JP2009077445A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera capable of materializing a thin structure by an effective layout in each of configuration units, and causing no degradation in rigidity of circuit board even in case of thin housing (cover) especially provided in separate structure of upper and lower sections. <P>SOLUTION: A housing in an operating unit is formed of a lower and an upper covers. A deformation in a bending direction between the covers is prevented by the support of a protrusion protruded at least from one of the covers. The protrusion is brought into or is inserted through a hole at a main substrate positioned by a substrate supporting unit formed at one corner of the cover. Accordingly, the main substrate can be movably supported in the bending direction of the housing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera, and more particularly to an electronic camera configured to be thin and lightweight while maintaining the strength of a circuit board built in a camera housing.

  An electronic camera equipped with an image sensor such as a CCD and capable of digitally recording images can immediately see images taken without the need for development, printing, etc., as with conventional cameras using film. An image pickup device such as a CCD has an advantage that the camera itself can be made compact by making it smaller than a conventional film despite the fact that the number of pixels per device increases year by year.

  Therefore, for example, it has a thinness and strength that can be accommodated in a breast pocket of a Y-shirt or a buttocks pocket of a G pan, etc. It is light enough not to feel uncomfortable even if it is accommodated in such a place or handbag, and has a high magnification zoom mechanism. The advent of an electronic camera is desired.

  In a general electronic camera, a photographic lens unit is disposed on the right side of the camera body, and an image display device is disposed on the back side. A plurality of batteries for power supply are housed in the camera body. The strobe capacitor is disposed at a position overlapping the image display device in the thickness direction. The detachable recording medium is inserted into and removed from the recording medium mounting portion from the side surface side of the camera body. Furthermore, the operation switch part is arrange | positioned at the upper surface part or back surface part of the camera, and the electric circuit board which has a contact part in the inside is arrange | positioned.

  However, when considering a reduction in the thickness of the electronic camera body, the above-described electronic camera is not necessarily arranged to be advantageous for the reduction in thickness. In other words, the thickness of the camera is increased due to the fact that a plurality of batteries are stacked in the thickness direction of the camera body, and the strobe capacitor is disposed at a position overlapping the image display device in the thickness direction. It is disadvantageous for conversion. Further, since the recording medium has a structure in which the recording medium lid provided on the side surface portion of the camera body is opened and closed, the mounting position of the connector on the side surface portion is limited. Further, when the camera body is made thin, the operation area of the upper surface is reduced, so that the operation switches tend to concentrate on the back surface. However, simply moving the operation switch to the back side adds the thickness of the operation switch unit and its substrate, and does not necessarily reduce the thickness of the camera body.

Therefore, as shown in Patent Document 1, an imaging lens and a light emitting device are arranged in an imaging unit that is rotatably connected to an operation unit having an image display surface by a rotation mechanism such as a hinge mechanism. There has been proposed a camera that is directed toward the subject and that the image display surface is directed toward the photographer. When an electronic camera is configured in this way, for example, when it is desired to photograph a photographer (self) or when photographing a subject near the ground, it is possible to always check the image display surface while directing the imaging unit toward the subject. Become.
Japanese Patent No. 2931907

  However, it is a circuit board that becomes a problem even if the above-described configuration is adopted to achieve a reduction in thickness. The circuit board (main board) is generally supported by the upper and lower housings (covers) or an intermediate housing sandwiched between the upper and lower housings. However, when the upper and lower housings are thinned, the strength is reduced. In addition, the structure supported by the intermediate housing sandwiched between the upper and lower housings (covers) is difficult to achieve a reduction in thickness and weight.

  In particular, the main board is mounted with a CPU for controlling the entire electronic camera, etc., but the entire electronic camera is made thin as in the present invention, and the chest pocket of the Y-shirt and the G pan as described above. When housed in a buttocks pocket or the like, a large deflection force is applied to the casing constituted by these upper cover and lower cover. For this reason, when the main board on which the CPU is mounted is fixed to the housing with screws or the like, when the bending force is applied, the main board is bent, and in the worst case, the solder mounted CPU is peeled off.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and it is possible to reduce the thickness of an electronic camera by an effective layout of each internal component unit, and further, an operation switch is provided on the back surface of the camera body. Even if it is provided, it is an object to provide an electronic camera that does not increase in thickness and that does not cause a reduction in strength of a circuit board even when the housings (covers) provided on the upper and lower sides are thinned.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, the present invention provides an operation unit housing that houses a display device and a substrate, an imaging unit housing that houses an imaging device that sends an image to the display device, and a light emitting device, A hinge mechanism for pivotally connecting the operation unit housing and the imaging unit housing, an upper and lower cover serving as the operation unit housing, and a projecting portion protruding from at least one of the upper and lower covers And a substrate support portion provided at at least one corner position of the upper and lower covers, and a hole portion and a notch portion provided in the substrate,
While preventing the deformation of the upper and lower covers in the deflection direction by contacting or fitting the protruding portion with the other cover or the other protruding portion protruding from the other cover through the hole, The substrate is supported in a freely movable manner in the deflection direction by the notch portion corresponding to the projecting portion, the substrate support portion, and the indicating portion.

  In the operation unit housing, a memory slot and the display device are arranged on one surface side of the substrate, and a flat battery storage unit and a second substrate for controlling the imaging device are arranged on the other surface side. It is preferable to reduce the thickness of the operation unit casing.

  According to this invention, deformation due to the deflection direction between the covers is supported by the projecting portion (post) projecting from at least one cover of the cover to prevent deflection, and at the corners of the cover. The projecting portion is contacted or fitted through a hole provided in the main substrate positioned on the provided substrate support portion, and the main substrate can be freely moved with respect to the bending direction of the housing through the projecting portion. Therefore, there is an advantage that the force can be released even if the housing is bent.

  Further, without positioning the main board at the corner (of course, it may be positioned), the projecting portions provided at the substantially central position of the cover are sandwiched between the main boards, or the opening provided in the main board is provided. The support structure brought into contact with each other prevents deflection and positioning and supports the main board positioned between the covers by extending the projecting portions in different two-dimensional directions parallel to the cover. By holding or fitting in a two-dimensional direction, the main board can be freely and reliably positioned and supported with respect to the bending direction of the housing. There is an advantage.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention unless otherwise specified, but are merely illustrative examples. Not too much.

  FIG. 1 is an overall view of an embodiment of an electronic camera according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing a photographing state in which the lens of the electronic camera according to the present invention is directed toward a subject, and FIG. 3 is an electronic camera according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a view showing a shooting state in which the lens of the electronic camera is directed toward the camera operator (self) direction, and FIG. 4 is a view showing a hold state of the camera when the electronic camera lens according to the present invention is shot toward the subject. is there.

  In the figure, 100 is an electronic camera, 101 is an imaging unit, 102 is an operation unit, 103 is a photographing lens window, 104 is a light emitting device window such as a strobe, 105 is a display device using liquid crystal, 106 is a shutter button, and 107 is a power source. The button 108 is composed of a cross key and a decision key, a selection / decision key for selecting a function or item displayed on the display device 105, a zoom key 109 for instructing optical system zooming, 110 for turning on the camera mode menu, Menu button for switching off, 111 a display button for switching the display content of the display device 105 and lighting on / off, 112 a scene button for switching the display content of the display device 105 to a scene selection selection screen, and 113 a diaphragm priority mode or shutter Priority mode, sports mode for shooting fast moving subjects, Romodo, flash control such emission force or emission stop strobe, movie shooting mode selection button for selecting modes such as play, 114 is a speaker.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the electronic camera 100 includes a display device 105 and general photographing operation buttons 106 to 113 on the operation unit 102 side, and the operation unit 102 can be rotated by a hinge mechanism. A photographing lens window 103 is arranged on one end side of the imaging unit 101 connected to the light emitting device, and a light emitting device window 104 is arranged on the operation unit 102 side thereof. The shooting operation buttons 106 to 113 in the operation unit 102 protrude from the plane of the outer cover of the operation unit 102 so that they do not get caught or feel uncomfortable even when housed in a chest pocket of a Y-shirt or a buttocks pocket of a G pan. Further, the shutter button 106 can be operated with an index finger when the camera 100 is held with the right hand, and the zoom key 109, the selection determination key 108, the menu button 110, the mode select button 113, and the like are also used with the right hand camera. When 100 is held, it is placed within the reach of the thumb to improve operability.

  In particular, buttons 106, 109 and the like mainly used for photographing are arranged away from the display device so that the display device 105 is not touched during photographing.

  Then, the electronic camera 100 is directed toward the photographer so that the display device 105 can be viewed at all times, and the imaging unit 101 is directed toward the subject as shown in FIG. 2, or the reverse as shown in FIG. The photographing lens window 103 is directed to the camera operator (self) so that self-photographing can be performed. The electronic camera 100 according to the present invention has a length L1 (FIG. 3) from the end of the imaging unit 101 on the photographing lens window 103 side to the end of the light emitting device window 104 side, for example, from the tip of the left index finger to the vicinity of the second joint. And the optical axis of the portion corresponding to (L1-L2) of the light emitting device window 104 portion, where L2 (FIG. 3) is the length on the opposite side of the imaging lens window 103 in the imaging unit 101. The directional thickness L3 (FIG. 3) is configured to project to the operation unit 102 side with R as the thickness of the index finger. In this way, a space for arranging operation buttons and the like on the right side of the display device 105 in the operation unit 102 can be created, and an electronic camera with good operability can be configured while being small. Further, the distance from the photographing lens window 103 to the rotation center of the hinge mechanism is larger than the distance from the rotation center of the hinge mechanism to the end opposite to the photographing lens window 103.

  Accordingly, when the photographing lens window 103 is photographed toward the user himself, the distance from the display screen of the display device 105 to the photographing lens window 103 is increased.

  Therefore, when the user visually recognizes the display device 105 with respect to the viewing direction of the user and views the display screen from the gap between the photographing lens window 103 and the display screen, the distance from the display screen to the photographing lens window 103 Since the gap is long, the gap is also long, and the entire display screen can be viewed well.

  When the electronic camera 100 is used, the power is turned on by pressing the power button 107, so that each operation button is operated with the thumb as described above, and the aperture priority mode and the shutter priority mode are pressed by the mode select button 113. Select a shooting mode such as, a sports mode for shooting a subject moving at high speed, a macro mode for shooting a subject at a short distance, a flash control such as forced flash on / off, a video shooting, and a playback mode. If necessary, the menu button 110 is pressed to display various menus such as the image size, shooting sensitivity, and photometry method on the display device 105, and the cross key of the selection / decision key 108 including the cross key and the enter key. Select an item with and press the center determination button.

  Then, when shooting with the photographic lens window 103 facing the subject as shown in FIG. 2, hold the operation unit 102 side with the right hand as shown in FIG. 4, for example, imaging with the index finger and middle finger of the left hand The photographic lens window 103 is directed toward the subject with a portion L3 (FIG. 3) having the length L1 (FIG. 3) of the portion 101 interposed therebetween. Then, while viewing the subject displayed on the display device 105, the zoom key 109 of the imaging unit 101 is operated with the right hand thumb to select a predetermined magnification, determine the composition, and then press the shutter button 106 with the right hand index finger. The focus and exposure are automatically determined, and an image taken by an image sensor such as a built-in CCD is recorded in a built-in memory. By taking a picture in this way, as described above, the distance from the taking lens window 103 to the rotation center of the hinge mechanism in the imaging unit 101 is from the rotation center of the hinge mechanism to the end opposite to the taking lens window 103. Therefore, the lens unit can be rotated so that the image pickup unit 101 can be quickly pointed at the subject and the camera 100 can be firmly held.

When shooting is completed in this way, when the mode select button 113 is operated to set the playback mode, the image stored in the memory is displayed on the display device 105, and the images sequentially taken by operating the cross key in the selection decision key 108 are displayed. Can be displayed. In the moving image shooting mode, a moving image can be recorded in the memory in the same manner, a necessary scene can be selected with the scene button 112, and sound can be reproduced simultaneously with the speaker 114.

  Next, the configuration of the operation unit 102 will be described. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an accommodation state of the internal device with the cover of the operation unit 102 of the electronic camera 100 according to the present invention removed, a light emitting device and a condenser, an imaging device such as a CCD in the imaging unit 101, and FIG. In the embodiment of the electronic camera 100 according to the present invention, the cover of the operation unit 102 is removed, (A) is a perspective view in which the display device 105 is further removed, (B) is a perspective view seen from the back side, and FIG. (A) is a side view seen from the direction a in FIG. 5, (B) is a side view seen from the direction b in FIG. FIG. 6C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line cc of FIG. 5 showing the vicinity of the hole 311 provided in the approximate center of the main substrate 300 in a state where the cover is put on. FIG. 8 is a basic configuration diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.

  5 to 8, 300 is a main board that controls the entire electronic camera 100, 301 is a memory slot that stores a memory card that stores images, 302 is a battery, and 303 is a sub that controls the imaging unit 101. Substrate, 304 is a mode control flexible substrate, 306 is a microphone, 307 is an upper cover, 308 is a lower cover, 309 is an upper cover side column, 310 is a lower cover side column, and between the both columns 309 and 310, the upper cover 307 The main board 300 sandwiched between the lower covers 308 is supported substantially at the center.

  An imaging element such as a CCD on the imaging unit 101 side (not shown), a light emitting device such as a strobe on the imaging unit 101 side (not shown), a condenser for a light emitting device such as a strobe on the imaging unit 101 side (not shown), 323 These are printed circuit boards for light emitting devices such as strobes on the unit 101 side, and these are incorporated in the imaging unit 102.

  The operation unit 102 of the electronic camera 100 includes an upper cover 307 shown in the cross-sectional views of FIGS. 7C and 8, a speaker 114, a shutter button 106, a power button 107, and a selection determination key 108 shown in FIG. 1. Further, operation buttons such as a zoom key 109, a menu button 110, a display button 111, a scene button 112, and a mode select button 113 are attached, and an exposure window of the display device 105 such as a liquid crystal shown in FIG. A flexible substrate 304 for mode control is arranged around the periphery. Under the display device 105 and the flexible substrate 304 for mode control, as shown in FIG. 6A, a memory slot 301 for storing a memory card for storing an image on the upper side as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7B, the main board 300 on which the thin battery 302 is arranged as shown in FIG. 7B is arranged and stacked as shown in FIG. 7B, and next to the battery 302 under the main board 300, FIG. ), A sub-board 303 for controlling the imaging unit 101 is provided.

Of these, the main board 300 has notches 300a at the lower left and right corners, and positioning protrusions 308a provided at the lower left and right corners of the lower cover 308 that engage with the notches 300a (FIG. 8). ), And as shown in FIG. 7C, the column 309 (FIG. 7C) provided on the upper cover 307 and the column 310 provided on the lower cover 308 (FIG. 7C). ) Through a hole 311 provided in the vicinity of the center of the main board 300 so that it can be freely supported with respect to the deflection of the casing. That is, a CPU for controlling the entire electronic camera 100 is mounted on the main board 300. However, the entire electronic camera 100 is configured to be thin as in the present invention, and as described above, When housed in a G-pan's buttocks pocket or the like, a large deflection force is applied to the casing constituted by the upper cover 307 and the lower cover 308. For this reason, if the main board 300 mounted with a CPU or the like is fixed to the housing with a screw or the like, the main board 300 will bend when a bending force is applied, and in the worst case, the soldered and mounted CPU may be peeled off. . Therefore, in the present invention, the main substrate 300 is positioned at the corners and the substantially central portion is supported through the columns 309 and 310, so that the force can be released even if the housing is bent. Is.

  The positioning in the vertical direction with respect to the surface of the main substrate 300 is performed when a member such as a display device arranged on the main substrate 300 is in contact with or fixed to the housing and the main substrate is in contact with the display device. .

  The present invention realizes thinning of the electronic camera by the effective layout of each internal component unit, and further, even if an operation switch is provided on the back surface of the camera body, the thickness does not increase, and Even when the housing (cover) provided in the housing is thinned, it is possible to provide an electronic camera in which the strength of the circuit board does not decrease.

1 is an overall view of an embodiment of an electronic camera according to the present invention. It is the figure which showed the imaging | photography state which orient | assigned the lens of the electronic camera which becomes this invention to the to-be-photographed object direction. It is the figure which showed the imaging | photography state which orient | assigned the lens of the electronic camera which becomes this invention to the camera operator (self) direction. It is the figure which showed the hold state of the camera when image | photographing the lens of the electronic camera which becomes this invention toward the to-be-photographed object direction. It is the perspective view which showed the accommodation state of the internal device which removed the cover of the operation part of the electronic camera which becomes this invention, and imaging devices, such as a light-emitting device and a capacitor | condenser, CCD in an imaging part. The cover of the operation part in one Embodiment of the electronic camera which becomes this invention is removed, (A) is the perspective view which removed the display apparatus further, (B) is the perspective view seen from the back surface. The cover of the operation part in one Embodiment of the electronic camera which becomes this invention is removed, (A) is the side view seen from the a direction of FIG. 5, (B) is the side view similarly seen from the b direction of FIG. FIG. 6C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line cc of FIG. 5 showing the vicinity of the hole provided in the approximate center of the main substrate in a state of covering the cover. It is a basic composition figure of the 1st example of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

102 Operation unit 105 Display device 114 Speaker 300 Main board 300a Notch 301 Memory slot 302 Battery 303 Sub board 307 Upper cover 308 Lower cover 308a Positioning support parts 309 and 310

Claims (2)

An operation unit housing that houses the display device and the substrate, an imaging unit housing that houses the imaging device and the light emitting device that send images to the display device, and the operation unit housing and the imaging unit housing. A hinge mechanism that is movably connected, an upper and lower cover that serves as the operation unit casing, a projecting portion that projects from at least one cover of the upper and lower covers, and at least one corner position of the upper and lower covers A substrate support portion provided, and a hole and a notch provided in the substrate,
While preventing the deformation of the upper and lower covers in the deflection direction by contacting or fitting the protruding portion with the other cover or the other protruding portion protruding from the other cover through the hole, An electronic camera characterized in that the substrate is supported freely in the deflection direction by the notch portion corresponding to the projecting portion, the substrate support portion, and the indicating portion.   In the operation unit housing, the memory slot and the display device are arranged on one surface side of the substrate, and a flat battery storage unit and a second substrate for controlling the imaging device are arranged on the other surface side. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit casing is thinned.