JPH118787A - Electronic image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic image pickup device with excellent assemblability advantageous for noise reduction capable of spaceefficiently disposing a power supply unit and other circuit boards. SOLUTION: In this electronic image pickup device, a power supply/ stroboscopic control circuit board 64 for mounting the power supply unit and a stroboscopic control part is disposed at the almost center part of a camera body 1, a main circuit board 61 is disposed on the front side of the power supply/stroboscopic control circuit board 64, a color liquid crystal display part 13 is disposed on the rear side, an image pickup circuit board 62 is disposed on an oblique side part and further, the circuit board for an operation is disposed at an upper part. By disposing them in such a manner, a harness for power supply connection is shortened, connector connection is made possible, the assemblability is improved, noise is reduced and compactification is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an arrangement of a power supply unit in an electronic image pickup apparatus for recording an image taken by an image pickup device as electric image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a digital camera or the like which is a conventional electronic image pickup apparatus, a circuit for supplying power to a plurality of circuit boards constituting the apparatus is provided. A power supply unit including a DC / DC converter and the like includes: The general arrangement is that the circuit board is arranged at a position offset to one of the arrangement positions of the plurality of circuit boards. In a conventional digital camera or the like, a flash control device for flash shooting is usually built in, and the flash control circuit board is provided as an independent dedicated circuit board.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional digital camera and the like, since the power supply unit is disposed offset with respect to the other circuit boards, the power supply unit is mounted on a relatively distant circuit board. On the other hand, it is not possible to directly connect the connector, and it is necessary to supply power through a harness. However, the above harness becomes long, the assembling property is poor, and furthermore, the power supply noise from the harness causes noise in the surrounding circuits. Was adversely affected. In addition, since the wire diameter of the power supply harness is generally much larger than that of the signal, the bending radius of the harness is large and an extra space is required for wiring.

Also, since the strobe control circuit board is provided independently as described above, the number of boards is naturally one more, which is disadvantageous in cost and poor in assemblability. In addition, the strobe control circuit required a separate shield case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to arrange a power supply unit and other circuit boards with good space efficiency, to have good assemblability. It is an object to provide an electronic imaging device that is also advantageous in terms of noise. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic image pickup apparatus which can efficiently accommodate a strobe control circuit and is less affected by noise.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic imaging apparatus for recording an image captured by an imaging element as electrical image information.
A power supply unit that supplies power to an electric circuit using a battery as a power supply is an electronic imaging apparatus in which the power supply unit is disposed at a substantially central position in an electronic imaging apparatus main body.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electronic imaging apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising an image display unit for displaying an image and an external recording medium for recording the image. A circuit board on which the electric circuit is mounted, a circuit board on which the external recording medium mounting section is mounted, an image sensor, and the image sensor. An image pickup circuit board on which a video processing circuit for processing a captured image signal is mounted; and an operation circuit board on which various operation switches and an operation control circuit are mounted. And a circuit board on which the external recording medium mounting portion is mounted, and further, adjacent to the imaging circuit board,
An electronic imaging device is provided below the operation circuit board.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic imaging apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein a strobe control circuit for controlling light emission during strobe shooting is provided on a substrate on which the power supply unit is mounted. It is an electronic imaging device mounted together.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A digital camera which is an electronic image pickup apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described from the structure around an exterior. 1 to 7 are external views of the digital camera. FIG. 1 is a front view in a barrier closed state, FIG. 2 is a front view in a barrier open state, and FIGS.
A left side view, a right side view, a plan view, a bottom view, and a rear view of the camera body. Each electric control system element such as a switch and an LED used in the following description will be described with reference to the block diagram of the electric control system in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the main body 1 of the digital camera is mainly composed of two exterior bodies, a front cover 20 and a rear cover 21. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, on the front surface of the front cover 20 of the main body 1, the photographic lens 22a of the photographic lens unit 22 and the optical finder window of the optical finder unit 16 (see FIG. 11) are located near the right end. 16b is provided. In addition, an opening / closing cover for protecting the taking lens 22a and the optical finder window 16b is provided for protecting the taking lens 22a and the optical viewfinder window 16b. Further, a self-timer display window 3 is provided in the lower right corner of the area not covered by the lens barrier 2.

The lens barrier 2 is used for photographing or
By sliding in the open / close direction when not shooting,
The taking lens 22a and the optical finder window 16b can be exposed or covered. A lens barrier switch 35 that is turned on / off in conjunction with the opening / closing operation of the lens barrier 2 is provided inside the main body. As the switch 35 is turned on / off, the power of the camera system is turned on / off. In addition, the lens barrier 2
Is in the barrier open position, a click force is acting, and the barrier open state is maintained.

A flash window 19 is provided in the lens barrier 2, and a flash light emitting portion 59 (see FIG. 9) including a trigger transformer is accommodated therein, and slides integrally with the lens barrier 2. I do. As described above, by moving the strobe light emitting unit 59 together with the lens barrier 2, an appropriate distance between the photographing lens 22a and the strobe light emitting unit 59 at the time of shooting is ensured.

The self-timer display window 3 is a substantially elliptical and semi-transparent member, and as shown in FIG.
It is arranged in a state of protruding from. A printed circuit board (not shown) in the main body 1 is provided inside the self-timer display window 3.
Is mounted on the LED 45. LED4 above
5 is controlled by the system controller 30 and emits light during the self-timer mode operation. However, since the display window 3 has the protruding elliptical shape as described above, the entire window shines, and the lighting state is an oblique direction other than the front. You can also observe from.

On the left side of the camera body 1, as shown in FIG. 3, a cover for an openable and closable recording medium for covering an insertion slot 1d (see FIG. 10) of a mounting portion of a memory card 41 as an external recording medium. A certain card cover 4 is provided. The card cover 4 is rotatably supported by a hinge shaft 17 fixed to the main body 1 via a hinge portion 4b.

A card cover switch 36 which is turned on / off in conjunction with opening and closing of the card cover 4 is provided inside the main body 1. Therefore, if the camera is operated with the lid 4 not completely closed when the memory card 41 is inserted, the output of the lid switch 36 is detected, and a buzzer 55 emits a warning sound. So
Data recorded on the memory card 41 can be reliably protected.

The hinge portion 4b is provided at two locations in the upper and lower portions, and the body portion has a concave shape at an intermediate position, and the hinge shaft 17 through which the hinge portion 4b is inserted is exposed. Therefore, the hinge shaft 17 can be used as a shaft for hanging a portable hand strap.

An openable / closable external terminal cover 8 is provided on the right side of the camera body 1 as shown in FIG. Inside the external terminal cover 8, an external device jack 56 which is a terminal portion for video signal output and digital output, which will be described later,
The external power supply jack 54, which is an external power supply connection terminal portion, is accommodated. By closing the external terminal cover 8, dust can be prevented from entering each terminal portion when not in use. When the external terminal cover 8 is opened, the external terminal cover 8 can be opened by putting a finger on the external terminal cover 8 from a finger hook concave portion 12 (see FIG. 6) provided on the bottom surface side of the camera body 1.

On the upper side of the camera body 1, a mode LCD 5 showing the state of each operation mode of the camera as shown in FIG.
In the center, three operation buttons 6a of the operation mode setting switch 6 are arranged on the right side and two on the left side. further,
An operation button 7a of the release switch 7 is provided on the upper left side. The release switch 7 is a recording instruction switch at the time of photographing by the camera. By operating the release switch 7, image information being captured can be recorded in the built-in memory 39 or the memory card 41.

On the bottom side of the camera body 1, in addition to the finger hook recess 12, as shown in FIG.
An openable and closable battery cover 10 for replacing a power supply battery 51 inserted in the battery storage chamber 1b (see FIG. 10) is provided. Also, a tripod screw 18 is provided slightly to the left of the center.

The battery lid 10 has an egg-shaped recess formed at the center thereof, and a rotatable operation knob 11 is provided in the recess. By rotating the operation knob 11, the internal lock mechanism is released, and the battery cover 1 is opened.
0 rotates about the hinge near the center of the camera body and opens, and the battery storage chamber 1b is opened. The battery can be replaced in the open state. The thickness of the operation knob 11 is set within the depth of the concave portion, and the knob 11 does not project from the bottom surface of the camera body 1.

On the rear side of the camera body 1, a color liquid crystal display 1 serving as an image display device is provided at the center as shown in FIG.
3 are provided. The display unit 13 is attached in a state where the display unit 13 is surrounded by an auxiliary cover 14. On the left side of the display unit 13, three operation buttons 15a of the LCD operation switch 15 are arranged side by side. Further, an eyepiece window 16b of the optical finder unit 16 for confirming a subject is provided in an upper portion of the rear surface.

As shown in the front view of FIG. 1 and the plan view of FIG. 5, a grip for holding the camera with the right hand at the time of photographing is provided on the left end side opposite to the side where the photographing lens 22a is located. A part 1a is provided. The grip portion 1a has a grip portion shape that protrudes rearward (display portion side) and swells and slightly expands frontward (photographing lens side), but has a shape that is almost flat. As will be described later, a memory card mounting portion 40 is provided inside the grip portion 1a at the front side, and the battery storage room 1b is provided at the rear side.

Next, the configuration of the control system of the digital camera according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of the control system shown in FIG. 8 and a schematic exploded perspective view of each circuit board shown in FIG. In the digital camera, as shown in FIG. 8, the control system mainly includes a main control unit, a recording medium mounting unit, a photographing optical unit, an imaging unit, an image display unit, an operation unit, a power supply unit unit. And a flash control unit.

The main control unit includes a system controller 30 for controlling the entire apparatus, and a digital processing circuit 3 for digitizing a video signal output from the imaging unit.
4, a built-in memory 39 for storing digital image signals,
A video encoder 42 converts the digital image signal into a video signal, and a digital I / F 43 for outputting the digital image signal to an external digital device.

The storage medium mounting section is a memory card 41
Comprises a memory card mounting section 40 which is a detachable external recording medium mounting section, and has a built-in card connector 40a. The main controller including the system controller 30 and the digital processing circuit 34 and the memory card mounting unit 40 are mounted on a single main circuit board 61.

The photographing optical section mainly includes a photographing lens 22a.
, A mechanical shutter 37, and a photographic lens unit 22 having a built-in focus control unit 38 for performing focusing control of the photographic lens 22 a.

The image pickup section mainly includes an imager 32 which is an image pickup element for converting a subject image taken through the photographing lens 22a into an electric image pickup signal, and processes an image pickup signal outputted from the imager 32. And a video processing circuit 33 that performs the processing. In addition, those constituent members are the imaging circuit board 6.
2 is implemented.

The image display unit comprises a color liquid crystal display unit 13 which is an image display device for displaying a photographed image or a reproduced image.

The operation section mainly includes a mode setting switch 6 for setting an operation mode and a color liquid crystal display section (color LC).
D) LCD operation switch 15 for selecting an image to be displayed on 13, release switch 7 for instructing capture of an image being captured, and LED 4 for self-timer display
5 and a mode LC for displaying the operation mode setting state
D5, a warning buzzer 55, and the output of each of the above switches are fetched and output to the system control 30, and LE
D45, mode LCD 5, operation microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as operation microcomputer) 29 for driving buzzer 55, and operation microcomputer 29 for storing photographing information, date information, etc. at the time of battery replacement are backed up. It is composed of a super capacitor 53 and the like. In addition,
The components except for the LCD operation switch 15 and the LED 45 are mounted on the operation circuit board 63.

The power supply unit comprises a DC / DC converter 52 for converting an output voltage from a battery 51 into a supply voltage for a circuit. The supply voltage from the battery 51 is converted into each circuit drive voltage by the DC / DC converter 52, and each main circuit board 61, the color liquid crystal display unit 1
3, supplied to the imaging circuit board 62 and the operation circuit board 63.

The flash control section mainly includes a flash circuit 57 for controlling light emission of the light emitting section 59, a main capacitor 58 for charging, and the like. The above strobe circuit 5
Reference numeral 7 denotes a circuit for controlling the charging of the main capacitor 51 and the light emission of the light emitting section 59 during flash photography.

The power supply unit having the DC / DC converter 52 and the strobe control section having the strobe circuit 57 are mounted on a single power supply / strobe circuit board 64. It is surrounded by one metal shield case 65 (see FIG. 10). The shielding by the shield case 65 in this way prevents the switching noise of the DC / DC converter 52 and the charging switching noise at the time of strobe light emission from leaking out of the circuit board 64. If this noise leakage is large, the quality of the captured image will deteriorate,
Problems such as not meeting the standard for unnecessary radiation occur.

The main capacitor 58 is provided between the battery chamber 1b and the power / strobe circuit board 64,
It is disposed adjacent to the circuit board 64 and is connected to the strobe circuit 57 by an extremely short harness (not shown).

The on / off signals of the memory card cover switch 36 for detecting the open / closed state of the card cover 4 and the lens barrier switch 35 for detecting the open / closed state of the lens barrier are directly input to the system controller 30. Further, an external power supply jack 54 to which an external power supply can be connected is provided.
Is connected to the DC / DC converter 52 of the power supply unit. The external device jack 56 is connected to the video encoder 42 or the digital I / F 43.

Next, the arrangement, operation, and the like of the components such as the photographing lens unit, the optical finder unit, the respective circuit boards, the color liquid crystal display, the battery storage room, and the memory card mounting portion in the camera body 1 will be described. A schematic exploded perspective view of the circuit board of FIG. 9, a cross sectional view of FIG. 10, a front view of a partial cross section of FIG. 11, a plan view of a partial cross section of FIG. 12, and a partial cross section of FIG. This will be described with reference to the right side view and the like shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the left-right direction along the front surface of the camera body 1 is defined as a longitudinal direction (D0 direction).

As shown in FIG. 11, the photographing lens unit 2
Numeral 2 is disposed at the right end of the camera body 1, and an optical system finder unit 16 is disposed above the taking lens unit 22. O1 and O2 indicate the optical axes of the taking lens and the optical finder, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 10, the grip portion 1a of the camera body 1 is provided at the left end. Inside the grip portion 1a, a battery storage chamber 1b in which the battery 51 can be stored, a memory card insertion slot 1d, Further, a memory card mounting section 40 to which a memory card 41 can be attached and detached is provided.

The battery storage chamber 1b can accommodate four AA batteries, and is formed in the rear cover 21 as a space for four batteries. The loaded battery 51 is
The position is regulated by the wall of the storage room, and the positioning is performed stably. The outside of the battery storage chamber 1b forms a part of a grip portion 1a that protrudes from the surface of the color liquid crystal display portion 13 disposed on the rear side and rear side of the camera body 1.

The memory card mounting portion 40 is mounted on the main circuit board 61 at the full front position on the inner surface of the front cover 20 of the camera body 1 with its main plane substantially parallel to the front of the camera. It is located in the corner on the front side of the part 1a.

As described above, the color liquid crystal display unit 13 is provided on the back side of the camera body 1 with respect to the memory card mounting unit 40 provided on the front side of the camera body 1. In order to further reduce the length of the external shape in the longitudinal direction of the main body 1, the memory card mounting portion 40 has a tip portion 40.
b enters the color liquid crystal display unit 13 up to a position overlapping in the longitudinal direction.

The memory card slot 1d can be opened and closed by a card cover 4, and the card cover 4 can be locked to the camera body 1. The insertion slot 1d is provided with a space 1c that allows a fingertip to be inserted only on the back side of the rear end of the card when the memory card 41 is mounted.
Therefore, when the memory card 41 is mounted, the card cover 4
When the memory card 41 is opened, the front surface of the rear end of the memory card 41 is exposed, and a finger can be inserted into the space 1c, the rear end can be pinched, and the memory card 41 can be pulled out. In addition,
The card lid 4 is disposed at the corner of the gripping portion in accordance with the large curved shape of the gripping portion 1a. The card lid 4 is disposed on the lens opening direction side of the lens barrier 2.

Further, as described above, since the grip portion 1a has a shape protruding rearward from the surface of the display section 13 for the battery storage chamber 1b, the present camera is in a state where the display section 13 is on the lower side. When placed on a table or the like, the display surface of the display unit 13 is protected without contacting the surface of the table.

On the other hand, the power supply / strobe circuit board 64 is disposed at a substantially central position in the camera body 1 along the longitudinal direction. Further, a main circuit board 61 is provided at a position adjacent to the front side of the power supply / strobe circuit board 64. Similarly, a color liquid crystal display unit 13 is provided at a position adjacent to the power supply / strobe circuit board 64 on the back side of the camera body.

An image pickup circuit board 62 is disposed on the oblique right rear side which does not overlap with the power supply / strobe circuit board 64 and behind the photographing lens unit 22.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 13, an operation circuit board 63 is disposed above the power supply / strobe circuit board 64 along the upper surface of the camera body 1. As described above, the supercapacitor 53 and the buzzer 55 are mounted on the operation circuit board 63, and the mounting position is on the lower surface side of the right end of the circuit board 63.

The lower surface of the right end of the circuit board on which the supercapacitor 53 and the buzzer 55 are mounted is a space formed by the combination of the taking lens unit 22 and the optical finder unit 16 having a smaller width.

As shown in FIG. 9, the power supply / strobe circuit board 64 is provided with direct connectors 74, 75 and 76 and a harness connector 77. The other circuit boards 61, 62, and 63 are provided with directly attached connectors 71, 72, and 73, respectively. Further, a connector 78 is connected to the liquid crystal display unit 13 at the tip of a short harness 79.

As described above, the power supply / strobe circuit board 6
4 with the other circuit boards 61, 62, 63 and
The liquid crystal display unit 13 is disposed adjacent to the front, rear, upper, right side, or the like. Therefore, the directly attached connectors 74, 75, 76 on the circuit board 64 can be easily fitted to the connectors 71, 72, 73 of the circuit boards 61, 62, 63, respectively. A connector 78 attached to a short harness 79 of the liquid crystal display unit 13 is fitted to 77, and a power supply line and a signal line are connected.

Next, the photographing operation of the digital camera of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. The subject image is captured via the taking lens 22a. Then, the optical signal is converted into an electric signal by the imager 32, and the image processing circuit 33 and the digital processing circuit 34
Is recorded as image information in the built-in memory 39 or the memory card 41 connected to the card connector 40a of the card mounting section 40. The image being captured or the image recorded in the built-in memory 39 or the memory card 41 can be displayed on the color liquid crystal display unit 13.

The image information recorded in the built-in memory 39 or the memory card 41 is transmitted to the video encoder 4.
2 is converted to a video signal and output as a video signal, or a digital interface (I / F) 4
3 and is output as a digital video signal. These outputs are taken out via an external device jack 56.

As described above, in the digital camera according to the present embodiment, the power supply / strobe control circuit board 64 on which the power supply unit and the strobe control unit are mounted is attached to the center of the electronic image pickup apparatus main body, Recording medium mounting section 4
0, disposed between the main circuit board 61 on which the system controller 30 and the like are mounted and the color liquid crystal display section 13 and below the operation circuit board 63. In addition, the power supply
The strobe control circuit board 64 is connected to a single shield case 65.
To cover it. Then, the imaging circuit board 62 is arranged not at a position overlapping with the power supply / strobe control circuit board 64 but at an adjacent position.

Therefore, the main circuit board 61 on which the color liquid crystal display section 13, the card mounting section 40 is mounted, the operation circuit board 63, and the like are electrically connected to the power supply unit with a short harness or a directly attached connector. Connection can be made, the space occupied by the electrical connection members can be reduced, and noise generation due to the routing of the power supply harness can be reduced, and assembly can be facilitated. In addition, an imaging circuit board 62 that handles a weak video signal that is more susceptible to noise than other digital processing system main circuit boards 61, etc.
Since the image pickup circuit is disposed at a position obliquely to the side of the strobe control circuit board 64, the image pickup circuit is less likely to be affected by noise, thereby preventing image degradation.

Further, since both the power supply unit and the strobe control unit are mounted on the power supply / strobe control circuit board 64, the number of boards dedicated to the strobe control circuit can be reduced. Also,
Since the shield case 65 can be used in common, it is possible to efficiently prevent the converter switching noise and radiation noise during strobe charging from leaking to the outside, and to reduce the number of noise suppression components.

[0054]

As described above, according to the electronic imaging apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the power supply unit is disposed substantially at the center of the electronic imaging apparatus main body, and other electric circuits are provided. The length of the harness for supplying power to the vehicle or connect the connector, so that the space occupied by the wiring of the harness can be reduced, and the noise generated by the long harness for power supply can be reduced. be able to. In addition, assembling becomes easy, and the size of the camera can be reduced.

According to the electronic imaging device of the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the electronic imaging device of the first aspect, the electronic flash control circuit further includes the same circuit as the power supply unit. Since it is mounted on a board, a dedicated circuit board for strobe control is not required, the number of boards can be reduced, and a shield case for preventing noise can be shared, so space efficiency is increased, miniaturization and cost reduction. Can also be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an external appearance of a digital camera which is an electronic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a barrier closed state.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the external appearance of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1, showing a barrier open state.

FIG. 3 is a left side view showing the appearance of the digital camera in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a right side view showing an appearance of the digital camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the appearance of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing the appearance of the digital camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a rear view showing the appearance of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a control system of the digital camera in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a schematic exploded perspective view of a circuit board incorporated in the digital camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the digital camera of FIG. 1;

11 is a front view showing the digital camera of FIG. 1 in a partial cross section.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the digital camera of FIG. 1 in a partial cross section.

13 is a right side view showing the digital camera of FIG. 1 in a partial cross section.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera main body (electronic imaging device main body) 13 ... Color liquid crystal display part (image display apparatus) 32 ... Imager (imaging element) 40 ... Memory card mounting part (external recording medium mounting part) 41 ... Memory card (external recording medium) 52... DC / DC converter (power supply unit) 57... Strobe circuit (strobe control circuit) 61... Main circuit board (circuit board on which external recording medium mounting portion is mounted) 62 image pickup circuit board 63 operation circuit board 64 power supply / strobe control circuit board (power supply unit, board on which power supply unit is mounted)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electronic imaging apparatus for recording an image captured by an imaging element as electrical image information, comprising: a power supply unit for supplying power to an electric circuit using a battery as a power supply at a substantially central position in a main body of the electronic imaging apparatus. An electronic imaging device, wherein the electronic imaging device is arranged. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image display device for displaying an image, and an external recording medium mounting portion in which an external recording medium for recording the image is detachably held. The mounted circuit board includes a circuit board on which the external recording medium mounting portion is mounted, an image pickup circuit board on which an image sensor and a video processing circuit for processing an image signal captured by the image sensor are mounted, and various operation switches. And an operation circuit board on which an operation control circuit is mounted, wherein the power supply unit is disposed between the image display device and a circuit board on which the external recording medium mounting unit is mounted, and further,
2. The electronic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic imaging apparatus is arranged adjacent to the imaging circuit board and below the operation circuit board. 3. An electronic image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a flash control circuit for controlling light emission during flash shooting is mounted on a circuit board on which said power supply unit is mounted.