G03B2205/0007

OPTICAL APPARATUS CAPABLE OF BEING MINIATURIZED
20230051012 · 2023-02-16 ·

An optical apparatus which is capable of being miniaturized is provided. The optical apparatus includes a lens unit, a drive unit configured to include a base member, a shift member, and an urging member, a cylindrical body configured to support the drive unit, and a first coupling portion configured to be coupled with the urging member. A groove along a direction of an optical axis of the lens unit is provided inside the cylindrical body. The urging member urges the shift member with respect to the base member. The first coupling portion and the groove overlap with each other when viewed from the direction of the optical axis.

MULTI-IMAGE STABILIZATION DEVICE AND CAMERA APPARATUS, AND MULTI-IMAGE STABILIZATION METHOD
20230051763 · 2023-02-16 · ·

A camera apparatus includes a camera body portion including a prism unit, a lens assembly, and an image sensor unit, a gyro sensor detecting a hand-shake with respect to the camera body portion and outputting gyro sensor information, a driver circuit generating at least one of a prism driving signal for image stabilization of the prism unit and a sensor driving signal for image stabilization of the image sensor unit based on the gyro sensor information, a prism actuator disposed in the camera body portion for driving the prism unit and performing image stabilization on the prism unit in response to the prism driving signal, and a sensor actuator disposed in the camera body portion for driving the image sensor unit and performing image stabilization on the image sensor unit in response to the sensor driving signal.

Electrical traces in suspension assemblies
11582389 · 2023-02-14 · ·

A camera may include at least one suspension assembly as part of optical image stabilization and/or autofocus systems of the camera. The suspension assembly may include an inner frame, an outer frame, and one or more flexure arms. Electrical traces may be deposited at both sides of the suspension assembly. A connection may be created, for electrical traces at the different sides of the suspension assembly, through the suspension assembly by removing (e.g., using an etching process) one or more parts in the body of the suspension assembly to create one or more cavities. A remaining part of the suspension assembly surrounded (and thus isolated) by the cavities may thus form at least a part of the connection for the electrical traces. The connection may further include one or more filled trenches connecting the electrical traces to the remaining part of the suspension assembly.

Driving unit, optical-element driving device, camera module, and camera-mounted device

The driving unit includes: a first contact portion and a second contact portion that move relatively to each other while making contact with each other during driving; in which the second contact portion includes a coating layer at a contact face with the first contact portion, and the first contact portion and the second contact portion generate heat along with relative movement to vaporize a worn-away part of the coating layer.

Optical unit
11579464 · 2023-02-14 · ·

An optical unit is provided and includes: a movable body having an optical module; a fixed body; a rolling support mechanism which supports the movable body rotatably around the optical axis of the optical module with respect to the fixed body; and a rolling drive mechanism which turn the movable body around the optical axis. The rolling support mechanism includes: at least one pair of protruded parts which protrude from one of the movable body and the fixed body towards the other thereof and which are disposed at positions facing each other with the optical axis interposed therebetween in a direction intersecting the optical axis, and an elastic member whose one end part is attached to the protruded part and an other end part is attached to the other of the movable body and the fixed body, and which turnably support the movable body around the optical axis.

Optical image stabilization with voice coil motor for moving image sensor

In some embodiments, a camera actuator includes an actuator base, an autofocus voice coil motor, and an optical image stabilization voice coil motor. In some embodiments, the autofocus voice coil motor includes a lens carrier mounting attachment moveably mounted to the actuator base, a plurality of shared magnets mounted to the base, and an autofocus coil fixedly mounted to the lens carrier mounting attachment for producing forces for moving a lens carrier in a direction of an optical axis of one or more lenses of the lens carrier. In some embodiments, the optical image stabilization voice coil motor includes an image sensor carrier moveably mounted to the actuator base, and optical image stabilization coils moveably mounted to the image sensor carrier within the magnetic fields of the shared magnets, for producing forces for moving the image sensor carrier in a plurality of directions orthogonal to the optical axis.

Optical device, particularly camera, particularly comprising autofocus and optical image stabilization

The present invention relates to an optical device (1), comprising: a container (2) forming a fluidic lens, the container (2) comprising a transparent and elastically expandable membrane (10), a transparent optical element (20) facing the membrane (10), and a wall member (3), wherein the optical element (20) and the membrane (10) are connected to the wall member, and wherein said container encloses a volume (V) that is filled with a fluid (F), a lens shaping part (11) that is in contact with said membrane (10) for defining a curvature adjustable area (10c) of the membrane (10), which area (10c) faces said optical element (20), and a circumferential lens barrel (50) extending in an axial direction, which lens barrel (50) surrounds an opening (50c) in which at least one rigid lens (51) is arranged that is held by the lens barrel (50), and a voice coil motor (5) that is designed to move the lens shaping part (11) along an axial direction (z) with respect to said container (2), so as to adjust a curvature of said area (10c) and therewith a focal length of the fluidic lens, wherein the voice coil motor (5) comprises at least one coil (30, 31) arranged on a movable part (6) and a plurality of magnetic structures (40, 41) arranged on a motor holder (7), wherein said movable part (6) is movably mounted to the motor holder (7) via a spring structure (8) so that it can be moved along said axial direction (z), and wherein the lens shaping part (11) is mounted to said movable part (6).

Camera module with optical image stabilization function

The proposed invention relates to a camera module with an optical image stabilization function. A flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) electrically connected to an image sensor is implemented to serve as an electrical path and at the same time, serve to provide an elastic restoring force in directions of a plurality of axes, thereby further miniaturizing and lightening the camera module.

POWER CONTROLLER, POWER CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM
20180011387 · 2018-01-11 ·

The present technology relates to a power controller, a power control method, and a program which appropriately supply power to an actuator for driving a shutter and an actuator for camera shake correction. A power controller includes a shutter controller for controlling a shutter driving unit, a camera shake correction controller for controlling a camera shake correction driving unit, and a power amount setting unit for setting amounts of power to be allocated to the shutter driving unit and the camera shake correction driving unit according to a set shutter speed. The power amount setting unit allocates the amount of power to be supplied to the camera shake correction driving unit when the shutter speed is equal to or less than a predetermined speed to the shutter driving unit in a case where the shutter speed is faster than a predetermined speed. The present technology available for an image pickup device.

Folded camera with autofocus and optical image stabilization systems

A folded camera may include folded optics arrangement positioned optically in front of an image sensor. The folded optics arrangement may include one or more light-folding elements and a lens group having one or more lens elements. Light may pass through the folded optics arrangement, within which the light be folded or redirected by the light-folding element, to focus on an image plane on the image sensor. The folded camera may include a shape-memory actuator having one or more shape-memory elements, whose lengths and/or shapes may be controlled by regulating individual temperatures of the shape-memory elements. The shape-memory actuator may move the lens group relative to the image sensor to implement various autofocus (AF) functions. The folded camera may include a voice coil motor (VCM) which may be controlled to move the image sensor relative to the lens group to perform various optical image stabilization (OIS) functions.