JP4764532B2 - Digital camera - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera, and more specifically, an optical housing having an optical system configured to guide an incident subject light to an image sensor arranged on an optical axis to form an optical image. The present invention relates to a stored digital camera.

  Conventionally, a digital device including an optical housing including a lens barrel unit including a plurality of optical lenses and the like, and an imaging unit including an imaging device that photoelectrically converts an optical image of a subject formed by the optical lens. Various cameras have been put into practical use.

  These digital cameras are always required to be downsized as a whole so that the user can always carry and carry them and use them easily without choosing a place.

  On the other hand, when a user always carries a digital camera, there is a high possibility that the user will accidentally drop the digital camera while carrying it, or accidentally collide with a wall or the like. However, since such a digital camera is an extremely precise device, the impact of the external force may reach the internal components when it receives an impact force from the outside, thereby damaging the internal components. Or it could be damaged.

  Therefore, in a small device such as a conventional digital camera, in order to cope with an impact such as dropping, an internal component is configured to be movable on the inner surface of the device main body, and the movable internal component For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-258971, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-306078, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-80987 are disclosed in which a buffer member is provided between the outer surface and the inner surface of the device body. Various proposals are made in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-40503.

  In such a small device with a floating structure, when an impact force due to an external force is applied to the outside of the device body, the impact force is absorbed by compressing the buffer member.

  The small device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-258971 is a mobile phone or the like having a main body case that holds a camera unit and delimits an outline, and alleviates the impact force applied to the camera unit through the main body case In order to achieve this, a buffer member is provided between the unit case and the main body case and along each of the lens moving directions (optical axis direction; X-axis direction) and directions perpendicular thereto (Y-axis direction). It is composed.

  The small device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-306078 is an in-vehicle player device installed on a dash panel in a vehicle interior, and includes an outer case incorporated in the dash panel, and the outer case. A buffer member is interposed between the apparatus main body and the apparatus main body.

  The small device disclosed by the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-80987 and the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-40503 includes an outer surface of a slot portion that detachably stores a disk-shaped recording medium cartridge stored in the device main body, A buffer member is interposed between other internal components.

JP 2003-258971 A JP 2005-306078 A JP 2006-80987 A JP 2006-40503 A

  However, in the means disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-258971, the buffer member is disposed on the surface along each of the lens movement direction (X-axis direction) and the direction perpendicular thereto (Y-axis direction). When an impact force is applied in the lens moving direction (X-axis direction), the force applied to the buffer member becomes a pressing force and a shearing force. In this case, the repulsive force and the shearing force when the buffer member is compressed cancel each other out.

  Further, in a digital camera or the like, an optical housing having an optical lens or the like is housed inside the camera body, and this optical housing has a direction other than the lens moving direction (X-axis direction), That is, in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, it can be said that the strength against external impact force is ensured by the camera body or the like. On the other hand, the optical lens in the optical housing is configured to be freely movable in a predetermined direction (optical axis direction), for example, for a focusing operation or a zooming operation. This can be said to be a disadvantageous configuration particularly when an external force in a direction along the optical axis is applied to the optical housing. In addition, in the means for absorbing an impact by the compression force of the buffer member as described above, the repulsive force generated with the compression of the buffer member may affect the optical housing.

  Furthermore, when a buffer member is provided on the inner surface of the device, the space inside the device is required by the thickness. In particular, when the buffer member is provided on the surface along the direction perpendicular to the optical axis direction, the size in the optical axis direction, which is the direction in which the optical lens moves, must be ensured. There is also the problem of being connected.

  On the other hand, in the means for absorbing the impact by compressing the buffer member, the thickness of the buffer member contributes to the shock absorption, and the effect tends to decrease as the buffer member becomes thinner.

  On the other hand, in digital cameras that are carried around, there is always a demand for downsizing and thinning of the device body. There is also a problem that it is difficult to secure a space for arranging the members.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described points, and an object of the present invention is to absorb the impact force applied in the moving direction of the lens without being affected by the repulsive force generated by the impact absorbing member. At the same time, it is to provide a digital camera that can suppress an increase in size of the apparatus main body even if an impact absorbing member is provided.

In order to achieve the above object, a digital camera according to an aspect of the present invention has an optical system for guiding an incident subject light to an image sensor located on an optical axis to form an optical image, and As a flat optical housing, a camera body having a storage portion for storing the optical housing in a displaceable manner, an impact absorbing member having one surface fixed to the outer surface of the flat optical housing,
A thin plate disposed with one surface fixed to the other surface of the shock absorbing member and the other surface restricted in movement with respect to the inner surface of the camera body storage unit,
The flat optical housing absorbs the shock by displacing the optical housing with respect to a thin plate whose movement is restricted on the inner surface of the camera body housing when the camera body receives an impact force from the outside. The member is subjected to shear deformation, and the displacement of the optical housing is absorbed by the shear deformation of the shock absorbing member.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to absorb an impact force applied in the lens movement direction when an impact is applied to the camera body, and it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the device body in the lens movement direction even if an impact absorbing member is provided. .

1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. The rear view which shows the back surface of the digital camera of this embodiment. The principal part enlarged view which shows roughly the arrangement | positioning state of the optical housing with respect to the camera main body of the digital camera of this embodiment. The exploded perspective view which takes out the camera main body and optical housing | casing of the digital camera of this embodiment, and shows the assembly structure. The disassembled perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows the impact-absorbing means arrange | positioned in the front surface of the optical housing | casing of the digital camera of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is an assembly diagram illustrating a state in which shock absorbing means is attached to the front surface of the optical housing of the digital camera of the present embodiment. The principal part expansion perspective view which takes out and shows only the impact-absorbing means in the digital camera of this embodiment. The principal part expanded sectional view which expands and shows the cross section (cross section along the [8]-[8] line of FIG. 6) of the attachment site | part of the impact-absorbing means of the optical housing of the digital camera of this embodiment.

  The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

  1-8 is a figure which shows one Embodiment of this invention. Among these, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the digital camera of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a rear view showing the rear surface of the digital camera of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an arrangement of an optical housing provided inside by breaking a part of the back side of the digital camera. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part schematically showing an arrangement state of the optical housing with respect to the camera body of the digital camera. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the assembly structure of the camera body and the optical housing of the digital camera of this embodiment. 5 and 6 are external perspective views of the digital camera according to the present embodiment taken out from the front side, and FIG. 5 shows shock absorbing means disposed on the front side of the optical case. It is a disassembled perspective view shown disassembled. FIG. 6 is an assembly diagram illustrating a state in which the impact absorbing means is attached to the front surface of the optical casing. FIG. 7 is an essential part enlarged perspective view showing only the impact absorbing means in the digital camera of the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part showing an enlarged cross section (a cross section taken along the line [8]-[8] in FIG. 6) of the mounting portion of the shock absorbing means of the optical housing of the digital camera of the present embodiment. is there.

  A digital camera (hereinafter abbreviated as “camera”) 1 according to the present embodiment includes a camera body having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape, an optical housing 4 assembled in the camera body, various units, electric circuits, and the like. And the various operation members disposed on the surface of the camera body and linked to the internal components.

  The optical housing 4 constituting the camera 1 of the present embodiment bends the subject light incident along the first optical axis in the second optical axis direction orthogonal to the first optical axis. A lens barrel unit including a bending optical system configured to form an optical subject image on a light receiving surface of an image sensor disposed on the second optical axis, a shutter, a lens driving device, and the like It is mainly composed by.

  Further, as shown in the figure, the camera body constituting the camera 1 of the present embodiment covers a front cover member 2 formed so as to cover the front surface, both side surfaces, the top surface, and the bottom surface, and mainly covers the back side. The back cover member 3 to be formed is combined into a box shape. And the optical housing | casing 4 is arrange | positioned at the predetermined site | part inside this camera body so that a movement is possible.

  The rear cover member 3 on the rear side of the camera body includes, for example, a zoom T button and W button, an operation mode setting button, a shooting and playback operation switching button, a menu display operation button, a shooting area switching button (macro button), and a flash. There are provided a plurality of operation members 13 used for performing various operation inputs to be executed at the time of shooting and reproduction, such as a mode switching button, a self-timer button, an exposure correction switching button, and the like, and a display unit 16 of the display device. .

  A display window 16a (see FIG. 4) is opened at a substantially central portion of the back cover member 3 so that the display of the display unit 16 can be exposed to the outside. Operation members such as a shutter button 14 and a power operation button 15 are disposed on the upper surface side of the camera body.

  The front cover member 2 includes a photographing window 2d for allowing a light beam to enter an optical casing 4 (not shown in FIG. 1) provided inside the camera body, a light emitting window 2e of a flash light emitting device, and the like. It is open.

  In the state in which the front cover member 2 and the rear cover member 3 are combined, the camera 1 is fixed to each other at the four corners using a connecting member such as a screw to form a box-shaped camera body. It has become.

  In the internal space of the camera body formed in this way, a plurality of internal configuration units such as the optical casing 4 and the display device, a plurality of circuit boards and electric members that form various electric circuits (for example, in FIG. The main board 18 and the strobe capacitor 17 shown in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, attention is particularly paid to the arrangement of the optical casing 4 among the plurality of internal components.

  The optical housing 4 has a flat shape as a whole, and reflects a light beam from a subject incident along the first optical axis O1 from the photographing window 2d (see FIG. 1) of the front cover member 2. A prism (not shown) is bent in a direction perpendicular to the first optical axis O1, and is arranged on the bottom side of the optical housing 4 on the second optical axis O2 after being bent. A plurality of optical lenses constituting a bending optical system that is guided to the image pickup element 25 (see FIG. 3) provided and forms an optical subject image on the light receiving surface, and the lens holding thereof It has a lens barrel unit composed of a frame and the like.

  In addition, although the detailed illustration is omitted, the optical housing 4 includes, for example, a shutter unit, a shutter drive motor that drives the shutter unit, a focusing motor, a zooming motor, and an image sensor 25 (see FIG. 3). ) Is mounted so as to be integrally movable in the direction of the optical axis O2. Since these components and their arrangements are not directly related to the present invention, the detailed description thereof is based on the configuration of a camera provided with an optical casing having a general bending optical system. Omitted.

  The optical casing 4 is disposed inside a camera body of the camera 1 at a predetermined portion near one side surface inside the camera body, for example, as shown in FIG. Note that the arrangement of the optical housing 4 inside the camera body is not limited to the example of this embodiment, and may be arranged, for example, at a substantially central portion inside the camera body.

  In this case, on the inner surface of the front cover member 2 of the camera 1, as shown in FIG. 3, the storage portion 2x is stored so that the optical casing 4 can be slidably stored only in the direction along the second optical axis O2. Is formed. In addition, it has shown that the site | part in the frame shown by the oblique line in FIG. 3 corresponds to the accommodating part 2x.

  The storage portion 2x is formed with a step on the inner surface of the front cover member 2 of the camera 1 in accordance with the outer shape of the optical casing 4, and both sides sandwiching the second optical axis O2 of the optical casing 4 Are provided with support portions 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i.

  In the state where the optical casing 4 is disposed in the storage portion 2x, the portions near the four corners of the optical casing 4 with respect to the support portions 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i, that is, the reference numeral 4f shown in FIG. , 4g, 4h, 4i are in surface contact.

  In other words, each of the four corner portions 4f, 4g, 4h, 4i of the optical casing 4 comes into surface contact with the support portions 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i of the storage portion 2x, so that the optical casing 4 has the front cover. The Y-axis shown in FIG. 4 is supported in the housing 2x of the member 2 so as to be slidable only in the direction along the second optical axis O2 and is orthogonal to the second optical axis O2. Movement in the direction is restricted.

  Further, a plate-shaped spring member 21 (not shown in FIG. 3) shown in FIG. 4 is disposed on the outer surface of the optical casing 4 on the back side, and the plate-shaped spring member 21 is a front cover member. The fixing members 2j, 2k, 2l provided on the inner surface side of 2 are fixed by screws with a plurality of screws 31 (see FIG. 4).

  In other words, the optical housing 4 is disposed in a state of being sandwiched between the inner surface of the front cover member 2 and the plate-shaped spring member 21 in a state of being disposed in the storage portion 2x of the front cover member 2. . Therefore, the movement of the optical housing 4 in the direction along the second optical axis O1 and the direction along the Z axis shown in FIG. 4 is restricted.

  On the other hand, when the optical housing 4 is disposed in the housing portion 2x of the camera body of the camera 1, the space between the outer surface (front surface) of the optical housing 4 and the housing portion 2x on the inner surface of the front cover member 2 facing the optical housing 4 is provided. As shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, etc., impact absorbing means is arranged.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the shock absorbing means is formed by a shock absorbing member 24 made of a butyl rubber member having elasticity and formed in a thin flat plate shape, and a thin plate 23 made of metal or resin. .

  One surface of the shock absorbing member 24 is bonded and fixed to the outer surface portion of the front surface of the optical housing 4, and the other surface is bonded and fixed to one surface of the thin plate 23. In this case, the thickness dimension of the impact absorbing member 24, the size of the adhesion area, and the like are determined by the weight of the optical casing 4, the applied impact acceleration, and the like, but are small as exemplified in this embodiment. In a camera or the like, the thickness of the shock absorbing member 24 is about 0.5 to 1 mm (millimeter), for example.

  The thin plate 23 is fixed to a predetermined portion of the inner surface portion of the storage portion 2x of the front cover member 2 of the camera body 1.

  That is, the thin plate 23 has notches 23m on both side edges facing each other across the second optical axis O2 in a state where the shock absorbing means is assembled to the optical housing 4 as shown in FIGS. , 23n are formed.

  On the other hand, on the inner surface side of the storage portion 2x of the front cover member 2, the optical housing 4 assembled with the impact absorbing means is stored in the storage portion 2x (camera body side) of the front cover member 2. In this case, locking protrusions 2m and 2n are formed at portions facing the notches 23m and 23n as shown in FIG.

  Thereby, in the state where the optical housing 4 in a state where the shock absorbing means is assembled is housed in the housing portion 2x of the front cover member 2, each of the notches 23m and 23n of the thin plate 23 is locked to the housing portion 2x. The protrusions 2m and 2n are locked to the protrusions 2m and 2n, respectively. Thereby, the thin plate 23 is being fixed with respect to the front cover member 2 in the state in which the movement to the direction (X-axis direction of FIG. 4) along the 2nd optical axis O2 was controlled.

  A plurality of holes are formed in the vicinity of the substantially central portion of the thin plate 23 as shown in FIG. These holes are provided to allow excess adhesive or the like to escape when the impact absorbing member 24 and the thin plate 23 are bonded and fixed.

The impact absorbing means configured as described above is sandwiched between the inner surface of the front cover member 2 (within the storage portion 2x) and the front surface of the optical housing 4 (at least one outer surface).

  Therefore, when the optical housing 4 is slid and displaced relatively in the direction along the second optical axis O2 inside the camera body of the camera 1 due to, for example, an impact, the inner surface portion of the camera body, That is, the impact can be absorbed by the shearing force in the direction of the second optical axis O2 generated between the inner surface of the storage portion 2x of the front cover member 2 and the outer surface portion of the optical housing 4, that is, the front surface of the optical housing 4. It is like that.

  In other words, since the shock absorbing member 24 is made of a rubber-based member having elasticity as described above, the shearing direction, that is, the direction along the second optical axis O2 of the optical casing 4 (shown in FIG. 4). When an external force (including the component force in the X axis direction) in the direction along the X axis; the direction in which the optical lens moves) is applied, the impact absorbing member 24 shears and deforms the optical housing 4 to the camera. It can be moved slightly in the same direction (direction along the second optical axis O2 and along the X axis) relative to the main body (front cover member 2).

  In this case, in order to allow the optical casing 4 to move in the direction along the second optical axis O2 (the direction along the X axis) and avoid the optical casing 4 from interfering with the camera body. A predetermined portion between both ends of the movement direction (second optical axis direction) of the optical casing 4 and the inner surface of the camera body, that is, a portion indicated by reference signs A and B in FIGS. The arrangement of the optical housing 4 with respect to the inner surface of the front cover member 2 is defined so that a gap space is formed.

  The gap spaces A and B are the elastic force determined by the material of the shock absorbing member 24, the shock absorbing force in the shear direction, the weight of the optical casing 4, the weight of the camera 1 itself, the external force applied by the shock, and the like. It is set by various factors such as competence.

  The gap spaces A and B should have a sufficient dimension in consideration of, for example, the amount of movement of the optical casing 4, but if a larger gap dimension than necessary is secured by assuming a larger amount of impact force or the like. The demand for downsizing the camera body cannot be met. Therefore, when considering the downsizing of the apparatus in designing, in the small camera or the like exemplified in the present embodiment, for example, the dimension of the gap spaces A and B is about 1 mm (millimeter). Secured.

  The shock absorbing member 24 may be another form of shock absorbing means that is arranged between the back side of the optical housing 4 and the plate-like spring member 21.

  Therefore, a configuration example in which both the configuration example of the above embodiment in which the shock absorbing member is provided on the front side of the optical housing 4 and the above another configuration example in which the shock absorbing means is provided on the back side is also conceivable.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the optical housing 4 is moved in the direction along the moving direction of the optical lens (the direction along the second optical axis O2; the X-axis direction in FIG. 4) with respect to the camera body. When the optical housing 4 is relatively displaced in a certain direction within the housing portion 2x of the camera body when an external force due to impact or the like is applied, the optical housing 4 and the camera body The optical housing 4 is disposed with respect to the camera body by providing a predetermined gap in the moving direction of the optical housing 4 so that the optical housing 4 does not interfere with each other, and between the one surface of the optical housing 4 and the inner surface of the camera body. Since the elastic thin plate-shaped shock absorbing member 24 is interposed so as to be sandwiched, the shock absorbing member 24 is configured such that when the optical housing 4 is relatively displaced inside the camera body, the optical housing 4 Change in shear direction between one side and one side in the camera body To absorb. Accordingly, it is possible to absorb and attenuate external force applied by an external impact on the camera body, and to protect the optical casing 4 inside the camera body.

  Further, since the shock absorbing member 24 can absorb the displacement in the shearing direction, it can be formed in a thinner plate shape, thereby contributing to the downsizing of the apparatus while having sufficient shock absorption. it can.

  Furthermore, since the shock absorbing member 24 is arranged not on the moving direction of the optical lens that requires a space for movement but on the surface along the moving direction of the optical lens, it contributes to downsizing of the apparatus. Can do.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications can of course be implemented without departing from the spirit of the invention. Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the effect of the invention Can be obtained as an invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera 2 ... Front cover member 3 ... Back cover member 4 ... Optical housing 21 ... Plate-shaped pressing member 23 ... Thin plate 24 ... Shock absorption member

Claims (5)

An optical housing having an optical system for guiding an incident subject light to an imaging element located on the optical axis to form an optical image, and having a flat shape as a whole;
A camera body having a storage portion for storing the optical housing in a displaceable manner;
An impact absorbing member having one surface fixed to the outer surface of the flat optical casing;
A thin plate disposed with one surface fixed to the other surface of the shock absorbing member and the other surface restricted in movement relative to the inner surface of the camera body storage unit;
Comprising
The flat optical housing absorbs the shock by displacing the optical housing with respect to a thin plate whose movement is restricted on the inner surface of the camera body housing when the camera body receives an impact force from the outside. A digital camera characterized in that a member is subjected to shear deformation, and a displacement of the optical casing is absorbed by shear deformation of the shock absorbing member.   3. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein the thin plate is formed with a hole for releasing excess adhesive when the impact absorbing member and the thin plate are bonded and fixed.   A locking projection for engaging with the thin plate is provided on the inner surface of the storage portion of the camera body. The thin plate is provided with a notch for locking to the locking projection. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the thin plate is locked to the inner surface of the camera body storage portion by being locked to a locking protrusion of the camera body storage portion. The optical housing reflects the subject light incident along the first optical axis in the second optical axis direction perpendicular to the first optical axis, and is positioned on the second optical axis. A folding optical system for forming an optical image on the imaging device is provided,
Locking protrusions are provided on both sides of the second optical axis on the inner surface of the storage portion of the camera body, and the thin plate has a notch for locking to the locking protrusion. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the thin plate is locked with respect to the camera body storage portion by locking the notch portion with a locking protrusion of the camera body storage portion.   A holding member for holding the optical housing between the inner surface of the camera body housing portion, and the holding member is an outer surface of the flat optical housing, the inner surface of the camera body housing portion; The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the optical housing is pressed in a direction perpendicular to the opposed outer surface.

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