The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 12, 2025
Filed:
Aug. 01, 2022
Google Llc, Mountain View, CA (US);
Jingyu Huang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Liang Ching Tseng, Taipei, TW;
Tsung-Dar Cheng, Taipei, TW;
Alexander P. Wroblewski, San Francisco, CA (US);
Weifeng Pan, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Warwick Ka Kui Wong, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
The present document describes a camera module with electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. In particular, the camera module includes a lightning rod structure, which guides an ESD current to a safe location (e.g., system ground) when a lens retainer of the camera module is hit by an ESD spark. Due to the impact on camera focus tuning and the risk of audio rub and buzz, the lightning rod structure does not physically touch the lens retainer. As such, a gap separates the lightning rod structure from the lens retainer. When the lens retainer is stressed by an ESD spark, the gap is broken down and a conductive path is established to guide the ESD current to the safe location through the lightning rod structure. In this way, the ESD current flows along a controlled path instead of jumping to arbitrary locations, which protects nearby susceptible circuitry.