Television – Camera – system and detail – Combined image signal generator and general image signal...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-31
2003-04-01
Moe, Aung S. (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Combined image signal generator and general image signal...
C348S231700, C348S231600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06542186
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a digital still camera, and in particular to a digital still camera using a memory card as a recording medium, said memory card being mounted to the camera body in a manner such that it is capable of mounting and demounting.
In recent years, it has been put to practical use a still camera which has such a structure as to make the optical image of a subject focus onto a solid state image sensor such as a CCD through an optical imaging system such as a photographing lens, a stop, and so forth, and to convert the outputted electrical image signal which has been photoelectrically converted by the image sensor into digital data, said digital image data being recorded in a semiconductor memory comprised in a memory card which is mounted to the camera body in such a way that it is capable of mounting and demounting.
However, in case of the memory card for recording the image signal being capable of mounting and demounting to the camera body as mentioned above, there has been a possibility for the memory card to be demounted inadvertently by the user even while the memory card is being accessed.
The aforesaid access to the memory card is done with the processes such as recording of the photographed image, reading of the recorded image data, processing of the recorded image data, and so forth. Accordingly, there is a possibility for the memory card to be demounted during such processes, and in pariticular, in case of using a flash memory for the simiconductor memory, it is required to erase null data so as to make a free area, and besides it requires a comparatively long time to erase said null data, hence there has been a problem that the possibility for the memory card to be demounted inadvertently during such erasing process of the null data as mentioned above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and the object of it is to provide a digital still camera capable of avoiding the inadvertent demounting of the memory card during the access to it.
For that purpose, according to the following structure in the first mode of practice of the invention, the digital still camera, which has a structure such that a memory card comprising a memory capable of mounting and demounting is mounted to the camera body and the optical image of a subject is converted to an electrical image signal to record it in said memory, is provided with a means for detecting the operational state preceding the demounting of said memory card out of the camera body, and a warning means for giving a warning on the occasion of detecting said operational state by said detecting means during the access to said memory card.
By the structure as mentioned above, it is detected that the memory card is going to be demounted and if it happens during the access to the memory card, the warning is given not to carry out the demounting operation because the memory card is in the state of accessing to it, and accordingly it is prevented that the operation is continued to demount the memory card.
The operational state preceding the demounting of the memory card as stated herein means the operational state in any step before undoing the electrical connection between the memory card and the camera body in the operational procedure. Further, it is desirable to use an LED or a buzzer for the warning means, but a letter display of an warning sentence may well be used, that is, any means that can inform the user of the requirement not to demount the memory card will do.
On the other hand, according to the following structure in the second mode of practice of the invention, the digital still camera, which has a structure such that a memory card comprising a memory capable of mounting and demounting is mounted to the camera body and the optical image of a subject is converted to an electrical image signal to record it in said memory, is provided with a means for detecting the operational state preceding the demounting of said memory card out of the camera body, and a mechanical locking means to make it unable for the memory card to be demounted by mechanically locking said memory card to the camera body on the occasion of detecting said operational state by said detecting means during the access to said memory card.
By the structure as mentioned above, when it is detected that the memory card is going to be demounted and if it happens during the access to the memory card, the memory card is mechanically locked to the camera body so as not to be demounted by the user in order to prevent that the operation is continued to demount the memory card.
In other words, the aforesaid locking means does not lock the memory card so long as the demounting operation is not carried out even during the accessing to the memory card, however, it forces the memory card to be locked to make it unable to be demounted if the demounting operation is attempted during the accessing.
In the following structure according to the third mode of the invention, the digital still camera is further provided with the warning means for giving the warning that the memory card is unable to be demounted by the aforesaid locking means.
By the struture as mentioned above, the user can be informed that the state of being unable to be demounted for the memory card is due to the action of the locking means for preventing the demounting of the memory card during the access. In this case too, an LED or a buzzer should deseirably be used for the warning means.
According to the following structure in the forth mode of practice of the invention, the digital still camera is comprised of a mounting portion of the aforesaid memory card provided at the aforesaid camera body, the mounting portion covered by a card cover, and the aforesaid demounting detecting means detects the opening of said card cover as the operational state preceding the demounting of said memory card out of the camera body.
In the structure as mentioned above, it may happen with a good possibility that the memory card will be demounted next when the aforesaid card cover is opened because the opening of the aforesaid card cover is the precondition of the demounting of the memory card. Therefore, when the card cover is opened and if it happens during the access to the memory card, the carrying out of the demounting of the memory card following the opening of the card cover is prevented by giving a warning or locking the memory card to make it unable to be demounted.
However, the operational state preceding the demounting of the memory card is not limited to the above-mentioned opening of the card cover, and for example, it will also do to detect touching the eject button or the lock-releasing button (or that the operation has been carried out to the step immediately before demounting is actually made). In other words, any operational state will do before the step of electrical disconnection among a series of demounting operations for the memory card, and it is favorable that detecting the earlier operational state than the last one of the two or more required operations of different kind for the demounting (the opening of the card cover and the drawing out of the memory card, for example).
According to the following structure in the fifth mode of practice of the invention, the digital still camera has a structure such that the aforesaid operational state is detected by the aforesaid demounting detecting means during the accessing to the aforesaid memory card, and if the accessing process can be serially in time divided into plural process units, an access-discontinuing means is provided for discontinuing the process at the time of finishing the unit in processing.
By the structure as mentioned above, if the content of the processing can be divided in time series, it is not required to wait until all the process units is finished for avoiding the demounting of the memory card due to the waring or locking, but it is made to be allowed earlier to demount the memory card at the step of finishing the process unit in processin
Konica Corporation
Moe Aung S.
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