Compact Lens Drive Apparatus for Camera-Shake Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing camera-shake correction technologies for small cameras, such as those used in mobile phones, face challenges due to large size, complex structures, and degradation in image quality, particularly with sensor-shifting and lens-shifting methods, and software-based solutions that are time-consuming and affect image quality.
Innovation Solution
A camera-shake correction apparatus that moves an auto-focusing lens drive apparatus along the optical axis in perpendicular directions using a focusing coil and permanent magnet, supported by suspension wires, allowing for compact size and effective correction without hysteresis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensor-shifting method is used for camera-shake correction, then image blurring can be prevented, but the apparatus size becomes large and is difficult to apply to small cameras
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential corrective function from the complex sensor-shifting mechanism. Instead of moving the entire sensor assembly, it uses a simplified lens-driven mechanism that achieves the same image stabilization effect with minimal components, thereby reducing apparatus size while maintaining correction effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical sensor-shifting system with an optical correction system using lens movement and image processing. This substitution eliminates the need for large mechanical moving parts while achieving equivalent or superior camera-shake correction through a combination of optical and computational methods.
2Reliability
If lens-shifting method is used for camera-shake correction, then image blurring can be corrected, but the structure becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the lens serve multiple functions: it performs both auto-focusing (moving along the optical axis) and camera-shake correction (moving in perpendicular directions). This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate corrective lens mechanisms, thereby simplifying the overall structure while maintaining effective image blurring correction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the auto-focusing mechanism and camera-shake correction mechanism into a single integrated system. The lens drive apparatus combines both functions in one structure, reducing the number of components and simplifying the overall device architecture while achieving both focusing and stabilization goals.
3Ease of manufacture
If software-based camera-shake correction is used, then implementation is simple, but image quality degrades and processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an optical intermediary (the corrective lens movement) between the camera shake and the image sensor. This physical optical correction acts as a mediator that prevents blur at the source, thereby maintaining high image quality. The software then processes this already-corrected image, requiring minimal processing and preserving quality while keeping implementation simple.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables a compact camera-shake correction system that maintains image quality by reducing size and eliminating hysteresis, making it suitable for small camera applications while ensuring effective blur-free image capture.
Implementation Method 1
a focusing coil and a permanent magnet that are disposed on the radial-direction outside of this focusing coil with respect to the optical axis and facing the focusing coil
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of suspension wires that each have one end fixed to the outer peripheral section of this base, that extend along the optical axis, and that support the entire auto-focusing lens drive apparatus or a moving part thereof so as to be able to rock in the first direction and the second direction
Data Source
AI summary
A camera module has a magnet which is held by a magnet holder included in an optical device part together with a lens holder and which is used in common as a magnet in collaboration with a first coil to move an imaging device and the lens holder relative to each other in a direction of an optical axis, a magnet in collaboration with a second coil to move the imaging device and the optical device part relative to each other in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis, and a magnet of which a magnetic force is detected by a Hall device.