Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7702227B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-02-16 09:38:43
Document Index: 598491842

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60']

US7702227B2 - Optical device having blur correction function - Google Patents
Optical device having blur correction function Download PDF
US7702227B2
US7702227B2 US11/464,780 US46478006A US7702227B2 US 7702227 B2 US7702227 B2 US 7702227B2 US 46478006 A US46478006 A US 46478006A US 7702227 B2 US7702227 B2 US 7702227B2
US11/464,780
US20070041721A1 (en
Sawako Ito
2005-08-16 Priority to US70849505P priority Critical
2005-08-16 Priority to US70849605P priority
2005-08-16 Priority to US70849705P priority
2005-10-19 Priority to US72840805P priority
2005-10-19 Priority to US72825605P priority
2005-10-19 Priority to US72822505P priority
2006-08-15 Priority to US11/464,780 priority patent/US7702227B2/en
2006-08-15 Application filed by Canon Inc filed Critical Canon Inc
2006-10-19 Assigned to CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA reassignment CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: OGINO, SHIGERU, ITO, SAWAKO, KATO, YUICHIRO, SATO, TAKEHIKO
2007-02-22 Publication of US20070041721A1 publication Critical patent/US20070041721A1/en
2010-04-20 Publication of US7702227B2 publication Critical patent/US7702227B2/en
An optical device includes a lens holding member that holds a lens and that is movable in a direction along a plane that is orthogonal to an optical axis of the lens, and an actuator that moves the lens holding member in the direction along the plane. In the optical device, the actuator includes an actuator element, formed of electroactive polymer, and a connecting member that connects the lens holding member to the actuator element.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/708,495, filed Aug. 16, 2005, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/728,225, filed Oct. 19, 2005, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/708,497, filed Aug. 16, 2005, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/728,256, filed Oct. 19, 2005, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/708,496, filed Aug. 16, 2005, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/728,408, filed Oct. 19, 2005, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
In recent years, widespread use of subminiature cameras mounted in digital or cellular telephones has resulted in an increasing demand for optical devices, such as cameras and video cameras, that are small and that provide high performance. When cameras or video cameras are reduced in size, the influence of vibration that they receive due to, for example, motion blurring is increased, thereby resulting in frequent blurring of a picked up image. Therefore, demand for a blur correcting mechanism is increasing. Hitherto, an electromagnetic motor has generally been used as an actuator for a driving mechanism of a blur correcting unit. The electromagnetic motor comprises a coil and a magnet, and converts electrical energy into driving power on the basis of what is called “Fleming's Law,” as a result of supplying electric current through the coil in the magnetic field of the magnet. A position detector, such as a light-receiving element, is used as a sensor that detects a driving displacement of the electromagnetic motor. To reduce the size of the actuator used as the electromagnetic motor, it is necessary to increase driving power that is generated per volume of the actuator. However, when the driving power is increased, the magnetic field needs to be increased. More specifically, a large driving power can be generated by any one of the following methods:
According to an aspect of the present invention, an optical device comprises a lens holding member that holds a lens and that is movable in a direction along a plane that is orthogonal to an optical axis of the lens, and an actuator that moves the lens holding member in the direction along the plane. The actuator includes an actuator element, formed of electroactive polymer, and a connecting member that connects the lens holding member to the actuator element.
FIG. 1 shows a main portion of an optical device including a camera and an interchangeable lens.
FIG. 1 shows a main portion of an optical device (camera system) including a camera and an interchangeable lens according to an embodiment of the present invention. An interchangeable lens 100 is connected to a camera body 120 by a communication contact 150 of a mount. A main substrate 102 that controls driving of an actuator, a focus lens driving unit 103, a stop driving unit 104, and a motion-blur-prevention driving unit 107 that corrects motion blurring are mounted in the interchangeable lens 100. The interchangeable lens 100 is controlled by a controlling circuit 101 on the main substrate 102. The actuator and the main substrate 102 are electrically connected to each other by a flexible printed circuit board (not shown).
FIGS. 2 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a structure of a blur correcting unit in an interchangeable lens according to the first embodiment. FIGS. 3A and 3B show structures of a two-phase electroactive polymer actuator element. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a structure of a camera and a structure of the lens. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the steps of controlling a driving operation of the lens when a two-phase electroactive polymer actuator unit is used.
When the thickness of an electroactive polymer film is 50 μm and driving voltage is 5 KV, the width and length of the film that can move a 10-gram load through a distance of 1 mm are approximately 10 mm and 2 mm, respectively. When the film is wound into the form of a cylinder and the inside diameter is 2 mm, the outside diameter is approximately 3 mm. Therefore, from these results, the length of one actuator unit is equal to the sum of the lengths of two films (2 mm×2) and the total thickness of three holding members. That is, it is possible to realize a small actuator unit having a length of approximately 6 mm and an outside diameter of 3 mm.
FIG. 4 and FIGS. 10 to 12 are diagrams related to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the structure of the camera and the structure of the lens. FIG. 10 shows a structure of a one-phase electroactive polymer actuator. FIG. 11 shows a structure of a blur-correcting unit in an interchangeable lens. FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the steps of controlling a driving operation of the lens.
A sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
FIGS. 13, 14, and 15 illustrate a circular-sheet polymer actuator unit. In these figures, reference numerals 101, 105, 106, and 107 denote sheet electroactive-polymer actuator elements that have the same size and are formed in an annular shape. Although the polymer used in this structure is an acrylic material or silicon dielectric elastomer, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,317, or a material having the characteristics discussed in Table 1 in “J D W. Madden, Artificial Muscle Technology: Physical Principles and Naval Prospects, IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, VOL. 29, NO. 3, JULY 2004,” the polymer used is not limited thereto. Electrodes, such as those formed of stretchable and compressible carbon, are formed on the front and back of the polymer. The method of forming the electrodes and the material of the electrodes are not limited to any particular method and material, respectively.
FIG. 17 shows a camera (image pickup device, such as a digital still camera or a video camera) according to a seventh embodiment.
The structure of a blur correcting unit according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 20A and 20B.
A structure of a blur correcting unit according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 21.
A structure of a blur correcting unit according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 22.
A structure of a blur correcting unit according to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention will be given with reference to FIGS. 23A and 23B.
An image-pickup-element driving unit according to a twelfth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25.
US11/464,780 2005-08-16 2006-08-15 Optical device having blur correction function Expired - Fee Related US7702227B2 (en)
US70849505P true 2005-08-16 2005-08-16
US70849605P true 2005-08-16 2005-08-16
US70849705P true 2005-08-16 2005-08-16
US72825605P true 2005-10-19 2005-10-19
US72822505P true 2005-10-19 2005-10-19
US72840805P true 2005-10-19 2005-10-19
US11/464,780 US7702227B2 (en) 2005-08-16 2006-08-15 Optical device having blur correction function
US20070041721A1 US20070041721A1 (en) 2007-02-22
US7702227B2 true US7702227B2 (en) 2010-04-20
ID=37767426
US11/464,780 Expired - Fee Related US7702227B2 (en) 2005-08-16 2006-08-15 Optical device having blur correction function
US (1) US7702227B2 (en)
US20120133744A1 (en) * 2010-11-25 2012-05-31 Inventec Corporation Stereoscopic image generation apparatus and method
TWI457597B (en) * 2007-12-10 2014-10-21 Parker Hannifin Corp Optical lens image stabilization systems
JP5277510B2 (en) * 2007-08-09 2013-08-28 コニカミノルタ株式会社 Imaging unit and electronic apparatus
CN103842875B (en) * 2011-09-28 2016-11-09 数位光学Mems有限公司 Based on the optical image stabilization of mems
JP6303928B2 (en) * 2014-08-29 2018-04-04 Tdk株式会社 Lens driving device
JP2017083582A (en) * 2015-10-26 2017-05-18 Hoya株式会社 Imaging device
US7423824B2 (en) * 2004-08-06 2008-09-09 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Actuator, optical apparatus using actuator, and method of manufacturing actuator
2006-08-15 US US11/464,780 patent/US7702227B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
John D. W. Madden, Artificial Muscle Technology: Physical Principles and Naval Prospects, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering , Jul. 2004, vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 207-728, IEEE, United States of America.
Steven Ashley, Artifical Muscles, Scientific American, Oct. 2003, Scientific American, Inc., United States of America.
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artifical Muscles, book, 2004, pp. 22-31, pp. 535-539, The Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, United States of America.
US20070041721A1 (en) 2007-02-22
US20090002502A1 (en) 2009-01-01 Photographing apparatus
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ITO, SAWAKO;KATO, YUICHIRO;SATO, TAKEHIKO;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:018413/0313;SIGNING DATES FROM 20060922 TO 20061017
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ITO, SAWAKO;KATO, YUICHIRO;SATO, TAKEHIKO;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20060922 TO 20061017;REEL/FRAME:018413/0313