JP2510197Y2 - Camera that can be loaded with a battery pack - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a still camera, and more particularly to a primary battery pack and a secondary battery pack for driving various electric and electronic parts arranged in the camera body. The present invention relates to a selectively loadable camera.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, even in still cameras, various devices and devices in other fields have a tendency to be digitized in the same manner. Therefore, various electric and electronic parts should be installed in the camera. Is becoming. In order to cope with such computerization, it is desired that the battery power source built into the camera body should have a large capacity and a low cost, and the built-in structure of the camera body should be easy to use and have good appearance. Is required to be considered.

In this type of still camera, as a battery generally used, an AA type battery or the like, which is relatively easily available, is often used. That is, such an AA type battery is directly loaded into a battery chamber formed in a part of the camera body, or is loaded using a battery pack incorporating the battery.

In a camera using such a battery, a battery check circuit having a simple circuit configuration is provided in the camera body to detect the consumption of the AA type battery. For example, a shutter button of the camera or a dedicated check button is provided. By pressing, the battery check circuit was activated, and the result could be confirmed on the display section inside the viewfinder or outside the main body. Here, the battery check for detecting the degree of consumption of the AA type battery as described above needs only to detect the open circuit voltage from the viewpoint of the discharge characteristics of the battery. Therefore, a simple circuit is provided in the camera body. there were.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

In the still camera as described above, it is easy to use a secondary battery pack such as a nickel-cadmium battery that can be repeatedly used by charging, instead of a primary battery that cannot be repeatedly used like a AA battery as a battery power source. In addition, the running cost is low, the low temperature characteristics are good, and it is particularly desired by professional photographers.

Furthermore, the selection of such a battery pack for a primary battery or a secondary battery is made in consideration of the balance between the frequency of use of the battery and the cost for the camera. The advent of a camera that can freely perform is desired.

Therefore, it is conceivable to adopt the configuration of the secondary battery pack 1 including a nickel-cadmium battery or the like, the camera main body 2 in which the secondary battery pack 1 is mounted, and the charger 3 for the secondary battery pack 1 as shown in FIGS. (Not known).

In these figures, 4 is a photographic lens mounted on the front surface of the camera body 2, and 5 is a finder for confirming a subject image. By looking at the finder 5 and pressing a shutter button (not shown) Exposure is performed.

6 is a battery check button for a primary battery (such as AA type battery) provided on a part of the back side of the camera body 2, and 7 is provided in line with this, depending on a lighting state by pressing the check button 6. It is an indicator light for confirming the remaining capacity of the used primary battery. Here, the check button 6 for the primary battery and the indicator light 7 for confirming the primary battery are provided in the camera body 2 because the secondary battery pack as described above has a strong professional orientation. A primary battery such as an AA type battery is generally used for the camera as a standard, and it is costly to target this primary battery as a battery check circuit provided as standard equipment on the camera body 2 side. This is because it is appropriate for

Reference numeral 8 denotes a battery pack housing formed at the bottom of the camera body 2. The above-described secondary battery pack 1 and a primary battery pack (not shown) in which the primary battery is replaceably mounted can be attached to and removed from the housing 8. Be loaded into.

Here, the secondary battery pack 1 has a structure in which a plurality of nickel-cadmium batteries are housed inside and is covered with a resin case, and a corner having a shape that is easily attached to and detached from the camera body 2 is provided at the outer end. A mold head 1a is formed, electrode portions 9 and 10 are formed at two positions at the end of the insertion portion 1b, and a charging jack 11 is provided on the side portion of the insertion portion 1b.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, such a secondary battery pack 1 is laterally loaded and assembled into the storage portion 8 on the camera side, and the electrode portions 9 and 10 are attached to the camera body 2 The electrodes inside the secondary battery pack 1 come into contact with electrodes (not shown) provided so as to face each other, and power is supplied from the battery inside the secondary battery pack 1 in accordance with the operation of each unit on the camera side.

Further, when the secondary battery (NiCd battery) in the secondary battery pack 1 is exhausted, the rectangular head 1a is held in the storage portion 8 and pulled out in the lateral direction, and the charging jack 11 on the side portion thereof is used.
Charging is performed by inserting the charging plug 12 pulled out from the charger 3 into the. Reference numeral 13 is an AC plug that is used by being pulled out from the charger 3 and plugged into a household outlet or the like.

Here, in the secondary battery pack 1 as described above, a circuit unit (not shown) for calculating the remaining capacity of the NiCd battery therein and a display unit 14 for displaying the remaining capacity of the battery obtained by this unit. And are provided. That is, in this type of secondary battery such as a nickel-cadmium battery, the current product at the time of charging with the charger 3 and the current product at the time of discharging, that is, operating the internal mechanism in the camera body 2 are always The remaining capacity can be displayed by integrating and calculating.

The remaining capacity display unit 14 as described above is composed of a plurality of so-called bar graph-shaped segments by liquid crystal display, and the remaining capacity is the length of the bar displayed based on the result obtained by the remaining capacity detection circuit means. In the illustrated example, the pack 1 is provided on the end face of the square head 1a. In addition, such a display unit 14
Alternatively, the display means may be constituted by a light emitting diode array or the like, and a push button operation or the like may be used to cause the display to emit light.

In a camera that can be loaded with a battery pack having the above-described structure, the secondary battery (such as a nickel-cadmium battery) in the secondary battery pack 1 can be repeatedly used by charging, but is basically a consumable item. Yes, it cannot be used after charging and discharging hundreds of times. Therefore, such a secondary battery pack 1
In addition, providing the display unit 14 with the liquid crystal display as described above leads to high cost of the pack 1 itself and imposes unnecessary cost burden on the user.

Further, the battery check circuit, the battery check button 6, and the indicator lamp 7 that are standard equipment of the camera body 2 are
It is intended for primary batteries such as battery type batteries, and is not necessary at all when the secondary battery pack 1 including the remaining capacity display means is used, and such waste can be minimized. Is desired. Further, forgetting to use the secondary battery pack 1 in such a case, the means on the camera side, that is, the battery check circuit means for the primary battery and the display means are activated to make an incorrect determination of the battery capacity. There is also a problem that such a problem occurs, and it is desired to take some measures capable of solving such a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and in a dual-purpose camera in which a primary battery pack and a secondary battery pack can be loaded, the remaining capacity of the primary battery is, of course, displayed.
The remaining capacity of the secondary battery can be easily and reliably displayed.
An object of the present invention is to obtain a camera that can be loaded with a battery pack, which can solve problems such as a user's erroneous operation and a cost burden.

[Means for solving the problem]

The battery pack-mountable camera according to the present invention comprises a rechargeable secondary battery, a means for calculating the charge / discharge amount of the secondary battery, and a means for outputting the battery remaining capacity calculated by the calculating means. When selectively loading and using the provided secondary battery pack and the primary battery pack including the non-reusable primary battery, a determination unit that determines the type of the battery pack loaded in the camera, and a primary unit by this determination unit Checking means that the checking operation of the remaining capacity of the primary battery is possible when the loading of the battery pack is detected, and the checking operation is disabled when the loading of the secondary battery pack is detected, and the remaining battery capacity of the secondary battery pack. The input means for inputting the output from the output means and the remaining capacity of the secondary battery input by the input means when the secondary battery pack is loaded are displayed to display the primary battery pack Sometimes it is obtained by a configuration in which a display means for displaying a remaining capacity of the primary battery checked by checking means.

[Action]

According to the present invention, when a primary battery pack, which is a basic usage pattern, is loaded, the battery check can be performed by the battery check means and the display means attached to the camera body side, while the remaining capacity can be detected. When the secondary battery pack is loaded, the detection of the remaining capacity of the secondary battery in this secondary battery pack is transmitted to the camera side by signal transmission from the output means to the input means, and the display means on the camera side
Displays the remaining capacity of the secondary battery.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

1 to 4 show an embodiment of a camera in which a battery pack according to the present invention can be loaded. In these drawings,
The same or corresponding parts as those in FIGS. 5 and 6 described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the camera, which is a combination type of the primary battery and the secondary battery in this embodiment, cannot be repeatedly used with the secondary battery pack 1 including the reusable secondary battery 20 as shown in FIG. There is provided a camera body 2 which can be selectively loaded with two types of packs, a primary battery pack 40 in which an incapable primary battery (for example, an AA battery, etc.) 41 is incorporated.

In such a dual-purpose camera, as shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the primary battery pack 40 is used, and the camera body 2 is provided with a battery check button 43 and a display section 24 for displaying the battery check button 43. There is. Further, a battery check circuit for the primary battery is built in the camera body 2.
Then, when the check button 43 is pressed, the built-in circuit operates, and when the battery capacity is sufficient, the display unit 24 lights up to notify the photographer. Further, when the battery capacity is insufficient, the display section 24 blinks or goes into a non-display state to notify that effect.
As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, as the battery capacity display unit 24 described above, for example, a liquid crystal display is provided on the back side of the camera body 2, and the photographer holds the camera. It is configured so that it can be easily seen even when it is turned on.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the primary battery pack 40 in which the primary battery 41 is incorporated and loaded in the housing portion 8 of the camera body 2 is a battery chamber in which the battery 41 can be detachably incorporated in the case body. Has 42. Also, this primary battery pack
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, at the insertion end of the case main body constituting the 40, discharge terminals 9 and 10 similar to those of the above-described secondary battery pack 1 are provided, and in addition to this, A battery pack identification terminal 44 (DET) is provided.

On the other hand, the secondary battery pack 1 which is removably loaded in the storage portion 8 of the camera body 2 has a reusable secondary battery, as is apparent from the circuit configurations shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. (Nicad battery) 20, means for calculating charge / discharge amount for this battery 20 (calculation circuit 21) and means for outputting calculation result of remaining capacity of secondary battery 20 obtained by this means {Fig. 1 And a signal transmission terminal (LCD) 22 shown in FIG. Further, input means for receiving an operation signal of the battery remaining capacity from the terminal 22 on the side of the pack 1 (commonly shown as a signal transmission terminal 22 (LCD) in FIG. 3) and a secondary battery 20 based on this signal.
Means for displaying the remaining capacity (display circuit 23 including a display section 24 common to the one for displaying the remaining capacity of the primary battery 41)
And are provided on the camera body 2 side.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 22 provided on the secondary battery pack 1 side for signal transmission is
At the end of the insertion portion 1b, the charging terminals 9 and 10 are arranged side by side and exposed.

According to the present invention, a characteristic of such a configuration is that the battery capacity indication is displayed on the display unit 24 provided on the rear side of the camera body 2 regardless of which of the battery packs 1 and 40 is loaded. This is the point that I decided to do it. It should be noted that when the primary battery pack 40 is loaded, the display is performed by pressing the check button 43, but in the case of the secondary battery pack 1, the display section is displayed.
It is configured to always display 24. Further, according to the above-described configuration, the battery remaining capacity of the secondary battery pack 1 can be displayed on the display unit 24 on the rear side of the camera body 2 in an easily visible state, and in the shooting posture with the camera held, The remaining capacity can be confirmed quickly without changing the posture, and there is no problem of missing a shooting opportunity.

Here, the primary battery pack 40 and the secondary battery pack 1 described above are formed to have substantially the same shape as shown in FIG. 1, and the discharge terminals 9 and 10 described above are provided on the insertion end side thereof.
Are provided at the same location. However, as shown in FIG. 1, the signal transmission terminal 22 in the secondary battery pack 1 and the identification terminal 44 in the primary battery pack 40 are provided so that their respective positions are different from each other. As is clear from the above, the discriminating means for discriminating the type of the loaded pack is configured so that the circuit to the display unit 24 (display circuit 23) is in a different connection state when connected to the camera body 2. Function as.

That is, as is apparent from the circuit on the camera body 2 side shown on the right side in FIGS. 3 and 4, the terminal 22 (transmitting the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 20 as a signal from the secondary battery pack 1 side The LCD) is connected to a display circuit 23 including a display section 24. On the other hand, the identification terminal 44 (DET) provided when the primary battery pack 40 is loaded is the terminal 2
2 and the display circuit 23 function as a ground terminal of a discrimination circuit 45 connected to the input side, and the discrimination circuit 45 can be energized through a contact point of the battery check button 43.

Further, an electric circuit composed of the secondary battery pack 1 and the camera body 2 into which the secondary battery pack 1 is mounted will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The circuit on the left side of the drawing is an internal circuit of the secondary battery pack 1. On the charger 3 side (not shown), the charging current obtained by converting the AC power from the AC plug 13 into a direct current by a rectifier circuit is used to charge the charging plug 12 (see FIG. 7).
Charge terminal 26 (CHG) received by inserting into 11
And a ground terminal 27 (GND). Then, the current from the charger 3 side is applied to the terminals 26 and 27 described above, and the secondary battery (nicad battery) 20 is passed through the diode 28 and the resistor 29.
To charge.

Here, the diode 28 is for preventing the secondary battery 20 from being damaged when a voltage having a polarity different from that of the charger 3 is erroneously applied to the terminals 26 and 27. Also,
The current from the secondary battery 20 is supplied to the internal circuit on the camera body 2 side via the discharge terminal 9 (DIS) and the ground terminal 10 (GND) for discharging. Further, the resistor 29 is
The purpose is to convert the current between terminals 26 and 27 into voltage,
The current in the direction of arrow Ic during charging and the current in the direction of arrow Id during discharging are converted into a voltage and output to the current detection circuit 30. The current detection circuit 30 grasps the direction identification and current amount of the current generated as described above, and outputs the result to the arithmetic circuit 21.

On the other hand, the timing output of the timing circuit 31 is also applied to the arithmetic circuit 21, and the current capacity of the secondary battery 20 at that time is obtained by calculation with the above-mentioned charge / discharge current amount.

That is, the charge capacity for the secondary battery 20 is determined from the product of the charging current and the charging time during charging, and the discharge capacity from the secondary battery 20 is determined from the product of the discharging current and the discharging time during discharging, and the difference between the former and the latter is obtained. Therefore, the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 20 is required. Then, the obtained current capacity value is output to the camera body 2 side through the terminal 22 (LCD).

On the other hand, the circuit on the right side in FIG. 3 is an internal circuit in the camera body 2, and power is first supplied from the secondary battery 20 via the discharge terminals 9 and 10 by the DC-DC converter 32 (D / D). ) Is done. The DC-DC converter 32 has its function activated by the operation of a power switch (not shown), and supplies a constant voltage to the exposure control circuit 33 and the like. The exposure control circuit 33 and the like include a control system for measuring the brightness of the subject, operating the shutter and diaphragm based on the result, and further winding the film.

Here, according to the present invention, the camera main body 2 side is provided with the display circuit 23 and its display section 24 for receiving the current capacity value supplied from the terminal 22 through the terminal (22). With this, the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 20 can be displayed on the camera body 2 side by loading the secondary battery pack 1 as shown in FIG. 1 into the camera body 2 as shown in FIG. There is. The signal transmitted from the above-mentioned terminal 22 may be a display signal, that is, a segment drive signal capable of directly driving the display section 24 of liquid crystal display. Further, in FIG. 3, it is explained that the number of the signal transmission terminals 22 is one, but when a plurality of segment drive signals are required, they may be constituted by a plurality of terminals. When the arithmetic circuit 21 and the display circuit 23 are connected by serial communication output, they may be composed of a clock signal terminal and a data terminal to which known signal processing is added.

With such a configuration, when the secondary battery pack 1 is loaded on the camera body 2 side, the display circuit 23 and the display unit 24 are connected via the terminal 22 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, discrimination circuit 45, identification terminal 44, check button 43
Is out of the circuit, and the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 20 can be displayed in a desired state by a signal from the arithmetic circuit 21 on the pack 1 side.

On the other hand, when the primary battery pack 40 is loaded, as shown in FIG. 4, the above-mentioned secondary battery terminal 22 is not connected, and the display circuit 23 passes through the discrimination circuit 45 and is connected to the ground side. It is connected to the. Therefore, in such a circuit configuration, the determination circuit 45 is selectively operated by pressing the check button 43, and the capacity of the battery 41 at that time is displayed on the display unit 24.
Can be displayed in. The discrimination circuit 45 is operated by turning on the battery check button 43, and specifically, a circuit that can discriminate the battery voltage when a current flows through a resistor (not shown) in the discrimination circuit 45. Is. Also,
Since it is necessary to reduce the value of the resistance provided inside, it is not possible to always activate the resistor, and it is possible to adopt a configuration in which it is activated only by pressing the check button 43.

The present invention is not limited to the structure of the embodiment described above, and the shape and structure of each part including the camera body 2, the battery packs 1 and 40, the charger 3 and the like can be appropriately modified and changed. is there. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the Nicad battery is illustrated as the secondary battery 20, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a rechargeable battery such as a lead storage battery.

Further, it is needless to say that the loading position and loading direction of the battery packs 1, 40 to the camera body 2 are not limited to the structure of loading the lower portion of the camera body 2 from the lateral direction as in the above-described embodiment.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the camera capable of loading the battery pack according to the present invention, the reusable secondary battery, the means for calculating the charging / discharging amount of the secondary battery, and the battery remaining calculated by the calculating means Discriminating means for discriminating the type of the battery pack loaded in the camera when selectively loading and using a secondary battery pack having a means for outputting the capacity and a primary battery pack having a primary battery that cannot be repeatedly used. And a check unit that enables the checking operation of the remaining capacity of the primary battery when the loading of the primary battery pack is detected by the determination unit, and disables the checking operation when the loading of the secondary battery pack is detected. Input means for inputting the output from the output means of the remaining battery capacity of the next battery pack,
And a display unit for displaying the remaining capacity of the secondary battery input by the input unit when the secondary battery pack is loaded, and for displaying the remaining capacity of the primary battery checked by the checking unit when the primary battery pack is loaded. Since the configuration is adopted, the following advantageous effects can be obtained despite the simple configuration.

That is, according to the present invention, when the primary battery pack, which is a basic usage pattern, is loaded, the battery check means and the display means attached to the camera body can perform the battery check and the remaining capacity display. When using a secondary battery pack that can detect the remaining capacity,
The output of the remaining capacity of the secondary battery calculated on the secondary battery pack side is input to the camera side, and the remaining capacity can be displayed by the display means on the camera side, so that the photographer can grasp the correct battery capacity.

Particularly, according to the present invention, when the secondary battery pack is loaded, the battery is not checked on the battery side. There is no risk of checking the battery capacity, and it is possible to prevent malfunction due to misunderstanding by the photographer.

Further, according to the present invention, since the battery remaining capacity of the secondary battery pack is displayed by the display means provided on the camera body side, the display means which causes a high cost on the secondary battery pack side which is actually a consumable item. Need not be provided, and only the minimum required circuit needs to be provided, so that unnecessary cost burden on the user is not imposed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a camera in which the battery pack according to the present invention can be loaded, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the assembled state of the battery pack, and FIGS. An electric circuit diagram for explaining a circuit configuration when the secondary battery pack and the primary battery pack are used, FIGS. 5 and 6 are schematic exploded perspective views for explaining a schematic configuration of a camera using the secondary battery pack, and It is a schematic perspective view of a battery pack built-in state. 1 ... Secondary battery pack, 2 ... Camera body, 3 ... Charger, 8 ... Battery pack housing, 9,10 ... Terminal, 11 ... Charging jack, 12 ... Charging plug, 20 …… Secondary battery (NiCd battery), 21 …… Arithmetic circuit, 22 …… Signal transmission terminal, 23 …… Display circuit, 24 …… Battery remaining capacity indicator, 40…
… Primary battery pack, 41 …… Primary battery, 43 …… Battery check button, 44 …… Pack identification terminal, 45 …… Discrimination circuit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A secondary battery pack comprising a rechargeable secondary battery, means for calculating the charge / discharge amount of the secondary battery, and means for outputting the battery remaining capacity calculated by the calculating means, A camera that can be used by selectively loading a primary battery pack having an unusable primary battery, the determining unit determining the type of the battery pack loaded in the camera, and the primary battery pack by the determining unit. When the loading of the secondary battery pack is detected, the checking operation of the remaining capacity of the primary battery is enabled, and when the loading of the secondary battery pack is detected by the determining means, the checking operation is disabled. Input means for inputting the output from the battery residual capacity output means of the battery pack; and the residual capacity of the secondary battery input by the input means when the secondary battery pack is loaded. Displays, the primary battery pack loaded at the time the check means said primary battery display means and can be loaded with the battery pack, characterized in that it comprises a camera for displaying the remaining capacity of the checked at.