What is the protocol that one should follow when wanting to interface with known, unknown or unusual hardware components from another application?
I've been getting ready to dive into Arduino, general electronics, automation, physical computing, etc. I have a few old cell phones I ran into and took them apart to get the sensors -- microphone, speaker, camera, and where possible -- the LCD. While the speaker and microphone are easy enough to use, interfacing with the camera and LCD presents quite a challenge.
Has anyone done this before?
I can't imagine this being impossible; looking at two cell phone cameras, they attach to the board using a similar (and extremely small) plug that kind of looks like an IC socket. But neither of them display a model # or any other form of identification that I can see. They just look like a couple of standard CMOS cameras.
I figured a lot of Google work would be needed. But doesn't the proprietary stuff eventually stop when it meets the component itself? For example, Verizon has plenty of phones and cameras on them.. but do they also create the camera too or is this a standard model that they create proprietary 'break out' boards for?
If they make the camera themselves, I guess I understand why we're at the whim of their documentation (maybe I could make my own camera... ya right!).
I doubt that Verizon makes any phones. They buy them from the cell phone makers. You will probably have to reverse engineer the phones yourself if you don't find anything on google.
You could also try looking online for components that look very similar, you might be able to find a component that is not the exact same one, but has a connector that looks the same. If you find one, try looking at the data sheet to see if anything looks familiar.
And no, cellphone companies don't manufacture phones, but they may have contract obligations with the manufacturers for certain proprietary features. Even still, the phone companies usually buy the pre-made phones in bulk, upload their own firmware, stick on their logo, and put it in their own box.
Some cellphone stores that offer on-site repairs will have a counter where you stand while the technician works on the phone, I've learned a lot about phones by just standing there and watching what he does. Maybe you could go to one of these places when they're not busy and ask if the repair tech knows anything about how the components interface.