JPH01115276A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the number of pieces of signal line by constituting the title camera so that a voice adaptor is made in the reproducing mode in case the presence of a compressed voice signal is discriminated on the voice adaptor- side but in the recording mode in case the absence of a compressed voice signal is discriminated. CONSTITUTION:The title camera consists of a camera main body 10 and the voice adaptor 12 which can be freely mounted/dismounted on/from the main body 10 to be connected/disconnected. The presence/absence of a compressed voice signal from the camera main body side 10 is discriminated on the adaptor 12-side; in case the presence is discriminate, the voice adaptor 12 is shifted in the reproducing mode, however, in case the absence is discriminated, the adaptor 12 is made in the recording mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic still camera that records and reproduces video signals and audio signals.

[Prior Art] Since electronic still cameras incorporate magnetic disk devices and the like, they are large in size, and there is a demand for miniaturization.

On the other hand, there is a demand for a highly functional electronic still camera that can record not only video signals but also audio signals.

In this type of electronic still camera, when recording audio, the audio signal is compressed on the time axis and recorded on a magnetic disk, and when playing back the audio, after reading this compressed audio signal from the magnetic disk, the audio signal is expanded on the time axis and played back to the original audio. Large capacity memory, A/D converter, D/A converter, CP
It is necessary to include a timing control circuit, a sound collection operation switch, an audio recording operation switch, a sound collection enable indicator, etc.

[Background of the Invention] However, if an electronic still camera is provided with such an audio recording/playback function, the electronic still camera becomes large, which goes against the demand for miniaturization.

Furthermore, there are cases where it is not necessary to only take pictures and record and play back audio, and there are cases where it is desired to take pictures all at once and then record the sounds all at once.

Furthermore, it is necessary to manufacture different types of electronic still cameras for consumers who require an audio recording function and those who do not require it, which increases the manufacturing cost of electronic still cameras as a whole.

Therefore, in order to solve such problems, the present inventor separated the camera body and the audio adapter, and the camera body can receive the video signal from the image sensor and the compressed audio signal input from the external input terminal. is recorded on a recording medium, a video signal and a compressed audio signal are read from the recording medium, and the compressed audio signal is outputted to an external output terminal. An electronic still camera has been devised in which a compressed audio signal is supplied to an external input terminal, and a compressed audio signal from the external output terminal of the camera body is expanded on the time axis, and an audio adapter is detachably attached to the camera body.

Microcomputers are used in each of the camera body and audio adapter.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, since the camera body and the audio adapter are separated, various signals must be sent and received between the two, which increases the number of signal lines connecting the two. Therefore, the configuration becomes complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic still camera that can reduce the number of signal lines between the camera body and an audio adapter.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, in the electronic still camera according to the first invention, the audio adapter side inputs a compressed audio signal to the compressed audio signal output terminal (external output terminal) on the camera body side. A terminal is connected, and means for determining the presence or absence of compressed audio from the input terminal, and when the determining means determines that there is a compressed audio signal, the audio adapter is set to playback mode, and the determining means selects a compressed audio signal. The present invention is characterized by comprising a mode control means that sets the audio adapter to a recording mode when it is determined that there is no audio signal.

In addition to the above configuration, the electronic still camera according to the second invention includes a system in which an output terminal is connected to an external power terminal on the camera body side, and supplies power voltage to the camera body side and the audio adapter side. a power source; a means for connecting to the external output terminal and applying a different DC voltage to the external output terminal depending on whether a mode for recording and reproducing audio is selected; one end on the audio adapter side; is connected to the external power supply terminal, the other end is connected to the power supply line of the audio adapter, and the power switch is turned on and off according to the DC voltage level applied to the external output terminal. .

[Example code] An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic still camera, and this electronic still camera consists of a camera body IO and an audio adapter 12 that is detachably connected to the camera body IO.

If you only want to take pictures, you only need the camera body 10, but if you also want to record audio while taking pictures, you need the audio adapter 12.
is attached to the camera body 10.

In the camera body 10, a display 14 displays recording and playback modes, track numbers, and the like.

+6A is an increment switch, and the camera body 1
This command inputs a command to move the magnetic head within 0 one track outward.

+6I'3 is a decrement switch, which inputs a command to move the magnetic head one track inward, and 16C is a release switch.

Reference numeral 18 is a lid, which is used to take in and take out the magnetic disk.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a female connector, which is connected to the male connector 21 of the audio adapter +2 to transmit and receive signals, and also to supply the output of the power source inside the camera body 10 to the audio adapter 12.

Reference numerals 22 and 24 are holes for positioning and rotation prevention, into which a pin (not shown) protruding from the audio adapter 12 is inserted when the audio adapter 12 is attached to the camera body 10 .

Reference numeral 26 denotes a mounting screw hole, and by sliding a lock operation knob 28 provided on the audio adapter 12, a screw (not shown) protruding from the audio adapter 12 is screwed into the mounting screw hole 26. is the camera body lO
It is attached to.

Next, in the audio adapter 12, 30 is a microphone.

32A is a sound collection switch for inputting a sound collection start command and a sound collection stop command.

32B is an audio recording switch, and a sound collection switch 32A
By operating the memory (R) in the audio adapter 12,
This is for inputting a command to time-base compress the audio data written to the camera (AM) and record it on the magnetic disk in the camera body IO.

Reference numeral 34 denotes a total sound collection display, which consists of a plurality of display bars (LED or LCD, etc.) arranged in parallel, and the amount of audio data written in the RAM in the audio adapter 12 is determined by the number of lit display bars. is displayed.

Next, the built-in circuits of the camera body 1O and the audio receiver 12 will be explained based on FIG.

Female connector pins 2OA, 20B, and 20G are components of the female connector 20 shown in FIG.
1A, 21B and 21G are male connectors 21 shown in FIG.
female connector pins 20A120B, 2
0G are male connector pins 21A, 21B, 21, respectively.
Connected to C.

In the camera body IO, a system controller 36 performs various controls on other components according to commands from the operation switch 16, and displays the track number, operation mode, mode, etc. on the display 14.

A servo circuit 38 controls the rotation of the spindle motor 42 in response to pulse signals from the PC coil 40 and also performs tracking of the magnetic head 44.

A magnetic disk 45 is rotated by a spindle motor 42, a video signal and a compressed audio signal are written by a magnetic head 44, and these signals are read by a magnetic head 44.

46A and 46B are video/audio changeover switches, which are set to the V side when recording or reproducing video, and are set to the A side when recording or reproducing audio.

48 is an AV/V switch, which is turned on when recording and reproducing video and audio, and is turned off when recording and reproducing only video.

Reference numerals 50A and 50B indicate recording/reproduction changeover switches, which are set to the R side when recording video or audio, and are set to the P side when playing back.

These video/audio changeover switches 46A and 46B.

AV/V switch 48 and recording/playback switch 50
A and 50B are each controlled by a system controller 36.

52 is the system power supply and the camera body! It is used in each circuit of O and audio adapter 12.

Here, it is only necessary to supply the power supply voltage to the audio adapter 12 when recording and reproducing audio. Therefore, in this embodiment, the following circuit configuration is used.

That is, the power line of the audio adapter 12 has AV/V.
Since the switch 56 is interposed, even if the audio adapter 12 is attached to the camera body 10, if the AV/V switch 56 is turned off, power supply voltage will not be supplied to the audio adapter I2 system. When the operation switch 16 is operated during recording, or when it is detected that not only a video signal but also an audio signal is recorded on the magnetic disk 45 during playback, the system controller 36 turns on the AV/V switch 48. Make it. The voltage level detector 54
When it is detected that the V switch 48 is turned on, the AV
/V switch 56 is turned on. As a result, the power supply voltage of the system power supply 52 is supplied to the audio adapter 12 system.

Therefore, the power supply voltage is supplied to the audio adapter 12 system only when necessary, and wasteful power consumption can be prevented.

Moreover, no special signal line is used to notify the audio adapter 12 that the AV mode has been selected, and the signal line S to which the compressed audio reproduction signal is sent is shared, and the voltage level detector 54 detects the AV mode. Since the selection of is detected, the number of connection signal lines between the camera body 10 and the audio adapter 12 can be reduced, and the configuration can be simplified.

Here, record/playback switch 50C, 50D150
E, 50F, and 50G must be set to the R side when recording audio, and must be set to the P side when reproducing audio. Therefore, in order to make the recording/reproduction changeover switches 50C to 50G interlock with the recording/reproduction changeover switches 50A and 50B, it is necessary to wire a control signal line from the system controller 36 to the audio adapter 12 side. However, it is preferable to simplify the configuration by reducing the number of connection lines between the camera body 10 and the audio adapter 12 as much as possible. Therefore, in this embodiment, the following circuit configuration is used.

That is, when the operation switch +6 is operated to set the playback mode, the system controller 36 switches the recording/playback changeover switches 50A and 50B to the P side. The compressed audio signal read by the magnetic head 44 passes through a reproduction amplifier 58, an FM demodulation circuit 60, a video/audio changeover switch 46, and an AV/V switch 48, and is then passed through the audio presence/absence discriminator 5.
7. When the audio presence/absence discriminator 57 determines that the input signal includes an audio signal, it supplies a reproduction mode selection command to the system controller 62 . In response to this, the system controller 62 switches the recording/playback switch 5
Switch 0C to 50G to P side.

Therefore, by sharing the signal line S, there is no need to use a special signal or line for supplying recording/playback mode selection commands between the camera body 10 and the audio adapter 12, and the camera body IO and the audio adapter 12 The number of connection signal lines between the two can be reduced, and the configuration can be simplified.

The compressed audio signal sent from the camera body 10 side to the audio adapter side is sent to a voltage level detector 54 and an audio presence/absence discriminator 57.
In addition, the signal is also supplied to a low-pass filter 64 via the recording/reproduction switch 50E, and then to a de-emphasis circuit 66 and an A/D converter 68, where it is digitally converted and written into the memory 70. The compressed audio data written in the memory 70 is time-axis expanded, read out, and converted into analog data by the D/A converter 72. These A/D converter 68, memory 70 and D/A converter 72 are operated based on control instructions from system controller 62.
The timing is controlled by a timing control circuit 74.

The analog audio data from the D/A converter 72 is recorded/
Playback selector switch 50G1 Filter 76, Noise reduction circuit 78, Record/playback selector switch 50F150
C, 50B, and is processed through a reproduction amplifier 80, and an audio signal is taken out to an output terminal 82.

Next, when recording, record/playback switch 5
Since 0A and 50B are set to the R side, the audio presence/absence discriminator 57
It is determined that there is no compressed audio signal.

Therefore, the system controller 62 assumes that the recording mode has been selected, and selects the recording/playback selector switches 50C to 50C.
Switch 50G to R side. In this state, the audio signal converted into an electrical signal by the microphone 30 is sent to the recording amplifier 84, the recording/playback switch 50G, the filter 76, the noise reduction circuit 78, the record/playback switch 50F, and the A/D converter 68. The signals are sequentially supplied, converted into digital data, and written into the memory 70. When the audio data corresponding to one track on the magnetic disk 45 is written to the memory 70, this writing is completed, and the audio data is read out from the memory 70 with time axis compression, and is stored on the D
The signal is converted into analog by the /A converter 72, and is supplied to the synthesis circuit 85 through the recording/reproduction switch 50E, the low-pass filter 64, and the recording/reproduction switch 50D. As is well known, in the synthesis circuit 85, standardized start flags, control codes, and end flags from the system controller 62 are added before and after the compressed audio signal. This time-division composite signal is sent to the pre-emphasis circuit 86, the recording/playback switch 50C
1 recording/playback changeover switch 50B1 video/audio changeover switch 46B, FM decoder 4 circuit 88, recording amplifier 90, and recording/playback changeover switch 50A. An FM modulated audio signal is recorded on the track.

Next, when operating the operation switch 16 to record the video signal, the system controller 36 controls the recording/
The playback selector switches 50A and 50B are set to the R side, and the video/
The audio selector switch 46A146B is set to the V side. The subject image is formed on the imaging surface of the imaging element 94 by the imaging lens 92, and the pixel signals from the imaging element 94 are sequentially read out and supplied to the video processing circuit 96 to create a composite video signal. The composite video signal is processed through the audio changeover switch 46B, the FM modulation circuit 88, the recording amplifier 90, and the recording/playback changeover switch 50, and is supplied to the magnetic head 44, where the FM-modulated composite video signal is recorded on a predetermined track of the magnetic disk 45. Ru.

Next, when operating the operation switch 16 to reproduce this video signal, the system controller 36
The playback selector switches 50A and 50B are set to the P side, and the video/
The audio changeover switches 46A and 46B are set to the V side. The video signal from the magnetic head 44 is supplied to the video processing circuit 96 through the recording/playback switch 50A, the playback amplifier 58, and the FM demodulation circuit 60, and the FM demodulated composite video signal is taken out to the output terminal 98.

Next, the AV/V switch 48, the voltage level detector 54,
A specific example of the configuration of the V/V switch 56 and the audio presence/absence discriminator 57 will be explained based on FIG.

In the same figure, the A V /V switch 48 of the camera body IO is connected to a 1°C 5RI-R coupling capacitor C1.
, a PNPNP type transistor Q, and an NPN type transistor Q. When the AV mode is selected, a voltage of level 1 is supplied from the system controller 36 to the base of the PNP type transistor Q through the resistor R1, and P
The NP-type transistor Q is turned on, which turns the NPN-type transistor Q on, and the NPN
The emitter of type transistor Q, that is, the output of AV/V switch 48 becomes H level.

Further, the voltage level detector 54 of the audio adapter 42 includes resistors R6 to R6, an NPN transistor Q3, and a PNPN transistor Q3.
Consisting of a P-type transistor Q, when the output of the AV/V switch 48 becomes H level when the camera body lO and the audio adapter 12 are connected, this resistor 75Rs
is applied to the base of the NPN type transistor Q, and the NPN type transistor Q is turned on, thereby turning the PNPNP type transistor Q on.

The A V /V switch 56 consists of a resistor R1, a PNP type transistor Q, and a noise removal capacitor C2, and when the PNPNP type transistor Q of the voltage level detector 54 is turned on, the PNP type) transistor Q,
is turned on, and the output voltage of the system power supply 52 is taken out to the power line on the audio adapter 12 side.

The audio presence/absence discriminator 57 includes a DC component removal differentiation circuit 54A consisting of a resistor Rho and a capacitor C5, resistors R1 to R13, a smoothing capacitor C4, and a detection diode D1. The compressed audio signal from the FM demodulation circuit 60 is supplied to the audio presence/absence discriminator 57 via the AV/V switch 48. Then, the output of the comparator 54C becomes H level, and when the compressed audio signal is not supplied, the output of the comparator 54G becomes L level.

Note that in the above embodiment, when the AV mode is selected, the A
Although we have explained the case where the output level of the V/V switch 48 becomes H level, if it is configured so that it becomes L level, the signal line S can be directly connected to the base of the PNP transistor Q through the resistor RIl. You may.

[Effects of the Invention] In the electronic still cameras according to the first invention and the second invention, the audio adapter side determines the presence or absence of a compressed audio signal from the camera body side, and when it is determined that there is no compressed audio signal, The audio adapter is configured to put the audio adapter into playback mode, and when it is determined that there is no compressed audio signal, put the audio adapter into recording mode, so the signal line S that sends the compressed audio signal can be shared, and it can be used in recording mode and An excellent effect is that there is no need to use a special signal line to send signals to distinguish playback mode from the camera body side to the audio adapter side, and the configuration can be simplified by reducing the number of connection signal lines between the two. There is.

Further, in the electronic still camera according to the second invention, in addition to the above configuration, a system power supply is provided on the camera body side,
means for applying a different DC voltage to the signal line S depending on whether a mode for recording and reproducing audio is selected; Since the power switch connected to the system power supply is configured to turn on and off, the signal line S can be shared, and the signal line S for controlling the power switch can be supplied from the camera body side to the audio adapter side. There is no need to use a special signal line, the audio adapter can be activated only when necessary, and there is an excellent effect that wasteful power consumption can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 relate to embodiments of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic still camera, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this electronic still camera, and FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. A to show
V/V switch 48, voltage level detector 54, AV/V switch 48, voltage level detector 54,
5 is a diagram showing a specific circuit configuration of a V switch 56 and a voice presence/absence discriminator 57. FIG. lO: Camera body 12: Audio adapter I6 82 increment switch 16B: Decrement switch 16C Nir release switch I8. Lid 20: Female connector 2OA-
C: Female connector pins: Male connector 21A-C: Male connector pin 22. 24: Positioning hole 26: Mounting screw hole 28: Lock operation knob 30: Microphone 34: Collection amount indicator 40: PG coil 42 Nissin spindle Motor 44: Magnetic head 45: Magnetic disk 46. 46A, 46B: Video/audio selection switch 48:
AV/V switch 50.50A-G: Record/playback switch 54A: Differentiator circuit 54B = Rectifier smoothing circuit 56: AV/V switch 57: Audio presence/absence discriminator

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Record the video signal from the image sensor and the compressed audio signal input from the external input terminal on a recording medium, read the video signal and compressed audio signal from the recording medium, and take out the compressed audio signal to the external output terminal. a camera body; and an audio device connected to the camera body, compressing the audio signal in the time axis and supplying the audio signal to the external input terminal of the camera body, and expanding the compressed audio signal from the external output terminal of the camera body in the time axis; an electronic still camera having an adapter, an input terminal connected to the external output terminal on the audio adapter side, means for determining the presence or absence of compressed audio from the input terminal, and a means for determining the presence or absence of compressed audio from the input terminal; mode control means that sets the audio adapter to a playback mode when it is determined that there is a signal, and sets the audio adapter to a recording mode when the determination means determines that there is no compressed audio signal; An electronic still camera characterized by: (2) Record the video signal from the image sensor and the compressed audio signal input from the external input terminal on a recording medium, read the video signal and compressed audio signal from the recording medium, and take out the compressed audio signal to the external output terminal. a camera body; and an audio device connected to the camera body, compressing the audio signal in the time axis and supplying the audio signal to the external input terminal of the camera body, and expanding the compressed audio signal from the external output terminal of the camera body in the time axis; An electronic still camera comprising: a system power supply having an output terminal connected to an external power supply terminal on the camera body side and supplying a power supply voltage to the camera body side and the audio adapter side; and the external output. a means for applying a different DC voltage to the external output terminal depending on whether or not a mode for recording and reproducing audio is selected; a power switch whose other end is connected to the power line of the audio adapter and which is turned on and off according to the DC voltage level applied to the external output terminal; means for determining the presence or absence of compressed audio from an input terminal; and when the determining means determines that a compressed audio signal is present, the audio adapter is placed in a playback mode, and the determining means determines that there is no compressed audio signal; an electronic still camera comprising: a mode control means for setting the audio adapter to a recording mode;