JP2022167953A - Transmission apparatus, transmission method, and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transmission apparatus capable of transmitting instruction information at an earlier stage as compared with a case where the instruction information for a receiving device is generated and then transmitted to the receiving device after accepting an execution instruction.

SOLUTION: A camera 12 includes: a memory 34 in which instruction information indicating an instruction to a strobe 14 is set; a wireless communication circuit 32 that transmits the instruction information set in the memory 34 to the strobe 14 via wireless communication when the transmission is instructed; and an MCU 20 for instructing the wireless communication circuit 32 to transmit the instruction information set in the memory 34 when an execution instruction is accepted.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2023,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a transmission device, a transmission method, and a communication system.

Patent Document 1 discloses a light emission control device that can be connected to an imaging device and transmits a light emission command to at least one light emitting device, and at least one controlled light emitting device that emits light in response to the light emission command from the light emission control device. A lighting system that communicates wirelessly is disclosed. In this light emitting system, the controlled light emitting device has first transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting charging information regarding its own charging state to the light emitting control device. Further, in this light emission system, the light emission control device includes receiving means for receiving charging information transmitted from the controlled light emitting device, notification means for notifying the imaging device of completion of charging, and a second transmission means for transmitting a signal to stop transmission of the charging information by the imaging device; and a third transmission means for transmitting a light emission command to the controlled light emitting device in accordance with an instruction from the imaging device. Further, in this light emission system, when the light emission control device receives charging information indicating completion of charging from all of the controlled light emitting devices by the receiving means, the notification means notifies and the second transmission means sends a signal to stop sending charging information.

JP 2013-178481 A

By the way, when the transmission device such as the above-described light emission control device transmits instruction information indicating an instruction such as a light emission command to the reception device such as the controlled light emitting device by wireless communication, the transmission unit such as a wireless communication circuit is used. It is conceivable to send In this case, when the transmitting device receives any instruction, the instruction information is generated and transmitted to the wireless communication circuit, and the wireless communication circuit analyzes the instruction information and converts it into a signal that can be transmitted by wireless communication. Then, it transmits to the receiving device by wireless communication. For this reason, a time lag may occur between the reception of the instruction and the transmission of the instruction information.

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 does not consider early transmission of the instruction information.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and transmits the instruction information earlier than the case where the instruction information for the receiving device is generated and transmitted to the receiving device after receiving the execution instruction. An object of the present invention is to provide a transmission device, a transmission method, and a communication system that can

In order to achieve the above object, a transmitting apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a setting section in which instruction information indicating an instruction to a receiving apparatus is set, and when transmission is instructed, the setting section instructs the receiving apparatus to and a transmission instruction process for instructing transmission of the instruction information set in the setting unit when an execution instruction is accepted to the transmission unit. and a processing unit for performing

On the other hand, in order to achieve the above object, a transmission method according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises a setting unit for setting instruction information indicating an instruction to a receiving device when an execution instruction is received, and when transmission is instructed, a transmission instruction process for instructing the transmission unit to transmit the instruction information set in the setting unit to the reception device by wireless communication. This is what we do.

In order to achieve the above object, a communication system according to a third aspect of the invention includes the transmitting device according to the first aspect of the invention, a receiving section for receiving the instruction information transmitted by the transmitting device, and and a receiving device having an execution unit that executes a process according to an instruction indicated by the received instruction information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain the effect that the instruction information can be transmitted earlier than the case where the instruction information for the receiving device is generated and transmitted to the receiving device after receiving the execution instruction.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication system according to each embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of a photographing processing program according to each embodiment. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of a light emission processing program according to the first embodiment; 9 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of a light emission processing program according to the second embodiment;

Embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
First, referring to FIG. 1, the configuration of communication system 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a communication system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a camera 12 as an example of a transmitter and a strobe 14 as an example of a receiver.

The camera 12 according to this embodiment includes an MCU (Micro Control Unit) 20, a wireless communication circuit 32, an imaging section 38, and a release button 40. As shown in FIG.

The MCU 20 according to this embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 22 that controls the overall operation of the camera 12, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 24 in which various programs, various parameters, and the like are stored in advance. The MCU 20 also includes a RAM (Random Access Memory) 26 and an I/F (Interface) 28 used as a work area or the like when various programs are executed by the CPU 22 . The CPU 22, ROM 24, RAM 26, and I/F 28 are connected to each other via a bus 30 such as an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus.

A wireless communication circuit 32 according to this embodiment includes a nonvolatile memory 34 and a wireless antenna 36 and is connected to the I/F 28 . Under the control of the CPU 22 , the wireless communication circuit 32 transmits information input from the CPU 22 , information stored in the memory 34 , etc. via the wireless antenna 36 by wireless communication.

Also, the wireless communication circuit 32 and the CPU 22 can transmit information by two different methods via the I/F 28 . Specifically, the radio communication circuit 32 and the CPU 22 are capable of transmitting information via the I/F 28 by a method using SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) as a first method. Also, the wireless communication circuit 32 and the CPU 22 transmit 1-bit information per transmission via the I/F 28 as a second method with a smaller amount of communication per transmission than the first method. Information can be transmitted by a method using GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output).

As the first method, other methods using other than SPI such as UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) and SCI (Serial Communication Interface) may be applied. Also, as the second method, a method other than GPIO that transmits 1-bit information per transmission may be applied.

The imaging unit 38 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor, and is connected to the I/F 28 . Under the control of the CPU 22, the image capturing unit 38 captures an image of a subject to be imaged.

The release button 40 according to the present embodiment is configured to be capable of detecting two stages of pressing operations, ie, a shooting preparation state and a shooting execution state, and is connected to the I/F 28 . In this embodiment, the photographing preparation state refers to, for example, a state in which the release button 40 is pressed from the standby position to the intermediate position (half-pressed position). Further, in the present embodiment, the shooting execution state refers to a state in which the release button 40 is pressed to the final pressed position (fully pressed position) beyond the intermediate position. Hereinafter, the state in which the release button 40 is pressed to the half-pressed position is referred to as the "half-pressed state," and the state in which the release button 40 is pressed to the fully-pressed position is referred to as the "fully-pressed state."

When the release button 40 detects that it has been half-pressed, it outputs a half-press signal to the CPU 22 via the I/F 28 to indicate that it has been half-pressed. Furthermore, when the release button 40 detects that it has been fully pressed, it outputs a full-press signal to the CPU 22 via the I/F 28 . Then, when a half-press signal is input from the release button 40, the CPU 22 regards that a photographing preparation instruction (an advance instruction for photographing) has been received. Further, when a full-press signal is input from the release button 40, the CPU 22 considers that the shooting execution instruction has been received. That is, the CPU 22 receives the shooting preparation instruction and the shooting execution instruction by the user's operation of the release button 40 .

On the other hand, the strobe 14 according to this embodiment includes an MCU 50 , a wireless communication circuit 62 and a light emitting section 66 .

The MCU 50 according to this embodiment includes a CPU 52 that controls the overall operation of the strobe 14, and a ROM 54 in which various programs, various parameters, and the like are stored in advance. The MCU 50 also includes a RAM 56 and an I/F 58 used as a work area or the like when the CPU 52 executes various programs. The CPU 52, ROM 54, RAM 56, and I/F 58 are connected to each other via a bus 60 such as an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus.

A wireless communication circuit 62 according to this embodiment includes a wireless antenna 64 and is connected to the I/F 58 . The wireless communication circuit 62 then outputs the information received via the wireless antenna 64 to the CPU 52 via the I/F 58 .

The light emitting unit 66 according to this embodiment includes a light source such as a xenon tube, and is connected to the I/F 58 . The light emitting unit 66 intermittently emits light under the control of the CPU 52 .

Next, operation of the camera 12 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the processing flow of the photographing processing program executed by the CPU 22 when the power switch of the camera 12 is turned on. Further, the main photographing processing program is pre-installed in the ROM 24 .

At step 100 in FIG. 2, the CPU 22 waits until a photographing preparation instruction is received. That is, when the release button 40 is half-pressed by the user's operation of the release button 40 , the determination in step 100 becomes a positive determination, and the process proceeds to step 102 .

At step 102, the CPU 22 establishes communication with the strobe 14 by controlling the wireless communication circuit 32 to start transmitting carrier waves. In the next step 104 , the CPU 22 controls the wireless communication circuit 32 to transmit to the strobe 14 reception start instruction information indicating an instruction to start receiving light emission instruction information, which will be described later.

In the next step 106, the CPU 22 stores the light emission instruction information indicating the light emission instruction for the strobe 14 in the memory 34 of the wireless communication circuit 32 by the first method. set. At step 108, the CPU 22 waits until a photographing execution instruction is received. That is, when the release button 40 is fully pressed by the user's operation of the release button 40 , the determination in step 108 becomes a positive determination, and the process proceeds to step 110 .

At step 110, the CPU 22 instructs the wireless communication circuit 32 to transmit the light emission instruction information by the second method. Specifically, for example, the CPU 22 instructs the wireless communication circuit 32 to transmit the light emission instruction information by changing the GPIO from high level to low level. When the GPIO is set to high level, the wireless communication circuit 32 transmits the light emission instruction information stored in the memory 34 by the process of step 106 to the strobe 14 at predetermined transmission intervals for a predetermined number of transmissions. The transmission interval and the number of times of transmission may be appropriately determined according to the settings regarding the shooting conditions of the camera 12 set by the user. Thus, by instructing the transmission of the light emission instruction information by the second method, the light emission instruction information can be transmitted earlier than when the transmission of the light emission instruction information is instructed by the first method. can be done.

At the next step 112, the CPU 22 controls the imaging section 38 to photograph the subject. At the next step 114, the CPU 22 controls the wireless communication circuit 32 to end the carrier wave transmission started at step 102. FIG. Also, the CPU 22 returns the GPIO from low level to high level. At the next step 116, the CPU 22 determines whether or not a predetermined end timing has arrived. In this embodiment, the CPU 22 determines that the end timing has come when the power switch of the camera 12 is turned off. The CPU 22 returns to step 100 when the determination is negative, and terminates the photographing process when the determination is positive.

Next, the operation of strobe 14 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing flow of the light emission processing program executed by the CPU 52 when the reception start instruction information transmitted by the camera 12 is received. Further, the main light emission processing program is pre-installed in the ROM 54 .

At step 150 in FIG. 3, the CPU 52 waits until receiving the light emission instruction information. When the CPU 52 receives the light emission instruction information transmitted by the camera 12 through the process of step 110 via the wireless communication circuit 62 , the determination in step 150 becomes affirmative and the process proceeds to step 152 .

At step 152, the CPU 52 controls the light emitting section 66 to cause the light emitting section 66 to emit light. At the next step 154, the CPU 52 waits until receiving the next light emission instruction information. When the CPU 52 receives the next light emission instruction information via the wireless communication circuit 62 , the determination in step 154 becomes affirmative and the process returns to step 150 . On the other hand, if the waiting period in step 154 exceeds a period predetermined as the upper limit of the interval at which the light emission instruction information is received, the determination in step 154 becomes negative, and the main light emission processing ends.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the MCU 20 sets the light emission instruction information in the memory 34 of the wireless communication circuit 62 when the photographing preparation instruction is accepted. Then, the MCU 20 performs a process of instructing the wireless communication circuit 62 to transmit the light emission instruction information set in the memory 34 by a method using GPIO when the shooting execution instruction is accepted. Therefore, the light emission instruction information can be transmitted earlier than the case where the light emission instruction information is generated and transmitted to the strobe 14 after the photography execution instruction is received.

Further, in the present embodiment, the MCU 20 performs processing for establishing communication with the strobe 14 by transmitting carrier waves even while not transmitting light emission instruction information. Therefore, it is possible to increase the possibility that the strobe 14 receives the light emission instruction information transmitted from the camera 12 as compared with the case where the carrier wave is not transmitted.

[Second embodiment]
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below. Note that the configuration of the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment (see FIG. 1), so description thereof will be omitted here.

Next, operation of the camera 12 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the imaging process according to the present embodiment differs from the imaging process according to the first embodiment only in the process of step 106, so only the process of step 106 will be described here.

At step 106, the CPU 22 stores the light emission instruction information indicating the light emission instruction for the strobe 14 in the memory 34 of the wireless communication circuit 32 by the first method, thereby setting the light emission instruction information in the memory 34. . In this embodiment, the CPU 22 includes the number of times of light emission and the light emission interval of the strobe 14 in the payload of the light emission instruction information and sets the light emission instruction information in the memory 34 .

Next, the operation of strobe 14 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing flow of the light emission processing program executed by the CPU 52 when the reception start instruction information transmitted by the camera 12 is received. Further, the main light emission processing program is pre-installed in the ROM 54 . Note that steps in FIG. 4 that execute the same processing as in FIG. 3 are given the same step numbers as in FIG. 3, and the description thereof will be omitted. Also, in order to avoid complication, the present embodiment will be described assuming that a counter, which will be described later, is initialized to 0 (zero) at the start of execution of the main light emission process.

At step 151 in FIG. 4, the CPU 52 acquires the number of times of light emission and the light emission interval from the payload of the light emission instruction information received at step 150 . At step 156, the CPU 52 increments the counter for counting the number of times of light emission by 1 (counter←counter+1).

At step 158 , the CPU 52 determines whether or not the counter is equal to or greater than the number of times of light emission acquired at step 151 . At step 160 , the CPU 52 waits for the light emission interval obtained at step 151 and returns to step 152 .

On the other hand, when the determination in step 158 is affirmative, the CPU 52 terminates the main light emission process.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the camera 12 transmits the light emission instruction information to the strobe 14 including the number of times of light emission and the light emission interval in the payload of the light emission instruction information. Upon receiving the light emission instruction information, the strobe 14 causes the light emission unit 66 to emit light at the light emission interval and the number of light emission times included in the payload of the light emission instruction information. Therefore, once the strobe 14 receives the light emission instruction information transmitted by the camera 12, it can emit light at the set number of times of light emission and at the light emission interval. That is, even if the strobe 14 fails to receive some of the light emission instruction information transmitted a plurality of times due to interference by another wireless communication device that performs wireless communication, the above-described first embodiment and the A similar effect can be obtained.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the camera 12 inhibits the transmission of the carrier wave when the release button 40 is in the half-pressed state for a predetermined period or longer (for example, 3 seconds or longer). You can stop sending.

In each of the above embodiments, the camera 12 attempts to detect a communication device that performs wireless communication existing within the surrounding communicable range, and if no communication device other than the strobe 14 is detected, the carrier wave is detected. No need to send. In this case, for example, a mode in which the CPU 22 transmits detection instruction information for detecting surrounding communication devices via the wireless communication circuit 32 to detect surrounding communication devices is exemplified.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the strobe 14 is capable of wireless communication according to a plurality of communication standards, the camera 12 can transmit only detection instruction information for communication standards other than the communication standard used for wireless communication with the strobe 14. may be configured to

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the light emission instruction information is set in the memory 34 of the wireless communication circuit 32 when the shooting preparation instruction is received has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The light emission instruction information may be set in advance in the memory 34 of the wireless communication circuit 32 regardless of whether or not the shooting preparation instruction is accepted. Further, when the memory 34 is a volatile memory, for example, when the power of the camera 12 is turned on, a mode of setting the light emission instruction information in the memory 34 is also exemplified.

Further, in the above-described second embodiment, the case where the number of times of light emission and the light emission interval are included in the light emission instruction information has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the number of times of light emission and the light emission interval may be preset in the strobe 14 .

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, a case has been described in which the present invention is applied to wireless communication between the camera 12 and the strobe 14, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to wireless communication of other transmitters and receivers such as a controller of a home-use game machine and a main body of a home-use game machine.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where various programs are pre-installed in the ROM 24 and the ROM 54 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, various programs may be stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) and provided, or may be provided via a network.

In addition, the configuration of the communication system described in each of the above embodiments (see FIG. 1) is an example, and unnecessary parts may be deleted or new parts added without departing from the scope of the present invention. It goes without saying that you can.

Further, the flow of various processes described in each of the above embodiments (see FIGS. 2 to 4) is also an example, and unnecessary steps may be deleted or new steps may be added without departing from the gist of the present invention. Needless to say, additions may be made or the processing order may be changed.

10 communication system 12 camera 14 strobe 20 MCU
22 CPUs
24 ROMs
32 wireless communication circuit 34 memory 50 MCU
52 CPUs
54 ROMs
62 wireless communication circuit 66 light emitting unit

A transmission device of the present invention includes a transmission unit that establishes communication with a reception device using a carrier wave, transmits instruction information to the reception device when transmission is instructed, and when an execution instruction is received, a processing unit that performs processing for instructing transmission of the instruction information to the transmission unit, wherein the processing unit causes the transmission unit to start transmission of the carrier wave before the execution instruction is accepted.

Claims (8)

a transmitting unit that includes a setting unit in which instruction information indicating an instruction to a receiving device is set, and transmits the instruction information set in the setting unit to the receiving device by wireless communication when transmission is instructed;
a processing unit that, when an execution instruction is accepted, performs a transmission instruction process for instructing transmission of the instruction information set in the setting unit to the transmission unit;
transmitter with The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit performs a process different from the transmission instruction process after the transmission instruction process. The transmitting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the instruction information is set in advance in the setting unit. The transmitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the instruction information is set in a nonvolatile memory. The transmitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the transmitting section establishes communication with the receiving device before transmitting the instruction information. The transmitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the instruction information is transmitted a predetermined number of times at predetermined transmission intervals. a setting unit for setting instruction information indicating an instruction to a receiving device when an execution instruction is accepted, and wirelessly communicating the instruction information set in the setting unit to the receiving apparatus when transmission is instructed. performing a transmission instruction process for instructing the transmission unit to transmit the instruction information set in the setting unit of the transmission unit that transmits by the transmission method. a transmitter according to any one of claims 1 to 6;
a receiving device comprising a receiving unit that receives the instruction information transmitted by the transmitting device, and an execution unit that executes processing according to the instruction indicated by the instruction information received by the receiving unit;
communication systems, including

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