JP3935796B2 - Digital camera - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a digital camera.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, opportunities to input and transmit images to personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs) are increasing. As a means for inputting such an image, a digital camera is often used. This digital camera is used as a PC camera by connecting to a PC via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable or the like. When the PC is connected to the Internet, it is used as a so-called WEB camera for transmitting images while taking images in real time or conducting an electronic conference.
[0003]
In order to use a digital camera as the PC camera or WEB camera as described above, the position of the digital camera must be fixed so that the imaging optical axis is always aligned with the user. Therefore, the digital camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-152047 is composed of a camera body and a stand that can support the camera body, and the camera body is inserted into an insertion receiving portion formed on the stand. Thus, the camera body can be supported in a slightly rearward standing state. As a result, the photographing optical axis of the camera body can be directed in a certain direction, and the user can be continuously imaged. Also, if the camera is removed from the stand, the camera body can be held in hand and imaging can be performed.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the digital camera as described in the above publication, when the camera body is supported on the stand, the direction of the imaging optical axis is limited, so the size of the user's body or the stand is placed. Depending on the position, the user cannot be imaged. In other words, in such a state supported by the stand, it is possible to adjust the tilt of the photographing optical axis in the left-right direction by changing the orientation of each stand, but it is very difficult to adjust in the vertical direction. .
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera capable of easily and accurately adjusting the direction of the photographing optical axis.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the camera of the present invention is formed in a curved surface that holds the imaging lens on the front surface and the bottom surface protrudes downward, and is movably attached along the curved surface of the bottom surface. A camera body provided with a weight, and a tray having a concave portion recessed in a curved surface having a larger curvature radius than the curved surface of the bottom surface portion, and a curved surface of the bottom surface portion at the position of the concave portion. In addition, when the camera body is placed on the tray, the camera body is stationary so that the weight is positioned at the bottom end of the bottom surface portion, the camera body is stationary, and the camera body is stationary by moving the position of the weight. The balance position to be changed is changed to adjust the inclination of the imaging optical axis. In addition, it is preferable that the said weight consists of a secondary battery used as the power supply of the said digital camera, and is equipped with the charging circuit which charges this secondary battery. Alternatively, it is preferable to include wireless transmission means for transmitting image data obtained by imaging the subject to an external device.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a digital camera (hereinafter simply referred to as a camera) 10 embodying the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the camera 10 connected to a personal computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a PC) 5. This shows the state when using as a PC camera. When used as a PC camera, the PC 5 and the camera 10 are placed on a work table 6 such as a desk, and the user 7 takes an image of himself / herself with the camera 10 or operates the personal computer 5.
[0008]
The camera 10 includes a camera body 11 and a tray 12 on which the camera body 11 is placed. The camera body 11 is provided with a lens barrel portion 14 that holds an imaging lens 13 on the front surface. The camera body 11 has a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from the front, and has a triangular shape that gradually narrows toward the upper end portion 11a when viewed from the side. The bottom surface 15 is a curved surface that protrudes downward. Is formed.
[0009]
As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom surface portion 15 of the camera body 11 is formed in a semi-cylindrical curved surface having a generatrix parallel to the horizontal direction orthogonal to the imaging optical axis L of the imaging lens 13. A battery case 16 is disposed inside the bottom surface portion 15. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the battery case 16 is rotatably attached via a rotating shaft 17. The rotation shaft 17 is supported by the side wall portions 18 a and 18 b of the camera body 11 so as to be positioned at the center of the arc of the bottom surface portion 15. One end 17a of the rotating shaft 17 protrudes from the side wall 18a, and an inclination adjusting lever 19 is fixed to the one end 17a. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a power switch 20 is disposed above the side wall 18a.
[0010]
The battery case 16 is partitioned by a partition wall 16a positioned perpendicular to the rotating shaft 17, and is divided into a battery chamber 22 that houses a secondary battery 21, and a coil chamber 24 that houses a secondary coil 23 (see FIG. 5) described later. Is provided. The bottom surface portion 25 of the battery case 16 is close to the bottom surface portion 15 of the camera body 11, and when the battery case 16 rotates about the rotation shaft 17, the bottom surface portion 25 of the battery case 16 is changed to the bottom surface of the camera body 11. It moves along the curved surface of the part 15. The secondary battery 21 housed in the battery chamber 22 is located at the lowermost portion of the battery case 16 and is in contact with the inner wall surface of the bottom surface portion 25.
[0011]
The secondary coil 23 includes a substantially cylindrical core 28 and a coil 29 wound around the core 28. The secondary coil 23 is positioned at the lowermost portion of the unit chamber 24, is in contact with the inner wall surface of the bottom surface portion 25, and the axial direction of the core 28 is positioned perpendicular to the bottom surface portion 25.
[0012]
On one side wall portion 18 a of the camera body 11, an engagement recess 29 disposed around the rotation shaft 17 is formed. The engagement recesses 29 are recessed in a hemispherical shape, and a plurality of engagement recesses 29 are formed at equal angular intervals around the rotation shaft 17. An engagement convex portion 30 is integrally formed at the tip of the tilt adjustment lever 19. When the position of the engagement recess 30 is aligned with the position of the engagement recess 29 in each position, the engagement protrusion 29 is urged toward the side wall 18 a by the elastic force of the tilt adjustment lever 19. Engage. As a result, the battery case 16 rotated integrally with the tilt adjusting lever 19 is positioned and supported at positions corresponding to the engaging recesses 29 respectively.
[0013]
The tray 12 has a substantially rectangular thin plate shape, and has a recess 35 formed on the upper surface for setting the camera body 11. The recessed portion 35 is recessed so as to be an arcuate curved surface having a larger radius than the curved surface of the bottom surface portion 15 of the camera body 11. A primary coil 36 to be described later is provided inside the tray 12. The primary coil 36 is provided at a position corresponding to the secondary coil 23 provided in the camera main body 11 described above, and is disposed on the inner wall surface side of the concave portion 35 at the most concave position. The primary coil 36 has a configuration substantially similar to that of the secondary coil 23 and includes a core 37 and a coil 38. Further, the recess 35 is formed so as to be wider than the width of the camera body 11 and continue to both side edges of the tray 12. As a result, the camera body 11 can be slid to the side and fine adjustment of the position can be performed.
[0014]
Further, an AC cable 39 is connected to the side surface of the tray 12, and an AC plug 40 connected to an outlet such as AC 100 V is provided on the front end side of the AC cable 39.
[0015]
FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of the electrical configuration of the camera 10. In this block diagram, the camera body 11 is set on the tray 12. The camera body 11 is roughly divided into an imaging unit 45, a wireless transmission unit 46, and a power supply unit 47, which are controlled by a system controller 48. The input unit 49 sends an operation signal corresponding to the operation of the power switch 20 and various operation buttons to the system controller 48. Further, the tray 12 is provided with a charging device 50.
[0016]
The imaging unit 45 is mainly configured of members necessary for capturing a subject image with an image sensor. A CCD image sensor 51 is positioned behind the imaging lens 13, and a subject image is formed on the photoelectric surface of the CCD image sensor 51 by the imaging lens 13. By driving the CCD driver 52, the CCD image sensor 51 converts an optical subject image into an electrical imaging signal and outputs it. The imaging signal is amplified to an appropriate level by the amplifier 53 and then digitally converted by the A / D converter 54.
[0017]
The A / D converter 54 digitally converts the imaging signal to generate image data, which is sequentially input to the image data processing circuit 55. The image data processing circuit 55 performs various correction processes on the input image data.
[0018]
The wireless transmission unit 46 constitutes a wireless connection system that exchanges data between electronic devices by wireless communication. The PC 5 is provided with a similar wireless connection system and communication software is installed. As a result, the image data subjected to various correction processes in the image data processing circuit 55 is transferred from the wireless transmission unit 46 to the PC 5. As the wireless connection system, a device compatible with the Bluetooth standard can be used.
[0019]
The power supply unit 47 includes a secondary battery 21, a secondary coil 23, and a secondary battery charge control circuit 58, and charges the secondary battery 21 with power transmitted from the charging device 50 provided on the tray 12. The secondary battery 21 is used as a power source for supplying power to each part of the camera body 11. The charging device 50 includes an AC cable 39, a rectifying circuit 60, a charging circuit 61, and a primary coil 36.
[0020]
In this charging device 50, AC power obtained by inserting the AC plug 40 of the AC cable into an outlet (not shown) is rectified into a predetermined DC current by the rectifier circuit 60 and then supplied to the charging circuit 60. The charging circuit 60 supplied with the direct current excites the primary coil 36 for power transmission. When the camera body 11 is set on the tray 12, the primary coil 36 and the secondary coil 23 are in positions facing each other and the space between them is spatially magnetically coupled. Can be transmitted. Thereby, the primary coil 36 excited by the charging circuit 60 generates an induction magnetic field and transmits electric power to the secondary coil 23. The secondary coil 23 that has received the power transmitted from the primary coil 36 supplies power to the secondary battery charge control circuit 58. As a result, the secondary battery 21 is charged.
[0021]
Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. In order to use the camera 10 as a PC camera, first, the PC 5 is turned on, and further, an OS (Operating System) and various software for performing communication with the camera 10, image display, and transfer are activated. Then, the AC plug 39 is inserted into the outlet, and the power switch 20 of the camera 10 is turned on. As a result, the camera 10 enters a state of functioning as a PC camera, and an image captured by the camera 10 is transmitted to the PC 5 by the wireless transmission unit 46 and an image is input to the PC 5. As the PC 5, a notebook type integrated with a monitor 5a is used, and an image input from the camera 10 is displayed on the monitor 5a. Further, by connecting the PC 5 to the Internet, an image input from the camera 10 can be transferred to an external computer or the like.
[0022]
When the PC 5 is connected to the Internet and used as a WEB camera for performing an electronic conference, the direction of the imaging optical axis L of the imaging lens 13 of the camera 10 is adjusted to the user 7 so that the user 7 can be imaged. I do. When aligning the direction of the imaging optical axis L, adjustment may be performed while viewing the image displayed on the monitor 5a of the PC 5. First, when adjusting the left-right direction, the direction is adjusted by changing the direction of the tray 12 together. Next, the inclination in the vertical direction of the imaging optical axis L of the camera 10 is adjusted. The state at this time will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6A, the inclination of the imaging optical axis L is set in accordance with the imaging of the user 7 at the standard position, and the imaging optical axis L is slightly upward from the horizontal direction. At this time, the secondary battery 21 is built in the camera body 11 at a position close to the bottom surface portion 15 as described above, and the secondary battery 21 is the heaviest item in the camera body 11. The camera body 11 is stationary and balanced so as to be positioned at the lowermost end of the bottom surface portion 15.
[0023]
When the direction of the imaging optical axis L does not match the position of the user 7, the tilt adjustment lever 19 is operated to adjust the imaging optical axis L. FIG. 6B shows a state where the user 7 is at a position higher than the standard position. At this time, the user 7 rotates the tilt adjusting lever 19 counterclockwise from the state shown in FIG. 6A, and engages with the engaging recess 29 at a position shifted by two from the original position. The mating protrusion 30 is engaged. By changing the position of the tilt adjustment lever 19, the secondary battery 21 moves along with the battery case 16 along the bottom surface portion 15. In the state shown in FIG. 6B, the state shown in FIG. The balance position is changed so that the camera body 11 stops at a position inclined backward. As a result, the inclination of the imaging optical axis L in the vertical direction moves upward from the state shown in FIG. 6A, and it is possible to capture the user 7 at a higher position. Further, when imaging the user 7 at a low position, the tilt adjustment lever 19 may be rotated in the reverse direction.
[0024]
In this way, the direction of the imaging optical axis L can be easily and accurately adjusted, and the camera body 11 can be set simply by placing it on the tray 12. If you want to move the camera body 11 temporarily while you are working, you can hold it away from the tray 12 and hold it in your hand. If you place it on the tray 12 again, the camera body 11 stops at the same balance position. The inclination of the imaging optical axis L in the vertical direction can be kept at the same position.
[0025]
In the above-described embodiment, a CCD image sensor is used as the image sensor. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another image sensor such as a CMOS image sensor may be used. In addition, the secondary battery is built in the bottom surface portion 15 of the camera body 11, and the secondary battery is used as a weight, so that the camera body 11 is stationary at the balanced position. A weight other than the secondary battery may be provided to balance the weight, or the secondary battery may not be built in and power may be supplied from the outside. Alternatively, a dry battery may be used. Further, the power is transmitted by generating an electromagnetic induction action between the camera body 11 and the tray 12 using a primary coil and a secondary coil. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the camera body 11 and the tray 12 are contacted. It is good also as a contact-type structure which each provides and transmits electric power.
[0026]
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the thing corresponding to Bluetooth standard is used as the wireless transmission part 46, it is not restricted to this, For example, the thing corresponding to IEEE802.11 standard, the thing using infrared rays, etc. may be used. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the image data is directly transmitted to the PC 5 by the wireless transmission unit 46. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a receiving unit for receiving the data transmitted from the wireless transmission unit 46 is provided on the tray 12. In addition, the tray 12 and the PC 5 may be connected by a connection method using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface or the like, and the image data may be input to the PC 5 via the tray 12.
[0027]
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the recessed part 35 of the upper surface of the tray 12 is formed so that it may be located to the both-sides edge of the tray 12 wider than the width | variety of the camera main body 11, this invention is not restricted to this, Like the digital camera 70 shown in FIG. 7, wall surface portions 35 a and 35 b are provided on both sides of the concave portion 35 of the tray 71, and the interval between the wall surface portions 35 a and 35 b is adjusted to the width of the camera body 11. When setting, the bottom portion 15 may be fitted into the recess 35. As a result, the camera body 11 can be adjusted in the imaging optical axis L to the user 7 without being displaced in the left-right direction.
[0028]
Further, in the above embodiment, the bottom surface portion 15 of the camera body 11 is formed in a semi-cylindrical curved surface, and is recessed on the upper surface of the tray 12 so as to be a curved surface of an arc having a larger radius than the curved surface of the bottom surface portion 15. Although the recessed part 35 is formed, it is not restricted to this. For example, the shape of the bottom surface portion may be a spherical surface projecting downward, and the upper surface of the tray 12 may be formed with a concave portion recessed in a spherical shape having a larger radius than the spherical bottom surface portion.
[0029]
In the above embodiment, the imaging lens is held on the front surface, and a semi-cylindrical curved surface having a generatrix parallel to the horizontal direction orthogonal to the imaging optical axis of the imaging lens is formed on the bottom surface. The camera body is provided with a weight that is movably attached along the curved surface of the lens, and a tray having a concave portion recessed in an arc shape having a larger radius than the curved surface of the bottom surface portion. When the camera body is placed on the tray with the curved surface on the bottom, the camera body is stationary so that the weight is positioned at the bottom end of the bottom, and the camera body is stationary by moving the weight. It is preferable to adjust the inclination of the imaging optical axis in the vertical direction by changing the balance position.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the digital camera of the present invention holds the imaging lens on the front surface portion, and the bottom surface portion is formed in a curved surface protruding downward, and the weight is attached to be movable along the curved surface of the bottom surface portion. And a tray with a concave portion recessed in a curved surface having a larger radius of curvature than the curved surface of the bottom surface, and the curved surface of the bottom surface is aligned with the position of the concave portion. When placed on the tray, the camera body is stationary so that the weight is positioned at the bottom end of the bottom surface, and the balance position where the camera body is stationary is changed by moving the weight to change the position of the imaging optical axis. Since the tilt is adjusted, the direction of the imaging optical axis can be adjusted easily and accurately, and even when the camera body is moved away from the tray and placed again, the imaging optical axis remains in the same direction. Turn to It is possible.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a digital camera of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an external view showing a state in which the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a personal computer and used as a PC camera.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 cut in a vertical direction parallel to the imaging optical axis.
4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 cut in a vertical direction perpendicular to the imaging optical axis.
5 is a block diagram showing an outline of an electrical configuration of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state when the imaging optical axis of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 is adjusted. FIG.
7 is an external perspective view of a digital camera including a tray different from that shown in FIG. 1 and a camera body placed on the tray.
[Explanation of symbols]
5 Personal computer 6 Work table 7 User 10 Digital camera 11 Camera body 12 Tray 13 Imaging lens 15 Bottom surface portion 21 Secondary battery 35 Recessed portion

Claims (3)

A camera body having a weight that holds the imaging lens on the front surface and the bottom surface protrudes downward, and is movably attached along the curved surface of the bottom surface, and the curved surface of the bottom surface A concave portion recessed in a curved surface shape having a larger radius of curvature than the tray formed on the upper surface, and when the camera body is placed on the tray with the curved surface of the bottom surface portion aligned with the concave portion, the weight Is balanced so that it is positioned at the bottom end of the bottom surface, and the camera body is stationary.By moving the weight, the balance position where the camera body is stationary is changed, and the inclination of the imaging optical axis is changed. A digital camera characterized by adjusting. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the weight includes a secondary battery serving as a power source of the digital camera, and includes a charging circuit that charges the secondary battery. 3. The digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising a wireless transmission unit that transmits image data obtained by capturing an image of an object to an external device.

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