Patent Description:
The invention relates to the field of Auto Focus (AF) and optical image stabilization (OIS) systems that utilizes micro actuators to move optical and sensing elements to compensate for hand-shake blur and achieve autofocus. The novel mechanism of achieving AF and OIS is used in cameras that are integrated in a variety of electronic devices such as smartphones, iPads, laptops, and other electronic devices that require miniature camera modules for imaging.

Different mechanisms to achieve Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) in cameras have been developed to remove hand-shake effect on the image or video. These methods include lens barrel shift, image sensor shift, only lens barrel tilt, or the entire camera tilt. The lens barrel and image sensor shift along the x-y plane, which is perpendicular to the optical axis (z-axis), easily distorts the image, especially around the edges. The entire camera tilt mechanism, disclosed in patent No. <CIT>, requires a large actuation unit that surrounds the whole camera and it consumes high powers due to the large pay-load (entire camera) to achieve OIS.

Only-Lens tilt mechanism has also been used to counteract the hand-shake distortion by tilting the lens barrel about the x-y axes. Such mechanism is disclosed in the following patents and patent applications: <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>. All of the designs presented in these patents achieve OIS by tilting the lenses only. Such tilting introduces significant distortion to the image called vignetting effect (an effect that shows part of the image in focus while other parts are out of focus, especially at the edges). This is due to the fact that when the lenses are tilted, the reflected image plane is also tilted and it becomes not parallel to the sensor plane. Such drawback has prevented the lens tilt mechanism from being widely used in cameras as the quality of the image is compromised.

The present invention is a mechanism to achieve OIS to counteract hand-shake by tilting the lens and the image sensor simultaneously such that no vignetting effect is introduced to the image. The system also achieves AF by moving the image sensor and/or the lens barrel along the optical axis. By using the two actuators for AF, the achievable stroke available for AF is the sum of that of each of the two actuators when such a stroke is not used for OIS compensation.

An example of actuators to achieve such mechanism are disclosed in previous inventions by the inventors presented in the <CIT> and the US patent No. <CIT>.

The previous inventions only disclose camera modules utilizing MEMS electrostatic actuators to achieve OIS by tiling only the lens barrel. However, a blur to the image is inevitable using such a technique. The present invention removes the blur or distortion (vignetting effect) by incorporating an actuator beneath the image sensor to tilt the image sensor in conjunction with the lens barrel tilt to achieve OIS. Such simultaneous and coordinated tilting to the optical elements in the camera (lens barrel and image sensor) guarantees that the plane of the reflected image and the plane of the image sensor are both parallel, and aberrations free images are constructed.

The MEMS electrostatic actuator that actuates the lens barrel, disclosed in the <CIT>, has <NUM> degrees-of-freedom motions (translation along the optical axis z, and bi-axial tilt about the x and y axes). The actuator is designed to fit and receive a lens barrel that is placed with the actuator central opening. The translation is used to achieve AF and the bi-axial tilt is used to achieve OIS.

The MEMS electrostatic actuator that actuates the image sensor, disclosed in patent No. <CIT>, has <NUM> degrees-of-freedom motions (translation along the optical axis z, and bi-axial tilt about the x and y axes), but it was used to only achieve AF through translation of the image sensor along the z-axis (i.e., optical axis).

The present invention utilizes the three-degrees-of-freedom motion of each actuator to achieve an optimal AF and OIS system that corrects hand-shake blur by dual tilt of the lens barrel and the image sensor such that no vignetting effect is introduced to the image. The system is also able to achieve AF by translating the lens barrel and the image sensor along the z-axis. As such, there is provided an autofocus (AF) and optical image stabilization (OIS) system, comprising: a camera housing; a lens barrel comprising a set of optical lenses; a MEMS lens-barrel actuator having an opening that allows light to go through, and having an actuator stator that is attached to an actuator rotor through a set of mechanical springs that deform when the rotor moves, the actuator stator being rigidly attached to the camera housing, and the lens barrel being attached to the actuator rotor to move therewith; an image sensor, and a MEMS image-sensor actuator attached to said image sensor, the MEMS image-sensor actuator having an image sensor stator that is attached to an image sensor rotor through a second set of mechanical springs, and wherein the image sensor stator is rigidly attached to a PCB board, and wherein the PCB board and the camera housing are attached to each other or to an external fixed frame, and wherein the image sensor actuator provides translation of the image sensor along an optical axis away from the lens barrel and tilts around an in-plane axes for a yaw and a pitch, whereby the MEMS lens barrel actuator provides a translation along an optical axis when the actuator rotor moves towards the actuator stator and moves the lens barrel with it, and whereby the MEMS lens barrel actuator also provides a tilt (yaw and pitch) around an in plane axes, thereby the AF and OIS compensation are achieved using tilt of both the lens barrel and the image sensor separately, whereby both optical image stabilization and/or translation are achieved for autofocus.

<CIT> by the same inventors, disclosed an autofocus mechanism, using an actuator that provides <NUM> degrees-of-freedom motion: translation along the optical axis (i.e. z axis) and bi-axial tilt about the in-plane x and y axes. The bi-axial tilt is used to cancel any undesired lens tilt due to imperfections in the lens barrel assembly and any tilt that occurs during the use of the camera module. The main features that enables the piston-tube actuator to meet the requirements of such autofocus mechanism (i.e. image sensor actuation) include the ability of bonding and packaging the MEMS silicon chips with the image sensors, the high reliability of the springs of the actuator based on the springs having a large width and a large height, the large length of the springs, and the ultra-thin height of the actuator.

Embodiments herein will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings provided to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the claims, wherein like designations denote like elements, and in which:.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

With respect to the above description, it is to be realized that the optimum relationships for the parts of the invention in regard to size, shape, form, materials, function and manner of operation, assembly and use are deemed readily apparent and obvious to those skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

The present invention presents a novel method for achieving AF and OIS compensation using tilt of both lens barrel and image sensor separately. Such method removes any blur that ensues from tilting the lens barrel by making the plane of the image sensor and the plane of the reflected image aligned.

<FIG> shows the complete OIS and AF system once the compensation is achieved. To explain the novel method in the present invention, <FIG> shows the schematics of the optical system of the camera before any hand-shake tilt is introduced. The reflected image <NUM> of the object <NUM> along the optical axis <NUM> is at its initial position <NUM> on the image sensor <NUM>.

When the entire camera is tilted downward, refer to <FIG>, due to the hand-shake tilt <NUM> (pitch or yaw motions), the reflected image of the object on the image sensor is shifted downward, hence blur is introduced.

To correct for such blur, the image <NUM> of the object has to return to its initial position <NUM> on the image sensor. To do so, an actuator has to tilt the lens barrel in the direction <NUM> of the hand-shake tilt in order to shift the reflected image of the object up and restore its initial position on the image sensor, refer to <FIG>. The object image <NUM> is then restored, but another blur is introduced to the image as the edges of the image are out of focus. This is due to the fact that, the plane <NUM> of the reflected image which passes through the lens barrel <NUM> is not aligned with the image sensor plane <NUM>.

To correct for this blur (i.e. a vignetting effect where edges of the image are out of focus), another actuator placed beneath the image sensor has to tilt the image sensor in the direction <NUM> of the lens barrel actuator tilt in order to make the image sensor plane <NUM> parallel to the reflected image plane <NUM>. <FIG> shows the image stabilization system after the corrections of the hand-shake and vignetting blurs are achieved.

It should be apparent that such method is distinct from the entire camera tilt mechanism. The entire camera tilt mechanism compensates for OIS by tilting the entire camera in an opposite direction to the hand-shake tilt, where the method presented here compensates for it by tilting the lens barrel and image sensor, separately, in the direction so as to restore the focus of the image and to remove the vignetting effect.

<FIG>(A-D) show a cross sectional view of the camera incorporating the two MEMS actuators used for AF and OIS. The two actuators can translate the sensor and/or the optics along the optical axis to achieve AF or tilt the image sensor and optics around the in-plane axes (axes perpendicular to the optical axis) for OIS.

The camera module is made up of a housing <NUM>, a lens barrel <NUM> with two or more optical lenses, a lens barrel actuator <NUM> with a stator <NUM> that is rigidly attached to the housing <NUM> and a rotor <NUM>. The actuator stator and rotor are attached to each other through mechanical springs that deform when the rotor moves. The lens barrel actuator has an opening that allows light to go through. The lens barrel <NUM> is attached to the rotor of the actuator <NUM> and moves with it. The lens barrel actuator <NUM> provides a translation along the optical axis (Z axis) when the rotor <NUM> moves towards the stator <NUM> and moves the lens barrel <NUM> with it. The lens barrel actuator also provides tilts (yaw and pitch) around the in plane axes (the two axes perpendicular to the optical axis). One embodiment of the lens barrel actuator is a piston-tube actuator with an opening in the centre that provides such a <NUM> degrees of freedom motion as disclosed in <CIT>.

The camera module also incorporates an IR filter that can be positioned between the image sensor and the optics. The image sensor <NUM> is attached to the image sensor actuator <NUM> that has a stator <NUM> and a rotor <NUM>. The image sensor actuator stator <NUM> is rigidly attached to the PCB circuit <NUM> and is attached to the rotor <NUM> through mechanical springs. The PCB board <NUM> and the camera housing <NUM> are attached to each other or can be both attached to an external fixed frame. The image sensor actuator provides also translation of the image sensor along the optical axis away from the lens barrel and two axes tilts around the inplane axes (yaw and pitch). The motion of the rotor <NUM> with respect to the stator <NUM> leads to a deformation of the springs attaching the rotor <NUM> to the fixed stator <NUM>. One embodiment of the image sensor actuator is a piston-tube actuator with no opening at the centre that provides such a <NUM> degrees of freedom motion as disclosed in <CIT>.

The layout of the two actuators is such that the stroke of each can be used to achieve AF or the stroke of both jointly can be used to achieve AF if a larger stroke is needed.

The actuator moving the lens barrel, refer to <FIG>, consists of two parts: moving <NUM> and fixed <NUM>. The moving part consists of an arrays of openings (tubes) that surround a central through hole (for lens barrel integration) that are attached to the outer periphery of the actuator through mechanical springs. The fixed part consists of multiple arrays of pistons that are protruding vertically and are aligned with the openings in the moving part. Such actuator design is explained in detail in <CIT> and <CIT>.

The image sensor actuator also consists of two parts: moving <NUM> and fixed <NUM>. It has a similar design to that of the lens barrel actuator but with no hole at the middle. The actuator is able to translate the image sensor along the z-axis to achieve AF and/or to tilt it about the x and y axes to achieve OIS.

It is apparent to one skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention not limited to the piston-tube actuator. But it could be achieved by other mechanisms of actuation such other forms of micro-electrostatic, thermal, SMA, or any other actuation method.

Claim 1:
An autofocus, AF and optical image stabilization, OIS system, comprising:
a) a camera housing (<NUM>);
b) a lens barrel (<NUM>) comprising a set of optical lenses;
c) a MEMS lens-barrel actuator (<NUM>) having an opening that allows light to go through, and having an actuator stator (<NUM>) that is attached to an actuator rotor (<NUM>) through a set of mechanical springs that deform when the rotor moves, the actuator stator being rigidly attached to the camera housing (<NUM>), and the lens barrel (<NUM>) being attached to the actuator rotor to move therewith;
d) an image sensor (<NUM>), and
e) a MEMS image-sensor actuator (<NUM>) attached to said image sensor (<NUM>), the MEMS image-sensor actuator (<NUM>) having an image sensor stator (<NUM>) that is attached to an image sensor rotor (<NUM>) through a second set of mechanical springs, and wherein the image sensor stator (<NUM>) is rigidly attached to a PCB board, and wherein the PCB board and the camera housing (<NUM>) are attached to each other or to an external fixed frame, and wherein the image sensor actuator (<NUM>) provides translation of the image sensor (<NUM>) along an optical axis (<NUM>) away from the lens barrel (<NUM>) and tilts around an in-plane axis for a yaw and a pitch,
characterized in that the MEMS lens barrel actuator (<NUM>) provides a translation along an optical axis when the actuator rotor (<NUM>) moves towards the actuator stator (<NUM>) and moves the lens barrel (<NUM>) with it, and whereby the MEMS lens barrel actuator (<NUM>) also provides a tilt for yaw and pitch around an in plane axis, thereby the AF and
OIS compensation are achieved using tilt of both the lens barrel (<NUM>) and the image sensor (<NUM>) separately, whereby both optical image stabilization and/or translation for AF are achieved.