JPH0668756A - Attitude detecting sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an attitude detecting sensor which has a simple construction and can detect attitudes in plural directions. CONSTITUTION:In a sensor detecting an attitude, a hole, where a conductive ball 2 rolls, is provided in a holder 1, and on the upper and the lower faces of the hole, V-shaped slanting portions 3a, 3b, 3d, 3e are provided so that their facing distant becomes maximum at an approximately central portion in a horizontal X direction. An one side face, in a direction A-B where the slanting portions 3a, 3b, 3d, 3e extend, is provided with a flat plane-shaped conductive side wall 6, and on the other side face, facing to the side wall 6, the slanting portions 3f, 3g are provided so that their facing distant to the side wall 6 becomes maximum at an approximately central portion in a horizontal X direction. The slanting portions 3f, 3b are provided with separated or unified electrodes 4 and 5, and the slant of the sensor is detected by detecting conduction between the side wall 6 and the electrode 4, and the conduction between the side wall 6 and the electrode 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sensor for detecting a posture, and more particularly to a posture detection sensor suitable for detecting a posture of a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Normally, when a camera for taking a picture is held in a horizontal position in a vertical position, the display on the display unit becomes horizontal, which makes it difficult to see the display direction on the display unit. There is a desire to change it according to the posture of the camera. There is also a demand to change the characteristics of exposure control (AE) and distance measurement control (AF) according to the orientation of the camera. In order to realize such a request, a sensor for detecting whether the camera is held in the horizontal position or the vertical position, and in the case of the vertical position, the grip (a bulge portion on the side of the camera body) is above or below As such a sensor, a mercury switch in which mercury is fluently enclosed in a glass tube having an electrode inside is usually used. But this mercury switch
Problems such as being expensive, poorly assembled, requiring a special holder to prevent damage, at least multiple to distinguish the horizontal position and the top and bottom of the grip, and polluting the environment when discarded. There is a point.

An example of a sensor that does not use a mercury switch is the "leveling detection switch" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-163326. This switch attaches a plurality of divided electrodes to the inner surface of a polygonal columnar cylinder,
A conductive sphere is movably confined in this cylinder, and the posture is detected from the position of the adjacent electrodes that are conducted through the sphere that rolls according to the inclination.

[0004]

However, the switch having this structure cannot obtain the posture detection performance in the direction corresponding to the downward or upward direction of the camera at the time of close-up or copying.
There are problems that it is difficult to form minute pieces of electrodes on the inner surface of the cylinder and to provide leads from these electrodes, and if the sensor is downsized, the weight of the sphere is reduced and high reliability cannot be obtained. The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a posture detection sensor that can detect postures in a plurality of directions with a simple configuration.

[0005]

A sensor for detecting a posture according to the present invention has a hole through which a conductive ball rolls in a holder, and the upper and lower surfaces of the hole are provided at a substantially central portion in the horizontal X direction. V-shaped sloped part that maximizes the facing distance
(3a, 3b), (3d, 3e), one surface in the direction (A-B) in which the inclined portion extends has a conductive side wall (6) in the form of a flat plate. On the other side facing (6),
The inclined portion (3f, 3g) having the maximum facing distance to the side wall (6) is provided at the substantially central portion in the horizontal X direction, and is individually or integrated with the inclined portion (3f, 3g). electrode
(4) and the electrode (5) are provided, and by detecting the conduction between the side wall (6) and the electrode (4) and the conduction between the side wall (6) and the electrode (5), The feature is that the tilt is detected.

[0006]

When the sensor having the above structure is in the steady position, the ball is located in the valley portion of the inclined portion (3a, 3b), and in this valley portion, the side wall (6) and the electrode having the inclined surface facing the side wall (6) are formed.
Since the facing distance between (4) and (5) is the maximum, the side wall (6) and the electrode (4) and
When the sensor is upside down next time, the ball is located in the valley in the inclined portions (3d, 3e), and in this case also faces the side wall (6) and the side wall (6). Since the facing distance between the inclined electrodes (4) and (5) is maximized, the side wall (6) and the electrodes (4) and (5) are not electrically conductive via the conductive balls. On the other hand, when the sensor tilts in either direction from the horizontal X direction, the ball moves to the inclined portion (3
As a result of rolling a) or (3b) and moving toward the side where the facing distance between the electrode (4) or the electrode (5) and the side wall (6) becomes narrower,
The electrode (4) or the electrode (5) is connected to the side wall (6) through this ball.
Conducts with. As described in claim 2, if the side wall (6) is a conductive cover that closes the hole, the configuration of the posture detection sensor can be simplified.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a posture detection sensor 50 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same camera attitude detection sensor (hereinafter simply referred to as a sensor) 50 is integrally formed by vertically stacking it in two stages, so only the upper sensor 50a will be described. It should be noted that the upper sensor 50a is depicted by dividing the upper half thereof in the horizontal direction.

The holder 1 forming the sensor 50 has a hole 3 for accommodating the conductive ball 2 extending in the front-rear direction (direction of arrows A and B), and the front surface of the hole 3 (direction of arrow A) is open. ing. As can be seen from the opening shape, the hole 3 has
V-shaped inclined portion 3 that deepens in the central portion in the horizontal X direction
a and 3b, and a valley portion between the inclined portions 3a and 3b has a horizontal portion 3c having a predetermined width. Further, although the upper surface of the hole 3 is horizontal, small inverted V-shaped slopes 3d and 3e are provided along the front-rear direction at the central portion in the horizontal X direction.

Further, behind the hole 3 (in the direction of arrow B), there are V-shaped inclined portions 3f and 3g so that the depth becomes longer at the central portion in the horizontal X direction. 3f, 3g
The valley portion between them has a horizontal portion 3h. And the inclined portion 3
Plate-shaped electrodes 4 and 5 are attached to f and 3g. The electrodes 4 and 5 extend toward the lower sensor 50 ',
The upper sensor 50a and the lower sensor 50b serve as a common electrode. 4a and 5a are terminals of the electrodes 4,5.
6 is a conductive cover.
When the cover 6 is placed on the front surface of the cover 6, the protrusion 6x provided at a predetermined portion of the holder 3 is fitted into the hole 6b provided with the protruding piece 6a extending rearward from the cover 6, so that the cover 6 is removed. It is fixed to the holder 1. 6c is a terminal for the cover 6.

2 and 3 show an example of mounting the sensor 50 on the camera 100, FIG. 2 is a view from the top of the camera 100, and FIG. 3 is a view from the front of the camera 100. . 101 is the above-mentioned grip part. The operation of the sensor 50 having the above configuration will be described.

(A) When the camera 100 is held in a horizontal position, a view of the sensor 50 of FIG. 1 viewed from above (direction of arrow C) is shown in FIG. 4, and a view of the sensor 50 viewed from behind (arrow D). Figure 5
Is shown in. At this time, even if the camera 100 is tilted to some extent from the lateral direction, as shown in FIG.
Since it is located at the lowest position of the valley formed by b, the ball 2 is located at the farthest position between the electrodes 4 and 5 and the cover 6 as shown in FIG.
The electrode 2 and the cover 6 are not electrically connected to each other via the ball 2.

(B) When the camera 100 is held in the vertical position with the grip on the upper side, a view of the sensor 50 of FIG. 1 viewed from the upper direction (direction of arrow C) is shown in FIG. 6, and the sensor 50 is rearward (arrow D). ) Is shown in FIG. 7. At this time,
As shown in FIG. 6, the ball 2 rolls down the inclined portion 3b due to gravity and moves to the lowest position, so that the ball 2 contacts the electrode 5 and the cover 6 to contact the electrode 5 and the cover 6 as shown in FIG. Conducts.

(C) When the camera 100 is held in the vertical position with the grip down, a view of the sensor 50 of FIG. 1 viewed from above (direction of arrow C) is shown in FIG. ) Is shown in FIG. 9, and the electrode 4 and the cover 6 are electrically connected to each other, which is the opposite of when the grip is turned up.

(D) When the camera 100 is held downward, a view of the sensor 50 of FIG. 1 viewed from the upper direction (direction of arrow C) is shown in FIG. Since the ball 2 is located in the valley of the
The electrode 2 and the cover 6 are not electrically connected to each other via the ball 2. Conduction is made between the electrodes 4 and 5, but this is not detected. In this case, the same result as when the camera 100 is held in the horizontal position is obtained, and it is not detected that the camera 100 is facing downward, but when the camera 100 is facing downward, the display on the display unit is in the horizontal position. It is convenient because the display is the same as. The above results are summarized in the following table.

[0015]

[Table 1] [Horizontal position] [Grip top] [Grip bottom] [Downward] Electrode 4 / Cover 6: Non-conducting non-conducting Conducting non-conducting Electrode 5 / Cover 6: Non-conducting conducting Non-conducting non-conducting

FIG. 11 shows the camera 100 detected when the camera 100 is rotated without changing the optical axis in the horizontal direction.
The turning angles u and v at which the postures are switched are the tilt angles of the inclined portions 3a and 3b as shown in FIG. 5, and the turning angles x and w are shown in FIG. So inclined 3
d is the tilt angle at 3e. Therefore, the posture switching angle can be arbitrarily set by appropriately selecting these angles. FIG. 12 shows the camera 100 facing downwards to the side 3
The figure shows the posture switching angle when rotated by 60 °, and the rotation angles s and t at this time are the inclination angles of the electrodes 4 and 6 as shown in FIG. FIG. 13 shows a case where the camera in the horizontal position is rotated so that the optical axis in the horizontal direction is directed upward or downward, and at this time, it is always determined to be in the horizontal position.

It should be noted that if the above attitude detecting sensor is constructed in a small size, the weight of the ball 2 is reduced, and thus contact failure is likely to occur. Therefore, as in the above-described embodiment, the same sensors 50a and 50b are operated in parallel to obtain high reliability. At that time, the electrodes 4, 5
Since the cover 6 is shared by the two sensors, the number of parts does not increase.

[0018]

As described above, in the attitude detection sensor of the present invention, the inclined portion and the plurality of electrodes are formed around the hole, which is the space in which the conductive ball rolls, and the ball is interposed. Since the posture of the sensor is detected by detecting the conduction between the electrodes, the posture can be detected three-dimensionally with a simple configuration. Also, since one of the holes is opened and the opening is closed by the conductive cover that functions as an electrode, the holder that constitutes the sensor can be produced by injection molding with a two-sided mold, and therefore a plurality of holders can be connected in parallel. Such a sensor can be easily manufactured and the number of parts can be reduced, so that the attitude detection sensor of the present invention can be provided at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a posture detection sensor of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of mounting the posture detection sensor of FIG. 1 on a camera.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of mounting the posture detection sensor of FIG. 1 on a camera.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 when the camera is held in the horizontal position.

5 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow D in FIG. 1 when the camera is held in the horizontal position.

6 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 when the camera is held in a vertical position with a grip on the top.

7 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow D in FIG. 1 when the camera is held in a vertical position with a grip on the top.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 when the camera is held vertically with the grip down.

9 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow D in FIG. 1 when the camera is held in a vertical position with the grip down.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the operation of the posture detection sensor viewed from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 when the camera is held downward.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing switching of postures detected by the posture detection sensor of the present invention when the camera is turned without changing the horizontal optical axis.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing switching of postures detected by a posture detection sensor of the present invention when a downward facing camera is turned sideways by 360 °.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing switching of postures detected by a posture detection sensor of the present invention when the camera in a horizontal position is swung so that the optical axis in the horizontal direction is directed upward or downward.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Holder 2 Conductive Ball 3 Hole 3a Inclined Part 3b Inclined Part 4 Electrode 5 Electrode 6 Conductive Cover 50 Attitude Detection Sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sensor for detecting a posture, comprising:
The holder has a hole through which a conductive ball rolls, and the upper and lower surfaces of the hole have V-shaped inclined portions (3a, 3b) (3a, 3b) having a maximum facing distance at substantially the central portion in the horizontal X direction. Three
d, 3e), and one surface in the direction (AB) in which the inclined portion extends has a conductive side wall (6) having a flat plate shape, and the other side facing the side wall (6). Has a slanted part (3f, 3g) that maximizes the facing distance to the side wall (6) at the substantially central part in the horizontal X direction, and the slanted part (3f, 3g)
The electrode (4) and the electrode (5) which are individually or integrally integrated with each other, and the side wall (6) and the electrode (4) are electrically connected to each other and the side wall.
An attitude detection sensor characterized by detecting the inclination of the sensor by detecting conduction between (6) and the electrode (5). 2. The posture detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the hole is opened on the side wall (6) side, and the side wall (6) is a conductive cover closing the opening. 3. A posture detection sensor, characterized in that a plurality of sets of the respective members are provided, and electrodes (4), (5) provided with the plurality of sets are connected in parallel.