Patent ID: 11966147
Assignee: COREPHOTONICS LTD.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A camera, comprising:
a lens comprising N lens elements L1-LN arranged along a lens optical axis starting with L1 on an object side and ending with LN on an image side, wherein N≥5, wherein the lens elements are divided into two or more lens groups and wherein two adjacent lens groups are separated by a respective air-gap d1 along the lens optical axis;
an image sensor separated from lens element LN by an air-gap d2 along the lens optical axis, the image sensor having a sensor diagonal SD between 7 and 20 mm; and
an actuator operative to control the air-gaps d1 and d2 to switch the camera between M≥1 operative pop-out states and a collapsed state and to focus the camera on an object at an object-lens distance u of less than 30 cm, wherein in each operative pop-out state m∈{1,2, . . . M} the lens has a respective effective focal length EFLm and a total track length TTLm, wherein in the collapsed state the lens has a total track length c-TTL, wherein a minimal EFLmin of the M effective focal lengths EFLm is equal to or greater than 7 mm, and wherein c-TTL<0.65·EFLmin,
wherein the actuator comprises a plurality of springs and a guiding and positioning mechanism, wherein the guiding and positioning mechanism enables sufficient z-decenter and xy-decenter accuracy between lens elements in the operative state and repeatability in switching between operative and collapsed states, and wherein the sufficient decenter accuracy is less than 0.1 mm decenter and the repeatability is less than 0.05 mm decenter.