Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Sharp Kabushiki Kaisah

Masayuki Nishikawa

Hideaki Fujita

Tohru Okuda

Hideo Okada

Tetsuo Iwaki

Chiaki Yamawaki

Toshiharu Inui

Yoshinori Kinai

Yoshifumi Iwai

Ryohhei Kawamuki

A lens unit and a lens driving apparatus are provided. First to third guide members have first to third axis lines, and the first to third axis lines are arranged in parallel with each other. A first lens holder has a first lens held by a first lens holding portion with a first main sliding portion guided by sliding on the first guide member, and a first sub sliding portion guided by sliding on the third guide member. A second lens holder has a second lens held coaxially with the first lens by a second lens holding portion with a second main sliding portion guided by sliding on the second guide member, and a second sub sliding portion guided by the third guide member.

Lens unit and lens driving apparatus

A lens unit having a first lens () whose optical surface on the imaging surface side is made of resin (), a first lens holder () for holding the first lens (), a second lens () placed to the imaging side of and spaced in the optical axis direction from the first lens (), and a second lens holder () for holding the second lens (). The first lens () and the second lens () are movable relative to each other. A second lens holder recess () which a resin projection () of the first lens () can enter and exit from is formed in the second lens holder ().

Lens unit and imaging device

One end of an FPC () for supplying power to the driving section of a light amount control section provided in a shutter unit () is disposed between a second lens holder () and the shutter unit () secured to this second lens holder () and is held between the second lens holder () and the shutter unit (). Thus, the FPC () is prevented from being spaced apart from the shutter unit (), and a member for securing the FPC () to the shutter unit () is eliminated, reducing the number of part items. Further, the second lens holder () and the shutter unit () blocks unwanted light toward the FPC (), so that a ghost image is prevented from appearing on an image due to unwanted light reflected on the FPC ().

Lens unit

A lens driving device has first and second driving units for moving first and second lens holders supporting first and second sets of lens elements in an optical axis direction, respectively. The first and second driving units each have a motor, a gear fitted around an output shaft of the motor, a lead screw rotated by the gear, and a nut fitted around the lead screw. The output shafts of the first and second motors overlap each other in their axial direction. The first and second driving units move the first and second lens holders in the optical axis direction via the respective nuts moving in the optical axis direction. An image pickup plane side end face of the motor of the first driving unit is positioned more to the image pickup plane side than a position most to the subject side of the second lens holder is.

Lens driving device and image pickup device using the same

There is provided a zoom lens unit excellent in shock resistance and space-saving. Second, third lens holdershave shaft holes, into which shaftsare inserted, so as to be movable in an optical axis direction. By first, second helical springsfitted to the shafts, the second lens holderis biased to a wall memberprovided on a subject side, and the third lens holderis biased to a wall memberprovided on an image pickup elementside. As the power is turned off, the second lens holdermoves toward the subject side and, upon contact with the wall member, is stopped, while the third lens holdermoves toward the image pickup elementside and, upon contact with the wall member, is stopped.

Zoom lens unit and image pickup device

There are provided an optical component module and a camera module capable of preventing damage to the camera module, particularly the optical component module against an impact applied from the outside due to falling, etc. of an apparatus on which the camera module is mounted, even if the strength of the case deteriorates due to miniaturizing, slimming, and weight reducing of the camera module. In the optical component module, a lens that is at least one optical component that is movable in a direction of an optical axis is provided within a case having openings and a primary axis shaft that guides movement of the lens in the direction of the optical axis is provided in the openings. By providing the primary axis shaft, deformation of the case can be suppressed. If an optical pickup device is mounted on the optical component module, a camera module can be formed.

Optical component module and camera module

An object of the invention is to provide an optical pickup apparatus which, using a single optical system having a large NA objective lens, can compensate for the spherical aberration caused due to manufacturing errors in the thickness of recording media, as well as the spherical aberration caused due to the recording surface position in the thickness direction which differs depending on the type of recording medium, and can thus perform recording or playback on different types of recording media. A lens assembly having a plurality of lenses each of which is independently displaceable along its optical axis is interposed between a light source and an objective lens, and the lenses in the lens assembly are moved by a lens driving means independently of each other along their respective optical axes in such a manner as to reduce a spherical aberration caused due to the thickness of the light transmitting layer of the recording medium and spherical aberrations on optical surfaces of the optical system.

Optical pickup apparatus

An optical pickup apparatus includes a first optical system for recording or reproducing signals to or from a first optical recording medium; a second optical system for recording or reproducing signals to or from a second optical recording medium; a holder for accommodating the first optical system and the second optical system on substantially the same plane; a focusing driving device for moving the holder in a first direction parallel to an optical axis of the first optical system and the second optical system; a tracking driving device for rotating the holder in a second direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the first optical system and the second optical system; a switching device for placing the first optical system on an optical path for recording or reproducing signals to or from the first optical recording medium, and for placing the second optical system on the optical path for recording or reproducing signals to or from the second optical recording medium; and a variable distance driving device for varying a distance between the first optical recording medium and the first optical system from a distance between the second optical recording medium and the second optical system when one of the first optical system and the second optical system is switched to the other optical system.

Optical pickup with switchable optical systems along an optical path

In accordance with the present invention a pickup device for optical disks includes spring wires supporting displaceably in focusing and tracking directions a lens holder holding an objective lens. One set of more than two spring wires is provided for each side of the lens holder and a total of two such sets of spring wires are arranged parallel to each other. Of more than two spring wires of each set, at least one spring wire has a cross section allowing a spring constant in the focusing direction and that in the tracking direction to vary from each other and is also positioned farther or closer than the remaining spring wires away or to a centerline of the objective lens. As such the pickup device can ensure a sufficient displacement in the focusing and tracking directions and also control an inclination of the lens holder.

Pickup device for optical disk

A two-group lens is comprised of a first lens and a second lens. The first lens is driven in an optical-axis direction by a magnetic circuit including a variable-distance use coil. As the first lens is driven, the second lens is also driven in an opposite direction to the first lens by a magnetic circuit including a mass-body driving coil, where the center-of-gravity position of movable part of an objective lens driver is kept at a generally constant position. The variable-distance use coil is disposed with the same gap as the mass-body driving coil. Thus, the distance between the first lens and the second lens can be held constant with a simple structure, without involving any complex structure, so that an accurate tracking can be achieved.

Optical pickup device capable of accurate tracking with simple structure

The Invention is an image input apparatus equipped with means of image shifting which is capable of inputting images of different resolutions, and enables the transmission band of the spatial filter to be switched in accordance with resolution in order to prevent moire. When a flat transparent refraction plate 22 is inclined relative to the optical axis 10 by which light from the object is introduced, the position where the image is formed on the imaging surface of the CCD 14 is shifted, thus making image shifting possible. High resolution images are obtained by shifting the image a distance shorter than the distance between the photosensitive parts of the CCD 14, and then combining the images. The transmission band of the spatial filter 12 for preventing moire can be switched by changing the relative angles of the double refraction plates 20, 21. The transmission band of the spatial filter 12 is switched to the high frequency side when inputting high resolution images by means of the image shift mechanism 13, thus obtaining images of good resolution.

Image input apparatus having a spatial filter controller

The disclose is intended to miniaturize the actuator of an image shifting mechanism, to operate the actuator at high speed, and to reduce the effect of image shifting on image resolution. In an image shifting mechanism, a pair of bimorph type piezoelectric elements are disposed on both sides of a refraction plate. The bimorph type piezoelectric elements have a cantilever structure. The base end sides of the bimorph type piezoelectric elements are bonded and secured to a stage, and the free end sides are sandwiched between an upper holding plate and a lower holding plate so as to support one end of the refraction plate. When the bimorph type piezoelectric elements are displaced, the refraction plate can be inclined around its rotation center O. In the case of this structure, the specifications of the refraction plate and the bimorph type piezoelectric elements are determined so that the relationship between the moment of inertia Ic around the rotation center of the moving portions of the image shifting mechanism and the moment of inertia Ig around the center of gravity of the image shifting mechanism is Ic/Ig.ltoreq.1.6.

Image shifting mechanism and imaging device

A refracting plate is installed in the center of an actuator provided with a gimbaling mechanism element, which includes rotation supporting portions. A pair of voice coil motors are provided for each of the X- and the Y-axis in order to incline the refracting plate about the respective rotation supporting portions, and their own bobbins press the middle parts of the respective sides of the gimbaling mechanism element.

Growing community of inventors

Higashiosaka, Japan

Masayuki Nishikawa