Housing, camera module, assembly method, and electronic device

Abstract

The present application provides a housing, a camera module, an assembly method, and an electronic device. A housing of the camera module comprises: a cover portion, the cover portion being suitable for covering at least part of the internal structure of the camera module and being provided with a light inlet; and a side wall portion, the side wall portion being formed around the outer periphery of the cover portion. The housing is integrally formed of a metal material so as to integrate functions of a housing and a support, and the area of the side wall portion away from the light inlet is provided with a clearance area, which is suitable for providing clearance for a circuit board of the camera module and pins of other circuit assemblies of the camera module. According to the present application, by means of providing the integrally formed housing and providing the clearance area on the housing, it is convenient to weld the pins and a circuit board of a photosensitive assembly through the clearance area, so as to form a conductive connection. A main body portion and a tail portion are connected to each other to form the housing. During assembly, the main body portion is first mounted, then the pins of a circuit assembly and the circuit board of the photosensitive assembly are connected, and finally the tail portion is mounted, thereby reducing the risk of contamination.

Description

Shell, camera module, assembly method and electronic device TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of camera modules, more particularly to a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device. BACKGROUND

[0002] Camera modules are an essential part of mobile electronic devices. With the further development of camera module technology, users' demands for camera modules are becoming more and more sophisticated and higher requirements are being generated. The development of camera products not only needs to meet the demand for high performance, but also needs to meet the requirements of miniaturization, lightness and compactness. The internal space of electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets is becoming more and more compact, and the space for accommodating camera modules is very limited, so higher and higher requirements are put forward for the size of camera modules.

[0003] A camera module generally includes a lens and a photosensitive assembly, and an incident light beam passes through the lens to reach the photosensitive assembly, where it is imaged. The lens and the photosensitive assembly are usually assembled to a base to form part of the camera module. Periscopic camera modules or long-focus camera modules further include a prism that can turn the direction of the light beam at least once, used to fold the optical path to achieve long-focus shooting.

[0004] The camera module further includes a shell and a bracket. The shell is assembled to the outside of the base or above the base of the photosensitive assembly to cover at least part of the internal structure of the base. The bracket is further mounted to the outside of the shell. Generally speaking, the shell covers the internal structure of the camera module, and the bracket assembled to the outside of the shell is suitable for being fixed to the electronic device. The bracket usually has a positioning hole, which is aligned with the corresponding positioning hole on the electronic device to be screwed and fixed, so that the camera module is assembled to the electronic device.

[0005] When assembling the camera module, the shell needs to be assembled to the base of the camera module first, and then the bracket is assembled outside the shell. The assembly process is complex, the calibration process is complex, and the assembly gap between multiple devices is prone to interference or tolerance accumulation.

[0006] Further, since the bracket and the shell are two independent components, when the bracket is assembled to the periphery of the shell, glue needs to be set between the bracket and the shell for curing. At the same time, the optical lens and the motor assembly are further assembled inside the shell, and glue is also often used for curing. Since the glue shrinks after curing, it will pull the shell and cause it to deform, thereby affecting the properties or positions of the components of the camera module inside the shell. It may also pull the bracket and cause it to deform, thereby affecting the performance and production yield of the camera module and the entire device. At the same time, the use of glue increases, and the glue area increases, which is prone to problems such as glue cracking and glue overflow, which may also cause reliability problems of the camera module.

[0007] In addition, the shell and the support have a containing relationship, there is an overlapping part in space, the shell and the support have a certain thickness, the overlapping part plus the assembly gap reserved to avoid interference accumulates, which further increases the size of the camera module. The miniaturization demand of the current camera module and the internal space of the electronic equipment are increasingly compact, and it is very important to reasonably compress and control the size of the camera module. SUMMARY

[0008] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, the shell of the camera module is directly fixed with the camera module semi-finished product, so as to eliminate the assembly gap between the support and the shell.

[0009] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, a miniaturized shell structure is provided, the integration of the camera module is improved, and miniaturization is realized.

[0010] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, the support is provided with a avoiding area to avoid the connection area of the pins of the circuit assembly and the circuit board in the camera module, the shell covers the base after installation to form a closed space, so that the optical system is located in the closed space, and the pins exposed in the avoiding area and the circuit board of the photosensitive assembly are welded, foreign matters generated by welding cannot enter the inside, a stain risk is caused, and the imaging of the camera module is affected.

[0011] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, so as to eliminate the assembly gap between the support and the shell.

[0012] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, the shell includes a main body part and a tail part, the tail part is installed after the pins and the circuit board are welded, an installation space of the photosensitive assembly is formed, debris in the assembly and welding process is prevented from entering the containing space on the base, and a stain risk is reduced.

[0013] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrated, the support and the shell side wall of the shell are integrated, at least part of the shell side wall of the shell can be omitted, the thickness of the shell side wall of the shell is saved on the size of the camera module, and the size of the camera module is reduced.

[0014] An advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, a camera module, an assembly method and an electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrated, and the weight of the camera module is reduced.

[0015] One advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, camera module, assembly method and electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, the gluing and fixing step between the support and the shell is omitted, and the process is simplified.

[0016] One advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, camera module, assembly method and electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, the gluing and fixing step between the support and the shell is omitted, and the process is simplified.

[0017] One advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, camera module, assembly method and electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, the gluing and fixing step between the support and the shell is omitted, and the process is simplified.

[0018] One advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, camera module, assembly method and electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, the gluing and fixing step between the support and the shell is omitted, and the process is simplified.

[0019] One advantage of the present application is to provide a shell, camera module, assembly method and electronic device, the support and the shell of the camera module are integrally formed, the gluing and fixing step between the support and the shell is omitted, and the process is simplified. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a camera module according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0021] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a shell and other parts of a camera module according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0022] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a shell of a camera module according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0023] FIG. 4 is a bottom view of a shell of a camera module according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0024] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a camera module after removing the shell according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0025] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a relief area located at a second side wall portion according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0026] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a relief area located at a third side wall portion according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0027] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the position of a positioning hole according to one preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0028] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the positioning hole arrangement position according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0029] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another perspective view of the camera module housing according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0030] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the camera module according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0031] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of the tail portion of the housing separated from other portions according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0032] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the tail portion of the housing separated from other portions according to another perspective view of an embodiment of the present application.

[0033] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the main body portion, the tail portion, and other portions of the housing separated according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0034] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of the camera module housing according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0035] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the main body portion and the tail portion of the housing separated according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0036] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of another perspective view of the camera module housing according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0037] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of the housing portion and the bracket portion of the main body portion and the tail portion separated according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0038] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of the connection region at the second side wall portion according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0039] FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of the connection region at the third side wall portion according to another perspective view of an embodiment of the present application.

[0040] In the figure: 1, camera module; 10, shell; 100, mounting opening; 11, shell; 12, support; 13, hollow area; 14, positioning area; 15, connecting area; 151, first notch; 152, second notch; 101, cover part; 102, side wall part; 103, mounting structure; 104, light inlet; 105, light outlet; 106, inner surface; 107, outer surface; 108, spacing space; 109, surface treatment area; 1031, positioning hole; 1001, main body part; 1002, tail part; 10011, embedded part; 10021, nested part; 111, shell cover wall; 112, shell side wall; 113, bending part; 1101, first side surface; 1120, combination hole; 1121, first shell side wall; 1122, second shell side wall; 1123, third shell side wall; 1124, fourth shell side wall; 1125, combination part; 11251, first combination part; 11252, second combination part; 11253, third combination part; 121, first side wall part; 122, second side wall part; 123, third side wall part; 124, fourth side wall part; 1101, first side surface; 1201, second side surface; 1202, avoidance area; 1203, avoidance area connecting part; 1204, clamping hole; 1000, shell covering space; 1001B, inner side surface; 1100, main body space; 1200, containing space; 20, base; 200, containing space; 201, outer peripheral side surface; 202, light passing port; 203, mounting space; 204, mounting seat; 2041, mounting leg; 205, cooperation structure; 205B, buckle; 30, lens assembly; 40, photosensitive assembly; 41, circuit board; 42, connecting belt; 43, connector; 50, light path turning assembly; 60, circuit assembly; 61, pin; 70, camera module semi-finished product. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In the following, the present application will be further described in conjunction with specific embodiments, and it should be noted that the embodiments described below or the technical features between the embodiments can be combined in any manner to form new embodiments without conflict.

[0042] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that for orientation words, such as the terms "center", "transverse", "longitudinal", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc. indicate the orientation and positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and cannot be understood as limiting the specific protection scope of the present application.

[0043] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily have to be used to describe a specific order or sequence.

[0044] The terms "comprise" and "have" and any variations thereof in the specification and claims of the present application are intended to cover not exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units does not have to be limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but can include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0045] It should be noted that, as used in the present application, the terms "substantially", "approximately" and similar terms are used as approximate terms, not as terms of degree, and are intended to indicate inherent deviations in measured or calculated values that will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0046] In the description of the present application, it should also be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "set", "mount", "connected", "connected" should be understood broadly, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or integrally connected; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the communication inside two elements. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0047] The terms used in the description are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to be limiting. As used in the specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to cover both the singular and the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will also be understood that the terms "comprise" and / or "include" are used in this specification to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0048]

Camera module

[0049] Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings, the present application provides a camera module 1, which comprises a housing 10 and a camera module semi-finished product 70, the camera module semi-finished product 70 further comprises a base 20, a lens assembly 30 and a photosensitive assembly 40, the lens assembly 30 is installed in a receiving space 200 of the base 20, and the photosensitive assembly 40 is fixed to the base 20. The housing 10 is arranged at least partially around the periphery of the base 20 to cover the lens assembly 30 located in the receiving space 200.

[0050] The housing 10 and the base 20 can be connected in various ways such as gluing, welding, interference fit, snap connection, mechanical connection, thread, hinging, etc. In an optional embodiment, the housing 10 and the base 20 are connected by gluing.

[0051] The housing 10 comprises an outer shell 11 and a support 12. In some optional embodiments, the outer shell 11 and the support 12 are integrally formed.

[0052] The base 20 has a light passage 202, the exit side of the lens assembly 30 faces the light passage 202, and the photosensitive assembly 40 is installed on the base 20, facing the light passage 202 and located on the exit side of the lens assembly 30. The light beam emitted from the lens assembly 30 reaches the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging.

[0053] Further, the camera module semi-finished product 70 of the camera module 1 can further comprise a lens driving assembly for driving the lens assembly 30 to move to achieve focus adjustment, automatic focusing and / or zooming. The lens driving assembly comprises a first driving unit and a second lens driving unit, the first driving unit is installed on the base 20, and the second driving unit is installed on the lens assembly 30. The first driving unit and the second lens driving unit interact to drive the lens assembly 30 to move relative to the base 20.

[0054] In one embodiment of the driving form of the present application, the lens driving assembly is implemented as a voice coil motor type drive, one of the first driving unit and the second lens driving unit is implemented as a magnet, and the other is implemented as a coil. In other embodiments of the driving form of the present application, the lens driving assembly is implemented as a piezoelectric motor type drive, an SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) type drive, a stepper motor, or other driving methods.

[0055] For the purpose of convenient description, the height or thickness direction of the camera module is defined as the Z axis, and the height direction of the camera module is the thickness direction of the electronic device in which the camera module is installed. The transverse and longitudinal directions perpendicular to the height direction of the camera module and perpendicular to each other are defined as the X axis and the Y axis, respectively.

[0056] The type of the camera module includes a vertical camera module, a periscopic camera module, and other types of long-focus camera modules.

[0057] In an embodiment of the present application, the camera module 1 is implemented as a periscopic camera module. The camera module semi-finished product 70 of the camera module 1 can further include an optical path turning assembly 50 arranged in the receiving space 200 of the base 20, and the exit side of the optical path turning assembly 50 faces the entrance side of the lens assembly 30. The optical path turning assembly 50 turns the incident light rays in a direction and then passes through the lens assembly 30 to the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging.

[0058] The optical path turning assembly 50 turns the light beam incident in the height direction first direction (Z axis) to be emitted in the direction towards the photosensitive assembly 40. The optical path turning assembly 50 and the lens assembly 30 are arranged in sequence along the propagation direction (second direction Y axis) of the light beam from the light entrance side to the light exit side.

[0059] The camera module semi-finished product 70 of the camera module 1 can further include an optical path turning driving assembly for driving the optical path turning assembly 50 to move, realizing the movement of the optical path turning assembly 50 in at least one direction. Illustratively, the optical path turning driving assembly drives the optical path turning assembly 50 to rotate around the transverse direction (third direction X axis), realizing nodding movement, correcting the position of the optical path turning assembly 50, and realizing anti-shake; the optical path turning driving assembly drives the optical path turning assembly 50 to rotate around the height direction (first direction Z axis), realizing panning movement, correcting the position of the optical path turning assembly 50, and realizing anti-shake; the optical path turning driving assembly drives the optical path turning assembly 50 to rotate around the light beam propagation direction (second direction Y axis), correcting the position of the optical path turning assembly 50, and realizing anti-shake; the optical path turning driving assembly drives the optical path turning assembly 50 to move along the light beam propagation direction (second direction Y axis), realizing focus adjustment movement; the optical path turning driving assembly drives the optical path turning assembly 50 to rotate or move in one or more of the aforementioned directions, to realize anti-shake and / or focus adjustment movement.

[0060] The foregoing example illustrates that the light path turning assembly 50 is arranged on the incident side of the lens assembly 30. In other periscopic camera modules, the light path turning assembly 50 is arranged between the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40 to turn the direction of the light beam at least once before the light beam is incident on the photosensitive assembly 40 after being emitted from the lens assembly 30.

[0061] In other periscopic camera modules, a plurality of light path turning assemblies 50 are included, at least one of which is arranged in front of the incident side of the lens assembly 30 to turn the direction of the light beam at least once before the light beam is incident on the lens assembly 30, and at least one of which is arranged between the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40 to turn the direction of the light beam at least once before the light beam is incident on the photosensitive assembly 40 after being emitted from the lens assembly 30.

[0062] In other periscopic camera modules, another lens can be arranged in front of the incident side of the light path turning assembly 50 to pass through the lens before the light beam is incident on the light path turning assembly 50.

[0063] In addition, each light path turning assembly 50 can turn the direction of the light beam once or multiple times, which is not limited in the present application.

[0064] The light path turning driving assembly includes a first light path turning driving unit arranged on the base 20 and a second light path turning driving unit arranged on the light path turning assembly 50, and the first light path turning driving unit and the second light path turning driving unit interact to drive the light path turning assembly 50 to move.

[0065] In one embodiment of the driving form of the present application, the light path turning driving assembly is implemented as a voice coil motor type driving, one of the first light path turning driving unit and the second light path turning driving unit is implemented as a magnet, and the other is implemented as a coil.

[0066] In other embodiments of the driving form of the present application, the light path turning driving assembly is implemented as a piezoelectric motor type driving, a shape memory alloy (SMA) type driving, a stepper motor, or other driving forms.

[0067] The lens driving assembly and the light path turning driving assembly can adopt the same driving form or different driving forms.

[0068]

Housing

[0069] Referring to Figs. 1-8 of the accompanying drawings, the shell 11 and the bracket 12 of the housing 10 are integrally formed as one piece. That is, the housing 10 is integrally formed as one piece. The shell 11 is adapted to cover the base 20 to cover at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70, and the shell 11 is provided with a light inlet 104. The bracket 12 has at least four side wall portions and is used to surround at least part of the periphery of the camera module semi-finished product 70 and is connected to the shell 11. The thickness of the bracket 12 is not less than the thickness of the shell 11, and is adapted to mount the camera module and the electronic device, so that the camera module is fixed to the electronic device. In an optional embodiment of the present application, the shell of the housing 10 mainly plays a role of controlling stray light and covering the top surface, and the bracket 12 plays a role of peripheral protection. Specifically, the minimum thickness of the bracket 12 is not less than the minimum thickness of the shell. Further, the minimum thickness of the shell can correspond to the covered material, and the corresponding covered material of the bracket 12 is different, which is formed based on different processing methods, so as to ensure that the minimum thickness of the bracket 12 is not less than the minimum thickness of the shell. The housing 10 of the present application adopts an integrated design, integrates the functions of the shell and the bracket 12 of the camera module in the prior art, reduces the number of parts, simplifies the assembly process, improves production efficiency, saves part of the size, and is beneficial to the miniaturization of the camera module.

[0070] Hereinafter, the unmarked shell and bracket refer to the shell and bracket in the prior art, and the marked shell 11 and bracket 12 refer to the shell 11 and bracket 12 in the present application.

[0071] At least one side wall portion of the bracket 12 is provided with a relief area 1202 corresponding to the pins 61 of the circuit assembly 60 and the circuit board 41 of the photosensitive assembly 40. After the housing 10 is installed, it covers at least part of the base 20, the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40 to form a closed space, so that the optical system and the driving system are located in the closed space. Then, the pins 61 and the circuit board 41 of the photosensitive assembly 40 exposed in the relief area 1202 are welded to form a conductive connection, thereby reducing the risk of dirt entering the inside caused by welding and reducing the impact on the module assembly yield.

[0072] In an embodiment of the production and manufacture of the housing 10 of the present application, the shell 11 and the bracket 12 of the housing 10 are integrally formed, that is, the shell 11 and the bracket 12 are integrally formed by the same material. The material can be a high-strength plastic material or a metal material.

[0073] In one embodiment of the production of the shell 10 of the present application, the shell 11 and the support 12 are made of the same metal material, and the shell 10 is integrally formed by a metal material forming process. The forming process that can be used includes but is not limited to integrated die casting, metal casting, metal forging, metal stamping, powder metallurgy, metal injection molding (MIM), stretching, secondary stretching, etc. The metal material that can be used includes but is not limited to steel-containing material, aluminum alloy, phosphor bronze, titanium alloy, iron-based material, zinc alloy, magnesium alloy, tin-based alloy, copper alloy, etc. The steel-containing material can be but is not limited to stainless steel, SPCC (Steel Plate Cold Commercial, cold-rolled carbon steel sheet), etc.

[0074] In an optional embodiment of the present application, the shell 11 and the support 12 are made of aluminum alloy material, and the shell 10 is integrally formed by aluminum alloy integrated die casting. The use of aluminum alloy integrated die casting, such as aluminum-magnesium alloy, etc., takes advantage of the lightweight characteristics of the material to achieve weight reduction, thereby reducing the weight of the shell 10 and the camera module. Moreover, aluminum alloy material has good overall performance, high strength and good toughness, so the shell 10 produced thereby has good mechanical strength, which is conducive to improving the reliability of the shell 10 and the camera module. The use of integrated design allows the same part to integrate multiple functions, improves the functionality and integration of the component, and also reduces the machining and assembly steps, thereby reducing production costs.

[0075] The wall thickness of the conventional shell 11 is about 0.2 mm, and the shell 11 and the support 12 of the present application are integrally formed, which can save the wall thickness of the shell 11 on one side in the transverse direction and the longitudinal direction of the camera module, i.e., reduce the size by 0.2 mm. The camera module is reduced in transverse and longitudinal dimensions, and can provide more design space for larger devices such as motors and lenses.

[0076] The above data is only to illustrate the advantages of the integrated design of the shell 10 of the present application. Depending on the design of the camera module, the size saved can vary, and more size can be saved, or less size can be saved, but at least the wall thickness of the shell of the prior art can be reduced based on the integrated design.

[0077] In addition, integrated die casting technology can manufacture parts with complex shapes and fine details; can accurately control the size of the parts, reduce the need for subsequent processing, thereby improving the size accuracy; can form multiple parts at a time, improving production efficiency.

[0078] In other examples of the present application, a zinc alloy, a magnesium alloy, a tin-based alloy, a copper alloy, or other materials can be used for integrated die casting to manufacture the housing 10 of the present application.

[0079] In one embodiment of the production of the housing 10 of the present application, the shell 11 and the bracket 12 can be made of different metal materials, and the different metal materials are combined together to form the housing 10 in one piece. The metal materials that can be used include, but are not limited to, steel-containing materials, aluminum alloys, phosphor bronze, titanium alloys, iron-based materials, etc. Further, appropriate metal materials can be selected in terms of cost, lightweight, mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, etc.

[0080] Taking the example that the shell 11 is made of stainless steel material and the bracket 12 is made of aluminum alloy material, the stainless steel and the aluminum alloy can be integrated by casting process. For example, a suitable mold is designed, and then the two metals are poured into the mold according to a certain proportion and order, the metals are melted at high temperature, and an integrated part is formed after cooling. Alternatively, the stainless steel and the aluminum alloy can be connected together by welding technology, and argon arc welding or laser welding can be used to ensure the strength and quality of the welding. Alternatively, the shell 11 made of stainless steel is first formed by stamping, and when the aluminum alloy of the bracket 12 is cast, the shell 11 can be placed in the mold as a stainless steel insert, and then the casting is performed to make the aluminum alloy and the stainless steel form a mechanical or metallurgical bond to obtain the housing 10.

[0081] The foregoing describes an embodiment in which the housing 10 is formed by integrated molding of metal materials. In other embodiments of the present application, the housing 10 can be formed by integrated molding of non-metal materials.

[0082] It can be understood that the "integrated molding" of the present application refers to forming a single part, such as the housing 10 being a single part, and is not limited to being formed in one step during the manufacturing process. The housing 10 of the present application can be formed in one step or multiple steps.

[0083] Next, the structure of the housing 10 of the present application will be described in detail.

[0084] The shell 10 comprises a cover portion 101 adapted to cover at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70 and a side wall portion 102 adapted to surround at least part of the periphery of the base 20 and provided with the light inlet 104. In the view of the drawings, the cover portion 101 is distributed along or substantially along the plane in which the diameter of the light inlet 104 lies, i.e. extends along the horizontal direction, and the side wall portion 102 extends from the outer periphery of the cover portion 101 along the height direction (first direction Z-axis) or substantially along the height direction (first direction Z-axis). Referring to FIGS. 1-5, it can be understood that the side wall portion 102 surrounds the outer side of the base 20, and the cover portion 101 is the top surface of the shell 10 located or substantially located in the plane in which the diameter of the light inlet 104 lies, covering the top opening formed by the base 20 and the side wall portion 102.

[0085] The cover portion 101 and the side wall portion 102 jointly define a shell covering space 1000 of the shell 10, and the shell 10 has a mounting opening 100 through which the shell covering space 1000 communicates with the external space. The shell 10 covers the base 20 through the mounting opening 100, and the base 20 is accommodated in the shell covering space 1000. The mounting opening 100 is defined by the bracket 12. Specifically, the bracket 12 defines the lower end of the shell 10 (i.e. the end close to the mainboard side of the electronic device), and the shell 11 defines the upper end of the shell 10 (i.e. the end close to the light hole side of the electronic device). The shell 11 extends from the upper end of the shell 10 to the bracket 12, and the bracket 12 continues to define the lower end of the shell 10.

[0086] The cover portion 101 has a thickness H1 along the height direction (first direction Z-axis), and the side wall portion 102 has a thickness H2 along the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) or along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis). The thickness H1 is smaller than the thickness H2, so that the size of the camera module in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) is as small as possible, thereby reducing the height of the camera module, adapting to the small thickness of the electronic device, and meeting the miniaturization requirement of the camera module. In some optional embodiments, the thickness of the cover portion 101 at any position is not more than the thickness of the side wall portion 102 at any position. Since the main function of the cover portion 101 is to cover the internal structure of the camera module, the thickness dimension of the cover portion 101 only needs to ensure that the cover portion 101 can be formed, so that H1 can be as small as possible under the condition of ensuring the strength, so as to reduce the size of the camera module. The side wall portion 102 has a certain thickness to ensure the mechanical strength. In some optional embodiments, the thickness H1 is implemented as the minimum thickness of the cover portion 101, and the thickness H2 is implemented as the minimum thickness of the side wall portion 102.

[0087] The side wall portion 102 is sleeved on the outer side of the base 20. Further, in some examples of the present application, at least a portion of the bottom of the side wall portion 102 is flush with at least a portion of the bottom of the base 20. Alternatively, the lower end surface of the side wall portion 102 has a flush portion of the lower end surface of the base 20, so as to facilitate positioning of the shell 10 on the base 20 and improve the assembly accuracy in the height direction (first direction Z-axis). In other examples of the present application, at least a portion of the bottom of the side wall portion 102 further protrudes downward relative to the bottom of the base 20.

[0088] Referring to FIG. 8, the side wall portion 102 is provided with a mounting structure 103, which is specifically arranged on the outer side of the bracket 12 and is adapted to mount the camera module to the electronic device and / or fix the camera module and other camera modules to form a multi-camera module. The mounting structure 103 and the avoidance area 1202 are arranged at different positions of the bracket 12 to avoid each other. Further, in the projection direction defined as the top view in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), the mounting structure 103 and the avoidance area 1202 are arranged at different positions of the side wall portion 102 of the bracket 12 in the projection direction. The above design can avoid the mounting structure 103 affecting the assembly process of the avoidance area 1202, and the staggered arrangement can further optimize the risk of the overall structural strength of the shell 10 being reduced due to the avoidance area 1202.

[0089] The cover portion 101, the side wall portion 102 and the mounting structure 103 are formed by a metal material forming process to integrate the functions of the shell 11 and the bracket 12.

[0090] In an embodiment of the present application, the shell 10 is mounted on the base 20 of one camera module to form a shell 11 of the camera module. In an embodiment of the present application, the shell 10 is mounted on the bases 20 of multiple camera modules, i.e., the shell covering space 1000 can accommodate multiple camera modules to form shells 11 of the multiple camera modules. That is, the shell 11 and the bracket 12 of a single-camera module can be designed in an integrated manner, and the shell 11 and the bracket 12 of a multi-camera module can also be designed in an integrated manner.

[0091] The mounting structure 103 includes a positioning portion protruding outwardly from the outer surface 107 of the sidewall portion 102 and a positioning hole 1031 formed in the positioning portion as a through hole. The positioning hole 1031 is aligned with a mounting hole on the electronic device, and then fixed by a fixing member (e.g., a screw) so that the camera module is fixed to the electronic device. Similarly, the positioning hole 1031 can be aligned with the positioning hole 1031 of the support 12 of another camera module and fixed so that the camera module is connected with the other camera module.

[0092] In other examples, the mounting structure 103 can also be a buckle structure, and the electronic device is positioned and buckled 205B. In other examples, the camera module and the corresponding position of the electronic device can be buckled and fixed by adhesive. In other examples, other suitable fixing methods can also be implemented.

[0093] Since the shell 10 is made of metal material, if the camera module is fixed to the electronic device by the cooperation of the fixing member and the positioning hole 1031, the metal material and the fixing member are not easy to generate friction and generate foreign matter.

[0094] The shell 10 also has a light inlet 104, and the incident light beam enters the inside of the camera module 1 and / or the camera module semi-finished product 70 through the light inlet 104 and passes through the lens assembly 30. In some examples, the shell 10 also has a light outlet 105, and the light beam exits from the light outlet 105 to reach the photosensitive assembly 40 and form an image at the photosensitive assembly 40. The lens assembly 30 is installed between the light inlet 104 and the light outlet 105, and the light outlet 105 is located between the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40. Further, the light path turning assembly 50 is located between the light transmission routes of the light inlet 104 and the light outlet 105, and the light beam can be turned by the light path turning assembly 50 before reaching the photosensitive assembly 40, realizing light path folding.

[0095] The shell 10 has an inner surface 106 and an outer surface 107, the inner surface 106 faces the internal structure of the camera module, the outer surface 107 faces the external structure of the camera module, the inner surface 106 and the internal structure of the camera module form an inner connection structure, and the outer surface 107 and the external structure of the camera module form an inner-outer connection structure. When the shell 10 and the base 20 are fixed, the inner connection structure is formed between the inner surface 106 and the base 20, so that the camera module forms an integral whole; when the shell 10 and the electronic device are fixed, the outer connection structure is formed between the outer surface 107 and the electronic device, so that the camera module is mounted on the electronic device. Thus, the inner and outer surfaces 107 of the shell 10 are used to position the camera module on the electronic device, which improves the accuracy of assembly and positioning.

[0096] The inner surface 106 is defined by the inner surface 106 of the outer shell 11 and the inner surface 106 of the support 12, and the outer surface 107 is defined by the outer surface 107 of the outer shell 11 and the outer surface 107 of the support 12.

[0097] In some examples, the inner surface 106 provides at least one bonding surface for bonding with the base 20 to fix the shell 10 and the base 20. Further, the bonding surface can be formed on the inner surface 106 located on the side wall portion 102.

[0098] Next, the specific configuration of the outer shell 11 and the support 12 included in the shell 10 is further described.

[0099] The outer shell 11 includes an outer shell cover wall 111 forming the aforementioned cover portion 101 and adapted to cover the receiving space 200 of the base 20. The light inlet 104 is formed on the outer shell cover wall 111 and faces the direction of light incidence.

[0100] In an embodiment of the present application, the outer shell 11 further includes an outer shell side wall 112 arranged around the outer shell cover wall 111. Specifically, the outer shell cover wall 111 extends along or substantially along the plane in which the diameter of the light inlet 104 lies, and the outer shell side wall 112 extends along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) from the outer periphery of the outer shell cover wall 111.

[0101] The support 12 and the outer shell 11 are arranged in a stacked manner along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis). Specifically, at least a portion of the outer shell side wall 112 extends to the support 12 and is coupled to the support 12.

[0102] Further, the support 12 and the outer shell side wall 112 are arranged in a stacked manner along the height direction so as not to overlap with the outer shell side wall 112, thereby avoiding increasing the thickness of the outer shell side wall 112 at the support 12, i.e., not increasing the thickness of the outer shell side wall 112 within the length range of the support 12 in the height direction.

[0103] To ensure the bracket 12 and the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11 are stacked along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) and do not overlap, the connection between the bracket 12 and the shell 11 is formed between the top of the bracket 12 and the bottom of the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11, wherein the top of the bracket 12 is towards the shell cover wall 111 side. The shell cover wall 111 and the shell side wall 112 form a bending part 113 therebetween, and the thickness of the shell cover wall 111 and the shell side wall 112 is close or the same, so that the bending part 113 is smoothly transitioned, reducing the difficulty of forming. Further, the thickness of the shell side wall 112 is smaller than the thickness of the bracket 12, which reduces the wall thickness of a part of the side wall part 102 of the shell 10, which is beneficial to reduce the weight of the shell 10.

[0104] In another embodiment of the present application, the top of the bracket 12 is formed at the outer periphery of the shell cover wall 111 of the shell 11, that is, the shell 11 does not have the shell side wall 112. Compared with the prior art, the thickness of the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11 stacked at the bracket 12 is saved.

[0105] Therefore, when the shell 10 is integrally formed by the shell 11 and the bracket 12, the overlapping part of the bracket 12 and the shell 11 can save the thickness of the shell 11, or the bracket 12 and the shell 11 are stacked along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), which saves the thickness of the shell 11 in the lateral and longitudinal dimensions. Further, since the shell 11 and the bracket 12 are integrally formed, compared with the separate bracket 12 and shell in the prior art, the use of the shell 10 saves the process of assembling the bracket 12 to the shell, and also saves the glue between the bracket 12 and the shell.

[0106] That is, in terms of size, the use of the integrated shell 10 is beneficial to reduce the size of the camera module, especially the lateral size and / or longitudinal size; in terms of assembly, the use of the integrated shell 10 simplifies the assembly process and improves production efficiency; in terms of reliability, the use of the integrated shell 10 saves the glue and avoids the reliability risks brought by the glue, such as bracket falling off, glue cracking, bracket deformation, shell deformation, etc.

[0107] Specifically, regarding the reliability risk of the glue, the glue cracking of the glue can cause the glue to break or fail, which can cause the structure originally connected by the glue to lose stability, reduce the strength, stiffness, durability, etc. of the connected structure. If the camera module is assembled on the electronic device, after the bracket and the electronic device are fixed, the connection structure between the bracket and the shell 11 fails, which can cause the camera module to loosen, displace, etc., resulting in a decline in the performance of the camera module or even failure. By using the integrated shell 10 of the present application, the functions of the shell 11 and the bracket 12 of the camera module are realized, the glue between the bracket and the shell 11 is omitted, which can reduce the risk points of the camera module and improve the reliability of the camera module.

[0108] Further, by omitting the glue between the bracket and the shell 11, the selection and verification of the glue, the selection and verification of the glue position, the verification of the glue amount (such as the total glue amount, glue width, glue length, glue thickness, etc.), the manufacturing and verification of the tooling jig of the glue process, the glue coating and curing time, etc. can be omitted, and the problem of appearance affected by glue infiltration is also eliminated. Therefore, by omitting the glue between the bracket and the shell 11, the production, assembly and other processes and projects can be saved, the production efficiency and yield of the camera module can be improved, and the appearance yield of the camera module can be improved.

[0109] In addition, in the camera module of the prior art, the shell 11 and the bracket can be pulled due to the shrinkage rate after the glue is cured, and the shell 11 is relatively thin, which can cause the shell 11 to be deformed by being pulled. The shell 11 is arranged outside the base 20, and the shell 11 is deformed by being pulled, which can cause the base 20 to be deformed under stress, thereby affecting the shape of the accommodation space 200 of the base 20 and the position and / or shape of the components located in the accommodation space 200, and affecting the performance and reliability of the camera module. Therefore, by avoiding the glue between the bracket and the shell 11, the deformation problem caused by the shrinkage of the glue after curing is also avoided, the assembly tolerance is reduced, and the finished product yield is improved.

[0110] Specifically in terms of assembly, first, the assembly process is simplified, the twice assembly of the shell and the bracket in the prior art is optimized to once assembly of the shell 10 of the present application, the glue setting and glue curing process is omitted, and the assembly tolerance is reduced. In addition, the integration of the shell 11 and the bracket 12 can also optimize the eccentricity problem of the camera module caused by the assembly of the bracket in the prior art.

[0111] Specifically, in the prior art camera module, there is an assembly gap between the support and the shell 11, which can cause the shell 11 and the base 20 and the internal structure of the camera module to be offset in the support, so that the light passage hole provided on the shell 11 is offset relative to the support. Therefore, when the support is assembled to the shell 11, the light passage hole of the camera module can have already been offset, and after the camera module is assembled to the electronic device, the offset condition can be more serious, which causes the light passage hole of the electronic device and the light passage hole of the camera module to be offset, resulting in the eccentricity problem of the camera module. In addition, the glue between the support and the shell 11 can also affect the relative position between the support and the shell 11, aggravate the offset problem between the light passage hole and the support, and make the offset problem between the light passage hole of the electronic device and the light passage hole of the camera module more serious.

[0112] The shell 10 of the present application adopts the integrated design of the shell 11 and the support 12, the light inlet 104 of the shell 11 is fixed in position on the shell 10, and the relative position between the light inlet 104 and the support 12 remains unchanged, avoiding the offset problem of the shell 11 and the support in the prior art camera module. That is, the relative position between the light inlet 104 and the mounting structure 103 of the shell 10 remains unchanged. Therefore, when the camera module is installed to the electronic device, the alignment of the light inlet 104 of the camera module and the light passage hole of the electronic device can be achieved through the precise alignment of the mounting structure 103 and the electronic device, avoiding the eccentricity problem of the camera module caused by the offset of the light inlet 104, and improving the assembly yield of the camera module. Further, the assembly eccentricity problem of the camera module can be controlled by controlling the manufacturing tolerance of the distance between the light inlet 104 and the mounting structure 103; the assembly eccentricity problem of the camera module can be controlled by controlling the manufacturing tolerance of the distance between the light inlet 104 and the support 12.

[0113] It can be understood that, according to the design requirements of the camera module, the shell 10 and the shell 11 can be subjected to certain surface treatment, including but not limited to electroplating, laser engraving, blackening, spraying, silk printing, film plating, etc., to meet the requirements of optical performance, magnetic shielding, stray light improvement, structure strengthening, prolonging service life, etc. For example, the surface of a specific area of the shell cover wall 111 can be subjected to surface treatment such as laser engraving and blackening for stray light improvement.

[0114] The bracket 12 is sleeved outside the base 20, surrounds the base 20, forms a protective structure outside the camera module, and can provide physical protection for the camera module to prevent damage caused by falling, impact or other external forces. The bracket 12 is used to fix the camera module at a specific position in the electronic device, ensures the relative position accuracy of the camera module and other components, and thus guarantees the accuracy and stability of image capture. The bracket 12 can assist in heat dissipation when the camera module is working, help the camera module work at a suitable temperature, and prolong the service life. The bracket 12 can enhance the structural stability of the camera module. In some possible embodiments, the bracket 12 can provide a certain degree of electromagnetic shielding to prevent electromagnetic interference from affecting the camera quality.

[0115] In some examples, the bracket 12 is formed around the outer periphery of the camera module semi-finished product 70, and includes a first side wall portion 121, a second side wall portion 122, a third side wall portion 123 and a fourth side wall portion 124 located at different sides. The first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123 and the fourth side wall portion 124 surround the camera module semi-finished product 70 and form the bracket 12. From the perspective of the drawings, the first side wall portion 121 and the third side wall portion 123 extend in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) and are opposite in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis). The second side wall portion 122 and the fourth side wall portion 124 extend in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) and are opposite in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction. The fourth side wall portion 124 is located on the light emitting side of the camera module. The first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123 and the fourth side wall portion 124 each have a height extending in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) and collectively form the bracket 12.

[0116] The specific shape of the bracket 12 can be determined in combination with the design requirements of the camera module and the adaptation requirements of the electronic device.

[0117] In other examples of the present application, the bracket 12 is not formed around the periphery. The bracket 12 has at least one opening and is arranged on three sides of the housing 11. Further, in some examples, the position of the opening is adapted to the position of the photosensitive assembly 40. In some examples, the position of the opening is different from the position of the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0118] The shape of the bracket 12 can be frame type, L type, U type, "mouth" type, etc.

[0119] In one embodiment of the production of the shell 10 of the present application, the outer shell 11 and the bracket 12 of the shell 10 are integrally formed by combining metal material and plastic material. Specifically, the outer shell 11 is made of metal material, and a portion of the outer shell 11 is injection molded to form the bracket 12, i.e. the bracket 12 is formed with at least a portion of the outer shell side wall 112 of the outer shell 11, resulting in the shell 10 integrally formed as a single part.

[0120] More specifically, the at least a portion of the outer shell side wall 112 of the outer shell 11 for injection molding is the joint area of the outer shell side wall 112 of the outer shell 11, which is injection molded to form the bracket 12, and the joint areas of the outer shell side wall 112 of the outer shell 11 on different sides are injection molded to form different side wall portions of the bracket 12 on different sides. The bracket 12 and the remaining area of the outer shell side wall 112 together form the side wall portion 102 of the shell 10, and the outer shell cover wall 111 of the outer shell 11 forms the cover portion 101 of the shell 10.

[0121] The outer shell side wall 112 of the outer shell 11 is provided with a joint hole 1120, which penetrates the outer shell side wall 112 and can be multiple in number. The use of the molding material for forming the bracket 12 and the inner wall of the joint hole 1120 can enhance the bonding strength between the two parts, i.e. the connection strength between the outer shell 11 and the bracket 12.

[0122] In one embodiment of the outer shell 11 of the present application, the outer shell side wall 112 includes a first outer shell side wall 1121, a second outer shell side wall 1122, and a third outer shell side wall 1123, which are connected in sequence and formed around three sides of the outer shell cover wall 111. At least one or all of the first outer shell side wall 1121, the second outer shell side wall 1122, and the third outer shell side wall 1123 are provided with the joint hole 1120, and further provided with multiple joint holes 1120.

[0123] In another embodiment of the shell 11 of the present application, the shell side wall 112 comprises a first shell side wall 1121, a second shell side wall 1122, a third shell side wall 1123 and a fourth shell side wall 1124, which are formed around the four sides of the shell cover wall 111. The bracket 12 is formed around the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, the third shell side wall 1123 and the fourth shell side wall 1124. At least one or all of the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, the third shell side wall 1123 and the fourth shell side wall 1124 are provided with the bonding hole 1120.

[0124] As shown in FIGS. 9-10, the shell side wall 112 comprises a bonding portion 1125, and the bonding hole 1120 is provided in the bonding portion 1125. After the shell 11 is formed, the bracket 12 is formed around the bonding portion 1125, so that the forming material enters the bonding hole 1120, the forming material and the inner wall of the bonding hole 1120 are combined, and the surface of the bonding portion 1125 and the bonding hole 1120 jointly form the bracket 12.

[0125] In some examples, the bracket 12 is formed on both the inner and outer sides of the shell side wall 112. That is, the inner side surface 1001B and the outer side surface of the shell side wall 112 are both formed with a part of the bracket 12. At least a part of the shell side wall 112 is wrapped in the bracket 12. The forming material passes through the bonding hole 1120, and the inner side surface 1001B, the outer side surface of the bonding portion 1125 and the bonding hole 1120 form the bracket 12. In some examples, the bracket 12 is formed on the outer side of the shell side wall 112. That is, the forming material forms the bracket 12 on the bonding hole 1120 and the outer side surface of the bonding portion 1125.

[0126] Wherein the inner side of the shell side wall 112 faces the interior of the shell 10, i.e. the internal structure of the camera module, and the outer side of the shell side wall 112 faces the exterior of the shell 10, i.e. the external space of the camera module.

[0127] From the perspective of the accompanying drawings, the first shell side wall 1121 and the third shell side wall 1123 extend along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction and are opposite along the transverse direction (third direction X-axis). The second shell side wall 1122 extends along the transverse direction (third direction X-axis). In examples provided with the fourth shell side wall 1124, the second shell side wall 1122 and the fourth shell side wall 1124 are opposite along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction.

[0128] In the example where the fourth housing side wall 1124 is present in the housing 11, the bracket 12 forms the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123 and the fourth side wall portion 124 from the first housing side wall 1121, the second housing side wall 1122, the third housing side wall 1123 and the fourth housing side wall 1124 respectively, such that the first housing side wall 1121, the second housing side wall 1122, the third housing side wall 1123 and the fourth housing side wall 1124 are embedded in the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123 and the fourth side wall portion 124 respectively, forming an embedded relationship.

[0129] In the example where the fourth housing side wall 1124 is not present in the housing 11, the bracket 12 forms the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122 and the third side wall portion 123 from the first housing side wall 1121, the second housing side wall 1122 and the third housing side wall 1123 respectively, such that the first housing side wall 1121, the second housing side wall 1122 and the third housing side wall 1123 are embedded in the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122 and the third side wall portion 123 respectively, forming an embedded relationship.

[0130] The positional relationship between the housing side wall 112 of the housing 11 and the bracket 12 is specifically described. The housing 11 has a first side surface 1101, in the embodiment where the housing 11 has the housing side wall 112, the first side surface 1101 is formed on the inner side surface 1001B of the housing side wall 112, facing the base 20. The bracket 12 has a second side surface 1201, the second side surface 1201 is formed on the inner side surface 1001B of the bracket 12, facing the base 20.

[0131] In some examples, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 are flush, aligned along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), such that the shell 10 provides a flat inner side surface 1001B, which is suitable for mating with the base 20, the base 20 provides a stepless outer peripheral side surface 201, the inner side surface 1001B and the outer peripheral side surface 201 are adapted to each other. Further, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 are flush, which is beneficial for the molding and demolding of the shell 10. In the embodiment of integrated die-casting molding, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 are flush, which facilitates demolding, and is beneficial for simplifying the mold design, improving the production yield and reducing the cost.

[0132] In some examples, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 are not flush, forming a step difference, the first side surface 1101 is closer to the outside than the second side surface 1201, that is, farther away from the base 20. The gap between the first side surface 1101 and the base 20 is smaller than the gap between the second side surface 1201 and the base 20.

[0133] In some examples, the bonding surface on the inner surface 106 of the shell 10 is provided on the first side surface 1101 of the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11 and the second side surface 1201 of the bracket 12, for bonding and fixing the shell 10 and the base 20. Further, the bonding surface is only provided on the second side surface 1201 of the bracket 12, to ensure the relative position between the shell 10 and the camera module internal structure is fixed.

[0134] In an embodiment of the present application, the shell 11 is formed on one side of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, and the third side wall portion 123 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis). The fourth side wall portion 124 and the shell 11 have a spacing space 108 therebetween, the spacing space 108 is formed between the light exit port 105 and the fourth side wall portion 124, surrounded by a part of the first side wall portion 121, the fourth side wall portion 124, and a part of the third side wall portion 123, and formed on the side of the shell 11. After the camera module is assembled, the photosensitive assembly 40 is accommodated in the spacing space 108. Wherein, the light exit port 105 is surrounded by the inner surface 106 of the first side wall portion 121, the end of the shell cover wall 111 of the shell 11, and the inner surface 106 of the third side wall portion 123, and communicates with the spacing space 108.

[0135] Specifically, taking the camera module as a periscopic camera module as an example, the light pass port 202 is located on the exit side of the lens assembly 30, and the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted on one side of the light pass port 202, so that the light beam can reach the photosensitive assembly 40 after passing through the lens assembly 30. The photosensitive assembly 40 and the base 20 are fixed to remain on one side of the light pass port 202. After the shell 10 is mounted outside the base 20, the bracket 12 is sleeved outside the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0136] Further, the end of the base 20 defines a mounting space 203 for mounting the photosensitive assembly 40, and the light passage 202 is located between the receiving space 200 and the mounting space 203. In the embodiment of the shell 10, the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted in the mounting space 203, and after the base 20 is fixed, the shell 10 is mounted outside the base 20, and the shell 10 surrounds the base 20 and the photosensitive assembly 40. Among them, the shell 11 of the shell 10 covers the receiving space 200, and the photosensitive assembly 40 in the mounting space 203 can be exposed through the spacing space 108 to avoid interference between the installation of the shell 10 and the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0137] Specifically, the tail 1002 of the base 20 in the light path direction has a mounting seat 204, the light passage 202 is formed on the mounting seat 204, and the mounting space 203 is formed between the light-emitting side of the mounting seat 204 and the fourth side wall part 124, which is surrounded by a part of the first side wall part 121, the fourth side wall part 124, a part of the third side wall part 123, and the mounting seat 204. The photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted in the mounting space 203, so that the light beam emitted from the lens assembly 30 passes through the light passage 202 on the mounting seat 204 to reach the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging.

[0138] In some examples, both sides of the mounting seat 204 extend to the inner surface 106 of the first side wall part 121 and the inner surface 106 of the third side wall part 123, respectively, and extend along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) to abut the side of the shell 11, that is, abut the side of the shell 11 on the spacing space 108. From the perspective of the description drawings, the mounting seat 204 is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the base 20 and the light beam propagation direction, so as to separate the receiving space 200 and the mounting space 203, so that the assembly processes in the two spaces can be carried out synchronously, further simplifying the assembly steps of the camera module.

[0139] Specifically, the side of the top of the mounting seat 204 towards the receiving space 200 is connected to the side of the shell 11 on the spacing space 108, that is, there is no gap between the mounting seat 204 and the side of the shell 11, and the light inlet 104 on the cover part 101 of the shell 10 is provided with a sealed protective film, so that the receiving space 200 between the shell 10 and the base 20 is a closed space, so as to isolate the internal structure of the camera module placed in the receiving space 200 from the outside, reduce the risk of the receiving space 200 entering impurities and dust during subsequent processing such as assembly and welding, and avoid the risk of affecting the imaging of the camera module.

[0140] Further, the mounting seat 204 is provided with a mounting leg 2041 on the side wall thereof facing the mounting space 203. The mounting leg 2041 on the mounting seat 204 is symmetrically arranged in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) as viewed from the perspective of FIG. 15, and the mounting leg 2041 and the side wall of the mounting seat 204 facing the mounting space 203 form a mounting groove for mounting the photosensitive assembly 40, so as to further simplify the positioning and alignment and assembly process of the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0141] Further, the mounting leg 2041 extends outwardly of the base 20 to form an outer corner which protrudes outwardly of the outer surface of the base 20 and abuts a portion of the first side wall portion 121 or a portion of the third side wall portion 123 forming the spacing space 108, so that the shell 10 can be quickly positioned and assembled on the base 20, avoiding the eccentric problem of the camera module caused by the assembly displacement between the shell 10 and the base 20.

[0142] The photosensitive assembly 40 includes a photosensitive chip, a circuit board 41 and a connecting strip 42. The photosensitive chip and the circuit board 41 are electrically connected. One side of the circuit board 41 is connected to the connecting strip 42. The connecting strip 42 extends from the circuit board 41 and is connected to the electronic device in a conductive manner through a connector 43 at the tail end, so that the circuit board 41 is conductive with the electronic device, thereby realizing the conduction of the camera module and the electronic device. According to different adaptation requirements of the electronic device, the connecting strip 42 can be configured in different bending modes so that the connector 43 at the tail end is located at the most suitable position for welding and fixed with the electronic device. For example, but not limited to, the connecting strip 42 is bent by 90° relative to the circuit board 41, so that the connector 43 at the tail end is located at the side of the camera module, i.e. at one side of the camera module in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) or at one side of the camera module in the height direction (first direction Z-axis); the connecting strip 42 is bent by 180° relative to the circuit board 41, and the connector 43 at the tail end is located at one side of the camera module 1 in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction, i.e. in the length direction.

[0143] According to the orientation of the tail end connector 43 of the connection band 42 relative to the bracket 12, different mounting methods of the shell 10 need to be considered to avoid interference with the tail end connector 43 on the connection band 42. When the tail end connector 43 on the connection band 42 is located below the bracket 12, the connection band 42 is routed from below the bracket 12, so that the connector 43 at the tail end is closer to the electronic device than the bracket 12, and the shell 10 is mounted from top to bottom on the outside of the base 20 and the photosensitive assembly 40, without interfering with the connector 43. When the tail end connector 43 on the connection band 42 is located above the bracket 12, the connection band 42 is routed from above the bracket 12, and the shell 10 is mounted from top to bottom on the outside of the base 20 and the photosensitive assembly 40, considering avoiding interference between the shell 10 and the connector 43.

[0144] It can be understood that both the upper and lower sides of the photosensitive assembly 40 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) can be exposed through the spacing space 108, so that the connection band 42 can be routed on both sides. In the embodiment in which the tail end connector 43 on the connection band 42 is located on one side of the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the camera module in the non-light beam propagation direction, the connection band 42 can be routed from below to avoid interference with the assembly of the shell 10.

[0145] In an embodiment of the present application, the housing 11 is formed on the top of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124, and there is no spacing space 108 between the housing 11 and the fourth side wall portion 124. The housing 11 integrally covers the accommodation space 200 and the mounting space 203 of the base 20, and the connection band 42 of the photosensitive assembly 40 can be routed from the direction opposite to the housing 11, i.e. from below, so that the connector 43 at the tail end is located below, and the assembly of the shell 10 does not interfere.

[0146] In some examples, the connecting band 42 is attached between the fourth side wall portion 124 of the bracket 12 and the photosensitive assembly 40, or in other words, the connecting band 42 is fixed on the back of the photosensitive assembly 40. The connector 43 is led out from the inner side of the fourth side wall portion 124 in the upper or lower direction of the height direction (the first direction Z-axis). In some examples, the connecting band 42 is attached between the first side wall portion 121 or the third side wall portion 123 of the bracket 12 and the base 20, and the connector 43 at the tail end thereof can be led out from the inner side of the first side wall portion 121 or the third side wall portion 123 in the lower direction of the height direction (the first direction Z-axis). In other examples, the connecting band 42 can be attached at the bottom of the camera module, so that the connector 43 at the tail end thereof is located at the bottom of the camera module.

[0147] In an embodiment of the present application, the connecting band 42 extends from the circuit board 41, is bent by 180° near one side of the bracket 12, extends from one side to the other side of the circuit board 41 from the bent portion, and the extending surface after bending is attached to the inner surface 106 of the fourth side wall portion 124. The extending surface after bending passes through the spacing space 108 in the upper direction and is bent outward by 90°, forming a secondary bending of the connecting band 42, and extending to the connector 43 at the tail end, wherein the connector 43 at the tail end is located on the outer side of the fourth side wall portion 124.

[0148] In the internal structure of the camera module, there are some electronic elements that need to be connected with the circuit, such as electronic elements in one of the lens driving assembly and the light path turning driving assembly. The camera module further comprises a circuit assembly 60 connected with the electronic elements and the photosensitive assembly 40. Specifically, the circuit assembly 60 is arranged in the base 20, and has a pin 61 at the tail portion 1002, the pin 61 is exposed to the outer surface 107 of the base 20, and the circuit assembly 60 is welded with the circuit board 41 in the photosensitive assembly 40 through the pin 61.

[0149] The prior art split type shell 11 and bracket 12 each have four shell side walls, the shell 11 has an assembly gap between the inner side of the shell side walls and the base 20, and an assembly gap between the outer side of the shell side walls and the bracket 12, two assembly gaps on the inner and outer sides of the shell side walls parallel to the light path are suitable for dispensing glue, the assembly gap on the inner and outer sides of the shell side walls at the tail end of the light path corresponds to the photosensitive assembly 40 mounted at the tail end of the light path, and is suitable for accommodating a connection flexible board connecting the inside of the camera module and the electronic device. Before the shell 11 and the bracket 12 are assembled on the base 20, the electronic elements and the photosensitive assembly 40 on the base 20 are welded, and the welding points are connected with the connection flexible board. The connection flexible board extends outward and connects the electronic device through the assembly gaps between the base 20 and the shell 11 and between the shell 11 and the bracket 12 in the assembly stage, so as to connect the camera module and the electronic device.

[0150] The shell 11 and the bracket 12 are integrally formed in the shell 10, the thickness of the bracket 12 is reserved from the thickness direction of the four side wall parts of the bracket 12 of the shell 10, the thickness of the shell 11 and the assembly gap between the shell 11 and the bracket 12 are omitted, the amount of glue required for dispensing glue is also omitted, the assembly steps are simplified, and the problems of offset of the shell 11 and the bracket 12 and eccentricity of the camera module in the prior art are avoided.

[0151] In order to further simplify the assembly steps of the camera module, the bracket 12 is provided with a recess-shaped avoiding area 1202 suitable for avoiding the connection area 15 of the pin 61 and the circuit board 41. The avoiding area 1202 is formed on the bracket 12 close to the photosensitive assembly 40 to cooperate with the welding of the pin 61 and the circuit board 41. It can be understood that the avoiding area 1202 is arranged on the bracket 12 corresponding to the projection area of the mounting space 203. Among the four side wall parts constituting the bracket 12, the first side wall part 121 and the third side wall part 123 are the positions for dispensing glue and fixing of the camera module, the second side wall part 122 is suitable for positioning the prism, and the fourth side wall part 124 corresponds to the assembly of the photosensitive assembly 40. In combination with the functions of each side wall part, the avoiding area 1202 is preferably arranged on the first side wall part 121 and / or the third side wall part 123, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the avoiding area 1202 is arranged at one end of the first side wall part 121 close to the fourth side wall part 124 and / or one end of the third side wall part 123 close to the fourth side wall part 124, so as to reduce the glue dispensing area on the two side wall parts of the bracket 12, reduce the mass and glue dispensing amount of the bracket 12, thereby reducing the deformation of the internal structure of the module caused by the excessive glue dispensing area, especially the bending of the position and path of the lens and the focusing motor, and further avoiding the eccentricity problem of the camera module.

[0152] Specifically, the avoiding area 1202 is arranged at one end of the first side wall part 121 and / or one end of the third side wall part 123 close to the fourth side wall part 124, or the avoiding area 1202 is arranged on the fourth side wall part 124, i.e. arranged on the tail side of the first side wall part 121 along the light path direction, the tail side of the third side wall part 123 along the light path direction or the fourth side wall part 124, to adapt to the layout of the circuit assembly 60 arranged on the base 20 and the assembly orientation of the photosensitive assembly 40 on the camera module, and to expose the connecting area 15 of the pin 61 and the circuit board 41, so as to realize the avoiding of the two.

[0153] More specifically, the avoiding area 1202 extends from the bottom edge of the bracket 12 to the junction of the housing 11 and the bracket 12 without contacting the opposite side bottom edge of the bracket 12, i.e. a part corresponding to the mounting space 203, to form a groove opening to the bottom edge of the bracket 12 and penetrating the bracket 12 in the thickness direction, i.e. forming the avoiding area 1202, which does not contact the housing 11 and the junction of the housing 11 and the bracket 12.

[0154] In some embodiments, the avoiding area 1202 extends reversely from the opposite side bottom edge of the bracket 12, i.e. from a part of the top of the bracket 12, to the bottom edge of the bracket 12.

[0155] Wherein, the thickness of the cover part 101 of the shell 10 along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) and the thickness of the upper part of the side wall part 102 along the transverse direction (the third direction X-axis) or the longitudinal direction (the second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction are the thickness H1 of the housing 11, the thickness of the middle and lower part of the side wall part 102 along the transverse direction (the third direction X-axis) or the longitudinal direction (the second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction is the thickness H2 of the bracket 12, and the thickness H1 is less than the thickness H2, which reduces the height of the camera module while maintaining the mechanical strength of the shell 10. Therefore, in order to avoid the influence of the slot on the bracket 12 on the mechanical strength of the shell 10, the extending tail end of the avoiding area 1202 does not contact the housing 11 and the junction thereof and the bracket 12, and avoids the area of the thickness H1 as much as possible to avoid the deformation of the housing 11 caused by the processing and forming of the avoiding area 1202 or the welding operation in the avoiding area 1202.

[0156] Further, the plane where the light inlet 104 of the housing 11 is located is perpendicular to the extending direction of the avoiding area 1202 towards the bottom edge of the bracket 12, as shown in FIG. 2, the plane where the light inlet 104 is located is the plane where the housing cover wall 111 of the housing 11 is located, and therefore the extending direction of the avoiding area 1202 towards the bottom edge of the bracket 12 is perpendicular to the plane where the housing cover wall 111 is located.

[0157] Further, the diameter direction of the light inlet 104 of the shell 11 is perpendicular to the extension direction of the avoiding area 1202 towards the bottom edge of the support 12.

[0158] In some examples, the bending structure of the connecting band 42 is located in the slot of the avoiding area 1202, at this time, the pin 61 and the circuit board 41 are arranged between a part of the first side wall 121 / third side wall 123 and the bending structure of the connecting band 42, the avoiding area 1202 is arranged at the tail 1002 of the first side wall 121 / third side wall 123 close to the fourth side wall 124, and the pin 61, the circuit board 41 and the bending structure of the connecting band 42 are simultaneously avoided to increase the welding operation space of the pin 61 and the circuit board 41.

[0159] Further, the diameter direction of the light inlet 104 of the shell 11 is perpendicular to the extension direction of the avoiding area 1202 towards the bottom edge of the support 12.

[0160] In another embodiment of the production and manufacture of the shell 10 of the present application, the shell 11 and the support 12 are made of different materials and are integrally formed by casting process. For example, in the manufacturing method of designing a suitable mold, pouring two metals into the mold for integral forming or separately forming and then connecting, a protruding insert is arranged in the corresponding position inside the forming mold of the support 12 in advance to form the avoiding area 1202 on the support 12. In the manufacturing method of first obtaining the shell 11 by stamping and then taking the shell 11 as the insert of the forming mold of the shell 10, a protruding insert is arranged in the corresponding position inside the forming mold of the shell 10 in advance, or a detachable protruding insert is arranged together with the shell 11 in the forming mold of the shell 10, and then casting is performed to obtain the shell 10 and the avoiding area 1202 on the support 12 thereof.

[0161] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, the avoidance area 1202 is arranged at the tail side of the first side wall portion 121 and / or the third side wall portion 123 close to the fourth side wall portion 124, and the avoidance area 1202 is composed of a part of the first side wall portion 121 / third side wall portion 123 along (first direction Z-axis), a part of the fourth side wall portion 124 along (first direction Z-axis), and an avoidance area connecting portion 1203 connecting the two. The height position of the avoidance area connecting portion 1203 can be determined according to the design requirements of the camera module, such as upper, middle, lower, etc., to match the position of the pin 61.

[0162] Specifically, the avoidance area connecting portion 1203 extends along or substantially along the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) of the camera module 1 and / or the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction, so that the bracket 12 maintains the integrity around the base 20, and reduces the influence on the mechanical strength of the shell 10.

[0163] The avoidance area connecting portion 1203 is in a straight line type, L type or other shape that can realize corner connection. From the perspective of FIGS. 6 and 7, the avoidance area connecting portion 1203 extends from the first side wall portion 121 / third side wall portion 123 along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction, and bends to connect the fourth side wall portion 124 when reaching the plane of the fourth side wall portion 124.

[0164] Further, the inner side surface 1001B of the avoidance area connecting portion 1203 or the inner side surface 1001B thereof and the inner side surface 1001B of the fourth side wall portion 124 form a receiving groove close to the fourth side wall portion 124, which is suitable for accommodating a part of the bending structure of the connecting band 42. From the perspective of FIG. 6, since the connecting band 42 is arranged close to the fourth side wall portion 124 and the outermost side of the bending structure thereof protrudes from the outer side surface of the second side wall portion 122, the avoidance area connecting portion 1203 bends outward at two segments corresponding to the position of the bending structure of the connecting band 42, forming a U-shaped groove with an opening facing the bending structure of the connecting band 42, to accommodate the top of the bending structure of the connecting band 42.

[0165] From the perspective of FIGS. 6-7, the shell 11 has the interval space 108, and the connecting band 42 extends outward from the interval space 108 to conduct the camera module and the electronic device. The avoidance area connecting portion 1203 is located between the interval space 108 and the avoidance area 1202 to separate the interval space 108 and the avoidance area 1202, so as to avoid affecting the mechanical strength of the bracket 12 due to too large space ratio after being connected, and prevent the bracket 12 from being deformed due to external force during assembly.

[0166] In another specific embodiment of the present application, the housing 11 does not have the spacing space 108, and the connecting band 42 extends from the gap between the support 12 and the base 20 to connect the camera module and the electronic device.

[0167] In some examples, the gap between the base 20 and the fourth side wall portion 124 can be implemented to communicate with the avoidance area 1202 located on the fourth side wall portion 124. During the molding process, the gap and the avoidance area 1202 in communication can be pressure cast by adding a single insert in the molding mold of the support 12, so as to simplify the hollow structure on the fourth side wall portion 124 and the manufacturing process thereof, and to achieve the avoidance of the pin 61, the connecting area 15 of the circuit board 41, and the connecting band 42.

[0168] When the avoidance area 1202 is not provided on the support 12, the mounting structure 103 is generally provided on each of the four portions of the support 12, i.e., the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124, to ensure the stable connection between the camera module and the electronic device. When the avoidance area 1202 is provided on the support 12, the mounting structure 103 is arranged away from the avoidance area 1202 on the support 12 to avoid interference between the two. When the distance between the two is too close, the stress of the mounting structure 103 during the fixing and mounting process may cause the avoidance area 1202 to deform, thereby affecting the avoidance effect and interfering with the subsequent welding operation. In addition, the hollow structure of the avoidance area 1202 may affect the mechanical strength of the portion of the support 12 adjacent to the mounting structure 103, and even cause the mounting structure 103 to break during the fixing and mounting process.

[0169] Specifically, when the avoidance area 1202 is located on the first side wall portion 121 / third side wall portion 123, the mounting structure 103 on the same side as the avoidance area 1202 is arranged on the first side wall portion 121 / third side wall portion 123.

[0170] More specifically, the avoidance area 1202 and the mounting structure 103 on the same side are not located on the same height direction (first direction Z-axis) to allow the mounting structure 103 to avoid the avoidance area 1202 and avoid the fixing and mounting operation from adversely affecting the structural strength of the avoidance area 1202.

[0171] Further, when the number of the mounting structures 103 is no more than four, at least two of the mounting structures 103 are respectively arranged at two end points of the diagonal line of the bracket 12, or at least two of the mounting structures 103 are symmetrically arranged on the second side wall portion 122 and the third side wall portion 123, and at least one of the mounting structures 103 is arranged on the first side wall portion 121, so that the mounting structures 103 are arranged as far away from the avoidance area 1202 as possible, to avoid mutual interference and affect the mechanical strength of the bracket 12.

[0172] In some examples, the number of the avoidance areas 1202 is one, and at least two of the mounting structures 103 are respectively arranged at two end points of the diagonal line of the bracket 12, as shown in FIG. 8. When the avoidance area 1202 is located at the tail 1002 of the first side wall portion 121 close to the fourth side wall portion 124, one of the mounting structures 103 is arranged at the joint or connecting corner between the first side wall portion 121 and the second side wall portion 122, and the other is arranged at the joint or connecting corner between the third side wall portion 123 and the fourth side wall portion 124. When the avoidance area 1202 is located at the tail 1002 of the third side wall portion 123 close to the fourth side wall portion 124, one of the mounting structures 103 is arranged at the joint or connecting corner between the second side wall portion 122 and the third side wall portion 123, and the other is arranged at the joint or connecting corner between the first side wall portion 121 and the fourth side wall portion 124.

[0173] In some examples, the number of the avoidance areas 1202 is two, and each of the avoidance areas 1202 is located at the tail 1002 of the second side wall portion 122 close to the fourth side wall portion 124 and the tail 1002 of the third side wall portion 123 close to the fourth side wall portion 124, as shown in FIG. 8. At least two of the mounting structures 103 are respectively arranged on the first side wall portion 121 and the third side wall portion 123, and at least one of the mounting structures 103 is arranged on the first side wall portion 121, to avoid mutual interference between the mounting structures 103 and the avoidance areas 1202, so as to ensure the mechanical strength of the bracket 12 and the mounting stability of the camera module on the electronic device.

[0174] In some examples, at one corner or two corners located on the diagonal line of the bracket 12, one of the mounting structures 103 can be arranged on each side of the corner, to further improve the mounting stability of the camera module on the electronic device.

[0175] In an embodiment of the present application, the camera module is a vertical camera module, comprising the shell 10 and the base 20, the shell 10 comprises the cover portion 101 and the sidewall portion 102 extending along mutually perpendicular distribution planes, a part of the top of the sidewall portion 102 and the cover portion 101 jointly constitute the outer shell 11, and the other part of the sidewall portion 102 constitutes the bracket 12, the outer shell 11 is provided with a light inlet 202, and a part of the lens assembly 30 extends in the reverse direction of the optical path from the receiving space 200 between the shell 10 and the base 20, and extends out of the shell 10 through the light inlet 202 of the outer shell 11,

[0176] The bracket 12 and the base 20 are further provided with a buckle structure for positioning, the positioning structure comprises a matched buckle hole 1204 and a buckle 205B, as shown in FIGS. 6-7, the bracket 12 is provided with the buckle hole 1204, and the base 20 is provided with the buckle 205B, so as to further simplify the alignment and assembly between the shell 10 and the base 20. Among them, at least three of the four sidewall portions of the bracket 12 have the buckle hole 1204.

[0177] In combination with the functions of the four sidewall portions of the bracket 12, the first sidewall portion 121 and the third sidewall portion 123 parallel to the optical path are the positions for dispensing and fixing the camera module, the second sidewall portion 122 is suitable for positioning the prism, and the fourth sidewall portion 124 corresponds to the assembly of the photosensitive assembly 40. Therefore, it is preferred that the first sidewall portion 121, the second sidewall portion 122 and the third sidewall portion 123 are provided with the buckle hole 1204. The buckle hole 1204 on the first sidewall portion 121 and / or the third sidewall portion 123 cooperates with the buckle 205B on the base 20 to limit the offset of the shell 10 relative to the base 20 in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction; the buckle hole 1204 located on the second sidewall portion 122 cooperates with the buckle 205B on the base 20 to limit the offset of the shell 10 relative to the base 20 in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis).

[0178] In some examples, the number of buckle holes 1204 located on the first sidewall portion 121 / third sidewall portion 123 is not less than two. Since the avoidance area 1202 is located in the same sidewall portion, the extension area of the first sidewall portion 121 / third sidewall portion 123 after removing the avoidance area 1202 is the distribution area of the buckle hole 1204. The buckle hole 1204 with a number of not less than two is uniformly distributed in the distribution area or symmetrically distributed in the distribution area, so as to realize the rapid alignment and assembly between the shell 10 and the base 20.

[0179] In some examples, the buckle hole 1204 can be arranged on the base 20, and the buckle 205B can be arranged on the bracket 12.

[0180] Circuit structure

[0181] The lens driving assembly and the light path turning driving assembly form a driving mechanism of the camera module of the present application, wherein one of the first light path turning driving unit and the second light path turning driving unit and one of the first lens driving unit and the second lens driving unit are electronic elements which need to be connected with a circuit.

[0182] The driving mechanism of the camera module further comprises a position sensing assembly for sensing the position of the lens assembly 30 and / or the light path turning assembly 50, for improving the accuracy of motion position control. The position sensing assembly is also an electronic element which needs to be connected with a circuit.

[0183] The camera module further comprises a circuit assembly 60 connecting the electronic elements and the photosensitive assembly 40, the electronic elements obtaining electric energy via the conductive connection of the circuit assembly 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40, and further obtaining signals via the communication connection of the circuit assembly 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0184] In an embodiment of the present application, the circuit assembly 60 comprises a circuit board which is conductively connected with the aforementioned electronic elements (including but not limited to the first driving lens unit, the first light path turning driving unit, the position sensing assembly, etc.), and the circuit board is mounted on the base 20, and the circuit board is conductively connected with the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0185] In an embodiment of the present application, the circuit assembly 60 is implemented as embedded in the base 20. The circuit assembly 60 comprises a plurality of mounting terminals, a plurality of branches and a plurality of connecting terminals, two ends of each branch forming the mounting terminal and the connecting terminal respectively, the mounting terminal being adapted to electrically connect with the electronic elements, and the connecting terminal being the pin 61 adapted to electrically connect with the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0186] The base 20 can be manufactured by insert molding process, at least one injection molding is performed around the circuit assembly 60 by the insert molding process to wrap the circuit assembly 60, the mounting terminal is exposed for mounting the electronic elements, and the pin 61 is exposed on the outer surface 107 of the base 20 for conductive connection with the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0187] Since the circuit assembly 60 is embedded in the base 20, the circuit assembly 60 does not need to occupy additional space, and compared with the form of independent circuit structure (such as using a circuit board), the camera module is smaller in size. And the circuit connection of the camera module is embedded, which can protect the circuit structure, avoid the assembly and reliability problems brought by the exposed independent circuit structure, simplify the assembly process and improve the reliability of the camera module.

[0188] [Assembly method]

[0189] According to another aspect of the present application, the present application also provides an assembly method of the camera module, for assembling the camera module and installing the camera module to the electronic device. The method comprises the following steps:

[0190] (A) providing a base 20, at least one circuit component 60 is arranged on the base 20;

[0191] (B) assembling the lens assembly 30, the photosensitive assembly 40 to the base 20 to form a camera module semi-finished product 70, and the pins 61 of the circuit component 60 are directed towards the photosensitive assembly 40;

[0192] (C) providing a shell 10 arranged on the camera module semi-finished product 70, the shell 10 has a relief area 1202 for exposing the pins 61 of the circuit component 60 and the connecting area of the circuit board 41 of the photosensitive assembly 40;

[0193] (D) connecting the pins 61 of the circuit component 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40 through the relief area 1202.

[0194] The step (B) further comprises the step of: assembling the light path turning assembly 50 to the base 20 to be located in the light path of the lens assembly 30 and / or the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0195] The step (B) further comprises the step of: assembling the photosensitive assembly 40 to the base 20 to be attached to the base 20 and located in the light path of the lens assembly 30 and / or the light path turning assembly 50.

[0196] The step (C) further comprises the step of: the shell 10 further comprises a housing 11 and a support 12, the housing 11 has a light inlet 104 corresponding to the incident side of the lens assembly 30, and the support 12 is fixedly connected with the base 20.

[0197] The step (C) further comprises the step of: integrally forming the shell 10 including the housing 11 and the support 12, the inner surface 106 of the shell 10 is matched with the base 20, and the outer surface 107 of the shell 10 is matched with the electronic device.

[0198] The step (C) further comprises the step of: integrally forming the shell 10 by a metal material forming process.

[0199] The step (C) further comprises the step of: integrally forming the shell 10 by a plastic material forming process.

[0200]

[0201] The step (C) further comprises a step of forming the shell 10 by an aluminum alloy integrated die casting process.

[0202] The step (C) further comprises a step of forming the shell 10 by an insert molding process.

[0203] The step (C) further comprises a step of forming the shell 10 by an insert molding process.

[0204] The step (C) further comprises a step of mounting the shell 10 to the base 20 by the inner surface 106 of the shell 10 and the base 20.

[0205] The step (C) further comprises a step of mounting the shell 10 to the base 20 by the inner surface 106 of the shell 10 and the base 20.

[0206] The method further comprises a step of providing a circuit assembly 60, and forming the base 20 by an insert molding process around the circuit assembly 60.

[0207] The step (C) further comprises a step of aligning a positioning position of the bracket 12 outside of the shell 10 using a press bracket, and mounting a fixing member at the position to fix, wherein the positioning position is consistent with a mounting position of the positioning hole 1031 as shown in FIG. 8.

[0208] According to another aspect of the present application, the present application further provides an electronic device, and the camera module as described above is adapted to be equipped to an electronic device body of the electronic device, and the camera module is conductively connected to the electronic device body.

[0209] According to FIGS. 11 to 20 of the drawings, the present application provides a camera module 1, which comprises a shell 10, and a camera module semi-finished product 70, the camera module semi-finished product 70 further comprising a base 20, a lens assembly 30, a photosensitive assembly 40, and a circuit assembly 60, the lens assembly 30 being mounted in a receiving space 200 of the base 20, the photosensitive assembly 40 and the base 20 being fixed, and the circuit assembly 60 being fixed with the base 20. The shell 10 is arranged at least partially peripherally to the base 20 to cover the lens assembly 30 located in the receiving space 200.

[0210] The shell 10 and the base 20 can be connected in various ways such as gluing, welding, interference fit, buckling, mechanical connection, screwing, hinging, etc., and in an optional embodiment, the shell 10 and the base 20 are connected by gluing.

[0211] The shell 10 comprises an outer shell 11 and a bracket 12, which are integrally formed in some optional embodiments.

[0212] The base 20 has a light passage 202, the exit side of the lens assembly 30 faces the light passage 202, the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted on the base 20, and the photosensitive assembly 40 faces the light passage 202 and is located on the exit side of the lens assembly 30. The light beam emitted from the lens assembly 30 reaches the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging.

[0213] Further, the camera module 1 can further comprise a lens driving assembly for driving the lens assembly 30 to move to achieve focus adjustment, so as to achieve automatic focusing and / or zooming. The lens driving assembly comprises a first driving unit and a second lens driving unit, the first driving unit is mounted on the base 20, and the second driving unit is mounted on the lens assembly 30. The first driving unit and the second lens driving unit interact to drive the lens assembly 30 to move relative to the base 20.

[0214] In an embodiment of the driving form of the present application, the lens driving assembly is implemented as a voice coil motor type drive, one of the first driving unit and the second lens driving unit is implemented as a magnet, and the other is implemented as a coil.

[0215] In other embodiments of the driving form of the present application, the lens driving assembly is implemented as a piezoelectric motor type drive, an SMA (Shape Memory Alloys) type drive, a stepper motor, or other driving modes.

[0216] For the purpose of convenience only, the height or thickness direction of the camera module 1 is defined as the Z axis, and the height direction of the camera module 1 is the thickness direction of the electronic device in which the camera module 1 is installed. The two directions of the lateral direction and the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the height direction of the camera module 1 and perpendicular to each other are defined as the X axis and the Y axis respectively.

[0217] The type of the camera module 1 includes upright camera modules, periscopic camera modules, long-focus camera modules of other types, and the like.

[0218] In an embodiment of the present application, the camera module 1 is implemented as a periscope camera module. As shown in FIGS. 11-14, the camera module semi-finished product 70 of the camera module 1 can further include a light path turning assembly 50 arranged in the receiving space 200 of the base 20, and the exit side of the light path turning assembly 50 is arranged opposite to the entrance side of the lens assembly 30. The light path turning assembly 50 turns the incident light rays in a direction and then passes through the lens assembly 30 to reach the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging.

[0219] The light path turning assembly 50 turns the light beams incident along the height direction (first direction Z-axis) to be emitted in a direction towards the photosensitive assembly 40. The light path turning assembly 50 and the lens assembly 30 are arranged in sequence along the propagation direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beams from the light entrance side to the light exit side.

[0220] The camera module semi-finished product 70 of the camera module 1 can further include a light path turning driving assembly for driving the light path turning assembly 50 to move, so as to realize the movement of the light path turning assembly 50 in at least one direction. Illustratively, the light path turning driving assembly drives the light path turning assembly 50 to rotate around the lateral direction (third direction X-axis) to realize nodding movement, correct the position of the light path turning assembly 50, and realize anti-shake; the light path turning driving assembly drives the light path turning assembly 50 to rotate around the height direction (first direction Z-axis) to realize panning movement, correct the position of the light path turning assembly 50, and realize anti-shake; the light path turning driving assembly drives the light path turning assembly 50 to rotate around the light beam propagation direction (second direction Y-axis) to correct the position of the light path turning assembly 50 and realize anti-shake; the light path turning driving assembly drives the light path turning assembly 50 to move along the light beam propagation direction (second direction Y-axis) to realize focus adjustment movement; the light path turning driving assembly drives the light path turning assembly 50 to realize rotation or movement in one or more of the aforementioned directions to realize anti-shake and / or focus adjustment movement.

[0221] The foregoing examples illustrate the case where the light path turning assembly 50 is arranged on the entrance side of the lens assembly 30. In other periscope camera modules, the light path turning assembly 50 is arranged between the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40 to turn the direction of the light beams at least once after the light beams are emitted from the lens assembly 30 and before the light beams are incident on the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0222] In other embodiments of the periscopic camera module, multiple light path turning assemblies 50 are included, at least one of which can be disposed in front of the incident side of the lens assembly 30 to turn the direction of the light beam at least once before the light beam enters the lens assembly 30, and at least one of which can be disposed between the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40 to turn the direction of the light beam at least once after the light beam exits the lens assembly 30 and before the light beam enters the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0223] In other embodiments of the periscopic camera module, additional lenses can be disposed in front of the incident side of the light path turning assembly 50 to pass through the lenses before the light beam enters the light path turning assembly 50.

[0224] In addition, each light path turning assembly 50 can turn the direction of the light beam one or more times, and the present application does not limit the number of turns.

[0225] The light path turning drive assembly includes a first light path turning drive unit disposed in the base 20 and a second light path turning drive unit disposed in the light path turning assembly 50, and the first light path turning drive unit and the second light path turning drive unit interact to drive the light path turning assembly 50 to move.

[0226] In one embodiment of the drive form of the present application, the light path turning drive assembly is implemented as a voice coil motor type drive, one of the first light path turning drive unit and the second light path turning drive unit is implemented as a magnet, and the other is implemented as a coil.

[0227] In other embodiments of the drive form of the present application, the light path turning drive assembly is implemented as a piezoelectric motor type drive, an SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) type drive, a stepper motor, or other drive forms.

[0228] In addition, the lens drive assembly and the light path turning drive assembly can adopt the same drive form or different drive forms.

[0229] The shell 10 comprises a housing 11 and a bracket 12, which are formed as one component. The housing 11 is adapted to cover the base 20 to cover at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70, and the bracket 12 is adapted to mount the camera module 1 and the electronic device, so that the camera module 1 is fixed to the electronic device. In an optional embodiment of the present application, the housing 11 of the shell 10 mainly plays a control stray light and top surface covering role, and the bracket 12 plays a peripheral protection role, and the minimum thickness of the bracket 12 is not less than the minimum thickness of the housing 11. Further, the minimum thickness of the housing 11 can correspond to the covered material, and the bracket 12 corresponds to the covered material, which is formed based on different processing methods, so as to ensure that the minimum thickness of the bracket 12 is not less than the minimum thickness of the housing 11. The shell 10 of the present application integrates the functions of the housing and the bracket of the camera module in the prior art, improves the production efficiency, saves part of the size, and is beneficial to the miniaturization of the camera module 1.

[0230] Hereinafter, the unmarked housing and bracket refer to the housing and bracket in the prior art, and the marked housing 11 and bracket 12 refer to the housing 11 and bracket 12 in the present application.

[0231] In the assembly process of the shell 10 and the camera module semi-finished product 70, the fully enclosed shell 10 will block the area of the circuit assembly 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40 that needs to be connected on the camera module semi-finished product 70. If the connection is performed first and then the shell 10 is assembled, the debris generated by the assembly and the connection will enter the internal space of the camera module semi-finished product 70, which is easy to cause stains. The scheme of directly opening a slot on the shell 10 to expose the area to be connected will affect the structural strength of the shell 10 to some extent.

[0232] The present application provides a shell 10, which is divided into a main body part 1001 and a tail part 1002. The main body part 1001 is first sleeved on the outside of at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70 to expose the area of the circuit assembly 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40 to be connected, then the connection step is performed, and finally the tail part 1002 is connected with the main body part 1001 and fixed on the base 20. The shell 10 of the present application can shield at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70 before connection, avoid the debris generated in the assembly and connection process from entering the internal space of the base 20 for accommodating the internal structure, and reduce the risk of stains.

[0233] The structure of the shell 10 of the present application is specifically described.

[0234] With reference to FIGS. 11-20, the shell 10 of the present application comprises a main body portion 1001 and a tail portion 1002. The main body portion 1001 comprises a main body portion bracket having a main body portion 1001 side wall adapted to be sleeved on the outside of at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70, and a main body portion shell provided with a light inlet 104. The tail portion 1002 is arranged on the light outlet side of the camera module 1 and surrounds at least part of the circumferential side of the camera module semi-finished product 70, and is adapted to avoid the photosensitive assembly 40 of the camera module 1.

[0235] The main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 are arranged along the propagation direction of the light beam from the light inlet side to the light outlet side and are connected to each other to form the shell 10, which has an outer shell 11 and a bracket 12. The main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 can be connected by various methods such as gluing, welding, interference fit, snap connection, mechanical connection, etc.

[0236] Specifically, the tail portion 1002 comprises a tail portion bracket, and the main body portion 1001 side wall of the main body portion bracket and the tail portion bracket are connected to each other to form the bracket 12 of the shell 10.

[0237] More specifically, the thickness of the main body portion shell is less than the thickness of the bracket 12 of the shell 10.

[0238] In some embodiments of the present application, the main body portion shell of the main body portion 1001 is the outer shell 11 of the shell 10.

[0239] In some alternative embodiments, the tail portion 1002 comprises a tail portion shell and a tail portion bracket, the main body portion side wall of the main body portion bracket and the tail portion bracket are connected to each other to form the bracket 12 of the shell 10, and the main body portion shell and the tail portion shell together form the outer shell 11 of the shell 10.

[0240] The main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 are connected to form the complete shell 10, which comprises a cover portion 101 adapted to cover the base 20 and a side wall portion 102 adapted to surround the outside of the base 20. Further, the cover portion 101 is adapted to cover the opening of the base 20 and / or at least part of the internal structure. From the perspective of the drawings, the cover portion 101 extends along or approximately along the plane in which the diameter of the light inlet 104 lies, and the side wall portion 102 extends from the outer periphery of the cover portion 101 along the height direction (first direction Z-axis) or approximately along the height direction (first direction Z-axis).

[0241] The cover portion 101 and the sidewall portion 102 jointly define a housing covering space 1000 of the housing 10, the housing 10 further has a mounting opening 100, the housing covering space 1000 communicates with an external space through the mounting opening 100, the housing 10 covers the base 20 through the mounting opening 100, and the base 20 is accommodated in the housing covering space 1000.

[0242] The cover portion 101 has a thickness H1 in the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), and the sidewall portion 102 has a thickness H2 in the lateral direction (the third direction X-axis) or in the longitudinal direction (the second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction, the thickness H1 is less than the thickness H2, so that the size of the camera module 1 in the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) is as small as possible, so as to reduce the height of the camera module 1, and the camera module 1 can be adapted to the small thickness of the electronic device and meet the demand of miniaturization of the camera module. Further, the thickness of the cover portion 101 at any position is not more than the thickness of the sidewall portion 102 at any position. Since the cover portion 101 mainly functions to cover the internal structure of the camera module, the thickness dimension of the cover portion 101 only needs to ensure that the cover portion 101 can be formed, and therefore H1 can be as small as possible under the condition of ensuring the strength, so as to reduce the size of the camera module 1. The sidewall portion 102 has a certain thickness to ensure the mechanical strength.

[0243] The sidewall portion 102 is sleeved on the outer side of the base 20. Further, in some examples of the present application, at least a part of the bottom of the sidewall portion 102 is flush with at least a part of the bottom of the base 20. In other words, the lower end surface of the sidewall portion 102 has a flush part of the lower end surface of the base 20, so as to facilitate positioning of the housing 10 on the base 20 and improve the assembly accuracy in the height direction (the first direction Z-axis). In other examples of the present application, at least a part of the bottom of the sidewall portion 102 further protrudes downward relative to the bottom of the base 20.

[0244] The sidewall portion 102 is provided with a mounting structure 103, the mounting structure 103 is adapted to mount the camera module 1 to the electronic device, and / or is adapted to fix the camera module and other camera modules to form a multi-camera module.

[0245] The mounting structure 103 is adapted to mount the camera module 1 to the electronic device, or is adapted to fix the camera module 1 and other camera modules to form a multi-camera module.

[0246] In an embodiment of the present application, the shell 10 is mounted on the base 20 of the camera module 1, forming a housing 11 of the camera module 1. In an embodiment of the present application, the shell 10 is mounted on the base 20 of the camera module, that is, the shell covering space 1000 can accommodate multiple camera modules 1, forming a housing 11 of multiple camera modules 1. That is, the housing 11 and the support 12 of the single camera module can be designed in one body, and the housing 11 and the support 12 of the multiple camera module can also be designed in one body.

[0247] The mounting structure 103 includes a positioning portion and a positioning hole 1031. The positioning portion is protruded outward from the outer surface 107 of the side wall portion 102, and the positioning hole 1031 is formed in the positioning portion as a through hole. The positioning hole 1031 is aligned with the mounting hole on the electronic device, and then fixed by a fixing member (such as a screw), so that the camera module 1 is fixed to the electronic device. Similarly, the positioning hole 1031 can be aligned with the positioning hole 1031 of the support of the other camera module for fixation, so that the camera module 1 and the other camera module are connected.

[0248] In other examples, the mounting structure 103 can also be a buckle structure, and the electronic device is positioned and buckled. In other examples, the camera module 1 and the corresponding position of the electronic device can be buckled, and then fixed by glue. In other examples, other suitable fixation methods can also be implemented.

[0249] The shell 10 also has a light inlet 104, and the incident light beam enters the inside of the camera module 1 from the light inlet 104 and passes through the lens assembly 30. In some examples, the shell 10 also has a light outlet 105, and the light beam exits from the light outlet 105 and reaches the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging. The lens assembly 30 is mounted between the light inlet 104 and the light outlet 105, and the light outlet 105 is located between the lens assembly 30 and the photosensitive assembly 40. Further, the light path turning assembly 50 is located between the light inlet 104 and the light outlet 105, and the light beam can be turned by the light path turning assembly 50 before reaching the photosensitive assembly 40, realizing light path folding.

[0250] The shell 10 has an inner surface 106 and an outer surface 107, the inner surface 106 faces the internal structure of the camera module 1, the outer surface 107 faces the external structure of the camera module 1, the inner surface 106 and the internal structure of the camera module 1 form an inner connection structure, the outer surface 107 and the external structure of the camera module 1 form an outer connection structure. When the shell 10 and the base 20 are fixed, the inner surface 106 and the base 20 form the inner connection structure, so that the camera module 1 forms an integral whole; when the shell 10 and the electronic device are fixed, the outer surface 107 and the electronic device form the outer connection structure, so that the camera module 1 is installed on the electronic device. Thus, the inner and outer surfaces 107 of the shell 10 cooperate to position the camera module 1 on the electronic device, improving the accuracy of assembly and positioning.

[0251] The inner surface 106 is defined by the inner surface 106 of the shell 11 and the inner surface 106 of the support 12, and the outer surface 107 is defined by the outer surface 107 of the shell 11 and the outer surface 107 of the support 12.

[0252] In some examples, the inner surface 106 provides at least one bonding surface for cooperating with the base 20 for bonding and fixing, so that the shell 10 and the base 20 are fixed. Further, the bonding surface can be formed on the inner surface 106 located on the portion of the side wall portion 102.

[0253] Next, the specific structure of the shell 11 and the support 12 of the shell 10 will be further described.

[0254] As shown in FIGS. 15-18, the main body portion 1001 includes a main body portion shell and a main body portion support, and the tail portion 1002 includes a tail portion support, the main body portion shell forms the shell 11 of the shell 10, and the main body portion support and the tail portion support are connected to each other to form the support 12 of the shell 10.

[0255] The shell 11 includes an integrally formed shell cover wall 111 and a shell side wall 112, at least a portion of the shell side wall 112 is embedded and formed to form the main body portion support, and the shell cover wall 111 extends along or substantially extends along the plane in which the light inlet 104 diameter is located. The shell side wall 112 extends from the outer periphery of the shell cover wall 111 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis).

[0256] The shell cover wall 111 of the main body portion shell forms the aforementioned cover portion 101 and is adapted to cover the receiving space 200 of the base 20. The light inlet 104 is provided on the shell cover wall 111 and faces the direction of light incidence.

[0257] The bracket 12 and the cover wall 111 of the shell 11 are stacked along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) to form the aforementioned side wall portion 102, so as not to overlap with the shell side wall 112, and to avoid increasing the thickness of the shell side wall 112 at the bracket 12.

[0258] The connection between the bracket 12 and the shell 11 is formed between the top of the bracket 12 and the bottom of the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11, wherein the top of the bracket 12 is towards the side of the cover wall 111. A bending portion 113 is formed between the cover wall 111 and the shell side wall 112, and the thickness of the cover wall 111 and the shell side wall 112 is close or the same, so that the bending portion 113 is smoothly transitioned, reducing the difficulty of forming. Further, the thickness of the shell side wall 112 is smaller than the thickness of the bracket 12, which reduces the wall thickness of a part of the side wall portion 102 of the shell 10, which is beneficial to reduce the weight of the shell 10.

[0259] In another embodiment of the present application, the top of the bracket 12 is formed at the outer periphery of the cover wall 111 of the shell 11, that is, the shell 11 does not have the shell side wall 112. Compared with the prior art, the thickness of the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11 is saved at the bracket 12.

[0260] Therefore, when the shell 10 is integrally formed by the shell 11 and the bracket 12, the overlapping part of the bracket 12 and the shell 11 can save the thickness of the shell 11, or the bracket 12 and the shell 11 are stacked along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), which saves the thickness of the shell 11 in the lateral and longitudinal dimensions. Further, since the shell 11 and the bracket 12 are integrally formed, compared with the separate bracket and shell in the prior art, the use of the shell 10 saves the step of assembling the bracket 12 to the shell 11, and also saves the glue between the bracket 12 and the shell 11.

[0261] That is, in terms of size, the use of the integrated shell 10 is beneficial to reduce the size of the camera module 1, especially the size in the lateral direction (the third direction X-axis) and the longitudinal direction (the second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction; in terms of assembly, the use of the integrated shell 10 simplifies the assembly process and improves production efficiency; in terms of reliability, the use of the integrated shell 10 saves the glue and avoids the reliability risks brought by the glue, for example but not limited to the problems of bracket falling off, glue cracking, bracket deformation, shell 11 deformation, etc.

[0262] Specifically, regarding the reliability risk of the glue, the glue cracking of the glue can cause the glue to break or fail, which can cause the structure originally connected by the glue to lose stability, reduce the strength, stiffness, durability, etc. of the connected structure. If the camera module 1 is assembled on the electronic device, after the bracket and the electronic device are fixed, the connection structure between the bracket and the shell 11 fails, which can cause the camera module 1 to loosen, displace, etc., resulting in a decline in the performance of the camera module 1 or even failure. By using the integrated shell 10 of the present application, the functions of the shell 11 and the bracket 12 of the camera module 1 are realized, the glue between the bracket and the shell 11 is omitted, which can reduce the risk points of the camera module 1 and improve the yield of the camera module 1.

[0263] Further, by omitting the glue between the bracket and the shell 11, the selection and verification of the glue, the selection and verification of the glue position, the verification of the glue amount (such as the total glue amount, the glue width, the glue length, the glue thickness, etc.), the manufacturing and verification of the tooling jig of the glue process, the glue coating and curing time, etc. can be omitted, and the problem of appearance affected by glue infiltration is also eliminated. Therefore, by omitting the glue between the bracket and the shell 11, the design and development, verification, production, assembly, etc. time can be saved, the design and development efficiency, production efficiency and production yield of the camera module 1 can be improved, and the appearance yield of the camera module 1 can be improved.

[0264] In addition, in the prior art camera module, the shell and the bracket can be pulled due to the shrinkage rate after the glue is cured, and the shell is relatively thin, which can cause the shell to be deformed by being pulled. The shell is arranged on the outside of the base 20, and the shell is deformed by being pulled, which can cause the base 20 to be deformed under stress, thereby affecting the shape of the accommodation space 200 of the base 20 and the position and / or shape of the components located in the accommodation space 200, etc., and affecting the performance of the camera module. Therefore, by avoiding the glue between the bracket and the shell, the deformation problem caused by the shrinkage of the glue after curing is also avoided, the assembly tolerance is reduced, and the yield of the camera module is improved.

[0265] Specifically in terms of assembly, first, the assembly process is simplified, the twice assembly of the shell and the bracket in the prior art is optimized to once assembly of the shell 10 of the present application, the glue setting and glue curing process is omitted, and the assembly tolerance is reduced. In addition, the integration of the shell 11 and the bracket 12 can also optimize the eccentricity problem of the camera module caused by the assembly of the bracket in the prior art.

[0266] Specifically, in the prior art camera module, there is an assembly gap between the support and the shell, which will cause the shell and the base 20 and the internal structure of the camera module to be offset in the support, so that the light hole provided on the shell is offset relative to the support. Therefore, when assembling the support to the shell, the light hole of the camera module may have already been offset, and after the camera module is assembled to the electronic device, the offset may be more serious, which causes the light hole of the electronic device and the light hole of the camera module to be offset, resulting in the eccentricity problem of the camera module. The glue between the support and the shell will also affect the relative position between the support and the shell, aggravating the offset problem between the light hole and the support, making the offset problem between the light hole of the electronic device and the light hole of the camera module more serious.

[0267] The shell 10 of the present application adopts an integrated design of the shell 11 and the support 12, the light inlet 104 of the shell 11 is fixed in position on the shell 10, and the relative position between the light inlet 104 and the support 12 remains unchanged, avoiding the offset problem of the shell 11 and the support 12 in the prior art camera module. That is, the relative position between the light inlet 104 and the mounting structure 103 of the shell 10 remains unchanged. Therefore, when the camera module 1 is installed to the electronic device, the alignment of the light inlet 104 of the camera module 1 and the light hole of the electronic device can be achieved through the precise alignment of the mounting structure 103 and the electronic device, avoiding the eccentricity problem of the camera module 1 caused by the offset of the light inlet 104, and improving the assembly yield of the camera module 1. Further, the assembly eccentricity problem of the camera module 1 can be controlled by controlling the manufacturing tolerance of the distance between the light inlet 104 and the mounting structure 103; the assembly eccentricity problem of the camera module 1 can be controlled by controlling the manufacturing tolerance of the distance between the light inlet 104 and the support 12.

[0268] It can be understood that, according to the design requirements of the camera module 1, the shell 10 and the shell 11 can be subjected to certain surface treatment, including but not limited to electroplating, laser engraving, blackening, spraying, silk printing, film plating, etc., to meet the requirements of optical performance, magnetic shielding, stray light improvement, structure strengthening, prolonging service life, etc. For example, the surface of a specific area of the shell cover wall 111 can be subjected to surface treatment such as laser engraving and blackening for stray light improvement. As shown in FIG. 15, the inner surface 106 of the shell 11 has a surface treatment area 109.

[0269] The bracket 12 is sleeved outside the base 20 and surrounds the base 20 to form a protective structure outside the camera module 1, which can provide physical protection for the camera module 1 to prevent damage caused by falling, impact or other external forces. The bracket 12 is used to fix the camera module 1 at a specific position in the electronic device, ensuring the accuracy of the relative position of the camera module 1 and other components, thereby ensuring the accuracy and stability of image capture. The camera module 1 may generate heat during operation, and the bracket 12 can assist in heat dissipation to help the camera module 1 work at a suitable temperature and prolong the service life. The bracket 12 can enhance the structural stability of the camera module 1. In some possible embodiments, the bracket 12 can provide a certain degree of electromagnetic shielding to prevent electromagnetic interference from affecting the image quality.

[0270] In some examples of the present application, the bracket 12 is formed in a circle and includes a first side wall portion 121, a second side wall portion 122, a third side wall portion 123 and a fourth side wall portion 124 connected in sequence. From the perspective of the accompanying drawings, the first side wall portion 121 and the third side wall portion 123 extend in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction and are opposite in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis).

[0271] The second side wall portion 122 and the fourth side wall portion 124 extend in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) and are opposite in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction. The first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123 and the fourth side wall portion 124 each have a height extending in the height direction (first direction Z-axis).

[0272] The specific shape of the bracket 12 can be determined in combination with the design requirements of the camera module 1 and the adaptation requirements of the electronic device.

[0273] In other examples of the present application, the bracket 12 is not formed in a circle. The bracket 12 has at least one opening and is arranged on three sides of the housing 11. Further, in some examples, the position of the opening is adapted to the position of the photosensitive assembly 40. In some examples, the position of the opening is different from the position of the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0274] The shape of the bracket 12 can be frame type, L type, U type, "mouth" type, etc.

[0275] In some embodiments of the present application, the shell 10 can be implemented as two parts arranged in sequence along the light beam propagation direction, including a main body part 1001 and a tail part 1002. As shown in FIGS. 12-17, the main body part 1001 covers at least part of the internal structure of the camera module semi-finished product 70, and the tail part 1002 surrounds the photosensitive assembly 40 located at the light exit side. A part of the shell 11 forming the main body part 1001 and a part of the bracket 12 jointly define a main body space 1100, and another part of the shell 11 forming the tail part 1002 and another part of the bracket 12 jointly define a containing space 1200. When assembled, the internal structure assembly covered by the main body space 1100 can be synchronized with the internal structure assembly covered by the containing space 1200. After the internal structure assembly is completed, the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 are assembled, so that the shell 10 is more compatible with the actual assembly operation, further improving the assembly efficiency of the camera module 1.

[0276] The synchronization of the assembly of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 is determined by the completion time of the internal structure assembly of the main body space 1100 and the completion time of the internal structure assembly of the containing space 1200, which can be adjusted in combination with the actual assembly operation process of the camera module 1.

[0277] As shown in FIGS. 12-14, the main body part 1001 is the part of the shell 10 along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction from the second side wall part 122 to the light passage opening 202, i.e., the part of the first side wall part 121, the third side wall part 123 and the shell 11 along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction from the second side wall part 122 to the light passage opening 202, and the second side wall part 122 extending and distributed in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) is integrally formed. The tail part 1002 is the part of the shell 10 along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction from the light passage opening 202 to the fourth side wall part 124, i.e., the part of the first side wall part 121, the third side wall part 123 and the shell 11 along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction from the light passage opening 202 to the fourth side wall part 124, and the fourth side wall part 124 extending and distributed in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) is integrally formed. The height of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 extending and distributed in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) is constant.

[0278] Specifically, the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 are connected in nesting along the light path direction, and the connection part is fixed by glue injection, as shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 17, the main body part support of the main body part 1001 at the connection part is protrudingly arranged towards the tail part 1002 along the tail end of the light path, forming the embedding part 10011 of the main body part 1001, the tail part support of the tail part 1002 at the connection part is provided with the nesting part 10021 matched with the embedding part 10011 along the head end of the light path, when the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 are connected, the nesting part 10021 is nested with the embedding part 10011 and the glue is cured to realize the positioning assembly of the tail part 1002 on the main body part 1001.

[0279] Wherein, after the nesting part 10021 and the embedding part 10011 are connected in nesting, the inner side surface of the nesting part 10021 is connected with the outer side surface of the embedding part 10011, the outer side surface of the nesting part 10021 is flush with the inner side surface and the outer side surface of the support 12 part of the main body part 1001 respectively, that is, the thickness of the nesting connection part of the nesting part 10021 and the embedding part 10011 in the transverse direction (third direction X axis) is equal to the thickness of the support 12 in the transverse direction (third direction X axis), so as to ensure the mechanical strength of the shell 10 formed after the nesting connection, and avoid that the nesting connection part increases the thickness of the shell 10.

[0280] Specifically, the thickness of the embedding part 10011 is consistent with the thickness of the main body shell, that is, less than the thickness of the support 12 of the shell 10, so as to control the thickness after the nesting connection to be consistent with the thickness of the support 12 of the shell 10.

[0281] In some examples, after the embedding part 10011 of the main body part 1001 and the nesting part 10021 of the tail part 1002 are connected in nesting and adhesion, welding is further used for fixation, so as to enhance the connection strength of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002. Wherein, the welding process can adopt laser welding, soldering and the like.

[0282] The light inlet 104 is arranged on the main body part 1001, and the light outlet 105 is arranged on the tail end of the main body part 1001. From the perspective of the drawings, the light inlet 104 is arranged on the cover part 101 of the main body part 1001, and the light outlet 105 is arranged between the tail end of the main body part 1001 along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y axis) of the light beam propagation direction and the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0283] In some examples, the base 20 has a mounting seat 204 at the tail end 1002 of the light path, the light exit port 202 is formed on the mounting seat 204, that is, the light exit port 105 is arranged on the mounting seat 204, and the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted on the light exit side of the mounting seat 204. As shown in FIGS. 12-15, the light beam is emitted from the light exit port 105 to the photosensitive assembly 40 for imaging.

[0284] The mounting seat 204 is located at the tail end of the main body part 1001, and the cover part 101 of the main body part 1001 is connected to form a closed space from the light entrance port 104 to the light exit port 105, so as to isolate the internal structure of the camera module 1 from the material flow between the outside world, avoiding the internal space of the base 20 from entering sundries and dust in the subsequent processing process of assembly and welding, thereby avoiding the risk of stains and ultimately affecting the imaging of the camera module 1.

[0285] In other examples of the present application, the shell 10 is the main body part 1001, which does not include the tail part 1002. The tail end of the main body part 1001 abuts the light entrance side of the mounting seat 204 of the base 20 to form a closed space from the light entrance port 104 to the light exit port 105, so as to accommodate the internal structure on the base 20 except the photosensitive assembly 40. The photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted on the light exit side of the mounting seat 204 to constitute the camera module 1.

[0286] In order to further cooperate with the actual assembly operation of the camera module 1, a recess is arranged at the connection between the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002, which is suitable for avoiding the structure to be welded. As viewed from the drawing, the recess formed between the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 is the connection area 15 shown in FIGS. 19-20, which is suitable for avoiding the connection area 15 of the pin 61 of the circuit assembly 60 and the circuit board 41 in the photosensitive assembly 40. In the embodiment of welding after the nested connection of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002, the welding at the nested connection and the welding of the connection area 15 can be performed synchronously, which further improves the assembly efficiency.

[0287] Specifically, the positional relationship between the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11 and the bracket 12 is described. The shell 11 has a first side surface 1101. In the embodiment in which the shell 11 has the shell side wall 112, the first side surface 1101 is formed on the inner side surface 1001B of the shell side wall 112, which faces the base 20. The bracket 12 has a second side surface 1201, which is formed on the inner side surface 1001B of the bracket 12, which faces the base 20.

[0288] In some examples, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 are flush, aligned along the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), so that the shell 10 provides a flat inner surface 106 adapted to cooperate with the base 20 which provides a stepless outer circumferential surface 201 adapted to the inner surface 106. Further, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 being flush facilitates the molding and demolding of the shell 10. In the way of integrated die-casting molding, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 being flush facilitates the demolding and simplifies the mold design, improves the production yield and reduces the cost.

[0289] In some examples, the first side surface 1101 and the second side surface 1201 are not flush, forming a step difference, the first side surface 1101 is more outward than the second side surface 1201, i.e. further away from the base 20. The gap between the first side surface 1101 and the base 20 is smaller than the gap between the second side surface 1201 and the base 20.

[0290] In an embodiment of the production of the shell 10 of the present application, the outer shell 11 and the bracket 12 of the shell 10 are integrally formed by combining metal material and plastic material together. Further, the outer shell 11 is made of metal material, and a portion of the outer shell 11 is injection molded to form the bracket 12, obtaining the shell 10 integrally formed as a single part.

[0291] The outer shell side wall 112 of the outer shell 11 is provided with a combination hole 1120 which penetrates the outer shell side wall 112, and the number thereof can be multiple. The combination of the molding material used to form the bracket 12 and the inner wall of the combination hole 1120 can strengthen the combination strength between the two parts, i.e. the connection strength between the outer shell 11 and the bracket 12.

[0292] In an embodiment of the outer shell 11 of the present application, the outer shell side wall 112 includes a first outer shell side wall 1121, a second outer shell side wall 1122 and a third outer shell side wall 1123, which are connected in sequence, molded around three sides of the outer shell cover wall 111 and embedded to form the main part bracket, thereby forming the main part 1001. At least one or all of the first outer shell side wall 1121, the second outer shell side wall 1122 and the third outer shell side wall 1123 are provided with the combination hole 1120, and further provided with multiple combination holes 1120.

[0293] In another embodiment of the shell 11 of the present application, the shell side wall 112 comprises a first shell side wall 1121, a second shell side wall 1122, a third shell side wall 1123, and a fourth shell side wall 1124, which are formed around the four sides of the shell cover wall 111. The bracket 12 is formed around the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, the third shell side wall 1123, and the fourth shell side wall 1124. At least one or all of the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, the third shell side wall 1123, and the fourth shell side wall 1124 are provided with the coupling hole 1120.

[0294] As shown in FIG. 18, the shell side wall 112 comprises a coupling portion 1125, and the coupling hole 1120 is arranged at the coupling portion 1125. After the shell 11 is formed, the bracket 12 is formed around the coupling portion 1125, so that the forming material enters the coupling hole 1120, the forming material and the inner wall of the coupling hole 1120 are combined, and the surface of the coupling portion 1125 and the coupling hole 1120 jointly form the bracket 12.

[0295] In some examples, the bracket 12 is formed on both the inner and outer sides of the shell side wall 112. That is, the inner side surface 1001B and the outer side surface of the shell side wall 112 are both formed with a part of the bracket 12. At least a part of the shell side wall 112 is wrapped in the bracket 12. The forming material passes through the coupling hole 1120, and the inner side surface 1001B, the outer side surface of the coupling portion 1125, and the coupling hole 1120 form the bracket 12. In some examples, the bracket 12 is formed on the outer side of the shell side wall 112. That is, the forming material forms the bracket 12 at the coupling hole 1120 and the outer side surface of the coupling portion 1125.

[0296] Wherein the inner side of the shell side wall 112 faces the interior of the shell 10, i.e., the internal structure of the camera module 1, and the outer side of the shell side wall 112 faces the exterior of the shell 10, i.e., the external space of the camera module 1.

[0297] From the perspective of the accompanying drawings, the first shell side wall 1121 and the third shell side wall 1123 extend along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction and are opposite along the transverse direction (third direction X-axis). The second shell side wall 1122 extends along the transverse direction (third direction X-axis). In examples provided with the fourth shell side wall 1124, the second shell side wall 1122 and the fourth shell side wall 1124 are opposite along the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction.

[0298] In the example where the fourth housing side wall 1124 exists in the housing 11, the bracket 12 forms the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, the third side wall part 123 and the fourth side wall part 124 respectively from the first housing side wall 1121, the second housing side wall 1122, the third housing side wall 1123 and the fourth housing side wall 1124, so that the first housing side wall 1121, the second housing side wall 1122, the third housing side wall 1123 and the fourth housing side wall 1124 are embedded in the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, the third side wall part 123 and the fourth side wall part 124 respectively, forming an embedded relationship.

[0299] Further, in some examples of the present application, the shell 10 includes a main body part 1001 and a tail part 1002 arranged along the light beam propagation direction, both of which are obtained by injection molding in the embedded molding manner with the housing 11 as the embedding body, the housing 11 has the fourth housing side wall 1124, and the housing 11 is interrupted from the positions of the first housing side wall 1121 and the third housing side wall 1123 corresponding to the light outlet 105, forming a main body part housing and a tail part housing, which are formed around the circumferential side of the camera module semi-finished product 70 and are used for embedded injection molding of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 respectively, forming the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002.

[0300] Among them, the main body part housing and the tail part housing are embedded in the injection molding cavity of the main body part 1001 and the injection molding cavity of the tail part 1002 respectively, and the injection molding of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 can be carried out at the same time, further improving the production efficiency.

[0301] Specifically, the main body part housing includes the second housing side wall 1122 and a part of the housing cover wall 111 from the second housing side wall 1122 to the light outlet 105, the first housing side wall 1121 and the third housing side wall 1123, and the tail part housing includes the fourth housing side wall 1124 and another part of the housing cover wall 111.

[0302] More specifically, when the bracket 12 forms the first side wall part 121 and the third side wall part 123 from the first housing side wall 1121 and the third housing side wall 1123 of the main body part housing, a part of the first housing side wall 1121 and the third housing side wall 1123 at the tail end along the light path is not surrounded for injection molding, to form the embedding part 10011 of the main body part 1001, and an embedding block with the same shape and thickness as the embedding part 10011 is added at the head end of the tail part 1002 before injection molding, to form the nested part 10021 of the tail part 1002.

[0303] In some embodiments, the part of the main body shell that is not surrounded by the overmolding can be used as an insert for molding the nesting part 10021 of the tail part 1002. A release agent is applied to the part to allow the nesting part 10021 to be molded and released according to the shape of the embedding part 10011.

[0304] In the example where the shell 11 does not have the fourth shell side wall 1124, the support 12 forms the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, and the third side wall part 123 from the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, and the third shell side wall 1123, respectively, such that the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, and the third shell side wall 1123 are embedded in the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, and the third side wall part 123, respectively, forming an embedding relationship.

[0305] Specifically, in the example where the housing 10 does not have the tail part 1002, the housing 10 is the main body part 1001, and the shell 11 does not have a tail shell, i.e., the support 12 forms the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, and the third side wall part 123 of the main body part 1001 from the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, and the third shell side wall 1123, respectively.

[0306] In some examples of the present application, there is no embedding relationship between the fourth side wall part 124 and the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11. Specifically, there is a gap between the fourth side wall part 124 and the shell cover wall 111 of the shell 11 to form a gap space 108.

[0307] Further, in the example where the housing 10 includes the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002, the shell 11 does not have a fourth shell side wall 1124, the support 12 forms the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, and the third side wall part 123 of the main body part 1001 from the first shell side wall 1121, the second shell side wall 1122, and the third shell side wall 1123, respectively, and there is no embedding relationship between the tail part 1002 and the shell side wall 112 of the shell 11, i.e., the tail part 1002 does not have a tail shell, and the tail part 1002 is obtained directly by molding. Specifically, the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 are connected together to jointly enclose a gap space 108 suitable for accommodating the photosensitive assembly 40 of the camera module 1.

[0308] It should be understood that the "one-piece" of the present application refers to forming a single part, such as the housing 10 being a single part, and is not limited to being formed in one step during manufacturing. It can be formed in one step or multiple steps to obtain the one-piece housing 10 of the present application.

[0309] Next, the implementation of the coupling portion 1125 of the present application is further described. The coupling portion 1125 is the portion of the housing 11 adapted to couple with the bracket 12.

[0310] The foregoing describes an implementation of the coupling portion 1125, which is located at the housing side wall 112 of the housing 11. The housing side wall 112 is the portion located at the periphery of the housing cover wall 111, and at least a portion of the housing side wall 112 is the coupling portion 1125. The housing cover wall 111 and the housing side wall 112 jointly define the light exit opening 105. The bracket 12 is formed around the coupling portion 1125 to form the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124 connected in sequence around the periphery. Among them, the spacing space 108 is formed between the housing 11 and the fourth side wall portion 124, which is adapted to avoid the photosensitive assembly 40. Further, a portion of the first side wall portion 121, the housing 11, a portion of the third side wall portion 123, and the first side wall portion 121 are connected in sequence to define the spacing space 108.

[0311] The mounting structure 103 is formed by injection molding to form the positioning portion and the positioning hole 1031. The number of the mounting structure 103 can be one or more. In the example of multiple numbers, the mounting structure 103 can be distributed in one or more of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124 of the bracket 12, and multiple mounting structures 103 can be provided in the same one of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124.

[0312] In another implementation of the present application, referring to the schematic of FIG. 18, the coupling portion 1125 includes a first coupling portion 11251 and a second coupling portion 11252, and the first coupling portion 11251 is provided with the coupling hole 1120. The first coupling portion 11251 is formed at the housing side wall 112. The second coupling portion 11252 is integrally extended from the first coupling portion 11251. Further, the second coupling portion 11252 and the housing 11 jointly define the spacing space 108. That is, unlike the foregoing implementation, the second coupling portion 11252 is added to be adapted to couple with the fourth side wall portion 124, the first side wall portion 121, and the third side wall portion 123 of the bracket 12. The second coupling portion 11252 and the photosensitive assembly 40 avoid each other.

[0313] The coupling portion 1125 further comprises a third coupling portion 11253 disposed on the first coupling portion 11251 and / or the second coupling portion 11252, and the third coupling portion 11253 protrudes from the first coupling portion 11251 and / or the second coupling portion 11252 in a direction perpendicular to the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), which can be implemented as extending in the lateral direction (the third direction X-axis) and / or the longitudinal direction (the second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction.

[0314] The positioning hole 1031 of the mounting structure 103 is disposed on the third coupling portion 11253, and the positioning portion of the mounting structure 103 is formed around the third coupling portion 11253. The positioning portion surrounds at least a portion of the third coupling portion 11253, exposing the positioning hole 1031. Further, a portion of the third coupling portion 11253 around the positioning hole 1031 is exposed from the positioning portion. When the third coupling portion 11253 is a metal material, that is, the mating surface of the inner wall defining the positioning hole 1031 is a metal surface. When the camera module 1 is fixed to the electronic device, the fixing member and the metal mating surface are matched to avoid the problem of plastic material shedding.

[0315] The number of the third coupling portion 11253 can be one or more. In the example of multiple numbers, the third coupling portion 11253 can be distributed in one or more of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124 of the bracket 12, and multiple third coupling portions 11253 can be provided in the same one of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124.

[0316] In the embodiment in which the shell 10 is implemented as the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002, the first coupling portion 11251 and the second coupling portion 11252 are respectively located on the main body shell and the tail shell, and multiple third coupling portions 11253 are disposed on the main body shell and the tail shell.

[0317] At least two third coupling portions 11253 are arranged on the first coupling portion 11251 of the main body portion shell, respectively on the second shell side wall 1122 extending in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) and the first shell side wall 1121 and / or the third shell side wall 1123 extending in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction, so as to ensure that the positioning hole 1031 of the mounting structure 103 is arranged on the main body portion 1001 in the transverse direction (third direction X-axis) and the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction; and at least one third coupling portion 11253 is arranged on the second coupling portion 11252 of the tail portion shell, so as to ensure that the positioning hole 1031 of the mounting structure 103 is arranged on the tail portion 1002.

[0318] Specifically, the mounting structures 103 arranged on the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 have different arrangement heights in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), i.e., the third coupling portions 11253 have different arrangement heights in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), so that the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 formed by injection molding can be positioned in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) of the shell 10 through the positioning hole 1031.

[0319] The support 12 is further provided with the connection area 15. In some embodiments of the present application, the connection area 15 is located between the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002, and is enclosed by a pair of oppositely arranged notches located at the tail side of the main body portion 1001 and the head side of the tail portion 1002. Before injection molding, an insert is placed in the position corresponding to the notches in the injection cavity of the main body portion 1001 and the injection cavity of the tail portion 1002, so that the connection area 15 is integrally formed with the shell 10.

[0320] In some examples, the injection cavity of the main body portion 1001 and the injection cavity of the tail portion 1002 are arranged in the same mold, and the two injection cavities are independent and not connected to each other, so that the embedding and injection molding process of the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 can be performed synchronously.

[0321] In other examples, the injection cavity of the main body portion 1001 and the injection cavity of the tail portion 1002 are connected to each other. Before injection molding, a corresponding barrier is placed at the connection position of the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002, and after the main body portion shell and the tail portion shell are embedded, the injection molding of the main body portion 1001 and the tail portion 1002 is performed in sequence.

[0322] In the foregoing process, the shell 11 is first formed by a metal material forming process, and then the bracket 12 is injection molded around the shell 11 to obtain the shell 10. Therefore, an insert molding process can be used to injection mold around the metal material to obtain the shell 10 of the present application. The metal material can include, but is not limited to, steel-containing material, aluminum alloy, phosphor bronze, titanium alloy, iron-based material, zinc alloy, magnesium alloy, tin-based alloy, copper alloy, etc. The steel-containing material can include, but is not limited to, stainless steel, SPCC (Steel Plate Cold Commercial, cold-rolled carbon steel sheet), etc. The metal material forming process can include, but is not limited to, metal stamping, integrated die casting, metal casting, metal forging, powder metallurgy, metal injection molding (MIM), stretching, secondary stretching, etc. Further, a metal stamping process can be used to form the shell 11, so that the shell 11 can have a relatively thin wall thickness, thereby minimizing the size of the camera module 1.

[0323] For example, when the shell 11 is formed by stamping a stainless steel material, the wall thickness of the shell 11 can be controlled to about 0.2 mm. On the basis of ensuring the formation of the shell 11, the wall thickness is thinned as much as possible to reduce the size of the camera module 1 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis). At the same time, since the shell 11 and the bracket 12 are integrally formed, the wall thickness of the shell 11 can be saved on one side in the lateral direction (third direction X-axis) and the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction, i.e., reduced by 0.2 mm. Thus, the camera module 1 can be reduced in size on one side of the wall thickness of the shell 11 in the lateral direction (third direction X-axis) and the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction.

[0324] Compared with the bracket formed by the metal material forming process, the bracket 12 formed by injection molding has a smaller thickness. For example, the bracket formed by the metal material forming process has a thickness of about 0.5 mm, while the bracket 12 formed by injection molding has a thickness of about 0.35 mm. Thus, the lateral direction (third direction X-axis) and the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction are further saved by about 0.15 mm in size on one side.

[0325] Therefore, by combining the integrated design and the insert molding process, the shell 10 of the present application can save about 0.35 mm in size on one side in the lateral direction (third direction X-axis) and the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction. Thus, the size of the camera module 1 of the present application is further reduced.

[0326] The above data only illustrates the advantages of the integrated design and insert molding process of the shell 10 of the present application. Depending on the design of the camera module 1, the size that can be saved is different, and more size can be saved, or less size can be saved, but at least the wall thickness of the shell of the prior art can be reduced based on the integrated design, and a part of the wall thickness of the bracket 12 can be further saved.

[0327] In addition, the bracket 12 of the shell 10 obtained by the insert molding process is embedded in a part of the shell 11, so that the strength of the bracket 12 can be guaranteed even if the wall thickness of the bracket 12 is thinned.

[0328] Next, the formation method of the aforementioned spacing space 108 is specifically described.

[0329] The main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 are connected to jointly enclose the spacing space 108, which is suitable for accommodating the photosensitive assembly 40 in the camera module semi-finished product 70.

[0330] In an embodiment of the present application, the shell 11 is formed on one side of the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122 and the third side wall part 123 in the height direction (the first direction Z-axis). The fourth side wall part 124 and the shell 11 have a spacing space 108 therebetween, which is formed between the light exit port 105 and the fourth side wall part 124, surrounded by a part of the first side wall part 121, the fourth side wall part 124 and a part of the third side wall part 123, and formed on the side of the shell 11. After the camera module 1 is assembled, the photosensitive assembly 40 is accommodated in the spacing space 108.

[0331] Specifically, taking the camera module 1 as a periscopic camera module as an example, the light passing port 202 is located on the exit side of the lens assembly 30, and the photosensitive assembly 40 is installed on one side of the light passing port 202, so that the light beam can reach the photosensitive assembly 40 after passing through the lens assembly 30. The photosensitive assembly 40 and the base 20 are fixed to remain on one side of the light passing port 202. After the shell 10 is installed outside the base 20, the bracket 12 is sleeved outside the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0332] Further, the end of the base 20 defines a mounting space 203 for mounting the photosensitive assembly 40, and the light passage 202 is located between the receiving space 200 and the mounting space 203. In the present embodiment of the shell 10, the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted in the mounting space 203, and after the base 20 is fixed, the shell 10 is mounted outside the base 20, and the shell 10 surrounds the base 20 and the photosensitive assembly 40. The outer shell 11 of the shell 10 covers the receiving space 200, and the photosensitive assembly 40 in the mounting space 203 can be exposed through the spacing space 108 to avoid interference between the mounting of the shell 10 and the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0333] Further, the tail end of the base 20 along the light path direction is provided with a mounting seat 204, and the light passage 202 is arranged on the mounting seat 204, that is, the mounting seat 204 is located between the receiving space 200 and the mounting space 203, and divides the shell covering space 1000 into the main body space 1100 and the containing space 1200. During assembly, the main body space 1100 corresponds to the receiving space 200, forming a space closed to the internal structure of the base 20, and the containing space 1200 corresponds to the mounting space 203, forming a space suitable for mounting the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0334] As shown in FIGS. 13-14, the mounting seat 204 is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the base 20 and the direction of propagation of the light beam, and the light entrance side thereof cooperates with the main body part 1001 of the shell 10 to form a closed space from the light entrance 104 to the light exit 105, so as to isolate the internal structure of the camera module 1 placed in the receiving space 200 from physical contact with the outside world, avoid the receiving space 200 from entering sundries and dust during subsequent processing of assembly and welding, and cause the risk of stains, which affects the imaging of the camera module 1; the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted on the light exit side of the mounting seat 204, so that the assembly process in the two spaces can be carried out synchronously, and the assembly steps of the camera module 1 are further simplified.

[0335] The light-sensing component 40 includes a light-sensing chip, a circuit board 41, a connecting strip 42, and a connector 43. The light-sensing chip is electrically connected to the circuit board 41. The connecting strip 42 extends from the circuit board 41. The connector 43 is located on one side of the connecting strip 42. The circuit board 41, the connecting strip 42, and the connector 43 are sequentially connected. The connector 43 is conductively connected to the electronic device, so as to conduct the camera module 1 and the electronic device. According to different adaptation requirements of the electronic device, the connecting strip 42 is configured in different bending modes, so that the connector 43 is located at a proper position and fixed to the electronic device. For example, but not limited to, the connecting strip 42 is bent by 90° relative to the circuit board 41, so that the connector 43 is located on the side of the camera module 1, i.e., on one side of the camera module 1 in the horizontal direction (third direction X-axis) or on one side of the camera module 1 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis). The connecting strip 42 is bent by 180° relative to the circuit board 41, so that the connector 43 is located on one side of the camera module 1 in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) of the light beam propagation direction.

[0336] According to different orientations of the connector 43 relative to the bracket 12, different mounting modes of the shell 10 need to be considered to avoid interference with the connector 43. When the connector 43 is located below the bracket 12, the connecting strip 42 extends from below the bracket 12, so that the connector 43 is closer to the electronic device than the bracket 12. The shell 10 is mounted to the outside of the base 20 and the light-sensing component 40 from top to bottom, without interfering with the connector 43. When the connector 43 is located above the bracket 12, the connecting strip 42 extends from above the bracket 12. The shell 10 is mounted to the outside of the base 20 and the light-sensing component 40 from top to bottom, and the interference between the shell 10 and the connector 43 needs to be considered.

[0337] It can be understood that the light-sensing component 40 can be exposed on both sides in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) through the spacing space 108, so that the connecting strip 42 can extend on both sides. In the embodiment in which the connector 43 is located on one side of the camera module 1 in the longitudinal direction (second direction Y-axis) other than the light beam propagation direction, the connecting strip 42 can extend from below to avoid interference with the assembly of the shell 10.

[0338] In an embodiment of the present application, the spacing space 108 is present between the shell 11 and the fourth side wall portion 124. The shell 11 is formed on the top of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, and the third side wall portion 123.

[0339] In some examples, the aforementioned spacing space 108 is present between the shell 11 and the tail portion 1002, the spacing space 108 is in communication with the accommodating space 1200 of the tail portion 1002 and the mounting space 203 on the base 20, forming a mounting cavity of the photosensitive assembly 40 on the camera module 1, the photosensitive assembly 40 is mounted on the light-emitting side of the mounting seat 204, and the tail end of the connecting band 42 extends from the spacing space 108 to connect the camera module 1 and the electronic device.

[0340] In another embodiment of the present application, the shell 11 is formed at the top of the first side wall portion 121, the second side wall portion 122, the third side wall portion 123, and the fourth side wall portion 124, and there is no aforementioned spacing space 108 between the shell 11 and the fourth side wall portion 124. The shell 11 integrally covers the accommodating space 200 and the mounting space 203 of the base 20, and the connecting band 42 of the photosensitive assembly 40 can be wired from below in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) opposite to the shell 11, so that the connector 43 is located below, and the assembly of the shell 10 does not interfere.

[0341] In some examples, the connecting band 42 is attached between the fourth side wall portion 124 of the bracket 12 and the photosensitive assembly 40, or in other words, the connecting band 42 is fixed to the back of the photosensitive assembly 40. The connector 43 is led out from the inner side of the fourth side wall portion 124 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) above or below. In some examples, the connecting band 42 is attached between the first side wall portion 121 or the third side wall portion 123 of the bracket 12 and the base 20, and the connector 43 can be led out from the inner side of the first side wall portion 121 or the third side wall portion 123 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) below. In other examples, the connecting band 42 can be attached at the bottom of the camera module 1, so that the connector 43 is located at the bottom of the camera module 1.

[0342] As mentioned above, the shell 10 has a mounting opening 100, the shell 10 defines a shell covering space 1000, the shell covering space 1000 is in communication with the outside space through the mounting opening 100, and the shell 10 covers the base 20 through the mounting opening 100, and the base 20 is accommodated in the shell covering space 1000.

[0343] In one embodiment of the present application, the mounting opening 100 is defined by the bracket 12. Specifically, the bracket 12 defines the lower end of the housing 10 (i.e. the end close to the main board side of the electronic device), and the shell 11 defines the upper end of the housing 10 (i.e. the end close to the light hole side of the electronic device). The shell 11 extends from the upper end of the housing 10 to the bracket 12, and the bracket 12 continues to define the lower end of the housing 10.

[0344] In another embodiment of the present application, the mounting opening 100 is defined by the end of the shell 11. The shell 11 integrally extends from the upper end of the housing 10 to the lower end of the housing 10, and the bracket 12 is formed outside the shell 11 around the shell 11.

[0345] In another embodiment of the present application, the mounting opening 100 is defined by the bracket 12 and the shell 11 in cooperation with each other. A part of the shell 11 integrally extends from the upper end of the housing 10 to the lower end of the housing 10, and another part extends to the bracket 12, and the bracket 12 continues to extend to the lower end of the housing 10.

[0346] The thickness of the part of the housing 10 formed by the shell 11 is not more than the thickness of the part of the housing 10 formed by the bracket 12, and further, the thickness of the part of the housing 10 formed by the shell 11 is much smaller than the thickness of the part of the housing 10 formed by the bracket 12.

[0347] The housing 10 is provided with a hollowed-out area 13 located at the bracket 12, so that the bracket 12 is partially hollowed out, the wall thickness of the part of the housing 10 is reduced, and the weight of the housing 10 is reduced. The hollowed-out area 13 can be configured to hollow out the part of the housing 10, or to reduce the wall thickness of the part of the housing 10 while still retaining a part of the wall thickness. Further, the hollowed-out area 13 is provided at the side wall part 102.

[0348] In some examples of the present application, the housing 10 is further provided with a positioning area 14 adapted to cooperate with a corresponding structure such as the cooperating structure 205 of the base 20 to assist in mounting the housing 10 to the base 20. The positioning area 14 can be provided on the shell 11 and / or the bracket 12, and located at the side wall part 102 of the housing 10. Further, the positioning area 14 is located at the end of the side wall part 102 to cooperate with the cooperating structure 205 of the base 20. The positioning area 14 can be implemented as a clearance space, and the cooperating structure 205 can be implemented as a boss structure to cooperate with each other. Further, the positioning area 14 can be provided at the hollowed-out area 13, and the cooperating structure 205 can be a boss provided for the hollowed-out area 13.

[0349] In order to further simplify the assembly steps of the camera module 1, the bracket 12 is provided with a recess-shaped connecting area 15 for exposing the connecting area of the pin 61 of the circuit assembly 60 and the circuit board 41 of the photosensitive assembly 40. As shown in FIGS. 16, 19 and 20, the connecting area 15 is formed on the bracket 12 near the photosensitive assembly 40 to cooperate with the soldering of the pin 61 and the circuit board 41. It can be understood that the connecting area 15 is arranged on the bracket 12 corresponding to the projection area of the mounting space 203.

[0350] Among the four housing side walls constituting the bracket 12, the first side wall part 121 and the third side wall part 123 are the positions for dispensing and fixing the camera module 1, and the second side wall part 122 is adapted to position the prism, and the fourth side wall part 124 corresponds to the assembly of the photosensitive assembly 40. In combination with the functions of each housing side wall, the connecting area 15 is preferably arranged on the first side wall part 121 and / or the third side wall part 123 to reduce the dispensing area on the two housing side walls of the bracket 12, reduce the mass and dispensing amount of the bracket 12, thereby reducing the deformation of the internal structure of the module caused by the excessive dispensing area, especially the bending of the position and path of the lens and the focusing motor, further avoiding the eccentricity problem of the camera module 1.

[0351] Specifically, the connecting area 15 is arranged on the tail side of the first side wall part 121 along the light path direction and the tail side of the third side wall part 123 along the light path direction. In some examples, the connecting area 15 is arranged between the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 to accommodate the layout of the circuit assembly 60 embedded on the outer side of the base 20 and the assembly orientation of the photosensitive assembly 40 on the camera module 1, and to expose the connecting area 15 of the pin 61 and the circuit board 41, thereby achieving the avoidance of the two.

[0352] More specifically, the main body part bracket and the tail part bracket are provided with a pair of notches at the connection, a part of the main body part bracket reversely extends along the tail side of the light beam propagation direction to form a first notch 151, a part of the tail part bracket continues to extend along the light beam propagation direction along the head side of the light path direction to form a second notch 152, the first notch 151 and the second notch 152 are oppositely arranged and enclosed to form a recess, i.e. the connecting area 15, for exposing the connecting area of the pin 61 of the circuit assembly 60 of the camera module 1 and the circuit board 41 of the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0353] Further, any side of the connecting area 15 does not contact the housing 11 and the junction of the housing 11 and the bracket 12, and avoids the area with the thickness H1 as much as possible to avoid the deformation of the housing 11 caused by the processing and forming of the connecting area 15 or the welding operation in the connecting area 15, thereby affecting the mechanical strength of the housing 10.

[0354] With the perspective of the drawings 16-17, the shell 11 has the interval space 108, and the connecting band 42 extends outward from the interval space 108 to connect the camera module 1 and the electronic device. In some embodiments, the interval space 108 is formed between the tail end of the shell 11 part of the main body part 1001 along the light path and the top end of the tail part 1002, that is, the tail part 1002 is only formed by part of the bracket 12 and does not have part of the shell 11.

[0355] In some embodiments of the present application, the bottom first notch 151 is located at the bottom of the embedded part 10011 of the main body part 1001, and the second notch 152 is located at the bottom of the nested part 10021 of the tail part 1002, that is, the embedded part 10011 and the nested part 10021 separate the interval space 108 and the connecting area 15, avoiding the space ratio being too large after being connected to affect the mechanical strength of the bracket 12, preventing the bracket 12 from being deformed due to external force during assembly, and the nested connection of the embedded part 10011 and the nested part 10021 further enhances the structural strength of the connecting area 15.

[0356] Among them, the size of the notch has a certain influence on the structural strength of the corresponding opening side on the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002. With the perspective of the drawings, the first notch 151 and the second notch 152 are preferably notches with greater length in the height direction (first direction Z axis), which are enclosed into grooves with greater length in the height direction (first direction Z axis), that is, the connecting area 15 with greater length in the height direction (first direction Z axis).

[0357] Further, the connecting area 15 is enclosed by a notch and a side, that is, the first notch 151 on the main body part 1001 and the side of the tail part 1002, or the second notch 152 of the tail part 1002 and the side of the main body part 1001, to form the connecting area 15.

[0358] In some examples, the embedded part 10011 and the nested part 10021 are welded after nested connection, further enhancing the connection strength of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002, and improving the structural strength of the shell 10 and the connecting area 15.

[0359] Preferably, the height of the connecting area 15 in the height direction (first direction Z axis) does not exceed half of the height of the bracket 12 in the height direction (first direction Z axis), to reduce the influence of the opening of the groove on the bracket 12 on the connection strength of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 and the structural strength of the shell 10.

[0360] In another specific embodiment of the present application, the housing 11 does not have the spacing space 108, and the connecting band 42 extends from the gap between the support 12 and the base 20 to connect the camera module 1 and the electronic device.

[0361] As shown in FIGS. 17-20, the support 12 is provided with the connecting area 15, and when the height of the connecting area 15 in the height direction (the first direction Z-axis) is not less than the height of the support 12 in the height direction (the first direction Z-axis), the installation structure 103 is arranged on the support 12 away from the connecting area 15 to avoid the mutual interference between the two during the welding and positioning operation.

[0362] In some examples of the present application, the support 12 part of the main body part 1001 has at least three installation structures 103, which are respectively located on the first side wall part 121, the second side wall part 122, and the third side wall part 123 to position the three sides of the main body part 1001, and the tail part 1002 has at least one installation structure 103 to cooperate with the nested connection of the tail part 1002 and the main body part 1001 to determine the assembly position of the tail part 1002.

[0363] In some examples, the number of the connecting area 15 is one, and at least two installation structures 103 are respectively arranged at the two opposite endpoints of the support 12. When the connecting area 15 is located at the tail part 1002 of the first side wall part 121 close to the fourth side wall part 124, one of the installation structures 103 is arranged at the joint or connecting corner of the first side wall part 121 and the second side wall part 122, and the other is arranged at the joint or connecting corner of the third side wall part 123 and the fourth side wall part 124. When the connecting area 15 is located at the tail part 1002 of the third side wall part 123 close to the fourth side wall part 124, one of the installation structures 103 is arranged at the joint or connecting corner of the second side wall part 122 and the third side wall part 123, and the other is arranged at the joint or connecting corner of the first side wall part 121 and the fourth side wall part 124.

[0364] In some examples, the number of the connecting area 15 is two, which are respectively located at the tail part 1002 of the second side wall part 122 close to the fourth side wall part 124 and the tail part 1002 of the third side wall part 123 close to the fourth side wall part 124. At least two installation structures 103 are symmetrically arranged on the first side wall part 121 and the third side wall part 123, at least one installation structure 103 is arranged on the first side wall part 121 to avoid the mutual interference between the installation structure 103 and the connecting area 15, so as to ensure the mechanical strength of the support 12 and the installation stability of the camera module 1 on the electronic device.

[0365] In an embodiment of the present application, the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 jointly enclose the connecting area 15, and the mounting structure 103 near the joint of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 is not at the same height direction (first direction Z-axis) as the connecting area 15, so as to avoid the fixing operation on the mounting structure 103 affecting the connection strength of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002.

[0366] When the height of the connecting area 15 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) is less than half of the height of the bracket 12 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), the size of the connecting area 15 is small, and the mounting structure 103 and the connecting area 15 can be sequentially arranged in the height direction (first direction Z-axis) of the bracket 12, so as to simplify the welding positioning in the connecting area 15 and the fixing positioning of the shell 10.

[0367] In some examples of the present application, the mounting structure 103, the connecting area 15, and the nested joint of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 are at the same height direction (first direction Z-axis), and the mounting structure 103 and the connecting area 15 are located at the bottom of the nested joint, so that the connection strength of the nested joint guarantees the structural strength of the connecting area 15. From the perspective of the accompanying drawings, the positioning hole 1031 of the mounting structure 103 is not at the same height direction (first direction Z-axis) as the connecting area 15 of the bracket 12, further reducing the influence of the fixing operation on the connection strength and the structural strength.

[0368] Among all the mounting structures 103 on the shell 10, at least two of the mounting structures 103 are arranged at different heights in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), so as to determine the positioning of the shell 10 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis). In an embodiment of the present application, at least two of the mounting structures 103 on the main body part 1001 are arranged at different heights in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), so as to determine the positioning of the main body part 1001 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis); and at least one of the mounting structures 103 on the tail part 1002 is arranged at a height in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), so as to determine the positioning of the tail part 1002 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis).

[0369] Further, when the same side wall of the bracket 12 has at least two mounting structures 103, at least two of the mounting structures 103 are arranged at different heights in the height direction (first direction Z-axis), so as to further determine the positioning of the side wall of the bracket 12 in the height direction (first direction Z-axis).

[0370] In some embodiments, one mounting structure 103 can be arranged on each side of a corner of the bracket 12 or on two corners located on the diagonal of the bracket 12, so as to determine the position of the corner on the side of the bracket 12, and further improve the mounting stability of the camera module 1 on the electronic device.

[0371] In an embodiment of the present application, the camera module 1 is a vertical camera module, which comprises the shell 10 and the base 20. The shell 10 comprises the cover portion 101 and the side wall portion 102 extending along planes perpendicular to each other. A part of the top of the side wall portion 102 and the cover portion 101 jointly form the outer shell 11, and the other part of the side wall portion 102 forms the bracket 12. The outer shell 11 is provided with a light inlet 202. A part of the lens assembly 30 extends in the reverse direction of the optical path from the receiving space 200 between the shell 10 and the base 20, and extends out of the shell 10 through the light inlet 202 of the outer shell 11, so as to connect the camera module 1 and the electronic device.

[0372] The bracket 12 and the photosensitive assembly 40 have a certain gap therebetween. In the case where the bracket 12 is arranged on the outside of the photosensitive assembly 40, the gap between the bracket 12 and the photosensitive assembly 40 can avoid interference between the bracket 12 and the photosensitive assembly 40, and affect the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0373] The lens driving assembly and the optical path turning driving assembly form a driving mechanism of the camera module 1 of the present application. One of the first optical path turning driving unit and the second optical path turning driving unit, and one of the first lens driving unit and the second lens driving unit are electronic elements, which need to be connected with a circuit.

[0374] The driving mechanism of the camera module 1 further comprises a position sensing assembly for sensing the position of the lens assembly 30 and / or the optical path turning assembly 50, so as to improve the accuracy of motion position control. The position sensing assembly is also an electronic element, which needs to be connected with a circuit.

[0375] The camera module 1 further comprises a circuit assembly 60 connected with the electronic elements and the photosensitive assembly 40. The electronic elements obtain power via the conductive connection of the circuit assembly 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40, and further can obtain signals via the communication connection of the circuit assembly 60 and the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0376] In an embodiment of the present application, the circuit assembly 60 comprises a circuit board. The aforementioned electronic elements (including but not limited to the first lens driving unit, the first optical path turning driving unit, the position sensing assembly, etc.) and the circuit board are conductively connected. The circuit board is mounted on the base 20, and the circuit board and the photosensitive assembly 40 are conductively connected.

[0377] In one embodiment of the present application, the circuit assembly 60 is embedded in the base 20. The circuit assembly 60 comprises a plurality of mounting terminals, a plurality of branches and a plurality of connecting terminals, two ends of the branches form the mounting terminals and the connecting terminals respectively, the mounting terminals are adapted to electrically connect with the electronic components, and the connecting terminals are adapted to electrically connect with the light sensing assembly 40.

[0378] Wherein, the base 20 can be manufactured by an insert molding process, at least one injection molding is performed around the circuit assembly 60 by the insert molding process to wrap the circuit assembly 60, expose the mounting terminals and the connecting terminals for mounting the electronic components, and conductively connect with the light sensing assembly 40.

[0379] Since the circuit assembly 60 is embedded in the base 20, the circuit assembly 60 does not need to occupy extra space, compared with the form of using independent circuit structure (such as using a circuit board), the size of the camera module 1 is smaller. And the circuit connection of the camera module 1 is embedded design, which can protect the circuit structure, avoid the assembly and reliability problems brought by the exposed independent circuit structure, simplify the assembly process and improve the reliability of the camera module 1.

[0380] According to another aspect of the present application, the present application also provides an assembly method of a camera module 1 for assembling the camera module 1 and mounting the camera module 1 to an electronic device. The method comprises the following steps:

[0381] (A) providing a base 20, the base 20 comprising at least one circuit assembly 60;

[0382] (B) assembling the lens assembly 30 and the light sensing assembly 40 to the base 20 to form a camera module semi-finished product 70;

[0383] (C) providing a shell 10, the shell 10 comprising a main body part 1001 and a tail part 1002, mounting the main body part 1001 of the shell 10 to the camera module semi-finished product 70;

[0384] (D) electrically connecting the pins 61 of the circuit assembly 60 and the circuit board 41 of the light sensing assembly 40;

[0385] (E) mounting the tail part 1002 of the shell 10 to the main body part 1001 to obtain the camera module 1.

[0386] The step (B) further comprises the step of: assembling the light path turning assembly 50 to the base 20 to be located in the light path of the lens assembly 30 and / or the light sensing assembly 40.

[0387] The step (C) further comprises the step of: integrally forming the shell 11 by a metal material forming process.

[0388] The step (C) further comprises the steps of: forming the main body part 1001 of the housing 10 by injection molding the coupling part 1125 of the housing 11 to form the main body part bracket of the main body part 1001, and forming the tail part 1002 by the same embedded injection molding or direct injection molding.

[0389] The step (C) further comprises the steps of: installing the main body part 1001 of the housing 10 to the base 20 by the inner surface 106 of the housing 10 and the base 20.

[0390] The step (C) further comprises the steps of: providing a connecting medium between at least one bonding surface of the inner surface 106 of the housing 10 and the base 20 to fix the main body part 1001 of the housing 10 to the base 20.

[0391] The step (C) further comprises the steps of: installing the main body part 1001 of the housing 10 to the base 20 to cover the optical assembly inside the base 20.

[0392] Attaching the photosensitive assembly 40 to the base 20 and fixing the photosensitive assembly 40 to the optical assembly inside the base 20.

[0393] The method further comprises the steps of: providing the circuit assembly 60, and forming the base 20 by embedding the circuit assembly 60.

[0394] The method further comprises the steps of: providing the circuit assembly 60, and assembling the circuit assembly 60 to the base 20.

[0395] The step (D) further comprises the steps of: connecting the pins 61 of the circuit assembly 60 exposed outside and the circuit board 41 of the photosensitive assembly 40.

[0396] The step (E) further comprises the steps of: the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 jointly enclosing a groove at the connection, and the groove corresponding to the pins 61 of the circuit assembly 60.

[0397] The step (E) further comprises the steps of: nesting the nesting part 10021 of the tail part 1002 of the housing 10 to the embedding part 10011 of the main body part 1001 of the housing 10, and then injecting glue to the nested connection part, and realizing the connection of the main body part 1001 and the tail part 1002 after solidification.

[0398] The step (E) further comprises the steps of: after the steps of nesting the tail part 1002 of the housing 10 to the main body part 1001 and injecting glue to solidify, welding the nested connection part.

[0399] According to another aspect of the present application, the present application also provides an electronic device, the camera module 1 described above is suitable to be equipped to an electronic device body of the electronic device, the camera module 1 is conductively connected to the electronic device body, and is fixed on the electronic device body through the support 12 of the shell 10.

[0400] The above description is merely preferred implementation of the present application and the explanation of the technical principles applied. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope involved in the present application is not limited to the technical solutions formed by the specific combinations of the technical features described above, and should also cover other technical solutions formed by any combinations of the technical features described above or their equivalent features without departing from the inventive concept. For example, the technical solutions formed by mutually replacing the above-described features and the technical features disclosed in the present application (but not limited to) with similar functions.

[0401] The above describes the basic principles, main features and advantages of the present application. Those skilled in the art should understand that the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the above-described embodiments and descriptions in the specification are only the principles of the present application. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application, various changes and improvements of the present application can be made, and these changes and improvements all fall within the scope of the present application. The scope of protection claimed by the present application is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A housing of a camera module, for mounting on a periphery of a camera module semi-product, characterized in that, include: A housing, the housing being adapted to cover at least a portion of the internal structure of the semi-finished camera module, and having at least one light inlet opening on the surface of the housing; as well as A bracket having at least four sidewalls for surrounding at least a portion of the periphery of a semi-finished camera module and connected to the housing, wherein the minimum thickness of the bracket is not less than the minimum thickness of the housing; The bracket has at least one side wall with a clearance area, which is suitable for avoiding the circuit board of the camera module and the pins of the circuit components of the camera module.

2. The housing of the camera module according to claim 1, wherein Also includes: The mounting structure is disposed on the outside of the bracket and is suitable for mounting electronic equipment; wherein the mounting structure and the avoidance area are disposed at different positions on the side wall portion of the bracket along the projection direction.

3. The housing of the camera module according to claim 1, wherein The bracket includes a first sidewall, a second sidewall, a third sidewall, and a fourth sidewall located on different sides. The first sidewall, the second sidewall, the third sidewall, and the fourth sidewall surround the semi-finished camera module. The first sidewall and the third sidewall are arranged opposite to each other, the second sidewall and the fourth sidewall are arranged opposite to each other, and the fourth sidewall is close to the light-emitting side of the semi-finished camera module. The avoidance area is located at one end of the first sidewall and / or one end of the third sidewall near the fourth sidewall.

4. The housing of the camera module according to claim 1, wherein The housing includes a housing cover wall and a housing side wall. The housing cover wall has an opening for light inlet. At least a portion of the housing side wall extends toward and couples to the bracket.

5. The housing of the camera module according to claim 3, wherein The avoidance zone extends from the bottom edge of the bracket and does not contact the opposite side bottom edge of the bracket.

6. The housing of the camera module according to claim 4, wherein, The outer shell is made of metal, and the bracket is formed with at least a portion of the outer shell sidewall.

7. The housing of the camera module according to claim 4, wherein The outer shell sidewall includes a first outer shell sidewall, a second outer shell sidewall, and a third outer shell sidewall. The first outer shell sidewall, the second outer shell sidewall, and the third outer shell sidewall are formed around three sides of the outer shell cover wall. At least one of the first outer shell sidewall, the second outer shell sidewall, and the third outer shell sidewall is provided with a connecting hole.

8. The housing of the camera module according to claim 1, wherein, The diameter of the light inlet of the housing is perpendicular to the direction of the extension of the clearance area toward the bottom edge of the bracket.

9. The housing of the camera module according to claim 1, wherein, The outer shell and the bracket are integrally formed.

10. An image capture module, comprising: include: The housing as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, and At least one semi-finished camera module, the semi-finished camera module further comprising: a base, the base defining at least one receiving space, and the housing being assembled to the base to cover at least a portion of the receiving space; A lens assembly, which is mounted in the receiving space; Circuit components are disposed on the base; and A photosensitive component, wherein the photosensitive component is held on the exit side of the lens assembly; The connection points between the pins of the circuit component and the circuit board of the photosensitive component are exposed within the avoidance area.

11. The camera module of claim 10, wherein, The base is provided with a mounting seat on the emission side, which is suitable for mounting the photosensitive component.

12. An assembling method of a camera module, adapted to assemble the camera module and assemble the camera module of claim 10 to an electronic device, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: (A) A base is provided, on which at least one circuit component is disposed; (B) assembling a lens assembly and a photosensitive assembly to a base to form a camera module semi-finished product, and guiding pins of the circuit assembly towards the photosensitive assembly; (C) providing a shell disposed on the camera module semi-finished product, the shell having a relief area corresponding to the guiding pins of the circuit assembly; (D) guiding the guiding pins of the circuit assembly and the photosensitive assembly through the relief area.

13. The method of assembly of claim 12, wherein, The step (C) further comprises the following steps: the shell further comprises a housing and a support, the housing has a light inlet, and the light inlet of the housing corresponds to an incident side of the lens assembly, and the support is fixedly connected with the base.

14. An electronic device, comprising: It comprises: The camera module of claim 10; And The electronic device body, wherein the camera module is connected to the electronic device body in a guidable manner.

15. A housing of a camera module for covering a camera module semi-finished product, characterized in that, It comprises: A main body part, the main body part comprising a main body part support and a main body part housing, the main body part support having a main body part side wall, adapted to be sleeved on an outer side of at least a part of an internal structure of a camera module semi-finished product, and the main body part housing being provided with a light inlet; and A tail part, the tail part being disposed on a light outlet side of the camera module and surrounding at least a part of a circumferential side of the camera module semi-finished product, and being adapted to avoid the photosensitive assembly of the camera module; Wherein, the tail part and the main body part are connected with each other to form the shell, and the shell has a housing and a support.

16. The housing of the camera module according to claim 15, wherein, The tail part support and the main body part side wall of the main body part support are connected with each other to form the support of the shell.

17. The housing of the camera module of claim 14, wherein, The thickness of the main body part housing is smaller than the thickness of the support of the shell.

18. The housing of the camera module of claim 16, wherein, The main body part and the tail part are connected in a nested manner.

19. The housing of the camera module according to claim 18, wherein, One end of the main body part housing at the connection position has an embedding part, and one end of the tail part support at the connection position has a nesting part matched with the embedding part.

20. The housing of the camera module according to claim 19, wherein, The thickness of the embedding part is consistent with the thickness of the main body part housing, and the total thickness of the embedding part and the nesting part after being nested is consistent with the thickness of the support of the shell.

21. The housing of the camera module of claim 17, wherein, The main body part and the tail part are connected to jointly form a spacing space, which is adapted to accommodate the photosensitive assembly of the camera module.

22. The housing of the camera module of claim 16, wherein, The main body part support and the tail part support are provided with a pair of notches at the connection position, and a pair of the notches are oppositely arranged and jointly form a groove for exposing a connection area of the guiding pins of the circuit assembly and a circuit board of the photosensitive assembly.

23. The housing of the camera module of claim 15, wherein, The main body part housing comprises an integrally formed housing cover wall and a housing side wall, and at least a part of the housing side wall is embedded to form the main body part support; Wherein, the housing side wall comprises a first housing side wall, a second housing side wall and a third housing side wall, the first housing side wall, the second housing side wall and the third housing side wall are formed around three sides of the housing cover wall and are embedded to form the main body part support, thereby forming the main body part.

24. The housing of the camera module of claim 15, wherein, The tail part comprises a tail part support and a tail part housing, and the side wall part of the main body part support and the tail part support are connected with each other to form the support of the shell; The main body part housing and the tail part housing are formed around the circumferential side of the camera module semi-finished product and are respectively embedded into the main body part support and the tail part support, thereby forming the main body part and the tail part.

25. The housing of the camera module of claim 23, wherein, The housing side wall is provided with a combination hole.

26. An image capture module comprising: Comprising: The shell as claimed in any one of claims 15 to 25, A base defining at least one receiving space, the shell being assembled to the base to cover at least a portion of the receiving space; A lens assembly mounted to the receiving space; A circuit assembly embedded on an outer surface of the base; and A photosensitive assembly held on an exit side of the lens assembly; Wherein a connection area of a pin of the circuit assembly and a circuit board of the photosensitive assembly is exposed.

27. An assembly method of a camera module, adapted to assemble the camera module, and assemble the camera module of claim 26 to an electronic device, characterized in that, Comprising the following steps: (A) providing a base comprising at least one circuit assembly; (B) assembling a lens assembly and a photosensitive assembly to the base to form a camera module semi-finished product; (C) providing a shell comprising a main body portion and a tail portion, the main body portion being mounted to the camera module semi-finished product; (D) electrically connecting the circuit assembly and the photosensitive assembly; (E) mounting the tail portion of the shell to the main body portion to obtain a camera module.

28. The method of assembly of claim 27, wherein, The step (C) further comprises the steps of: Assembling the main body portion of the shell to the base to cover the optical assembly inside the base; Attaching the photosensitive assembly to the base and fixing after aligning with the optical assembly inside the base.

29. The method of assembly of claim 27, wherein, The step (D) further comprises the steps of: Connecting the pin of the circuit assembly and the circuit board of the photosensitive assembly exposed outside; The step (E) further comprises the steps of: The main body portion and the tail portion jointly enclose a recess at the connection, the recess corresponding to the pin of the circuit assembly.

30. An electronic device, comprising: Comprising: The camera module as claimed in claim 28; And An electronic device body, wherein the camera module is conductively connected to the electronic device body and fixed to the electronic device body through the support of the shell.

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