Patent Grant
11796898
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus and an accessory, each of which has a contact used for a communication, a power supply, and the like.
An accessory such as a strobe device is attached to an accessory shoe provided to an electronic apparatus, such as a camera. The accessory shoe is provided with a plurality of contacts (terminals) for supplying the power to the accessory and for communicating with the accessory. If a signal connected to a certain contact receives noises from a signal connected to an adjacent contact during the communication between the electronic apparatus and the accessory, it may cause a malfunction of the electronic apparatus or the accessory.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-34172 discloses a camera and an accessory, in which a contact for notifying the camera of an activatable state of the accessory is disposed next to one of contacts to which a data signal as a communication signal is connected, and a grounded contact is disposed next to the other of the contacts of the data signal.
However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-34172 is silent about a contact arrangement for avoiding interference with a communication signal, which is caused by a change in another signal.
The present invention provides an electronic apparatus and an accessory, each of which can suppress interference with a communication signal, which is caused by a change in another signal.
An electronic apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention detachably attached to an accessory via an accessory shoe includes a plurality of contacts electrically connectable to the accessory via the accessory shoe and arranged in a row. The plurality of contacts include a first signal contact used to transmit a data signal in a communication between the electronic apparatus and the accessory, a second signal contact used to transmit a clock signal in synchronization with the data signal in the communication, and a third signal contact used to receive a communication request signal from the accessory. The first signal contact and the second signal contact are arranged next to each other. The third signal contact is disposed on an opposite side than the second signal contact with respect to the first signal contact. A transmission of the data signal via the first signal contact is executed in response to a reception of the communication request signal via the third signal contact.
An accessory according to another aspect of the present invention detachably attached to an electronic apparatus via an accessory shoe includes a plurality of contacts electrically connectable to the accessory shoe of the electronic apparatus and arranged in a row. The plurality of contacts include a first signal contact used to transmit a data signal in a communication between the electronic apparatus and the accessory, a second signal contact used to receive a clock signal in synchronization with the data signal in the communication, and a third signal contact used to transmit a communication request signal to the electronic apparatus. The first signal contact and the second signal contact are arranged next to each other. The third signal contact is disposed on an opposite side than the second signal contact with respect to the first signal contact. A reception of the data signal via the first signal contact is executed in response to a transmission of the communication request signal via the third signal contact.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Referring now to the accompanying drawings, a description will be given of embodiments according to the present invention.
The camera 100 is supplied with the electric power from a battery 111. The battery 111 is attachable to and detachable from the camera 100. A camera control circuit 101 as a control means of the camera 100 is a circuit that controls the entire camera 100, and includes a microcomputer having a built-in CPU or the like.
A system power supply circuit 112 is a circuit that generates a power supply for supplying the power to each circuit in the camera 100, and includes a DC/DC converter circuit, an LDO (Low Drop Out), a charge pump circuit, and the like. A voltage of 1.8V generated by the system power supply circuit 112 is constantly supplied as a camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C from the battery 111 to the camera control circuit 101. The camera control circuit 101 controls the system power supply circuit 112 and thereby controls turning on and off of the power supply to each circuit of the camera 100.
An optical lens 121 is attachable to and detachable from the camera 100. Light from an object incident through the optical lens 121 is imaged on an image sensor 122 including a CMOS sensor, a CCD sensor, or the like. The object image formed on the image sensor 122 is encoded into a digital imaging signal. An image processing circuit 123 performs image processing such as noise reduction processing and white balance processing for the digital imaging signal to generate image data, and converts it into an image file, such as a JPEG format, in order to record the image data in a recording memory 126. The image processing circuit 123 generates from the image data VRAM image data for display on a display circuit 127.
A memory control circuit 124 controls a transmission and reception of the image data and other data generated by the image processing circuit 123 and the like. A volatile memory 125 is a memory capable of high-speed reading and writing such as DDR3 SDRAM, and is used for a workspace or the like of the image processing performed by the image processing circuit 123. The recording memory 126 is a readable and writable recording medium such as an SD card or CFexpress card that is attachable to and detachable from the camera 100 via an unillustrated connector. The display circuit 127 is a display located on the back surface of the camera 100, and includes an LCD panel, an organic EL display panel, and the like. A backlight circuit 128 adjusts the brightness of the display circuit 127 by changing a light amount of the backlight of the display circuit 127.
Each of an accessory-use power supply circuit A131 and an accessory-use power supply circuit B132 as the power supply means is a voltage conversion circuit that converts the voltage supplied from the system power supply circuit 112 into a predetermined voltage, and generates 3.3 V as an accessory power supply VACC in this embodiment.
The accessory-use power supply circuit A131 is a power supply circuit including an LDO or the like and having a low self-consumption power. The accessory-use power supply circuit B132 is a circuit that includes a DC/DC converter circuit or the like and can flow a larger current than that of the accessory-use power supply circuit A131. The self-consumption power of the accessory-use power supply circuit B132 is larger than that of the accessory-use power supply circuit A131. Therefore, when the load current is small, the accessory-use power supply circuit A131 is more efficient than the accessory-use power supply circuit B132, and when the load current is large, the accessory-use power supply circuit B132 is more efficient than the accessory-use power supply circuit A131. The camera control circuit 101 controls turning on and off of the voltage outputs of the accessory-use power supply circuits A131 and B132 according to the operating state of the accessory 200.
A protection circuit 133 as a protection means includes a current fuse element, a poly-switching element, an electronic fuse circuit that combines a resistor, an amplifier, and a switching element, and the like, and outputs an overcurrent detection signal DET_OVC when the power supply current values from the accessory-use power supply circuits A131 and B132 to the accessory 200 become excessive (abnormal) beyond a predetermined value. In this embodiment, the protection circuit 133 includes an electronic fuse circuit, and notifies the camera control circuit 101 through the overcurrent detection signal DET_OVC when the current of 1 A or higher flows. The overcurrent detection signal DET_OVC indicates the overcurrent through the Hi level.
A camera connector 141 is a connector for an electrical connection with the accessory 200 via 21 contacts TC01 to TC21 arranged in a row. The contacts TC01 to TC21 are arranged in this order from one end to the other end in the arrangement direction thereof.
TC01 is connected to the ground (GND) and serves not only as a contact for the reference potential (GND potential) but also as a contact for controlling the wiring impedance of differential signals D1N and D1P described below. TC01 corresponds to a third grounded contact.
The differential signal D1N connected to TC02 and the differential signal D1P connected to TC03 are paired differential data communication signals that perform a data communication, and connected to the camera control circuit 101. TC02, TC03, TC07 to TC17, TC19, and TC20, which will be described later, are communication contacts.
TC04 as a first grounded contact is connected to GND and serves as a reference potential contact between the camera 100 and the accessory 200. TC04 is disposed outside TC05 described below in the contact arrangement direction.
The accessory power supply VACC generated by the accessory-use power supply circuits A131 and B132 is connected to TC05 as the power supply contact via the protection circuit 133.
An accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET is connected to TC06 as an attachment detection contact. The accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET is pulled up to the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C via a resistor element Rp134 (10 kΩ). The camera control circuit 101 can detect whether or not the accessory 200 is attached, by reading the signal level of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET. If the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET signal level (potential) is a Hi level (predetermined potential), the accessory 200 is detected as being non-attached, and if it is a Lo level (GND potential as described later), the accessory 200 is detected as being attached.
When the camera 100 is powered on and the signal level (potential) of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET changes from the Hi level to the Lo level, various transmissions are performed between the camera 100 and the accessory 200 via the contacts.
The camera control circuit 101 supplies the power to the accessory 200 via TC05 as a power supply contact when the attachment state of the accessory 200 is detected.
SCLK connected to TC07, MOSI connected to TC08, MISO connected to TC09, and CS connected to TC10 are signals used by the camera control circuit 101 as a communication master to perform a SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) communication. In this embodiment, the communication clock frequency of the SPI communication is 1 MHz.
A communication request signal/WAKE for requesting a communication from the accessory 200 to the camera control circuit 101 is connected to TC11. The communication request signal/WAKE is pulled up to the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C via a resistor. The camera control circuit 101 can receive the communication request from the accessory 200 by detecting a trailing edge of the communication request signal/WAKE.
SDA connected to TC12 and SCL connected to the TC13 are signals for the camera control circuit 101 to act as a communication master and perform an I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) communication. SDA and SCL are signals for an open drain communication (referred to as an open drain communication hereinafter) pulled up to the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C, and the communication frequency is 100 kbps in this embodiment.
In the I2C communication, both the data transmission from the camera 100 and the data transmission from the accessory 200 are performed via the SDA. When the SPI communication and the I2C communication are compared with each other, the I2C communication has a lower communication speed than that of the SPI communication, and can achieve a lower power consumption. The SPI communication has a higher communication speed than the I2C communication, and is therefore suitable for a communication of information having a large data amount. Therefore, in the communication between the camera 100 and the accessory 200 according to this embodiment, information having a large data amount is communicated in the SPI communication, and information having a small data amount is communicated in the I2C communication. For example, data is first communicated in the I2C communication, and a control is made so that the SPI communication is further executed when the SPI communication can be executed or the SPI communication needs to be executed based on this data.
An FNC1 signal connected to TC14 (synchronous contact), an FNC2 signal connected to TC15, an FNC3 signal connected to TC16, and an FNC4 signal connected to TC17 are signals that can change the function according to the type of the attached accessory 200. For example, when the accessory 200 is a microphone device, the signal communicated via TC 15 is an audio data signal. When the accessory 200 is an illumination (strobe or flash) unit, the signal communicated via TC14 is a signal for controlling the light emission timing. Depending on the type of the attached accessory, a signal that realizes a different function may be communicated via the same contact. For example, when the accessory 200 is an accessory other than the illumination unit, a synchronization signal for controlling a timing different from the light emission timing may be communicated via TC14. TC14 to TC17 correspond to functional signal contacts. A communication using at least one of the functional signal contacts is also referred to as a functional signal communication.
The functional signal communication can execute a communication at a timing that does not depend on the I2C communication or the SPI communication in parallel with the I2C communication and the SPI communication.
The type of the accessory, as used herein, means the above-mentioned microphone device, illumination unit, and the like. Accessories that achieve the same purpose, such as illuminations with different performances, belong to the same type. Accessories that achieve different purposes, such as a microphone device and an illumination unit, belong to different types.
The functional signal communication is executed based on the information acquired by the I2C communication or the SPI communication.
TC18 as a second grounded contact (reference potential contact) is also connected to GND, and is a contact that serves as a reference potential between the camera 100 and the accessory 200, similar to TC04.
A differential signal D2N connected to TC19 (first differential signal contact) and a differential signal D2P connected to TC20 (second differential signal contact) are paired data communication signals that perform a data communication and connected to the camera control circuit 101. For example, the USB communication can be performed via TC19 and TC20.
TC21 is connected to GND and can be used not only as a contact for a reference potential but also as a contact for controlling the wiring impedance of the differential signals D2N and D2P. TC21 corresponds to a fourth grounded contact. The contacts TC01, TC04, TC06, TC18, and TC21 are connected, for example, to a GND portion of a flexible substrate 158 illustrated in
This embodiment disposes the attachment detection contact TC06 to which the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET is connected is arranged, next to the contact (first clock contact) TC07 that transmits SCLK (first clock signal) as a clock signal. In general, a noise (clock noise) due to the potential fluctuation of the clock signal is transmitted to a contact adjacent to the contact of the clock signal, which may cause a malfunction. In particular, in a configuration having a large number of contacts and a short distance between contacts as in this embodiment, the influence is more significant. Accordingly, disposing the attachment detection contact TC06 next to the SCLK contact TC07 can suppress the influence of the clock noise.
The accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET is pulled up before the accessory is attached, but is set to the GND potential after the accessory is attached. On the other hand, the SCLK contact TC07 that transmits the clock signal does not transmit the clock signal before the accessory is attached, and thus the potential does not fluctuate. The potential fluctuates because the clock signal is transmitted only after the accessory is attached.
When the SCLK contact TC07 transmits the clock signal, the attachment detection contact TC06 is at the GND potential. Therefore, even if the attachment detection contact TC06 receives the clock noises, the potential of the control circuit of the camera 100 or the accessory 200 is less likely to fluctuate, so that the malfunction can be prevented. In addition, the clock noise can be restrained from transmitting to a position distant farther than the attachment detection contact TC06. As a result, since it is unnecessary to dispose the GND terminal, the influence of the clock noises can be suppressed without increasing the number of contacts.
SCL (second clock signal) as a clock signal is also transmitted to the contact (second clock contact) TC13. However, the frequency of SCLK transmitted to the SCLK contact TC07 is higher than that of SCL, and the SCLK contact TC07 generates more clock noises than the SCL contact TC13. Therefore, disposing the attachment detection contact TC06 next to the SCLK contact TC07 rather than next to the SCL contact TC13 can provide a greater effect of preventing the malfunction due to the clock noises.
In addition to the difference in frequency, SCL transmitted by the SCL contact TC13 is a clock signal of the I2C communication standard, and the voltage fluctuation of the signal line is driven by the open drain connection. On the other hand, SCLK transmitted by the SCLK contact TC07 is a clock signal pursuant to the SPI communication standard, and the voltage fluctuation of the signal line is driven by the CMOS output. Therefore, the SCL contact TC13 tends to have a gentler edge of the voltage fluctuation than the SCLK contact TC07, and the clock noises are less likely to occur. Thus, disposing the attachment detection contact TC06 next to the SCLK contact TC07 rather than next to the SCL contact TC13 is more effective in preventing the malfunction caused by the clock noises.
The differential signals DIN and D1P may be transmitted in pairs to the first and second differential signal contacts TC19 and TC20 to transmit the clock signal. At that time, a clock signal (third clock signal) having a frequency higher than that of the SCLK contact TC07 or the SCL contact TC13 may be transmitted. Since the differential signals DIN and D1P are paired signals, the emission of the clock noise is smaller than that of the SCLK contact TC07 or the SCL contact TC13 that transmits a single-ended signal. Therefore, disposing the attachment detection contact TC06 next to the SCLK contact TC07 rather than next to the first and second differential signal contacts TC19 and TC20 can more effectively prevent the malfunction caused by the clock noise.
The contact (first data contact) TC08 disposed on an opposite side than the attachment detection contact TC06 with respect to the SCLK contact TC07 transmits MOSI (first data signal). Since MOSI is a data signal, it appears to be susceptible to clock noises. Since MOSI is a data signal of the same SPI communication standard as the clock signal transmitted by the SCLK contact TC07, the fluctuation timing of the potential is synchronized with the clock signal and is less affected by the clock noise. Therefore, the contact TC08 does not have to be fixed to the GND potential and can be used as a MOSI contact.
The accessory 200 has a battery 205 and receives the power supply from the battery 205 and also receives the power supply from the camera 100 via the camera connector 141 and the accessory connector 211. An accessory control circuit 201 as a control means of the accessory 200 is a circuit that controls the entire accessory 200, and is a microcomputer having a built-in CPU and the like.
An accessory power supply circuit 202 is a circuit that generates a power supply to be supplied to each circuit of the accessory 200, and includes a DC/DC converter circuit, an LDO, a charge pump circuit, and the like. The voltage 1.8 V generated by the accessory power supply circuit 202 is constantly supplied as an accessory microcomputer power supply VMCU_A to the accessory control circuit 201. Turning on and off of the power supply to each circuit of the accessory 200 is controlled by controlling the accessory power supply circuit 202.
A charging circuit 204 is a circuit for charging the battery 205 using the power supplied from the camera 100. When it can be determined that the sufficient power is supplied from the camera 100 to perform the charging operation, the accessory control circuit 201 controls the charging circuit 204 to charge the battery 205. Although the battery 205 attached to the accessory 200 has been described in this embodiment, the accessory 200 may operate only with the power supply from the camera 100 without the battery 205. In this case, no charging circuit 204 is necessary.
A differential communication circuit 207 is a circuit for performing a differential communication with the camera 100, and can transmit and receive data to and from the camera 100. An external communication IF circuit 208 is an IF circuit for performing a data communication with an unillustrated external device, such as an Ethernet communication IF, a wireless LAN communication IF, and a public network communication IF.
The accessory control circuit 201 controls the differential communication circuit 207 and the external communication IF circuit 208 and thereby can transmit the data received from the camera 100 to the external device or the data received from the external device to the camera 100. A functional circuit 206 is a circuit having a different function depending on the type of the accessory 200. A configuration example of the functional circuit 206 will be described later.
An external connection terminal 209 is a connector terminal connectable to an external device, and is a USB TYPE-C connector in this embodiment. A connection detecting circuit 210 is a circuit for detecting that an external device is connected to the external connection terminal 209, and the accessory control circuit 201 can detect that the external device has been connected to the external connection terminal 209 by receiving the output signal of the connection detecting circuit 210.
A power switch 203 is a switch for turning on and off the operation of the accessory 200, and the accessory control circuit 201 can detect the ON position and the OFF position by reading the signal level of the terminal to which the power switch 203 is connected.
The accessory connector 211 is a connector electrically connectable to the camera 100 via the 21 contacts TA01 to TA21 that are arranged in a row. The contacts TA01 to TA21 are arranged in this order from one end to the other end in the arrangement direction.
TA01 is connected to GND and serves not only as a contact of the reference potential but also as a contact for controlling the wiring impedance of the differential signals D1N and D1P. TA01 corresponds to a third grounded contact.
The differential signal D1N connected to TA02 and the differential signal D1P connected to TA03 are paired data communication signals for the data communication, and are connected to the differential communication circuit 207. TA02, TA03, TA07 to TA17, TA19, and TA20 described later are communication contacts.
TA04 as the first grounded contact is connected to GND and serves as a reference potential contact between the camera 100 and the accessory 200. TA04 is located outside TA05 described below in the contact arrangement direction.
The accessory power supply circuit 202 and the charging circuit 204 are connected to TA05 as the power supply contact, and the accessory power supply VACC supplied from the camera 100 is connected to it.
TA06 as an attachment detection contact is directly connected to GND, and turns the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET described above into the GND level as the Lo level when the accessory 200 is attached to the camera 100. Thereby, it becomes it serves as a contact for causing the camera 100 to detect the attachment of the accessory 200.
SCLK connected to TA07, MOSI connected to TA08, MISO connected to TA09, and CS connected to TA10 are signals for the accessory control circuit 201 to act as a communication slave and perform the SPI communication.
The communication request signal/WAKE for requesting the communication from the accessory control circuit 201 to the camera 100 is connected to TA11. When the accessory control circuit 201 outputs the communication request signal/WAKE at the Lo level and requests the camera 100 for the communication when determining that the communication with the camera 100 is necessary.
When the power is supplied from the camera control circuit 101 to the accessory 200 via TC5 in response to detecting that the accessory 200 is in the attached state, the accessory control circuit 201 notifies the camera control circuit 101 of the reception of the power supply by changing the signal level (potential) of the communication request signal/WAKE from the Hi level to the Lo level.
The accessory control circuit 201 notifies that the accessory 200 has a cause of the communication with the camera 100 by changing the signal level (potential) of the communication request signal/WAKE from the Hi level to the Lo level even without any requests from the camera. With this configuration, the camera control circuit 101 can omit the operation of periodically checking whether or not the accessory 200 has a cause of the communication through polling. In addition, when the accessary 200 has the cause of the communication, the accessory 200 can communicate the fact to the camera 100 on a real-time basis.
SDA connected to TA12 and SCL connected to TA13 are signals for the accessory control circuit 201 to act as a communication slave and perform the I2C communication.
The FNC1 signal connected to TA14 (synchronous contact), the FNC2 signal connected to TA15, the FNC3 signal connected to TA16, and the FNC4 signal connected to TA17 are signals whose functions can be changed according to the type of the accessory 200. For example, when the accessory 200 is a microphone device, it is an audio data signal, and when the accessory 200 is a strobe device, it is a signal for controlling the light emission timing. TA14 to TA17 correspond to functional signal contacts.
TA18 as the second grounded contact (reference potential contact) is also connected to GND, and serves as a reference potential contact between the camera 100 and the accessory 200, similar to TA04.
The differential signal D2N connected to TA19 (first differential signal contact) and the differential signal D2P connected to TA20 (second differential signal contact) are paired data communication signals for the data communication and connected to the external connection terminal 209.
TA21 is connected to GND and serves not only as a contact for a reference potential but also as a terminal for controlling the wiring impedance of the differential signals D2N and D2P. TA21 corresponds to a fourth grounded contact.
The contacts TA01, TA04, TA06, TA18, and TA21 are connected, for example, to the GND portion of the flexible substrate 259 illustrated in
This embodiment connects to GND the contacts TC01 and TA01 and TC21 and TA21 at both ends of the camera connector 141 and the accessory connector 211. Thereby, even if a poor connection temporarily occurs at the contact at one end due to the excessive static pressure, the GND connection can be secured at the contact at the other end. Therefore, this configuration can restrain each circuit and electric element from getting damaged as a result of that the reference potential of the accessory 200 becomes unstable due to the poor GND connection.
When the accessory 200 in which part of the GND contacts is missing is attached due to a defect and breakdown of the accessory connector 211 or the like, the camera control circuit 101 cannot detect that the part of the GND contacts is missing. In such a case, the operating current concentrates on the remaining GND contacts, and the accessory 200 may malfunction in some cases.
TC01, TC04, TC18, and TC21 are connected to input terminals P1, P2, P3, and P4 of the camera control circuit 101, respectively, and pulled to the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C via resistors 1011Rp_g1, 1021Rp_g2, 1031Rp_g3, and 1041Rp_g4, respectively. An SW circuit 1 (1012), an SW circuit 2 (1022), an SW circuit 3 (1032), and an SW circuit 4 (1042) are connected to TC01, TC04, TC18, and TC21, respectively.
The SW circuit 1 is a switching circuit driven by the control signal of the camera control circuit 101, and when it is turned on by the control signal, TC01 is connected to GND. It is desirable that the SW circuit 1 includes, for example, an FET, or a circuit that has impedance that is as small as possible when the operation is turned on, and the impedance that is as large as possible when the operation is turned off. Each of the SW circuits 2, 3, and 4 also has the same configuration as that of the SW circuit 1 as illustrated in
A flowchart of
In S1001, the camera control circuit 101 monitors the signal level of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET and determines whether or not the accessory 200 is attached. If the signal level is Hi, the camera control circuit 101 returns to S1001 and performs the detection again, assuming that the accessory 200 is not attached, and if the signal level is Lo, it proceeds to S1002 assuming that the accessory 200 is attached.
In S1002, the camera control circuit 101 makes such a control that the SW circuit 1 is turned on and the SW circuits 2, 3, and 4 are turned off, respectively.
In S1003, the camera control circuit 101 confirms the voltage level of the input terminal P1, and determines that TC01 is connected to the grounded contact if it is a Lo level, and that TC01 is not connected to the grounded contact if it is a Hi level.
Next, in S1004, the camera control circuit 101 makes such a control that the SW circuit 2 is turned on and the SW circuits 1, 3, and 4 are turned off, respectively.
In S1005, the camera control circuit 101 confirms the voltage level of the input terminal P2, and determines that TC04 is connected to the grounded contact if it is a Lo level, and that TC04 is not connected to the grounded contact if it is a Hi level.
Next, in S1006, the camera control circuit 101 makes such a control that the SW circuit 3 is turned on and the SW circuits 1, 2, and 4 are turned off, respectively.
In S1007, the camera control circuit 101 confirms the voltage level of the input terminal P3, and determines that TC18 is connected to the grounded contact if it is a Lo level, and that TC18 is not connected to the grounded contact if it is a Hi level.
Next, in S1008, the camera control circuit 101 makes such a control that the SW circuit 4 is turned on and the SW circuits 1, 2, and 3 are turned off, respectively.
In S1009, the camera control circuit 101 confirms the voltage level of the input terminal P4, and determines that TC21 is connected to the grounded contact if it is a Lo level, and that it is not connected to the grounded contact if it is a Hi level.
In S1010, the camera control circuit 101 makes such a control that the SW circuits 1, 2, 3, and 4 are turned on, respectively.
Such a control enables the camera control circuit 101 to confirm the attachment state of the grounded contact with the attached accessory 200, and to determine whether or not to supply to the accessory power supply circuit 202 and the like based on the ground connection state.
In the meanwhile, if the accessory 200 is tilted to the camera 100 or the like when the accessory 200 is attached to the camera 100, only some of the plurality of contacts TC01 to TC21 and TA01 to TA21 can be connected with each other. As illustrated in
First, as illustrated in
As detailed later with reference to
Therefore, this embodiment adopts the contact arrangement so as to reduce the occurrence of a situation in which the camera 100 cannot detect the communication request signal/WAKE even though the attachment of the accessory 200 to the camera 100 is detected.
As described above, when the accessory 200 is tilted to the camera 100 around an axis parallel to the Z direction, the contacts TC01 and TA01 and the neighboring contacts are connected as illustrated in
This embodiment uses the contacts TC06 and TA06 to detect the attachment of the accessory 200 to the camera 100. As illustrated in
On the other hand, as illustrated in
On the other hand, this embodiment adopts the following contact arrangement. As illustrated in
In this embodiment, the distances between the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 and the contacts TC01 and TA01 are set to be equal to or less than the distance between the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 and the contacts TC21 and TA21 in the contact arrangement direction. This arrangement relationship will be referred to as a fourth arrangement relationship. In particular, this embodiment disposes the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 at the centers between the contacts TC01 to TC21 and TC01 to TC21, and makes equal to each other the distances between the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 and the contacts TC01 and TA01, and the distances between the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 and the contacts TC21 and TA21. The communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 do not necessarily have to be disposed at the centers between the contacts TC01 to TC21 and TC01 to TC21, but they are preferably disposed near the centers.
This embodiment makes the distances between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the contacts TC01 and TA01 equal to or greater than the distances between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 in the contact arrangement direction. This arrangement relationship will be referred to as a fifth arrangement relationship. In particular, this embodiment disposes the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 at the centers between the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 and the contacts TC01 and TA01, and makes the distances between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the contacts TC01 and TA01 and the distances between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 equal to each other. The attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 do not necessarily have to be disposed at the centers between the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 and the contacts TC01 and TA01, but it is preferable to dispose them near the centers.
With the above contact arrangement, the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 are highly likely to be connected with each other if the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 are connected with each other in the tilted state illustrated in
A description will now be given as a comparative example of a case where the positions of the contacts TC06 and TA06 and the contacts TC11 and TA11 are exchanged. That is, a description will be given of a case where the contacts TC11 and TA11 are used to detect the attachment and the contacts TC06 and TA06 are used to detect the communication request signal/WAKE. In this configuration, when the accessory 200 is tilted to the camera 100 and the contacts TC01 and TA01 and the neighboring contacts are disconnected from each other, the contacts TC11 and TA11 for the attachment detection may be connected with each other but the contacts TC06 and TA06 for the communication request signal/WAKE may be disconnected from each other, resulting in a communication error.
Therefore, in order to avoid the communication error, it is preferable to dispose the attachment detection contact on one end side in the contact arrangement direction rather than the contacts for the communication request signal/WAKE as in this embodiment.
As illustrated in
As described above, when the accessory 200 is twisted relative to the camera 100 around the axis parallel to the Y direction, some contacts on one end side in the contact arrangement direction of the plurality of contacts may be connected, but the other contacts on the other end side may be disconnected. When such a state occurs in the process of attaching the accessory 200 to the camera 100, the connection timings shift among the plurality of contacts. If the contact timing significantly shifts, a time lag from the attachment detection of the accessory 200 to the camera 100 to the detection of WAKE becomes long, and consequently a communication error may be determined. At this time, depending on the twisting direction of the accessory 200, the side of the contacts TC01 and TA01 or the side of the contacts TC21 and TA21 starts to be connected first.
When the side of the contacts TC01 and TA01 starts to be connected, the closer the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 are to the contacts TC21 and TA21, the longer the time lag becomes from the attachment detection of the accessory 200 to the detection of the communication request signal/WAKE. The longer the time lag is, the more easily a communication error is determined. On the other hand, when the side of the contacts TC21 and TA21 starts to be connected and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 are disposed on the side of the contacts TC01 and TA01 of the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06, a time lag occurs from the attachment detection of the accessory 200 to the detection of the communication request signal/WAKE.
On the other hand, this embodiment adopts the above contact arrangement, and shortens a time lag from the attachment detection of the accessory 200 to the detection of the communication request signal/WAKE, regardless of which side of the contacts starts to be connected.
This embodiment disposes at positions between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 the contacts TC07 and TA07 to TC10 and TA10 used for the SPI communication (communication in the second communication method) between the camera 100 and the accessory 200. The contacts TC12, TA12, TC13, and TA13 used for the I2C communication (communication in the first communication method) between the camera 100 and the accessory 200 are disposed at positions close to the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 on the opposite side of the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06.
The communication between the camera 100 and the accessory 200 is executed after the camera 100 detects the communication request signal/WAKE. Therefore, until the communication between the camera 100 and the accessory 200 is executed, the connection of the contacts used for the communication is not confirmed. On the other hand, in this embodiment, if the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 are connected with each other, the communication contacts TC07, TA07 to TC10, TA10, TC12, TA12, TC13, and TA13 arranged near and between them, respectively, can be considered to be connected.
Since it can be considered that the positions between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11 are more reliably connected, the contacts used for the SPI communication executed after the I2C communication are preferably disposed at positions between the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 and the communication request contacts TC11 and TA11.
As illustrated in
For example, in the configuration having no contact TA21 as illustrated in
As described above, in a configuration in which the position of the contact position at the end of the accessory 200 is different from the contact position at the end of the camera 100, part of the first to fifth arrangement relationships may not be satisfied. In such a case, it is assumed that the position facing the contact at the end of the camera 100 in the attached state is the position of the contact at the end of the accessory 200, and the attachment detection contact and the communication request contact may be arranged so as to satisfy the first to fifth arrangement relationships. Alternatively, as in the protrusion 256a illustrated in
In S401, the camera control circuit 101 as an attachment detection means monitors the signal level of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET and determines whether or not the accessory 200 is attached. If the signal level is Hi, the camera control circuit 101 returns to S401 and performs the detection again, assuming that the accessory 200 is not attached, and if the signal level is Lo, proceeds to S402 assuming that the accessory 200 is attached.
In S402, the camera control circuit 101 sets a power supply control signal CNT_VACC1 to the Hi level in order to turn on the output of the accessory-use power supply circuit A131, and proceeds to S403. The accessory-use power supply circuit A131 outputs the accessory power supply VACC in response to the power supply control signal CNT_VACC1 becoming Hi.
In S403, the camera control circuit 101 monitors the signal level of the overcurrent detection signal DET_OVC and determines whether or not the overcurrent is flowing. If the signal level is Lo, the camera control circuit 101 proceeds to S404 assuming that no overcurrent flows, and if the signal level is Hi, proceeds to S405 assuming that the overcurrent flows to perform error processing.
Usually, in a case where an abnormal current flows through the accessory power supply VACC, it is presumed that the camera 100 and the accessory 200 are out of order, but since the camera connector 141 and the accessory connector 211 are exposed to the outside, and thus the neighboring contacts may be short-circuited due to an adhesion of a foreign matter such as a metal piece.
In this embodiment, the accessory power supply VACC has a voltage of 3.3 V, whereas the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C and the accessory microcomputer power supply VMCU_A have a voltage of 1.8 V. Thus, if a voltage of 3.3 V is applied to an electric element operating at a voltage of 1.8 V, the electric element may get damaged. Since the post-short-circuiting behavior depends on the characteristic of the electric element, the camera control circuit 101 may not always be able to detect the short-circuiting between the terminals. For example, since the I2C communication signal is at the Hi level in the communication standby state, even if it is short-circuited with the voltage of 3.3 V equal to and higher than the voltage of 1.8V, the abnormality cannot be detected depending on the characteristic of the electric element of the connection destination.
On the other hand, this embodiment disposes the GND contacts TC04 and TA04 on one of the two sides of the accessory power supply VACC contacts TC05 and TA05, and the contacts TC06 and TA06 of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET on the other side. As described above, the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET is connected to GND in the accessory 200. Thus, even if short-circuiting occurs between the contacts, the overcurrent can be detected and the system can be safely stopped without applying 3.3 V to the element operating at 1.8 V.
As described above, if the accessory power supply VACC is supplied when the GND contact is not connected, the reference potential of the accessory 200 becomes unstable, and consequently each circuit and the electric element may get damaged. In operating the device, an external force may be applied that makes unstable the connection of the connector terminals. On the other hand, by arranging the accessory power supply VACC contact and the GND contact adjacent to each other as in this embodiment, the connection of only the accessory power supply VACC contact can be more effectively prevented than a case where the accessory power supply VACC contact and the GND contact are separate terminals.
This embodiment connects the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET to GND in the accessory 200, but may connect it to GND via a resistor element Rd231 as in the accessory 200 illustrated in
In this case, it is necessary to select the resistor element Rd231 having such a resistance value that a voltage of (Rd/(Rp+Rd))×1.8 V obtained by dividing the voltage of 1.8 V of the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C by the resistor elements Rp134 and Rd231 satisfies the Lo level threshold (Vi1) of the camera control circuit 101. For example, when a Low level detection threshold value (Vi1) of the camera control circuit 101 is 0.33 times the power supply voltage, the resistance value of the resistor element Rd231 needs to be half or less of the resistor element Rp134 (10 kΩ). In the example of
In S414 after S413, the camera control circuit 101 monitors the signal level of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET, and determines whether or not the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET contacts TC06 and TA06 are short-circuited with the accessory power supply VACC contacts TC05 and TA05. If the signal level is Lo, the camera control circuit 101 proceeds to S415 assuming that it is not short-circuited, and if the signal level is Hi, proceeds to S416 assuming that it is short-circuited to performs the error processing.
On the other hand, the voltage of the accessory power supply VACC is applied to the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET. As soon as the signal level of the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET becomes Hi due to interrupt processing or the like, the camera control circuit 101 sets the power control signal CNT_VACC1 to Lo in the error processing and stops outputting the accessory power supply VACC (power supply to the accessory 200). Thereby, the system can be safely stopped without continuously applying 3.3 V to the terminal of the element operating at 1.8 V.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As described above, even if the power supply contact and the adjacent contact are short-circuited, this embodiment can maintain the safety of the system including the camera 100 and the accessory 200, and restrain them from getting damaged.
In the microphone device, the FNC2 signal to the FNC4 signal are used as a digital audio (I2S: Inter-IC Sound standard) data bus to transfer audio data.
An audio processing circuit 206A1 in the functional circuit 206 is a codec circuit that converts an audio signal input from a microphone 206A2 into a digital audio (I2S) data format, and is controlled by the accessory control circuit 201. The accessory control circuit 201 can set the sampling frequency and the resolution by controlling the audio processing circuit 206A1. In this embodiment, the sampling frequency is 48 kHz and the resolution is 32 bits. The microphone 206A2 is, for example, a MEMS-IC microphone or an electret condenser microphone.
TA14 is the FNC1 signal that is not used as an I2S data bus and is connected to GND. In this embodiment, the unused functional signal is connected to GND, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and a connection to a reference potential may be made as the stable potential other than the GND potential (0V) such as the power supply potential and the L level (low potential) or H level (high potential) of the signal.
The FNC2 signal connected to TA15 (DATA contact) is an audio data signal (DATA), which is a signal output from the accessory 200 to the camera 100.
The FNC3 signal connected to TA16 (LRCLK contact) is an audio channel clock signal (LRCLK), which is a signal output from the accessory 200 to the camera 100.
The FNC4 signal connected to TA17 (BCLK contact) is an audio bit clock signal (BCLK), which is a signal output from the camera 100 to the accessory 200.
In this embodiment, since the sampling frequency is 48 kHz and the resolution is 32 bits as described above, the LRCLK frequency is 48 kHz and the BCLK frequency is 3.072 MHz. DATA has a maximum frequency of 1.536 MHz, which is half a cycle of CLK.
In the contact arrangement according to this embodiment, the reference potential contacts TA18 and TC18 connected to the GND potential as the reference potential are disposed next to the contacts TA17 and TC17 to which the FNC4 signal (BCLK) having the highest frequency is connected among the functional signal contacts to which the functional signals are connected. The signal wiring to the accessory shoe interface is generally configured with a flexible substrate. In order to reduce the product cost, the flexible substrate may have a single-sided specification, and the substrate wiring is made in the same arrangement as the contact arrangement. This embodiment disposes the GND contact as the reference potential contact next to the functional signal contact connected to the signal having the highest frequency among the functional signals. This configuration can suppress radiation noises (EMI) from the functional signal contact, interference with signals connected to other contacts, and crosstalk with signals other than the I2S data bus.
This embodiment connects to the GND potential as the reference potential the contacts TA18 and TC18 next to the contacts TA17 and TC17 connected to the FNC4 signal (BCLK) having the highest frequency, but the present invention is not limited to this example and the same effect can be obtained even if the connection is made to a stable reference potential other than the GND potential.
The FNC4 signal connected to TA17 is an audio bit clock signal (BCLK), which is the same as that illustrated in
On the other hand, the FNC3 signal connected to TA14 is an audio channel clock signal (LRCLK), which is a signal output from the accessory 200 to the camera 100.
The FNC2 signal connected to TA15 is an audio data signal (DATA2), which is a signal output from the accessory 200 to the camera 100.
The FNC1 signal connected to TA16 operates as an audio data signal (DATA2), which is a signal output from the accessory 200 to the camera 100.
In this way, when an audio data signal is added to increase the audio data amount and two signals are used, arranging signals in such order that a higher frequency is disposed closer to the GND terminal can provide a configuration that is relatively highly effective in preventing crosstalk.
The FNC1 signal connected to TA14 is a light emission synchronization signal (STARTX) for controlling the light emission timing of the light emitter 206B2, and is a signal output from the camera 100 to the accessory 200. The FNC2 signal to the FNC4 signal are not used in the strobe device, and no signal is connected to these contacts.
This embodiment makes unused functional signal contacts disconnected (OPEN), but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and a connection to a stable reference potential, such as the power supply potential and the L or H level of the signal, may be made according to the contacts TC15 to TC17 as connection destinations of the contacts TA15 to TA17.
In the strobe device, only the FNC1 signal is used among the functional signals. Although the light emission synchronization signal (STARTX) is not a periodically generated signal, the camera 100 allocates GND to the FNC1 signal when the microphone device is connected so as to prevent the configuration of the camera control circuit 101 from being complicated.
A description will now be given of further features of the contact arrangement according to this embodiment. SDA (first signal) connected to the contacts TC12 and TA12 as the first signal contacts and SCL (second signal) connected to the contacts TC13 and TA13 as the second signal contacts are both signals for the I2C communication. These signals are transmitted by the open drain communication. Since both SDA and SCL are pulled up to the camera microcomputer power supply VMCU_C, they are the signal having a relatively high impedance during the communication standby, and easily subject to crosstalk.
Therefore, this embodiment assigns the communication request signal (fourth signal)/WAKE to the contacts TC11 and TA11 as the fourth signal contacts next to the SDA contacts TC12 and TA12. As described above, the communication request signal/WAKE is a signal for making a communication request from the accessory 200 to the camera 100.
As illustrated in
The FNC1 signal is assigned to the contacts TC14 and TA14 as the third signal contacts next to the SCL contacts TC13 and TA13. As described above, since GND is assigned to the FNC1 signal in the microphone device, SCL can be kept from crosstalk.
In the strobe device, the light emission synchronization signal (STARTX: third signal) as the FNC1 signal is assigned to the contacts TC14 and TA14 next to the SCL contacts TC13 and TA13.
Thus, this embodiment disposes the STARTX contact on one of both sides of the SDA contact and the SCL contact, and disposes the /WAKE contact on the other side, thereby achieving a good I2C communication.
This embodiment sets to an open drain signal, similar to SDA, the communication request signal/WAKE connected to the contacts TC11 and TA11 next to the SDA contacts TC12 and TA12. In comparison with a push-pull type communication request signal/WAKE is a push-pull system, crosstalk to SDA can be suppressed when the signal level of the communication request signal/WAKE changes.
SCLK connected to the SCLK contacts TC07 and TA07 is a clock signal for the SPI communication, and operates at a driving frequency of 1 MHz in this embodiment. In this embodiment, the attachment detection contacts TC06 and TA06 next to the SCLK contacts TC07 and TA07 are used to transmit the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET. As described above, the accessory attachment detection signal/ACC_DET is a signal that has a potential equivalent to GND when the accessory 200 is attached to the camera 100. Therefore, this contact arrangement can prevent crosstalk between SCLK and a signal other than the SPI bus.
MOSI connected to the other contacts TC08 and TA08 next to the SCLK contacts TC07 and TA07 is a data signal transmitted from the camera control circuit 101 to the accessory control circuit 201 by the SPI communication. Generally, the timing at which the MOSI output level in the SPI communication changes is synchronized with the timing at which the SCLK output level changes. Therefore, crosstalk can be suppressed between SCLK and MOSI by disposing the MOSI contacts TC08 and TA08 next to the SCLK contacts TC07 and TA07.
MISO connected to the other contacts TC09 and TA09 next to the MOSI contacts TC08 and TA08 is a data signal transmitted from the accessory control circuit 201 to the camera control circuit 101 in the SPI communication. Generally, the timing at which the MISO output level changes in the SPI communication is synchronized with the timing at which the SCLK output level changes, similar to MOSI. Therefore, by disposing the MISO contacts TC09 and TA09 next to the MOSI contacts TC08 and TA08, crosstalk between the MOSI and the MISO can be suppressed.
CS connected to the other contacts TC10 and TA10 next to the MISO contacts TC09 and TA09 is a communication request signal transmitted from the camera control circuit 101 to the accessory control circuit 201 in the SPI communication. Generally, CS in the SPI communication maintains a constant output level from a communication request to a communication completion. Therefore, by disposing the CS contacts TC10 and TA10 next to the MISO contacts TC09 and TA09, crosstalk to MISO can be suppressed.
The communication request signal/WAKE connected to the contacts TC11 and TAU adjacent to the CS contacts TC10 and TA10 is a signal for making a communication request from the accessory control circuit 201 to the camera control circuit 101. As described above, the communication request signal/WAKE is an open drain signal, and thus is relatively susceptible to crosstalk. Therefore, this embodiment disposes the contacts TC10 and TA10 for CS whose signal level changes relatively infrequently, next to the contacts TC11 and TA11 for the communication request signal/WAKE, and can suppress crosstalk to the communication request signal/WAKE.
A differential signal that requires an impedance control is connected to the contacts TC01 to TC03 and TA01 to TA03 and the contacts TC19 to TC21 and TA19 to TA21 located at and near both ends of the camera connector 141 and the accessory connector 211 (these will be collectively referred to as both end sides hereinafter). The signal wiring to the accessory shoe interface is generally configured with a flexible substrate. In order to achieve the desired wiring impedance on the flexible board, it is necessary to keep a distance between the lines of the differential signal and with GND to be wired in parallel. In a board in which both sides are used, it is common to form a mesh GND wiring on the backside of the differential signal. Thus, the signal wiring that requires the impedance control has relatively large restrictions on the wiring design in comparison with a general single-ended signal.
On the other hand, this embodiment connects the differential signal that requires an impedance control to the contacts located on both ends of the camera connector 141 and the accessory connector 211, thereby relatively reducing a relationship with other signals and improving the degree of freedom in wiring design.
The differential signal can be transferred at a high speed of about several hundred Mbps to several Gbps such as USB and PCIe, and is suitable to transfer a large data amount between devices. On the other hand, no differential signal may be used depending on the type of the accessory 200. The accessory that uses no differential signal needs no contacts assigned to the differential signal, so the accessory cost can be reduced by deleting the contact.
The accessory 200 in
A direct attachment of the accessory 200 to the camera 100 has been described. Referring now to
The intermediate accessory 300 has a camera shoe and an accessory shoe that are attachable to the camera 100 and the accessory 200, respectively, and each is provided with a camera-side intermediate connector 311 and an accessory-side intermediate connector 312. The camera-side intermediate connector 311 has 21 contacts TM01 to TM21 arranged in a row, and is a connector for making an electrical connection with the camera 100. The contacts TM01 to TM21 each make a one-to-one contact with the contacts TC01 to TC21 in the camera connector 141.
On the other hand, the accessory-side intermediate connector 312 has 21 contacts TN01 to TN21 arranged in a row, and is a connector for making an electrical connection with the accessory 200. The contacts TN01 to TN21 each make a one-to-one contact with the contacts TA01 to TA21 in the accessory connector 211.
The intermediate accessory 300 having this contact arrangement can provide the power supply and the communication in the same manner as those when the accessory 200 is directly attached to the camera 100. At this time, the intermediate accessory 300 may receive the power supply from the camera 100, or the power supply from the camera 100 may be directly transmitted to the accessory 200. The power supply in this embodiment includes a case where the power supply from the camera 100 is transmitted to the accessory 200 as it is and no power is supplied to the accessory 300.
In
A detailed description will now be given of the connection configuration between the camera 100 and the external flash unit 120, which is an example of the accessory 200.
The imaging optical system is provided on the front side (field side) of the camera 100, and the image display unit 107 is provided on the rear side of the camera 100. A top cover 150 as an exterior member is provided on the top surface of the camera 100, and an accessory shoe 1123 is provided to the top cover 150. On the other hand, in the external flash unit 120, the camera connector 206 is provided at the bottom of the external flash unit 120.
As illustrated in
A detailed description will now be given of the accessory shoe 1123 of the camera 100.
The accessory shoe 1123 includes an engagement member 151, a connection terminal connector 152, a shoe stage 153, and an accessory shoe spring 154. The engagement member 151 is a member for holding the external flash unit 120 through an engagement with the external flash unit 120. The connection terminal connector 152 includes a plurality of connection terminals 152a arranged at regular pitches in the X direction on a connector base member 152e as a holding member made of a resin material or the like and held by the connector base member 152e. The connection terminals 152a correspond to the contacts TC01 to TC21 in the camera connector 141 illustrated in
In the connection terminal connector 152, the connection terminals 152a are arranged on the front side in the Z direction as the attachment direction of the external flash unit 120 (on the front side of the camera 100) as illustrated in
While the external flash unit 120 is attached to the accessory shoe 1123, the connection terminals 152a are electrically connected to the external flash unit 120. Each of the plurality of connection terminals 152a is electrically connected to a flexible substrate 158 disposed on the lower side of the top cover 150 in the Y direction. The flexible substrate 158 is connected to an unillustrated main substrate of the camera 100. Thus, when the external flash unit 120 is attached to the accessory shoe 1123, a communication is available between the external flash unit 120 and the camera 100.
The shoe stage 153 is a housing member that encloses the engagement member 151 and the connection terminal connector 152. An accessory shoe holding member 155 is a structural skeleton that holds the engagement member 151. As illustrated in
The engagement member 151 is formed by bending a metal plate in a loop shape so that the end surfaces of the bent ends face and contact each other at a seam 151a. The engagement member 151 has a pair of engagement portions 151b, and a coupler 151c that couples the pair of engagement portions 151b together. The engagement member 151 has a pair of first screw hole portions 151d used for fastening the screws 157 and a pair of second screw hole portions 151e. The engagement member 151 has engagement hole portions 156 to be engaged with the lock pins 252 of the external flash unit 120.
As illustrated in
In the connection terminal connector 152, as illustrated in
A contact surface and a groove portion illustrated in
As illustrated in
A slope start position 152cc, which is the end (lower end) of the slope portion 152d on the bottom surface side of the groove portion 152c, is provided inside the engagement portion interval 151aa. Thereby, it is possible to secure an area for providing the contact surface 152b that comes into contact with a contact portion 251b described later of the camera connector 206 and positions it in the Z direction. Providing the slope shape starting from the slope start position 152cc can expand a space into which the shoe apparatus (camera connector 206 described later) of the external flash unit 120 is inserted, and can secure the degree of freedom in the shape of the shoe apparatus. As a result, the shoe apparatus of the external flash unit 120 can be sufficiently formed with a shape that protects the connection terminals.
A description will now be given of the external flash unit 120.
The camera connector 206 is provided on the bottom side in the Y direction (top side in
The shoe attachment leg 251 is an engagement member that engages the external flash unit 120 with the accessory shoe 1123 of the camera 100 and holds it. That is, the shoe attachment leg 251 is an engagement member on the external flash unit 120 side attachable to and detachable from the engagement member 151 of the accessory shoe 1123.
A large stress is applied to the accessory shoe 1123 and the camera connector 206 due to the pressure for maintaining the attachment state and the external force (impact, etc.) acting on the external flash unit 120. The shoe attachment leg 251 is manufactured by processing a metal plate (sheet metal) in order to secure a high mechanical strength against such a large stress.
The lock pin 252 is a member for preventing the external flash unit 120 from falling off while the camera connector 206 (shoe attachment leg 251) is attached to the accessory shoe 1123, and is held on the shoe attachment leg 251 movable in the Y direction. More specifically, the lock pin 252 is slidably held in the Y direction by the Y-direction holding member 258. The lock lever 253 and the Y-direction holding member 258 are held by the holding member 254.
When the external flash unit 120 is attached to the accessory shoe 1123 and the lock lever 253 is rotated, the Y-direction holding member 258 is moved downwardly in the Y-direction in
The connection plug 256 as one example of an accessory connector 211 illustrated in
The plurality of connection terminals 257 are provided so as to have a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of connection terminals 152a, and held by the holding member 254 so as to extend in the Z direction and to line up in the X direction. Each connection terminal 257 has a tip portion 257a that comes into contact with the corresponding connection terminal 152a. Each connection terminal 257 has a shape extending backwardly in the Z direction from a tip portion 257a, and has an extension portion 257b that displaces the tip portion 257a upwardly in the Y direction in
The extension portion 257b has a step portion 257e having a step in the Y direction in the middle of the Z direction. As described above, the extension portion 257b can be elastically deformed in the Y direction. However, when the distance L in the Z direction of the extension portion 257b is short, a sufficient deformation amount cannot be obtained, and the durability is lowered. As a result, the connection terminal 152a and the tip portion 257a are repeatedly attached and detached, and the extension portion 257b may easily get damaged. Accordingly, providing the step portion 257e to the extension portion 257b can secure a sufficient distance L without causing the extension portion 257b to interfere with the shoe attachment leg 251.
As illustrated in
There is a slope portion 256b on the outer side (outer surface) of each protrusion portion 256a in the X direction, which serves as an outer surface that extends diagonally upwardly from the lower tip portion 256d and faces diagonally downwardly, that is, has a tilt to the X direction. Since each protrusion portion 256a has such a shape, the connection plug 256 can be inserted into the groove portion 152c having the slope portion 152d in the connection terminal connector 152.
The slope portion 256b has a role of releasing an external force, such as the pressure and impact, from the connection plug 256 to prevent the connection plug from getting damaged. For example,
An external force from the X direction is defined as F1 as a vector. The external force F1 acting on the slope portion 256b is decomposed according to the addition theorem in the vector space into a component force F2 in a direction along the slope portion 256b and a component force F3 in a direction perpendicular to the slope portion 256b. Where θ is an angle formed by the external force F1 and the slope portion 256b, the component force F2 and the component force F3 can be calculated by the following expression (1).
F2=F1 cosθ
F3=F1 sinθ (1)
When the slope portion 256b is provided, θ is 0°<θ<90°. In this range, the following is established:
F2<F1
F3<F1 (2)
Since the component force F2 escapes in the direction along the slope portion 256b, the component force F3 is the only force that affects the connection plug 256. As described above, since the component force F3 is smaller than the component force F1, the connection plug 256 can be prevented from getting damaged even if an external force that is large to some extent is applied.
By forming the slope portions 256b on both sides in the X direction so that its width in the X direction becomes narrower toward the lower side in the Y direction, not only the external force from the X direction but also the external force from the bottom side in the Y direction can be partially released.
In order to secure a sufficient area for the contact portion 251b on the shoe attachment leg 251 relative to the contact surface 152b of the accessory shoe 1123 as the positioning portion in the Z direction, it is preferable to make as short as possible the width in the X direction between slope start positions 256c at the lower tip portions 256d of the slope portions 256b on both sides. This embodiment sets the width between the slope start positions 256c in the X direction inside the width V of the holding member 254 in the X direction, and thereby secures a sufficient area of the contact portion 251b.
The camera connector 206 has such a structure that the shoe attachment leg 251 and the holding member 254 are fastened. The details of this fastening structure will be described later.
The holding member 254 can be inserted into the engagement portion interval 151aa of the engagement member 151 of the accessory shoe 1123 illustrated in
When the contact portion 251b of the shoe attachment leg 251 contacts the contact surface 152b on the front side in the Z direction of the connection terminal connector 152, the position of the external flash unit 120 relative to the camera 100 is determined in the Z direction.
The holding member 254 is also a structure for coupling the shoe attachment leg 251 and the base portion 250, and the lock pins 252 and the connection terminals 257 are arranged inside the coupler 254a.
Next follows a description of the fastening structure between the holding member 254 and the shoe attachment leg 251.
A pair of first screw 260a and a pair of second screws 260b, which are fastening members for fastening the shoe attachment leg 251 to the holding member 254, penetrate the holding member 254 and are fastened to the shoe attachment leg 251. At this time, by disposing one screw in each of the four areas that are substantially equally divided in the X direction and the Z direction in a well-balanced manner, the shoe attachment leg 251 is stably held by the holding member 254. As described above, the shoe attachment leg 251 is a component to which a large stress is applicable. Therefore, a required mechanical strength can be ensured by fastening the metal shoe attachment legs 251 to the holding member 254 with a pair of first screws 260a and a pair of second screws 260b arranged in a well-balanced manner.
As illustrated in
In
On the other hand, none of the lower tip portion 256d and the slope portion 256b of the protrusion portion 256a of the connection plug 256 in the camera connector 206 contact the bottom surface and the slope portion 152d of the groove portion 152c of the accessory shoe 1123, respectively. A gap between the lower tip portion 256d of the protrusion portion 256a and the bottom surface of the groove portion 152c of the accessory shoe 1123 is set as small as possible. Thereby, when an external force in the X direction is applied to the external flash unit 120, the lower tip portion 256d of the protrusion portion 256a can come into contact with the bottom surface of the groove portion 152c of the accessory shoe 1123, and a floating amount of the connection plug 256 (a tilt to the accessory shoe 1123) can be reduced.
Each of a gap between the slope portions 256b and 152d and a gap between the inner end surface 152ccc of the groove portion 152c and the outer end surface of the connection plug 256 is set to be large to some extent. Thereby, when an external force in the X direction is applied to the external flash unit 120, the connection terminals 257 and 152a can be prevented from getting loaded.
In the groove portion 152c of the accessory shoe 1123, a relationship between a height of the groove portion 152c in the Y direction (a height from the bottom surface of the groove portion 152c to a ceiling surface of the engagement member 151) and a height of the slope portion 152d in the Y direction is similar to a relationship between the height B of the connection plug 256 and the height A of the slope portion 256b in the camera connector 206. It is also preferable that the tilt angle of the slope portion 256b to the X direction is also set in the range of 45°±20°, similarly to the tilt angle θ of the slope portion 256b in the camera connector 206.
Each embodiment described above has described a surface shape of the slope portion 256b provided on the protrusion portion 256a being flat, but the slope portion 256b may be a curved surface having a curvature. That is, the slope portion 256b may have a surface with a tilt to the X direction.
This embodiment can secure an area for providing a larger number of connection terminals than ever and a shape for protecting them and an area for positioning between components, in the compact camera connector 206 and accessory shoe 1123.
A description will now be given of a variation of an external flash unit 120.
The camera connector 206 is provided on the lower side in the Y direction (upper side in
The shoe attachment leg 300a is an engagement member for engaging the external flash unit 120 with the accessory shoe 1123 of the camera 100, similar to the shoe attachment leg 251 of the above-described embodiment. That is, the shoe attachment leg 300a is an engagement member on the external flash unit 120 side attachable to and detachable from the engagement member 151 of the accessory shoe 1123.
In the above-described embodiment, the shoe attachment leg 251 as a metal shoe plate and the resin holding member 254 are formed as separate members in order to give priority to the mechanical strength. On the other hand, in this variation, the shoe attachment leg 300a and the holding member 300 are formed as an integrated member by a resin material (nonconductive material). Thereby, the pair of first screws 260a and the pair of second screws 260b described in the previous embodiment are not required, a space for arranging the connection terminals 257 becomes wider, and thus a larger number of connection terminals 257 can be arranged. As a result, the external flash unit 120 can communicate more information with the camera 100 via the camera connector 206 and the accessory shoe 1123.
The connection plug 300b is provided on the front side in the Z direction of the camera connector 206, and formed as an integrated member with the holding member 300 made of a nonconductive resin material in this embodiment. Similar to the above-described embodiment, the outermost width T of the connection plug 300b in the X direction is made narrower than the width W of the shoe attachment leg 300a in the X direction, so that the area for providing the contact portion 300e is secured in the shoe attachment leg 300a. The connection plug 300b has a plurality of connection terminals 257 for contacting and communicating with the plurality of connection terminals 152a of the accessory shoe 1123 illustrated in
The shape of the connection plug 300b is also similar to that of the connection plug 256 of the previous embodiment, and a pair of protrusion portions 300c that project downwardly in the Y direction are provided so as to sandwich the plurality of connection terminals 257 at both ends of the connection plug 300b in the X direction. As illustrated in
Even in this embodiment, provided on the outer side of each protrusion portion 300c in the X direction is a slope portion 300f that extends diagonally upwardly from the lower tip portion 300k and faces diagonally downwardly. Each protrusion portion 300c having such a shape enables the connection plug 300b to be inserted into the groove portion 152c having the slope portion 152d in the connection terminal connector 152 described in the previous embodiment. As described in the previous embodiment, the slope portion 300c has a role of releasing the external force such as the pressure and the impact on the connection plug 300b to prevent the connection plug from getting damaged.
Similar to the previous embodiment, it is desirable to make as short as possible a distance in the X direction between the slope start positions 300g at the lower tip portion 300k of the slope portions 300c on both sides. Therefore, the slope start positions 300g on both sides are provided inside the width V of the holding member 254 in the X direction to sufficiently secure the area of the contact portion 300e of the shoe attachment leg 300a.
The holding member 300 is formed so that it can be inserted into and engaged with the engagement portion interval 151aa of the engagement member 151 illustrated in
When the contact portion 300e of the shoe attachment leg 300a contacts the contact surface 152b on the front side in the Z direction of the connection terminal connector 152, the position of the external flash unit 120 relative to the camera 100 is determined in the Z direction. The holding member 300 is also a structure for coupling the shoe attachment legs 300a and the base portion 250, and the lock pin 252 and the connection terminal 257 are arranged inside the coupler 300h.
In this embodiment, the case where the camera 100, the accessory 200, and the intermediate accessory 300 have 21 or 15 contacts has been described, but the number of contacts may be other numbers.
In this embodiment, the microphone device and the strobe device have been described as the accessory 200, but the accessory according to the present invention includes various devices, such as the electronic viewfinder unit, other than the microphone device and the strobe device. This embodiment has described the camera as an electronic apparatus, but the electronic apparatus according to the present invention also includes various electronic apparatuses other than the camera.
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-070625 | Apr 2020 | JP | national |
| 2020-070626 | Apr 2020 | JP | national |
| 2020-070627 | Apr 2020 | JP | national |
| 2021-060103 | Mar 2021 | JP | national |
This application is a Continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2021/014278, filed on Apr. 2, 2021, which claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 2020-070625, filed on Apr. 9, 2020, 2020-070626, filed on Apr. 9, 2020, 2020-070627, filed on Apr. 9, 2020, and 2021-060103, filed on Mar. 31, 2021 each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220082910 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2021/014278 | Apr 2021 | US |
| Child | 17533860 | US |
