KR100521073B1 - Optic Camera Module with Image Sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a compact camera module incorporating an optical image sensor. The camera module of the present invention has standardized most of the parts to quickly cope with the rapidly changing market situation. Since small camera modules are used in mobile phones, they have been designed exclusively according to the rapid change in development speed and fashion. However, the camera module of the present invention can install the camera module in different systems without any change by connecting only the connection cable or the connector, the productivity is excellent and the manufacturing cost is low in the module manufacturing. In addition, there is no problem when there is a production inventory due to the dedicated design, there is an effect that does not need to test the reliability of the product for each specially designed product or to package the product.

Description

Standard Camera Module with Image Sensor {Optic Camera Module with Image Sensor}

The present invention relates to an optical camera module, and more particularly, to eliminate the inconvenience of having to design a new according to the type or shape of the system in which the camera module is to be mounted and to standardize parts.

Recently, portable communication devices or notebook computers are equipped with many small cameras for storing or displaying images. Most of these compact cameras are equipped with various image sensors. The image sensor is a component that captures a light signal that is external image information and converts it into an electrical signal. The electrical signal converted by the image sensor is easy to store and brings the user convenience in the processing of image information. Image sensors are largely divided into CMOS image sensors using Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology and CCD image sensors using Charge Coupled Device (CCD) technology, all of which are manufactured using semiconductor technology.

Cameras manufactured by these various technologies require not only an image sensor chip but also various components such as optical components such as lenses or electrical components such as electrical connectors in order to be mounted in a system requiring the same. . The lens is a component for collecting external light signals to the image sensor chip, and the other electrical components are components for transmitting image information, which is converted into an electrical signal by the image sensor chip, to a system equipped with an image sensor. When connecting the camera to the system, most of these parts are equipped with a module. However, when the camera module (module) is mounted on the system always needs to match the electrical and mechanical shape of the system, there is a problem that requires a camera module that is separately manufactured for each system.

Hereinafter, a problem occurring in the conventional camera module will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1 is a front view showing a conventional camera module and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof.

The conventional camera module illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes an image sensor chip 10; An optical lens 11 for collecting an external light signal to the image sensor chip; A lens housing portion 12 for supporting the optical lens 11; A printed circuit board (PCB) 13 which transmits the electric signal converted by the image sensor chip 10; It consists of a connector 14 for electrically connecting the electrical signal transmitted to the printed circuit board 13 to the system 20 requiring the camera.

Here, the image sensor chip 10 is a CMOS image sensor chip or a CCD image sensor chip having pixels corresponding to VGA, SVGA, and SXGA as necessary. The printed circuit board 13 may be a hard board or a flexible board as needed. And the printed circuit board should be able to accept COB (Chip ob Board) technology or CSP (Chip Scale Package) technology so that various components can be miniaturized and thinned.

When the camera module shown in FIG. 1 is mounted in the system, the connector 14 and the printed circuit board 13 must be manufactured to meet the requirements of the system board 20. Accordingly, the image sensor chip attached to the printed circuit board is attached. 10, there is a problem that the attachment shape of the optical lens 11 and the lens housing portion 12 should be different, or newly assembled to fit each system.

Another problem is apparent when looking at another conventional camera module shown in FIG. 3. The shapes of the printed circuit board 13 and the connector 14 of the camera module shown in FIG. 3 are different from those shown in FIG. This is because the specification of the system board 20 on which the camera module of FIG. 3 is to be mounted, that is, the number of pins, the pitch between the pins, the role of each pin, and the like are different from those of FIG. 1.

In this way, not only the specifications are different for each system, but also the position where the camera module is installed and the distance to the system board are different. Therefore, there was no choice but to manufacture a dedicated camera module according to the system model, which causes various problems for the manufacturer and supplier of the camera module.

The problem of the prior art is the inconvenience of having to design and manufacture a new camera module for each system model. This is not only a new performance test and a reliability test for each module but also the test itself is not easy. In addition, it is difficult to improve the yield of module products, and it is inconvenient to manage each individual module.

Another problem of the prior art is that the development time is longer in the case of a dedicated camera module is disadvantageous in time and economics. Each module has to go through new design time, verification process of product using poultry and main mold, and new packaging, which is accompanied by weakening of competitiveness due to cost increase of product.

In addition, as cell phones using camera modules undergo rapid model changes and functional changes, accurate production of camera modules cannot be predicted, and inventory can not be used, so that even rapid production of orders will not be possible.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to easily handle customer orders by standardizing the camera module.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a standardized camera module that reduces the defect rate during manufacturing and shortens the development time.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a camera module which is easy to manage inventory by the standardization and has excellent economic efficiency due to increased productivity.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a reliable camera module that enables a system developer to utilize the camera module of the present invention in a timely manner.

In order to achieve the above object, the camera module of the present invention comprises an image sensor chip; An optical lens that captures an external light signal and transmits the light signal to the image sensor chip; A lens housing portion for supporting the optical lens; A printed circuit board having an image sensor chip attached thereto; A connector to be connected to the printed circuit board; And a cable connected with the connector.

Preferably, the lens housing portion is composed of a lens holder and a lens barrel for fixing the lens to fix the lens in a stationary motion, and to properly collect the light signal to be transferred to the image sensor chip.

The printed circuit board to which the image sensor chip is attached includes a hard and flexible printed circuit board.

In addition, it is preferable that the connector connected to the printed circuit board includes input and output terminals at both ends, and the cable to be connected to the connector is preferably flexible.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings that describe exemplary embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the same reference numerals given in each drawing are used to denote the same members.

4 and 5 are front and side views showing an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to this, the configuration of the present invention comprises an image sensor chip 10 for converting a light signal into an electrical signal as shown; An optical lens 11 for transferring an external light signal to the image sensor 10 well; A lens housing portion 12 for supporting the optical lens; A printed circuit board 13 to which an image sensor chip is attached; A connector 14 connected to the printed circuit board 13; And a connecting cable 15 to which the connector is connected.

The connector 14 has terminals for inputting and outputting electrical signals at both ends, and one terminal 141 is used as an input terminal for receiving electrical signals from the printed circuit board 13. The other end terminal 142 is used as an output terminal for outputting the electrical signal transmitted to the connector (14).

The connector 14 and the connecting cable 15 are electrically connected to each other through the connector output terminal 142. Electrical connections can be made in several ways. For example, a soldering method or a connecting method using a male and female connector is also possible.

The camera module is electrically connected to the system board 20 through the terminal 151 on the other end of the connection cable 15.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 4 to solve the problems of the prior art described above, it is possible to replace only the connecting cable 15 to match the system board 20 to meet the requirements of each system. In the case where the connection cable 15 is not fitted to the system board 20 only by replacing the connection cable 15, the connection cable 15 and the connector 14 may be replaced as appropriate to the system specifications. However, in any case, it is not necessary to design and manufacture the other parts except the connection cable 15 and the connector 14 separately. Therefore, even if the specification of the system is changed, there is no inconvenience to redesign and manufacture the whole camera module, and it is possible to stably produce the camera module without being greatly influenced by the rapidly changing market situation.

6 shows another embodiment of the present invention. 4 and 6, the connector 14 and the connection cable 15 having different terminal shapes are used, and the parts of the other camera modules remain the same. In this way, even if the electrical and mechanical structure of the system board 20 changes as the system specification changes, only the replacement of the connector 14 and the connecting cable 15 will result in the shipment of the camera module to meet the specifications of the different systems. It is possible.

Figure 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention. A characteristic of the camera module shown in Figure 7 is that it uses a 'L' shaped connection cable. Except for this, the camera module has the same structure as the embodiment of FIG. 4. As can be easily seen in Figure 7, even if the camera module of the present invention is mounted on different systems, only the connection cable needs to be replaced to meet the system specifications, the camera module itself does not need to design all the new.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

According to the above-described optical camera module of the present invention, it is to provide a standardized camera module corresponding to different system specifications by only connecting the connection cable of the components of the camera module, or only by replacing the connector and the connection cable.

According to the optical camera module of the present invention described above, even if it is mounted in a different system by providing an optical camera module that does not need to design the whole module newly, there is an effect that the productivity is increased, manufacturing cost and lowering.

Another effect of the present invention is that by supplying the standardized parts of the optical camera module, there is no problem when the stock is generated due to the dedicated design, the inconvenience of having to separate the reliability test of the product or the packaging of the product for each designed product There is a novel effect of increasing the productivity of the camera module is eliminated.

1 is an embodiment showing the configuration of a conventional camera module.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the camera module shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a view showing another conventional camera module.

4 is an embodiment showing a camera module of the present invention.

5 is a side view of the camera module shown in FIG. 4.

6 is another embodiment of a camera module of the present invention.

7 is another embodiment of a camera module of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image sensor chip 11 Optical lens 12 Lens housing part

13 printed circuit board 14 connector 141 connector input and output terminal

142: connector input and output terminal 15: connection cable 151: connection cable terminal

152: connection cable terminal 20: system board on which the camera module is to be mounted

Claims (8)

In the optical camera module, A printed circuit board (PCB); Optical lenses; A housing unit fixing the lens to the printed circuit board; An image sensor electrically connected to the printed circuit board (PCB) to capture an external image through the optical lens and convert the external image into an output electrical signal; A connector electrically connected to and disconnectable from the printed circuit board; One end input / output terminal is used to electrically connect with the connector, and the other end input / output terminal is used to be electrically connected to a system in which the optical camera module is to be mounted, and a connection cable detachable from the connector; Optical camera module comprising a. The optical camera module of claim 1, wherein the input / output terminal of the connector is designed to include a different standard. The optical camera module of claim 1, wherein the printed circuit board is hard. The optical camera module of claim 1, wherein the printed circuit board is flexible. The optical camera module of claim 1, wherein the lens housing unit comprises a lens holder fixing the lens. The optical camera module of claim 1, wherein the connection cable is flexible. In the optical camera module, A printed circuit board (PCB); Optical lenses; A housing unit fixing the lens to the printed circuit board; An image sensor electrically connected to the printed circuit board (PCB) to capture an external image through the optical lens and convert the external image into an output electrical signal; A connector electrically connected to and disconnectable from the printed circuit board; One end input / output terminal is used to electrically connect with the connector, the other end input / output terminal is used to be electrically connected to a system in which the optical camera module is to be mounted, and a connection cable detachable from the connector; The optical camera module, characterized in that standardized to be mounted on different systems by replacing only the connection cable. 7. The optical camera module of claim 6, wherein the optical camera module is standardized for mounting to another system by further replacing the connector.