IMAGE STABILIZER

Information

  • Patent Application
  • 20070182824
  • Publication Number
    20070182824
  • Date Filed
    February 02, 2007
    17 years ago
  • Date Published
    August 09, 2007
    17 years ago
Abstract
An image stabilizer for counteracting image shake of an object image formed on an image pickup device includes an image-pickup-device holding member; a guide device which guides the image-pickup-device holding member so as to be allowed to move linearly in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis; a driving device which moves the image-pickup-device holding member in a guide direction of the guide device to a force receiving portion on the image-pickup-device holding member; and a flexible printed wiring board, extending from the image pickup device, a part of which being fixed to the image-pickup-device holding member at a fixing position thereon. A distance between the fixing position and the force receiving portion is smaller than a distance between the guide device and the force receiving portion in a direction orthogonal to both the optical axis direction and the guide direction.
Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:



FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of a digital camera equipped with an image stabilizer according to the present invention;



FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 in a ready-to-photograph state of the zoom lens thereof;



FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 in the fully-retracted state of the zoom lens;



FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the zoom lens of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 in the fully-retracted state of the zoom lens;



FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the zoom lens shown in FIG. 4;



FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of another portion of the zoom lens shown in FIG. 4;



FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of an image stabilizing unit (image stabilizing mechanism) shown in FIG. 5;



FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 5 from which a movable plate and a stationary cover are removed;



FIG. 9 is a rear perspective view of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 5, viewed from an angle different from the angle of FIG. 8;



FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the image stabilizing unit;



FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the image stabilizing unit in the vicinity of a stationary holder thereof;



FIG. 12 is an exploded front perspective view of an X-axis direction moving stage, a CCD image sensor, a CCD retaining plate and associated elements shown in FIG. 10;



FIG. 13 is a rear perspective view of the X-axis direction moving stage shown in FIG. 12 from which the flexible printed wiring board and the movable plate that are shown in FIG. 10 are removed;



FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of a first X-axis direction moving member, a second X-axis direction moving member and an associated extension joining spring of the image stabilizing unit, showing an exploded state thereof;



FIG. 15 is a rear perspective view of the first X-axis direction moving member, the second X-axis direction moving member and the associated extension joining spring that are shown in FIG. 14, showing an exploded state and an assembled state thereof;



FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view of a Y-axis direction moving member, a Y-axis direction moving stage and an associated extension joining spring of the image stabilizing unit;



FIG. 17 is a rear perspective view of the Y-axis direction moving member, the Y-axis direction moving stage and the associated extension joining spring that are shown in FIG. 16, showing an exploded state and an assembled state thereof;



FIG. 18 is a front perspective view of the image stabilizing unit from which the stationary holder is removed;



FIG. 19 is a rear perspective view of the elements of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 18;



FIG. 20 is a front perspective view of the elements of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 from which drive motors, photo-interrupters and biasing springs are further removed;



FIG. 21 is a rear perspective view of the elements of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 20;



FIG. 22 is a front perspective view of the elements of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 from which the second X-axis direction moving member and the Y-axis direction moving member are further removed;



FIG. 23 is a rear perspective view of the elements of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 22;



FIG. 24 is a diagrammatic illustration of the image stabilizing unit, showing the structure thereof;



FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of electrical circuits of the digital camera shown in FIGS. 1 through 3;



FIG. 26 is a view similar to that of FIG. 18, showing another embodiment (second embodiment) of the image stabilizing unit from which the stationary holder is removed;



FIG. 27 is a rear perspective view of the elements of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 26;



FIG. 28 is a diagrammatic illustration of the second embodiment of the image stabilizing unit, showing the structure thereof;



FIG. 29 is an exploded front perspective view of a CCD unit and a stationary cover shown in FIG. 10;



FIG. 30 is an exploded rear perspective view of the CCD unit;



FIG. 31 is an exploded rear perspective view of the CCD unit, showing a state where the CCD retaining plate is fixed to the X-axis direction moving stage;



FIG. 32 is a rear perspective view of the CCD unit in an assembled state thereof;



FIG. 33 is a cross sectional view of the image stabilizing unit in a state before an inclination angle adjustment is made to the CCD image sensor;



FIG. 34 is a cross sectional view of the image stabilizing unit in a state after the inclination angle adjustment has been made to the CCD image sensor;



FIG. 35 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of the image stabilizing unit in the vicinity of one of the two adjusting screws shown in FIG. 33;



FIG. 36 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of the image stabilizing unit in the vicinity of one of the two adjusting screws shown in FIG. 34;



FIG. 37 is a cross sectional view of the image stabilizing unit, taken along a plane in which two compression coil springs of the CCD unit are positioned;



FIG. 38 is a rear perspective view of the image stabilizing unit in a state where the movable plate and the stationary cover are installed;



FIG. 39 is a rear perspective view of the image stabilizing unit with the stationary cover partly cut away for clarity;



FIG. 40 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the image stabilizing unit, showing the arrangement of the flexible printed wiring board that extends from the CCD image sensor;



FIG. 41 is a view similar to that of FIG. 24, wherein the flexible printed wiring board that extends from the CCD image sensor is shown by a two-dot chain line;



FIG. 42 is a view similar to that of FIG. 41, showing a comparative example wherein the flexible printed wiring board extends from the CCD image sensor in the direction opposite to the direction of the flexible printed wiring board shown in FIG. 41;



FIG. 43 is a diagrammatic illustration of another embodiment (third embodiment) of the image stabilizing unit, wherein the relative position between the guide mechanism for the X-axis direction moving stage and a force receiving portion is different from those in the case of the image stabilizing unit shown in FIG. 41;



FIG. 44 is a diagrammatic illustration of another embodiment (fourth embodiment) of the image stabilizing unit, wherein the flexible printed wiring board extends from the CCD image sensor in a direction different from the direction of the flexible printed wiring board shown in FIG. 41; and



FIG. 45 is a view similar to that of FIG. 44, showing a comparative example wherein the flexible printed wiring board extends from the CCD image sensor in the direction opposite to the direction of the flexible printed wiring board shown in FIG. 44.


Claims
  • 1. An image stabilizer for counteracting image shake of an object image formed on an image pickup device by moving said image pickup device, said image stabilizer comprising: an image-pickup-device holding member which holds said image pickup device;a guide device which guides said image-pickup-device holding member in a manner to allow said image-pickup-device holding member to move linearly in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis;a driving device which applies a moving force which moves said image-pickup-device holding member in a guide direction of said guide device to a force receiving portion on said image-pickup-device holding member; anda flexible printed wiring board which extends from said image pickup device, a part of said flexible printed wiring board being fixed to said image-pickup-device holding member at a fixing position thereon,wherein a distance between said fixing position and said force receiving portion is smaller than a distance between said guide device and said force receiving portion in a direction orthogonal to both said optical axis direction and said guide direction of said guide device.
  • 2. The image stabilizer according to claim 1, wherein said fixing position of said flexible printed wiring board is positioned between said force receiving portion and said guide device in said direction orthogonal to both said optical axis direction and said guide direction.
  • 3. The image stabilizer according to claim 1, wherein said image-pickup-device holding member comprises: a holding frame to which said image pickup device is fixed; anda flexible printed wiring board support member fixed to said holding frame behind said image pickup device, andwherein said flexible printed wiring board is fixed to a part of said flexible printed wiring board support member.
  • 4. The image stabilizer according to claim 1, further comprising: a biasing device which biases said image-pickup-device holding member in one of opposite directions of said guide direction of said guide device; andan intermediate member driven by said driving device to apply said moving force to said force receiving portion against a biasing force of said biasing device.
  • 5. The image stabilizer according to claim 4, wherein said intermediate member is directly in contact with said force receiving portion of said image-pickup-device holding member.
  • 6. The image stabilizer according to claim 4, wherein said intermediate member is coupled to said force receiving portion of said image-pickup-device holding member via a spring.
  • 7. The image stabilizer according to claim 4, wherein said intermediate member comprises: a first moving member which is movable along said guide direction of said guide device by a motor; anda second moving member which is guided along said guide direction and movable relative to said first moving member, wherein said second moving member applies said moving force to said force receiving portion on said image-pickup-device holding member.
  • 8. The image stabilizer according to claim 1, wherein said image stabilizer is incorporated in a digital camera.
  • 9. An image stabilizer of a digital camera, comprising: an image-pickup-device holding member which holds an image pickup device on which an object image is formed through a photographing optical system;a guide device which guides said image-pickup-device holding member in a manner to allow said image-pickup-device holding member to move linearly in at least one guide direction in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of said photographing optical system;a driving device which applies a moving force to a force receiving portion on said image-pickup-device holding member to move said image-pickup-device holding member in said guide direction of said guide device; anda flexible printed wiring board which extends from said image pickup device in an internal space of a camera body, a part of said flexible printed wiring board being fixed to said image-pickup-device holding member at a fixing position thereon,wherein a distance between said fixing position and said force receiving portion is smaller than a distance between said guide device and said force receiving portion in a direction orthogonal to both said optical axis direction and said guide direction of said guide device.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
2006-027439 Feb 2006 JP national