JP2003043563A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera capable of precisely discriminating the kind of a battery even though a battery has the same shape. SOLUTION: This electronic camera has a battery kind discrimination means for discriminating the kind of a battery to be used, a battery voltage detection means for detecting battery voltage, and a battery residual capacity detection means for detecting the residual capacity of the battery from the detected battery voltage value. In the camera, the battery kind discrimination means has a means to measure the battery voltage when load is light by the battery voltage detection means so as to discriminate the kind of the battery according as the measured result is larger than a fixed value or not.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic camera,
Specifically, a battery type determination means for determining the type of battery used,
The present invention relates to an electronic camera having a battery voltage detecting unit that detects a battery voltage and a battery remaining amount detecting unit that detects a battery remaining amount from a detected battery voltage value.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic camera such as a digital still camera, a battery is exclusively used as a driving power source.
The types of batteries used include, for example, lithium batteries such as CR-V3, and AA batteries such as alkaline batteries and nickel-hydrogen batteries. In electronic cameras, any of these plural types of batteries can be used. In many cases

The electronic camera detects the battery remaining amount by periodically detecting the battery voltage, and the result is, for example, full,
It is provided with a display device such as a status LCD which visually displays in three stages of half and empty. But,
Since the characteristics of the battery differ depending on the battery type, even if the detection voltage is the same value, there may be a sufficient remaining amount depending on the battery type, or conversely there may be only a small remaining amount. . Therefore, it is not desirable to uniformly determine the remaining battery level based on the voltage value.

For this reason, it is considered that the electronic camera is provided with a battery type discriminating means for discriminating the type of the loaded battery and properly displaying the remaining battery amount according to the discriminated battery type. ing.

As a method for distinguishing a lithium battery (non-AA battery) such as CR-V3 from an AA battery, a difference in shape, that is, an anode terminal and a cathode terminal are provided only on one surface of the battery. There is a method of detecting and determining the intermediate voltage between the non-AA battery and the one provided on the opposite surface of the battery (AA battery). 200
No. 1-92086.

However, for example, the alkaline battery and the nickel-hydrogen battery are the same AA battery, and cannot be distinguished by the above-mentioned judging method. Since the alkaline battery and the nickel-hydrogen battery have different battery types, the characteristics are naturally different, and it is desired to more accurately display the remaining battery amount by discriminating them.

Further, when the battery voltage is detected and the remaining battery level is very small and an empty display is displayed, the camera power is turned off after an appropriate warning display. The detector for shutting off the power supply (shut-off detector) detects that the battery voltage becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined value and turns off the camera power supply.
This is an indispensable configuration for measures against accidents such as the battery being removed in the middle, but the load on the battery is temporarily reduced due to, for example, driving of the lens drive actuator or lighting of an image display device such as an LCD monitor for image display. If the voltage drop is severe when the voltage becomes large, this shut-off
There is a problem that the power is turned off by being caught by the FF detector.

Further, as a result of the detection of the battery voltage, even if the power supply is not turned off at that time,
As a result of performing the camera operation after that, the battery remaining amount may be consumed in the process. As a result, for example, as a result of performing the shooting operation, the shooting of the subject can be performed, but since the remaining battery power is consumed for the shooting operation, the shot image data cannot be recorded. There are cases. Further, in order to avoid the inability to perform the image data recording process, when the empty display is displayed with a sufficient battery remaining capacity, there is a problem that the number of shootable images decreases.

[0009]

Therefore, the first aspect of the present invention
The problem is to provide an electronic camera that can accurately determine the battery type even if the batteries have the same shape.

A second object of the present invention is to turn off the power even when the battery is temporarily loaded with a voltage drop.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera which is not processed and which is capable of accurately detecting the remaining battery level for each battery type and has excellent usability.

A third object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera capable of determining the states in which all camera operations are possible and improving the usability.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, which solves the first problem, there is provided a battery type determining means for determining a used battery type, a battery voltage detecting means for detecting a battery voltage, and a detecting means. In the electronic camera having a battery remaining amount detecting means for detecting the battery remaining amount from the battery voltage value obtained, the battery type determining means measures the battery voltage at light load by the battery voltage detecting means, and the measurement result Is a digital camera having means for discriminating the battery type depending on whether or not is larger than a predetermined value.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when it is determined that the measurement result is smaller than the predetermined value, the internal resistance of the battery is detected, and the battery type is determined by whether or not the resistance value is relatively large. The electronic camera according to claim 1, further comprising means.

According to a third aspect of the invention for solving the second problem, a battery type determining means for determining a used battery type, a battery voltage detecting means for detecting a battery voltage, and a detected battery voltage value are used. In an electronic camera having a battery remaining amount detecting unit for detecting a battery remaining amount, the battery remaining amount detecting unit is based on the battery type determined by the battery type determining unit,
The electronic camera is characterized in that the remaining battery level is detected by predicting a voltage drop amount from the current internal resistance of the battery and an increasing load current value.

The invention according to claim 4 is the electronic camera according to claim 2, wherein different load current values are used at the time of starting the camera and at the time of steady operation.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention for solving the third problem, a battery type determining means for determining a used battery type, a battery voltage detecting means for detecting a battery voltage, and a detected battery voltage value are used. In an electronic camera having a battery remaining amount detecting means for detecting a battery remaining amount, an electronic camera having an operation guarantee voltage detecting means for detecting whether or not all the operations of the camera are possible by detecting the battery voltage, It is a characteristic electronic camera.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic camera according to the present invention as seen from the front side, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view as seen from the back side.
Here, an example of a digital still camera will be described.

A photographic lens 1 is provided on the front surface of the camera body 100, and a finder 2 and a strobe 3 are arranged above the photographic lens 1.

On the upper surface of the camera body 100, a power switch 4 for turning the power on and off by a user operation, a release switch 5 for taking a picture, and a status display LCD for displaying various statuses of the camera state.
(Liquid crystal display) 6 are provided respectively.

On the back surface of the camera body 100, an image display device 7 including an LCD for displaying photographed images (through images) and reproduced images and a switch group 8 for performing various operations are provided. Reference numeral 9 is an eyepiece of the finder.

A lid 10 that can be opened and closed with respect to the camera body 100 is provided on the side surface of the camera body 100 so that a battery can be housed inside.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the electronic camera according to the present invention.

A subject image taken in from the taking lens 1 passes through a shutter and diaphragm blades 11 and a CCD (Char
An image is formed on the image pickup surface of the image pickup device 12, such as a ge coupled device). The image pickup device 12 photoelectrically converts the formed subject image into a signal charge corresponding to the amount of light on a pixel-by-pixel basis and outputs the signal charge to the CDS / ADC / AGC unit 13.

In the CDS / ADC / AGC unit 13, noise is reduced by performing CDS (correlated double sampling) processing on the electric signal output from the image pickup device 12, and by the AGC (automatic gain adjustment) circuit. The gain is adjusted, further converted into digital image data by the A / D converter, output to the image memory 14, and the image data is stored in the image memory 14.

The image data stored in the image memory 14 is processed into an image signal suitable for screen display under the control of the image processing CPU 15, is output to the image display device 7, and is displayed on the screen.

These series of processes are performed by the first non-volatile memory 1
It is controlled by the image processing CPU 15 in accordance with the processing program in 6.

On the other hand, the image signal of the subject image captured by the image pickup device 12 is processed by the image processing CPU 15 to detect the exposure amount in the peripheral control CPU 17, and the driver 18 is controlled to adjust the diaphragm blade 11. Control. At the same time, the peripheral control CPU 17 detects the brightness information based on the image signal taken in from the image sensor 12, and controls the strobe 3 to emit light as necessary.

The processing by the peripheral control CPU 17 is controlled according to the processing program in the second non-volatile memory 19.

The electronic camera according to the present invention can use a plurality of types of batteries. Here, for example, CR-V3
It is assumed that a non-AA battery BA1 or two AA batteries BA2, which are lithium batteries such as those described above, are used.

As shown in FIG. 3, the peripheral control CPU 17 is provided with a shape determination circuit 20. The shape determination circuit 20 determines whether the battery shape is the non-AA battery BA1 or the AA battery BA2 by measuring the intermediate voltage of the battery used. In the present invention, the shape determination circuit 20 constitutes a part of the battery type determination means.

For example, the battery used is an AA battery BA2.
When two (1.5V each) are connected in series,
As shown in (A), in the shape determination circuit 20, by using the battery terminal 101 that electrically connects the anode of the battery BA2a and the cathode of BA2b, between the one battery BA2a and the battery terminal 101, that is, Voltage is detected between both batteries BA2a and BA2b. In this case, the voltage of one AA battery (maximum 1.5 V) is detected.

On the other hand, the battery used is a non-AA battery BA
1. For example, in the case of CR-V3 (lithium battery), this battery has a shape in which two AA batteries are combined in parallel, and has an anode and a cathode only at one end thereof. Therefore, unlike the AA battery BA2, as shown in FIG. 4B, no voltage is detected between the electrode and the battery terminal 101.

Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the battery is an AA battery or a non-AA battery depending on whether or not the intermediate voltage is detected by using the battery terminal 101.

The determination routine of the shape determination circuit 20 will be further described with reference to FIG.

First, the voltage at the battery terminal is measured (S
1). As a result, it is determined whether the measured value is higher than the shut-off voltage (S2).

In the detection of the battery voltage here, not the intermediate voltage value of the battery but the voltage value of the entire battery to be used is detected by the battery voltage detection circuit 21 as shown in FIG. The shut-off voltage is a voltage value at which the camera cannot operate and is stored in the second nonvolatile memory 19 as a default value. 1.6V here
Is set as the default value of the shut-off voltage value.
If the battery voltage is lower than 1.6V, the camera power is shut down because the camera cannot operate.
F process. As shown in FIG. 3, this shut-off process is performed by shut-off provided so that the battery voltage can be detected.
Detector 22. Battery voltage is shut off O
When it is smaller than FF voltage (No in S2)
, The battery shape is not judged by the shape judgment circuit 20.

When the battery voltage is higher than the shut-off voltage (Yes in S2), the shape determination circuit 2
0 is activated (S3). As described with reference to FIG. 4, the shape determination circuit 20 detects the intermediate voltage of the battery used by using the battery terminal 101 and A / D converts the detected value (S4).

Then, a comparison is made with a predetermined value (for example, 0.7 V) stored in the second non-volatile memory 19 (S).
5). As a result, when the detected value is larger than the predetermined value (No in S5), it is determined that the intermediate voltage is detected, and the battery used is determined to be the AA battery (S6). . If the detected value is smaller than the predetermined value (Yes in S5), it is determined that the intermediate voltage is not detected, and the battery used is determined to be a non-AA battery (S7). .

When the battery shape is determined as described above, the shape determination circuit 20 is turned off (S8).

The battery voltage circuit 21 measures the battery voltage and detects the remaining battery level. The detection result of the battery remaining amount is, for example, on the status display LCD 6 which is a display device provided on the upper surface of the camera body, as shown in FIG. 8A), half (when the battery level is less than half; FIG. 8B), empty (when the battery level is too low to continue the camera operation; FIG. 8C) Of 3
Visually displayed in stages. In addition, although not shown, the remaining battery level may be visually displayed in four or more steps, for example, five steps or ten steps. Note that FIG.
Shows the state where all lights are turned on except for the battery remaining amount display sign 61.

As for the remaining battery amount displayed on the status display LCD 6, as a result of the shape determination circuit 20 determining the battery shape, it is determined whether the battery used is the non-AA battery BA1 or the AA battery BA2. As a result, the display level is changed according to the determined battery type. This is because even if the battery voltage is the same, the battery remaining amount is different because the characteristics differ depending on the battery type. That is, when the battery type is the non-AA battery (lithium battery) BA1, the remaining capacity determination value for the lithium battery is used. The change of the determination value is controlled by the peripheral control CPU 17.

As described above, it is determined whether the type of battery used is the non-AA battery BA1 or the AA battery BA2. Even if the same AA battery is used, for example, an alkaline battery and a nickel-hydrogen battery are used. There are different battery types. These can be generally distinguished from a battery having a relatively large internal resistance (alkaline battery) and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance (nickel hydrogen battery). In the present invention, it is possible to distinguish the battery type between the battery having the relatively large internal resistance and the battery having the relatively small internal resistance.

A method of discriminating between a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance will be described below.

The battery voltage detection circuit 2 distinguishes between a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance.
1 is performed by detecting the battery voltage at the time of light load. Therefore, the battery voltage detection circuit 21 constitutes a part of the battery type determination means.

The light load mentioned here means a state in which a circuit that consumes a large amount of current, such as a lens drive system, an image pickup device, and an image display device, is not operating.

A routine for determining a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that an alkaline battery is a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a nickel hydride battery is a battery having a relatively small internal resistance.

First, the battery voltage detection circuit 21 is turned on (S11), and then the battery voltage is measured. At this time, the device that consumes a large amount of current is turned off to measure the battery voltage under light load (S12).

2 alkaline batteries and 2 nickel hydrogen batteries
Explaining this using example, the battery voltage at the time of a new product is about 2.9 to 3.0 V in an alkaline battery, whereas it is about 2.7 to 2.8 V in a nickel hydrogen battery. The second nonvolatile memory 19 stores a specified level value (here, 2.9 V) of the battery voltage under light load,
The peripheral control CPU 17 compares the measurement result of the battery voltage under light load with the specified level value to determine whether it is smaller than that (S13). As a result, if it is determined to be large at 2.9 V or higher (No in S13), it is determined that the battery type used at this point is an alkaline battery (S17). As a result, the discrimination of the battery type is completed, so the battery type discrimination work by the battery voltage detection circuit 21 is turned off (S15). This idea can be extended to the case of using three or more batteries.

If it is determined that the result of the determination in S13 is smaller than the specified level value (Yes in S13), then a load capable of confirming the voltage drop is applied to calculate the internal resistance of the battery (S16). ). If the battery is a used product (that is, it is not a new product), the battery voltage measurement result is the default value (2.9V) even with alkaline batteries.
This is because it may already be lower than. The load applied here includes a constant current actuator such as a shutter and diaphragm blades 11.

The second non-volatile memory 19 stores a predetermined value of the internal resistance when the constant current actuator operates,
The peripheral control CPU 17 compares the calculation result of the internal resistance of the battery when the constant current actuator is operated with a predetermined value,
It is determined whether it is smaller than that (S17).

As a result, if the internal resistance value is less than or equal to the predetermined value (Yes in S17), the battery is determined to be a nickel hydrogen battery (S18), and if it exceeds the predetermined value (No in S17). , It is determined that the battery is an alkaline battery (S14).

As described above, first, the battery voltage under light load is measured, and the battery type is discriminated based on whether or not the measurement result is larger than the predetermined value. It is possible to determine that the battery is a large battery, that is, an alkaline battery, and it is possible to quickly determine the battery type.

If it is determined that the internal resistance of the battery is smaller than the predetermined value at this time, the internal resistance of the battery is calculated, and the battery type is further determined by determining whether or not the internal resistance value is relatively large. In addition, it is possible to distinguish between a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance.

As described above, even if the AA batteries have the same shape, such as an alkaline battery and a nickel-hydrogen battery, the battery type is determined to be a battery having a relatively large internal resistance or a battery having a relatively small internal resistance. As a result, the peripheral control CPU 17 displays the remaining battery amount suitable for each battery type. That is, as described above, the remaining battery amount displayed on the status display LCD 6 is determined as a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance, and as a result, the battery used has an internal resistance. When the battery type is an alkaline battery, the remaining battery level judgment value for the alkaline battery is determined by distinguishing between a relatively large battery (alkaline battery) and a battery with a relatively small internal resistance (nickel hydrogen battery). If it is used and the battery type is a nickel hydrogen battery, the remaining amount determination value for the nickel hydrogen battery is used. Peripheral control C
It is controlled by the PU 17.

In the present invention, in the peripheral control CPU 17, when the load applied to the battery suddenly increases due to the lighting of the lens drive actuator (driver 18) and the image display device 7, the battery voltage detected by the battery voltage detection circuit 21 is changed. The level of the remaining amount display based on the detection result is controlled to be changed. This is because if the load suddenly increases and the voltage drop becomes severe, the shut-off detector 22 is caught and the power is turned off. Specifically, based on the battery type determined as described above, the voltage drop amount is predicted from the current internal resistance of the battery and the increasing load current value, and then the status LC is added.
The remaining battery level is displayed on D6.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7 (A), when the detected value of the battery voltage is 1.8 V, an operation which consumes a large amount of current, for example, a zoom operation is performed to apply a load, and as a result, an actual voltage drop occurs. It is assumed that the battery voltage may be 1.3V when the minute is 0.5V. When it is assumed that the shut-off detector 22 will be output when the voltage is lower than 1.3 V, when the zoom operation is performed, the shut-off detector 22 that functions separately from the normal battery remaining amount detection routine is caught first. Although the power is turned off promptly, the zoom operation has already been performed, which causes a problem such as displacement of the zoom lens position.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the zoom is operated, the voltage drop is predicted from the internal resistance of the battery and the load current value when the zoom drive is applied, based on the battery type of the battery. A value, for example, 0.5 V is calculated, and the OFF process is performed by the normal battery remaining amount detection process.

As described above, the peripheral control CPU 17 does not detect the battery remaining amount after actually operating the device for an operation that consumes a large amount of current, for example, an operation such as a zoom operation in which the device displacement changes. The remaining amount is detected using the predicted value, and as a result, if the empty state is not reached, the actual zoom operation is performed. By this method, the power is not shut off while the zoom is stopped at a halfway position when the remaining amount is low, and the usability can be improved.

When a battery with a small remaining amount is inserted into the camera, immediately after the camera is started, the device that consumes a large amount of current is not operating and the load is light, so the battery remaining amount display becomes full display. However, when a device that consumes a large amount of current is driven, the half display may not appear and the empty display may suddenly appear, which is not preferable in use. Therefore, as described above, as the load current value for predicting the voltage drop, it is preferable to prepare a load current value for start-up separately from the steady state at the camera start-up. For example, when the camera is started, the zoom lens may be actuated immediately immediately, so the current is foreseen, and if the battery level is low, half display is performed before driving the zoom. In the steady state, the expected load current value is changed according to the device to be driven. This allows peripheral control C
In the PU 17, it becomes possible to display the remaining battery level more accurately.

The electronic camera according to the present invention is provided with a photographing operation guarantee detector 23, as shown in FIG. Unlike the shut-off detector 22 that shuts off the power when the battery voltage falls below a predetermined value, the shooting operation guarantee detector 23 detects a voltage at which all operations of the camera are guaranteed. The second non-volatile memory 19 has a predetermined voltage value (eg, 1.8) that guarantees all operations of the camera.
V) is stored and the detection result of the battery voltage is compared with this default value to determine whether or not all the operations of the camera are guaranteed.

All the operations of the camera include a shooting operation including lens driving, a lighting operation of the image display device 7, an image data recording operation, an image data reproducing operation, and various user mode setting operations.

Generally, it is considered that all the operations of the camera can be guaranteed if the recording operation can be guaranteed and the consumption current changes more drastically in the shooting operation than in the reproduction operation and the user mode setting operation.

In the shooting operation, when the shooting operation guarantee detector 23 detects that the battery voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage and the output which determines that the shooting operation is possible is detected, the peripheral control CPU 17 Continues processing normally.

On the other hand, when the battery voltage is lower than the predetermined voltage and the output which determines that the photographing operation cannot be continued is detected, the peripheral control CPU 17 operates the device for charging the strobe and for consuming other current. Is stopped and the image processing IC 15 is notified of the information that this stop processing has been performed.
The image processing IC 15 that has received the notification continues the recording processing of the photographed image, and after the recording is completed, the peripheral control CPU 17 displays an empty display on the status display LCD 6 that the camera operation is not possible, and shuts off the camera operation. .

As a result, since it becomes possible to determine the state in which all camera operations are possible, there is no problem in that, for example, although shooting is possible, the battery level becomes insufficient and recording operation is disabled. It is possible to improve usability.

[0067]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic camera capable of appropriately discriminating the battery type even if the batteries have the same shape.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even if the batteries have the same shape, it is possible to reliably distinguish between a battery having a relatively large internal resistance and a battery having a relatively small internal resistance. An electronic camera capable of discriminating species can be provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, even if the battery is temporarily loaded with a voltage drop, the power is not turned off, and the accurate remaining battery level for each battery type is maintained. It is possible to provide an electronic camera with excellent usability that can detect the.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even if the battery is loaded with a temporary drop in voltage, the power is not turned off and the remaining battery level is more accurate for each battery type. It is possible to provide an electronic camera with excellent usability that can detect the.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic camera capable of determining the states in which all camera operations are possible and improving the usability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic camera seen from the front side.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the electronic camera seen from the back side.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an electronic camera.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a battery type determination method.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a determination routine of a shape determination circuit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a battery type determination routine for batteries having the same shape.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a voltage drop prediction operation.

8A to 8C are plan views showing display examples of a status display LCD.

[Explanation of symbols]

6: Status display LCD 7: Image display device 15: Image processing CPU 17: Peripheral control CPU 20: Shape determination circuit 21: Battery voltage detection circuit 22: Shut-off detector 23: Photographing operation guarantee detector 100: camera body BA1: Non-AA battery BA2: AA battery

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) // H04N 101: 00 H04N 101: 00 F term (reference) 2H100 CC07 DD02 5C022 AA13 AB40 AC03 AC16 AC69 5G003 BA02 DA02 EA05 EA09 GC05 5H030 AA08 AS11 BB22 FF41 FF42 FF51

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A battery type discriminating means for discriminating a used battery type, a battery voltage detecting means for detecting a battery voltage, and a battery residual amount detecting means for detecting a battery residual amount from a detected battery voltage value. In the electronic camera, the battery type determination means includes means for measuring the battery voltage under light load by the battery voltage detection means and determining the battery type depending on whether or not the measurement result is larger than a predetermined value. And electronic camera. 2. When the measurement result is determined to be smaller than a predetermined value, a means for detecting the internal resistance of the battery and determining the battery type depending on whether or not the resistance value is relatively large is provided. The electronic camera according to claim 1. 3. A battery type discriminating means for discriminating a used battery type, a battery voltage detecting means for detecting a battery voltage, and a battery residual quantity detecting means for detecting a battery residual quantity from a detected battery voltage value. In the electronic camera, the battery remaining amount detecting means predicts the voltage drop amount from the current internal resistance of the battery and the increasing load current value based on the battery type discriminated by the battery type discriminating means. An electronic camera characterized by detecting quantity. 4. The electronic camera according to claim 2, wherein different load current values are used when the camera is activated and when the camera is stationary. 5. A battery type discriminating means for discriminating a used battery type, a battery voltage detecting means for detecting a battery voltage, and a battery residual amount detecting means for detecting a battery residual amount from a detected battery voltage value. An electronic camera having an operation guarantee voltage detecting means for detecting whether or not all operations of the camera are possible by detecting a battery voltage.