POSITION DETECTING CIRCUIT AND APPARATUS USING THE SAME

• US 20080177500A1
• Filed: 01/24/2008
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Susumu
• Granted Patent: US 7,599,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/150
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 29/685 compensating for Hall sensor temperature non-linearity
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 6/16 Circuit arrangements for detecting position

Abstract

A position detecting circuit including: a plurality of magnetic field detecting devices discretely disposed for outputting a signal corresponding to a magnetic field strength produced by an oppositely disposed magnetic field generation means; a correction parameter arithmetic section for computing correction parameters for bringing to a predetermined constant value a sum of output from one of the magnetic field detecting devices and an output from another of the magnetic field detecting devices; and a position arithmetic section for computing and outputting a relative position between the magnetic field generation means and the magnetic field detecting devices based on an output difference the between the output from the one magnetic field detecting device and output from the another magnetic field detecting device and the correction parameters.

Claims

1. A position detecting circuit comprising:

a plurality of magnetic field detecting devices discretely disposed for outputting a signal corresponding to a magnetic field strength produced by an oppositely disposed magnetic field generation means;

a correction parameter arithmetic section for computing correction parameters for bringing to a predetermined constant value a sum of an output from one of said magnetic field detecting devices and an output from another of said magnetic field detecting devices; and

a position arithmetic section for computing and outputting a relative position between said magnetic field generation means and said magnetic field detecting devices based on an output difference between the output from said one magnetic field detecting device and the output from said another magnetic field detecting device and said correction parameters.

2. The position detecting circuit according to claim 1, wherein said position arithmetic section comprises a first gain regulator for applying a gain corresponding to said correction parameters to the output from said one magnetic field detecting device, a second gain regulator for applying said gain corresponding to said correction parameters to the output from said another magnetic field detecting device, and a subtracting amplifier for computing a difference between each output of said first and said second gain regulators and outputting it as a signal representing said relative position, and

wherein said correction parameter arithmetic section computes said correction parameters so as to bring a sum of the outputs from each of said first and said second gain regulators to the predetermined constant value.

3. The position detecting circuit according to claim 1, wherein said position arithmetic section comprises a subtracting amplifier for computing said output difference, and a gain regulator for applying a gain corresponding to said correction parameters to an output from said subtracting amplifier.

4. The position detecting circuit according to claim 1 further comprising A/D converter for converting each output from said one and the another magnetic field detecting devices respectively into digital signals, wherein said position arithmetic section and the correction parameter arithmetic section respectively execute an arithmetic operation on an output from the A/D converter.

5. A microscope comprising:

a lens barrel for retaining objective lens;

a support arm for supporting said lens barrel so as to be movable;

a regulating section for regulating a position of said lens barrel in relation to said support arm;

a magnetic field generation means for generating a magnetic field attached to one of said lens barrel or said support arm; and

the position detecting circuit according to claim 1 disposed on a side face of the other of said lens barrel or said support arm opposite said magnetic field generation means.

6. A shake correction apparatus of an imaging apparatus comprising:

a movable retaining section for retaining one or the other of a taking lens or an imaging device for converting an object image entered through said taking lens into electrical signals in a manner movable in relation to a main body of said imaging apparatus;

a magnetic field generation means for generating a magnetic field attached to one of said movable retaining section or a member fixed to said main body;

the position detecting circuit according to claim 1 disposed on a side face of the other of said movable retaining section or the member fixed to said main body opposite said magnetic field generation means;

a shake amount measuring means for measuring an amount of shake of said main body; and

a movement control means for moving said movable retaining section so as to compensate for said amount of shake based on an output from said position arithmetic section.