JP2006154278A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera having a small-sized, easy-handling GPS function. <P>SOLUTION: The camera 10 with a GPS function is constituted in such a way that a metal hot shoe 20 functions also as an antenna for a GPS, and also, the camera main body 14 incorporates a location calculating circuit part 42 for calculating the receiving location information on the earth based on information included in an electric wave transmitted from a GPS satellite and received by the hot shoe 20 functioning as the antenna. The location calculating circuit part 42 is mounted on an electronic substrate 46 connected to the hot shoe 20 through GPS wiring 44. In the camera with the GPS function 10, the hot shoe 20 exposed to the outside being the existing component of the camera main body 14, functions as the GPS antenna, then, the own antenna for the GPS apparatus is unnecessary. Consequently, the camera with the small-sized, easy-handling GPS function is attained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to a camera that acquires position information on the earth by receiving radio waves transmitted from an artificial satellite of a positioning system (hereinafter referred to as GPS (Global Positioning System)).

  In recent years, cameras with a GPS function and mobile phones with cameras are commercially available. In such a camera with a GPS function, an antenna of a GPS device receives radio waves transmitted from an artificial satellite, acquires position information on the earth by a calculation unit, and this position information is stored in an electronic device built in the camera. Recording on a recording medium or displaying characters on a display.

Further, in Patent Document 1, a support unit is connected to a GPS main unit containing a GPS antenna and an arithmetic circuit, and the GPS main unit is connected to a hot shoe (external strobe attachment) via the support unit. A camera with a GPS function that is detachably attached to the device). According to this camera, signals are transmitted and received between the GPS main unit and the camera main unit via the support unit and the hot shoe. Similarly, Patent Document 2 proposes a camera with a GPS function in which a GPS device having an antenna or the like is detachably attached to a hot shoe of a camera body.
JP 2002-350972 A JP 2003-337374 A

  However, the cameras with a GPS function disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 attach a large GPS device including a GPS antenna and a calculation unit to the camera body, and thus have a problem of adversely affecting the operation of the camera. there were. In particular, when the GPS device is attached to a hot shoe provided at the top of the camera body as in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the center of gravity of the entire camera is located on the GPS device side (upper side), so the stability of the camera deteriorates. , Had the disadvantage of causing camera shake.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a camera having a GPS function that is small and easy to handle.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a camera body, a bracket provided on the camera body, and a radio wave transmitted from an artificial satellite of the positioning system while being used as the bracket. And an antenna for receiving the signal.

  The present invention provides a camera having a GPS function that is small and easy to handle by miniaturizing the GPS device itself by combining or adding the functions of the GPS device to existing hardware and parts on the camera side. is there.

  According to the camera of the second aspect, the external strobe mounting bracket which is an existing bracket of the camera body and is exposed to the outside is provided with the function of a GPS antenna. As a result, since the GPS device itself does not require an antenna, the GPS device is downsized, and therefore a camera having a GPS function that is small and easy to handle can be provided. In addition, since the external strobe mounting bracket is located at the upper part of the camera body, the reception sensitivity is improved and radio waves from the artificial satellite can be received well.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the strap mounting bracket that is an existing bracket of the camera body and exposed to the outside is provided with the function of a GPS antenna. As a result, since the GPS device itself does not require an antenna, the GPS device is downsized, and therefore a camera having a GPS function that is small and easy to handle can be provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera main body, a strobe light emitting portion attached to a pop-up arm portion that can be raised and lowered on the camera main body, and the pop-up arm portion of the strobe light emitting portion. And an antenna for receiving radio waves transmitted from an artificial satellite of the positioning system.

  According to the camera of claim 4, by providing a GPS antenna in the pop-up arm portion of the strobe light emitting unit, the antenna wiring can be used also as the strobe light emitting unit wiring, and both wirings can be provided. Wiring processing becomes easy. Moreover, since the pop-up arm part stands upward from the upper part of the camera body, the reception sensitivity is improved and radio waves from the artificial satellite can be received well.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the camera main body according to any one of the first, second, third, and fourth aspects, the camera body of the camera is on the earth based on information included in the radio wave received by the antenna. The calculation part which calculates the receiving position information in is detachably attached.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera in which a calculation unit for calculating GPS reception position information is detachably provided on the camera body. When GPS is not used, it can be removed from the camera body.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the fifth aspect, the main body of the arithmetic unit is attached to a female screw portion for mounting a tripod provided on the bottom of the camera main body via a male screw.

  According to the camera of claim 6, the calculation unit is detachably attached to the bottom of the camera body via a screw by using a tripod mounting female screw part of an existing part provided at the bottom of the camera body. . As a result, the computing unit can be attached to the camera body without adding parts, and the center of gravity of the camera is located on the bottom side of the camera body, so that the camera body can be stably held and camera shake is prevented. There is an advantage that it becomes difficult.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the camera main body according to any one of the first, second, third, and fourth aspects, the camera body of the camera is on the earth based on information included in the radio wave received by the antenna. It is characterized in that it has a built-in calculation unit for calculating reception position information.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera in which a calculation unit for calculating GPS reception position information is built in the camera body.

  As described above, according to the camera of the present invention, an existing bracket for the camera body, for example, an external strobe mounting bracket exposed outside the camera body, a strap mounting bracket, a GPS antenna Thus, a camera having a GPS function that is small and easy to handle can be provided.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a camera according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a camera 10 with a GPS function according to the embodiment.

  A camera 10 shown in the figure is a digital camera that forms a subject image on a solid-state imaging device via a photographing lens 12 and acquires the subject image as electronic data.

  A lens barrel 16 that holds the photographing lens 12 is provided in the front portion of the camera body 14 of the camera 10, and photographing is performed by manually rotating a focus ring 18 that is rotatably provided on the lens barrel 16. The focus lens of the lens 12 is moved and a focusing operation is performed. A hot shoe (external strobe mounting bracket) 20 having a flash light emitting trigger contact 19 is provided on the upper part of the camera body 14, and an external strobe device (not shown) is attached to the hot shoe 20. In front of the hot shoe 20, a pop-up arm 23 of a strobe 22 is provided on the camera body 14 so as to be raised and lowered. When the pop-up arm 23 is operated by pressing the pop-up button 24, the pop-up arm 23 is released from the engagement with the camera main body 14 side, and the strobe light emitting unit is directed forward.

  Further, a mode dial 26 and a command dial 28 for switching shooting modes are disposed adjacently on the upper surface of the camera body 14, and a shutter button 32 is disposed on the upper surface of the grip 30 of the camera body 14. Furthermore, an electronic viewfinder 34 is provided on the back surface of the camera body 14, and a speaker 36 is disposed on the side surface of the camera body 14. Reference numeral 38 denotes a lens cap that is detachably attached to the front surface of the photographing lens 12, and reference numeral 40 denotes strap metal (strap attachment bracket) provided on both sides of the camera body.

  The camera 10 with a GPS function shown in FIG. 1 has a metal hot shoe 20 that also functions as a GPS antenna, and is based on information contained in radio waves from a GPS artificial satellite received by the hot shoe 20 that is an antenna. This is a camera in which a position calculation circuit section (calculation section) 42 (see FIG. 3) for calculating the reception position information above is built in the camera body 14. The position calculation circuit section 42 is mounted on an electronic board 46 connected to the hot shoe 20 via a GPS wiring 44 as shown in FIG.

  The radio wave signal received from the GPS artificial satellite received by the hot shoe 20 is amplified by the signal amplification circuit section 48 of the electronic board 46 via the GPS wiring 44 as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the latitude and longitude of the reception position are calculated by the position calculation circuit unit 42, and information on the latitude and longitude of the reception position obtained by the calculation is output to the control unit 50. The control unit 50 records the output latitude and longitude information of the reception position in the electronic information recording unit 52 such as a RAM together with the image information captured by the camera 10.

  Therefore, according to the camera with a GPS function shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the hot shoe 20 that is an existing part of the camera body 14 and is exposed to the outside has the function of a GPS antenna. The antenna of the GPS device itself becomes unnecessary. Therefore, a camera with a GPS function that is small and easy to handle can be provided. Moreover, since the hot shoe 20 is located on the upper part of the camera body 14, the reception sensitivity is improved and radio waves from the artificial satellite can be received well.

4 and 5 show that the strap metal 40, 40 provided on both sides of the camera body 14 also functions as a GPS antenna, and the radio wave from the GPS artificial satellite received by the strap metal 40, 40 as an antenna. The camera body 14 incorporates a position calculation circuit unit (calculation unit) 42 that calculates reception position information on the earth based on information included in the camera body 14. The position calculation circuit unit 42 is mounted on an electronic board 46 connected to the strap metals 40 and 40 via the GPS wiring 44 as shown in FIG. Since the configuration of the electronic board 46 and the information processing method such as the position calculation circuit unit 42 are the same as those shown in FIG. 3, the description thereof is omitted here.

  Therefore, according to the GPS function-equipped camera shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the strap metal 40, 40 which is an existing part of the camera body 14 and is exposed to the outside, has the function of a GPS antenna. Therefore, the antenna of the GPS device itself becomes unnecessary. Therefore, a camera with a GPS function that is small and easy to handle can be provided. The strap metal 40 is for locking both ends of the strap 56, and is usually provided at two places with respect to the camera body 14. Therefore, the radio wave from the artificial satellite can be satisfactorily received without being affected by the horizontal and vertical postures of the camera 10.

  6 and 7 show that the GPS antennas 58 and 60 are attached to the tip of the pop-up arm 23 of the strobe 22 and that the antennas 58 and 60 are on the earth based on information contained in radio waves received from GPS artificial satellites. The camera 10 includes a camera main body 14 with a position calculation circuit unit (calculation unit) that calculates reception position information.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the antennas 58 and 60 are disposed so as to surround the light emitting unit 62 of the strobe 22, the antenna 58 is disposed on the upper surface and both sides of the light emitting unit 62, and the antenna 60 is disposed on the lower surface of the light emitting unit 62. Has been.

  Like the camera 10, by providing the GPS antennas 58 and 60 on the pop-up arm 23 of the strobe 22, the wiring of the antennas 58 and 60 can be used as the wiring of the strobe light emitting unit such as a xenon tube. Since wiring can be added, wiring processing becomes easy. Further, since the pop-up arm 23 stands upward from the upper part of the camera body 14, the reception sensitivity is improved and radio waves from the artificial satellite can be received well.

  FIG. 8 shows the camera 10 in which the hot shoe 20 or the strap metal 40 also functions as a GPS antenna, or the camera 10 in which the pop-up arm 23 of the camera 10 is provided with a GPS antenna. In addition, the GPS main body 62 with a built-in calculation unit that calculates reception position information on the earth is the camera 10 that is detachably attached to the camera 10.

  The GPS main body 62 is a rectangular box, and a male screw 66 that is screwed into a female screw 64 for mounting a tripod provided on the bottom of the camera main body 14 protrudes from the upper surface of the GPS main body 62 and is formed on the lower surface thereof. A female screw 74 into which a male screw 72 protruding from the camera mount 70 of the tripod 68 is screwed is formed. The camera mounting base 70 is provided on the upper part of the elevator part 76 disposed in the center of the tripod 68. The elevator section 76 is supported by the main body 78 of the tripod 68 so as to be movable up and down, and a rack 80 formed in the axial direction on the outer peripheral surface of the elevator section 76 and a pinion (not shown) meshed with the rack 80. It is moved up and down by the feeding action. The pinion is rotated by a handle 82 that is rotatably provided on the main body 78, and the three legs 84, 84, 84 of the tripod 68 can be freely opened / closed to the main body 78 via a pin 86. Each is attached.

  According to the GPS function-equipped camera 10 configured as described above, the GPS main body 62 is attached to the bottom of the camera body 14 and the male screw 66 is attached to the bottom of the camera body 14 by using the existing tripod mounting female screw 64 provided on the bottom of the camera body 14. It can attach detachably through. Thereby, since the gravity center position of the camera 10 is located on the bottom side of the camera main body 14, the camera main body 14 can be stably held and it is difficult to shake.

  In the embodiments, the external strobe mounting bracket and the strap mounting bracket are exemplified as the existing brackets of the camera body. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any brackets provided on the camera body may be used. It may also be used as a GPS antenna.

The whole perspective view in which the camera of the embodiment was shown Sectional view of the camera using the camera's hot shoe as a GPS antenna Circuit block diagram of the camera using the camera's hot shoe as a GPS antenna Front view of camera using camera strap metal as GPS antenna A circuit block diagram of a camera using a camera strap metal as a GPS antenna Front view of a camera with a GPS antenna attached to the camera's strobe Side view of the camera shown in FIG. A perspective view of attaching the GPS unit to the bottom of the camera using the camera tripod mounting screw

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Camera with GPS function, 14 ... Camera body, 20 ... Hot shoe, 22 ... Strobe, 23 ... Pop-up arm, 40 ... Strap metal, 42 ... Position calculation circuit part, 44 ... GPS wiring, 46 ... Electronic board, 48 ... Signal amplification circuit section 50... Control section 52. Electronic information recording section 58 58 60 Antenna 62 GPS body 64 Tripod mounting female screw 66 Male screw 68 Tripod

Claims (7)

The camera body,
Metal fittings provided on the camera body,
An antenna that is also used as the metal fitting and receives radio waves transmitted from an artificial satellite of the positioning system,
A camera characterized by comprising   The camera according to claim 1, wherein the bracket is a bracket for mounting an external strobe.   The camera according to claim 1, wherein the metal fitting is a metal fitting for attaching a strap. The camera body,
A strobe light emitting unit attached to a pop-up arm that can be raised and lowered on the camera body;
An antenna that is provided in the pop-up arm portion of the strobe light emitting unit and receives radio waves transmitted from an artificial satellite of the positioning system;
A camera characterized by comprising   The camera body of the camera is detachably attached with a calculation unit that calculates reception position information on the earth based on information included in radio waves received by the antenna. The camera according to any one of 3 and 4.   The camera according to claim 5, wherein the main body of the calculation unit is attached to a tripod mounting female screw portion provided at a bottom of the camera main body via a male screw.   The camera body of the camera includes a calculation unit that calculates reception position information on the earth based on information included in radio waves received by the antenna. 4. The camera according to any one of four.

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