Photographic data printing device

• US 4,198,146 A
• Filed: 04/20/1978
• Issued: 04/15/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Taguchi, Tetsuya, Tamura, Shuichi, Okuno, Youichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Griffin, Donald A.
• Application Number:
  US05/898,333
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 354/105, 354/106, 354/109, 354/219, 58/4A
• US Class Current: 396/318
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/245 Optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 2217/243 Optical devices

Abstract

A data printing device for use in a photographic camera includes an electronic clock for providing time and date data to be printed in digital form on the associated film in the camera. In one embodiment, the data are grouped into two parts which are printed in time-displaced relation to each other on a common picture frame, while the data are prevented from changing during the printing operation, as time passes on. The display of data is effected only when printing is performed, or when required or desired values of time and/or date are set in the electronic clock, thereby the consumption of electrical energy of a common battery of the exposure control apparatus in the camera is minimized.

Claims

1. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting pulses, said watch circuit performing a watch operation by counting the pulses;

(b) illuminating means connected to said watch circuit for displaying the content of said counter circuit; and

(c) a control circuit for producing a print signal for holding the content of said counter circuit, said print signal being a signal of a shorter pulse width than that of said pulses so that the content of said counter circuit does not change during the printing operation of said data recording device.

2. A camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

film sensitivity setting means for setting the sensitivity of a film and a film sensitivity information signal forming circuit for controlling the amount of light produced from said illuminating means in accordance with said film sensitivity setting means.

3. A camera according to claim 1, wherein said counter circuit includes a first group of counter means for counting at least month and date information and a second group of counter means for counting at least hour and minute information, and said camera further comprises selecting operation means for selecting said first or second group of counter means to selectively transmit the content of the first or second group of counter means to the illuminating means.

4. A camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for producing an exposure termination signal when the exposure operation is finished and said control circuit produces said print signal in response to the exposure operation termination signal.

5. A camera according to claim 4, further comprising:

film sensitivity setting means for setting the sensitivity of a film and a film sensitivity information signal forming circuit for controlling the amount of light produced from said illuminating means in accordance with said film sensitivity setting means.

6. A camera according to claim 4, wherein said counter circuit includes a first group of counter means for counting at least month and date information and a second group of counter means for counting at least hour and minute information, and said camera includes selecting operation means for selecting said first or second group of counter means to selectively transmit the content of the first or second group of counter means to the illuminating means.

7. A camera according to claim 1, wherein said illuminating means becomes operative in response to said print signal.

8. A camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

(a) a monitor optical system for guiding light from said illuminating means to the outside of the camera;

(b) a data recording optical system for guiding light from said illuminating means to a film; and

(c) means for guiding light from said illuminating means to said data recording optical system in response to said print signal and for normally light shielding transmission of light from said illuminating means to the data recording optical system.

9. A camera according to claim 1, wherein said counter circuit includes a plurality of counter parts each for counting a different kind of time information, and said camera further includes a time sequence control circuit for sequentially transmitting the content of a given counter part to the illuminating means in response to the print signal.

10. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting pulses, said watch circuit performing a watch operation by counting the pulses and said counter cricuit having a plurality of counters, each for counting a different kind of time information;

(b) illuminating means connected to said watch circuit for displaying the content of said counter circuit;

(c) a control circuit for producing a print signal for enabling the illuminating operation of said illuminating means to record at least the content of said counter circuit to a film;

(d) a time sequence control circuit for sequentially transmitting the content of a given counter to the illuminating means in response to the print signal; and

(e) an optical system arranged to transfer light coming from said illuminating means to a film surface for recording data thereon, said optical system being arranged to transfer said light from said illuminating means to a position on said film surface in such a manner so that said position differs from a previous position or positions each time the value displayed by said illuminating means varies.

11. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting pulses, said watch circuit performing a watch operation by counting the pulses;

(b) illuminating means connected to said watch circuit for displaying the content of said counter circuit;

(c) a control circuit for producing a print signal for enabling the illuminating operation of said illuminating means to record at least the content of said counter circuit on a film;

(d) a time sequence control circuit for sequentially producing a transmit signal to sequentially transmit the content of a counter to the illuminating means in response to the print signal; and

(e) optical means arranged to be displaced in response to said transmit signal so that light from said illuminating means is transmitted to different predetermined positions when the display content by the illuminating means is changed.

12. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a pulse generator for producing a pulse with a certain frequency;

(b) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting a pulse from said pulse generator, said watch circuit performing watching operation by counting the pulse;

(c) a printing light source for printing at least the content counted by the counter circuit of said watch circuit;

(d) a timer circuit for producing an output in response to a print signal from the camera, said timer circuit holds the output certain duration of time;

(e) a circuit connected to said timer circuit and input of the watch circuit, whereby said circuit operates to terminate the counting operation of pulse from said pulse generator by said counter circuit of watch circuit in response to the output of timer circuit; and

(f) an illuminating control circuit connected to said printing light source, said control circuit enabling said light source to be operative in response to the output of the timer circuit.

13. A camera according to claim 12, wherein said timer circuit comprises a counter for counting a pulse with a certain frequency, gate means connected to said counter for transmitting the pulse in response to a print signal from a camera, detecting means connected to said couner for detecting the content of counter and for producing an output when the content of counter reaches a predetermined value, and means for producing an output in response to a print signal and for keeping the output until the output from detecting means appears.

14. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a pulse generator for producing a pulse with a certain frequency;

(b) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting a pulse from said pulse generator, said watch circuit performing watching operation by counting the pulse;

(c) a printing light source for printing at least the content counted by the counter circuit of said watch circuit;

(d) a timer circuit for producing an output in response to a print signal from the camera, so that said timer circuit holds the output certain duration of time;

(e) a circuit connected to said timer circuit and the input of the watch circuit, so that said circuit operates to terminate the counting operation of pulse from said pulse generator by said counter circuit of the watch circuit in response to the output of the timer circuit;

(f) a film speed information setting means;

(g) a film information signal forming circuit connected to said film speed information setting means, said signal forming circuit producing a pulse signal in response to the output from said timer circuit, and the duty ratio of said pulse signal is controlled by the film speed set by film speed information setting means; and

(h) an illuminating control circuit connected to said printing light source, said control circuit enables said light source to be operative in response to the pulse signal from the film information signal forming circuit.

15. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a pulse generator for producing a pulse with a certain frequency;

(b) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting a pulse from said pulse generator, said watch circuit performing watching operation by counting the pulse;

(c) a light source for printing the content of the counter circuit to the film;

(d) a timer circuit for producing an output in response to a print signal from the camera, so that said timer circuit holds the output of certain duration of time;

(e) gate means connected to said counter circuit, said gate means applying the output from the timer circuit to the input of the counter circuit for holding the content of the counter circuit during the timer circuit operates;

(f) film speed information setting means;

(g) a film speed signal forming circuit operative in response to the output from the timer circuit for producing a pulse with a certain frequency, the frequency of the pulse from said film speed signal forming circuit being controlled in accordance with the value set by said film speed information setting means; and

(h) an illuminating control circuit operative in response to the output of said film speed signal forming circuit for controlling the amount of light produced from said light source in accordance with said frequency.

16. A camera according to claim 15, wherein said film speed signal forming circuit has a plurality of gate circuits to which respective pulses are applied at different frequencies to one another and has a selecting circuit for selecting a predetermined one of said gate circuits depending upon the film speed value set in said film speed information setting means.

17. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a pulse generator for producing a pulse with a certain frequency;

(b) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting a pulse from said pulse generator, said watch circuit performing watching operation by counting the pulse;

(c) illuminating means for displaying the content of the counter circuit;

(d) an exposure control circuit for producing an exposure termination signal when the exposure operation is finished;

(e) an operation member for displaying the content of the counter circuit for the operator;

(f) a display signal forming circuit coupled to said operation member for producing an output when the operation member is operated by the operator;

(g) a timer circuit for producing an output in response to said exposure termination signal, so that said timer circuit holds the output of certain duration of time;

(h) gate means connected to said counter circuit, said gate means applying the output from the timer circuit to the input of the counter circuit for holding the content of the counter circuit during the time the timer circuit operates;

(i) film speed information setting means;

(j) a film speed signal forming circuit for producing a pulse with a certain frequency in response to the output from the timer circuit, said signal forming circuit producing a pulse with a frequency based on the value of film speed set in said film speed information setting means;

(k) an illumination control circuit connected to said illuminating means, said circuit responsive to the output of said display signal forming circuit for causing said illuminating means to produce light and responsive to the pulse from said film speed signal forming circuit for causing said illuminating means to be lighted at the frequency of said pulse.

18. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting a pulse, said watch circuit performing watching operation by counting the pulse, and said counter circuit including at least a first counter for measuring time for first data and a second counter for measuring time for second data;

(b) illuminating means for displaying the content of the counter circuit;

(c) a timer circuit for producing an output in response to said exposure termination signal, so that said timer circuit holds the output a certain duration of time;

(d) an operation member for displaying the content of the counter circuit for the operator;

(e) a timing circuit responsive to said timer circuit for producing a first signal during a predetermined time, for producing a second signal after the lapse of that time, and for producing a third signal after the second signal;

(f) a first transmission circuit responsive to said first signal for transmitting the content of said first counter to the illuminating means, whereby the content of said first counter is displayed;

(g) a second transmission circuit responsive to said third signal for transmitting the content of said second counter to the illuminating means, whereby the content of said second counter is displayed;

(h) data printing optical means arranged to be displaced in response to said second signal so that light from said illuminating means is deflected to a predetermined position of a film;

whereby the content of at least the first counter is printed to the film surface by the first signal, then said data printing optical means is displaced by said second signal, and then the content of the second counter is printed by said third signal to the film surface in a position different from that in which the content of the first counter is printed by the first signal.

19. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting pulses, said watch circuit performing a watch operation by counting pulses;

(b) illuminating means connected to said watch circuit for displaying the content of said counter circuit;

(c) print signal forming means for forming a print signal;

(d) a display optical system for guiding light coming from said illuminating means to the outside of the camera;

(e) a printing optical system for guiding the light from said illuminating means to a film surface in response to said print signal; and

(f) a control circuit for controlling the quantity of illuminating light of said illuminating means to keep it at a predetermined quantity irrespective of the sensitivity of film employed at the time of display and for controlling the quantity of said illuminating light according to the film sensitivity in response to said print signal.

20. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting pulses, said watch circuit performing a watch operation by counting pulses;

(b) a printing light source for printing the content of the counter circuit of said watch circuit;

(c) print signal forming means for forming a print signal; and

(d) a light emission quantity control circuit which is arranged to form a pulse signal in response to said print signal, said printing light source being arranged to have the quantity of light emission thereby controlled in accordance with the duty of said pulse signal, said duty of said pulse signal being determined in accordance with the sensitivity of film employed.

21. A camera having a data recording device comprising:

(a) a watch circuit having a counter circuit for counting pulses, said watch circuit performing a watch operation by counting pulses;

(b) illuminating means connected to said watch circuit for displaying the content of said counter circuit;

(c) a print signal forming circuit for forming a print signal; and

(d) a control circuit connected to said watch circuit, said control circuit being arranged to produce a pulse in response to the print signal, said counter circuit of said watch circuit being arranged to have the counting action stopped by said pulse for a predetermined period of time.