Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Takashi Haruguchi

Shogo Horinouchi

Taiichi Mori

Shin Ishibashi

Hideki Yoshinaka

Nobuyuki Tokubuchi

Yoshinobu Soeda

Hitoshi Asahi

Kazuhisa Ide

Masaomi Inoue

Munenori Aoyagi

Kouichi Bairin

Masahiro Shiihara

Kiyoshi Hibino

Kouichi Kumamaru

Satoshi Tamaki

Masaki Tagome

Masaharu Fukakusa

Fuminobu Furukawa

Yutaka Miyazono

Toshihiro Koga

Hirotaka Ueno

Yuji Terashima

Kousei Sano

Hideki Nakata

Tomokuni Iijima

Osamu Kajino

Kazuyuki Nakashima

Yuuji Terashima

Kouki Kojima

Hideo Yamaguchi

Junya Aso

Tadashi Shiraishi

Junichi Mutoh

Syogo Horinouchi

Kazumi Otsubo

Seiji Kimura

Kazumi Ootubo

Hiroshi Gotoh

Hirohiko Ohwaki

Susumu Uragami

A distance measurement device for measuring a distance to an object that exists in a distance measurement region includes: a light source configured to emit laser light; a lens configured to converge the laser light emitted from the light source, into substantially parallel light; a tubular light blocking member disposed on an optical path of the laser light emitted from the light source and surrounding the optical path; a photodetector configured to detect reflected light, of the laser light, reflected at the distance measurement region; and a condensing lens configured to condense the reflected light passing through the outside of the light blocking member, onto the photodetector.

Distance measurement device

A distance measurement device includes: a mirror disposed so as to be tilted relative to a rotation center axis; a drive unit configured to rotate the mirror about the rotation center axis; a photodetector configured to detect reflected light, of laser light, reflected in a distance measurement region; and a condensing lens disposed on the rotation center axis and configured to condense the reflected light reflected by the mirror, on the photodetector. The mirror has a shape elongated in one direction and is disposed such that a short axis thereof is tilted relative to the rotation center axis in a direction parallel to a plane including the rotation center axis. A width in a short-axis direction of the mirror is smaller than a width of a lens portion of the condensing lens as viewed in a direction parallel to the rotation center axis.

There is provided a distance measurement device that can appropriately detect a distance to an object regardless of the distance. The distance measurement device includes a laser light source, a photodetector, and a controller. The controller performs a long-distance routine that detects timing for receiving light when an object is at a long distance, and a short-distance routine that detects the timing for receiving light when the object is at a short distance, based on a detection signal output from the photodetector during one distance measurement operation. The controller then selects one of a detection result of the timing for receiving light by the long-distance routine and a detection result of the timing for receiving light by the short-distance routine, and calculates the distance to the object irradiated with projection light based on the selected detection result.

There is provided a distance measurement device that can successfully take in reflected light from a distance measurement area, and at the same time, can achieve compactness of the distance measurement device. The distance measurement device includes a fixed part, a rotating part that is rotatably disposed on the fixed part, a laser light source that is disposed in the fixed part, and a photodetector that is disposed in the fixed part. The distance measurement device further includes a beam splitter that is disposed in the fixed part and separates an optical path of projection light emitted from the laser light source from an optical path of reflected light reflected by a distance measurement area and an imaging lens that is disposed in a common optical path of projection light and reflected light and is used for taking in reflected light reflected by the distance measurement area.

In a camera module, a lens for forming an image on an imaging element having a rectangular light receiving surface is formed in a shape obtained by removing a peripheral portion of a circular lens, such as a generally oval shape, and a cylindrical lens barrel coaxially holding the lens is formed in a shape conforming to that of the lens. A part of a focal adjustment actuator is disposed in a space created on a side of the lens barrel in correspondence with the removed portion of the lens, whereby reduction in size of the entirety of the camera module is promoted.

Camera module

An optical headcomprises: a light sourcethat emits a light beam; an objective lensthat condenses, in the form of converging light, the light beam emitted by the light source, onto an information recording medium; a cylindrical lensonto which a reflected light beam that is reflected by the information recording medium is incident, and which generates astigmatism for forming a focus error signal; a light detectorthat receives the reflected light beam passing through the cylindrical lens; and a holderthat holds the cylindrical lensand the light detector. The holderhas a first main face and a second main face that extend in directions that intersect the optical axis of the reflected light beam. The cylindrical lensis bonded to the first main face and the light detectoris bonded to the second main face.

Optical head and optical information device

An optical pickup device includes light sources for respectively emitting a plurality of different wavelengths of light, a unit structured for causing at least a part of the light emitted from the light sources to pass a same optical path; and a focusing unit for focusing the light. The focusing unit includes at least first and second focusing parts, the first focusing part being to focus mainly a wavelength of light different from a wavelength of light to be mainly focused by the second focusing part. The optical pickup device and optical disk device are capable of realizing at least one of thickness reduction, size reduction and suppression against characteristic deterioration even where coping with various wavelengths of laser including a blue laser.

Objective lens, optical pick-up device, and optical disk device

To reduce the size or thickness of an optical pickup device and an optical disk drive, an optical pickup device includes a light source that radiates laser light; a condensing member that condenses the laser light onto a recording medium; an optical member that reflects some of the laser light radiated from the light source into the condensing member and transmits the rest of the radiated laser light; and a light receiving sensor that receives the rest of the laser light transmitted through the optical member so as to detect an amount of laser light.

Optical pickup device and optical disk drive

A camera moduleincludes a movable sectionthat includes a lens, a fixed sectionhaving a hollow space extending in the optical axis direction of the lens, and an elastic bodythat elastically supports the movable sectionand the fixed section, an imaging elementthat is fixed to the fixed sectionand has a light-receiving surface perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens, a plurality of magnets,,, andarranged along the fixed section, and a coil sectionprovided in the movable section. The elastic bodyincludes an upper springand a lower spring, which support the fixed sectionbetween adjacent ones of the magnets, andalong the arrangement direction of these magnets on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens. With this configuration, it is possible to provide a camera module with an automatic focusing control function, whose thickness can be reduced remarkably.

A camera module including: a lens portion including at least one lens; an imaging element; a fixed portion; a first elastic body that is provided on a side opposite to the imaging element side with respect to the lens and couples the lens portion and the fixed portion; and a second elastic body that is provided on the imaging element side with respect to the lens and couples the lens portion and the fixed portion. The first elastic body and the second elastic body have the same shape. The first elastic body and the second elastic body are arranged so as to oppose each other while sharing a common central axis. The second elastic body is arranged so that so that the shape of the second elastic body is different from a shape of the first elastic body projected in the optical axis direction of the lens.

It is an object to provide a laser module in which the position and the posture of a laser beam source can be adjusted even in a small space so that an optical intensity necessary for recording and reproducing information can be ensured and the laser module is seldom affected by an ambient temperature. It is another object of the present invention to provide an optical pickup device, an optical disk device, a focus error detection method and a tracking error detection method. The laser beam source adjustment memberand the laser beam source shift memberare attached to the laser beam sourceso that the leadcan penetrate them. Further, FPCis fixed to the leadbeing soldered. The laser beam sourceand the laser beam source adjustment memberare fixed between the holding plateand the laser beam source shift memberbeing pushed by the pushing springThe laser beam source adjustment memberhas a spherical face formed round a light emitting point of the laser beam sourceand is rotated round the light emitting point of the laser beam sourceso that an inclination of the laser beam sourcewith respect to the axial direction can be adjusted.

Laser module, optical pickup device, optical disk device, focus error detection method and tracking error detection method

To provide an optical pickup device and optical disk device capable of realizing at least one of thickness reduction, size reduction and suppression against characteristic deterioration even where coping with various wavelengths of laser including a blue laser. An optical pickup device comprising light sources for respectively emitting a plurality of different wavelengths of light, unit structured for causing at least a part of the light emitted from the light sources to pass a same optical path; and focusing unit for focusing the light. The focusing unit includes at least first and second focusing parts, the first focusing part being to focus mainly a wavelength of light different from a wavelength of light to be mainly focused by the second focusing part.

The present invention provides an optical pickup device comprising a light condensing means for condensing light emergent from a light source to an optical disk, a light condensing holder on which the light condensing means is mounted, a suspension holder for elastically supporting the light condensing holder, a focus coil mounted on the light condensing holder, a tracking coil mounted on the light condensing holder, and a magnetic field impression means for impressing a magnetic field upon the focus coil and the tracking coil, wherein the tracking coil is composed of a first to a third tracking coil portion combined with each other.

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Fukuoka, Japan

Takashi Haruguchi