JP2511016Y2 - Display device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a battery-powered camera for photographing a subject, and more particularly to a camera provided with a display unit for informing a user of the power supply capacity of the battery and the number of images taken by the camera. .

[Prior art]

Conventionally, liquid crystal display devices and the like have been used in SV cameras as means for displaying the operating state of the cameras.

By the way, it is desirable that the liquid crystal display device is as large as possible from the viewpoint of making it easy to see, but it is difficult to use a display device having a too large size from the viewpoint of miniaturization of the camera body. Further, as the number of display segments increases, various types of display can be performed, but there is a problem that wiring to each segment becomes complicated.

Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, a method of displaying by using several digits in a 7-segment display method has been used.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In such a display method, when the battery is exhausted,
Conventionally, the display is as shown in FIG. However, it is difficult for the camera user to understand the meaning.

Further, although there is a display in which the battery consumption state is indicated by blinking pictograms of the battery, even with this method, it is difficult for a person who uses the camera for the first time to clearly understand the display content. Since the blinking period is constant, there is a drawback that the degree of battery consumption cannot be known.

The present invention aims to solve the drawbacks of the prior art.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention is a battery-powered camera for photographing a subject, which can display a first display unit for displaying pictograms indicating a battery and a value relating to the number of images taken by the camera. Display means having a second display part;
When the power supplied by the battery is higher than a second level at which the camera can perform a photographing operation and lower than a first level higher than the second level, the first level in the display means is reduced. 1 blinks the display unit and the second
The display unit displays the value relating to the number of images taken by the camera, and when the value is higher than the first level, the first display unit in the display means is turned off and the second display unit displays the value. A value relating to the number of images taken by the camera is displayed, and when the value is lower than the second level,
Display operation control means for controlling the display operation of the display means so that the first display portion of the display means blinks and the value relating to the number of images taken by the camera is not displayed by the second display portion. It is equipped with.

[Action]

In the present invention, since the power supply capacity of the battery and the photographing capacity of the camera are displayed, it is possible to inform the user of the state of the camera in an easy-to-understand and itemized manner to call attention.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a structural example of the present invention, in which 1 is a release switch of a camera, 3 is a control circuit, 4 is a liquid crystal display, 12 is a system battery, 13 is a display battery, and 5 is a power supply control circuit. , 9 and 14 are A / D converters for detecting the terminal voltages of the batteries 12 and 13, 10 and 11 are power control signal lines, and 15 and 16 are A
A signal line for sending the outputs of the / D converters 9 and 14 to the control circuit 3, 23
Is a display control line. Reference numeral 25 is a pictogram indicating a display battery, 26 is a pictogram indicating a system battery, 24 is a 7-segment display character display block, and 7 is a character display block for displaying the number of shots.

Here, the control circuit 3 is supplied with power at the timing when the release switch 1 is turned on, and the release switch 1 is turned off.
It is assumed that the power is cut off after the elapse of a predetermined time by the operation. Further, the liquid crystal display device 4 has a small current consumption, so that it is assumed that the power is always supplied.

For this reason, the power supply circuit 5 starts supplying the power when the control input 10 becomes the LOW level and holds it. It is assumed that the power supply is cut off when the control input 11 becomes LOW level. The structure of this power supply control circuit has no direct relation to the essence of the present invention and is already known, so a description thereof is omitted here.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. When the power is turned on at S1 in FIG. 3, first, at S2, it is checked whether or not the release switch 1 is ON. If it is ON here, the consumption level of the battery 3 for the display is checked in S3. At this time, the system control circuit 3 checks the terminal voltage and the like of the battery 13 by the A / D converter 14, and determines that the battery is exhausted if it is below a predetermined level,
Proceed to S16 to blink the pictogram segment 25 of the display battery and return to S2. If the terminal voltage of the battery 13 is equal to or higher than the predetermined level, it is determined that the battery 13 has not been consumed and the process proceeds to S4. In S4, segment 25 is turned off and the process moves to S5. In S5, the degree of consumption of the system battery 12 is checked. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the consumption level is set to two levels. The first level is a consumption level at which shooting is possible, but it is expected that shooting will not be possible after shooting a number of images. The second level is a state in which the battery is exhausted to such an extent that shooting is impossible. In S5, it is checked whether or not this is the first level or lower.

If it is at the first level or higher, the pictogram segment 26 and the character segment 24 indicating the system battery are turned off. First
If the level is less than or equal to the level, the segment 26 is blinked and the segment 24 is displayed. Here, the segment 24 is represented by a character that supplementarily explains the consumption of the battery, for example, in this embodiment, a low level is represented by "LO" and a high level is represented by "Hi". Further, in S8, it is checked whether the degree of battery consumption is below the second level. If it is below the second level, it is determined that shooting is not possible, and the number-of-shots display 7 is turned off in S9. If it is at the second level or higher, shooting 7 is displayed in S10. Then again S2
Return to and check the relay switch 1, and if the release switch is OFF, wait for a predetermined time in S13 and then switch the segment 26 to the lighting display in S14, control the power supply control circuit 5 by the signal line 11 in S15, Turn off the system power.

Therefore, the display when the display battery is exhausted is as shown in FIG. 2 (a). If the system battery is exhausted but the consumption level is high enough for shooting, the second
(B) The display is as shown in the figure. When the image is consumed so that it cannot be photographed, the display is as shown in FIG. 12 (c).

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The second embodiment changes the blinking cycle of the segment according to the degree of battery consumption.

In FIG. 4, the components of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 are converted. Here, the battery consumption is divided into three levels. It is assumed that the second level rather than the first level and the third level than the second level consume more severely. Also, it is assumed that shooting is possible at the first and second levels, but shooting is not possible at the third level.

Therefore, when S20 is reached in the same sequence as in the first embodiment, it is first checked whether the battery consumption level is below the first level. If it is not lower than the first level, the number is displayed in S27. If it is 1 or less than the first level, it is checked in S21 whether it is the second level or not. If it is not the second level or less, the segment 26 is set to 1H.
It blinks at z and moves to S27, and if it is at the second level or lower, moves to S22. Therefore, if it is not below the third level, segment 26
It blinks at 2 Hz and goes to S27. If it is at the third level or lower, the segment 26 is displayed at 4 Hz, and the display of the number of sheets is erased at S24. That is, in the present embodiment, the blinking cycle is made faster as the battery becomes more exhausted.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, after the release switch is released, the segment which is blinking is displayed after a predetermined time has passed, but it may be constantly blinking even after the release switch is released.
Further, the blinking display is only pictograms in the above embodiment, but the characters of the segment 24 may also blink.

Further, in the second embodiment, the blinking cycle of the pictograms is made faster as the battery is exhausted, but it may be made slower.

〔effect〕

As described above, by displaying the power supply capacity of the battery and the photographing capacity of the camera, it is easy for the user who uses the camera for the first time to understand the state of the camera and to easily understand the meaning of the display. Because it is possible to communicate and to visually appeal effectively,
The user can quickly know the state of the camera and the power supply capacity of the battery, and since the displayed contents change depending on the degree of the power supply capacity of the battery, the user can know the state of the camera as appropriate. Since it is possible to know when to replace the battery, it is possible to reduce the number of mistakes that suddenly run out of battery and miss a shooting opportunity.

[Brief description of drawings]

 FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 (a), (b) and (c) are display examples of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the first embodiment, FIG. Is a flow chart of the second embodiment, FIG. 5 is a conventional example diagram, FIG. 6 is another conventional example diagram, 12 ... System battery 13 ... Display battery

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A battery-driven camera for photographing an object, comprising: a first display unit for displaying pictograms indicating a battery; and a second display unit capable of displaying a value relating to the number of images taken by the camera. If the power supplied by the display means and the battery is higher than a second level at which the camera can perform a shooting operation and lower than a first level higher than the second level, the display is performed. The first display section of the display means is blinked, and the second display section displays a value relating to the number of images taken by the camera. When the value is higher than the first level, the first display section of the display means is displayed. Is turned off and a value relating to the number of images taken by the camera is displayed on the second display section, and when the value is lower than the second level, the first display section of the display means blinks. It Rutotomoni, camera and a display operation control means for controlling the display operation of the second display unit by the display unit so as not displayed values for the number of shots of the camera. 2. The display operation control means starts blinking of a first display portion of the display means by turning on a photographing release switch of the camera, and a predetermined period after releasing the photographing release switch of the camera. The camera according to claim (1), wherein the camera stops after a lapse of time. 3. The utility model registration claim, wherein the display operation control means changes a cycle of blinking the first display portion of the display means in accordance with a change in electric power supplied by the battery. The camera according to item (1).