JPH05242664A - Memory card device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the unnecessary power consumption of a backup battery by building the battery for supplying a backup electric power in a memory for holding data. CONSTITUTION:In a condition a memory card 400 is loaded on a camera main body, a power source switching circuit 406 introduces the voltage of a battery 240 applied from a signal processing part 200 to a data recording part 405 through terminals 407, 408. When the card 400 is taken off from the camera main body, by detecting no impression of the voltage applied to the terminals 407, 408 from the battery 240, the switching is performed by the circuit 406 so as to introduce the output voltage of the backup battery 409 built in the card 400 to the recording part 405.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a memory card device having a semiconductor memory built in a card-like case, and more particularly to a memory card device which prevents unnecessary power consumption of a backup battery.

[0002]

As is well known, since a general still camera forms an optical image of a photographed subject on a silver salt film, the photographed image must be processed unless the film is chemically processed and developed. Is impossible to see. On the other hand, in recent years, by converting a captured optical image into an electrical image signal and displaying the image on a television receiver, an electronic photographic system that does not require a troublesome chemical treatment has been developed and put on the market. It is becoming popular. And
An example of this type of electronic photographic system is a still image recording / reproducing system including a camera body, a reproducing device, a television receiver and the like.

The still image recording / reproducing system is as follows.
A recording medium such as a tape, a disk, or a drum formed of a magnetic material is attached to the camera body in the form of a cassette or a cartridge, and an image signal obtained by photographing is recorded. When the photographed image is viewed, the recording medium is detached from the camera body and mounted on the reproducing device to reproduce the recorded image signal, and the still image is displayed on the television receiver.

By the way, in such a still image recording / reproducing system, since the recording medium is made of a magnetic material, in order to record or reproduce the image signal, a magnetic head or a mechanism section for driving the recording medium is used. Therefore, it has a disadvantage that the structure is complicated and the size is easily increased, and the power consumption is large for driving the recording medium.

Therefore, recently, by converting an image signal into digital data and storing it in a semiconductor memory,
It has been considered to reduce the size and weight and save power by eliminating the need for a magnetic head and a drive mechanism. Especially these days,
Due to the sophistication of semiconductor element mounting technology, a memory card having a semiconductor memory built in a card-shaped case has come into practical use, and development for using this memory card as a recording medium has been actively conducted. ing.

FIG. 10 shows such a conventional memory card 11. That is, this memory card 11
Is electrically connected via four terminals 12 to 15 when it is attached to a camera body or a reproducing device (not shown). The terminals 12 and 13 are data recording units 1 including a memory controller 16 and a semiconductor memory 17.
8 and is used for data transfer between the camera body or player and the semiconductor memory 17. A voltage is applied to the data recording unit 18 via the power supply switching circuit 19.

The power supply switching circuit 19 supplies the voltage applied through the terminals 14 and 15 to the data recording section 18 when the memory card 11 is mounted in the camera body or the reproducing device.
When the memory card 11 is removed from the camera body or the player and no voltage is applied to the terminals 14 and 15, the output voltage of the backup battery 20 incorporated in the memory card 11 is detected. The switching operation is performed so as to guide the data to the data recording section 18, and the data recording section 18 is always backed up in terms of power supply.

However, in the conventional memory card 11 as described above, when the memory card 11 is removed from the camera body or the player, the output voltage of the backup battery 20 is automatically transferred to the data recording section 18 by the power source switching circuit 19. Since it is switched to be applied, there is a problem that the backup battery 20 is consumed, for example, when the data written in the semiconductor memory 17 is no longer needed and needs to be retained. ..
Particularly, as the semiconductor memory 17, S (static) -R
AM (random access memory) and D (dynamic)
-When RAM or the like is used, the power consumption of the backup battery 20 is fast and the above problem becomes serious.

[0009]

As described above, the conventional memory card has a problem that the backup battery is consumed even when it is not necessary to retain the data written in the semiconductor memory. is doing.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an extremely good memory card device which prevents unnecessary power consumption of a backup battery. ..

[0011]

A memory card device according to the present invention includes a semiconductor memory and a battery for supplying backup power for holding data to the semiconductor memory, which is mounted in the main body of the device. It is intended for devices that can transfer data between the device body and the semiconductor memory. Then, an externally operable switch that allows and blocks the supply of battery power to the semiconductor memory, and a switch that allows the switch to supply battery power to the semiconductor memory in synchronization with the operation mounted on the device body An operation mechanism for operating the position is provided.

[0012]

According to the above-mentioned structure, when it is not necessary to retain the data written in the semiconductor memory, the switch is switched to a position that prevents the battery power from being supplied to the semiconductor memory by an external operation. This can prevent unnecessary consumption of battery power. Also, even if you insert a memory card into the device body and record data while the switch is in the blocking position, the switch will automatically be in the allowed position when you insert the memory card. The data recorded in the semiconductor memory can be reliably retained.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 4 shows the structure of the image pickup unit 100 of the camera body that constitutes the still image recording / reproducing system. That is, the optical image of the subject incident through the imaging lens 101 is adjusted in light amount by the diaphragm 102, and then the optical viewfinder 1 is transmitted through the mirrors 103 and 104.
It is guided to 05 and is seen by the photographer. The image pickup lens 101 and the aperture 102 are not shown for driving the image pickup lens 101 and the aperture 102 because of the automatic focus adjustment (AF; autofocus) function and the automatic aperture adjustment (AE; automatic exposure) function. With the motor,
It is integrated as a lens unit 106. Also,
In order to realize the AE function, the image pickup unit 100 is also provided with an AE sensor (not shown) for detecting the light amount of the subject.

When a release (not shown) is pressed, the mirror 103 jumps upward in the figure by a mechanical mechanism. Therefore, the optical image of the subject is the shutter 1
After the exposure amount is adjusted by 07, through the infrared cut filter 108 and the optical low pass filter 109,
An image is formed on a CCD (charge coupled device) 110 and converted into an electric image signal. The image signal is supplied to the image processing circuit 111, subjected to color separation processing, A / D (analog / digital) conversion processing, and the like, and then output to the signal processing unit 200 described later. The mechanical shutter 107 is used as an auxiliary to the electronic shutter by the CCD 110.

Next, the signal system of the camera body will be described. FIG. 5 shows a signal system of the image pickup unit 100.
That is, the image signal output from the CCD 110 is supplied to the signal processing circuit 112 which constitutes the image processing circuit 111, and subjected to color separation processing and interpolation processing, whereby R (red), G (green), An image signal of each component of B (blue) is generated. The R, G, and B component image signals are converted into digital image data by the A / D converters 113, 114, and 115, and the terminals 116 and 11 are converted.
You are led to 7,118. In addition, each motor for driving the imaging lens 101 and the diaphragm 102 provided in the lens unit 106 is rotationally driven based on a control signal input from the signal processing unit 200 via the terminal 119.

Further, the shutter 107 has a shutter driver 121 based on a control signal input from the signal processing unit 200 which has detected a release operation through the terminal 120.
Is controlled to open and close. Also, CCD
In 110, the CCD driver 123 is controlled based on a control signal input from the signal processing unit 200 via the terminal 122, so that the sweeping of unnecessary charges, the transfer of vertical and horizontal signal charges, and the like are controlled. .. Further, the built-in strobe 124 is driven to emit light based on a control signal input from the signal processing unit 200 via the terminal 125.

The signal processing circuit 112 shown in FIG.
As shown in, the color separation circuit 126 separates the image signal output from the CCD 110 into image signals of R, G, and B components, and the interpolation circuit 127 converts the image signals of R, G, and B components into each other. After performing the interpolation processing respectively, the terminals 128, 1
The A / D converters 113 and 11 via 29 and 130
It is output to 4,115.

Next, FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the signal processing section 200. That is, the terminals 201, 202, 20
3, 204, 205, 206, and 207 are image pickup units 100.
Terminals 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 12 of
2, 125 correspondingly connected. Of these, the terminal 20
The digital image data of the respective components of R, G, B supplied to 1, 202, 203 are supplied to the process circuit 208. As shown in FIG. 8, the process circuit 208 applies white balance adjustment circuits 209, 210, 211 to the digital image data of R, G, B components supplied to the terminals 201, 202, 203, respectively. White balance is adjusted by the knee correction circuits 212 and 21.
The knee correction is performed by 3, 214, and the γ correction circuit 215,
After the γ correction is performed by 216 and 217, the three digital image data are converted into serial digital image data by the P / S (parallel / serial) conversion circuit 218 and output from the terminal 219.

The digital image data output from the process circuit 208 in this manner is supplied to the CPU (central processing unit) 220, the buffer memory section 221, and the buffer memory 222, respectively. In the CPU 220,
Based on the input digital image data and the output of the AE sensor, the light amount of the optical image formed on the CCD 110, the focus pass / fail, etc. are detected, and a control signal for the AE function and the AF function is generated to generate a terminal. The control signals for the AWB (automatic white balance) adjustment function are generated and output to the respective white balance adjustment circuits 209, 210, 211 of the process circuit 208 while being output to 204 and 205. The CPU 220 also outputs a drive signal for the built-in flash unit 124 to the terminal 207. Furthermore, the CPU 22
0 causes the timing control circuit 223 to generate a control signal to be supplied to the CCD driver 123 and output it to the terminal 206, and also generate a timing control signal to the process circuit 208.

Here, the buffer memory unit 221 and the buffer memory 222 have a function of recording the digital image data output from the process circuit 208 for one frame, and together with the adding circuit 224, a continuous shooting function and a multiple exposure function. Is what is needed for. In addition, CPU
220 takes out various parameters required for continuous shooting and multiple exposure from the parameter setting unit 225 based on the digital image data and supplies them to the buffer memory unit 221.

The digital image data of the R, G and B components output from the adder circuit 224 is supplied to the matrix circuit 226 and the digital image data of the Y (luminance), RY and BY components. And is supplied to the terminal 227. This terminal 227 is an uncompressed R, which has been processed by the process circuit 208.
It is for taking out the digital image data of the G and B components to the outside.

Thereafter, the digital image data output from the matrix circuit 226 is supplied to the compression encoding circuit 228, and the compression rate or CP determined by the manual operation is set.
Data is compressed at a compression rate automatically determined by U220. The data-compressed digital image data is output to the terminal 230 via the card I / F (interface) circuit 229 and sent to a memory card (not shown). In addition, this card I / F circuit 229
The digital image data and audio data output from the memory card are taken in via the terminal 231 and the terminal 232
It has a function to output to.

The audio signal collected by the built-in microphone 233 is converted into digital audio data by the audio processing circuit 234 controlled by the CPU 220, and sent out from the terminal 230 to the memory card via the card I / F circuit 229. It has become so. Furthermore, the CPU 220
Is supplied with a signal corresponding to the operation state of the operation unit 235 and a signal from the remote control light receiving unit 236 that receives an operation signal sent from a remote wireless operation unit (not shown), and the operation state is detected. ing. And
The CPU 220 generates a determination signal of the recording mode or the reproduction mode to the card I / F circuit 229 based on signals from the operation unit 235 and the remote control light receiving unit 236, and also generates date and time data. do it,
It is designed to be added to digital image data.

Further, the CPU 220 controls the liquid crystal display unit 23.
7 display control and backup battery 2
The date and time information is obtained from the clock circuit 239 driven by 38. Then, the signal processing unit 200 uses the battery 2
Powered by 40, this battery 240
Electric power is also supplied to the image capturing unit 100, the reproducing unit 300, which will be described later, and the memory card 400.

Next, FIG. 9 shows the structure of the reproducing section 300. That is, the terminal 301 is connected to the terminal 232 of the signal processing unit 200. The image component of the digital image data and audio data supplied to the terminal 301 is decoded by the decoding circuit 302 and written in the frame memory 303. Character data components such as date and time are combined with image components in the frame memory 303 via the character generator 304. Then, the digital image data read from the frame memory 303 is converted into an analog image signal by the D / A (digital / analog) converter 305, and the analog process circuit 3
After passing through 06, it is reproduced on the small-sized liquid crystal monitor 307 and guided to the terminal 308. Further, the audio component is D / A converted by the audio processing circuit 309, and then supplied to the built-in speaker 310 and guided to the terminal 311.

Here, FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the memory card 400. The memory card 400 includes a terminal 40 connected to the terminals 230 and 231 of the signal processing unit 200.
1,402. These terminals 401, 402
Is a memory controller 403 and a semiconductor memory 404.
Connected to the data recording unit 405,
00 and the semiconductor memory 404 are used for data transfer. The data recording unit 405 has a power supply switching circuit 406.
A voltage is applied via.

The power supply switching circuit 406 is used for the memory card 40.
With 0 attached to the camera body, the signal processing unit 2
Battery 2 applied from terminal 00 through terminals 407 and 408
The voltage of 40 is led to the data recording section 405, and when the memory card 400 is removed from the camera body, the terminal 40
The switching operation is performed so as to detect that the voltage of the battery 240 is no longer applied to 7, 408 and guide the output voltage of the backup battery 409 built in the memory card 400 to the data recording unit 405.

A switch 410 that can be operated from the outside of the memory card 400 is interposed between the power source switching circuit 406 and the backup battery 409. By switching the switch 410 between an on state and an off state. The output voltage of the backup battery 409 is supplied or not supplied to the data recording unit 405 via the power supply switching circuit 406. Therefore, the semiconductor memory 4
When the data written in 04 is no longer needed and need not be retained, the switch 410 is turned off to prevent unnecessary power consumption of the backup battery 404. it can.

Here, the memory card 400 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), one end portion 4 in the lateral direction thereof
A plurality of cylindrical connector pins (not shown) arranged in 11 are fitted into a plurality of connector pins 413 of a card connector 412 provided on the camera body so that they are electrically connected to the camera body. become. In this case, convex and concave engaging portions 414 and 415 are formed on both sides in the insertion direction of the memory card 400,
These engaging portions 41 are provided at both ends of the card connector 412.
Grooves 416 and 417 that can be fitted with the memory cards 4 and 415 are formed to prevent erroneous mounting of the memory card 400.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, an operation piece 418 of the switch 410 is slidably installed in the concave engaging portion 415 of the memory card 400 in the directions of arrows A and B in the figure. The operation piece 418 is set so that the switch 410 is turned on when it is slid in the direction of arrow A, and the switch 410 is turned off when it is slid in the direction of arrow B. When the memory card 400 is attached to the camera body with the operation piece 418 in the off position, the operation piece 418 is pushed by the groove 417 of the card connector 412 and slid in the direction of arrow A, and the switch 410 is automatically turned on. It is set to be in a state.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the above embodiment, when it is not necessary to hold the data written in the semiconductor memory 404, the operation piece 418 is slid in the direction of arrow B to turn off the switch 410. By switching to, it is possible to prevent the power of the backup battery 404 from being consumed unnecessarily. Also, the switch 41
Even if the memory card 400 is attached to the camera body and a picture is taken with 0 being in the off state, the switch 410 is automatically turned on when the memory card 400 is attached.
When 00 is taken out from the camera body, the backup battery 409 securely holds the data recorded in the semiconductor memory 404. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the loss of data due to forgetting to turn on the switch 410. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0032]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a very good memory card device in which the power of the backup battery is prevented from being consumed unnecessarily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a memory card device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration of a switch portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a structure of a camera body of the still image recording / reproducing system.

FIG. 5 is a block configuration diagram showing a signal system of an image pickup unit of the camera body.

FIG. 6 is a block configuration diagram showing details of a signal processing circuit of the same signal system.

FIG. 7 is a block configuration diagram showing a signal processing unit of the camera body.

FIG. 8 is a block configuration diagram showing details of a process circuit of the signal processing unit.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a reproducing unit of the still image recording / reproducing system.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a conventional memory card.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Memory card, 12-15 ... Terminal, 16 ... Memory controller, 17 ... Semiconductor memory, 18 ... Data recording section, 19 ... Power supply switching circuit, 20 ... Backup battery,
100 ... Imaging unit, 101 ... Imaging lens, 102 ... Aperture,
103, 104 ... Mirror, 105 ... Optical viewfinder, 1
06 ... Lens unit, 107 ... Shutter, 108 ... Infrared cut filter, 109 ... Optical low-pass filter,
110 ... CCD, 111 ... Image processing circuit, 112 ... Signal processing circuit, 113-115 ... A / D converter, 116-1
20 ... Terminal, 121 ... Shutter driver, 122 ... Terminal, 123 ... CCD driver, 124 ... Built-in flash,
125 ... Terminal, 126 ... Color separation circuit, 127 ... Interpolation circuit, 128-130 ... Terminal, 200 ... Signal processing unit, 20
1-207 ... Terminal, 208 ... Process circuit, 209-2
11 ... White balance adjustment circuit, 212-214 ... Knee correction circuit, 215-217 ... γ correction circuit, 218 ... P
/ S conversion circuit, 219 ... Terminal, 220 ... CPU, 221
... buffer memory unit 222 ... buffer memory 223
... Timing control circuit, 224 ... Addition circuit, 225 ... Parameter setting section, 226 ... Matrix circuit, 227 ... Terminal, 228 ... Compression encoding circuit, 229 ... Card I / F circuit, 230-232 ... Terminal, 233 ... Built-in microphone 234 ... Voice processing circuit, 235 ... Operation unit, 236 ...
Remote control light receiving part, 237 ... Liquid crystal display part, 2
38 ... Backup battery, 239 ... Clock circuit, 240
... Battery, 300 ... Playback section, 301 ... Terminal, 302 ... Decoding circuit, 303 ... Frame memory, 304 ... Character generator, 305 ... D / A converter, 306 ... Analog process circuit, 307 ... Small liquid crystal monitor, 308 ... Terminal , 309 ... Voice processing circuit, 310 ... Built-in speaker, 3
11 ... Terminal, 400 ... Memory card, 401, 402 ...
Terminals, 403 ... Memory controller, 404 ... Semiconductor memory, 405 ... Data recording section, 406 ... Power supply switching circuit,
407, 408 ... Terminals, 409 ... Backup battery,
410 ... Switch, 411 ... One end part, 412 ... Card connector, 413 ... Connector pin, 414, 415 ... Engagement part, 416, 417 ... Groove part, 418 ... Operation piece.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor memory and a battery for supplying backup power for holding data to the semiconductor memory are built-in, and data is transferred between the device body and the semiconductor memory in a state of being mounted on the device body. In a possible memory card device, an externally operable switch that allows and blocks the supply of the battery power to the semiconductor memory,
A memory card device comprising: an operation mechanism that operates the switch to a position that allows the power of the battery to be supplied to the semiconductor memory in association with an operation of being mounted on the device body. ..