JP2007134772A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an extremely compact imaging apparatus while having an actuator. <P>SOLUTION: A magnet 32 is arranged on the side of a case 20, and movable lenses L1, L2 are held by a coil 31 arranged oppositely to the magnet 32. By this configuration, a lens frame is eliminated and the size of the imaging apparatus 50 can be made compact by the amount of the limination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, and more particularly to an imaging apparatus suitable for use in an imaging apparatus using a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image pickup apparatus equipped with an autofocus mechanism (hereinafter referred to as an AF mechanism) is mounted along with improvement in performance of an image pickup apparatus using a charge coupled device (CCD) type or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) type solid-state image pickup device. Mobile phones are becoming popular.

Patent Document 1 discloses a lens driving device that can be used in such an imaging apparatus, and that can be used to drive the lens in the optical axis direction by arranging an actuator around the lens.
JP 2004-280031 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-344739

  By the way, in the lens driving device described in Patent Document 1, a carrier that couples a coil that is a movable element of an actuator and a lens holder that holds a lens are separated. By adopting such a configuration, the relative displacement in the optical axis direction between the carrier and the lens holder is possible during assembly, and the focal position can be adjusted. However, if the carrier and the lens holder are separated, the number of parts increases, and there is a risk of taking time for assembly. Further, since the carrier and the lens holder are superposed in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis, the total thickness is increased, and the apparatus configuration may be increased in diameter accordingly.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 2 discloses an anti-blur camera in which a coil is directly arranged around a lens frame. However, according to the technique of Patent Document 2, the size in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis can be further suppressed compared to the structure of Patent Document 1, but a more compact imaging device is required for mounting on a mobile phone or the like. Has been.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an extremely compact imaging apparatus having an actuator.

An imaging apparatus according to claim 1 is provided.
A housing,
An imaging lens including at least one movable lens movable in the optical axis direction with respect to the housing;
An actuator including a magnet and a coil for moving the movable lens, wherein one of the magnet and the coil is arranged on the housing side and arranged to be movable facing the one The other of the magnet and the coil holds the movable lens.

  According to the present invention, one of the magnet and the coil is arranged on the housing side, and the other of the magnet and the coil arranged to be movable facing the one holds the movable lens. Therefore, the lens frame is not necessary, and the size of the imaging device can be reduced accordingly. Note that “holding the movable lens” means that the lens periphery is directly held, the optical axis between the lenses is matched, or the interval between the lenses is set to a predetermined interval in the case of a lens without a flange. When the flange for performing the above is integrally formed with the lens, the lens is held via the flange.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the first aspect, in order to hold the movable lens by the coil, the coil is formed by applying a winding around a jig, and the treatment is performed. A tool is removed and the movable lens is inserted.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the first aspect, in order to hold the movable lens by the coil, the coil is formed by winding around the movable lens. Features.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the second or third aspect, the coil is hardened with a resin after winding.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of any one of the first to fourth aspects, the thickness of the wire forming the coil is set according to the shape of the movable lens.

  The image pickup apparatus according to a sixth aspect is characterized in that, in the invention according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the wire is coated with low light reflectivity.

The imaging device according to claim 7 is:
A housing,
An imaging lens including at least one movable lens movable in the optical axis direction with respect to the housing;
An actuator including a magnet, a coil, and a yoke for moving the movable lens, and the yoke arranged to be movable with respect to the housing holds the movable lens.

  According to the present invention, since the movable lens is held by the yoke that is movably disposed with respect to the housing, a lens frame is not necessary, and the size of the imaging device can be reduced accordingly.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a very compact imaging apparatus having an actuator.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image pickup apparatus 50 including the image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the image pickup apparatus 50 shown in FIG. FIG.

  The imaging apparatus 50 includes a CMOS image sensor 51 as a solid-state imaging device having a photoelectric conversion unit 51a, an imaging lens 10 as an imaging lens that causes the photoelectric conversion unit 51a of the image sensor 51 to capture a subject image, and an image sensor. A substrate 52 having an external connection terminal 54 (FIG. 1) for holding 51 and transmitting / receiving the electric signal, a housing 20 for supporting an imaging lens, and an actuator (also referred to as a focus actuator) 30 for driving a movable lens. These are integrally formed.

  In the image sensor 51, a photoelectric conversion unit 51a as a light receiving unit in which pixels (photoelectric conversion elements) are two-dimensionally arranged is formed in the center of a plane on the light receiving side. A processing circuit (not shown) is formed. Such a signal processing circuit includes a drive circuit unit that sequentially drives each pixel to obtain a signal charge, an A / D conversion unit that converts each signal charge into a digital signal, and a signal that forms an image signal output using the digital signal. It consists of a processing unit and the like. A number of pads (not shown) are arranged near the outer edge of the plane on the light receiving side of the image sensor 51, and are connected to the substrate 52 via wires W. The image sensor 51 converts the signal charge from the photoelectric conversion unit 51 a into an image signal such as a digital YUV signal, and outputs the image signal to a predetermined circuit on the substrate 52 via the wire W. Here, Y is a luminance signal, U (= R−Y) is a color difference signal between red and the luminance signal, and V (= BY) is a color difference signal between blue and the luminance signal. Note that the image sensor is not limited to the above CMOS image sensor, and other devices such as a CCD may be used.

  The substrate 52 includes a support flat plate 52a that supports the image sensor 51 and the housing 20 on one plane, and a flexible substrate 52b (FIG. 1) having one end connected to the support flat plate 52a.

  The support flat plate 52a has a large number of signal transmission pads provided on the surface thereof, which are connected to the wires W from the image sensor 51 described above and to the flexible substrate 52b.

  As described above, one end of the flexible substrate 52b is connected to the support flat plate 52a, and the support flat plate 52a and an external circuit (for example, a host device on which an imaging device is mounted) are connected via an external connection terminal 54 provided at the other end. Control circuit), and a voltage and a clock signal for driving the image sensor 51 are supplied from an external circuit, and a digital YUV signal can be output to the external circuit. Furthermore, the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the flexible substrate 52b is flexible or easily deformable, and the deformation gives freedom to the orientation and arrangement of the external output terminals with respect to the support flat plate 52a.

  A casing 20 made of a light-shielding member is disposed so as to surround the image sensor 51, and a lower portion bonded to the support flat plate 52a using an adhesive is formed in a rectangular box-shaped cylindrical portion 20a and an upper end thereof. Flange portion 20b.

  A cylindrical coil 31 disposed so as to be movable with respect to the housing 20 holds lenses L1 and L2 which are movable lenses. A cylindrical magnet 32 is disposed on the lower surface of the flange portion 20 b of the housing 20 so as to enclose the coil 31. The coil 31 and the magnet 32 constitute an actuator 30.

  The upper end of the coil 31 is connected and urged by a metal spring member 28 with respect to the flange portion 20 b of the housing 20. The lower end of the coil 31 is connected and urged by a metal spring member 27 with respect to the upper surface of the support plate 52a. The plus terminal and the minus terminal of the coil 31 are connected to the spring members 28 and 27, respectively, so that electric power is supplied from an external power source via the spring members 28 and 27.

  When the coil 31 is assembled around the lenses L1 and L2, the coil 31 is formed by winding around the jig (not shown) having the same shape as the lenses L1 and L2, and then the jig is removed. The lenses L1 and L2 may be inserted and fixed with an adhesive or the like. Alternatively, when the lenses L1 and L2 have flange portions that engage with each other, the flange portions are engaged with each other in advance to set the distance between the lenses, and then the coil 31 is wound around to form the coil 31. good. In such a case, it is desirable to harden the resin with a resin so that the wire does not come apart after winding. Furthermore, it is preferable to set the thickness of the wire forming the coil 31 according to the shape of the lenses L1 and L2, and when the wire is coated with a low-light-reflective coating such as black, light scattering or the like may occur. It is preferable because it does not easily occur.

  A usage mode of the imaging apparatus 50 described above will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the imaging device 50 is installed in a mobile phone 100 as a mobile terminal. FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the mobile phone 100.

  In the imaging device 50, for example, the object-side end surface of the housing 20 in the imaging lens is provided on the back surface of the mobile phone 100 (the liquid crystal display unit side is the front surface), and is arranged at a position corresponding to the lower side of the liquid crystal display unit. Established.

  The external connection terminal 54 of the imaging device 50 is connected to the control unit 101 of the mobile phone 100 and outputs an image signal such as a luminance signal or a color difference signal to the control unit 101 side.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the mobile phone 100 controls each unit in an integrated manner, and also supports a control unit (CPU) 101 that executes a program corresponding to each process, and inputs a number and the like with keys. An input unit 60, a display unit 70 for displaying captured images and videos in addition to predetermined data, a wireless communication unit 80 for realizing various information communication with an external server, and a mobile phone 100 By a storage unit (ROM) 91 that stores necessary data such as system programs, various processing programs, and terminal IDs, and various processing programs and data executed by the control unit 101, or processing data, or the imaging device 50 And a temporary storage unit (RAM) 92 that is used as a work area for temporarily storing imaging data and the like.

  When the photographer holding the mobile phone 100 directs the optical axis of the imaging lens 10 of the imaging device 50 toward the subject, an image signal is captured by the image sensor 51. For example, by performing image plane AF processing or the like, The focus shift can be detected. Since the control unit 101 supplies power to the actuator 30 so as to drive the lenses L1 and L2 in a direction to eliminate the focus shift, power is supplied to the coil 31 via the external connection terminal 54. By balancing the magnetic force generated thereby and the urging forces of the spring members 28 and 27, the lenses L1 and L2 can be moved and held together with the coil 31 to the optimum in-focus position. Operation can be realized. If the driving force of the actuator 30 disappears due to the interruption of the power supply, the coil 31 returns to the original position.

  When the photographer presses the button BT shown in FIG. 3 at a desired photo opportunity, release is performed, and the image signal is taken into the imaging device 50. The image signal input from the imaging device 50 is transmitted to the control system of the mobile phone 100 and stored in the storage unit 92 or displayed on the display unit 70, and further, video information is transmitted via the wireless communication unit 80. Will be transmitted to the outside.

  According to the present embodiment, the magnet 32 is arranged on the housing 20 side, and the movable lenses L1 and L2 are held by the coil 31 arranged facing the magnet 32, so that a lens frame is not necessary. Accordingly, the size of the imaging device 50 can be made compact.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of the imaging apparatus 50A according to the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, a cylindrical magnet 32 disposed so as to be movable with respect to the housing 20 holds the lenses L1 and L2 that are movable lenses. A cylindrical coil 31 is disposed on the lower surface of the flange portion 20 b of the housing 20 so as to enclose the magnet 32.

  The upper end of the magnet 32 is connected to and urged by a metal spring member 28 with respect to the flange portion 20 b of the housing 20. The lower end of the magnet 32 is connected and biased by a metal spring member 27 with respect to the upper surface of the support plate 52a. Since other configurations are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  The lenses L1 and L2 are moved and held together with the magnet 32 to the optimum in-focus position by balancing the magnetic force generated by supplying power to the coil 31 and the biasing force of the spring members 28 and 27. Therefore, an appropriate autofocus operation can be realized. According to the present embodiment, since the coil 31 is disposed on the housing 20 side and the magnet 32 is movable, wiring only on the fixed side is sufficient.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of an imaging device 50B according to the third embodiment. This embodiment is different from the embodiment of FIG. 2 in that the yoke 33 is attached to the inner periphery of the housing 20. More specifically, the yoke 33 includes an outer wall 33a attached to the inner periphery of the housing 20, an inner wall 33b included therein, and a top wall 33c connecting the upper end of the outer wall 33a and the upper end of the inner wall 33b. Have. The cylindrical magnet 32 is attached to the inner periphery of the outer wall 33a. A coil 31 that holds the lenses L1 and L2 is disposed between the magnet 32 and the inner wall 33b. The coil 31, the magnet 32, and the yoke 33 constitute an actuator 30. Since other configurations are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  According to the present embodiment, the driving force of the actuator 30 can be further increased by using the yoke 33. In the present embodiment, the urging force is applied only by the spring member 27 that contacts the lower end of the magnet 32. For example, a rubber member or the like is interposed between the top wall 33c of the yoke 33 and the upper end of the magnet 32. An urging force may be applied by inserting.

  FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of an imaging apparatus 50C according to the third embodiment. The present embodiment is mainly different from the embodiment of FIG. 6 in that the yoke 33 holding the lenses L1 and L2 is movable with respect to the housing 20. More specifically, the yoke 33 has an outer wall 33a, an inner wall 33b included therein, and a top wall 33c connecting the upper end of the outer wall 33a and the upper end of the inner wall 33b, and the lenses L1 and L2 are The inner wall 33b is attached and held on the inner peripheral surface. The top wall 33 c is connected to the upper end of the housing 20 by a spring member 28 and is urged.

  The cylindrical magnet 32 is attached to the inner periphery of the outer wall 33a, and its lower end is connected and urged by a metal spring member 27 with respect to the upper surface of the support flat plate 52a. In addition, a cylindrical coil 31 is disposed between the magnet 32 and the inner wall 33b and is implanted on the upper surface of the support flat plate 52a. The coil 31, the magnet 32, and the yoke 33 constitute an actuator 30. Since other configurations are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  According to the present embodiment, the optimum focusing position together with the magnet 32 and the yoke 33 is obtained by balancing the magnetic force generated by supplying power to the coil 31 and the urging force of the spring members 28 and 27. Since the lenses L1 and L2 can be moved and held at the same time, an appropriate autofocus operation can be realized. According to the present embodiment, since the coil 31 is disposed on the housing 20 side and the magnet 32 is movable, wiring only on the fixed side is sufficient.

  The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments. However, the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified or improved as appropriate.

It is a perspective view of the imaging device 50 concerning this Embodiment. It is the figure which cut | disconnected the imaging device 50 of FIG. 1 by the surface containing an II-II line | wire, and looked at the arrow direction. It is a figure which shows the state equipped with the imaging device 50 in the mobile telephone 100 as a portable terminal. 3 is a control block diagram of the mobile phone 100. FIG. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 2 of 50 A of imaging devices concerning 2nd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 2 of the imaging device 50B concerning 3rd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 2 of the imaging device 50C concerning 4th Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Imaging lens 20 Case 20a Cylindrical part 20b Flange part 27 Spring member 28 Spring member 30 Actuator 31 Coil 32 Magnet 33 Yoke 33a Outer wall 33b Inner wall 33c Top wall 50 Imaging device 50A Imaging device 50B Imaging device 50C Imaging device 51 Image sensor 51a Photoelectric sensor 51a Conversion unit 52 Substrate 52a Support plate 52b Flexible substrate 54 External connection terminal 60 Input unit 70 Display unit 80 Wireless communication unit 92 Storage unit 100 Mobile phone 100 Mobile phone 101 Control unit BT Button L1, L2 Lens W Wire

Claims (7)

A housing,
An imaging lens including at least one movable lens movable in the optical axis direction with respect to the housing;
An actuator including a magnet and a coil for moving the movable lens, wherein one of the magnet and the coil is arranged on the housing side and arranged to be movable facing the one The other of the magnet and the coil holds the movable lens.   The coil is formed by winding around a jig in order to hold the movable lens by the coil, the jig is removed, and the movable lens is inserted. The imaging device described in 1.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coil is formed by winding a winding around the movable lens in order to hold the movable lens by the coil.   The imaging device according to claim 2, wherein the coil is hardened with resin after winding.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the wire forming the coil is set according to the shape of the movable lens.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wire is coated with low light reflectivity. A housing,
An imaging lens including at least one movable lens movable in the optical axis direction with respect to the housing;
An actuator comprising: an actuator including a magnet, a coil, and a yoke for moving the movable lens; and the yoke that is movably disposed with respect to the housing holds the movable lens. apparatus.

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