JPH0364174A - Memory card structure for still picture recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain versatile inserting directions and to improve the performance of use by providing plural electric connection parts using plural contacts as one set connecting respectively to plural contacts formed to a device main body onto a memory card. CONSTITUTION:One end of plural contact pins 10 of a main body such as an electronic still camera or the like is penetrated and supported to a connector housing 11, the other end is projected from the inside of a recessed part 12 of the connector housing 11 and plural electric connection parts 17 taking plural electric contacts able to be connected respectively to the plural contact pins 10 as one set are provided to a memory card 15. That is, plural conductor patterns 16 as electric contacts are used as one set in the electric connection parts 17 or the like and the two sets of the parts 17 are provided to one side of both ends of the memory card 15 opposite in the lengthwise direction. Thus, the inserting direction to the main body is made diversified and the utility is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to the structure of a memory card used as a recording medium for a still image recording device such as an electronic still camera.

<Prior Art> An electronic still camera is known as this type of still image recording device.

Conventionally, electronic still cameras have been known in which a digital signal obtained by A/D converting an image signal obtained by a solid-state image sensor is recorded in a semiconductor memory as a recording medium (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 59/1999). (Refer to Publication No.-183582, etc.).

By the way, the semiconductor memory used in such conventional electronic still cameras is static RAM (SRA), which maintains the memory using a built-in backup power supply.
M) is formed into a card shape, is called a memory card, and can be freely attached to and detached from a still video camera.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of this memory card, which is composed of an LM bit SRAM chip 1, a memory control circuit 2, a power supply circuit 3, and a lithium battery 4 as a backup power source, and can record and read out image signals arbitrarily. be able to.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional connection structure between a memory card and an electronic still camera.

That is, in the figure, one end of an abbreviated and plate-shaped contact pin 10 serving as an electrical contact on the electronic still camera body side is connected to a connector housing 11 on the electronic still camera body side.
The other end of the connector housing 11 is protruded from the inside of the recess 12 of the connector housing 11, and a large number of conductive patterns 14 as electrical contacts are provided in parallel on the end surface of the memory card 13. It is designed to be in contact with the

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the structure of such a conventional memory card, a set of multiple contacts that can be respectively connected to multiple contacts formed on the electronic still camera body side is used. Since the electrical connection is only provided at one end, the direction of insertion of the memory card into the electronic still camera body is uniform.For example, by changing the direction of insertion of the memory card, you can automatically change the shooting mode, etc. Applications such as automatic switching are not effective, and the usability as an electronic still camera is inferior.

Furthermore, since only a single contact point on the memory card is constantly used, if this contact point becomes worn out and becomes unusable, the memory card must be replaced, which is disadvantageous in terms of the lifespan of the memory card. .

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention improves the structure of the memory card, thereby improving the applicability of automatically switching the shooting mode, etc. by changing the insertion direction of the memory card. The purpose is to improve the lifespan of memory cards.

<Means for Solving the Problems> For this reason, the memory card structure for a still image recording device of the present invention can be freely attached to and detached from the still image recording device main body.
The memory card stores digital image signals, and is configured to include a plurality of sets of electrical connection parts each having a plurality of contacts that can be respectively connected to a plurality of contacts formed on the device main body side.

Further, the electrical connection portions are provided at both ends of the memory card, and the plurality of contacts of the electrical connection portions are set to be of the same type at rotation target positions at both ends of the memory card. do.

<Function> In the above configuration, electrical connection portions including a set of a plurality of contacts each of which can be connected to a plurality of contacts formed on the main body of the still image recording device are provided, for example, at a plurality of ends of a memory card. Therefore, the direction in which a memory card can be inserted into the still image recording device main body has become diverse.For example, by changing the direction in which a memory card is inserted, it has become possible to automatically switch the shooting mode, etc. Usability can be improved as a still image recording device.

Additionally, if the multiple contacts of the electrical connections provided at both ends of the memory card are set to be of the same type at the rotational positions of both ends of the memory card, it is possible to prevent one electrical connection from being defective. Even if this happens, the other electrical connection can be used and the lifespan of the memory card can be improved.

<Example> Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the same elements as those in FIG. 4 are given the same reference numerals to simplify the explanation.

In FIG. 1, one end of a plurality of contact bins 10 on the electronic still camera main body side is penetrated and supported by a connector housing 11, and the other end is supported by a recess 12 of the connector housing 11.
The structure protruding from the inside is the same as the conventional one.

The memory card 15 is provided with a plurality of sets of electrical connection portions each including a plurality of electrical contacts connectable to the plurality of contact pins 10, respectively.

In this embodiment, two sets of electrical connection portions 17 each having a plurality of conductive patterns 16 as electrical contacts are provided on one side of both end portions of the memory card 15 facing each other in the longitudinal direction.

In this case, the plurality of conductive patterns 16 of the electrical connection part 17 are set to be of the same type at the rotation target positions at both ends of the memory card 15, that is, to have the same function. be done.

That is, in the figure, the conductive patterns a, b, c, . . . at one end of the memory card 15 and the conductive patterns a', b'', c', . It looks like this.

Further, in this embodiment, by changing the insertion direction of the memory card 15, the shooting mode such as continuous shooting mode, bracket shooting mode, etc. is automatically switched.

That is, information is sent from the memory card 15 side to the electronic still camera main body side, and the electronic still camera main body side reads this, so that the control circuit of the electronic still camera main body side operates according to the information, and this information is stored in the memory. This can be changed by changing the insertion direction of the card 15.

In this case, a detection section for the electronic still camera main body to read information is provided on the end face of the memory card or a part of the contact.

In this embodiment, a part of the contact is provided with the function of a detection section.

For example, in the three 11 patterns A, B, and C of the memory card 15 shown in FIG.
GND side), and depending on whether or not other conductive patterns A and B are connected to this conductive pattern C, four types of modes can be distinguished.

That is, (1) when both A and B are not connected (Fig. 2 (a)
(see) (2) When connecting A (see Fig. 2 (b)) (
3) When connecting B (see Figure 2 (C)) (4) A
, B (see FIG. 2(d)), the electronic still camera main body can distinguish these as four types of modes.

When the electrical connection parts 17 are provided at both ends of the memory card 15 as in this embodiment, two of the forms (1) to (4) above are adopted and these are installed on the electronic still camera main body side. It is made to distinguish between two types of modes.

According to the structure of the memory card 15 having such a configuration, a plurality of contact bins 1 formed on the electronic still camera main body side
Since the electrical connection portions 17, which are a set of a plurality of conductive patterns 16 that can each be connected to 0, are provided at both ends of the memory card 15, the memory card 15 can be inserted into the electronic still camera body in two ways. .

As mentioned above, by providing a detection section on the end face of the memory card 15 or a part of the contact point for the electronic still camera body to read information, shooting modes such as the quick shooting mode and the bracket shooting mode can be automatically set. This eliminates the need for the troublesome operation of switching the shooting mode, etc. using a switching section on the electronic still camera body, and also prevents erroneous operations.

Therefore, usability as an electronic still camera can be improved.

Further, the plurality of conductive patterns 16 of the electrical connection portions 17 provided at both ends of the memory card 15 are connected to the memory card 1.
5 are set to be the same type at the rotation target positions at both ends, so even if one electrical connection part 17 becomes defective due to wear, the other electrical connection part 17 can be used. Therefore, the life of the memory card I5 can be extended, and the expensive memory card 15 can be used effectively.

Therefore, the economic burden on the user can be eliminated.

In this embodiment, the electrical connection part 17, which is a set of a plurality of conductive patterns 6 as electrical contacts, is provided on one side of both ends of the memory card 15 that face each other in the longitudinal direction. , connect the four sets of electrical connections to the memory card 1
They may be provided on both sides of both ends facing each other in the longitudinal direction of 5.

In this case, the memory card 15 can be inserted in four different directions, and four detection units can be provided for the electronic still camera body to read information. Alternatively, the memory card 15 may be formed into a square and provided on one or both ends of each of the four sides. In this case, the memory card I5 can be inserted in four or eight ways, and the electronic still camera main body can be provided with four or eight detection units for reading information.

Further, in the above embodiment, a still video camera was used as an example of the still image recording device of the present invention, but it is also possible to record image signals such as image signals output from AV equipment such as a video tape recorder or computer graphics. The present invention can also be implemented in other still image recording devices.

<Effects of the Invention> As explained above, according to the memory card structure of the still image recording device of the present invention, a set of a plurality of contacts each connectable to a plurality of contacts formed on the still image recording device main body side is provided. Since multiple sets of electrical connections are provided on the memory card, the direction in which the memory card can be inserted into the still image recording device main body is diverse.For example, by changing the direction in which the memory card is inserted, the shooting mode can be changed. This makes it possible to automatically switch between images, etc., thereby improving usability as a still image recording device.

Additionally, if the multiple contacts of the electrical connections provided at both ends of the memory card are set to be of the same type at the rotational positions of both ends of the memory card, it is possible to prevent one electrical connection from being defective. Even if the memory card is damaged, the other electrical connection can be used, which can extend the lifespan of the memory card and make effective use of expensive memory cards, which can eliminate the financial burden on the user. It is a big thing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a memory card structure of a still image recording device according to the present invention, FIGS. 2(a) to 2(d) are illustrations of mode discrimination in the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 4 is a schematic diagram showing the internal structure of a memory card, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional memory card mounting structure, and (a) is a perspective view,
(b) is a sectional view of the contact connection part.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Freely attached to the still image recording device main body,
A memory card that stores digital image signals, and is characterized by a structure that includes a plurality of sets of electrical connection parts each having a plurality of contacts each of which can be connected to a plurality of contacts formed on the main body of the device. Memory card structure for image recording devices. (2) The electrical connection portions are provided at both ends of the memory card, and the plurality of contacts of the electrical connection portions are set to be of the same type at rotational positions on both ends of the memory card. A memory card structure for a still image recording device according to claim 1.