JPH09185111A - Information setting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability of an operating member such as a track ball used for the back surface of a camera by detecting a manipulated variable in an operating direction different from the operating direction where either detecting device performs detection based on output from either detecting device. SOLUTION: Sectors 45A and 45B being the detecting device are fixed at the ends of rollers 40A and 40B and rotated with the rollers 40A and 40B interlocked with the track ball 10. Photocouplers 43A and 43B provided near the sectors 45A and 45B detect the passage of slits engraved on outer peripheries of the sectors 45A and 45B. The photocouplers 43A and 43B generate pulse output showing the rotating amount and the rotating direction of the track ball 10. The respective pulses are inputted in a CPU 56 and recognized as the rotating direction and the rotating amount of the track ball 10. Thus, the manipulated variable in the operating direction different from the operating direction where either detecting device performs the detection based on output from either detecting device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information setting device using a trackball or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent cameras, a metering mode,
The number of functions by which the photographer himself can set the operation contents such as the exposure mode and the distance measuring mode is increasing. The operation mode can be roughly classified into an analog method set by a dedicated selection dial or a digital method set by using a mode selection button and an up / down button together. In either method, it is necessary that those operations and members can be rapidly changed and adjusted in order to obtain an accurate exposure in accordance with a rapid change in the subject such as brightness and position. Further, it is necessary for the photographer having various hand sizes (individual differences) to have a size and shape that are easy to use.

On the other hand, the inventor of the present invention has disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
No. 4 discloses a method of instructing selection of a distance measuring position of a subject with a trackball. In a personal computer, etc., as a pointing device, a mouse method that slides the device on a desk to select and instruct in the rotation direction of the ball provided at the bottom, or a stick method that directs the sacrifice by tilting it with your finger in any direction Alternatively, a touch panel method or the like in which the pointing direction is detected by moving the fingertip while touching the surface of a dedicated panel is adopted.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-148714 discloses that a trackball is installed on the back surface of a camera to specify a distance measuring position. In FIG. 10A, the camera 1 is held in the normal position, and the trackball 10 provided on the camera 1 is rotated by the tip of the right thumb 15 in the up-down direction 11 and the left-right direction 12 and further in the intermediate direction therebetween. It is a figure showing a situation. At this time, the index finger of the right hand is in a position where the shutter button 3 can be pressed.

FIG. 10B shows 25 distance measuring areas 20A to 20E, 21A to 21E, which are displayed on the LCD 5.
22A-22E, 23A-23E, and 24A-24E are shown. By operating the trackball 10 shown in FIG. 10A, an arbitrary area shown in FIG. 10B is selected. For example, assuming that the central area 22C is already selected at present, although not shown, the segment 22C, which is the selected area, blinks to display the difference from other areas.

[0006]

The camera 1 constructed as described above has the following problems. That is, since the base of the thumb 15 is located at the lower right with respect to the tip of the thumb 15, moving the thumb 15 in the same horizontal or vertical direction as the outer shape of the camera 1 is physically painful. . That is, in FIG. 10A, the moving direction of the thumb 15 in the left-right direction 12 is the camera 1.
Will be inclined to. The movement direction of the up-down direction 11 also inclines.

That is, in FIG. 10B, when an area 22E is selected from the current area 22C, the pointing direction given to the trackball 10 is the direction 12, so that the area 22E is not the area 22E. Two
There is a problem that 1D or 21E is selected. On the contrary, when the area 20C is selected from the area 22C, the area 208 is erroneously selected for the same reason. Therefore, a problem that the track ball 10 has to be re-operated in the returning direction is expected, which is very inconvenient.

The above problems can occur not only when selecting an area in the diagonal direction, but also in the case where the camera 1 is held in the vertical position as shown in FIG. 11 (a). is there. In FIG. 11A, the camera 1 is held in a vertical position, and the trackball 10 provided on the camera 1 is attached to the tip of the right thumb 15 in the vertical direction 13 and the horizontal direction 1.
FIG. 4 is a rear view showing a state in which rotation is further applied to 4 in the intermediate direction thereof. At this time, the index finger of the right hand is in a position where the separately provided shutter button 4 can be pressed.

FIG. 11B shows a display example similar to that of FIG. Also in the case of FIG. 11B, the natural movement of the thumb 10 in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction has an angular relationship with the outer shape of the camera 1. Therefore, in FIG. 11B, if the area 24C is selected from the current area 22C, the area 24D is selected, and if the area 22C is selected from the area 22C, the area 21D is selected.
There is a problem that D or 21E is selected and the operation has to be performed again.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to improve the operability of an operating member such as a trackball used on the back surface of a camera.

[0011]

In order to achieve this object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide an operating member (10) which can be manually operated,
A first detection device (45A) for detecting an operation amount of the operation member in the first direction, and a second detection device (45B) for detecting an operation amount of the operation member in a second direction different from the first direction. And a control device (57) for detecting an operation amount in an operation direction different from the operation direction detected by the one detection device, based on the output of the one detection device.

A second invention is an operating member (1
0), a detection device (45A, 45B) for detecting the operation amount of the operation member in a predetermined direction, and a control device (57) for detecting the operation amount in a direction different from the predetermined direction based on the output of the detection device. ) And.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an information setting device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a subject image that has passed through the lens 2 mounted on the camera 1 can be visually recognized by the finder 6. Further, various exposure conditions can be visually confirmed on the LCD (liquid crystal display) 5. The LCD 5 may be provided in the finder 6.

The shutter button 3 is used to start the power supply to the circuits in the camera 1 and the exposure to the loaded film.
Is performed by pressing in the first stage and the second stage, respectively. Another shutter button 4 is used when the camera 1 is held in the vertical position, and its function is the same as that of the shutter button 3. A trackball 10 according to the present invention is arranged on the back surface of the camera 1.

When the camera 1 is held, the thumb of the right hand (not shown) naturally rests on the trackball 10. As described below, L
By applying a rotational force to the trackball 10 vertically and horizontally while watching the CD 5, various selections and changes can be made. The trackball 10 is normally used to select a distance measuring area, and when the mode button 7 on the left side of the camera 1 is pressed, elements related to other modes can be selected and set. Further, an attitude sensor 9 is arranged inside, and the attitude when the camera 1 is held can be detected. Regarding the posture detection by the posture sensor 9, the actual sensor is shown in 64-92.
No. 29 is known.

FIG. 2 shows a peripheral mechanism of the trackball 10 and an electric circuit block. Two rollers 40A and 40B are in contact with the side surface of the trackball 10. The rollers 40A and 40B are interlocked with the rotation of the trackball 10 in the up-down direction 11 and the left-right direction 12 (directions 14 and 13 respectively in the case of vertical position shooting). Needless to say, the rotation in the oblique direction (the intermediate direction between the direction 11 (14) and the direction 12 (13)) is not supported by the roller 40.
It is divided and transmitted to both A and 40B. One end of each of the rollers 40A and 40B has a sector 45A.
And 45B are fixed, and rollers 40A and 4A
With 0B, it rotates in conjunction with the trackball 10.
Slits having the same pitch are formed on the outer circumferences of the sectors 45A and 45B. Sectors 45A and 4
Photocouplers 43A and 43 provided near 5B
B detects the passage of the slit.

The photocouplers 43A and 43B have the number of passing slits, that is, the amount of rotation of the trackball 10,
A pulse output representing the passing direction of the slit, that is, the rotating direction of the trackball 10 is generated. Those pulses are
It is input to the CPU 56, which will be described later, and is recognized as the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the trackball 10.

In the electric circuit block at the bottom of FIG. 2, the control center is controlled by the CPU 57. The CPU 57 inputs and controls information described below via the interface circuits 56 and 59. The CPU 57 receives a signal regarding the rotation direction given to the trackball 10 and the amount thereof via the photocouplers 43A and 43B described above. Further, the CPU 57 directly exchanges data with the storage circuit 58. The storage circuit 58 electrically stores various conditions that have been previously selected and changed by the trackball 10. In addition, the CPU 57 performs the following control operation.

First, the attitude signal from the attitude detection switch 9 is read via the interface circuit 56. A subject brightness signal is fetched from the photometric sensor 50. A signal relating to the in-focus state of the subject is fetched from the distance measuring sensor 52.
The sensitivity of the loaded film is captured by the sensitivity detection circuit 53. The subject image on the photometric element 50 and the distance measuring element 52 is passed through the lens optical system 51, and the focus state thereof is controlled by the focus motor 54. Switch group 55
More, signals from a plurality of switches indicating the sequence state of the camera 1 are captured. The LCD 5 is driven through the interface circuit 59, and the exposure condition and the like are displayed in addition to the distance measurement area display described later. The shutter 60 is opened and closed to control the exposure time on the film. The aperture amount of the diaphragm 61 is controlled to control the subject light amount reaching the film. The feeding motor 62 is driven to control film winding and rewinding.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which some of the above problems are solved by a mechanical structure and some of them are electrically corrected. The roller 40A (the roller that detects an operation in the vertical direction with respect to the camera) described in FIG. 2 is not changed in layout, and only the roller 40B (the roller that detects an operation in the horizontal direction with respect to the camera) is tilted to track. It is in contact with the ball 10.

In this case, the information on the movement in the horizontal direction 12 detected by the roller 40B can be directly used for the processing of the CPU. However, the information about the movement in the vertical direction detected by the roller 40A is not used as it is, but is electrically processed. This electrical processing means that the amount of inclination of the roller 40B with respect to the outer shape of the camera is stored in advance in the memory of the CPU so that the roller 4 can be processed during information processing.
The information obtained from 0A is corrected based on the stored tilt amount.

With such a configuration, even if it is impossible to mechanically incline both rollers from the viewpoint of the internal configuration / arrangement of the camera, it is possible to mechanically incline one roller. A similar effect can be obtained by tilting both rollers.

Depending on the habit of the operator, some operators can easily operate along the arrow 12 when operating in the horizontal direction, but operate along the arrow 10 when operating in the vertical direction. Difficult to do, roller 4
It may be easier to operate along the longitudinal arrangement direction of 0A. In such a case, the above-described electrical processing (that is, when the information from the roller 40A is processed, the inclination amount of the roller 40B is used as the correction amount).
Since it is desirable to use the information on the vertical movement detected by the roller 40A as it is, the electrical correction processing may be omitted. In this case, by providing a correction switch etc.,
It suffices to be configured to be able to select whether or not to perform the electrical correction process. The inclination angle of the roller 40B may be set to an angle that can be statistically most effectively resolved.

According to this embodiment, as described above, when the rollers 40A and 40B are arranged, it is not always necessary to arrange the rollers in an orthogonal relationship, and in any arrangement relationship. If necessary, it can be corrected by electrical processing.

4 and 5 are a rear view and a conceptual view for explaining the second embodiment in which the solution of the above-mentioned problems is electrically achieved. In the present embodiment, the relationship between the operation direction and the tilt of the camera 1 is also electrically corrected with respect to the shooting posture. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
0B is the roller 20A and 2 along the outer shape of the camera 1.
0B may be installed. This is because, as will be described later, it is devised that the angles of the trackball 10 with respect to the vertical direction 11 and the horizontal direction 12 that are rotated are corrected.

FIG. 5 shows the direction of rotation of the trackball 10 and the rollers 20A and 20B when the trackball 10 is operated to the right.
It is a conceptual diagram expressing the direction in which is rotated as a vector. As shown in FIG. 5, the vector 37 indicating the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the trackball 10 is divided into a horizontal vector component 36 by the roller 20B and a vertical vector component 35 by the roller 20A, and is input to the CFU 56. CPU
56 is based on these vectors 35 and 36,
The vector 37 is calculated back. Vector 37 here
Is assumed to be at the same angle as the left-right direction 12 in FIG. C
In the processing of the PU 56, if only the horizontal vector component 36 of the input horizontal vector component 36 and vertical vector component 35 is extracted, the vector 37 becomes correctly horizontal with respect to the camera 1. This calculation is synonymous with rotating the vector 37 clockwise.

As a result, the vertical direction 11 and the horizontal direction 12 are transmitted to the CPU 57 as the vertical and horizontal operation amounts of the outer shape of the camera 1, so that the above-mentioned problems can be solved.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the camera 1 (third embodiment) using a method of detecting the pointing direction by moving the finger while touching the surface of the touch panel 65 instead of using the trackball 10. is there. For the touch panel 65, a switch system that mechanically detects the pressing of a finger, a system that electrostatically detects the contact of the finger, and the like are known. In either case, the operation direction of the user Is a direction inclined with respect to the outer shape of the camera 1 as shown by arrows 11 and 12. Therefore, there is a possibility that the same problem as in the case of using the above-mentioned track ball as the operating member may occur. However, even in the camera 1 that employs the touch panel 65, the vertical direction 11 and the horizontal direction 12 are set as the operation amounts in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the outer shape of the camera 1 by executing the calculations described in FIGS. 4 and 5. CPU5
7 is transmitted, the above-mentioned problem can be solved.

FIG. 7 shows a processing program centered on the CPU 56 in the camera 1. When a battery (not shown) is connected and the power switch is turned on by pressing the shutter button 3 to the first stage, this process is started, and is repeatedly executed while power is supplied by a power timer (not shown). It

In step S1, the previously set condition is read from the storage circuit 58. Mainly LCD 5
The setting conditions and the like displayed in. Step S2
At, the attitude of the camera 1 is determined via the attitude detection switch 9. In step S3, the subject brightness signal from the photometric sensor 50 and the film sensitivity signal from the sensitivity detection circuit 53 are fetched. In step S4, both signals are calculated according to the various conditions read in step S3 to calculate the proper exposure condition, the shutter time and aperture value are determined, and the result is displayed on the LCD 5. The posture switch 9 read in step S2 is used for the calculation at this time.
The element corresponding to the posture of the camera 1 according to is added.

In step S5, the mode switch 7
Determine if is pressed. If it is not pressed, the trackball 10 is used for selecting the distance measuring area, and thus the process proceeds to step S7. If it is pressed, it is used for another mode, and thus the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, operation detection of the trackball 10 is executed in a mode other than the distance measuring area selection mode. Although the photometric mode, the exposure mode, and the like are candidates, the details are omitted.

In step S7, the trackball 1
Determine if 0 is rotated. Photo coupler 43A
And by determining whether or not there is an output from 43B.
In step S8 (this process will be described later with reference to FIG. 5), the photocouplers 43A and 43 described with reference to FIGS.
From the horizontal vector component and the vertical vector component obtained from B, the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the trackball 10 are calculated. In step S9, a new distance measurement area is displayed on the LCD 5 in accordance with the calculated direction and its amount,
That is, the blinking segment in FIGS. 10A and 10B is updated. In step S10, the information about the selected distance measuring area is stored in the storage circuit 48 as new data.

In step S11, in the new distance measuring area, the distance measuring signal from the distance measuring element 50 is received, the focus motor 54 is driven, and the subject is focused. In step S12, it is determined whether or not the shutter button 3 or 4 has been pressed deeply to the second stage and an exposure start command has been issued. If it is not pressed, the exposure operation is deemed unnecessary and the process returns to step S2 to repeat the above-mentioned processing. If it is pressed, the process proceeds to step S13 to execute a predetermined exposure sequence. In the exposure sequence, first, the diaphragm 61 is controlled to the predetermined value obtained in step S4, the shutter 60 is opened for a predetermined time according to the value obtained in step S4, and then the feeding motor 62 is driven to rotate the film. It winds up the frames. Then, the process returns to step S2 to prepare for the next exposure.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the details of the vector processing routine (step S8 in FIG. 7) in the first embodiment shown in FIG. In the above embodiment, since the inclination correction is achieved partially mechanically and partially electrically, the following relatively simple processing is sufficient.

In step S20, the photocoupler 3
Obtain the horizontal component from 4B. In step S21, the output from the photocoupler 43A is obtained. After that, the output from the photocoupler 43A is corrected based on the tilt amount of the roller 40B stored in the memory (not shown) to obtain the vertical component. However, when the correction switch (not shown) is OFF, this correction is not performed and the output from the photocoupler 43A is used as the vertical component. In step S22, the pointing direction of the trackball 10 is obtained from both components. In step S23, the instruction amount is similarly obtained.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the details of the vector processing routine (step S8 in FIG. 7) in the second embodiment shown in FIG.

As described with reference to FIG. 5, first, step S
At 24, the attitude detection switch 9 determines the attitude of the camera 1. In step S20, the vertical component from the photocoupler 43B is obtained. In step S21, the horizontal component from the photocoupler 43A is obtained. In step S25, a constant value is subtracted from the vertical and horizontal components calculated in steps S20 and S21 based on the attitude of the camera 1 calculated in step S24. Step S
At 22, the pointing direction of the trackball 10 is obtained from both components obtained at step S25. In step S23, the instruction amount is similarly obtained.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, according to the information setting device of the present invention, the direction indicated by the tilt angle with respect to the outer shape of the camera is corrected so as to match the outer shape (vertical and horizontal direction) of the camera. The operation direction of the operation member (trackball or the like) matches the element selected and instructed as a result, and it is possible to improve operability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of an information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block connection diagram showing a first embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a modification of the first embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a rear view showing a second embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a vector diagram showing a second embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a rear view showing a third embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the information setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a rear view showing an example of a conventional information setting device.

FIG. 11 is a rear view showing an example of a conventional information setting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Camera 5 LCD 9 Posture Detection Sinch 10 Trackball 40A Roller 40B Roller 45A Sector 45B Sector 43A Photo Coupler 43B Photo Coupler 65 Touch Panel

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An operating member which can be manually operated, a first detection device which detects an operation amount of the operating member in a first direction, and an operating member which moves the operating member in a second direction different from the first direction. Information setting including a second detection device that detects an operation amount, and a control device that detects an operation amount in an operation direction different from the operation direction detected by the one detection device based on the output of the one detection device apparatus. 2. The control device, based on the output of the first detection device, detects a manipulated variable in a third direction different from the first direction, and an output of the second detection device. The information setting device according to claim 1, further comprising: a second control unit that detects an operation amount in a fourth direction different from the second direction. 3. The information setting device according to claim 1, wherein the operating member is a trackball that replaces manual operation with rotation of the ball. 4. The information setting device according to claim 1, wherein the operation member is a touch panel that detects a touch point that is manually operated. 5. The third direction and the fourth direction are two directions orthogonal to each other along the outer shape of the information setting device, and the first direction has a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the third direction. The information setting device according to claim 2, wherein the second direction has the predetermined inclination angle with respect to the fourth direction. 6. The information setting device according to claim 2, wherein the control device shifts a predetermined value from the output of the first detection device or the second detection device. 7. A posture detecting device for detecting a posture of the information setting device is further provided, wherein the control device outputs the operation amount of the different operation direction obtained by the control device to a detection output of the posture detecting device. The information setting device according to claim 1, wherein the information setting device corrects according to the above. 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first detection device and the second detection device is arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the outer shape of the information setting device. Information setting device described. 9. An operation member which can be manually operated, a detection device which detects an operation amount of the operation member in a predetermined direction, and an operation amount in a direction different from the predetermined direction based on an output of the detection device. An information setting device comprising: a control device for detecting.