Patent Application
20200204740
The present invention relates to mobile devices, or more specifically to camera modules for such devices.
Cameras or camera modules for mobile phones or other types of mobile devices have expanded rapidly over the last decade. Such cameras or modules are pushed to ever-higher resolution, improved dynamic range, improved auto focusing and other optical parameters. While the demands for performance are increasing, so is the push for miniaturizing the actual camera module, since e.g. mobile phone manufactures seek to produce ever-slimmer devices. At the same time, there is an ongoing desire to achieve zoom capabilities in these camera modules.
WO2015/058157A1 describes methods and apparatus for controlling the read out of rows of pixel values from sensors corresponding to different optical chains used to capture portions of the same image area are described. In some embodiments the readout is controlled based on user input and/or determinations with regard to the rate of motion in captured images or portions of captured images. For a low rate of motion the readout rate of a sensor corresponding to a small focal length maybe slowed down while the pixel row readout rate of one or more sensors corresponding to one or more optical chains have larger focal lengths are allowed to proceed at a normal rate. In some embodiments, for a high rate of motion, the read out rate of the sensor corresponding to the optical chain having the smaller focal length is allowed to proceed at the normal rate.
Auto focusing and zoom require the ability to adjust positions of lenses in a lens stack with a high precision over relatively large distances, and require complex and bulky solution which particularly for compact camera modules for mobile devices is technologically challenging or not acceptable. There has been attempts to create zoom with tunable lenses where instead of creating optical power variation by moving a lens or a group of lenses in a lens structure (classical way of realising a zoom function) based on tunable lenses, e.g. as marketed by the French company Varioptic), but those solutions are still bulky and not compatible with the mobile trend requirement of slimmer and slimmer mobile phone (i.e: for a 5M pixel, ¼ inch sensor, solution was as long as 25 to 30 mm). With the evolution of digital image processing, one demonstrated solution to create zoom functionality has been to combine 2 cameras that have different field of view, such as a short and a long effective focal lens, respectively. One example of such a dual-camera design was presented by Corephotonics (http://corephotonics.com/news-posts/omnivision-corephotonics-announce-dual-camera-zoom-reference-design-smartphones/).
Generally, such camera module needs focusing capabilities to capture images in focus and in general to achieve a good image quality. Therefore, especially for the long effective focal length (EFL) camera module, the range of adjustment of the lens, or “stroke” must be substantial for the long EFL lens/camera.
It is relatively easy to realise a solution that will offer the capability of creating a good zoom ratio, (i.e. 3 or 5×ratio zoom), however, especially the long effective focal lens camera will be relatively bulky and long (i.e.: a short EFL could be in the range of 3 mm while the long effective focal length will be in the range of 9 to 15 mm length typically for a ⅓″ of inch sensor format). The short EFL camera will correspond to a thin camera module compatible with the actual mobile phone size or thickness limit of 5 to 6 mm, but the long effective focal length will be not compatible with these requirements. While there are ways to reduce the total thickness of the long effective focal length by using a conventional telephoto lens design, such a solution would add complexity and still not achieved the 5 to 6 mm requirement mechanical length.
It is known that for a given focus distance capability in the object space of 5 dioptres, the equivalent stroke of the lens displacement will be in the range of EFL×EFL×5 dioptre which is for a 15 mm EFL in the range of 1 mm.
Camera modules using voice coil motor (VCM) technology is known to provide auto focusing, but achieving the required stroke for zoom capabilities (in the range of millimetres) pose several problems, e.g., with regards to achieving an adequate optical axis stability and a sufficiently fast speed of focus, due to the long required stroke. VCM technology is inherently subject to magnetic interference, and will show a significant increase in power consumption when increasing stroke.
Hence, an improved camera module would be advantageous, and in particular a more efficient, compact and/or reliable zoom enabled camera module would be advantageous.
An object of the present invention is to provide an alternative to the prior art.
In particular, it may be seen as a further object of the present invention to provide a camera module that solves the above mentioned problems of the prior art with regards to achieve a compact module that provides both auto focus and zoom capabilities, for integration in mobile devices.
Thus, the above described object and several other objects are intended to be obtained in a first aspect of the invention by providing a module with a plurality of cameras for integration in a mobile phone. The module comprises a first camera assembly, comprising a first image sensor and a first lens assembly. The first lens assembly is configured for having a first effective focal length, EFL1. The first camera assembly defines a first optical axis and a first sensor axis, the first sensor axis is substantially normal to the first image sensor. The module further comprises a second camera assembly comprising a second image sensor and a second lens assembly. The second lens assembly is configured for having a second effective focal length, EFL2. The second camera assembly defines a second optical axis and a second sensor axis, the second sensor axis being substantially normal to the second image sensor. The first effective focal length is shorter than the second effective focal length, EFL1<EFL2. The second camera assembly comprises a folding mirror adapted to fold the second optical axis between the second lens assembly and the second image sensor. Lastly, the module comprising a mechanical frame arranged to carry the first camera assembly and the second camera assembly such that the first optical axis and the second optical axis are substantially parallel in an object space. The first lens assembly or the second lens assembly comprises a tunable lens having an adjustable effective focal length, the tunable lens comprising a transparent layer having chosen flexibility, an actuator configured to bend the transparent layer, and a deformable lens body being positioned in contact with the transparent layer at a first surface of the deformable lens body. The tunable lens (in the following also referred to as a “transparent optical device element”) as described here is exceptionally well-suited for this application due to the very compact actuator and high stability obtainable in the optical axis. Examples of such a lens is further described in international patent application PCT/EP2014/055391 by the present applicant, which application is hereby incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing details of a tunable lens, such as the deformable lens body, suitable as a part of the module according to the present invention. Particularly, this configuration enables that, a long effective focal length lens (“long lens”) and a short effective focal length lens (“short lens”) sharing a same direction of view may be arranged in a compact manner, which is highly attractive e.g. for mobile devices. For instance, such an arrangement may be used together with digital image processing to give zoom capabilities by interpolating image data between a wide angle image, taken with the short lens, and a narrow angle image, taken with the long lens. That is, the two camera assemblies share the same scenery, such that preferably, the field of view of the long lens is fully within the field of view of the short lens. The tunable lens provides auto focusing in a very compact footprint, meaning that the two cameras may be space closely together, both to limit the required space within the mobile phone, and to limit the parallax error between the two. Folding the optical axis of the second camera assembly ensures that the second image sensor may be arranged sufficiently far away from the second lens assembly to enable use of the long effective focal length, without increasing the required thickness of the camera module and thus the mobile phone.
More specifically, in a first aspect of the invention, such as according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a module with a plurality of cameras for integration in a mobile phone, the module comprising:
the first lens assembly or the second lens assembly comprises a tunable lens having an adjustable effective focal length, the tunable lens comprising a transparent layer having chosen flexibility, an actuator configured to bend the transparent layer, and a deformable lens body being positioned in contact with the transparent layer at a first surface of the deformable lens body, wherein the second camera assembly comprises two or more folding mirrors.
An advantage of having two folding mirrors may be that an even longer effective focal length camera assembly may be wrapped around a perimeter of the first camera assembly, to achieve compact module. A more compact module with a plurality of cameras may be achieved.
In alternative embodiments, the second cameral assembly comprises one or more folding mirrors. Such alternative embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment, such as in particular embodiments corresponding to any one of the depedent claims.
In the context of the present application, a camera is to be understood as an device comprising an optical assembly for imaging an object space into an image space (such as a lens, an objective, or an aperture) and an image sensor arranged in the image space of the optical assembly to record the image. A camera will furthermore comprise a mechanical structure or frame to maintain the interrelation between the optical assembly and the image sensor. The raw signal detected by the image sensor is commonly processed into image information by electronic processing, either in a dedicated processor, a general purpose processor, or a combination of both. Some dedicated processors may also enable processing of raw signals from two or more image sensors simultaneously or alternately.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the two or more folding mirrors of the second camera assembly are arranged for folding the second optical axis around the first camera assembly. This may be advantageous, since it may allow that a more compact module with a plurality of cameras may be achieved. By “folding . . . around” may be understood that a line can be drawn between different parts of the optical axis of the second camera assembly, which line intersects the first camera assembly. This may be advantageous for achieving compactness since then space inside the second camera assembly can be utilized, at least partially, for the first camera assembly.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the two or more folding mirrors of the second camera assembly are arranged so that segments of the optical axis of the second camera assembly span a three-dimensional space. An advantage of this may be that it enables utilizing 3-dimensions thereby giving 1-2 other degree(s) of freedom enabling a more compact design.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, a largest distance from
The first intersection may in general be any intersection between the second optical axis and the second lens assembly, but it is defined by being the intersection with the largest distance to the second intersection. The first intersection may be, such as may typically be, the first point of contact between the optical axis and the lens assembly, such as the first point of contact between the optical axis and the first optical element of the second lens assembly, for a photon moving along the optical axis from outside of the second lens assembly and into the second lens assembly. In another embodiment, said largest distance may be replaced with a largerst distance between two points on the second optical axis within the second lens assembly.
This embodiment may be seen as quantifying the possible advantage of the second mirror (if the bending is done desirably), namely for example that the bee-line distance between the entry point (at the lens) of the optical ray and the end point (at the image sensor) is closer than what can be achieved by a single mirror or multiple mirrors, which do not bend the optical ray “back” (so that different segments of the optical path have components being anti-parallel) or out of plane. This may entail that the entire module can be kept compact.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the at least one deformable lens body is made from a non-fluid elastic material. Since the lens body is non-fluid, no tight enclosure is needed to hold the lens body, and there are no risk of leakage. In one such embodiment, the lens body is made from a soft polymer, which may include a number of different materials, such as silicone, polymer gels, a polymer network of cross-linked or partly cross-linked polymers, and a miscible oil or combination of oils. Using a soft polymer makes it possible to produce lenses where the polymer is in contact with air, thus requiring much less force when adjusting the focal length of the lens. It also eases the production, as the polymer will keep in place even if the different production steps are localized in different positions or facilities. This also makes it possible to provide leakage channels or bubbles of compressible gas in order to reduce the required force necessary to adjust the lens and to reduce the strains caused by temperature and pressure fluctuations in the environment.
In some embodiments, the deformable lens body comprises a polymer network of cross-linked or partly cross-linked polymers and a miscible oil or combination of oils, thereby increasing the refractive index of said polymer network of cross-linked or partly cross-linked polymers.
In an embodiment, the deformable lens body has
To keep the lens body in place, and to focus its deformation to the regions just under the cover membrane, the lens assembly may further comprises structural elements adapted to restrain the change of shape of a part of the lens body opposite the cover membrane. These structural elements may be located on the back window and in contact with the lens body.
These structural elements may be one or more rods or pillars of a material having a refractive index identical or similar to the lens body. However, the structural element has a different material parameter, e.g. a Young's modulus higher than the lens body.
In some embodiments, these structural elements may be central members positioned within or adjacent to the lens body and on the optical axis. The central member may cause the lens body to provide a radial variation in reaction forces from the lens body when the bendable transparent cover member is actuated in the second direction, the reaction forces decreasing with increasing radius. This radial variation may be a result of:
The effect of all these implementations is that the central part of the lens body will feel stiffer when pushed at from above, and this stiffer ‘core’ of the lens body is a pivot point and support for the central region of the lens cover.
The actuators may be different type of actuators, e.g. piezoelectric actuators, having the function of shaping the bendable transparent cover member so as to provide focus adjustment and image stabilisation.
Another type of actuators may preferably each involve a coil and a magnet, and the addressing of an actuator involves drawing a current through the coil.
The back window is in contact with lens body.
The surface of the back window opposite the lens body may be concave or convex and improve the (de)focusing effect of the lens. The back window is preferably of high optical quality and preferably made from glass or regular optical plastic like polycarbonate.
The back window may form the cover glass for a device involving the lens assembly, such as a mobile phone camera. This will reduce the number of layers and improve the optical quality by reducing flare and improving transmittance. The back window may have an anti-reflect coating (ARC) and also provide an IR filter function, possibly combined with filtering properties of the lens body or of the bendable transparent cover member.
The back window is preferably a plane, transparent substrate of e.g. SiO2 or glass. The back window preferably has a flat surface facing the lens body. The opposite surface facing away from the lens body may be flat or may have a convex or concave, e.g. spherical shape to constitute a backside of the lens. In other embodiments, however, the back window might be a curved substrate, such as a spherical surface section as well as aspheric shape.
In another embodiment, the back window forms part of a transparent substrate of a touch screen. Such touch screens are standard in many electronic devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, computer monitors, GPS, media players, watches, etc. Such a touch sensitive screen may be based on different touch screen technologies such as resistive systems, capacitive systems, surface acoustic wave systems, infrared systems, etc., all of which involves a transparent substrate at its base.
The transparent optical device element may comprise one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation passing through said deformable lens body.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation may be within the lens body, coated on a surface of the lens body, within the cover member, back window or coated onto one or both.
In some further embodiments, the one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation is in contact with a second surface of the at least one deformable lens body, the second surface being opposite to said first surface.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation passing through the deformable lens body may thus be located onto the second surface being opposite to the first surface.
In some other embodiments, the one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation is in contact with the first surface of the at least one deformable lens body.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation may be located onto the first surface of the at least one deformable lens body.
In some embodiments, the bendable transparent cover member comprises the one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation, such as the one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation is coated onto one or more surfaces of the bendable transparent cover member.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation may be or be included in a coating deposited on the first and/or second surface of the at least one deformable lens body, and/or onto one or more surfaces of the bendable transparent cover member.
The at least one deformable lens body may comprises the one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation may be within the bulk of the at least one deformable lens body.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation may act as a filter in the infrared region, such as below 7 μm, for example in the Near infrared (N.I.R.) region, for example between 0.75 and 1.4 μm.
In some other embodiments, the one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation is or comprise a dye or a pigment.
In some further embodiments, the dye is an organic dye.
The one or more means for selectively transmitting electromagnetic radiation may comprise azo compounds, cyanine dyes, anthraquinone, dihydrodiketo anthracene, phthalocyanines, naphthalocyanines, carbocyanines, croconium dyes, squarylium dyes, thiophene based dyes or a combination thereof.
Suitable dyes or pigments may be organometallic complexes comprising transition or post transition metals such as Ni, Co, Ga, Ti, Mn, Zn, In, Cu or a combination thereof.
For example, suitable organometallic complexes may be bis (dithiobenzil) nickel complex or bis((4-dimethylamino) dithiobenzil) nickel complex.
Dyes and pigments may be modified so as to ensure the required solubility, e.g. to allow appropriate solubility into the silicone based polymer of the lens body, keeping the appropriate required softness of the lens body.
For example, azobiscyanopentanamide, croconium dyes squarylium dyes are used, and cyanine dyes have shown the potential of being incorporated in silicone polymer networks.
Optimization in incorporating dyes or pigments into silicone polymers could be directed towards solutions providing high index of refraction, appropriate softness and required IR absorption.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the first and second sensor axis are arranged to be substantially perpendicular to each other. In this way, a module having the minimum thickness for a given second effective focal length, EFL2, may be achieved. This requires that the folding mirror is arranged at an angle of substantially 45 degrees to the second optical axis.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, both the first camera assembly and the second camera assembly comprises a tunable lens. In this way, both camera assemblies may be provided with auto focusing capabilities while maintaining a compact module.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the first camera assembly comprises a voice coil motor, VCM, and the second camera assembly comprises a tunable lens. In this way, the technologies may be combined, while achieving the advantage of the compact size obtainable with the tunable lens.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, either the second lens assembly or the first lens assembly has a fixed effective focal length. In this way, a simple fixed lens camera assembly may be combined with a camera assembly having the tunable lens, to provide a simplified module with a low number of parts.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the fixed effective focal length lens is the first lens assembly, and the tunable lens is comprised by the second lens assembly. In this way, the long lens may be provided with auto focusing while the short lens is fixed, since short effective focal length lenses generally have a longer depth of field (DOF) than long effective focal length lenses. Thus, an acceptable image quality of a combined image from the two camera assemblies may be achieved from a simplified module.
In another embodiment, the long lens is a fixed focus lens assembly and the tunable lens is comprised in the short lens assembly. Particularly, the fixed focus lens assembly may be focusing at infinity (or at a hyperfocal distance). This configuration may be used for situations where the long lens is used for capturing objects far away, such that the ability to focus close to the lens may be dispensed with. In this way, acceptable image quality and performance may be achieved by a simplified camera module.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the folding mirror of the second camera assembly comprises a beam splitter to allow a part of the incident light to be transmitted through the folding mirror, the folding mirror further being arranged to define a space on a back side of the mirror, the back side being on a side opposite to a beam path of the second camera assembly, the module further comprising a component arranged in the space so as to interact with the transmitted light. In this way, further functionality may be fitted to the module while exploiting dead space under the folding mirror. For modules having multiple folding mirrors, each folding mirror may define a space, which may be used for components in a similar way.
In an embodiment, the beam splitter is a spatial beam splitter such that a fraction of light falling within a certain spatial extend of the folding mirror is transmitted to the back side of the folding mirror, rather than reflected.
In an embodiment, the beam splitter is a dichroic beam splitter, such that a fraction of light having a wavelength falling within a particular wavelength range is transmitted to the back side of the folding mirror, while light having wavelengths falling outside that particular wavelength range is reflected by the folding mirror.
In an embodiment, the beam splitter is a polarization dependent splitter, such that a fraction of light having one polarization state is transmitted to the back side of the folding mirror, rather than reflected.
In certain embodiments of the beam splitter, as described in various alternatives above, the fraction of light being transmitted is about 20%, alternatively about 50%, or even about 90%.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the component is chosen from the group of a time of flight device, a laser, a phase detection device, a close loop system, a telemeter, or a rangefinder.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the first camera assembly or the second camera assembly is arranged to provide optical image stabilizing (OIS).
One example of OIS useful in connection with the present invention is described in Chinese Patent publication CN101688976 by the present applicant. The OIS system disclosed in that document provides image stabilization in a tunable lens by altering the direction of the optical axis through a flexible lens body by activating actuators attached to the flexible lens body, wherein the amount of applied voltages onto the actuators are proportional to signals provided by motion sensors sensing yawing and pitching movements, respectively.
More specifically, the optical image stabilizer according to the publication overcomes the complexity of prior art solutions by providing actuators in contact with a flexible lens body providing a shifting of direction of the optical axis through the lens body, and hence the position of a crossing point between the optical axis and a surface of an image sensor, counteracting the movements of the unintended rapid movements. The shift of optical axis direction is obtained by “squeezing” the flexible lens body by activating the actuators according to control signals provided for by motion sensors, for example a gyroscopic sensor system as known in prior art.
In embodiments of the tunable lens assembly, the tuneability of the lens assembly is used to provide focusing capabilities, such as auto focus.
In some embodiments, both OIS and focusing may be achieved simultaneously by superimposing the required perturbations of the transparent layer relating to image stabilizing and focusing, respectively.
In other embodiments, focusing and OIS capabilities are divided such that focusing is provided by actuators acting on the transparent layer, for instance, on an object side of the tunable lens assembly, while OIS is provided by actuators acting on a second transparent layer on an opposite side of the deformable lens body.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, an optical image stabilizing assembly is arranged on the optical axis between the lens and the folding mirror of the second camera assembly.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the folding mirror is adjustably mounted for actively adjusting a tilt during use of the second camera assembly. In this way, minute adjustments in the optical axis alignment may be achieved. This may for instance be used to achieve optical image stabilizing.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the second camera assembly comprises two or more folding mirrors. In this way, an even longer effective focal length camera assembly may be wrapped around a perimeter of the first camera assembly, to achieve compact module.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the module comprises a third camera assembly.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the third camera assembly is arranged to have a field of view being substantially 180 degrees away from a field of view of the first camera assembly and/or the second camera assembly. In this way, the third camera assembly may be arranged to capture images on an opposite side of the mobile phone than the first and second camera assembly, e.g. for selfies, video conferencing, etc.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the module has a dimension in at least one direction, such as each of both directions, being parallel with the first optical axis and being equal to or less than 1 cm.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the module has a dimension in at least one direction, such as each of both directions, being parallel with the first optical axis and being equal to or less than 5.5 mm.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the module has a dimension in each of two directions being orthogonal to each other and to the first optical axis and being equal to or less than 2 cm.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the module has a dimension in each of two directions being orthogonal to each other and to the first optical axis and being equal to or less than 12.5 mm.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the first effective focal length, EFL1, is at least 3 mm and/or the second effective focal length, EFL2, is at least 9 mm.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,the total track length along the first optical axis, TTL1, is at least 3 mm
Total track length (TTL) may be understood as is common in the art, such as is defined in the patent application WO2015/001440A1, which is hereby incorporated by reference in entirety, such as is defined on page 2 in the patent application WO2015/001440A1, such as TTL is defined as the distance on an optical axis between the object-side surface of the first lens element and the image sensor.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the first effective focal length, EFL1, is at least 5 mm and/or the second effective focal length, EFL2, is at least 15 mm.
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the module comprises a third camera assembly, and wherein
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, a distance between the first optical axis and the second optical axis is equal to or less than 8 mm. The optical axes may be in this specific embodiment, for the purpose of defining the distance, understood to be the optical axis at the point of intersection with the first lens of their respective lens assemblies (such as where these optical axes are parallel).
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, a distance between the first optical axis and the second optical axis is equal to or less than 5 mm. The optical axes may be in this specific embodiment, for the purpose of defining the distance, understood to be the optical axis at the point of intersection with the first lens of their respective lens assemblies (such as where these optical axes are parallel).
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention,
In an embodiment of the module according to the invention, the diagonal of each of the first image sensor and the second image sensor is at least 6 mm.
The different aspects of the present invention may each be combined with any of the other aspects. These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.
The module with cameras according to the invention will now be described in more detail with regard to the accompanying figures. The figures show one way of implementing the present invention and is not to be construed as being limiting to other possible embodiments falling within the scope of the attached claim set.
The thin flexible glass surface 2 and/or the support 5 may have a flat surface facing the lens body. The opposite surface facing away from the lens body of both glass surface 2 and support 5 may be flat or may have a convex or concave, e.g. spherical shape to constitute a backside of the lens. In other embodiments, the back window might be a curved substrate, such as a spherical surface section as well as aspheric shape.
In case the bending mirrors are arranged so that the optical axis between the first and second intersection form a straight line, the said largest distance 926 would be given by EFL2. In case the bending mirrors are arranged so that the optical axis between the first and second intersection form adjacent and opposite sides of right triangle with equidistantly placed vertices (with respect to the right angled corner), the said largest distance 926 would be given by
In case the two folding mirrors are arranged as in
is given by the diagonal of a cube with side lengths EFL2:
Alternative embodiments E1-E15 are provided below:
the first lens assembly or the second lens assembly comprises a tunable lens having an adjustable effective focal length, the tunable lens comprising a transparent layer having chosen flexibility, an actuator configured to bend the transparent layer, and a deformable lens body being positioned in contact with the transparent layer at a first surface of the deformable lens body.
For the above embodiments E1-E15, it may be understood that reference to preceding ‘embodiments’ may refer to preceding embodiments within embodiments E1-E15.
Although the present invention has been described in connection with the specified embodiments, it should not be construed as being in any way limited to the presented examples. The scope of the present invention is set out by the accompanying claim set. In the context of the claims, the terms “comprising” or “comprises” do not exclude other possible elements or steps. Also, the mentioning of references such as “a” or “an” etc. should not be construed as excluding a plurality. The use of reference signs in the claims with respect to elements indicated in the figures shall also not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Furthermore, individual features mentioned in different claims, may possibly be advantageously combined, and the mentioning of these features in different claims does not exclude that a combination of features is not possible and advantageous.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17179041.3 | Jun 2017 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2018/067510 | 6/28/2018 | WO | 00 |
