JP2007201915A - Planar camera unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an extremely-thin-planar camera unit. <P>SOLUTION: The planar camera unit is constituted by arranging, in a planar manner and in the vertical and lateral directions, a plurality of microlens cells MC which comprise a microlens 11; an upper electrode used as a spring 12 and a lower electrode which move the microlens 11 toward an incident-light direction in response to an external control signal; a movable mirror 22a for reflecting light, that has passed through the microlens 11; a DVD module 22 for controlling an angle of the movable mirror 22a in response to an external pulse signal; a fixed mirror 23 for further reflecting the light reflected by the movable mirror 22a; and an image sensor 14 for receiving the light from the fixed mirror 23. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a planar camera unit that can be configured to be extremely thin.

In general, as shown in FIG. 8, a digital camera is provided with a lens 2, a diaphragm 3, and an image sensor module 4 inside a lens barrel 1, and an image of light passing through the lens 2 is imaged through the diaphragm 3. An image is formed in the module 4 and an electric signal output from the image sensor module 4 is converted into digital data and stored in a memory.
Patent Document 1 is known as a document related to a conventional digital camera.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 08-265783

By the way, the above-described conventional digital camera requires an optical space from receiving light by the lens 2 to forming an image on the image sensor module 4, and therefore, the thickness becomes several cm to 10 cm. Therefore, there was a defect that could not be made thin.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flat camera unit having a very small thickness.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The invention according to claim 1 is a microlens, and a moving means for moving the microlens in the direction of incident light according to a control signal from the outside. A movable mirror that reflects the light that has passed through the microlens, a mirror drive module that controls the angle of the movable mirror according to a pulse signal from the outside, and a fixed mirror that reflects the light reflected by the movable mirror, The planar camera unit is characterized in that a plurality of microlens cells including an image sensor that receives light from the fixed mirror are arranged in a plane.

  The invention according to claim 2 is a microlens, a moving means for moving the microlens in the direction of incident light according to a control signal from the outside, a fixed mirror for reflecting light that has passed through the microlens, A microlens comprising a movable mirror that reflects light reflected by a fixed mirror, a mirror drive module that controls the angle of the movable mirror in accordance with an external pulse signal, and an image sensor that receives light from the movable mirror A planar camera unit having a plurality of cells arranged in a plane.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the planar camera unit according to the first or second aspect, the moving means is disposed opposite to the first electrode that holds the microlens and the first electrode. And a second electrode for receiving an electric signal from the outside and applying an electrostatic force to the first electrode.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that a flat camera having a very thin thickness can be created.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a microlens cell MC that is a component of a planar camera unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a lens unit LU in the microlens cell MC. . In FIG. 2, 11 is a microlens, 12 is an upper electrode / spring that moves the microlens 11 in the vertical direction, 13 is a lower electrode disposed opposite to the upper electrode / spring 12, and 14 is a CMOS image sensor. Each of these components is arranged on the substrate 15 to constitute one lens unit LU. The substrate 15 has a light capturing hole 16 at a position facing the microlens 11.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 denotes a substrate, and a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) module 22 is mounted on the substrate 21. The DMD module has a movable mirror 22a, and the angle of the mirror 22a changes in a range of ± 12 degrees according to “1” / “0” of a pulse signal applied to the module. A fixed mirror 23 is disposed on the substrate 21 on the side of the DMD module 22. The above-described lens unit LU is arranged so that the microlens 11 is positioned at a position facing the movable mirror 22a and the CMOS image sensor 14 is positioned at a position facing the fixed mirror 23, and the substrate 21 is interposed via the side plate 24. Fixed.

  Then, light from the subject enters through the hole 16 of the lens unit LU, is reflected by the movable mirror 22a through the microlens 11, reaches the fixed mirror 23, is reflected by the fixed mirror 23, and reaches the CMOS image sensor 14. In this case, when the voltage applied between the upper electrode / spring 12 and the lower electrode 13 is changed, the electrostatic force acting between the upper electrode / spring 12 and the lower electrode 13 changes, and the microlens attached to the upper electrode / spring 12 is changed. 11 moves. Thereby, the focal length of the microlens 11 can be changed. In addition, by controlling the pulse width of the pulse signal applied to the DMD module, the amount of light reaching the CMOS image sensor 14 per unit time can be changed, thereby performing the same function as the aperture.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the planar camera unit C and its control circuit. The planar camera unit C is a unit in which a large number of the above-described microlens cells MC are arranged in a plane continuously in the vertical and horizontal directions. Each microlens cell MC corresponds to one pixel, and an RGM (red, green, blue) color filter is disposed in each hole 16 as shown in FIG.

  Note that one microlens cell MC may correspond to four pixels. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the color filter disposed in the hole 16 is a filter including each color of RGB, and aperture control in RGB units cannot be performed.

  The lens control circuit 31 controls the voltage applied between the upper electrode / spring 12 and the lower electrode 13 of each microlens cell MC, thereby focusing on each microlens 11 individually. The aperture control circuit 32 controls the aperture of each microlens cell MC by individually controlling the pulse width of the pulse signal applied to the DMD module 22 of each microlens cell MC. The image data reading circuit 33 sequentially reads the output of the CMOS image sensor 14 of each microlens cell MC, converts it into digital data, and outputs it.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a microlens cell MCa that is a component of a flat camera unit according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the lens unit LUa in the microlens cell MCa. . In this embodiment, instead of the CMOS image sensor 14 of the lens unit LU shown in FIG. 2, a DMD module 22 having a movable mirror 22a is attached on a substrate 15, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, a fixed mirror 23 is attached on the substrate 21 in place of the DMD module 22 in FIG. 1, and a CMOS image sensor 14 is attached in place of the fixed mirror 23 in FIG. ing.

The lens unit LUa described above is arranged so that the microlens 11 is located at a position facing the fixed mirror 23 and the DMD module 22 is located at a position facing the CMOS image sensor 14. Is fixed. In this embodiment, light from the subject passes through the microlens 11, is reflected by the fixed mirror 23, is reflected by the movable mirror 22 a, and enters the CMOS image sensor 14.
A microlens and a fixed mirror may be attached to the substrate 15 of the lens unit LU, and a DMD module and a CMOS image sensor may be provided on the substrate 21 of the microlens cell MC.

According to the first and second embodiments described above, focus adjustment can be performed in units of microlens cells (pixel units) by an external control signal.
The DMD module can be controlled in units of microlens cells by an external control signal, and the light amount can be adjusted in units of microlens cells. Further, since it is not a method of adjusting the light amount by reducing the aperture as in a normal lens, the depth of field does not increase.

  Further, if the focal point and the diaphragm of all the microlens cells MC arranged in a plane are controlled by the lens control circuit 31 and the diaphragm control circuit 32 in the same manner, the same usage as a normal camera is possible. In addition, it is possible to focus on the entire screen by changing the focus for each cell.

In addition, when the microlens cell is configured in units of 2 × 2 elements, the diaphragm can be adjusted in units of one pixel, so that the entire screen becomes too dark under the condition that a bright place and a dark place are mixed in the same screen. , No white halation. It is possible to widen the dynamic range of the entire image sensor.
Further, when the microlens cell is set as one element unit, the sensitivity can be changed for each RGB by changing the diaphragm for each cell.
Moreover, although the said embodiment uses the microlens 11, it is possible to comprise a camera without this microlens. In this case, imaging can be performed on the same principle as a so-called pinhole camera.

  The present invention is suitable for use in a thin camera.

It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the micro lens cell MC which is a component of the planar camera unit by 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the lens unit LU in the microlens cell. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the planar camera unit C by one Embodiment of this invention, and its control circuit. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a filter attached to the planar camera unit C. FIG. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of a filter. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the micro lens cell MCa which is a component of the planar camera unit by 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the lens unit LUa in the micro lens cell. It is sectional drawing which shows the structural example of the conventional digital camera.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Micro lens, 12 ... Upper electrode and spring, 13 ... Lower electrode, 14 ... CMOS image sensor, 15, 21 ... Substrate, 22 ... DMD module, 22a ... DMD movable mirror, 23 ... Fixed mirror, 24 ... Side plate, C ... Planar camera unit, LU, LUa ... Lens unit, MC, MCa ... Microlens cell.

Claims (3)

A microlens,
Moving means for moving the microlens in the direction of incident light in accordance with an external control signal;
A movable mirror that reflects light passing through the microlens;
A mirror driving module for controlling the angle of the movable mirror according to a pulse signal from the outside;
A fixed mirror that reflects the light reflected by the movable mirror;
An image sensor that receives light from the fixed mirror;
A planar camera unit comprising a plurality of microlens cells arranged in a plane. A microlens,
Moving means for moving the microlens in the direction of incident light in accordance with an external control signal;
A fixed mirror that reflects light that has passed through the microlens;
A movable mirror that reflects the light reflected by the fixed mirror;
A mirror driving module for controlling the angle of the movable mirror according to a pulse signal from the outside;
An image sensor for receiving light from the movable mirror;
A planar camera unit comprising a plurality of microlens cells arranged in a plane.   The moving means is a first electrode that holds the microlens and a first electrode that is opposed to the first electrode and receives an electric signal from the outside to apply an electrostatic force between the first electrode and the first electrode. The planar camera unit according to claim 1 or 2, comprising two electrodes.

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