JP2016062771A - Operation mechanism and electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation mechanism capable of being reduced in size while preventing tottering and damage to a lower-stage dial during operation of an upper-stage dial, and also to provide an electronic apparatus equipped with the same.SOLUTION: An operation mechanism includes: first operation means which is rotatable centering around a first rotation shaft; second operation means which is parallel to the first rotation shaft, which is rotatable centering around a different second rotation shaft, and which is arranged on the lower side of the first operation means so that the second rotation shaft is located in a projection plane of the first operation means in the direction parallel to the first and second rotation shafts; and a transmission member which is equipped with a shaft passing through the second rotation shaft and being parallel to the first and second rotation shafts, and a gear part provided at a first end of the shaft part and engaging with the first operation means and which is rotated in response to the rotation of the first operation means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation mechanism for selecting an operation mode in an electronic apparatus such as a digital camera, and an electronic apparatus including the operation mechanism.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic device such as a digital camera, an operation mode such as a camera photographing operation or a photographed image reproduction operation is selected by rotating a dial.

  In recent years, digital cameras have become multifunctional, and for example, operations such as exposure adjustment and ISO setting that are set by a user at the time of shooting are increasing. In order to facilitate these operations, there is known a digital camera including an operation unit in which dials overlap in a two-stage upper and lower coaxial manner (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Furthermore, in order to improve the visibility of the index indicating each selection mode on the dial and improve the operability of the dial rotation operation, digital cameras in which the rotation axes of the two stages of the dials are shifted are also widespread. (For example, see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 3697186 JP 2006-86048 A

  In the configuration in which the rotation shafts of the two dials are shifted, the rotation center of the upper dial is positioned outside the outer shape of the lower dial, and the bearing portion of the upper dial is formed to ensure sufficient holding strength of the rotation shaft. There is a need. Otherwise, the bottom surface of the upper dial interferes with the upper surface of the lower dial during the turning operation of the upper dial, causing damage.

  In Patent Document 2, a ring-shaped sliding rib is provided on the upper surface of the lower dial to minimize scratches. However, if the upper dial is wobbled, there is a risk of catching due to scraping of the sliding rib. Is not enough. Further, the visibility of the index on the upper surface of the lower dial is unfavorable in appearance.

  Further, on the extension of the rotation axis of the upper dial, a contact piece base is attached to which a conductive contact piece that contacts the electrode pattern on the flexible printed board is fastened. When the upper dial rotates, the contact piece moves on the electrode pattern and transmits an electrical signal to the control board so as to change each operation mode. If the rotation axis of the upper dial is divided by the lower dial, the rotation of the upper dial cannot be transmitted to the contact table that is a part of the rotation detection means.

  From such a point, it is difficult to reduce the size by arranging the center of rotation of the upper dial inside the outer diameter of the lower dial.

  In view of such problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an operation mechanism that can be miniaturized and an electronic apparatus including the same while preventing wobbling during upper dial operation and damage to the lower dial. .

  An operation mechanism according to one aspect of the present invention includes a first operation means that can rotate around a first rotation axis, and a second rotation axis that is parallel to the first rotation axis and is different. The first rotation shaft is pivotable about the first operation means so that the second rotation shaft is positioned within the projection plane of the first operating means in a direction parallel to the first and second rotation shafts. A second operating means disposed below the operating means; a shaft portion passing through the second rotating shaft and parallel to the first and second rotating shafts; and a first portion of the shaft portion A transmission member that is provided at an end and meshes with the first operating means, and that rotates with the rotation of the first operating means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an operation mechanism that can be reduced in size and an electronic device including the same while preventing wobbling during upper dial operation and damage to the lower dial.

1 is an external perspective view of a digital camera that is an example of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a structural diagram of a two-stage dial unit. It is a block diagram of a two-stage dial unit. It is an assembly drawing of a two-stage dial unit. It is sectional drawing of the 2 step | paragraph dial unit at the time of changing a gear ratio. It is the perspective view seen from the bottom face side of the two-stage dial unit at the time of using a rack gear.

  Hereinafter, a lens barrel as an example of an optical apparatus embodying the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each figure, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a digital camera 1 which is an example of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. (A) is the figure seen from the front, (b) is the figure seen from the back.

  A lens unit 2 for obtaining a photographed image is provided on the front surface of the digital camera 1. On the top surface is a shutter button 3 for starting shooting, an upper dial 4 for selecting shooting modes such as AV priority, TV priority and program during shooting operation, and a lower dial for setting exposure during shooting 5 is arranged. The housing cover 6 protects the internal structure, and the mark indicators 6a and 6b are indicators for indicating their positions when the upper dial 4 and the lower dial 5 are rotated. In addition, on the back side, an operation member 7 capable of inputting various settings relating to photographing, changes in image display contents, and the like, and an image display unit 8 for displaying image information are provided. In the present embodiment, two dials are used as operation means that can be selected with respect to conditions and set values of the operation setting group, but more dials may be used.

  Next, the structure and configuration of the two-stage dial unit (operation mechanism) 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B are structural views of the two-stage dial unit, in which FIG. 2A is a top view, and FIG. 3A and 3B are configuration diagrams of the two-stage dial unit 9, in which FIG. 3A is a perspective view and FIG. 3B is an exploded view.

  The upper dial (first operation means) 4 is rotatable about a rotation shaft (first rotation shaft) 4c. An index 4a for each shooting mode is printed on the upper surface of the upper dial 4, and the upper dial 4 is rotated so that the index 4a that coincides with the mark index 6a of the housing cover 6 is set to the shooting mode at that time. Has been.

  The lower dial (second operating means) 5 is disposed below the upper dial 4 and is rotatable with a shaft portion 11b parallel to a rotating shaft 4c described later as a rotating shaft (second rotating shaft). It is. An exposure setting value 5 a is printed on the upper surface of the lower dial 5, and the lower dial 5 is operated to rotate, and the setting value 5 a that coincides with the mark index 6 b of the housing cover 6 becomes the exposure setting value at that time.

  The shaft-equipped gear (transmission member) 11 includes a gear portion 11a, a shaft portion 11b, and a claw portion 11c, and transmits the rotation of the upper dial 4. The gear portion 4e of the upper dial 4 is engaged with the gear portion 11a, whereby the rotation of the upper dial 4 is transmitted to the gear 11 with a shaft.

  The upper dial base (support member) 12 is directly below the upper dial 4 and is disposed on the outer side of the outer periphery of the lower dial. The upper dial base 12 supports the upper dial 4 by the receiving surface 12a and also supports the bearing portion 12b of the upper dial 4. It has. As for the portion notched by the lower dial 5, the bearing portion 12 c, which is a part of the upper dial base 12, functions as a bearing for the lower dial 5, and the tip abuts against the sheet metal member 22, whereby the receiving surface 12 a It plays a role as a support. With such a configuration, when the upper dial 4 is pushed from above, the upper dial 4 is not significantly deformed, and the bottom surface 4d of the upper dial 4 does not damage the upper surface 5c of the lower dial 5 when the upper dial 4 is rotated.

  The lower dial base 13 is disposed directly below the lower dial 5, includes a bearing for the lower dial 5, and supports the lower dial 5.

  When the click ball 14 shifts to each photographing mode by the turning operation of the upper dial 4, the urging force of the coil spring 15 is applied to the groove portions 4 b that are circumferentially arranged around the turning shaft 4 c of the upper dial 4. To be fitted. Accordingly, it is easy to stop the upper dial 4 at each shooting mode position while simultaneously informing the user of switching of the shooting mode by a generated click. The lower dial 5 has a similar configuration, and it is easy to generate a click when moving to each set value and stop at a predetermined rotation position.

  The contact piece base (second contact piece base) 17 holds a lower dial side contact piece (second conductive member) 16 for transmitting an electrical signal and is fixed to the shaft tip portion 5b of the lower dial 5. Has been. Therefore, the contact piece base 17 rotates as the lower dial 5 rotates. At this time, the lower dial side contact piece 16 held by the contact piece base 17 is grounded to the electrode pattern 21 a formed on the flexible printed board 21. The rotation position of the lower dial 5 can be detected by the electrode pattern 21a that the lower dial contact piece 16 is grounded.

  The geared piece base (first piece base) 19 holds an upper dial side piece (first conductive member) 18 for transmitting an electrical signal. A gear portion 19 a is formed on the outer periphery of the contact piece base 19 with gear. The connecting gear 20 is fastened to the lower end of the shaft-equipped gear 11 and is fixed by engaging with the claw portion 11 c of the shaft-equipped gear 11. The coupling gear 20 meshes with the gear portion 19 a of the geared contact base 19 to transmit the rotation of the upper dial 4 transmitted from the shaft gear 11 to the geared contact base 19. At this time, the upper dial side contact piece 18 held by the geared contact piece base 19 is grounded to the electrode pattern 21 a formed on the flexible printed circuit board 21. The rotation position of the upper dial 4 can be detected by the electrode pattern 21a grounded by the upper dial side contact piece 18. By making the number of teeth of the gear portion 11a of the shaft-equipped gear 11 and the number of teeth of the connecting gear 20, the number of teeth of the gear portion 4e of the upper dial 4 and the number of teeth of the gear portion 19a of the contact base 19 with gear, The upper dial 4 and the contact base 19 with gear rotate in the same phase. Therefore, even if the rotation operation continues to be operated in the same direction, the rotation position can be continuously detected.

  On the flexible printed circuit board 21, concentric electrode patterns 21 a centering on the respective rotation centers of the upper dial side contact piece 18 and the lower dial side contact piece 16 are drawn by a plurality of electrodes. The upper dial-side contact piece 18 and the lower dial-side contact piece 16 are in contact with the electrode pattern 21a to detect the operation of each shooting mode and exposure setting value. The sheet metal member 22 is formed by folding a single-sided flexible printed circuit board 21 and fixing it with a double-sided tape or the like. Therefore, an electrode pattern for the lower dial is arranged on the front surface side, and an electrode pattern for the upper dial is arranged on the rear surface side. The geared piece base receiving member (holding member) 23 holds the geared piece base 19.

  In the present embodiment, the upper dial 4 held by the geared contact base 19 by rotating the geared contact base 19 via the shaft gear 11 and the connecting gear 20 is used to rotate the upper dial 4. The side contact piece 18 is rotated. Therefore, even if the rotation axis of the upper dial 4 that has been a transmission path for the rotation of the upper dial side contact piece 18 is divided by the lower dial 5, the distance between the two dial axes can be reduced. . In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, the rotation shaft 4c of the upper dial 4 is located in the projection surface of the lower dial 5 when viewed from the upper surface direction, and the rotation shaft of the lower dial 5 is the upper surface. Two dials are arranged so as to be located in the projection plane of the upper dial 4 when viewed from the direction. By doing so, the distance between the axes of the two dials is reduced to be equal to or smaller than the outer radius of the lower dial 5. As a result, the miniaturization of the two-stage dial unit 9 and the miniaturization of the digital camera 1 are realized.

  In the present embodiment, the gear portion 4e of the upper dial 4 is an internal gear, but when the gear is formed on the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 4c without using the internal gear, the number of teeth is reduced. However, if the number of teeth of the gear portion 19a is the same as the number of teeth of the gear formed on the rotating shaft 4c in order to rotate the upper dial 4 and the geared contact base 19 in the same phase, the geared contact The outer diameter of the piece base 19 becomes too small and the upper dial side contact piece 18 cannot be attached. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to provide a flange portion or the like so that the contact piece is attached to the geared contact piece base 19, and as a result, miniaturization is hindered. Further, since the number of teeth of the geared contact base 19 is reduced, the backlash of the gear engagement with respect to a certain rotation angle of the upper dial 4 increases, and the positional accuracy of the upper dial side contact piece 18 also decreases. It will be. Therefore, the gear portion 4e of the upper dial 4 is desirably an internal gear.

  Next, a method of assembling with the positional relationship between the upper dial 4 and the upper dial side contact piece 18 fixed in the assembly process will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is an assembly diagram of the two-stage dial unit 9. (A) is a sectional view in the middle of assembly, (b) is a bottom perspective view in the middle of assembly, (c) is a view with the geared contact piece base receiving member 23 and the connecting gear 20 removed, (d) FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of the completed state.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the pressing portion 23a of the contact piece base receiving member 23 with gear presses the flange portion 20a of the connecting gear 20, and engages with the connecting gear 20 with the claw portion 11c. The shaft-equipped gear 11 is pushed upward in the figure. And the convex part 11d provided in the front-end | tip of the gear 11 with a shaft is inserted in the recessed part 4f formed in the inner side of the upper dial 4, and the rotation direction of the upper dial 4 is controlled. The concave portion 4f and the convex portion 11d constitute a first engaging member. Further, when the flange portion 20a of the connecting gear 20 is fitted into the concave portion 19b formed in the geared contact piece base 19 shown in FIG. 4C, the rotation of the geared contact piece base 19 is restricted, and the gear portion. The position is accurately determined by the meshing of 19a and the connecting gear 20. The recessed portion 19b and the flange portion 20a constitute a second engaging member. Since the contact base 19 with gear and the upper dial side contact piece 18 are positioned and fixed, the positional relationship between the upper dial 4 and the upper dial side contact piece 18 is fixed in a predetermined position by the above configuration. When the contact piece base receiving member 23 with gear is slid in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 4D, the pressing of the pressing portion 23a to the flange portion 20a is released. When the inclined surface 23b of the contact piece base receiving member 23 with gear contacts the flange portion 20a of the connecting gear 20, the shaft-equipped gear 11 and the connecting gear 20 are moved to the completed position, that is, the position shown in FIG. . At this time, the engagement between the convex portion 11d and the concave portion 4f and the engagement between the concave portion 19b and the flange portion 20a are released. By doing so, the upper dial 4 and the upper dial side contact piece 18 are in a predetermined position, and the upper dial 4 can be rotated.

  Next, a method for further downsizing the two-stage dial unit 9 by changing the gear ratio will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the two-stage dial unit when the gear ratio is changed.

  The number of teeth of the gear portion 4e of the upper dial 4 is z1, the number of teeth of the gear portion 11a of the gear 11 with shaft is z2, the number of teeth of the connecting gear 30 is z3, and the number of teeth of the gear portion of the contact base 31 with gear is z4. And At this time, satisfying the relationship of z1: z2 = z3: z4 makes it possible to keep the rotational phases of the upper dial 4 and the geared contact piece base 31 the same. Moreover, the number of teeth of the gear part of the contact piece base 31 with a gear can also be reduced by making the number of teeth z3 of the connection gear 30 smaller than the number of teeth z2 of the gear part 11a. For this reason, since the outer shape of the connecting gear 30 and the contact base 31 with gear can be reduced, the size of the two-stage dial unit 9 can be reduced. Even if the module of the gear portion of the connection gear 30 and the geared contact piece base 31 is made smaller, the outer diameter of each can be made smaller, and the two-stage dial unit 9 can be made smaller.

  Next, the case where the geared contact piece base is a rack gear will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view seen from the bottom side of the two-stage dial unit when the geared contact piece base is a rack gear. For the sake of simplicity, the geared piece base receiving member is removed.

  A stopper (regulator) (not shown) is attached to the upper dial 4. Therefore, the rotation of the upper dial 4 is restricted and is not in the 360 ° rotation specification. The contact base 40 with a rack gear moves linearly in conjunction with the rotation of the upper dial 4 by the restriction of a receiving member (not shown). Each photographing mode can be detected by moving the ground portion of the upper dial side contact piece 41 to each electrode pattern formed on the flexible printed circuit board 42. By using the contact base 40 with a rack gear that moves linearly, the arrangement space can be made flexible and downsizing can be realized.

  As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible within the range of the summary.

4 Upper dial (first operation means)
4c Rotating shaft (first rotating shaft)
5 Lower dial (second operating means)
9 Two-stage dial unit (operation mechanism)
11 Gear with shaft (Transmission member)
11b Shaft

Claims (9)

A first operating means rotatable about a first rotation axis;
The second rotation axis is parallel to the first rotation axis and is rotatable around a different second rotation axis, and the second rotation axis is parallel to the first and second rotation axes. A second operating means disposed below the first operating means so as to be located within the projection plane of the first operating means;
A transmission member that includes a shaft portion that passes through the second rotation shaft and is parallel to the first and second rotation shafts, and that rotates with the rotation of the first operation means. An operating mechanism characterized by that.   2. The operation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the first rotation shaft is located within a projection plane of the second operation means in a direction parallel to the first and second rotation shafts. . The transmission member is provided with a gear portion that is provided at a first end of the shaft portion and meshes with the first operation means,
The operating mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first operating means is formed with an internal gear that meshes with the gear portion.   The operation mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a support member that supports the first operation means and includes a bearing portion of the second operation means. . A connecting gear provided at the second end of the shaft portion;
A first contact base that transmits the rotation of the first operating means via the connecting gear and transmits the rotation of the first operating means as an electrical signal;
5. The operation mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising: a second contact piece that transmits rotation of the second operation means as an electrical signal. 6. The number of teeth of the gear formed on the first operating means is z1, the number of teeth of the gear portion is z2, the number of teeth of the connecting gear is z3, and the number of teeth of the gear formed on the first contact block. Is z4,
z1: z2 = z3: z4
z2> z3
The operating mechanism according to claim 5, wherein: And further comprising a restricting portion for restricting rotation of the first operating means,
The operation mechanism according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the first contact piece base moves linearly according to the rotation of the first operation means. A holding member located at a first position for pressing the connection gear in the assembled state of the operating mechanism, and a second position for holding the first contact piece base in the completed state;
A first engaging member that engages the first operating means and the transmission member so that the first operating means does not rotate when the holding member is located at the first position;
When the holding member is located at the first position, the first contact block and the connection gear are arranged so that the first contact block does not move according to the rotation of the first operation means. And a second engaging member for engaging
When the holding member moves from the first position to the second position, the first operating member and the transmission member are engaged by the first engaging member and the second engaging is performed. The operation mechanism according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein engagement between the first contact piece base and the coupling gear by a member is released. An electronic device having a plurality of operation means capable of selecting any one of a plurality of operation setting groups by a rotation operation,
An electronic apparatus comprising the operation mechanism according to claim 1.