JP2004046036A - Portable equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a portable equipment which can be constituted at a low cost and permits easy confirmation of the positions of operation parts etc., even in the dark. <P>SOLUTION: Operation buttons 18 and an operation lever 38 are provided with display elements 32 formed by applying a luminous paint 20 into recessed parts so that the positions of the buttons 18 and the lever 38 can be easily identified even in the dark. The light outside the casing 14 of a digital still camera 12 is accumulated in the display elements 32 and 42 so as to allow the display elements 32 to emit light. Therefore, the need for lamps and circuits for illuminating the buttons 18 and the lever 38 is eliminated and the constitution of the digital camera is made possible at a low cost. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable device, and more particularly to a portable device that includes one or more operation units and is operated by the operation unit.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an example of a conventional portable device, a camera (so-called silver salt camera) will be described as an example.
[0003]
In some conventional cameras, a layer made of a luminous luminous paint is formed in an optical system constituting a finder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-2003930). When the surroundings of the camera are bright, light is accumulated in a layer made of luminous luminous paint, and when the surroundings of the camera are dark, the light accumulated in luminous luminous paint is released, so the photographer is Even so, it is possible to clearly check a predetermined display in the finder.
[0004]
However, with the camera having such a configuration, when a photographer looks into the viewfinder, only a predetermined display can be confirmed. Therefore, the positions of various operation units (switches) cannot be confirmed in the dark.
[0005]
In order to make it possible to confirm the position of the operation unit even in the dark, for example, it is conceivable to make the operation unit emit light with a lamp or the like. However, in such a configuration, a lamp, a power source, etc. are required, and the configuration is complicated Therefore, there is a risk of high costs.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In view of the above facts, an object of the present invention is to obtain a portable device that can be configured at low cost and can easily confirm the position of an operation unit even in the dark.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention described in claim 1 includes one or a plurality of operation units, and a light storage member provided in or near the operation unit and capable of storing light from outside to emit light.
[0008]
In this portable device, the phosphorescent member provided in or near the operation unit accumulates light. Therefore, when the portable device is operated by the operation unit, the phosphorescent member shines even in the dark, for example. The position and the like of the part can be easily confirmed.
[0009]
Moreover, since the phosphorescent member accumulates light from the outside, it is not necessary to newly provide a lamp, a circuit, or the like for illuminating the operation unit, and can be configured at low cost. Since it is not necessary to supply power to the lamp, power consumption does not increase.
[0010]
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, the phosphorescent member is a phosphorescent paint, and has contact preventing means for preventing contact of foreign matter with the phosphorescent paint. To do.
[0011]
Thus, it can comprise at low cost by using a luminous material as a luminous material paint.
[0012]
In addition, because it is equipped with a contact prevention means that prevents contact of foreign matter with the phosphorescent paint, it can prevent the user's hand or other foreign matter from touching the phosphorescent paint and prevent peeling of the phosphorescent paint. . As an example of the contact preventing means, as described in claim 3, a configuration that is a concave portion provided in the application portion of the phosphorescent paint, or as described in claim 4, the phosphorescent paint is covered and light is applied. The cover member can be made transparent.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a perspective view from the back side of a digital still camera 12 that is a portable device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
[0014]
The digital still camera 12 has a housing 14. The casing 14 is formed in a substantially box shape, and members such as a photographing lens, a photographing light emitting member (so-called strobe), and a finder light receiving unit (all not shown) are provided on the front surface 14F side. . A shutter switch 22 is provided on the upper surface 14T, and a finder 16, a liquid crystal display 24, various operation buttons 18, an operation lever 38, and a mode dial 28 are provided on the rear surface 14B. The user of the digital still camera 12 can give a predetermined instruction to the digital still camera 12 by rotating the mode dial 28, pressing the operation button 18, or moving the operation lever 38 in a predetermined direction. it can. Then, while viewing the image on the liquid crystal display 24 (or while viewing the image in the viewfinder 16), the shutter switch 22 can be pressed to capture the image.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 2A, a cover plate 26 is rotatably attached to the side surface 14S of the housing 14. The cover plate 26 is urged to rotate to an open position (position shown in FIG. 2B) by a spring (not shown), but is locked in the closed position (position shown in FIG. 2A). Locked by the mechanism. When the lock release knob 36 is slid downward to release the lock, the cover plate 26 is rotated by the urging force of the spring to reach the open position. A recording medium holder, a battery holder, and the like are accommodated in the housing 14 and can be accommodated with the lid plate 26 opened.
[0016]
The operation button 18 and the operation lever 38 are provided with a display unit 32 which is a phosphorescent member of the present invention. In the display unit 32, the operation button 18 and the operation lever 38 have different shapes (circular, triangular, quadrangular, etc.) for each type as viewed from the back side, so that they can be easily distinguished. Yes. For example, for a specific operation button 18 (cross switch 18J), the shape of the display unit 32 is a triangle, and the position of each of the four cross switches 18J corresponds to the direction indicated by the triangle. In addition, the operability may be improved by using different shapes depending on the use of the operation button 18 and the operation lever 38.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, the operation button 18 (or the operation lever 38) has a recess 32D that matches the shape of the display section 32, and the display section 32 has a phosphorescent property in the recess 32D. It is configured by applying the paint 20.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 14 is formed with a recessed portion 40 that is a range of movement of the operation lever 38, and display portions 42 are provided above and below the recessed portion 40. The moving range of the operation lever 38 is shown. Similarly to the display unit 32, the display unit 42 is configured by applying the phosphorescent paint 20 to the concave portion formed in the housing 14.
[0019]
Note that a plurality of terminals 42 are provided on the side surface 14S of the housing 14 and can be electrically connected to external devices.
[0020]
In the digital still camera 12 of the present embodiment having such a configuration, when the digital still camera 12 is used under sunlight or indoor lighting, for example, these lights are transmitted from the outside of the housing 14 to the display unit 32 and the display unit. 42 is stored in each of the phosphorescent paints 20 constituting 42.
[0021]
Therefore, for example, when the digital still camera 12 is operated next in the dark, the display unit 32 is illuminated, so that the user of the digital still camera 12 can easily know the positions of the operation button 18 and the operation lever 38. Can be operated easily. Further, since the moving range of the operating lever 38 is indicated by the display unit 42, the moving operation of the operating lever 38 can be easily performed.
[0022]
Moreover, the display unit 32 and the display unit 42 are each configured by applying the phosphorescent paint 20 in the recess 32D. Therefore, the user's hand or other foreign matters can be prevented from directly touching the phosphorescent paint 20, and peeling of the phosphorescent paint 20 can be prevented.
[0023]
As described above, in the present invention, the positions of the operation button 18 and the operation lever 38 can be easily known even in the dark. In addition, since light outside the housing 14 of the digital still camera 12 is stored in the display units 32 and 42 and the display unit 32 is caused to emit light, the operation button 18 and the operation lever 38 are illuminated. A lamp and circuit are not required, and a digital still camera can be configured at low cost. The digital still camera 12 can also be reduced in size and weight. Moreover, since it is not necessary to supply power to such a lamp, the power consumption of the digital still camera 12 does not increase.
[0024]
Note that the display unit 32 and the display unit 42 are not necessarily provided on the operation unit (the operation button 18 or the operation lever 38, and if the position of the operation unit can be indicated, the vicinity and the periphery thereof may be provided. But you can.
[0025]
In the above description, a digital still camera is taken as an example of the portable device of the present invention, but the portable device is not limited to this. For example, an imaging device such as a silver salt camera can be used. Furthermore, a moving image shooting device capable of shooting a moving image, a sound reproducing device such as a so-called headphone stereo, a portable game machine, a portable receiver such as a portable radio, a portable radio such as a portable transceiver, “PDA” Personal information devices (personal digital assistants), mobile phones and the like are also included in the portable devices of the present invention. Moreover, in an actual use situation, it does not matter whether it is used with being carried around or used in a stationary manner, so long as it is configured to be portable.
[0026]
The contact preventing means of the present invention is not limited to the above-described recess 32D, and may be configured such that the phosphorescent paint 20 is located in a place where the user's hand or other foreign matter is less likely to touch.
[0027]
FIG. 3 shows an operation button 44 (or an operation lever) provided with another example of such contact prevention means. The operation button 44 includes a flat base portion 44B and a substantially hemispherical transparent portion 44T that covers the base portion 44B, and a phosphorescent paint on the upper surface of the base portion 44B (between the transparent portion 44T). 20 is applied. FIG. 4 shows an operation button 48 (or an operation lever) provided with still another example of the contact preventing means. In this operation button 48, the base portion 44B is omitted from the operation button 44 shown in FIG. 3, and the phosphorescent paint 20 is applied to the bottom surface of the transparent portion 44T to constitute the display portion 46. In these configurations, the luminous paint 20 forms the display unit 46 at or near the bottom of the operation button 44, and the transparent unit 44T covers this. External light passes through the transparent portion 44T, reaches the phosphorescent paint 20, and is accumulated. In the dark, the light of the phosphorescent paint 20 is transmitted through the transparent portion 44T, so that the user of the digital still camera can easily know the positions of the operation buttons 44 and 48. And in this structure, since the transparent part 44T acts as a contact prevention means, it can prevent that a user's hand and other foreign materials touch the phosphorescent paint 20 directly, Therefore The peeling of the phosphorescent paint 20 can be prevented. .
[0028]
In the present invention, the user and the portable device are associated with each other by making the phosphorescent member different in shape, position, and the like according to each portable device (for example, in the case of a camera such as the digital still camera 12) It is possible to confirm that it is “My Camera”.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
Since the present invention has the above configuration, it can be configured at low cost, and the position of the operation unit can be easily confirmed even in the dark.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a digital still camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation switch of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the operation switch of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing still another example of the operation switch of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
12 Digital still camera (portable device)
14 Housing (equipment main unit)
18 Operation buttons (operation unit)
20 Luminous paint (Phosphorescent material)
32 Display unit (phosphorescent member)
32D recess (contact prevention means)
38 Operation lever (operation unit)
42 Display unit (phosphorescent member)
44 Operation buttons (operation unit)
44T transparent part (cover member, contact prevention means)
46 Display (light storage member)

Claims (4)

One or more operation units;
A phosphorescent member capable of emitting light by accumulating light from the outside provided in the operation unit or in the vicinity thereof;
A portable device characterized by comprising: The phosphorescent member is a phosphorescent paint,
Contact preventing means for preventing foreign matter from contacting the phosphorescent paint,
The portable device according to claim 1, comprising: The portable device according to claim 2, wherein the contact prevention means is a recess provided in an application portion of the phosphorescent paint. The portable device according to claim 2, wherein the contact prevention means is a cover member that covers the luminous paint and allows light to pass therethrough.

Images