Patent Application
20250008218
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No., 2023-106419 filed on Jun. 28, 2023. The above application is hereby expressly incorporated by reference, in its entirety, into the present application.
The present disclosed technology relates to an imaging apparatus.
Described in JP2013-178565 A is a lens barrel that includes a fixing member including a plane portion parallel to an optical axis of an imaging optical system, a flexible printed circuit fixed to the plane portion, and an angular velocity sensor detecting an angular velocity with respect to a predetermined detection axis. On the plane portion, the angular velocity sensor is fixed to a surface of the flexible printed circuit that is opposite to a surface fixed to the plane portion such that the detection axis is approximately orthogonal to the plane portion. As described in paragraph [0030] of JP2013-178565 A, an amplification circuit that amplifies an analog output signal from the angular velocity sensor and a filter circuit that affects the analog output signal from the angular velocity sensor are mounted on the flexible printed circuit.
One embodiment of the present disclosed technology provides an imaging apparatus with which it is possible to suppress deterioration of the signal quality of a control signal transmitted to an angular velocity sensor for shake correction.
An imaging apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes an angular velocity sensor for shake correction and a flexible printed circuit that includes the angular velocity sensor and a plurality of wiring lines for transmission of a digital control signal for controlling of operation of the angular velocity sensor. The flexible printed circuit is provided with a filter circuit for suppression of a specific frequency of the control signal.
It is preferable that the flexible printed circuit includes a first wiring part in which patterns of the plurality of wiring lines are formed in parallel, one end of the first wiring part is provided with a connecting portion that is connected to a control circuit sending the control signal, and the other end of the first wiring part is provided with a circuit portion on which electronic components including the angular velocity sensor and the filter circuit are mounted.
It is preferable that the circuit portion includes a first circuit portion and a second circuit portion and a second wiring part is provided between the first circuit portion and the second circuit portion.
It is preferable that the second wiring part is flexible.
It is preferable that the first circuit portion and the second circuit portion are disposed such that a first plane and a second plane intersect each other with the second wiring part bent, where the first plane is a plane on which the first circuit portion is disposed and the second plane is a plane on which the second circuit portion is disposed.
It is preferable that the first plane and the second plane are orthogonal to each other.
It is preferable that the circuit portion further includes a third circuit portion and a third wiring part is provided between the second circuit portion and the third circuit portion.
It is preferable that the third wiring part is flexible.
It is preferable that the first circuit portion, the second circuit portion, and the third circuit portion are disposed such that a first plane, a second plane, and a third plane intersect each other with the second wiring part and the third wiring part bent, where the first plane is a plane on which the first circuit portion is disposed, the second plane is a plane on which the second circuit portion is disposed, and the third plane is a plane on which the third circuit portion is disposed.
It is preferable that the first plane, the second plane, and the third plane are orthogonal to each other.
It is preferable that the angular velocity sensor is provided for each of three axes which are a pitch axis, a yaw axis, and a roll axis and at least the angular velocity sensor for the pitch axis and the angular velocity sensor for the yaw axis are mounted on the second circuit portion or the third circuit portion.
It is preferable that the angular velocity sensor for the roll axis is mounted on the first circuit portion.
It is preferable that the filter circuit is mounted on the first circuit portion.
It is preferable that the first wiring part has a structure in which the patterns are formed on only one surface of the first wiring part and flexibility of the first wiring part is higher than flexibility of the circuit portion.
It is preferable that the first wiring part has a structure in which the patterns are formed on only one surface of the first wiring part and no protection film is provided.
It is preferable that the circuit portion has a structure in which the patterns are formed on both surfaces of the circuit portion.
It is preferable that the electronic components are mounted on only one surface of the circuit portion.
It is preferable that a vibration-reducing member is attached to a surface of the circuit portion that is opposite to the one surface on which the electronic components are mounted.
It is preferable that a thickness of the vibration-reducing member is larger than a thickness of the flexible printed circuit.
It is preferable that the filter circuit is provided for a specific wiring line among the plurality of wiring lines, of which a control signal communication frequency is equal to or lower than a set frequency.
It is preferable that the specific wiring line is a chip select communication line through which a chip select signal for selection of one of a plurality of circuits to be controlled in serial communication is transmitted as the control signal.
Exemplary embodiments according to the technique of the present disclosure will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
For example, as shown in
An imaging element (not shown) is disposed in the imaging aperture 13. The imaging element is, for example, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor or a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor. The imaging element includes a rectangular imaging surface used to image a subject. Two sides of the imaging surface, which are orthogonal to each other, are parallel to a Y-axis and a Z-axis, respectively. In addition, the center of the imaging surface coincides with an optical axis OA of the imaging lens.
Here, in a case where a bottom surface of the imaging apparatus 10 is placed on a horizontal surface, the Y-axis is parallel to a horizontal direction and the Z-axis is parallel to a vertical direction. A Y-axis direction is a width direction of the apparatus main body 11 and a Z-axis direction is a height direction of the apparatus main body 11. Note that in the present specification, a term related to an angle like “being orthogonal” means not only being perfectly orthogonal or the like but also means being substantially orthogonal with an error allowed in design and manufacturing (for example, an error of about ±10% from a design value) or the like. In addition, a term “being parallel” means not only being perfectly parallel but also means being substantially parallel with an error allowed in design and manufacturing (for example, an error of about ±10% from a design value). In addition, a term “to coincide” means not only to perfectly coincide but also means to substantially coincide with an error allowed in design and manufacturing (for example, an error of about ±10% from a design value).
The imaging surface receives subject light. As is well known, on the imaging surface, pixels that photoelectrically convert the received subject light and output electric signals are arranged in a two-dimensional manner along the Y-axis and the Z-axis. The entire imaging surface is exposed to the outside through the imaging aperture 13.
The imaging element is provided with a shake correction mechanism (not shown) for correction of a subject image shake that is caused by vibration applied to the imaging apparatus 10. The shake correction mechanism includes an actuator such as a voice coil motor that moves a movable portion, to which the imaging element is attached, along a YZ plane with respect to a fixed portion fixed to the apparatus main body 11.
Here, the term “shake” refers to a phenomenon that occurs in a case where a change of the optical axis OA with respect to a subject image occurs due to vibration. The term “the change of the optical axis OA” means, for example, a phenomenon in which the optical axis OA is inclined with respect to a reference axis (for example, the optical axis OA before occurrence of a shake) due to a shake. The term “shake correction” not only means to remove a shake but also means to reduce a shake.
A flexible printed circuit (FPC) 15 and a control substrate 16 are built into the apparatus main body 11. The flexible printed circuit 15 is disposed inside the grip portion 14. The control substrate 16 is disposed at a position where the control substrate 16 and a rear surface of the apparatus main body 11 face each other such that a front surface and the rear surface of the control substrate 16 are parallel to the YZ plane.
For example, as shown in
For example, as shown in
A connector 27 that is connected to the control substrate 16 (the control circuit 20) is provided at one end of the first wiring part 251. The connector 27 is an example of a “connecting portion” according to the present disclosed technology. In addition, a circuit portion 28 having a stiffness is provided at the other end of the first wiring part 251.
The circuit portion 28 is composed of a first circuit portion 281, a second circuit portion 282, and a third circuit portion 283. The first circuit portion 281 and the second circuit portion 282 are connected to each other by a second wiring part 252 that is flexible and short. In addition, the second circuit portion 282 and the third circuit portion 283 are connected to each other by a third wiring part 253 that is flexible and short. The first circuit portion 281, the second circuit portion 282, and the third circuit portion 283 are arranged in this order from the first wiring part 251 side. Note that although the wiring lines 26 are provided at the second wiring part 252, the third wiring part 253, the first circuit portion 281, the second circuit portion 282, and the third circuit portion 283 also in practice, the wiring lines 26 provided thereat are not shown in the drawing in order to avoid complication.
A plurality of electronic components including the angular velocity sensor 30, a filter circuit 31 for suppression of a specific frequency of the control signal (for example, a frequency equal to or higher than 32 MHz), drivers 32 of the angular velocity sensor 30, and the like are mounted on the circuit portion 28. More specifically, electronic components including an angular velocity sensor 30R for a roll axis, the filter circuit 31, a driver 32R of the angular velocity sensor 30R, and the like are mounted on the first circuit portion 281. Electronic components including an angular velocity sensor 30Y for a yaw axis, a driver 32Y of the angular velocity sensor 30Y, and the like are mounted on the second circuit portion 282. Electronic components including an angular velocity sensor 30P for a pitch axis, a driver 32P of the angular velocity sensor 30P, and the like are mounted on the third circuit portion 283. Note that contrary to the present example, the electronic components including the angular velocity sensor 30P for the pitch axis, the driver 32P of the angular velocity sensor 30P, and the like may be mounted on the second circuit portion 282, and the electronic components including the angular velocity sensor 30Y for the yaw axis, the driver 32Y of the angular velocity sensor 30Y, and the like may be mounted on the third circuit portion 283. As described above, one angular velocity sensor 30 is provided for each of three axes which are the pitch axis, the yaw axis, and the roll axis and at least the angular velocity sensor 30P for the pitch axis and the angular velocity sensor 30Y for the yaw axis are mounted on the second circuit portion 282 or the third circuit portion 283.
In the present example, the roll axis is an X-axis, the pitch axis is the Y-axis, and the yaw axis is the Z-axis. The angular velocity sensor 30R for the roll axis detects rotation around the X-axis which is the roll axis, that is, the angular velocity sensor 30R detects lateral shake vibration. The angular velocity sensor 30P for the pitch axis detects rotation around the Y-axis which is the pitch axis, that is, the angular velocity sensor 30P detects vertical shake vibration. The angular velocity sensor 30Y for the yaw axis detects rotation around the Z-axis which is the yaw axis, that is, the angular velocity sensor 30Y detects yaw shake vibration. The X-axis is orthogonal to the Y-axis and the Z-axis. In a case where the bottom surface of the apparatus main body 11 is placed on a horizontal surface, the X-axis direction is a horizontal direction as with the Y-axis direction. In addition, the X-axis direction is a depth direction of the apparatus main body 11.
Each of the first circuit portion 281, the second circuit portion 282, and the third circuit portion 283 has a substantially rectangular flat plate-like shape. The size of the first circuit portion 281 is slightly larger than the sizes of the second circuit portion 282 and the third circuit portion 283 since the filter circuit 31 is mounted thereon. The second circuit portion 282 and the third circuit portion 283 have substantially the same size as each other.
The first wiring part 251 has a structure in which the patterns of the wiring lines 26 are formed on only one surface of the first wiring part 251 and the first wiring part 251 is provided with no protection film (also called a cover lay), so that the flexibility of the first wiring part 251 is higher than the flexibility of the circuit portion 28. In contrast, the circuit portion 28 has a structure in which patterns of the wiring lines 26 are formed on both surfaces.
The first wiring part 251 is bent as appropriate in a case where the flexible printed circuit 15 is disposed in the grip portion 14 (refer to
For example, as shown in
For example, as shown in
The filter circuit 31 is an RC circuit composed of a resistor 50 and a capacitor 51, that is, a low-pass filter circuit. The filter circuit 31 allows a low-frequency component, which is a signal component of the chip select signal, to pass therethrough and blocks a high-frequency noise on the chip select signal. A value matching required performance is set as a time constant τ=RC that determines the cut-off frequency (for example, a frequency equal to or higher than 32 MHz) of the high-frequency noise. Note that a reference numeral “52” denotes a damping resistor that is mounted in the control circuit 20 and that is for noise reduction and for suppression of overshoot and undershoot. In addition, in
The flexible printed circuit 15 is connected to the control circuit 20 of the control substrate 16 via the connector 27. The control circuit 20 sends a control signal of the angular velocity sensors 30 such as a chip select signal. The control signal is transmitted to the angular velocity sensors 30 mounted on the circuit portion 28 through the connector 27 and the wiring lines 26 of the first wiring part 251, the second wiring part 252, and the third wiring part 253. The angular velocity sensors 30 operate in accordance with the control signal.
As shown in
The first wiring part 251 of the present example is made relatively long so that the first wiring part 251 is connected to the circuit portion 28 from the control substrate 16 disposed near the rear surface of the apparatus main body 11, the circuit portion 28 being disposed in the grip portion 14 of the apparatus main body 11 in which the influence of unnecessary vibration on the angular velocity sensors 30 is relatively small. In addition, the first wiring part 251 is thin so that the first wiring part 251 occupies a small space and does not transmit unnecessary vibration from the control substrate 16 to the angular velocity sensors 30 and thus intervals between the patterns of the plurality of wiring lines 26 are extremely small. Therefore, regarding the first wiring part 251 of the present example, the influence of crosstalk is more remarkable and there is a high probability that deterioration of the signal quality of a control signal occurs. Accordingly, the effect of provision of the filter circuit 31 is considerably large.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The angular velocity sensor 30P for the pitch axis and the angular velocity sensor 30Y for the yaw axis are likely to be influenced by unnecessary vibration in comparison with the angular velocity sensor 30R for the roll axis. Therefore, the angular velocity sensor 30P for the pitch axis and the angular velocity sensor 30Y for the yaw axis are mounted on the second circuit portion 282 or the third circuit portion 283, to which unnecessary vibration is less likely to be transmitted, instead of being mounted on the first circuit portion 281 connected to the first wiring part 251 to which unnecessary vibration is likely to be transmitted.
As shown in
The first wiring part 251 has a structure in which the patterns of the wiring lines 26 are formed on only one surface of the first wiring part 251 and the flexibility of the first wiring part 251 is higher than the flexibility of the circuit portion 28. In addition, the first wiring part 251 has a structure with no protection film. Therefore, higher flexibility can be imparted to the first wiring part 251. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce a probability that unnecessary vibration is applied to the angular velocity sensors 30 mounted on the circuit portion 28. Meanwhile, the circuit portion 28 has a structure in which patterns of the wiring lines 26 are formed on both surfaces. Therefore, the size of the circuit portion 28 can be reduced in comparison with a structure in which the patterns of the wiring lines 26 are formed on only one surface. A protection film may be provided as long as the flexibility of the first wiring part 251 is sufficiently ensured.
As shown in
In addition, as shown in
As shown in
The specific wiring line 26S is a chip select communication line through which a chip select signal for selection of one of a plurality of circuits to be controlled in SPI communication is transmitted. Regarding the chip select communication line, since the communication frequency of the chip select signal is particularly low and the influence of a malfunction is large, the effect of provision of the filter circuit 31 is considerably large.
Although an example in which one filter circuit 31 is provided with respect to three angular velocity sensors 30 (which are the angular velocity sensors 30P, 30Y, and 30R) is shown in
In addition, for example, as shown in
The specific wiring line 26S is not limited to the chip select communication line used as an example. In addition, the number of specific wiring lines 26S may be two or more. Furthermore, the filter circuit 31 may be provided for all the plurality of wiring lines 26.
Although a low-pass filter circuit has been used as an example of the filter circuit 31, the present disclosed technology is not limited thereto. A band pass filter circuit or a high-pass filter circuit may also be adopted. In addition, although a chip select signal for selection of one of a plurality of circuits to be controlled particularly in serial communication has been used as an example of the control signal for the controlling of the operation of the angular velocity sensors 30, the present disclosed technology is not limited thereto. For example, a serial clock (SCLK) signal, a master-out slave-in (MOSI) signal, or a master-in slave-out (MISO) signal in serial communication may also be adopted.
Positions at which the flexible printed circuit 15 and the circuit portion 28, on which the angular velocity sensors 30 are mounted, are disposed are not limited to positions inside the grip portion 14. For example, the circuit portion 28 may be disposed at a right-side portion of the apparatus main body 11 which is opposite to the grip portion 14. In short, a position at which the circuit portion 28 is disposed may be any position as long as the influence of unnecessary vibration on the angular velocity sensors 30 is expected to be relatively small.
Although the shake correction mechanism that moves the imaging element along the YZ plane to correct a subject image shake has been used as an example, the present disclosed technology is not limited thereto. Instead of or in addition to the shake correction mechanism that moves the imaging element along the YZ plane to correct a subject image shake, a shake correction mechanism that moves part of lenses of the imaging lens to correct a subject image shake may also be used.
In addition, an electronic shake correction function may also be used. In the case of the electronic shake correction function, a subject image shake is corrected through, for example, the following processing. First, an imaging element is caused to image a region that is one size larger than a region (hereinafter, an image output region) to be finally output as an image. Then, an image corresponding to the image output region is cut out from an image obtained in this manner and in this case, a position where the image output region is cut is changed in accordance with a shake.
The imaging apparatus according to the present disclosed technology may be a compact digital camera, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal.
It is possible to understand the techniques described in the following supplementary notes from the above description.
An imaging apparatus including
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 1,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 2,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 3,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 4,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 5,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 3 to 6,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 7,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 8,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 9,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 7 to 10,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 11,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 3 to 12,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 2 to 13,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 2 to 13,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 2 to 15,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 2 to 16,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 17,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 18,
The imaging apparatus described in any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 19,
The imaging apparatus described in Supplementary Note 20,
Regarding the present disclosed technology, the above-described various embodiments and/or various modification examples can be combined with each other as appropriate. It is needless to say that the present disclosed technology is not limited to each of the embodiments described above and various configurations can be employed without departing from the gist.
Contents described and illustrated above are for detailed description of a part according to the present disclosed technology and are merely an example of the present disclosed technology. For example, description related to the above-described configurations, functions, actions, and effects is description related to an example of configurations, functions, actions, and effects of a part according to the present disclosed technology. Therefore, it is a matter of course that an unnecessary part of the contents described and illustrated above may be deleted, a new element may be added, and replacement may be made without departing from the point of the present disclosed technology. In addition, in order to avoid complication and facilitate the understanding of a portion according to the present disclosed technology, regarding the contents described and illustrated above, description related to common technical knowledge or the like which does not need to be described to enable implementation of the present disclosed technology has been omitted.
In the present specification, the term “A and/or B” is synonymous with the term “at least one of A or B”. That is, the term “A and/or B” means only A, only B, or a combination of A and B. In addition, in the present specification, the same approach as “A and/or B” is applied to a case where three or more matters are represented by connecting the matters with “and/or”.
All documents, patent applications, and technical standards described in the present specification are incorporated in the present specification by reference to the same extent as in a case where each of the documents, patent applications, and technical standards are specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-106419 | Jun 2023 | JP | national |
