phone  10  with electrical power supplied by the battery cell  40 .  
         [0017]     The battery module  30  also contains a first interface  36  for communicating with an interface  16  of the mobile phone  10 . Once digital images have been taken with the battery module  30 , the digital images can be transferred from the battery module  30  to circuitry  13  of the mobile phone  10  through the first interface  36  and the interface  16 . The first interface  36  and the interface  16  may communicate through a variety of protocols including the RS232 serial bus standard and the universal serial bus (USB) standard.  
         [0018]     Most mobile phones  10  on the market today have at least two pins that are used for testing and other diagnostic purposes. If at least two pins are used, one of the pins will be a transmit (Tx) pin and another pin will be a receive (Rx) pin. Besides being used for diagnostic purposes, these two pins can also be used for performing serial communication between the mobile phone  10  and the battery module  30 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the interface  16  of the mobile phone  10  contains a transmit pin  18  and a receive pin  19 . The first interface  36  of the battery module  30  contains a first pin  38  and a second pin  39  corresponding to the transmit pin  18  and the receive pin  19  for facilitating communication between the mobile phone  10  and the battery module  30 . While many mobile phones already contain the transmit pin  18  and the receive pin  19 , extending contacts may need to be added to the transmit pin  18  and the receive pin  19  so that the first and second pins  38  and  39  can make electrical contact with the transmit pin  18  and the receive pin  19 . The advantage of using the transmit pin  18  and the receive pin  19  of the mobile phone  10  to transfer digital images from the battery module  30  to the mobile phone  10  is that the existing structure of the mobile phone  10  can be used, and no major changes have to be made to the hardware of the mobile phone  10  to accommodate the battery module  30 .  
         [0019]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram of a front side of the battery module  30  according to the present invention. Disposed on the front side of the battery module  30  is a camera lens  50  used for taking digital images in conjunction with the camera module  32  disposed on the rear side of the battery module  30 . A simple user interface, including a power button  52  and a shutter button  54  are also disposed on the front side of the battery module  30  for enabling a user to take pictures with the battery module  30 . The power button  52  allows the user to turn the camera module  32  and the flash memory  34  off when not using the mobile phone  10  as a camera phone. The shutter button  54  is similar to a shutter button on other cameras, and is used for controlling the camera lens  50  and the camera module  32  to take a digital photo.  
         [0020]     Instead of using both the power button  52  and the shutter button  54 , other possibilities exist for controlling the camera phone functions of the battery module  30 . For instance, a single button can be used for controlling both the power and the shutter functions. If the single button is pressed for a time period in a first time range, a photograph can be taken. Similarly, if the single button is pressed for a time period in a second time range, the single button can act as a power button. Furthermore, keypad keys of the mobile phone  10  can also be used for controlling the battery module  30  to take digital photographs.  
         [0021]     The battery module  30  can optionally have a second interface  56  for connecting the battery module  30  directly to a computer. In this way, pictures stored in the flash memory  34  of the battery module  30  can be downloaded onto the computer through the second interface  56 . The second interface  56  can be any common interface such as serial, parallel, USB, or IEEE 1394. Of course, the mobile phone  10  may also contain an additional interface for connecting to a computer, but this may not be possible without making changes to the existing hardware structure of the mobile phone  10 .  
         [0022]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a side view of the mobile phone  10  having the battery module  30  installed according to the present invention. The mobile phone  10  shown in  FIG. 3  has a clam-shell shape. A display  20  is located on an upper portion of the mobile phone  10 , and a keypad  22  is located on a lower portion of the mobile phone  10 . When the battery module  30  is installed in the cavity  12  of the mobile phone  10 , the camera lens  50  of the battery module  30  points outward for taking digital photographs. Once a digital image has been captured, the image can be shown on the display  20  of the mobile phone  10  for review. Of course, other shapes can also be used for the mobile phone  10 , and the mobile phone  10  is not limited to a clam-shell shape.  
         [0023]     In summary, the present invention battery module can easily convert a normal mobile phone into a camera phone by simply replacing the battery of the mobile phone with the battery module of the present invention. Thus, older mobile phones can be converted into camera phones, eliminating the need to buy a new camera phone.  
         [0024]     Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.