KR101724426B1 - Camera apparatus and mobile device having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a camera apparatus including a filter switching unit and a fixed focus type camera module and a mobile device having the same. The disclosed camera apparatus comprises: a fixed focus type camera module; and a filter switching unit disposed in front of the fixed focus type camera module. The filter switching unit comprises a base having a light passing hole formed thereon, and a filter blade part having at least one filter and selectively moving to a position corresponding to the light passing hole.

Description

[0001] CAMERA APPARATUS AND MOBILE DEVICE HAVING THE SAME [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera device and a mobile device having the camera device, and more particularly, to a camera device including a filter switching unit and a fixed focus camera module and a mobile device having the same.

Mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet PCs that are widely used recently include camera devices.

Such a camera device is used for moving picture photographing, still image photographing such as an object or a person, biometric identification, and the like.

When performing video recording or still image shooting, the image sensor of the camera reacts sensitively to an infrared ray, which is an invisible ray. Therefore, in the daytime, an infrared ray cutoff filter for blocking infrared rays is placed in front of the lens. By not being located at the front of the lens, the subject is photographed even in an environment where there is little visible light by actively transmitting infrared rays.

In the field of biometrics such as iris recognition, a band-pass filter which partially transmits the wavelength of the visible light region as well as the wavelength of the infrared region is used as a filter for filtering incident light for identification, It is used for shooting.

On the other hand, in the conventional mobile device, the above-described filter switching unit is provided together with the over focus camera module. For example, the rear camera portion of the cellular phone is equipped with an auto focusing camera module and a filter conversion unit is provided in front of the auto focusing camera module.

However, the front camera unit of the conventional mobile device has a fixed focus type camera module. In this case, it is difficult for the front camera unit to place the filter switching unit in front of the camera of the focus type due to the thickness limitation of the mobile device. As a result, the front camera unit has a disadvantage in that it can not realize functions such as night photography and iris recognition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a camera device applicable to a thin mobile device by arranging a filter switching unit in close contact with a fixed- And the like.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a fixed focus type camera module; And a filter switching unit disposed in front of the fixed focus type camera module, wherein the filter switching unit includes a base having a light passage hole and at least one filter, and selectively moves to a position corresponding to the light passage hole And a filter blade portion which is provided on the filter blade portion.

The fixed-focus type camera module includes a lens unit, and the lens unit may be disposed in close contact with the base surface corresponding to the light passage hole of the base.

The lens portion of the fixed focus type camera module and the lower surface of the base may be fixed by mutual bonding.

The lens unit may include a protrusion protruding toward the base, and the protrusion may be formed integrally with the lens unit.

Wherein the filter switching unit comprises: a blade arm rotatably coupled to a reference shaft of the base, the blade arm being connected to the filter blade unit; And a driving unit for rotating the blade arm by a magnetic force, wherein the filter blade unit includes a first filter and a second filter, wherein when the blade arm is rotated by a predetermined angle in the first direction, And the second filter may be set at a position corresponding to the light passage hole when the blade arm rotates by a predetermined angle in the second direction.

The first filter may be any one of an infrared cut filter, a band pass filter, and a glass, and the second filter may be any one of an infrared cut filter, a band pass filter, and a glass, which is different from the first filter.

The first filter and the second filter may cover the light passage hole by being set at a position corresponding to the light passage hole.

The driving unit includes: a magnet provided at the other end of the blade arm and rotatably coupled to the reference shaft; And an electromagnet whose one end is disposed adjacent to the magnet, wherein the electromagnet includes: a coil that selectively conducts current; And a yoke disposed at a portion of the coil and selectively magnetized by the coil, and one end of the electromagnet may be formed to correspond to an outer circumferential surface of the magnet.

The inner circumferential surface of the light passage hole may be inclined so that the front of the light passage hole is wider than the rear.

In order to achieve the above object, a mobile device body; And a mobile device including the camera device described above.

According to the camera device of the present invention as described above, the filter switching unit is disposed in front of the fixed focus type camera module, and the fixed focus type camera module is provided on the lower surface of the base corresponding to the light passing hole of the base of the filter switching unit. And the lens part of the camera module is disposed closely. This makes it possible to reduce the distance between the lens of the lens part and the light passing hole of the base, thereby making it possible to manufacture the camera device compactly without loss of the angle of view of the lens. In addition, the size of the light passage hole of the base can be minimized within a range in which the angle of view of the lens is not interfered with by the light passage hole, and the size of the filters covering the light passage light can also be reduced, And the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

1 is a front view of a mobile device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a camera device including a cover, a filter switching unit, and a fixed focus type camera module used in a mobile device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is an exploded perspective view of a camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a side cross-sectional view of a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a case where the second filter is located in the light passage hole in the filter switching unit of FIG. 3. FIG.
Fig. 6 is a plan view showing a case where the first filter is located in the light passage hole in the filter switching unit of Fig. 3;

Hereinafter, a camera device including a filter switching unit and a fixed focus type camera module according to the present invention and a mobile device having the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the embodiments described below are provided for illustrative purposes only, and that the present invention may be embodied with various modifications and alterations. In the following description, well-known functions or components are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present invention. In addition, the attached drawings are not drawn to scale in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, but the dimensions of some of the components may be exaggerated.

The camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a mobile device such as a smart phone, a tablet PC, a notebook, and the like.

Hereinafter, a smart phone will be described as an example of a mobile device to which the present invention can be applied.

Referring to Fig. 1, a smart phone 1 includes a housing 10, a communication unit 20, and a camera device 30.

The housing 10 forms an outer shape of the smartphone 1, and a display unit 11 for outputting various data is provided on the front face. The display unit 11 may be an LCD or an OLED. Various types of printed circuit boards (not shown) including a controller (not shown) are installed in the housing 10 so that the smartphone 1 can exhibit various functions. Since the printed circuit board and the control unit provided inside the housing 10 are the same as or similar to those used in the conventional smartphone, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

A communication unit 20 is provided on one side of the upper portion of the front surface of the housing 10. The communication unit 20 allows various devices using an infrared remote control such as a television, audio, and set-top box to be operated by a smart phone by infrared rays. Since the communication unit 20 may not be provided depending on the type of the smart phone, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, although not shown, a near infrared ray LED may be provided in the communication unit 20 or on one side of the communication unit 20 so that night-time imaging is possible.

The camera device (30) is located at one side of the communication unit (20). The camera device 30 may be used for self-photographing or for iris recognition. In recent years, a smart phone holder (cell phone stick) has been widely used for self-photographing by directly confirming the display unit 11, and a user's iris is recognized according to a request to enhance the security of the smart phone 1 Since the function of recognizing the user of the smartphone 1 is also required, the camera device 30 is used not only on the rear surface but also on the front surface of the camera.

2 and 3, the camera device 30 includes a cover 100, a filter switching unit 200, a fixed focus type camera module 300, and a connector 400.

The fixed focus type camera module 300 is located below the filter switching unit 200 and the lens unit 310 of the fixed focus type camera module 300 is located on the bottom surface of the base 230 of the filter switching unit 200 And can be disposed in close contact with each other.

Accordingly, it is possible to minimize the volume of the camera device 30 without loss of the lens (not shown) angle of view of the lens part 310, so that the camera device 30 of the present invention can be applied to a thin mobile device.

The cover 100 is configured to surround a part of the upper end of the filter switching unit 200 and a first light passing hole 110 is formed so that light from the object can be introduced into the filter switching unit 200.

The configuration and arrangement of the filter switching unit 200 and the fixed-focus camera module 300 will be described in detail below.

Referring to FIG. 3, the filter switching unit 200 includes a filter blade unit 210, a blade arm 220, a base 230, and a driving unit 240.

The filter blade portion 210 includes a first filter 211 and a second filter 212 and forms a blade groove 213.

The first filter 211 and the second filter 212 can be selectively set at positions corresponding to the first light passage hole 110 of the cover 100. [ In this case, the first and second filters 211 and 212 selectively cover the first light passage hole 110. The first and second filters 211 and 212 may be any one of an infrared cut filter and a band pass filter for recognizing an iris.

In addition, the first filter 211 and the second filter 212 may be configured with different filters to provide various functions as needed. Specifically, if the first filter 211 is an infrared cut filter, the second filter 212 may be a band-pass filter, and if the first filter 211 is a band-pass filter, the second filter 212 may be an infrared cut filter . In addition, the first filter 211 or the second filter 212 may be formed of only a glass without a filter.

A blade groove 213 for connection with the blade arm 220 is formed at one end of the filter blade 210. The blade groove 213 may be formed to penetrate the filter blade 210 as shown in FIG. 3 or may be formed on one surface of the filter blade 210.

The connection between the blade groove 213 and the blade arm 220 will be described in more detail below.

The blade arm 220 may include an arm projection 221, a cam hole 222, and a rotation stopping portion 223.

The blade arm 220 is coupled to the base 230 so as to rotate about the reference axis 231 of the base 230 by a predetermined angle.

The arm protrusion 221 of the blade arm 220 has a substantially cylindrical shape and is connected to the blade groove 213. When the arm protrusion 221 is inserted into the blade groove 213, The filter blade portion 210 can slide.

When the blade groove 213 penetrates the filter blade 210, the head 221a is formed on the arm protrusion 221 so that when the filter blade 210 is slid, the arm protrusion 221 And is prevented from being detached from the blade groove 213.

The cam hole 222 is located at the other end of the blade arm 220 and is formed as a circular hole so as to be rotatably engaged with the reference shaft 231.

The blade arm 220 is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise about the reference axis 231 by the rotation of the magnet 241 by attaching a magnet 241 capable of rotating by the electromagnet 242 .

In addition, the blade arm 220 can constitute a rotation stop portion 223 protruding a part of the other end of the blade arm 220 so that the blade arm 220 can be rotated only by a certain angle about the reference axis 231, The rotation of the blade arm 220 can be restricted by interfering with the first projecting portion 234 inside the base 230.

The blade arm 220 slides on one side and the other side opposite to the filter blade 210 as the reference axis 231 is rotated by a predetermined angle on the rotation axis so that the first and second filters 211 , 212) can be selectively located in the first light passage hole (110). That is, when the first filter 211 is located in the first light passage hole 110, the second filter 212 is not located in the first light passage hole 110, The first filter 211 is not located in the first light passage hole 110 when the light guide plate 110 is located in the first light passage hole 110. [

Since the first and second filters 211 and 212 are provided at the same height, the overall height of the filter switching unit 200 can be reduced compared to the conventional method in which a plurality of filters are formed vertically. Thus, it is possible to implement the filter switching unit 200 compactly.

In addition, since the first and second filters 211 and 212 are provided in one filter blade 210, it is possible to fundamentally block the possibility of mutual interference in the filter switching process, thereby stably maintaining the filter switching unit 200 Can be used for a long time.

The base 230 forms a lower portion of the filter switching unit 200 and includes a reference shaft 231, a second light passage hole 232, and an electromagnet seating portion 233.

The reference shaft 231 is formed adjacent to one corner adjacent to the portion where the electromagnet 242 is disposed on the base 230 and the cam shaft 222 and the magnet 241).

The reference shaft 231 may be formed in a substantially cylindrical shape so that a circular cam hole 222 and a hole (not shown) of the magnet 241 can be rotatably engaged.

The second light passage hole 232 is formed in a circular shape so that the central axis of the second light passage hole 232 is aligned with the central axis of the first light passage hole 110 so that light passing through the first light passage hole 110 can pass therethrough. do.

4, the second light passage hole 232 is formed so that the angle of view of the lens (not shown) of the lens portion 310 is not interfered by the thickness of the second light passage hole 232 And the inner circumferential surface is inclined so that the front is wider than the rear.

Referring to FIG. 3, the electromagnet seating portion 233 is where the electromagnet 242 is seated. The electromagnet seating portion 233 can be any shape as long as it can seat the electromagnet 242 in a shape corresponding to the shape of the electromagnet 242.

When the blade arm 220 includes the rotation stopping portion 223 as described above, the base 230 can interfere with the rotation stopping portion 223 to stop the rotation of the blade arm 220 by more than a certain amount The first protrusion 234 can be formed.

The base 230 may form a second protrusion 235 that interferes with the filter blade portion 210 to prevent the filter blade portion 210 from separating from the base 230 when sliding, 235 may be plural.

The driving unit 240 includes a magnet 241 and an electromagnet 242 for rotating the blade arm 220.

The magnet 241 is attached to the lower side of the other end of the blade arm 220 as a permanent magnet and has a donut shape in which a hole (not shown) is formed at the center so as to be rotatably engaged with the reference shaft 231. The center of the hole is preferably formed to coincide with the center of the cam hole 222. In addition, the magnet 241 may be divided in half along the radial direction so that approximately half of the magnet 241 has the N pole and the other half has the S pole. Specifically, the magnet 241 is divided into an N-pole and an S-pole with a boundary of a virtual plane including a central axis of the reference axis 231 as a boundary, and the N-pole and the S-pole may be provided in an arcuate shape. The magnet 241 can rotate about the reference axis 231 by a magnetic force with the electromagnet 242.

The electromagnet 242 has a roughly L-shaped yoke 242a, the yoke 242a is formed of a magnetic material such as iron, and a coil 242b is wound around a part of the yoke 242a. The electromagnet 242 can be deformed into various shapes as long as it can be fixed to the base 230 facing the magnet 241.

When a current is applied to the coil 242b, the angular yoke 242a of the electromagnet 242 is magnetized to apply an attractive force or a repulsive force to the magnet 241. One end 242c of the yoke 242a is distinguished from the other end of the yoke 242a with respect to the coil 242b so that the one end 242c of the yoke 242a can face the magnet 241 It is preferable that the magnet 241 is provided in a shape corresponding to the shape of the outer circumferential surface.

The other end of the electromagnet 242 including the coil 242b can be inserted into the electromagnet seating portion 233 and the one end 242c is positioned so as to face the outer circumferential surface of the magnet 241. [ According to this structure, the filter switching unit 200 according to the present invention can be implemented more compactly.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, the fixed focus type camera module 300 is disposed below the filter switching unit 200 and may include a lens unit 310.

3, the lens unit 310 may include a protrusion 311 protruding in a direction toward the base 230. [

The projecting portion may have a cylindrical shape or a different three-dimensional shape in which a portion of the lens portion 310 is protruded (311).

In addition, the protrusion 311 may be integrally formed with the lens portion 310, and this configuration minimizes the void space inside the fixed-focus camera module 300, thereby increasing the volume of the fixed-focus camera module 300 Can be reduced.

4, the lens unit 310 of the fixed focus type camera module 300 is disposed in close contact with the lower surface of the base 230 corresponding to the second light passage hole 232 of the base 230 .

This makes it possible to minimize the distance between the lens (not shown) of the lens unit 310 and the second light passing hole 232 and thereby reduce the volume of the camera device 30 without loss of the angle of view of the lens It can be minimized.

The lens unit 310 is disposed in close contact with the lower surface of the base 230 so that the angle of view of the lens 230 is not interfered with the second light passage hole 232 of the base 230, 230 can be minimized and the size of the filters covering the second light passage 232 can also be reduced. Therefore, not only the camera device 30 can be manufactured more compactly, but also the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In addition, the lower surfaces of the lens unit 310 and the base 230 of the fixed focus type camera module 300 may be fixed by mutual bonding and may be fixed to each other by various methods other than bonding.

The connector 400 enables the operation of the camera device 30 by connecting the control unit (not shown) and the camera device 30 to each other. Since the connector 400 is the same as or similar to that used in the camera device according to the related art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, the operation of the camera apparatus 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the filter switching unit 200 is installed in the camera device 30, the band-pass filter is applied to the first filter 211, and the infrared filter is applied to the second filter 212 . The first pole 241a of the magnet 241 has an N pole and the second pole 241b of the magnet 241 has an S pole.

In the general case, the infrared cut filter 212 is located in the first light passage hole 110 as shown in FIG.

In this state, when the iris recognition is performed for identification purposes or the like, the iris recognition mode is selected. The method of selecting the iris recognition mode can be exemplified as follows. When the user executes the camera app on the display unit 11 of the smartphone 1, a screen for selecting the camera mode is displayed on the display unit 11. [ Accordingly, the user can touch the display unit 11 to select the iris recognition mode. At this time, when the user selects the iris recognition mode on the display unit 11, the filter conversion unit 200 operates in the iris recognition mode.

In addition to the method of selecting the iris recognition mode with the camera app described above, the iris recognition mode can be selected through a dedicated button or a key, and these methods are known methods, and thus a detailed description will be omitted.

5, one end 242c of the electromagnet 242 is magnetized to the S pole, and the other end is magnetized to the N pole. Thus, one end 242c of the electromagnet 242 attracts the N pole of the magnet 241, whereby the infrared cut filter 212 is located in the first light passage hole 110 and the band pass filter 211 are out of the first light passage hole 110. [

When the iris recognition mode is selected in this state, a control unit (not shown) passes a current in a direction opposite to the coil 242b of the electromagnet 242. [ Thus, one end 242c of the electromagnet 242 is magnetized to the N pole, and the other end is magnetized to the S pole. One end 242c of the electromagnet 242 and the pole of the other end are changed so that the one end 242c of the electromagnet 242 pushes the N pole of the magnet 241.

The magnet 241 is rotated by the magnetization of the one end 242c of the electromagnet 242. The rotation of the magnet 241 causes the blade arm 220 to rotate around the reference axis 231 do. 6, the first filter 211, which is a band-pass filter, is located in the first light passage hole 110, and the first filter 211, which is an infrared cut filter, 2 filter 212 is located at a position deviated from the first light passage hole 110. [ With this arrangement, the smartphone 1 can recognize the iris by the iris recognition.

When the user selects the mode in which the second filter 212, which is an infrared cut filter, is positioned in the first light passage hole 110 again in the iris recognition mode, the control unit controls the coil 242b of the electromagnet 242, A current in the opposite direction is applied. 5, the second filter 212, which is an infrared cutoff filter, is located in the first light passage hole 110, and the first filter 211, which is a bandpass filter, is located outside the first light passage hole 110 . In the normal shooting mode, the infrared ray blocking filter blocks the infrared rays in the daytime and transmits only visible light, so that the image quality can be improved.

According to the present invention, the user can selectively control the band-pass filter or the infrared cut-off filter as needed to set the photographing mode according to the purpose. In addition to the bandpass filter, the first filter 211 may be an infrared cut filter or a normal glass, and the second filter 212 may be a general glass or bandpass filter in addition to an infrared cut filter.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

100; Cover 110: First light passage hole
200; Filter switching unit 210; The filter blade portion
220; Blade arm 230; Base
232; A second light passage hole 240; The driving unit
300; Fixed focus type camera module 310; The lens portion
400; connector

Claims (10)

A camera module; And
And a filter switching unit disposed in front of the camera module,
Wherein the filter switching unit includes a base having a light passage hole and a filter blade portion having at least one filter and selectively moving to a position corresponding to the light passage hole,
Wherein the camera module includes a lens portion,
Wherein the lens portion includes a protrusion protruding toward the base, and is disposed in close contact with the bottom surface of the base corresponding to the light passage hole of the base. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the lens unit of the camera module and the lower surface of the base are fixed by mutual bonding. The method according to claim 1,
And the protruding portion is integrally formed with the lens portion. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the filter switching unit comprises:
A blade arm rotatably coupled to the reference axis of the base and connected to the filter blade portion; And
And a driving unit for rotating the blade arm by a magnetic force,
Wherein the filter blade portion includes a first filter and a second filter, the first filter is set at a position corresponding to the light passage hole when the blade arm is rotated by a predetermined angle in the first direction, And the second filter is set at a position corresponding to the light passage hole when the light source is rotated by a predetermined angle in the second direction. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the first filter is any one of an infrared cut filter, a band pass filter, and a glass,
Wherein the second filter is any one of an infrared cut filter, a band-pass filter, and a glass, which is different from the first filter. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the first filter and the second filter cover the light passage hole at a position corresponding to the light passage hole. 6. The method of claim 5,
The driving unit includes:
A magnet provided at the other end of the blade arm and rotatably coupled to the reference shaft; And
And an electromagnet having one end disposed adjacent to the magnet,
The electromagnet may include a coil through which a current flows selectively; And a yoke in which the coil is disposed and a magnet is selectively magnetized by the coil,
Wherein one end of the electromagnet is formed to correspond to an outer circumferential surface of the magnet. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the light passing hole is formed so that an inner circumferential surface thereof is inclined so that a forward portion thereof is wider than a rear portion thereof. A mobile device body; And
A mobile device comprising the camera device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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