JP2003008958A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital still camera that can eliminate the need for charging with a charger and an AC power adaptor without using a dry battery. SOLUTION: The digital still camera is provided with a main body including; an image data signal generating section having an image pickup leans and an image sensor; an image data signal processing section that applies signal processing to an image data signal outputted from the image data signal generating section; and an image data output section that outputs the image data processed by the image data signal processing section, with a power supply section that drives at least one of the components of the main body and with a camera body that contains the main body and the power supply section. The power supply section includes a solar battery placed on the surface of the camera body, a storage battery for storing power generated by the solar battery, wires that connects the solar battery and the storage battery in parallel with each other, and at least a couple of output terminals extended from both polarities of the storage battery.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup device,
Particularly, it relates to an environmentally friendly digital still camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 9 is a block diagram simply showing the structure of a conventional digital still camera. The digital still camera A includes a main body 100 including various components, and a power supply unit 103 connected to the main body 100 for supplying electric power for operating various components included in the main body 100.
And have. As the power supply unit 103, a storage battery (secondary battery) such as a lithium ion battery is used together with a dry battery (primary battery) or an AC power adapter.

[0003]

When a dry battery is used as a power source of a digital still camera, when the dry battery is exhausted, it is necessary to replace it with a new dry battery and discard the exhausted dry battery. Further, in a digital still camera equipped with a storage battery, when the electric power stored in the storage battery is consumed, it is necessary to charge the battery with a charger (battery charger). Alternatively, it was necessary to operate using an AC power adapter. However, the AC power adapter has a problem that the usable range of the camera is limited by the length of the cord.

The AC power adapter is a device for converting the AC power supply into the DC power supply to operate the digital camera. What is a charger (battery charger)?
It is a device for charging a storage battery.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image pickup apparatus which does not use a dry battery and which can omit charging work from a commercial power source.

[0006]

According to one aspect of the present invention, an image data signal generator including an image pickup lens and an image sensor, and an image data signal output from the image data signal generator are processed. For driving at least one of a main body portion and an image data signal processing portion, and a main body portion including an image data output portion for outputting the processed image data processed by the image data signal processing portion. Power source unit, a camera body that stores the main body unit and the power source unit, and the power source unit stores a solar cell provided on the surface of the camera body and electric power generated by the solar cell. There is provided an imaging device including a storage battery for performing the wiring, a wiring that connects the solar cell and the storage battery in parallel, and at least a pair of output terminals extending from both electrodes of the storage battery.

By using the above image pickup device, the electric power generated by the solar cell can be stored in the storage battery. In a bright place, the solar cell drives the imaging device,
In a dark place or at night, the solid-state imaging device can be operated using the storage battery that has stored the electric power generated by the solar cell.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An image pickup apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the outline of a digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed structure of the digital still camera. 3 to 6 are views showing the structure of the camera body of the digital still camera.

As shown in FIG. 1, the digital still camera B has a main body 1 provided with various parts, and power for operating various parts connected to the main part 1 and included in the main part 1. It has a power supply unit 3 to be supplied and a camera body 8 that houses the main body unit 1 and the power supply unit 3.

The power supply unit 3 includes a solar cell 5, a storage battery 7,
And a diode 11. The storage battery 7 is connected in parallel with the solar cell 5. A diode 11 is connected in series between the solar cell 5 and the storage battery 7. The cathode of the diode 11 is connected to the positive electrode of the storage battery 7 by wiring, and the anode of the diode 11 is connected to the positive electrode of the solar cell 5 by wiring.

Between the two poles of the storage battery 7, at least a pair of output terminals and wirings for connecting with the components in the main body are provided.

As the solar cell 5, for example, an amorphous silicon solar cell is used. The amorphous silicon solar cell 5 has an electromotive force of 3.3 V or higher. When the amorphous silicon solar cell 5 is irradiated with light, the solar cell 5 converts light energy into electric energy. The obtained electric energy is stored in the storage battery (secondary battery) 7. A lithium ion battery may be used as the storage battery. The voltage between the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the lithium ion storage battery is as high as 3.3V.

The diode 11 provided between the solar cell 5 and the storage battery 7 can prevent the backflow of the current flowing from the storage battery 7 to the solar cell 5. That is, by providing the diode 11, a current flows toward the storage battery 7 when the solar cell 5 is generating power. When the solar cell 5 is not generating power, the current does not flow backward from the storage battery 7 toward the solar cell 5.

FIG. 2 shows a more detailed structure of the image pickup apparatus. In addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the power supply unit 3 has a resistor 12 connected in series between the diode 11 and the storage battery 7. Furthermore, the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the storage battery 7 are DC / DC.
It is connected to the input terminal of the converter 15.

The main body 1 includes a correlated double sampling circuit (CDS), a gain circuit (AGC) and an A / D conversion circuit (collectively indicated by reference numeral 35), a signal processing circuit 37,
An SDRAM 51, a liquid crystal monitor 53, and a smart media 57 slot are included.

The signal processing circuit 37 has an interface to the SDRAM 51, an interface to the video output Vout, an interface to the LCD monitor 53, an interface to the switch LCD (SWLCD) 55, and an interface to the memory card 57. And so on. SW
The LCD 55 displays, by means of the LCD, a display indicating that the battery has run out, the number of remaining shots, etc.

In addition, the main body section 1 includes a recording disk drive section 45 and an image pickup element drive section 47, which operate in conjunction with the shutter 23. When the shutter 23 is pressed, the image pickup device driving section 47 operates to drive the CCD solid-state image pickup device. The recording disk drive unit 45 also operates and writes image information in the memory card 57, for example, smart media.

These circuits have a voltage of about 3 V, for example 3.3.
Since it operates at a voltage of V, it is almost equal to the electromotive force of the amorphous silicon solar cell, and it is not necessary to adjust the voltage.

The timing generator 41 includes a signal processing circuit 3
Receive the command of 7. CCD drive circuit 4 in response to this command
3 operates and outputs a drive signal pulse for driving it to the CCD solid-state imaging device 31. By using the diaphragm drive unit 52 and the light amount detection unit (light amount monitor) 54,
It can be performed. AF can also be performed.

In order to generate the 15V (readout voltage) necessary for driving the CCD solid-state image pickup device 31 and the voltages (charge drive voltage) of 5V and -8V, the DC / DC converter 15 supplies 3.3V. The voltage is adjusted to a desired voltage, and power is supplied to a predetermined circuit (component) inside the main body.
Therefore, the imaging device according to the present embodiment can operate normally.

FIGS. 3 to 6 show examples of arrangement of solar cells. FIG. 3 is a top view of the digital still camera,
4 is a front view, FIG. 5 is a side view, and FIG. 6 is a rear view.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the digital still camera includes a shutter button 61, a power switch 62, a strobe button 63, and a strap attaching portion 6.
4, a strobe 65, and a lens barrier 66 are provided. In addition, in front of this digital still camera,
A strobe light control sensor 68 and a microphone 69 are provided. Further, the solar cell 5a may be provided. As shown in FIG. 5, a speaker 71, a USB terminal 72, an audio / video output terminal 73, and a DCin3V terminal (power supply terminal) are provided on the side surface of the camera. In addition, this DCin
The 3V terminal is a terminal for connecting an AC adapter, and is optionally provided. As shown in FIG. 6, a finder lamp 74 and a mode dial 7 are provided on the rear surface of the camera.
5, various button switches 76, display buttons 77, action cancel and action return buttons 78,
A solar cell 5b is provided in addition to the menu execution button 79 and the liquid crystal monitor 80.

The solar cells 5a and 5b may be arranged in a region of the camera body where the shutter button 61, the power switch 62, the lens barrier 69, the liquid crystal monitor 80, etc. are not provided. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, in a normal digital camera, there are many cases where a wide empty area exists on the front side and the back side, and if a solar cell is arranged in such an empty area, it is possible to use the area effectively. Is preferred.

Further, it is preferable to protect the solar cell by placing transparent glass or the like on the surface of the solar cell. Further, since the liquid crystal monitor consumes power in particular, a mechanism for automatically disconnecting the backlight may be provided when the remaining amount of the battery stored in the storage battery becomes low.

A solar cell made of an amorphous silicon material is used for the power source of the solid-state image pickup device according to this embodiment. Amorphous silicon used in an amorphous silicon solar cell is, for example, a thin film formed by gas reaction or the like on a single substrate. By connecting a large number of solar cell elements formed by partitioning this thin film like a series connection of dry cells, a high voltage can be taken out. Such a solar cell is called an integrated solar cell. The integrated solar cell is connected in series with adjacent elements via a transparent electrode and a back electrode, for example. The above-mentioned solar cell has an advantage that the manufacturing cost is low as compared with other single crystal type or compound type solar cells.

As the secondary battery (storage battery), a nickel-cadmium battery, a nickel-hydrogen battery or the like can be applied in addition to the lithium-ion battery. However, the battery voltage of these batteries is about 1/3 lower than that of the nickel-lithium battery. The nickel-lithium battery has the same capacity and is lightweight, and is suitable for a digital still camera in which portability is important.

In the solid-state image pickup device according to the present embodiment, the solar battery is arranged on the surface of the digital still camera, and the diode, the resistor, and the secondary battery (storage battery) are provided inside the digital still camera. A camera can be realized.

Next, an image pickup apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is a simple block diagram mainly showing the structure of the power supply unit, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a more detailed configuration.

As shown in FIG. 7, the power supply unit 3 of the image pickup apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention uses, for example, five lithium ion storage battery modules 7a to 7e as the storage battery 7.
Have a series connection up to. When the storage battery 7 is charged, the amorphous silicon solar cell 5 may be used as in the case of the first embodiment. In addition, the solar cell 5 is also configured by connecting the solar cell modules 5-1 to 5-5 in series. By connecting five solar cells in series, a high voltage of 15 V or higher can be obtained.

The lithium-ion storage battery 7 has wirings L1 to L6, and the wirings L1 and L2 are the storage battery 7.
It is connected to the positive electrode and the negative electrode of a. The wiring L2 is also connected to the positive electrode of the storage battery 7b, and the wiring L3 is connected to the storage battery 7b.
Is connected to the negative electrode of and the positive electrode of the storage battery 7c. Wiring L4
To L6 are similarly connected.

For example, when the above-described storage battery 7 (composed of the combination of the lithium ion storage battery modules 7a to 7e and the wiring L1 to the wiring L6) is used, voltages of 3V, 6V, 9V, 12V and 15V are obtained. be able to.

FIG. 8 shows a C to which the power supply unit 3 shown in FIG. 7 is applied.
3 shows a more detailed block diagram of a CD solid-state imaging device. Figure 8
The solid-state imaging device C shown in (1) has basically the same structure as the solid-state imaging device B shown in FIG. 2, but the structure of the storage battery 7 of the power supply unit 3 is different.

In the CCD solid-state image pickup device C, the CCD
As the drive voltage for the solid-state image sensor 31, 15V, 6V, 3V, and -8V are required. The −8V drive voltage is generated by the DC / DC converter 15. The other voltages are obtained by appropriately selecting and connecting the required storage batteries (7a to 7e) from the storage battery modules 7a to 7e of the storage battery 7. For example, 15V
Can be obtained from both ends of the wirings L1 and L6, a potential difference of 6V can be obtained from both ends of the wirings L4 and L6, and a potential difference of 3V can be obtained from both ends of the wirings L5 and L6.

The voltage of 15V is used when the charge from the photoelectric conversion element is read out to the vertical charge transfer channel in the CCD solid-state image pickup device. A voltage of 6V is used for charge transfer in the horizontal charge transfer channel. The voltage of −8V is a voltage used for charge transfer in the vertical charge transfer channel, for example. The voltage of 3V is, for example, a circuit 35 including a CDS, AGC and A / D converter, a signal processing circuit 37,
It is used as a voltage for operating the liquid crystal monitor 53 and the smart media 57.

In the solid-state imaging device according to the present embodiment, the drive voltage of 15V and 6V can be directly taken out from the secondary battery (storage battery) 7 together with the voltage of 3V.
Therefore, the circuit for obtaining 15V and 6V is DC / DC
The conversion circuit 15 need not be provided, and the circuit can be simplified.

In the solid-state image pickup device according to the present embodiment, the configuration using the power supply unit in which five secondary batteries (sub-module storage batteries) are connected in series has been described as an example. The form (series connection, parallel connection and mixed form), the number of connections, and the voltage value of the secondary battery (storage battery) per unit are adjusted by appropriately selecting the structure and materials of the solar battery, storage battery, etc. can do.

If the solar cell is arranged in an area where the shutter button, the power switch, the lens, the lens barrier, the liquid crystal monitor and the like are not provided, the size of the camera body is not increased so much and commercialization is possible. It is possible to reduce the amount of charging work using a power source or to omit it. Depending on the case, the terminal for the AC adapter may be omitted. If the storage battery cannot be charged, a dry battery for rescue may be used to operate the digital still camera. Further, the present invention can be applied to a portable terminal equipped with an imaging device, for example, a mobile phone.

The advantages of the solid-state image pickup device according to the first and second embodiments will be summarized and described below.

1) It is possible to operate the digital still camera by utilizing light energy which is environmentally friendly and can be used semipermanently.

2) When a dry battery is used, it must be discarded after use, which leads to environmental damage, whereas when a solar battery is used, the battery can be reused many times. No need to change batteries.

3) Since it is equipped with a solar battery and a storage battery, it can be used even in the middle of the night or in the dark. The size of the camera does not increase because the solar cell is provided in the ineffective area on the surface of the camera body.

4) No AC adapter or external charging device is required.

5) Since the diode is provided between the solar battery and the storage battery, it is possible to prevent the reverse flow of the current from the secondary battery.

Although the first and second embodiments have been exemplified above, the above-mentioned examples do not have a restrictive meaning. In addition, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, improvements, and combinations can be made.

[0046]

According to the present invention, in a digital still camera, charging by a charger (battery charger) can be omitted without using a dry battery. Moreover, it is not necessary to use an AC adapter.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a power supply unit suitable for use in a solid-state imaging device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the solid-state imaging device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the digital still camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a power supply section of a solid-state imaging device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a solid-state imaging device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a power supply unit of a general low-cost digital camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

B digital still camera 1 body 3 power supply 5 solar cells 7 storage battery 8 camera body 11 diode 12 resistance 15 DC / DC converter 15

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2H100 DD07 DD13                 5C022 AA13 AB15 AB40 AB67 AC03                       AC13 AC22 AC32 AC42 AC72                       AC73                 5G003 AA06 BA03

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image data signal generation unit including an imaging lens and an image sensor, an image data signal processing unit for signal processing the image data signal output from the image data signal generation unit, and the image data signal. A main body unit including an image data output unit that outputs processed image data processed by the processing unit, a power supply unit for driving at least one of the main body unit, the main body unit and the power supply unit And a camera body that stores therein, the power supply unit, a solar cell provided on the surface of the camera body, a storage battery for storing the electric power generated by the solar cell, the solar cell and the storage battery. An image pickup apparatus including: a wire connecting the two in parallel; and at least a pair of output terminals extending from both electrodes of the storage battery. 2. A diode connected in series between the solar cell and the storage battery, wherein a cathode of the diode is connected to a positive electrode of the storage battery and an anode of the diode is connected to a positive electrode of the solar cell. The imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising a diode that is formed. 3. The image pickup device according to claim 2, further comprising a resistor connected between the wirings between the diode and the storage battery. 4. The solar cell is an integrated amorphous silicon solar cell composed of a plurality of sub-module solar cells connected in series formed on a substrate.
The imaging device according to any one of items 1 to 3. 5. The storage battery is a rechargeable battery that is rechargeable by accumulating the electrical energy formed by the solar cell, and is a minimum unit rechargeable rechargeable battery that is connected to a plurality of sub-module rechargeable batteries. The imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein 6. The storage battery is a storage battery formed by connecting the sub-module storage batteries in series, and the output terminal is formed between both electrodes of at least one sub-module storage battery selected from the series connection. The imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is at least a pair of terminals and is an output terminal that outputs the divided voltage of the series connection.