JP2003087625A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera which is superior in operability and usability and guarantees proper and excellent photography at any time. SOLUTION: The electronic camera is equipped with a 1st circuit block composed of one or more circuit boards 24 and 25 arranged below a camera body 1, a 2nd circuit block composed of one circuit board 26 or more which is positioned on the grip side of the camera body 1 and arranged almost at right angles to the 1st circuit block, and a 3rd circuit block composed of one or more circuit boards 22 and 23 which are positioned at the side part of the camera body 1 on the opposite side from the 2nd circuit block and arranged almost at right angles to the 1st circuit block. The 1st circuit block and 2nd circuit block, and 1st circuit block and 3rd circuit blocks are electrically connected by board-to-board connecting connectors.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an arrangement and connection structure of circuit boards in an electronic camera, especially a digital still camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there is a so-called digital still camera which captures a subject image using a solid-state image sensor such as a CCD, A / D-converts the captured image signal, processes it as a digital signal, and records it on a recording medium. It is becoming popular.

This kind of digital still camera is generally equipped with the following circuits. -A circuit for A / D converting an image signal captured by an image sensor such as a CCD into a digital signal-A buffer memory for temporarily storing a captured image digital signal-Processing the digital signal stored in the buffer memory to obtain image data Circuit to generate ・ Circuit to transfer generated image data to removable recording medium ・ Circuit to output generated image data to external device ・ Circuit to read digital signal from recording medium ・ Digital signal by D / A conversion Circuit that converts to an analog signal and outputs to the built-in display device

As described above, the digital still camera requires an extremely large-scale electronic circuit. In a conventional single-lens reflex digital camera, generally, these large-scale electronic circuits are mounted on a plurality of substrates arranged on the back surface of the CCD and the bottom surface of the body.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional single-lens reflex type digital camera. In FIG. 4, 201 is a camera body, 202 is a photographing lens for photographing an object,
The camera body 201 can be replaced via a lens mount 203. Reference numeral 204 denotes a quick return mirror, which is provided in the photographing optical path of the photographing lens 202, and has a mirror-down position for guiding the subject light from the photographing lens 202 to the finder optical system and a mirror-up position (retracted position) for retracting it outside the photographing optical path. It is movable between the two, and is in the mirror-up position in the figure.

A focus plate 205 forms an image of the subject light guided to the finder optical system. Reference numeral 206 denotes a condenser lens for improving the visibility of the finder.
207 is a pentaprism, which is a condenser lens 20.
Eyepiece 2 for finder observation of subject light that has passed through 6
09 and the photometric sensor 208.

Reference numerals 210 and 211 denote a rear curtain and a front curtain, which constitute a shutter. When the rear curtain 210 and the front curtain 211 are opened, a CCD which is a solid-state image pickup element arranged at the rear side.
Give 212 the required exposure. The signal accumulated in the CCD 212 at the time of shooting is sent to a storage device described later as image data through a separately provided image processing circuit (not shown).

220 is a CCD equipped with a CCD drive circuit
This is the substrate and holds the CCD 212.
A display circuit board 213 is arranged behind the board 220. A TFT display panel 214 and a backlight illumination device 215 are arranged on the outer surface of the display circuit board 213. Reference numeral 216 is an exterior cover, and 217 is a removable storage device for recording image data. Below the storage device 217, a power circuit board 223 having a power circuit mounted therein and digital circuit boards 221, 222 having a digital circuit mounted therein.
Are arranged. Reference numeral 218 is a battery, and 219 is an eyepiece window for finder observation.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-223461 discloses a circuit board layout and holding structure of a lens interchangeable single-lens reflex digital camera using a reduction optical system for secondary image formation.

[0010]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, all the large-scale circuits of the digital camera are mounted on the back surface and the bottom surface of the camera. For this reason, it is unavoidable that the thickness of the rear surface of the camera and the height below the optical axis of the lens become large as compared with a silver halide camera using a conventional film. As the thickness of the back of the camera becomes thicker, the grip for holding the camera also becomes thicker accordingly, making it difficult to hold the grip stably during shooting, which impairs the operability of the camera. is there. Further, if the height of the camera below the optical axis of the lens becomes high, it becomes an obstacle when operating the taking lens at the time of taking a picture, and there is a problem that the operability of the camera is impaired.

Further, in a digital camera having a reduction optical system for secondary image formation as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-223461, a large space is required for the optical system, and the camera is also large. There was a problem that it became heavy.

In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic camera which is excellent in operability and usability and which always guarantees proper and good photographing.

[0013]

In order to solve the above problems, the electronic camera of the present invention forms an image of a subject on an image pickup device via an optical system and records the image, and outputs image data from the output of the image pickup device. And a first circuit block composed of one or more circuit boards arranged at the bottom of the camera body, and a grip side side portion of the camera body, A second circuit block composed of one or more circuit boards arranged substantially perpendicular to the first circuit block and a side portion of the camera body opposite to the second circuit block, A third circuit block composed of one or more circuit boards arranged substantially vertically to the first circuit block, the first circuit block, the second circuit block, and the first circuit. Block and third circuit block Click, respectively, characterized in that it has a circuit board mounting structure that is electrically connected with board-to-board connector.

Further, in the electronic camera of the present invention, a battery accommodating portion for accommodating a battery is provided below the first circuit block, and a battery contact piece is provided at a grip side end of the battery accommodating portion. And

Further, in the electronic camera of the present invention, the second circuit block is a circuit block on which a DCDC converter circuit and its peripheral circuits are mounted.

Further, in the electronic camera of the present invention, the wiring board forming the second circuit block is formed so as to extend vertically and bidirectionally with respect to the first circuit block. Is electrically connected to the battery contact piece at a lower end portion thereof.

Further, in the electronic camera of the present invention, the first circuit block is composed of two circuit boards, and the two circuit boards are electrically connected by a board-to-board connector. Is characterized by.

Further, in the electronic camera of the present invention, the third circuit block is composed of two circuit boards, and the two circuit boards are electrically connected by a board-to-board connector. Is characterized by.

In the electronic camera of the present invention, the first circuit block and the third circuit block are
It is a circuit block equipped with an image processing circuit.

According to the present invention, a circuit of a large-scale digital camera can be mounted on a camera body having the same size as a conventional silver halide camera by effectively utilizing the space of the camera. Further, by making it possible to connect the battery contact piece and the DCDC converter with a short wiring length, it is possible to reduce the space required for wiring and to facilitate the connection work between the circuit blocks by the connector connection.

Alternatively, a large-scale circuit can be mounted on the first circuit block, and the connector connection can facilitate the work of connecting the boards forming the first circuit block. Further, it is possible to mount a large-scale circuit on the third circuit block and facilitate the work of connecting the boards forming the third circuit block by connecting the connectors. Further, by dividing a large-scale image processing circuit into a plurality of boards, efficient board arrangement in the camera is realized.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of the digital camera according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing the configuration of the digital camera according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the electronic camera of this embodiment.

First, the configuration of an electronic camera according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described with reference to FIG. Figure 3
In the figure, 12 is a CCD for converting an optical image into an electric signal. Reference numeral 41 is a CCD drive control circuit for driving / controlling the CCD 12. Reference numeral 42 is an A / D conversion circuit that converts an analog signal output from the CCD into a digital signal. A first image processing circuit 43 processes the digital signal output from the A / D conversion circuit 42 to generate image data, stores the image data in the buffer memory 44, and outputs a second image signal described later. Processing for outputting to the processing circuit 45 is performed. A second image processing circuit 45 performs image processing such as image compression / expansion processing, pixel interpolation processing, and color conversion processing using the image data output from the first image processing circuit 43, and displays an image on a TFT. Image processing for displaying on the panel 14 is performed, and processing for outputting image data to the TFT display processing circuit 48 is performed.

Reference numeral 46 denotes an external recording medium control circuit, which is the second
It is a communication control circuit that controls the transfer of data such as sending the image data processed by the image processing circuit 45 to the external recording medium 47 or sending the data in the external recording medium 47 to the inside of the camera body. An I / O control circuit 49 sends image data processed by the second image processing circuit 45 to an external device such as a personal computer connected via the I / O connector 50, or from an external device such as a personal computer to the camera. It is a communication control circuit that controls the exchange of data such as sending to the inside of the main body.

Reference numeral 47 denotes an external recording medium that can be attached to and detached from the camera, and is a recording medium that includes a recording section including a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, etc., an interface and a connector for connecting to the camera. Reference numeral 48 denotes a TFT display processing circuit, which performs processing for displaying the image signal output from the second image processing circuit 45 on the TFT display panel 14.

Reference numeral 55 denotes a camera SW, such as a camera function selection switch (hereinafter referred to as SW) and a main S.
W, release SW, shooting mode switching SW, and the like. 5
Reference numeral 6 denotes a liquid crystal display device of a camera, which displays various information such as a shooting mode, a lens aperture value, a shutter speed value, and ISO sensitivity. Reference numeral 54 denotes various sensors such as a photometric sensor and an AF sensor. Reference numeral 53 is a camera actuator that performs charge driving of a shutter and a mirror.

Reference numeral 51 is a digital circuit control microcomputer.
The digital circuit control microcomputer 51 includes a first image signal processing circuit 43 and a second image signal processing circuit 4 via a CPU bus.
5, I / O control circuit 49 and external recording medium control circuit 4
6 communicates with, exchanges data with, and controls these in a centralized manner. Reference numeral 52 denotes a camera control microcomputer, which comprehensively performs driving of the sensors 54, detection of the states of the SWs 55, display control of the liquid crystal display device 56, drive control of the camera actuators 53, and various arithmetic processes related thereto. . The camera control microcomputer 52 and the digital circuit control microcomputer 51 communicate with each other and cooperate to control the entire camera.

Next, the mounting structure of the digital camera according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 is a camera body.
A mirror box 2 is attached to the camera body 1. A lens mount 3 is attached to the mirror box 2, and a photographing lens (not shown) can be attached via the lens mount 3. Reference numeral 4 denotes a quick return mirror provided in the mirror box 2, which is moved between a mirror-down position that guides the subject light from the photographing lens to the finder optical system and a mirror-up position (retracted position) that retracts out of the photographing optical path. Yes, it is in the mirror down position in the figure.

A focusing plate 5 forms an image of the subject light guided to the finder optical system. Reference numeral 6 is a condenser lens for improving the visibility of the finder. Reference numeral 7 denotes a pentaprism, which guides the subject light that has passed through the condenser lens 6 to an eyepiece 9 for finder observation and a photometric sensor 8.

Reference numerals 10 and 11 denote a rear curtain and a front curtain which constitute a shutter, and by opening the rear curtain 10 and the front curtain 11, necessary exposure is given to a CCD 12 which is a solid-state image pickup element arranged in the rear. Reference numeral 14 is a TFT display panel for displaying a photographed image and various kinds of information, and 15 is a backlight illumination device thereof. Reference numeral 18 is a battery, and 21 is an eyepiece window for finder observation.

Reference numeral 28 denotes a TFT circuit board on which a TFT display processing circuit 48 and its peripheral circuits are mounted. Three
Reference numeral 0 is a connection flexible printed board for connecting the TFT circuit board 28 and the digital circuit D board 25. 29 is I
/ O circuit board, on which the I / O control circuit 49 and its peripheral circuits are mounted. Reference numeral 31 is a connection flexible printed board for connecting the I / O circuit board 29 and the digital circuit D board 25. The positions where the TFT circuit board 28 and the I / O circuit board 29 are arranged correspond to the positions where the film cartridge storage chamber is located in the silver halide camera.

Reference numeral 27 is a camera main board. The camera main board 27 is a so-called flex-rigid board, and includes a rigid portion composed of multiple wiring layers arranged on the upper surface, front surface and lower surface of the camera, and an upper surface rigid portion.
It has a flexible part which connects between the front rigid parts and between the front rigid part and the lower rigid part. A camera control microcomputer 52 and its peripheral circuits are mounted on the camera main board 27, and are connected to a plurality of flexible printed boards connected to SWs 55, a flexible printed board connected to camera actuators 53, and a liquid crystal display device 56. A connector for connecting a flexible printed board such as a flexible printed board on which the sensors 54 are mounted and the like are mounted. Further, a board-to-board connector for connection with the digital circuit D board 25 is mounted on the rigid portion on the lower surface of the camera main board 27.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a CCD substrate located on the back surface of the CCD, on which the CCD 12, its drive / control circuit 41 and its peripheral circuits are mounted.

A digital circuit A board 22 and a digital circuit B board 23 are arranged on the right side surface of the mirror box 2. The A / D conversion circuit 42 and its peripheral circuits are mounted on the digital circuit A board 22. A buffer memory 44, a first image processing circuit 43, peripheral circuits thereof, and the like are mounted on the digital circuit B board 23. The digital circuit A board 22 and the digital circuit B board 23 are electrically connected by a board-to-board connecting connector 32, and further fixed to the holders 36 and 37 by screwing.
One circuit block (hereinafter, referred to as “circuit block AB”. The circuit block AB corresponds to the third circuit block in the present invention.
It is a circuit block of. ) Is formed.

The circuit block AB is inserted from below the camera body 1 after the mirror box 2 is attached to the body 1, and the upper holder 36 is fitted and fixed to the locking member 40 provided on the upper portion of the body. Then, the lower holder 37 is fixed to the camera body 1 by being screwed. The position where the circuit block AB is arranged is generally a film cartridge storage chamber or a film D
It is a space used for the X-code detection mechanism, the film feeding mechanism, and the like.

A digital circuit C board 24 and a digital circuit D board 25 are arranged on the lower surface of the mirror box 2. A second image signal processing circuit 45, a digital circuit control microcomputer 51 and its peripheral circuits are mounted on the digital circuit C board 24. I on the digital circuit D board 25
A part of the I / O control circuit 49 and the camera main board 2
7. A connector for connecting to peripheral boards such as connection flexible printed boards 30 and 31 and peripheral circuits thereof are mounted. The digital circuit C board 24 and the digital circuit D board 25 are electrically connected to each other by a board-to-board connecting connector 33 and further fixed to a holder 38 by screwing, so that one circuit block (hereinafter, referred to as “circuit block CD”). Note that the circuit block CD is the first circuit block in the present invention.). The position where the circuit block CD is arranged is a space generally used for a mechanism such as a gear train for film feeding in a silver halide camera.

Digital circuit B board 23 and digital circuit C
The board 24 is electrically connected to each other by a board-to-board connecting connector 34.

A battery accommodating portion 57 is formed below the digital circuit D substrate 25, and a battery contact piece 19 is provided at the grip-side end of the battery accommodating portion 57. The battery 18 is stored in the battery storage portion 57.

On the side surface (left side surface) of the camera body 1 on the grip side, the power circuit board 26 (note that the power circuit board 26
Is a second circuit block in the present invention. ) Has been placed. This power circuit board 26 and digital circuit C
The board 24 is electrically connected by a board-to-board connecting connector 35, and is screwed and fixed to the camera body 1. The power supply circuit board 26 is formed so as to extend in both the upper and lower directions of the board-to-board connecting connector 35, and its lower end portion 26a.
At, a lead wire 20 for supplying power from the battery contact piece 19 is connected.

According to the present embodiment described above, the space of the camera is effectively used, and a large-scale digital circuit board is arranged in a body having the same size as the conventional silver halide camera. Further, by directly connecting the main boards using the board-to-board connecting connector, a flexible printed board or the like for connection is not necessary and the assembling workability is improved.

Also, with the mirror box 2 attached to the camera body 1, all digital circuit boards attached,
It is removable and has excellent maintainability. Further, the power supply circuit is arranged in the vicinity of the battery, and each circuit block is arranged efficiently along the flow of signal processing from the CCD.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to mount a large-scale circuit in the electronic camera of this kind by effectively utilizing the space of the camera, and to make a substantially compact structure. It has advantages such as being able to provide an electronic camera that is extremely easy to use and has excellent operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a conventional digital camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 camera body 2 mirror box 3 lens mount 4 Quick return mirror 5 focus plate 6 condenser lens 7 Penta prism 8 Photometric sensor 9 eyepiece 10 shutter rear curtain 11 shutter front curtain 12 CCD 13 CCD substrate 14 TFT display panel 15 Lighting equipment 17 CF slots 18 batteries 19 Battery contact piece 20 lead wires 21 Finder eyepiece window 22 Digital circuit A board 23 Digital Circuit B Board 24 Digital circuit C board 25 Digital circuit D board 26 power circuit board 26a Lower end of substrate 27 Camera main board 28 TFT circuit board 29 I / O circuit board 30 connection flexible printed circuit board 31 Connection flexible printed circuit board 32 Board-to-board connector 33 Board-to-board connector 34 Board-to-board connector 35 Board-to-board connector 36 holder 37 Holder 38 Holder 39 holder 40 Locking member 41 CCD drive / control circuit 42 A / D conversion circuit 43 First image signal processing circuit 44 buffer memory 45 Second image signal processing circuit 46 External recording medium control circuit 47 external recording medium 48 TFT display processing circuit 49 I / O control circuit 50 I / O connector 51 Digital circuit control microcomputer 52 Camera control microcomputer 53 Camera actuators 54 sensors 55 SW 56 Liquid Crystal Display 57 Battery compartment

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electronic camera in which a subject image is formed on an image pickup device via an optical system and recorded, and image data is obtained from an output of the image pickup device, the electronic camera being arranged below a camera body. A first circuit block composed of one or more circuit boards, and one or more circuit boards located on the grip side of the camera body and arranged substantially perpendicular to the first circuit block. A second circuit block configured and one or more circuit boards located on a side of the camera body opposite to the second circuit block and arranged substantially perpendicular to the first circuit block. A first circuit block and a second circuit block, and the first circuit block and the third circuit block are electrically connected by a board-to-board connector. Wiring connected to An electronic camera, characterized in that it comprises a plate mounting structure. 2. A battery accommodating portion for accommodating a battery is provided below the first circuit block, and a battery contact piece is provided at a grip-side end of the battery accommodating portion.
The electronic camera described in. 3. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the second circuit block is a circuit block on which a DCDC converter circuit and its peripheral circuits are mounted. 4. The wiring board forming the second circuit block is formed so as to extend vertically and bidirectionally with respect to the first circuit block, and the battery contact is formed at a lower end portion of the second circuit block. The electronic camera according to claim 2, wherein the electronic camera is electrically connected to the piece. 5. The first circuit block is composed of two circuit boards, and the two circuit boards are electrically connected by a board-to-board connector. The electronic camera according to any one of items 1 to 4. 6. The third circuit block is composed of two circuit boards, and the two circuit boards are electrically connected by a board-to-board connector. The electronic camera according to any one of items 1 to 5. 7. The first circuit block and the third circuit block.
7. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the circuit block is a circuit block having an image processing circuit mounted therein.