Camera system, camera, interchangeable lens, and storage medium storing control program for camera system thereon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10341604-B2
Application number	US-201715690100-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2017
Priority date	Aug 30, 2016
Publication date	Jul 2, 2019
Grant date	Jul 2, 2019

Abstract

A camera system includes a lens-changeable camera body and an interchangeable lens. The camera system includes a usage history information collecting unit configured to collect a plurality of usage history information related to a usage state of the camera system, a usage history information storage unit configured to store the collected usage history information, an information extracting unit configured to extract, from a plurality of the usage history information stored in the usage history information storage unit, usage history information related to the interchangeable lens being attached, and a lens-related information storage unit configured to store the extracted usage history information related to the interchangeable lens.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A camera system, comprising a lens-changeable camera body and an interchangeable lens, the camera system including:
a usage history information collecting unit configured to collect a plurality of usage history information related to a usage state of the camera system;
a usage history information storage unit configured to store the collected usage history information;
an information extracting unit configured to extract, from a plurality of the usage history information stored in the usage history information storage unit, usage history information related to the interchangeable lens being attached; and
a lens-related information storage unit configured to store the extracted usage history information related to the interchangeable lens.

2. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the usage history information extracted by the information extracting unit includes at least focal distance information and subject type information used for photographing.

3. The camera system according to claim 2 , wherein the information extracting unit correlates and extracts the focal distance information and the subject type information.

4. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the interchangeable lens includes the lens-related information storage unit.

5. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the camera body includes the usage history information collecting unit, the usage history information storage unit, and the information extracting unit.

6. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the lens-related information storage unit stores the extracted usage history information after a user performs an operation other than a release operation.

7. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the lens-related information storage unit stores the extracted usage history information after a user instructs to turn off a power of the camera system.

8. The camera system according to claim 6 , wherein the extracted usage history information stored by the lens-related information storage unit is data having a fixed length.

9. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the lens-related information storage unit stores the extracted usage history information after a user instructs to display a menu for changing a setting of the camera system.

10. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the lens-related information storage unit stores the extracted usage history information immediately before the camera system is shifted to a sleep state.

11. The camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the usage history information extracted by the information extracting unit includes at least information related to a frequency of an operation.

12. A camera to which an interchangeable lens including a lens-related information storage unit configured to store usage history information related to the interchangeable lens is attached, the camera being included in a camera system and including:
a usage history information collecting unit configured to collect a plurality of usage history information related to a usage state of the camera system;
a usage history information storage unit configured to store the collected usage history information; and
an information extracting unit configured to extract usage history information related to the interchangeable lens from a plurality of the usage history information stored in the usage history information storage unit.

13. An interchangeable lens being included in a camera system, the interchangeable lens being attached to a camera body and including:
a usage history information collecting unit configured to collect a plurality of usage history information related to a usage state of the camera system;
a usage history information storage unit configured to store the collected usage history information;
an information extracting unit configured to extract usage history information related to the interchangeable lens from a plurality of the usage history information stored in the usage history information storage unit; and
a lens-related information storage unit configured to store the extracted usage history information related to the interchangeable lens.

14. An interchangeable lens being included in a camera system by being attached to a camera body, the camera body including:
a usage history information collecting unit configured to collect a plurality of usage history information related to a usage state of a camera system;
a usage history information storage unit configured to store the collected usage history information; and
an information extracting unit configured to extract usage history information related to an interchangeable lens from a plurality of the usage history information stored in the usage history information storage unit,
the interchangeable lens including a lens-related information storage unit configured to store the extracted usage history information related to the interchangeable lens.

15. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing a control program for controlling a camera system including a camera body to which an interchangeable lens can be attached and the interchangeable lens, the control program causing a computer to execute:
collecting a plurality of usage history information related to a usage state of the camera system;
storing the collected usage history in the information storage unit;
extracting, from a plurality of the usage history information stored in the usage history information storage unit, usage history information related to the interchangeable lens being attached; and
storing the extracted usage history information related to the interchangeable lens.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Toyoda Tetsuya

Classifications

• H04N23/65

  Control of camera operation in relation to power supply · CPC title

• H04N23/663

  for controlling interchangeable camera parts based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N5/772 Primary

  the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure · CPC title

• H04N23/67

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title