Patent Publication Number: US-2012044591-A1

Title: Camera module

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0079823, filed on Aug. 18, 2010, entitled “Camera Module”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention relates to a camera module, and more particularly, to a camera module capable of being mounted on a main substrate without a socket by inserting a contactor into a side portion of a housing configuring the camera module and electrically connecting the main substrate to the contactor. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, a camera module may be configured to include a lens group to which light reflected from a subject is input, an image sensor in a CCD or CMOS type converting image signals received through the lens group into electrical signals, a housing in which the image sensor is mounted, and a lens barrel supporting the lens group and coupled with the upper end of the housing. 
     In addition, the lower portion of the housing is coupled with a substrate on which chip parts, such as capacitor C or resistor R, etc., that are electronic parts for driving the image sensor, are mounted together with the image sensor. 
     The assembling of camera module is completed by coupling the components, that is, by coupling the image sensor at the designated position using a package process (PKG) or a surface mounting process (SMT) in the state where resistors or capacitors, etc., are mounted on a substrate including a flexible printed circuit board and by fixing the housing and the substrate using a bonding process after an IR filter is mounted in the housing. 
     Meanwhile, a focus is controlled by positioning a resolution chart at a predetermined distance in front of the lens barrel and by controlling a distance between the lens group mounted in the lens barrel and the resolution chart by rotating the lens barrel, in the state where the lens barrel is temporality fixed by being fastened to the housing by screw connection. 
     The focus control of the camera module is fixed by controlling a vertical shift amount by rotating a lens barrel to make the shape of the resolution chart sharpest, with disposing a subject, i.e., a resolution chart at a predetermined distance and then bonding the housing to the lens barrel. 
     Thereafter, whether or not the images generated from the image sensor are abnormal and whether or not the image sensor is polluted due to foreign materials is tested by a separate test process. 
     As described above, when the assembling and test of the camera module are completed, the camera module is assembled in various types of electronic products, that is, a mobile phone, a game machine, a digital camera, etc., a separate connector, a socket, etc., is used in order to be coupled with the main substrate mounted in electronic products when the camera module is assembled. 
     In this case, when the camera module is connected to the main substrate through the separate connector, the substrate including a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) has a predetermined size or more in order to connect the connector, thereby causing the loss of the substrate raw material and the substrate includes the separate connector, thereby increasing material costs. 
     Further, when using the separate socket vertically coupled with the camera module, the height of the camera module coupled with the socket may be increased due to the basic height of the socket, such that it is difficult to mount the camera module in electronic products that are increasingly slim and the width of the camera module is increased according to the use of the separate socket. 
     In addition, the camera module coupled with the socket may be separated in the socket due to the external impact, etc., thereby causing the electrical connection defect and the operational defect due to the electrical connection defect. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a camera module electrically connectable to a main substrate without using a separate socket or a connector coupled to one direction of the camera module by mounting a plurality of contactors in a housing of the camera module in a line to couple the camera module with the main substrate through a contactor. 
     Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a camera module capable of individually replacing and using the contactor at the time of contactor defect while elastically coupling the contactor coupled with a side wall of a housing to the inside of the housing. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera module, including: a lens barrel having at least one lens stacked therein; a housing having the lens barrel coupled with the upper portion thereof and having a plurality of contactor insertion grooves formed on the lower end surface thereof; and a plurality of contactors mounted in the housing. 
     The side of the housing of a position corresponding to the contactor inserting groove formed on the lower end surface thereof may be provided with a contactor exposing groove. 
     The housing may be formed of a hexahedral shape, the central portion thereof may be provided with a barrel insertion hole through which the lens barrel penetrates, and the lower surface thereof may be provided with a two-stage step part. 
     The contactor may be made of a metal material having elasticity and the contactor may have a step part formed on the upper end thereof, the lower portion of the step part may be provided with a bending part giving elasticity to the upper and lower portions of the contactor, respectively, the lower portion of the bending part may be provided with the substrate contacting part protruded to one side, and the bottom portion thereof may be provided with a main substrate connecting part. 
     The contactor may have a head part having a predetermined curvature on the upper portion of the step part and the head part may be inserted through the contactor insertion groove of the housing to be inserted into the side wall of the housing. 
     The step part in the contactor may be elastically hooked and fixed into the contactor exposing groove formed in the housing and the substrate contacting part formed on the lower portion of the bending part of the contactor may contact pads formed on each of the sides of the substrate coupled to the lower portion of the housing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a camera module according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an assembling perspective view of a camera module according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a contactor employed in the camera module of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a lower perspective view of a housing employed in a camera module according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a partially cut perspective view of a state where a contactor is coupled to the housing of the camera module according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the camera module according to the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of a main substrate coupling state of the camera module according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The acting effects and technical configuration with respect to the objects of a camera module according to the present invention will be clearly understood by the following description in which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     First,  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a camera module according to the present invention,  FIG. 2  is an assembling perspective view of the camera module according to the present invention,  FIG. 3  is a lower perspective view of a housing employed in the camera module according to the present invention, and  FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a contactor employed in the camera module according to the present invention. 
     As shown in the drawings, a camera module  100  according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be configured to include a lens barrel  110  in which a plurality of lenses L are stacked, a housing  120  having the lens barrel  110  inserted into the upper portion thereof, and a plurality of contactors  130  coupled with the housing  120 . 
     The lens barrel  110  collects light reflected from a subject at the outside of the camera module through at least one lenses L coupled therein, wherein the lenses are stacked in the lens barrel  110 . Thereafter, the light collected through the lenses L is received in the image sensor, which is converted into image signals. 
     The lens barrel  110  is coupled with the housing  120 . The housing  120  may have a hexahedral shape of which central portion is formed with a barrel insertion hole  121  in a hollow type, the lower end surface of the housing  120  may be formed with a plurality of contactor insertion grooves  122 , and each side of the housing  120  may be formed with a contactor exposing groove  123  at positions corresponding to positions at which the contactor insertion grooves  122  are formed. 
     In this configuration, the contactor insertion grooves  122  and the contactor exposing grooves  123  may be configured to have the same number at the corresponding positions to each other and may be configured to communicate with each other by being formed at the corresponding positions of the lower end surface and side surfaces of the housing  120 . 
     The barrel insertion hole  121  of the housing  120  is vertically coupled with the lens barrel  110  and the lower end surface of the housing  120  may be coupled with the plurality of contactors  130  in a line. 
     In this case, the lower portion of the housing  120  coupled with the contactor  130  is coupled with the substrate on which the image sensor is mounted as well as the inside of the housing  120  is coupled with an IR filter for blocking excessive infrared rays of light input through the lenses, which will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. 
     The contactor  130  coupled with the housing  120  may made of a conductive metal material and may be formed to have additional elastic force by forming a portion of the contactor  130  in a curved shape, in addition to the inherent elasticity of the metal material. 
     The upper portion of the contactor  130  is provided with a head part  131  having a predetermined curvature and the lower portion of the head part  131  is provided with a step part  132 . In addition, a bending part  133  having an escape groove shape is formed on the opposite surface of the lower portion of the step part  132  at a predetermined depth and the lower portion of the bending part  133  may be sequentially provided with a substrate contacting part  134  and a main substrate connecting part  135 . 
     The head part  131  is inserted into the housing  120  through the contactor insertion groove  122  formed on the lower end surface of the housing  120  and may be easily inserted into the inside of the contactor insertion groove  122  through a curved surface formed at one side of the head part  131 . 
     In addition, the bending part  132  formed on the lower portion of the head part  131  may be formed to provide the additional elasticity to the upper and lower portions of the contactor  130  by the escape groove dug inwardly. The contactor  130  made of an elastic material enables the substrate contacting part  135  formed on the lower portion thereof to elastically contact the side of the substrate to be described below when the substrate contacting part  135  is in contact with the side of the substrate, while being elastically inserted into the contactor insertion groove  122  of the housing  120 . 
     The technical configuration will be described in more detail with reference to the above-mentioned drawings and the drawings to be described below, including the coupling relationship of each component for the camera module of the exemplary embodiment configured as described above. 
       FIG. 5  is a partially cut perspective view of the state where the contactor is coupled to the housing of the camera module according to the present invention,  FIG. 6  is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a camera module according to the present invention, and  FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the state of the main substrate coupling state of the camera module according to the present invention. 
     As shown, the camera module  100  according to the exemplary embodiment is configured to include the lens barrel  110 , the housing  120 , and the contactor  130  as described above. The housing  120  is formed in a hexahedral shape in which the barrel insertion hole  121  is formed, wherein the lower surface of the housing  120  may be provided with a two-stage step part  124 . 
     The step part  124  of the housing  120  shown in  FIG. 4  may be mounted with the IR filter  140  including the filter seating part  125  to block infrared rays included in light input through the lens L of the lens barrel  110  and the lower side of the IR filter  140  may be provided with a substrate seating part  126  and may be coupled with a substrate  160  on which an image sensor  150  is mounted. 
     In this configuration, the substrate  160  may be mounted with a printed circuit board (PCB) or a ceramic substrate. The side of the substrate  160  is provided with a side pad  161  to elastically connect to the substrate contacting part  134  formed to be protruded to one side to the plurality of contactors  130  mounted on the housing  120 , thereby making it possible to electrically connect the substrate  160  to the contactor  130 . 
     Meanwhile, the plurality of contactors  130  are inserted and fixed into the housing  120  in a line through the plurality of contactor insertion grooves  122  formed on the lower end surface thereof. The step part  132  formed to be protruded to the upper end of the contactor  130  is fixed to be hooked to the contactor exposing groove  123  formed on the side of the housing  120 , such that the contactor  130  may be fixed to the contactor insertion groove  122 , without being separated therefrom. 
     The curved surface having a predetermined curvature of the step part  132  is exposed to the outside through the contactor exposing groove  123 . In this case, since the contactor  130  itself includes elasticity, the hooking of the step part  132  hooked and fixed to the contactor exposing groove  123  is released by applying an external force to the step part  132  exposed through the contactor exposing groove  123  of the side thereof, such that the contactor  130  is separated in the contactor insertion groove  123 , thereby making it possible to easily replace the contactor  130  with a defect when the defect of the contactor  130  occurs. 
     The external force applied to the step part  132  of the contactor  130  may be applied through a jig in a general pin type. In this case, in order to further give elasticity to the step part  132 , the head part  131  of the contactor  130  may be formed in a ring type (not shown). 
     Meanwhile, the substrate contacting part  134  formed on the lower portion of the contactor  130  is convexly formed in an opposite direction to the step part  132 , such that it may be adhered to the side pad  161  formed on the side of the substrate  160  by the elasticity of the bending part  133 . 
     The main substrate connecting part  135  extending to the lower portion of the substrate contacting part  134  penetrates through the main substrate  200  mounted with the camera module by a surface mounting technology (SMT) and is coupled to thereto and the main substrate connecting part  135  penetrating through the through hole of the main substrate  200  is bonded to the rear surface of the main substrate  200  by a soldering to be electrically connected to each other. Therefore, the main substrate  200  and the substrate  160  coupled on the lower portion of the camera module  100  may be electrically connected to each other through the contactor  130 . 
     As described above, the substrate  160  on which the image sensor  150  is mounted is coupled to the lower portion of the housing  120  in the state where the contactor  130  is coupled with the cutting surface of the lower end surface of the housing  120  in a line, the inside of the housing  120  that is the upper portion of the substrate  160  is coupled with the IR filter  140 , and the barrel insertion hole  121  of the housing  120  is screw-connected with the lens barrel  110 , such that the assembling of the camera module may be completed. 
     The assembled camera module is mounted on the main substrate  200  in order to be mounted in electronic products such as a mobile phone, etc. In this case, as described above, the plurality of contactors  130  protruded to the lower portion of the housing  120  is inserted through the through hole formed on the main substrate  200  such that the mounting of the main substrate  200  of the camera module  100  is completed. After the camera module  100  is mounted, the electrical connection between the pattern formed on the rear surface of the main substrate  200  and the main substrate connection part  135  coupled with the through hole may be completed by the soldering. 
     The camera module of the exemplary embodiment configured as described above may be easily mounted by the surface mounting technology without using the separate socket when the camera module  100  is mounted on the main substrate  200 , thereby making it possible to individually separate and replace the contactor  130  from the housing  120  when the defect of each contactor  130  coupled with the housing  120  occurs. 
     As set forth above, the camera module according to the present invention electrically connects the camera module to the substrate by the plurality of contactors each inserted into the lower end of the housing to directly mount the camera module on the main substrate through the contactor, thereby simplify the mounting process of the camera module without using the separate socket and does not need to use the socket to lower the mounting height of the camera module, thereby making it possible to suitably mount the camera module in the electronic products. 
     Further, the camera module according to the present invention can individually replace the contactor with defect when a defect occurs in any one of the plurality of contactors coupled to the lower end surface of the housing, thereby making it possible to individually replace the contactor with a defect and save production costs 
     Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. Accordingly, such modifications, additions and substitutions should also be understood to fall within the scope of the present invention.