Motor driving apparatus

A motor driving apparatus comprising:

• a driving circuit for driving a plurality of loads contained in a plurality of motors;
• and
• a control circuit for controlling the driving circuit to sequentially drive the plurality of the motors, wherein:
• the driving circuit has at least two channels which are controlled by the control circuit concurrently with each other;
• each channel is controlled by the control circuit so as to selectively drive the loads;
• the channel is provided with at least (n+1) number (n:
• integer of 2 or greater) of output terminals to connect at most n number of loads such that two output terminals are allocated to drive one load;
• and
• the control circuit controls the driving circuit to perform either of an intra-channel driving mode in which a pair of the output terminals are selected from one channel and allocated to drive a load, and an inter-channel driving mode in which a pair of the output terminals are selected from two channels and allocated to drive a load, wherein
• when the driving circuit is connected to drive a stepping motor composed of two loads sequentially with another motor, the control circuit can select either of the intra-channel driving mode and the inter-channel driving mode for driving said another motor, and wherein
• when the driving circuit is connected to drive a DC motor as said another motor, an output terminal is separated from one channel, another output terminal is separated from another channel and the separated output channels are paired to constitute an additional channel capable of driving the DC motor concurrently with the stepping motor under the inter-channel driving mode.

A lens-barrel driving apparatus for a camera comprising:

• a lens-barrel provided with a plurality of mechanisms for photographing by the camera, the mechanisms being selected from the group consisting of a shutter mechanism, a diaphragm mechanism, an auto focusing mechanism and a zooming mechanism;
• a plurality of motors which are integrated in the camera so as to actuate the plurality of the mechanisms;
• a driving circuit for driving a plurality of loads contained in the plurality of the motors;
• and
• a control circuit for controlling the driving circuit to sequentially drive the plurality of the motors, wherein:
• the driving circuit has at least two channels which are controlled by the control circuit concurrently with each other;
• each channel is controlled by the control circuit such as to selectively drive the loads;
• the channel is provided with at least (n+1) number (n:
• integer of 2 or greater) of output terminals to connect at most n number of the loads;
• and
• the control circuit controls the driving circuit to perform an intra-channel driving mode in which one pair of the output terminals are selected from one channel and allocated to drive one load, and an inter-channel driving mode in which another pair of the output terminals are selected from two channels and allocated to drive another load.

A lens-barrel driving apparatus for a camera comprising:

• a lens-barrel provided with a plurality of mechanisms for photographing by the camera, the mechanisms being selected from the group consisting of a shutter mechanism, a diaphragm mechanism, an auto focusing mechanism and a zooming mechanism;
• a plurality of motors which are integrated in the camera so as to actuate the plurality of the mechanisms;
• a driving circuit for driving a plurality of loads contained in the plurality of the motors;
• and
• a control circuit for controlling the driving circuit to sequentially drive the plurality of the motors, wherein:
• the driving circuit has at least two channels which are controlled by the control circuit concurrently with each other;
• each channel is controlled by the control circuit so as to selectively drive the loads;
• the channel is provided with at least (n+1) number (n:
• integer of 2 or greater) of output terminals to connect at most n number of loads such that two output terminals are allocated to drive one load;
• and
• the control circuit controls the driving circuit to perform either of an intra-channel driving mode in which a pair of the output terminals are selected from one channel and allocated to drive a load, and an inter-channel driving mode in which a pair of the output terminals are selected from two channels and allocated to drive a load, wherein
• when the driving circuit is connected to drive a stepping motor composed of two loads sequentially with another motor, the control circuit can select either of the intra-channel driving mode and the inter-channel driving mode for driving said another motor, and wherein
• when the driving circuit is connected to drive a DC motor as said another motor, an output terminal is separated from one channel, another output terminal is separated from another channel and the separated output channels are paired to constitute an additional channel capable of driving the DC motor concurrently with the stepping motor under the inter-channel driving mode.