JP2003110898A - Electronic camera and stand for camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera and a stand having such a merit that an indicated picture in a liquid crystal display means can be visually recognized even when a camera body is placed inclined on the stand. SOLUTION: This electronic camera 10 can be placed on a chargeable camera stand 30, and it is provided with a liquid crystal display means (LCD display part 22) that is formed in a camera body 11 and indicates a picture based on a picture data, a visibility angle changing means (LCD driver 55 and LCD display part 22) to change the direction of angle of visibility in the liquid crystal display part 22, a detection means (stand placement detection circuit 60) to detect the placement of the camera body 11 on the stand 30, and a control means (CPU 54 and LCD driver 55) that controls the visibility angle changing means to change the direction of angle of visibility to a set value corresponding to the placement attitude of the camera body 11 against the stand 30 when the placement of the camera body 11 is detected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic camera capable of charging a built-in secondary battery, printing an image, and the like by setting the camera body on a rechargeable camera stand. The present invention relates to a camera stand for mounting a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an electronic camera of this type has a camera display unit including liquid crystal display means provided on the back of the camera on the front side of a stand, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-333046. It is configured so that a charging operation and the like can be performed while setting a predetermined image and displaying a predetermined image on the camera display section. At that time, the electronic camera stands on the camera body so that the camera display unit and others can be easily observed and the camera display unit can be adjusted slightly upward so that the camera body of the electronic camera can be stably held. It is desirable to mount it slightly inclined with respect to.

[0003]

However, since the liquid crystal display means originally has a viewing angle dependence and a narrow viewing angle,
As described above, when the camera body is mounted with a slight inclination with respect to the stand, the display image on the camera display unit including the liquid crystal display means becomes quite difficult to see depending on the viewing angle.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic camera and a camera stand having the following advantages.

(A) Even when the camera body is placed with an inclination with respect to the stand, the image displayed by the liquid crystal display means is easily visible.

(B) The handling operation is extremely simple.

[0007]

In order to solve the problems and achieve the objects, the electronic camera and the camera stand of the present invention have the following characteristic configurations. In addition, characteristic configurations other than the following will be clarified in the embodiments.

(1) An electronic camera according to the present invention is an electronic camera that can be mounted on a rechargeable camera stand, and includes a camera body and an image provided on the camera body and displaying an image based on image data. Liquid crystal display means, viewing angle changing means for changing the direction of the viewing angle in the liquid crystal display means, detecting means for detecting that the camera body is mounted on the stand, and the camera body by the detecting means. When it is detected that the camera has been mounted on the stand, the viewing angle changing means is controlled to change the direction of the viewing angle to a set value according to the mounting posture of the camera body with respect to the stand. And a control means.

In the electronic camera, when the camera body is placed on the stand, the direction of the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display means is automatically changed to a set value according to the mounting posture of the camera body with respect to the stand. It Therefore, even when the camera body is placed at a predetermined angle with respect to the stand, the display image by the liquid crystal display means can be easily viewed.

(2) A camera stand according to the present invention is a charging stand provided so that the electronic camera described in (1) or the like can be placed thereon, and the camera body is placed on the stand. In this state, the exterior part is provided with an operation part capable of manually varying the set value of the viewing angle direction.

In the above stand, the user can arbitrarily adjust the direction setting value of the viewing angle in the liquid crystal display means on the stand side with the camera body mounted on the stand, which is convenient and easy to operate. It has excellent properties.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention, (a) being a top view, (b) being a front view. (C) is a bottom view, (d) is a side view, and (e) is a rear view.

As shown in FIG. 1, this electronic camera 10
Has a taking lens window 12, a strobe light emitting window 13, a remote control light receiving window 14, and the like on the front surface of the camera body 11. In addition, a release button 15 is provided on the top surface of the camera body 11.
Is provided, and a tripod mounting hole 16 and a battery loading port 1 are provided on the bottom surface.
7 etc. are provided. A rechargeable secondary battery 18 can be removably loaded from the battery loading port 17 into the battery housing inside the camera body.

A connector cover 19 is slidably provided on the left side surface of the camera body 11 when viewed from the front, as indicated by an arrow. A connector 21 is arranged inside the connector cover 19. This connector 2
1 is connected to a secondary battery 18 via a charging circuit 23 described later, and can be connected to a connector 31 of a camera stand 30 described later.

On the back surface of the camera body 11, an LCD display section 22 is provided as a display means for reproducing and displaying an image recorded on a recording medium or the like. A substrate 20 is installed inside the camera body 11, and the charging circuit 23, the lens barrel 24 having the photographic lens window 12 at its tip, and the like are attached to the substrate 20.

2A and 2B are views showing a state in which the electronic camera 10 is mounted on the camera stand 30 with the back surface facing the front side. FIG. 2A is a side view and FIG. 2B is a front view. . As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic camera 10 is placed in a posture different from the posture during use, that is, in a vertically long posture, with one end inserted into the camera placement recess 32 of the stand 30. In such a mounted state, the connector arranged on the side surface of the camera body 11 (which is located on the lower side in the figure in the figure because the camera body 11 is in a vertically long posture) 21 is a connector 31 disposed on the bottom surface of the camera mounting recess 32 on the stand side.
Combine with.

The stand 30 is integrally formed of, for example, a hard resin in the shape of a chair, and the camera mounting recess 32 is provided on the upper surface of the base 30a. The one side surface of the partition portion 30b in the upright state is a slightly inclined backrest portion 33 for supporting one side surface of the camera body 11. This stand 30
An insertion plug 35 is connected to the via a cable 34. By placing the plug 35 in a power outlet (not shown), the stand 30 functions as a charger or the like.

By the way, on a part of the exterior part of the stand 30, for example, on the front surface 37 of the base part 30a, an operation part 38 for manually varying the brightness setting value by the brightness changing means described later, that is, for brightness reduction Operation button 38a, operation button 38 for brightness enhancement
b, a setting button 38c and the like are provided.

3A and 3B are views showing a display screen of the LCD display unit 22 when the electronic camera 10 is normally used and a display screen of the LCD display unit 22 when the camera 10 is placed on a stand. Is. As shown in (a), during normal use, the brightness index 22B indicating the brightness of the display screen is located substantially in the center of the scale 22S. On the other hand, as shown in (b), when the stand is mounted, the brightness index 22B moves to, for example, [+3] near the right end of the scale 22S corresponding to a preset predetermined brightness setting value. By moving this index 22B, LC when the stand is placed
It can be confirmed that the brightness of the D display unit 22 is controlled to be changed to the set value.

The above set values can be set by the user when the camera body 11 is placed on the stand 30 and the liquid crystal display means 2 is set by the user.
It is possible for the user to arbitrarily variably adjust using the operation unit 38 according to the angle at which 2 is viewed. Further, the input instructing section 81, which will be described later, can be used not only to adjust the brightness during normal use but also to set the brightness setting value when the stand is mounted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the entire camera system including the electronic camera 10 having the brightness changing function and the stand 30. The part surrounded by the two-dot chain line in the upper part of the figure is the part of the electronic camera 10,
The part surrounded by the two-dot chain line in the lower part of the figure is the part of the stand 30.

First, the stand 30 will be described. The stand 30 includes an AC / DC converter 36 for converting a commercial AC power supply (AC 100 V) into a low-voltage rectified power supply, and the operation unit 38 (brightness reduction operation button 38a, brightness enhancement operation button 38b, and setting button 38c). ) Is provided. Further, it is provided with a video output terminal (jack) VID and a serial bus connection terminal (jack) USB as a signal communication terminal.
Then, the AC / DC converter 36 and the operation unit 3
8, video output terminal (jack) VID, serial bus connection terminal (jack) USB as a signal communication terminal
As described below, the connector 3 on the stand side
1, electrically connected to each unit in the camera body through a connector 21 on the electronic camera side.

One of the connector 21 on the electronic camera side and the connector 31 on the stand side is a plug and the other is a jack, which can be detachably coupled. When the connector 21 and the connector 31 are coupled, as shown by the dotted line in the figure, the respective parts on the electronic camera side and the respective parts on the stand side are connected to each other via the corresponding connector terminals.

That is, the ground portion E1 on the stand side and the ground portion E1 on the electronic camera side are connected via the connector terminal a. In addition, the AC / AC
The DC converter 36 and the switching circuit 71 in the power supply unit 70 on the electronic camera side are connected. Also, the connector terminal c
Via the operation unit 38 on the stand side and the CP on the electronic camera side
U54 is connected. Further, the ground portion E2 on the stand side and the potential control terminal P in the stand placement detection circuit 60 on the electronic camera side are connected via the connector terminal d. Further, the serial bus connection terminal (jack) USB on the stand side and the serial bus connection terminal (jack) USB on the electronic camera side are connected via the connector terminal e. Similarly, the video output terminal (jack) VID on the stand side and the video output terminal (jack) VID on the electronic camera side are connected via the connector terminal f.

Next, the part of the electronic camera 10 will be described. The electronic camera 10 includes an image pickup optical system 40 including a taking lens 41, a mechanical shutter 42, and an image pickup device (for example, a CCD image pickup device) 43 inside the camera body 11. The electric signal corresponding to the subject image captured by the imaging optical system 40 is converted into image data by the imaging circuit 44. This image data is D via the data bus 50.
It is temporarily stored in the temporary storage memory 51 including a RAM and the like. The temporarily stored image data is compressed by the image processing device 52 and then stored in the image recording medium 53 including a flash memory or the like.

The image data stored in the image recording medium 53 is read from the recording medium 53 during reproduction, expanded by the image processing device 52, and temporarily stored in the temporary storage memory 51. To be done. Then, the temporarily stored reproduced image data is supplied to the LCD display unit 22 through the LCD driver 55 and can be displayed as an image. It should be noted that the reproduced image data is sent to the video output terminal V via the video driver 56.
The ID can also be output to an external display device (not shown), which allows external monitoring to be timely.

The image data for display is the LCD driver 5
When the image is displayed by being supplied to the LCD display unit 22 via the electronic camera 1, the brightness of the displayed image is reduced by the electronic camera 1.
The brightness can be appropriately changed by the brightness changing means according to the posture of 0. Then, as will be described later, when it is detected that the camera body 11 is placed on the stand 30, the brightness changing means is controlled by the control means including the CPU 54 and the LCD driver 55. As a result, the direction of the viewing angle of the LCD display unit 22 is changed to a set value (direction) suitable for mounting the electronic camera 10 on a stand.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 57 indicates the electronic camera 10.
For storing the initial setting information of the device, reference numeral 58 is an operation program portion for causing the CPU 54 to perform a predetermined operation, and reference numeral 59 is for exchanging signals via the serial bus connection terminal (jack) USB. Interface. Reference numeral 81 is an input instructing section equipped with various setting switches including a switch that responds to the release button 15 and a switch that responds to a brightness adjustment button (not shown).

By the way, in the electronic camera 10, a stand placement detection circuit 60 is provided as detection means for detecting whether or not the camera body 11 is placed on the stand 30.
Is provided. This stand placement detection circuit 60 is
The potential of + V applied to the terminal 61 is applied to one port of the CPU 54 through the resistance element 62, and the camera body 11 is placed on the stand 30 to connect the connectors 21 and 31. At this time, one end of the resistance element 62, that is, the potential control terminal P connected to the CPU 54 is dropped to the ground potential, whereby the camera body 1
The stand mounting information SA indicating that 1 is mounted on the stand 30 is given to the CPU 54.

The power supply section 70 comprises a switching circuit 71, a power supply circuit 72, the charging circuit 23 having a battery remaining amount detecting circuit 73, and the secondary battery 18. The power supply unit 70 is the AC / DC converter 3 of the stand 30.
When the rectified power of a predetermined level is input from 6, the rectified power is supplied to each unit in the camera body via the switching circuit 71 and the power supply circuit 72. Also stand 30
Therefore, when the rectified power is not input, the DC power from the secondary battery 18 is supplied to each unit in the camera body through the power supply circuit 72. Further, the battery remaining amount detection circuit 7 indicates that the battery remaining amount of the secondary battery 18 has decreased to the limit level.
3 is detected, the secondary battery 18 is charged by the charging circuit 23.

Hereinafter, the brightness change control operation of the electronic camera 10 in the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.
This will be described with reference to (a) and (b) of FIG.

When the electronic camera 10 is set to the reproduction mode in order to display the image recorded on the electronic camera 10, predetermined image data designated by the frame is read out from the image recording medium 53, and image processing is performed. It is expanded by the device 52 and stored in the temporary storage circuit 51.

When the electronic camera 10 is not placed on the stand 30 and the camera body 11 is in the normal posture, the connectors 21 and 31 are not joined, and therefore the stand placement detection circuit 60 is not connected. The potential control terminal P is kept at the high potential + V. Therefore, the stand placement detection circuit 60 notifies the CPU 54 of the stand placement information SA “none”. Therefore, from the CPU 54 to the LCD driver 5
5, the brightness change command SC “none” is transmitted. Therefore, the image based on the reproduction image data stored in the temporary storage circuit 51 is displayed on the LCD display unit 22.
The standard brightness (value set appropriately), for example, [-1] is displayed (see (a) of FIG. 3). Thus, as shown in FIG. 5A, the displayed image can be visually recognized well within the range of the viewing angle α.

When the electronic camera 10 is placed on the stand 30 and is held at an angle θ which is tilted by about 10 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, the connectors 21 and 31 are connected to each other, so that the stand placement detection circuit 60. The potential control terminal P of is dropped to the ground potential. Therefore, the stand placement detection circuit 60
From CPU to CPU 54, stand placement information SA “present”
Is transmitted. Therefore, the CPU 54 informs the LCD driver 55 of the brightness change command SC “present”. As a result, the brightness is controlled to be changed so that the direction of the viewing angle on the LCD display unit 22 is changed to the set value (direction) according to the mounting posture of the camera body 11 with respect to the stand 30.

Therefore, the image based on the image data for reproduction stored in the temporary storage circuit 51 is displayed on the LCD display section 22 with the brightness set as described above, for example, [+3] ( See FIG. 3B). Thus, as shown in FIG. 5B, the field of view is changed with the set value (orientation) depending on the mounting posture of the camera body 11 with respect to the stand 30 (inclined at an angle θ of about 10 ° with respect to the horizontal plane). The range of the angle β (equal to α) can be visually recognized well.

The set value of the viewing angle direction can be adjusted and set by the manual operation of the operation unit 38 described above. That is, when it is desired to reduce the brightness slightly below the set value, the brightness reduction operation button 38a may be pressed a desired number of times. When it is desired to increase the brightness from the set value, the brightness increasing operation button 38
It is sufficient to press b a desired number of times. And the setting button 38c
The adjustment value can be confirmed by pressing.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the brightness is set so that the value at the time of normal use and the value at the time of stand mounting are set separately. It is also possible to add a predetermined correction value to the set value for normal use. By doing so, it becomes possible to automatically set / change the set value when the stand is placed, simply by performing the setting / change operation during normal use.

(Characteristics of Embodiment) [1] The electronic camera 10 shown in the embodiment is an electronic camera 10 that can be mounted on a rechargeable camera stand 30, and includes a camera body 11 and This camera body 1
A liquid crystal display unit (LCD display unit 22) provided on the display unit 1 for displaying an image based on image data, and the liquid crystal display unit 2
Viewing angle changing means (L
The CD driver 55, the LCD display unit 22), a detection means (stand placement detection circuit 60) for detecting that the camera body 11 is placed on the stand 30, and the camera body 11 is detected by the detection means 60. The stand 3
When it is detected that the camera is placed at 0, the viewing angle changing means is controlled to change the direction of the viewing angle to a set value according to the mounting posture of the camera body 11 with respect to the stand 30. A control means (CPU 54, LCD driver 55) is provided.

In the electronic camera 10, when the camera body 11 is placed on the stand 30, the liquid crystal display means 2
The direction of the viewing angle of 2 is automatically changed to a set value according to the mounting posture of the camera body 11 with respect to the stand 30. Therefore, even when the camera body 11 is placed at an angle to the stand 30 at a predetermined angle, the image displayed by the liquid crystal display means 22 is easily visible.

[2] Electronic camera 10 shown in the embodiment
Is the electronic camera 10 described in [1], wherein the viewing angle changing means (LCD driver 55, LCD display unit 22) is a brightness changing means for changing the brightness of the liquid crystal display means 22. It has a feature.

In the electronic camera 10, the brightness can be changed and the direction of the viewing angle can be controlled only by taking electrical means such as controlling the voltage applied to the liquid crystal molecules, so that the configuration of the control system is simple.

[3] Electronic camera 10 shown in the embodiment
Is the electronic camera 10 according to [1] or [2], wherein the camera body 11 is an operation unit (input instructing unit) capable of manually changing the set value of the direction of the viewing angle. 81) is provided.

In the electronic camera 10, the user can variably adjust the set value to an optimum state according to the mounting posture of the camera body 11 with respect to the stand 30 and the angle at which the user looks at the liquid crystal display means 22. it can. Therefore, the set value can be adjusted to the optimum value at any time.

[4] The camera stand 30 shown in the embodiment is the electronic camera 1 according to the above [1] or [2].
0 is a charging stand 30 that can be mounted, and in the state where the camera body 11 is mounted on the stand 30, it is possible to manually change the set value of the viewing angle direction. It is characterized in that a possible operation part 38 is provided in the exterior part 37.

In the stand 30, the liquid crystal display means 2 is provided with the camera body 11 placed on the stand 30.
The setting value of the direction of the viewing angle in 2 can be arbitrarily adjusted by the user on the stand 30 side, which is convenient and has excellent operability.

(Modification) The electronic camera and the camera stand shown in the embodiment include the following modifications.

The camera body 11 with respect to the stand 30
It is applied to an electronic camera and camera stand that are mounted in a horizontal position.

As the viewing angle changing means, in addition to the electrical means such as the brightness changing means, a mechanical means such as a mechanism for rotating the liquid crystal display means 22 itself to change the direction of the viewing angle is used.

[0049]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic camera and a camera stand having the following operational effects.

(A) When the camera body is mounted on the stand, the direction of the viewing angle of the image displayed by the liquid crystal display means is a set value corresponding to the mounting posture, based on the stand mounting information. Therefore, even when the camera body is tilted and placed on the stand, the image displayed by the liquid crystal display means can be easily viewed.

(B) Since the stand placement information is automatically obtained only by placing the camera body on the camera stand, the handling operation is extremely simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a top view and (b) is a front view.
(C) is a bottom view, (d) is a side view, and (e) is a rear view.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the electronic camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted on a rechargeable camera stand,
(A) is a side view, (b) is a front view.

FIG. 3 is an LC of the electronic camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7A is a diagram showing a display screen of the D display unit, FIG. 7A is a display screen of the LCD display unit at the time of normal use, and FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control system of the entire camera system including the electronic camera and the stand according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

5A and 5B are operation explanatory views of the electronic camera and the stand according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5A is a view showing a viewing angle of the LCD display unit during normal use, and FIG. 5B is a view when the stand is placed. It is a figure which shows the viewing angle of an LCD display part.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Electronic camera 11 ... Camera body 19 ... Connector cover 21 ... Connector 22 ... LCD display section (display means) 30 ... Camera stand 31 ... Connector 32 ... Recess for mounting camera 38 ... Operation unit for variable set value operation 40 ... Imaging optical system 54, 55 ... Control means 55, 22 ... Viewing angle changing means (brightness changing means) 60 ... Stand-mounted detection circuit (detection means) 70 ... Power supply unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electronic camera mountable on a rechargeable camera stand, comprising: a camera body; liquid crystal display means provided on the camera body for displaying an image based on image data; Viewing angle changing means for changing the direction of the viewing angle in the display means, detecting means for detecting that the camera body is placed on the stand, and the camera body is placed on the stand by the detecting means. When it is detected that the direction of the viewing angle,
An electronic camera comprising: a control unit that controls the viewing angle changing unit so as to change the set value according to a mounting posture of the camera body with respect to the stand. 2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the viewing angle changing means is a brightness changing means for changing the brightness of the liquid crystal display means. 3. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera body includes an operation unit capable of manually changing the set value of the viewing angle direction. 4. A charging stand in which the electronic camera according to claim 1 or 2 can be mounted, wherein the viewing angle direction is in the state where the camera body is mounted on the stand. A stand for a camera, which is provided with an operation unit capable of manually variably changing the set value of the.