Electronic apparatus, stand and electronic apparatus stand system

• US 20030076440A1
• Filed: 09/09/2002
• Published: 04/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Terane, Akio
• Granted Patent: US 6,812,971 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/373
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/50 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/65 Control of camera operation in relation to power supply

Abstract

An electronic camera system of this invention is an electronic camera system comprising an electronic camera and a camera stand which is provided so as to enable the electronic camera to be mounted thereon and includes a power supplying section for supplying power to the electronic camera mounted. The electric camera system is mainly characterized in that the electronic camera is formed so as to have an exterior shape capable of being mounted on the camera stand, and the camera stand is formed so as to have an exterior shape which enables the electronic camera to be mounted either in a first direction in which the front of the camera faces to the front of the camera stand or in a second direction in which the back of the camera faces to the front of the camera stand.

Claims

1. An electronic camera system comprising an electronic camera and a camera stand which is provided so as to enable the electronic camera to be mounted thereon and includes a power supplying section for supplying power to said mounted electronic camera, the electronic camera system characterized in that

said electronic camera is formed so as to have an exterior shape capable of being mounted on said camera stand, and

said camera stand is formed so as to have an exterior shape which enables said electronic camera to be mounted either in a first direction in which the front of the camera faces the front of the camera stand or in a second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of the camera stand.

2. The electronic camera system according to claim 1, characterized in that

said electronic camera has a plurality of operation modes and can be mounted on said camera stand either in a first direction in which the front of the camera faces the front of the camera stand or in a second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of the camera stand, and includes

a direction sensing section which senses whether the direction in which said electronic camera is mounted on said camera stand is either said first direction or said second direction, and

a control section which selects a specific operation mode from said plurality of operation modes according to the mounting direction of the electronic camera sensed by said direction sensing section.

3. The electronic camera system according to claim 2, characterized in that

the power supplying section of said camera stand supplies power to the electronic camera when said electronic camera is mounted in either the first direction or said second direction.

4. The electronic camera system according to claim 2, characterized in that

said control section selects and sets a photographing mode when the mounting direction of said electronic camera sensed by said direction sensing section is said first direction.

5. The electronic camera system according to claim 2, characterized in that

said control section selects and sets said photographing mode when the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section is said first direction and a lens cover for said electronic camera is open.

6. The electronic camera system according to claim 4, characterized in that

said control section inhibits setting from being further effected to a reproducing mode when the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section is said first direction.

7. The electronic camera system according to claim 6, characterized in that

said control section further changes the photographing mode to an external communication mode in which communication is made with an external unit according to an instruction when the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section is said first direction.

8. The electronic camera system according to claim 2, characterized in that

said control section selects and sets a reproducing mode when the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section is said second direction.

9. The electronic camera system according to claim 8, characterized in that

said control section inhibits setting from giving further effect to the photographing mode when the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section is said second direction.

10. The electronic camera system according to claim 9, characterized in that

said control section further changes the reproducing mode to said external communication mode or a print mode according to an instruction when the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section is said second direction.

11. The electronic camera system according to claim 8, characterized in that

said electronic camera is configured so as to be mounted on said camera stand in a position different from a position in normal use and includes

a display section which is mounted on the back of said camera and displays an image based on image data, and

an image direction changing section which changes the direction of the image displayed on said display section, when said direction sensing section senses said second direction and the reproducing mode is set.

12. The electronic camera system according to claim 2, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes

a liquid-crystal display section which is mounted on the back of said camera and displays an image based on said image data,

a field angle changing section which changes the direction of field angle at the liquid-crystal display section, and

a control section which, when said direction sensing section senses said second direction, controls said field angle changing section so as to set said direction of field angle to a setting value corresponding to the position in which said electronic camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

13. The electronic camera system according to claim 4, characterized in that said electronic camera includes

a photographing mode setting section which, when said direction sensing section senses said first direction, enables a specific photographing mode for automatic photography different from a normal photographing mode to be set as said photographing mode, and

a camera control section which, when the photographing mode setting section sets the specific photographing mode for automatic photography, controls the electric camera body so as to photograph under photographing conditions that other people are not allowed to notice photographing operations.

14. The electronic camera system according to claim 2, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a defective pixel sensing section which senses defective pixels in a photographing element, and

said control section sets said operation mode to a defective pixel sensing mode in which said defective pixel sensing section senses defective pixels with specific timing, when said direction sensing section senses that said electronic camera is in said second direction.

15. The electronic camera system according to claim 1, characterized in that

said electronic camera is provided so as to be capable of being mounted on said camera stand either in a first direction in which the front of the camera faces to the front of said camera stand or in a second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of said camera stand, and

the power supplying section of said camera stand supplies power to the electronic camera, even when said electronic camera is mounted in either said first direction or said second direction.

16. The electronic camera system according to claim 15, characterized in that

said second direction is a direction obtained by turning said first direction through about 180°

.

17. The electronic camera system according to claim 15, characterized in that

said electronic camera has a power receiving section corresponding to said power supplying section on its exterior or in the vicinity of its exterior, and

said power supplying section is provided in a position that faces the power receiving section of said electronic camera mounted in said first direction and that faces the power receiving section of said electronic camera mounted in said second direction.

18. The electronic camera system according to claim 17, characterized in that

said electronic camera has said power receiving section on the side face of the camera or in the vicinity of the side face of the camera.

19. The electronic camera system according to claim 17, characterized in that

said electronic camera has said power receiving section on the base of the camera or in the vicinity of the base of the camera.

20. The electronic camera system according to claim 17, characterized in that

said power supplying section supplies power to said power receiving section in a noncontacting manner.

21. The electronic camera system according to claim 17, characterized in that

each of said electronic camera and said camera stand further includes

a data transmitting and receiving section which transmits and receives data, when said electronic camera is mounted on said camera stand in either said first direction or said second direction.

22. The electronic camera system according to claim 21, characterized in that

the data transmitting and receiving section of said electronic camera has said power receiving section on almost the same face as the face on which said power receiving section is mounted.

23. The electronic camera system according to claim 21, characterized in that

said data transmission and reception is performed by emitting and receiving an optical signal, and,

the data transmission and reception section of said camera stand includes:

a first optical conducting section provided so as to correspond to said first direction,

a second optical conducting section provided so as to correspond to said second direction, and

a light coupling section which couples one light-receiving element or one light-emitting element to said first optical conducting section and said second optical conducting section.

24. The electronic camera system according to claim 21, characterized in that said camera stand further includes

an optical guiding section which guides an optical signal transmitted from a remote control transmitter to a remote control signal light-receiving section provided on said mounted electronic camera.

25. An electronic camera system in which an electronic camera is mountable on a camera stand and which receives power from a power supplying section provided on the camera stand when the camera is mounted on the camera stand, the electronic camera characterized in that the exterior shape of the electronic camera enables it to be mounted on said camera stand either in a first direction in which the front of the camera faces the front of said camera stand or in a second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of said camera stand.

26. The electronic camera according to claim 25, characterized by having a plurality of operation modes and by including

a direction sensing section which senses whether the direction in which said electronic camera is mounted on said camera stand is either said first direction or said second direction, and

a control section which selects a specific operation mode from said plurality of operation modes according to the mounting direction sensed by said direction sensing section.

27. The electronic camera according to claim 25, characterized by being mounted on the camera stand and receiving power from a power supplying section provided on the camera stand, and, capable of receiving power when the camera is mounted on said camera stand either in the first direction in which the front of the camera faces the front of the camera stand or in the second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of the camera stand.

28. A camera stand which is capable of mounting an electronic camera thereon and includes a power supplying section for supplying power to the mounted electronic camera, the camera stand characterized by having an exterior shape which enables said electronic camera to be mounted either in a first direction in which the front of the camera faces the front of the camera stand or in a second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of the camera stand.

29. The camera stand according to claim 28, characterized by being capable of mounting the electronic camera thereon which selects a specific operation mode from a plurality of operation modes according to the mounting direction and setting the selected mode and in that

said power supplying section supplies power to the electronic camera, even when said electronic camera is mounted either in the first direction in which the front of the camera faces to the front of the camera stand or in the second direction in which the back of the camera faces to the front of the camera stand.

30. The camera stand according to claim 28, characterized in that

said power supplying section supplies power to the electronic camera, when said electronic camera is mounted either in the first direction in which the front of the camera faces the front of the camera stand or in the second direction in which the back of the camera faces the front of the camera stand.

31. A system comprising an apparatus with a specific function and a stand with a power supplying section which supplies power to said apparatus mounted, the system characterized in that

said apparatus is formed so as to have an exterior shape capable of being mounted on said stand, and

said stand is formed so as to have an exterior shape which enables said apparatus to be mounted thereon either in a first direction in which the front of the apparatus faces the front of the stand or in a second direction in which the back of the apparatus faces the front of the stand.

32. The system according to claim 31, characterized in that

said apparatus has a plurality of operation modes and is capable of being mounted on said stand either in the first direction or in the second direction, and includes

a direction sensing section which senses whether the direction in which the camera is mounted on said stand is either said first direction or said second direction, and

a control section which selects a specific operation mode from said plurality of operation modes according to the mounting direction sensed by the direction sensing section.

33. The system according to claim 31, characterized in that

said apparatus is provided so as to be capable of being mounted on said stand either in the first direction or in the second direction, and

the power supplying section of said stand supplies power to the apparatus, when said apparatus is mounted in either said first direction or said second direction.

34. An electronic camera system comprising an electronic camera and a camera stand on which the electronic camera is mounted detachably, the electronic camera system characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a camera body, a mount sensing section which senses that the camera body is mounted on said camera stand, and a control section which operates a specific function section of said electronic camera, when the mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand, and

said camera stand includes a power supplying section which supplies power to said electronic camera mounted.

35. The electronic camera system according to claim 34, characterized in that

said electronic camera is configured to be mounted on said camera stand in a position different from the position in normal use and includes a display section which displays an image based on image data, and, an image direction changing section which changes the direction of the image displayed on said display section, and

said control section controls said image direction changing section, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

36. The electronic camera system according to claim 35, characterized in that

said image direction changing section further changes the direction of said displayed image on the basis of information about the direction of the image corresponding to the image data.

37. The electronic camera system according to claim 35, characterized in that

said display section includes a clock display section which displays a clock, and

said image direction changing section changes the direction of a clock representation displayed on said display section, when said sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said stand.

38. The electronic camera system according to claim 36, characterized in that

said image direction changing section, when said camera body is not mounted on said stand, changes the direction of said displayed image on the basis of information about the direction of said image so as to provide a representation suitable for a normally used position.

39. The electronic camera system according to claim 38, characterized in that

said camera body includes an image data output section which outputs display image data to an external display unit, and,

when said sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said stand, said image direction changing section changes the direction of the displayed image so as to provide the same representation as that suitable for said normally used position, on the basis of information about said direction of said image in the case of the display image data outputted from said output section, and changes the direction of the displayed image so as to provide a representation suitable for a position when the camera body is mounted, on the basis of information about said direction of said image in the case of the image data displayed on said display section.

40. The electronic camera system according to claim 34, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a liquid-crystal display section which displays an image based on image data and a field angle changing section which changes the direction of field angle at the liquid-crystal section and,

when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand, said control section controls said field angle changing section so as to change said direction of field angle to a setting value corresponding to the position in which the camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

41. The electronic camera system according to claim 40, characterized in that

said field angle changing section is a brightness changing section which changes the brightness of said liquid-crystal display section.

42. The electronic camera system according to claim 40, characterized in that

said camera body includes an operation section which enables the setting value of said direction of field angle to be varied manually.

43. The electronic camera system according to claim 40, characterized in that,

with said camera body mounted on said stand, an operation section which enables the setting value of said direction of field angle to be varied manually is provided on a stand exterior section.

44. The electronic camera system according to claim 34, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a photographing mode select section which selects a normal photographing mode or a specific photographing mode for automatic photography as a photographing mode, and

said control section performs control so that said photographing mode select section can select the specific photographing mode for automatic photography, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

45. The electronic camera system according to claim 44, characterized in that

said camera control section photographs under photographing conditions that other people are not allowed to notice photographing operations, when said specific photographing mode is selected.

46. The electronic camera system according to claim 45, characterized in that

said photographing conditions that no other people are allowed to notice photographing operations are photographing while inhibiting at least one of strobe light emission, display by a display section, lens movements by a focusing section and a zooming section, driving operations by a diaphragm and shutter section, and sound reproduction and calling.

47. The electronic camera system according to claim 44, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a charging section which charges a built-in secondary battery with power supplied from said camera stand.

48. The electronic camera system according to claim 47, characterized in that

said camera control section performs control so as to interrupt the charging by said charging section and execute photography, when a photograph instruction is given in said specific photographing mode in the middle of the charging of the built-in secondary battery by said charging section.

49. The electronic camera system according to claim 47, characterized in that

said camera control section performs control so as to interrupt the charging by said charging section and execute photography and, after the completion of the photography, resume the charging, when a photograph instruction is given in said specific photographing mode in the middle of the charging of the built-in secondary battery by said charging section.

50. The electronic camera system according to claim 48, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a battery remaining power sensing section, and

said camera control section recharges the battery, when the battery remaining power sensing section senses a decrease in the amount of battery remaining power as a result of photographing after the photographing operation is completed.

51. The electronic camera system according to claim 34, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a photographing mode setting section which sets a specific photographing mode for automatic photography as an photographing mode, and

said control section performs control said photographing mode setting section so as to set the specific photographing mode for automatic photography when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

52. The electronic camera system according to claim 34, characterized in that

said electronic camera includes a camera examination section which examines the camera, and

said control section activates said camera examination section with specific timing, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

53. The electronic camera system according to claim 52, characterized in that

said camera examination section is a defective pixel sensing means which senses defective pixels in a photographing element.

54. The electronic camera system according to claim 53, characterized in that

said camera body further includes a temperature measuring section and

said defective pixel sensing section senses defective pixels according to the temperature measured by the temperature measuring section.

55. The electronic camera system according to claim 53, characterized in that

said camera body further includes a charging section which charges a built-in secondary battery with power supplied from said camera stand, and

said activation control section starts the charging by said charging section after said defective pixel sensing section senses a defective pixel.

56. The electronic camera system according to claim 53, characterized in that

said camera body further includes a charging section which charges a built-in secondary battery with power supplied from said camera stand, and

said activation control section activates said defective pixel sensing section, after the charging by said charging section is completed.

57. The electronic camera system according to claim 53, characterized in that

said camera stand includes a light projecting section which projects light onto the photographing system of said electronic camera mounted, and

said defective pixel sensing section of the electronic camera senses black defective pixels in the photographing element from the output of the photographing element on which light is projected by said light projecting section.

58. The electronic camera system according to claim 53, characterized in that

said defective pixel sensing section of the electronic camera senses white defective pixels in the photographing element from the photographing element with the shutter closed.

59. An electronic camera which is provided so as to be capable of being mounted on a camera stand and receives power from a power supplying section provided on the camera stand on which the camera is mounted, the electronic camera characterized by comprising

a camera body,

a mount sensing section which senses that the camera body is mounted on said camera stand, and

a control section which activates a specific function of the electronic camera, when the mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

60. The electronic camera system according to claim 59, said camera characterized by being configured so as to be mounted in a position different from the position in normal use and including a display section which displays an image based on image data and an image direction changing section which changes the direction of the image displayed on said display section, and in that

said control section controls said image direction changing section, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

61. The electronic camera system according to claim 60, said camera characterized in that

said image direction changing section further changes the direction of said displayed image on the basis of information about the direction of the image corresponding to image data.

62. The electronic camera system according to claim 59, the electronic camera characterized by comprising

a liquid-crystal display section which displays an image based on image data, and

a field angle changing section which changes the direction of field angle at the liquid-crystal display section, and in that

said control section, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand, controls said field angle changing section so as to change said direction of field angle to a setting value corresponding to the position in which the camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

63. The electronic camera system according to claim 62, the electronic camera characterized in that

said field angle changing section is a brightness changing section which changes the brightness of said liquid-crystal display section.

64. The electronic camera system according to claim 59, the electronic camera characterized by including a photographing mode select section which selects a normal photographing mode or a specific photographing mode for automatic photography as a photographing mode, and in that

said control section, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand, performs control so as to enable said photographing mode select section to select the specific photographing mode for automatic photography.

65. The electronic camera system according to claim 64, the electronic camera characterized in that

said camera control section photographs under photographing conditions that other people are not allowed to notice photographing operations, when said specific photographing mode is selected.

66. The electronic camera system according to claim 65, the electronic camera characterized in that

said photographing conditions that no other people are allowed to notice photographing operations are photographing while inhibiting at least one of strobe light emission, display by a display section, lens movements by a focusing section and a zooming section, driving operations by a diaphragm and shutter section, and sound reproduction and calling.

67. The electronic camera system according to claim 59, the electronic camera characterized by including a camera examination section which examines the camera, and in that

said control section activates said camera examination section with specific timing, when said mount sensing section senses that said camera body is mounted on said camera stand.

68. The electronic camera system according to claim 67, the electronic camera characterized in that

said camera examination section is a defective pixel sensing means which senses defective pixels in a photographing element.

69. The electronic camera system according to claim 68, the electronic camera characterized in that

said camera body further includes a temperature measuring section and

said defective pixel sensing section senses defective pixels according to the temperature measured by the temperature measuring section.