Patent ID: 7294950

Claim:
An electrostatic actuator comprising: a stator having an electrode substrate; a movable unit having a plurality of movable elements and guided by the stator to be freely reciprocated in a predetermined direction; an electrode arranged opposite to the electrode substrate; a plurality of first operation modules each of which issues an operation command for realizing a zooming operation, the plurality of first operation modules including at least two first operation modules, one of which has an algorithm for driving the plurality of movable elements one by one, and the other of which has an algorithm for driving only one movable element; a plurality of second operation modules each of which issues an operation command for realizing a focusing operation; a module selector which selectively enables one first operation module of the first operation modules and selectively enables one second operation module of the second operation modules; an actuator drive module which generates a waveform signal on the basis of the operation command from the enabled first operation module and the operation command from the enabled second operation module; and a switching circuit which converts the waveform signal into a voltage to apply the voltage to the electrode substrate.