JPH03223835A - Date imprinting drive for camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent date imprinting photographing from being carried out with a wrong day, and time, by holding a signal meaning not to guarantee a counting action when the voltage of a back-up power source system is always monitored and even once drops compared with a voltage guarantee the action of a timer circuit and controlling the imprinting action. etc., of a camera. CONSTITUTION:A microcomputer 1 incorporating non-volatile memory (EEPROM) controls the actions of each camera part, and stores various types of information in the EEPROM, and the storing is carried out without forgetting even if a power source is not used. The camera has a circuit holding the signal meaning not to guarantee the counting action when the voltage of the backed up power source system is always monitored and drops compared with the voltage to guarantee the action of the timer circuit 4, and the circuit controlling the imprinting action, etc. of the camera, changes processing with the signal. Thus, the data imprinting photographing is prevented from being carried out with the wrong day, and time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an improvement of a date imprinting device for a camera that imprints a date by shining light onto a film.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, the power source for the clock section and the imprinting circuit section of a date imprinting device for a camera is generally separate from the power source for operating the camera, and for this reason, two batteries are required. It was inconvenient because it was necessary.

If you try to take a photo of a date with a single camera battery, if the camera battery is running low, you will have to replace the battery frequently and readjust the date and time each time. It was inconvenient.

Therefore, if you operate the camera with a single battery and back up the power supply for parts that consume relatively little current, such as the clock circuit, using a separate system, the clock will continue to work even when the battery is replaced. This is very convenient as there is no need to readjust the settings.

In addition, if you store whether or not the date imprint shooting mode is in the camera's built-in non-volatile memory (hereinafter referred to as EEPROM), if the battery runs out during date imprint shooting and you replace the battery, the mode It is even more convenient because it remembers the

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the power supply backup is not infinite, so if the battery is removed and left unused for a long time, the backup will disappear and the clock will stop.

On the other hand, the information stored in the EEF ROM indicating that it is the imprint shooting mode is semi-permanent and will not disappear even if the camera is left for a long time without batteries. For this reason, if you remove the battery and leave it for a long time while taking a date photo, then insert the battery again and take the picture without care, the date photo will be taken at the wrong date and time, which is an inconvenience.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, the voltage of the backed-up power supply system is constantly monitored, and when the voltage drops below the voltage that guarantees the operation of the clock circuit, a signal indicating that the clock operation is not guaranteed is generated. A camera that has a circuit that maintains the date stamp and that the circuit that controls the camera's imprinting operation changes its processing depending on the signal, thereby preventing the inconvenience of inadvertently taking a date imprint photo at the wrong date and time. The purpose is to provide a date imprinting device.

Note that the above processing specifically includes the following.

(1) If you do not want to guarantee clock operation, always exit from imprint shooting mode.

(2) If the clock operation cannot be guaranteed, issue a warning.

(3) When clock operation is not guaranteed, the device immediately enters date setting mode.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic electrical circuit diagram of a camera embodying the present invention.

1) A microcomputer with built-in EEPROM controls the movements of each part of the camera. In FIG. 1, signal lines for exchanging signals between the microcomputer 1 and each part of the camera are omitted because the circuit becomes difficult to understand. In addition, the EEPROM can store Meishin information, so it can be remembered even when there is no power supply.

Reference numeral 2 denotes an imprinting circuit which controls a light emitting element (not shown) according to a signal from the microcomputer 1 to imprint a date on the film surface.

3 is a photometering circuit which measures the brightness of the subject using TTL photometry and sends the photometry output to the microcomputer-1.

4 is a clock counter as a clock means, which consists of an oscillating part, a part of a counter, and a control part, divides and counts the clock made by a crystal, and is connected to a microcomputer-1.
The counter value is controlled by a microcomputer.
Send to 1.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a liquid crystal display circuit, which displays various photographic information of the camera such as shutter speed and aperture control value under the control of the microcomputer-1.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a switch sense circuit, which is a circuit for reading the states of switches for setting each photographing condition and switches indicating the state of the camera. The switch sense circuit 6 sends each switch information to the microcomputer-1 under the control of the microcomputer-1. Further, when the switch sense circuit 6 detects a change in the switch, the PNPI-
It is configured to turn on the Run Sister TR.

7 is a motor and shutter magnet (Mg) drive circuit, which operates according to control signals from the microcomputer 1.
Controls the feed motor and shutter unit (not shown).

There are three power supply systems: VBAT-VDD-VCC.

VBAT is the battery output itself, and serves as a power source for the shutter and shutter Mg drive circuit 7.

VDD is connected to VBAT via a diode, and is connected to the clock counter 4, liquid crystal display circuit 5, and switch sense circuit 6.
It serves as a power source for low current consumption circuits such as Also, VDD is backed up by a supercapacitor, so even if the battery is removed, the VDD circuit continues to operate for a while.

VCC is connected to VBAT via a PNP transistor, and serves as a power source for circuits that consume relatively large amounts of current, such as the microcomputer imprinting circuit 2 and photometry circuit 3.

The base of the PNP transistor TR is connected to a switch sense circuit 6, so that when a change in each switch of the camera is detected, power is supplied to VCC.

Due to the circuit consisting of resistors (R1, R2, R3), diodes (Di2), and comparator (COM), when VDD becomes lower than the guaranteed operating voltage of circuits such as clock counter 4, the C0M output becomes high (hereinafter referred to as "H"). becomes.

The C0M output is connected to the reset terminal of the RS flip-flop (F-F), and when the -degree COM output becomes "H", the output (Q) of F-F always becomes low (hereinafter referred to as "L"). . The set terminal of F-F is connected to the output terminal (Pl) of microcomputer-1, and when microcomputer-1 outputs "H" from PI, F-
The Q output of F becomes "H". The Q output “L” of F-F is
This signal means that clock operation is not guaranteed, and is connected to the input terminal (R2) of the microcomputer-1.

Next, the control flow of the camera with date imprinting in this embodiment will be explained according to the flowchart of FIG.

When the camera accepts some operation, the switch sense circuit 6 is activated and power is supplied to VCC. When the microcomputer-1 is supplied with power and released from reset, it processes the imprint processing routine. (Sl) In the imprint processing routine, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. DATEFLG).

(S12) Next, if the date button of the camera is pressed, the process proceeds to step 514 and below, and if it is not pressed, the process exits from the imprint processing routine. (513) 514 then set DATEFLG to 1
Notogi changes to 0, and when it is 0, it toggles to 1.

Then, when DATEFLd=0, the process exits from the imprint processing routine, and when DATEFLG=1, the process proceeds to step 316 and below. (S15) 31.6 is a date (date, hour, minute) setting mode, and while the numbers to be imprinted are displayed on the liquid crystal display circuit 5,
You can set the date, time, and minute using the buttons and dial.

In S17, the microcomputer 1 outputs "H" to Pi for a certain period of time and sets FF.

Upon completion of step 517, the process exits from the imprint processing routine.

After leaving the imprint processing routine, the microcomputer 1 reads the button dials of the camera and sets each photographing condition while displaying them on the display circuit 6. (S2) Next, the microcomputer 1 drives the photometry circuit 3 to measure the brightness of the subject, determines the exposure time, and displays it on the display circuit 6.

If the release button of the camera is not pressed here, the microcomputer-1 repeats the operations 5l-53, and when the release button is pressed, it proceeds to the next release sequence. (S4) Upon entering the release sequence, the microcomputer 1 drives the shutter Mg drive circuit 7 to perform exposure.

When the exposure operation is completed, the microcomputer-1
Read ATEFLG, and if it is 1, perform the imprint operation. (
S6. S7) The imprinting operation is performed by the microcomputer 1 causing a light emitting element (not shown) to emit light for a predetermined time based on the ISO sensitivity of the film and other conditions so that the date read from the clock counter 4 is displayed.

In S8, microcomputer 1 is motor drive circuit 7
to feed the film one frame for the next shot.

(S8) FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are examples of photographs taken by the camera with date imprinting according to this embodiment.

In this example, if the battery is removed and left for a long period of time, the supercapacitor is no longer charged and the clock counter no longer operates properly, making it no longer possible to guarantee that the date, hour, and minute displayed by the clock are accurate. Time EEF
The flag for imprinting the date on the ROM must be erased.

Therefore, if you take a date stamp photo before taking out the battery, and if you take out the battery and leave it for a long time, the clock will go awry, and then you put the battery back in and take a picture, you will definitely not be able to take a picture lol Since it is a shadow, the wrong date, time, and minute will not be recorded in the photo, which can prevent photo failure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control flow of the imprint processing routine of another embodiment of the circuit of FIG. 1. In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG. It is.

First, microcomputer 1 controls 22 human power and 5
ll), if it is "L", the liquid crystal display circuit 5 is driven as a warning means and an imprint warning display is displayed. (S12') After this, the steps from S13 onwards are the same as in the above-described embodiment.

According to this embodiment, when the watch operation can no longer be guaranteed and the battery is reinstalled, an imprint warning message is displayed, so the photographer can easily notice this and avoid taking photos with the wrong date, time, and minute. I was able to prevent the photo failure from happening.

In addition, as a further modification, the imprint warning display may be a sound warning such as a buzzer, or the warning may be set to
It may be used only when ATEFLG is 1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control flow of the imprint processing routine of still another embodiment of the circuit shown in FIG.

In the flowchart of FIG. 5, the same steps as in the flowchart of FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals.

First of all, the microcomputer-1 can distinguish between 22 human power and 5
ll), if it is "L", the process proceeds to the date setting mode of 516, and if it is "H", the process proceeds to S13.

After this, the steps after S13 are the same as those in the above-described embodiment.

According to this embodiment, when the watch operation cannot be guaranteed and the battery is reinstalled, the date setting mode is always set, so that the wrong date, time, and minute will not be imprinted, and it is possible to prevent failed photos.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the voltage of the backed-up power supply system is constantly monitored, and when the voltage drops even once below the voltage that guarantees the operation of the clock circuit, a signal indicating that the clock operation is not guaranteed is held. The circuit that controls the camera's imprinting operation changes its processing depending on the signal.
To provide an easy-to-operate camera date imprinting device that eliminates the drawback that date imprint photography is accidentally taken at the wrong date and time.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic electrical circuit diagram of a camera with a date imprinting device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the circuit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the circuit in FIG. 70-chart showing a subroutine; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the circuit in FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing still another embodiment of the circuit in FIG. 1; Figures a) and (b) are diagrams showing examples of date imprinted photographs of the circuit of Figure 1; 1...EEPROM built-in microcomputer-2.
... Imprint circuit 4 ... Clock counter COM ... Comparator F-F ... RS flip-flop 12 Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A clock means, an imprint means for imprinting the output of the time measurement means, a non-volatile memory for storing the operation mode of the imprint means, and a memory for a while when the power supply for driving the clock means is lost. a backup power supply that continues to drive the clock means; and a regulating means that regulates the operation of the imprinting means according to the operation mode stored in the nonvolatile memory in response to the voltage of the backup power supply being consumed to a predetermined voltage. A camera date imprinting device characterized by comprising: (2) A clock means, an imprinting means for imprinting the output of the clock means, a non-volatile memory for storing the operation mode of the imprinting means, and a period of time when the power supply for driving the clock means is lost. a backup power supply for continuing to drive the clock means; and a warning means for issuing a warning regarding the operation mode stored in the non-volatile memory of the imprinting means in response to the voltage of the backup power supply being consumed to a predetermined voltage. A date imprinting device for a camera, characterized by comprising: