Camera Accessory Boot-Up via Common Notification Channel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing camera systems face challenges in efficiently managing the boot-up operation for multiple accessory devices, leading to potential communication errors and prolonged boot-up times due to varying boot-up completion times among devices.
Innovation Solution
A camera system that utilizes a common notification channel to confirm the boot-up completion of accessory devices, allowing the camera main unit to initiate communication only when all devices have completed their boot-up operations, thereby avoiding dedicated notification channels for each device and ensuring synchronized communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the communication master determines boot-up completion from a single slave device, then communication can start quickly, but communication errors occur because other slaves may not have completed boot-up
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple notification channels from individual slave devices into a single common notification channel. All slave devices output their boot-up status to this shared channel, allowing the communication master to monitor the boot-up completion of all slaves simultaneously through one channel, thus avoiding communication errors while maintaining fast boot-up timing.
Solution Approach 2:
The common notification channel serves multiple functions: it notifies the communication master about the boot-up status of multiple different slave devices (interchangeable lens, intermediate adapter, etc.), replacing the need for separate notification channels for each device. This universal channel enables reliable multi-device coordination.
2Reliability
If dedicated notification channels are provided for each accessory device, then boot-up completion can be accurately tracked, but the device complexity and number of channels increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual notification channels into a single common notification channel that all accessory devices share. This merging reduces the total number of channels while maintaining the ability to track boot-up status of each device through logical OR operations on the shared channel signals.
Solution Approach 2:
The common notification channel performs the function of multiple dedicated channels by serving all accessory devices universally. Each device contributes its boot-up status to the same channel, making the channel multi-functional and reducing overall system complexity.
3Reliability
If the communication master waits for all slaves to complete boot-up before starting communication, then communication reliability is ensured, but boot-up time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Slave devices perform their boot-up operations in advance and continuously monitor their own readiness status. They output their completion status to the common notification channel as soon as they are ready, allowing the communication master to detect all completions without unnecessary waiting, thus preventing communication errors while minimizing delay.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback through the common notification channel where each slave device continuously reports its boot-up completion status. The communication master receives this feedback and initiates communication immediately upon detecting that all slaves are ready, optimizing the timing to prevent errors without excessive waiting.
Data Source
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AI summary
An image pickup device 200 includes a notification channel and a data communication channel for communication with an accessory device, the notification channel being used for signal transfer between the image pickup device and the accessory device, the data communication channel being used for data communication between the image pickup device and the accessory device. The image pickup device starts the communication with the accessory device when a voltage level of the notification channel takes a predetermined level.