JP2003297178A - Operating switch of camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operating switch capable of providing a constant click feeling without increasing the number of part items. <P>SOLUTION: The operating switch comprises: operating buttons 21, 22, and 23 moved by receiving a pressing operation; a button frame 20 holding the operating buttons 21, 22, and 23 through spring parts 31-36; and click contact pieces 41, 42, and 43 in the shape of a circular arc in cross section, where the click contact pieces 41, 42, 43 make projecting directions reversed to make respective continuities with contact parts 51, 52, and 53 located separately when the click contact pieces 41, 42, and 43 are pressed by motions of the operating buttons 21, 22, and 23, and locations of them exceed a specified limit; where the click contact pieces 41, 42, and 43 are mounted on the button frame 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation switch, and more particularly to an operation switch suitable for a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent cameras have a structure in which various functions are electronically set by using a switch that is turned on / off in response to a push button switch as a trigger, and the set function is displayed on a liquid crystal display. is there. In the case of electronic setting, it is difficult to know the setting state from the position of the switch, and it is difficult to turn on the switch and check whether the function has changed. Therefore, there is a demand for a configuration in which the user can perceive and recognize whether or not the switch is turned on by a mechanical reaction, a shock, or the like.

Therefore, conventionally, a switch having a click feeling has been developed in which a dome-shaped click contact piece is mounted on a board and the click contact piece is pressed to short-circuit terminals on the board. For example, as shown in FIG.
01, a peripheral contact 103a extending annularly and a center contact 103b substantially at the center thereof are provided. It is arranged across. Click piece 105
Are fixed on the printed circuit board 101 by a cover sheet 107. In the click contact piece 105, the vicinity of the apex C is pressed by the pressing member 109 in the direction of the substrate 101 to be bent, and when the click contact piece 105 is bent beyond the limit position, the click contact piece 105 is suddenly dented in the direction of the substrate 101 around the pressed portion, and the substrate 101 is bent.
It protrudes by reversing the direction, and the protruding part is the center contact 1
03b to bring the peripheral contact 103a and the center contact 103b into conduction. When the pressing force of the pressing member 109 is removed, the protrusion rapidly returns in the direction away from the center contact 103b, protrudes in the opposite direction, separates from the center contact 103b, and returns to the initial state. In this way, when the click contact piece 105 suddenly dents and returns, a so-called click feeling is obtained.

However, conventionally, the click contact piece 105 has been used.
And a pressing member 109 for pressing the click contact piece 105
And were separately attached to the camera body. That is, the click contact piece 105 is mounted on the substrate 101, and the substrate 10
The pressing member 109 is attached to the camera body via the switch frame (not shown). Therefore, the pressing member 109 causes the click contact piece 1 due to a positioning error or the like when mounting these members.
05 is displaced from the vertex C and a constant click feeling cannot be obtained, and in order to solve this problem and obtain a constant click feeling, the pressing member 109 has the apex of the cook contact piece 105. Pressing member 1 so as to contact C
09 or the printed circuit board 101 is mounted on the camera, the relative position must be adjusted, resulting in poor workability.
There was a problem.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an operation switch which can easily obtain a constant click feeling without increasing the number of parts.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention to achieve this object is to provide an operation button which is moved in response to a pressing operation, a support member which movably holds the operation button, and a predetermined limit which is pressed by the movement of the operation button. When the position is exceeded, the projecting direction is reversed and a separately provided contact point is brought into conduction, and a click contact member having an arc-shaped cross section is provided, and the operation button and the click contact member are
The feature is that they are mounted on the same support member. Since the click contact member is attached to the support member of the operation button, the displacement of the relative position between the operation button and the click contact member is reduced,
It is possible to obtain a constant click feeling without adjustment.

It is preferable that the click contact piece is formed in a dome shape with a conductive member having flexibility. In this case, the click contact piece member and the operation button have substantially the apex of the dome shape portion. The operation button is positioned so as to be pressed. The present invention can be applied to a configuration having a plurality of operation buttons and click contact members. in this case,
The dome-shaped part of the click contact piece member is formed as an integral click contact piece sheet at predetermined intervals via the connecting portion, and the click contact piece sheet is mounted on the support member. If they are integrally formed in this manner, all the operation buttons and the click contact piece members can be positioned and attached together. A structure in which each operation button is integrally formed with a single button frame as the supporting member together with a spring portion that urges in a direction away from the click contact piece member, and the click contact piece sheet is mounted on the button frame. You can According to this configuration, the plurality of operation buttons, the plurality of biasing members and the support member are one member, and the plurality of click contact piece members are also one member, so that there are two members when assembling, Assembling becomes easy, and relative positioning between the operation button and the click contact piece member is easy and the displacement is small, and a constant click feeling can be easily obtained.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate, a click contact plate and a button frame showing an embodiment in which the operation switch of the present invention is applied to a function selection switch of a camera, and FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the button frame and the click contact plate. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

The operation switch of this embodiment has three operation buttons 21, 22 integrally formed on one synthetic resin button frame 20 mounted on the lower surface of the exterior cover 11 of the camera body. 23 and the spring portions 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 elastically supporting the pair of the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 on the button frame 20 and the operation buttons 2 respectively.
Click contact piece 4 that is pressed by 1, 22, 23
1, 42, 43 as main constituent elements and each click contact piece 4
The contacts 51, 52, 53 formed on the substrate 50, which are turned on / off by 1, 42, 43, are provided on the substrate 50. The feature of the embodiment of the present invention is that the click contact plates 41, 42, 43 are integrally formed with the click contact plate 40, and the click contact plate 40 is formed on the substrate 5.
Instead of 0, it is attached to the same button frame 20 as the operation buttons 21, 22, and 23 to form a unit, and click contact pieces 41, 4
The purpose is to facilitate relative positioning of the control buttons 2, 43 and the operation buttons 21, 22, 23.

The details of this embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. Each operation button 21, 22, 23
Are button holes 13a, 13b formed in the outer cover 11,
13c, facing the outside of the camera body, button holes 13a, 13
It is mounted so that it can appear and disappear from b and 13c. The button frame 20 includes a trunk portion 25 extending in the operation button arrangement direction and a trunk portion 25.
Are arranged at a predetermined interval along each of the branches and extend in a direction orthogonal to the trunk portion 25, and each of the ladder-shaped branch portions 26, 27, 28,
29 and 29. And each pair of spring parts 31 to 36
Is bent in an arc shape so as to surround the periphery of each operation button 21, 22, 23 from the two branch portions 26 and 27 and branch portions 28 and 29 which oppose each other, and is further bent in a diametrical direction from the opposite directions. It is connected to the peripheral surface of 21, 22, 23. In this way, the operation buttons 21, 22, and 23 are elastically held by the pair of spring portions 31 and 32, 33 and 34, and 35 and 36 so as to be movable in the direction orthogonal to the surface of the button frame 20. There is.

Further, on the button frame 20, the button frame 20 is provided with a boss 15 projecting from the inner surface of the exterior cover 11.
Positioning holes 25a for fitting and positioning with a and 15b,
25b is locked to the button frame 20 and the root portions of the branch portions 27 and 28. On the outer surfaces of the branch portions 26 and 29 at both ends,
Locking claw 26 for locking the click contact plate 40
a and 29a are formed, and the click contact plate 4 is provided on the bottom surface.
Zero positioning grooves 26b and 29b are formed.

The configuration of the click contact plate 40 mounted on the button frame 20 will be described in more detail.
The click contact plate 40 includes three click contact pieces 41, 4 each having a dome (hemispherical) shape (arch section, arc shape).
2 and 43 and locking pieces 44 and 47 on both outer sides of the click contact pieces 41 and 43, and the click contact pieces 41 and 42 and the click contact pieces 42 and 43 are locked via the connecting portions 45 and 46. Piece 4
4 and 47 are connected. Further, the click contact pieces 41 and 43 are connected to the operation buttons 21, 2 via the engagement pieces 44, 47.
Foot portion 48 extending in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which 2 and 23 are arranged,
It is connected with 49. Each foot portion 48, 49 is bent in the convex direction of the click contact pieces 41, 43, and locking holes 48a, 49a for engaging with the locking claws 26a, 29a are formed in the bent portion. Furthermore, positioning holes 48b and 49b that fit into the protrusions 26c and 29c are provided at the tip portions of the foot portions 48 and 49.
Are formed.

The click contact plate 40 has the positioning holes 48b and 49b and the projections 26b and 29b of the button frame 20.
And engage the locking holes 48a and 49a with the locking claws 26a and 29.
It is formed so that it can be attached to the button frame 20 by engaging with a. Thus, the board 50 and the button frame 20
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state in which the click contact plate 40 and the click contact plate 40 are mounted, and the click contact plate 40 and the button frame 2 are shown in FIG.
The bottom view consisting of 0 and 0 is shown in FIG. In this mounted state, the switch protrusions 21a, 22a, 23a projecting from the center of the bottom surface of the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 oppose the apexes of the corresponding click contact pieces 41, 42, 43. Since the click contact plate 40 is fixed to the button frame 20,
Switch protrusions 21a, 22a, 23a and click contact piece 4
The relative displacement with respect to 1, 42, 43 is very small.

The branch portions 26 to 29 of the button frame 20.
Includes connecting portions 45, 46 of the click contact plate 40,
Grooves 26b, 27b, 28b, 29 into which the legs 48, 49 fit
b is formed. These grooves 26b, 27b, 28
Each of the branch portions 26 to 29 comes into contact with the substrate 50 by b and 29b. In addition, the connecting portions 45 and 46, the locking piece 4
4, 47, feet 48, 49 are contacts on the substrate 50,
An insulating seal covering these portions may be attached to each of the branch portions 26 to 29 so as not to come into contact with a conductive portion such as a land.

The click contact plate 40 is attached to the button frame 2
The button frame 20 is positioned and fixed to the exterior cover 11 by fitting the exterior frame 11 through the positioning holes 25a and 25b with the bosses 15a and 15b attached to the exterior frame 11. The button frame 20 and the exterior cover 11 are fixed to each other by applying an adhesive between them. Note that the click contact plate 40 may be attached to the button frame 20 after the button frame 20 is attached to the exterior cover 11.

On the other hand, the board 50 is fixed to a preset frame or the like in the camera body. Then, when the exterior cover 11 to which the button frame 20 is fixed is mounted on the camera body, the click contact pieces 41, 42, 43 and the contacts 51, 52, 53 are arranged at the opposite positions, and the click contact piece 41. , 42, 43 have contacts 51, 5 partially
It conducts to 2, 53 (Figs. 3, 5). The structure of each contact may be the same as the conventional contact. For example, as shown in an enlarged view of the structure around one operation button 23 in FIG. 5, the dome peripheral part of the click contact piece 43 conducts to one annular contact 53a of the contact 53, and the annular contact 53a The configuration is such that the central contact 53b is electrically connected (turned on) via the click contact piece 43. The annular contact 53a or the central contact 53b is connected to an input port of a control means such as a CPU (not shown), and the control means sets a predetermined photographing function and photographing-related parameters every time the contacts 53a and 53b are turned on. change.

When the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 are pushed down, the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 are moved and the switch protrusions 21a, 22a, 23a are clicked onto the contact pieces 41, 42, 4 respectively.
Abut on 3 and press. Then, the switch protrusion 21
When a, 22a, and 23a exceed the limit positions of the click contact pieces 41, 42, and 43, the click contact pieces 41, 42, and 43 are reversed and protrude in the opposite direction, and the contacts 51, 52, and 5
3 is conducted, that is, switched on.

It should be noted that the external force for pushing down the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 is removed and the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 are replaced by the spring portion 31.
By the urging force of ~ 36, the switch protrusions 21a, 22a, 23a are moved in the protruding direction and the click contact pieces 41, 42, 4 are clicked.
When separated from 3, the click contact pieces 41, 42, 43 are
The original dome shape is restored by its own elastic restoring force, and the contacts 51, 52, 53 are made non-conductive, that is, switched off.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the click contact plate 40 having the click contacts 41, 42, 43 is fixed to the button frame 20 having the operation buttons 21, 22, 23. , The switch protrusions 21a, 22a, 23a of the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 and the click contact piece 41,
The positional relationship between 42 and 43 is very small, and a constant click feeling can be obtained without special position adjustment. Moreover, since the number of parts does not increase and the assembling is easy, space saving is not impaired and cost can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the click contact piece 4
1, 42, and 43 are integrally formed on the click contact plate 40, but the present invention may be configured such that the click contact plate and the plate are formed separately and the dome-shaped click contact member is attached to the plate. . Further, in this embodiment, the operation buttons 21, 22, 23 and the spring portions 31 to 36 for urging them are formed integrally with the button frame 20, but they may be formed as separate members. In this case, the click contact pieces 41, 42, 43 are fixed to a support member that movably holds the operation button. Also, the operation button,
The number, arrangement and shape of the click contact pieces are not limited to those in the illustrated embodiment.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention is
Since the click contact piece is fixed to the member supporting the operation button, the relative displacement between the click contact piece and the operation button is small,
A constant operation feeling and click feeling can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate, a click contact plate, and a button frame, showing an embodiment in which an operation switch of the present invention is applied to a function selection switch of a camera.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the button frame and the click contact plate of the same embodiment.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the section line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a right side view of FIG.

5 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a switch including a conventional click contact piece.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Exterior Cover 13a 13b 13c Button Hole 15a 15b Boss 20 Button Frame (Supporting Member) 21 22 23 Operation Button 21a 22a 23a Switch Projection 25 Trunk 25a 25b Positioning Hole 26 27 28 29 Branch 26a 29a Locking Claw 26c 29c Projection 31 32 33 34 35 36 Spring part (biasing member) 40 Click contact piece plate 41 42 43 Click contact piece (click contact member) 45 46 Connecting part 44 47 Locking piece 48 49 Foot 48a 49a Locking hole 50 Base plate 51 52 53 contacts

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An operation button that moves in response to a pressing operation, a support member that movably holds the operation button, and a protruding direction that is pressed when the operation button is moved and exceeds a predetermined limit position. And a click contact piece member having an arc-shaped cross section for conducting a separately provided contact, and the operation button and the click contact piece member are mounted on the same support member, and a camera operation switch characterized by the above-mentioned. . 2. The click contact piece member has a dome shape formed of a conductive material having flexibility, and the click contact piece member and the operation button operate the substantially apex of the dome shape portion by the operation. The camera operation switch according to claim 1, wherein the operation switch is positioned on the support member so that the button is pressed. 3. The operation button and the click contact piece member each include a plurality, and the dome-shaped portion of the click contact piece member is formed as an integral click contact piece sheet at predetermined intervals via a connecting portion, The operation switch of the camera according to claim 2, wherein a click contact sheet is attached to the support member. 4. Each of the operation buttons is integrally formed with a single button frame as the support member together with a spring portion for urging in a direction away from the click contact piece member,
The operation switch of the camera according to claim 3, wherein the click contact sheet is mounted on the button frame. 5. The contact is a plurality of contacts provided on a substrate, and in the dome-shaped portion of the click contact member, a portion surrounding the dome-shaped portion is in constant contact with the one contact, and 5. The operation switch for a camera according to claim 1, wherein the contact is contacted by the dome-shaped portion having the inverted projecting direction to bring these contacts into conduction. 6. The projecting portion of the dome-shaped portion is inverted when the operation button is pushed by the movement of the operation button and exceeds a predetermined limit position, and the inverted protrusion is self-restored when the operation button is separated. The original dome shape is restored by a force.
5. The operation switch of the camera according to any one of items 5 to 5. 7. Between the operation button and the support member,
3. The operation switch for a camera according to claim 1, further comprising an elastic member that urges the operation button in a direction away from the click contact member.