JPH05150303A - Battery check device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To judges the precise csumption of a battery and to know the proper replacement period by placing a load corresponding to the operation of a camera and checking the consumption of the battery. CONSTITUTION:A switch circuit 12 such as alight measurement switch and a release switch and motor driving circuits 13 and 14 are connected to a CPU 3, the motor drng circuit 13 drives a mechanical charging motor 15 and a winding motor 16, and the motor driving circuit 14 drives an AF motor 17. Further, the battery 35 supplies electric power to the motor driving circuits 13 and 14 and magnets 19-21 and also inputs a monitor voltage to the CPU 13. When the light measurement switch is turned on, the battery is checked before the 1st frame of a film is positioned, before the film is rewound before the rewinding ends. Namely, the load placed on the battery 35 is varied according to operation to be performed next and the battery is checked, so the battery residue conforming with the actual state is monitored.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery check device for checking the internal battery of a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, cameras to which various functions are added have been widely used for the purpose of improving operability. For example, shutter charge at the time of shooting, film winding after shooting /
There is a camera in which rewinding or the like is performed by a plurality of motors, and a lens for focusing or zooming is also driven by a motor.

In such a camera, driving of each motor as described above, excitation of various magnets used at the time of release operation, charging of a flash, etc. are all performed electrically, so that they are built into the camera. It is necessary to constantly check the amount of battery consumption (remaining amount).

[0004]

However, in the prior art, the battery is checked by applying a load to the battery by exciting the shutter holding magnet with a relatively light load, so that the next operation is performed by the camera. It is not necessary to check whether there is a battery remaining necessary for the operation
In some cases, there was a concern that the battery would run out during operation, causing problems such as motor stoppage.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its main purpose is to accurately judge the amount of battery consumption and inform the user of an appropriate battery replacement time. It is possible to provide a battery check device capable of preventing the battery from running out during operation.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a battery check device for checking the internal battery of a camera, wherein an electric load is applied to the battery prior to a predetermined operation of the camera. A battery check device, or a camera internal battery, characterized in that it has means and means for checking the consumption of the battery under the load, and the load is changed according to the type of operation. And a means for applying an electrical load to the battery prior to a predetermined operation of the camera, and comparing the amount of consumption of the battery under a load with a predetermined reference value. And a means for checking, and changing the reference value according to the type of the operation. It is achieved by providing a device. In particular, it is preferable that the electric load is added by driving a motor mounted on the camera.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a camera control circuit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This control circuit is a microprocessor (CP) that controls the entire camera.
U) 3, a microprocessor (DPU) 4 for controlling input / output of photometric data, a microprocessor (IPU) 5 for controlling input / output of display, calculation of aperture information and focal length information of a photographing lens, A microprocessor (lens CPU) 6 for controlling zooming and the like is provided. Of these, only the lens CPU 3 is provided on the photographing lens 2 side, and the others are provided in the camera body 1.

The CPU 3 is adapted to perform various sequence controls, AF operations, exposure calculations and the like. Therefore C
Connected to the PU3 are an EE circuit 11 for generating a pulse in synchronization with a narrowing operation, a switch circuit 12 for inputting signals from various switches such as a photometric switch and a release switch, and motor drive circuits 13 and 14. ing. The motor drive circuit 13 includes a mechanical charge motor 15 and
The motor drive circuit 14 is a circuit for driving the wind motor 16 for winding the film, and the motor drive circuit 14 is a circuit for driving the AF motor 17. The CPU 3 also stores information such as the number of films and various correction values.
^{2 The} PROM 18, a pair of magnets 19 and 20 for electrically holding the shutter, and a magnet 21 for releasing the locked state of the mirror are connected.

The DPU 4 has a CCD 2 which is a distance measuring sensor.
2 and photometry I that outputs a voltage signal according to the brightness of the subject
C23 is connected, and the DPU 4 performs a photometric operation and also functions as an interface of the CCD 22. Further, the DPU4 and the CPU3 have LEDs to be described later for displaying various information in the finder.
A display device 24 is connected.

In the IPU 5, an LCD display device 25 for displaying various information outside the camera body 1, a flash circuit 26, an exposure mode, a film feeding mode, film sensitivity data and the like are set. A switch circuit 27 for inputting signals from various switches such as a switch and a main switch is connected.

The lens CPU 6 is a CPU on the camera body 1 side.
3 is connected to the CPU 3 to exchange information of various lenses with the CPU 3 and perform various calculations based on this information. A motor drive circuit 31 and a switch circuit 32 are connected to the lens CPU 6. The motor drive circuit 31 is a circuit for electrically zooming the power zoom motor 33, that is, the taking lens, and the switch circuit 32 is a circuit for controlling mode switching between the power zoom and the manual zoom. is there.

On the other hand, a battery 35 is provided on the camera body 1 side, and the motor drive circuits 13, 14 and the magnet 19 are provided.
21 to 21 are directly supplied with power and the monitor voltage is input to the CPU 3. Also, the battery 3
5 is connected to the DC / DC converter 36. The DC / DC converter 36 is connected to each of the processors 3 to 6, each chip, etc., and selectively supplies / stops the power supply to them.

Here, only the IPU 5 is the regulator 37.
The IPU 5 constantly monitors the switch circuit 27, and when the main switch is turned on, it controls the DC / DC converter 36 to control each of the processors 3-6. Power is selectively supplied to each chip.

Next, referring to FIGS. 2 to 6, the control procedure of the main parts involved in the operation of the camera will be described. Here, FIG. 2 is a main flow up to the shutter release operation, FIG. 3 is a flow showing the shutter release operation, and FIGS.
6 is a flow showing a film wind process, and FIG. 6 is a flow showing a battery check process executed before the start of each operation.

The main flow shown in FIG. 2 is started when the photometric switch that also serves as the release switch is turned on or the film is cueed (the back cover is closed). Here, the release switch and the photometric switch are, for example, push button switches provided on the upper part of the camera body 1, and the photometric switch and the release switch are turned on in this order depending on the pushed position. That is,
The photometric switch is turned on at a position where the pushing amount is relatively shallow, and the release switch is turned on by further pushing.

First, in steps 1 to 3, the port, AE,
AF initialization processing is performed, and in steps 4 and 5, the 100 mS timer and the 4 mS timer are started.
Then, in step 6, the states of various switches are read.
At this time, when the process of the step is completed, a battery check process, which will be described later as a subroutine, is executed, and then the process proceeds to step 7 to perform the AF process. Next, in step 8, it is determined whether or not the 100 mS timer has timed up,
If the time is up, in step 9, D to CPU3
After the photometric data is input from the PU 4 and the photometric calculation processing is performed based on the photometric data (step 10), the result is displayed on the display device 24 and is output to the IPU 5 to be displayed on the display device 25.
Is displayed (step 11), the 100 mS timer is reset (step 12), and the process returns to step 6 to repeat the above routine.

On the other hand, if the 100 mS timer has not timed out in step 8, the process proceeds to step 13 and it is judged whether or not the 4 mS timer has timed up.
If not, the process returns to step 6, and if the time is up, the process proceeds to step 14. In this step 14, it is determined whether or not the release switch has been turned on. If not, the process proceeds to step 15 to reset the 4 mS timer and then returns to step 6 to repeat the above routine. If the release switch is turned on, the shutter release operation flow shown in FIG. 3 is executed.

In the shutter release operation flow, when the release switch is turned on, at step 101, 60 m
Start the S timer. This timer is for ensuring the time required for electrical and mechanical operations for controlling the narrowing. Next, at step 102, the shutter magnets (first curtain Mg19, second curtain Mg20) are turned on, and the shutter is held in the closed state. At the same time, the release magnet (release Mg21) is turned on to release the locked state of the mirror. Then, the process proceeds to step 103 to start the mirror up and the narrowing-down operation.
In this narrowing-down operation, the EE circuit 11 is started to start counting EE pulses (step 104).
The pulse is a pulse output in conjunction with the narrowing operation, and when the number of EE pulses reaches a predetermined value, the EE magnet (EEMg) is energized for 5 mS (step 10).
5). As a result, the slide plate or diaphragm stops at a predetermined position, and the diaphragm value is determined.

Next, the process proceeds to step 106 and step 10
After waiting for 60 mS from the timer start of No. 1, when 60 mS has elapsed, the process proceeds to step 107, and the shutter speed determined in the flow of FIG. 2 is faster than the first predetermined time which is, for example, the synchronizing speed of the camera. If it is faster, the process proceeds directly to step 109. If it is not fast, the display in the finder, that is, the display on the display device 24 is interrupted in step 108, and then step 1 is performed.
Go to 09. In step 109, the shutter magnet (first curtain Mg19) is turned off and the front curtain is run.

Then, the routine proceeds to step 110, where it is judged whether or not the shutter speed is faster than the second predetermined time. If it is faster (for example, 1/30 or more), step 111
After waiting for the set shutter opening time to elapse, the shutter magnet (rear curtain Mg20) is turned off in step 112 and the rear curtain is moved. Then, after waiting for the trailing curtain to be completed in step 113, the process proceeds to step 114 to restart the display of the display device 24 and shift to the film wind processing flow (FIGS. 4 and 5).

On the other hand, if the shutter speed is slower than the second predetermined time in step 110 (for example, 1/15 or less), the camera waits until the shutter open time set in steps 115 and 116 elapses and the camera concerned. It is monitored whether or not the main switch has been turned off. If the main switch has been turned off, the process proceeds to step 112 even if the shutter opening time has not elapsed, and the subsequent steps are executed.

Next, the flow of the film winding process shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described. First, in step 121, the charge motor is started, mirror down and shutter charge are started, and in step 122, the wind motor is started to start film winding. Then
In step 123, the 20 mS timer is started, and in step 124, the charge motor and the wind motor are pulse-driven (duty ratio control). Due to this pulse drive, the rotations of the charge motor and the wind motor are gradually accelerated. Then proceed to step 125,
After waiting 20 mS from the timer start in step 123, the pulse driving is ended and step 126
Then, the charge motor and the wind motor are driven by DC.

In step 127, a 100 mS timer for recognizing the end of the film at the time of film winding is started. Next, in step 128 of FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not the wind pulse has changed, and while the change is detected, the 100 mS timer is reset in step 129 and whether or not the winding is completed in step 130. Determine whether. When the film winding is completed in step 130, the process proceeds to step 131 to stop the wind motor. Then, the process waits until the completion signal from the charge completion switch is detected in step 132, and if detected, the charge motor is stopped and the power supply is turned off in step 133.

If no change in the wind pulse is detected in step 128 of FIG. 5, the end of the film is determined in steps 134 to 139. That is, when the completion signal from the charge completion switch is detected in step 134, the charge motor is stopped in step 135, and when the completion signal is not detected, the process proceeds to step 136 immediately. In this step 136, step 1
It is determined whether 100 mS has elapsed from the execution of 27 or step 131. If 100 mS has elapsed, the process proceeds to step 137 and the wind motor is stopped. When the completion of charging is confirmed in step 138, the charge motor is stopped in step 139, and the film ending process (not shown) is performed.

Next, when the photometry switch is turned on (before the release switch is turned on), it is executed before the film is cueed, before the film is rewound, and immediately before the end of the film rewind. The battery check processing according to the present invention will be described. In FIG. 6, first, step 151.
At step 153, it is determined whether the photometric switch is turned on, the film is cueed, the film is rewound, or just before the film rewind is completed. Then, when the photometric switch is turned on (step 151), it is assumed that the release operation with relatively large power consumption will be performed next. Therefore, in steps 154 to 157, the charge motor 15 and the wind motor are released. 16 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by 1 mS, that is, a high load is applied to the battery 35, and the process proceeds to step 162.

When the film is cued (step 152) and the film is rewound (step 153), since these operations consume less power than the release operation, steps 158 to 16 are performed.
At 1, the wind motor 16 alone is rotated forward and backward by 1 mS, that is, a relatively low load is applied to the battery 35, and the process proceeds to step 162.

If the film rewinding is just before completion, the process proceeds to step 162 as it is.

In step 162, the voltage of the battery 35 dropped in each of the above steps is measured and the A / D
Convert. Then, whether the voltage value measured in steps 163 to 167 is a good voltage level with a small amount of voltage drop or a voltage level equal to or lower than the "warning level", which is relatively large, and the next operation is performed. It is determined whether the voltage level is below the "lock level", which is too high to compensate, and if the voltage level is higher than the "warning level", the warning flag and the lock flag are cleared, and the voltage level is below the "warning level". If it is higher than the "lock level", only the warning flag is set, and if the voltage level is the "lock level", only the lock flag is set.

At steps 168 and 169, the reverse rotation drive of the charge motor 15 and the wind motor 16 is stopped by applying a brake for 1 mS, the brake is released at step 170, and this routine is exited. If any of the above-mentioned warning flag and lock flag is set, the display devices 24, 25 are executed by a routine (not shown).
A battery warning will be displayed on or the system of the camera will be stopped.

As described above, in this embodiment, the battery load is changed according to the next operation to check the battery, so that the remaining battery amount can be monitored more practically.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a battery check process similar to that of FIG. 6 showing the second embodiment to which the present invention is applied. This embodiment is similar to the first embodiment, and only the processing structure for battery check is different.

In this embodiment, first, at steps 181-185, it is determined whether the photometric switch is turned on, the film is rewound, or the film is just wound. Then, when the photometric switch is turned on (step 181), the setting of the "warning level" for determining that the voltage drop amount is relatively large as in the first embodiment is set to a relatively high voltage value (100%). After setting (step 183), the process proceeds to step 186.

When the film is rewound (step 182), the "warning level" is set to a low voltage value (90%) (step 184), and the process proceeds to step 186.

If the film has just been wound (step 182), the "warning level" is set to a slightly lower voltage value (95%) (step 18).
5) and proceeds to step 186.

In steps 186 to 189, the charge motor 15 and the wind motor 16 are rotated forward and backward by 1 mS, that is, a high load is applied to the battery 35, and the process proceeds to step 190.

In step 190, the voltage of the battery 35 dropped in each step described above is measured and the A / D
Convert. Then, in steps 191 to 195, as in the first embodiment, the measured voltage value is compared with the above-mentioned "warning level" and the "lock level" which is too large to compensate the next operation, and the warning flag or the lock flag is cleared. /set.

In steps 196 and 197, the reverse rotation of the charge motor 15 and the wind motor 16 is braked by 1 mS to stop, and the brake is released in step 198 to exit this routine. The subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the load on the battery 35 at the time of battery check is kept constant, and the "warning level" as a threshold value to be compared with the measured voltage value is changed according to the operation to be executed next. The remaining battery level is monitored in a timely manner.

[0040]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the battery check device of the present invention, the amount of battery consumption is compared with the reference value under load before the start of the next operation in the camera. The load is changed according to the operation, or the load is kept constant and the comparison reference value is changed according to the next operation, so that The effect is great because it can be monitored.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a camera according to a first embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a main flow chart up to a shutter release operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a shutter release operation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the first half of the film wind process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a latter half of the film wind process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a battery check process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart similar to FIG. 6, showing a battery check process in the second embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Camera 2 Photographic Lens 3 CPU 4 DPU 5 IPU 6 Lens CPU 11 EE Circuit 12 Switch Circuit 13, 14 Motor Drive Circuit 15 Mechanical Charge Motor 16 Wind Motor 17 AF Motor 18 E ² PROM 19, 20, 21 Magnet 22 CCD 23 Photometry IC 24 display device 25 display device 26 flash circuit 27 switch circuit 31 motor drive circuit 32 switch circuit 33 power zoom motor 35 battery 36 DC / DC converter 37 regulator

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A battery check device for checking an internal battery of a camera, wherein a means for applying an electric load to the battery prior to a predetermined operation of the camera; and a consumption of the battery under the load. And a means for checking the amount, wherein the load is changed according to the type of the operation. 2. The battery check device according to claim 1, wherein the electric load is applied by driving a motor mounted on the camera. 3. The camera comprises two motors for shutter charging and film winding and performs a photometric operation before starting a shutter release operation, and a load caused by driving both motors during the photometric operation of the camera. Is added to the battery, and before the film is rewound by the camera, the consumption amount of the battery is checked while only the load by the drive of the film wind motor is added to the battery. The battery check device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. A battery check device for checking an internal battery of a camera, wherein a means for applying an electric load to the battery prior to a predetermined operation of the camera; and a consumption of the battery under the load. A battery check device comprising: a means for checking the quantity by comparing it with a predetermined reference value, and changing the reference value according to the type of the operation. 5. The battery check device according to claim 4, wherein the electric load is applied by driving a motor mounted on the camera.