KR20110107192A - Camera module for realizing panorama image and image capturing method using the such - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a panoramic image implementing camera module and a photographing method using the same. The present invention includes a photographing module having a lens; an upper housing part; and a housing part having a lower housing part coupled thereto to accommodate a photographing module; and a peripheral part of the photographing module. Rotating unit for rotating; and an elastic deformation unit located between the photographing module and the lower housing portion, and controlling the rotation interval of the photographing module; and can implement a panoramic image without installing a plurality of cameras The structure is simplified, and the installation cost of the implementing device is small.

Description

Camera module for realizing panorama image and image capturing method using the such}

The present invention relates to a camera module, and more particularly, to a panoramic image implementation camera module for obtaining a panoramic image of a subject by rotating the photographing module in a left and right direction, and a shooting method using the same.

The digital camera module captures an image using a charge coupled device (CCD) device instead of a film or an image sensor such as a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). Camera modules having an image sensor are employed in mobile devices capable of transmitting video and taking pictures, such as mobile phones, laptop computers, PDAs (Portable Digital Assistance), monitor insertion cameras, rear bumper cameras for automobile bumpers, and interphone cameras. .

In general, camera modules employed in portable electronic devices are becoming complex, multifunctional, miniaturized, and lightweight, and the lens assemblies of the camera module are also miniaturized due to the miniaturization and high precision of the lens used therein.

In general, the implementation of a panoramic image is to take a plurality of video images while moving the mobile video device to the left and right, and to connect a plurality of video images to realize a single video image, to rotate the lens or the camera, or to use an ultra wide-angle lens Is implemented using

In the case of the conventional camera module, a continuous video image acquired in a dual system or a continuous video image acquired in one direction according to a user's intention is synthesized. However, additionally, the module needs to be mounted, or the user has to take several consecutive video images.

An object of the present invention is to provide a panoramic image implementation camera module obtained by continuously obtaining a plurality of video images by rotating the imaging module coupled to the ball joint by a predetermined angle in the left and right directions, and a photographing method using the same.

In order to achieve the above object, a panoramic image implementing camera module according to an aspect of the present invention,

An imaging module having a lens;

A housing part having an upper housing part and a lower housing part coupled thereto to receive the imaging module;

A rotation unit installed around the photographing module to rotate the photographing module at a predetermined angle in left and right directions; And

And an elastic deformation part positioned between the photographing module and the lower housing part to control a rotation interval of the photographing module.

In addition, the rotating unit,

A support member extending upwardly from a sidewall of the long side portion of the elastic deformation portion and bent in a horizontal direction therefrom, and a ball joint socket portion formed on the support member; And

A rod part connected to a driving part installed at an edge of the lower housing part to linearly reciprocate in a vertical direction, and a ball joint installed at an end of the rod part and coupled to the ball joint socket part to rotate the imaging module; It includes.

In addition, a module holder part is further provided between the photographing module and the elastic deformation part to provide a space in which the photographing module is accommodated.

In addition, a first hole is formed in the side wall of the short side of the module holder.

A second hole is formed in the side wall extending upward from the short side portion of the elastic deformation portion,

A third hole is formed in the side wall extending in the upper direction from the short side portion of the lower housing portion,

A stopper is located on the side wall of the lower housing part,

And a center pin installed through the first hole, the second hole, and the third hole, the center pin coupled to the stopper to control the rotation angle of the module holder part in which the photographing module is accommodated.

Further, the elastic deformation portion is a leaf spring for elastically adjusting the rotation interval of the imaging module.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a photographing method using a panoramic image implementing camera module includes:

Rotating the imaging module in one direction as much as possible;

Determining whether the photographing module reaches a home position, and obtaining and storing an image image;

Rotating the imaging module in a different direction at a predetermined angle to continuously acquire an image image; And

And synthesizing the obtained plurality of image images to calculate a panoramic image.

In addition, the imaging module is coupled to the ball joint coupled to the rod end coupled to the drive unit with respect to the ball joint socket portion installed along the circumference, thereby rotating the imaging module at a predetermined angle.

In addition, the imaging module provides a restoring force so that the elastic deformation portion installed at the lower portion is elastically supported in the housing part accommodating the elastic module to reach the correct position of the imaging module.

As described above, the panorama image implemented camera module and the photographing method using the same may obtain the following effects.

First, since the panoramic image can be implemented without installing a plurality of cameras, the structure of the imaging device is simplified, and the installation cost of the implementing apparatus is small.

Second, since the user does not need to take an image by moving in a predetermined set direction, the operation of the video device is simplified.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the camera module of FIG. 1 is coupled;
3 is a block diagram illustrating correction of a shake of the camera module of FIG. 1;
4 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a process of acquiring a panoramic image by using the camera module of FIG. 1.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view illustrating a separate camera module 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 illustrates a state in which the camera module 100 of FIG. 1 is coupled.

1 and 2, the camera module 100 includes a photographing module 110, a shutter assembly 120, a module holder part 130, an elastic deformation part 140, and a driving part 150. And an upper housing part 160 and a lower housing part 170.

As is well known, the photographing module 110 supports an image sensor and at least one lens 111 that serves to cause light (hereinafter, subject light) representing an image of a subject to form on the image sensor. 112 and a barrel support portion 113 for supporting the barrel 112.

A shutter assembly 120 is installed at an upper side of the photographing module 110, and a module holder part 130 is installed at a lower side of the photographing module 110. The shutter assembly 120 may selectively adjust the exposure light amount of the subject light by the movement of the shutter blade 121, and the shutter blade 121 is coupled to the shutter case 122.

The module holder 130 may accommodate the photographing module 110 through a space formed therein. A plurality of hooks 131 fastened to the fastening grooves 123 of the shutter case 122 are installed on the outer wall of the module holder 130. As the hook 131 is coupled to the fastening groove 123, while the photographing module 110 is located in a space in the module holder part 130, the module holder part 130 with respect to the shutter assembly 120. ) Can be combined.

An elastic deformation part 140 is installed below the module holder part 130. The elastic deformation part 140 may accommodate an outer shape of the module holder part 130. The elastic deformation part 140 is preferably a leaf spring (Leaf Spring).

Alternatively, the shutter assembly 120 is integrally formed in the upper housing portion 160 or the imaging module 110, and the module holder portion 130 is deleted, and instead the imaging module 110 is directly connected. It is not limited to any one, such as may be located inside the elastic deformation unit 140.

In the lower center of the elastic deformation unit 140, a position sensor 180, for example, a gyro sensor, is located. The position detecting sensor 180 may detect the position of the module holder 130 accommodating the photographing module 110 in real time.

The upper housing part 160 is installed to surround the combined shutter case 122 and the module holder part 130, and is coupled to the lower housing part 170. To this end, the upper housing portion 160 is provided with a plurality of hooks 161 having a predetermined pressing force along the lower end of both side walls, the hook portion 161 is the edge of the lower housing portion 170 It is supported by both sides.

The driving part 150 is located at both edges of the lower housing part 170. The driving unit 150 provides a driving force for rotating the module holder unit 130 accommodating the photographing module 110.

Meanwhile, a first hole 132 is formed in the side wall 133 of the short wall portion of the module holder 130, and the first side wall portion 141 extending upward from the short side of the elastic deformation portion 140. A second hole 142 is formed in the second hole, and a third hole 172 is formed in the first sidewall part 171 extending upward from the short side of the lower housing part 170.

When the module holder part 130, the elastic deformation part 140, and the lower housing part 170 are coupled to each other, the first hole 132, the second hole 142, and the third hole 172 are in a horizontal direction. The stopper 190 is positioned on the first sidewall 171 of the lower housing unit 170 in which the third hole 172 is formed.

The center pin 200 is installed to penetrate through the first hole 132, the second hole 142, and the third hole 172, and is coupled with the stopper 190 to position the stopper 190. Deciding.

Here, it is possible to implement a panoramic image by rotating the rotating unit by the driving force of the driving unit 150 to obtain a plurality of image images by rotating the photographing module 110 at a predetermined angle in the left and right directions.

This will be described in more detail as follows.

The driving part 150 is located at both edges of the lower housing part 170. The drive unit 150 is preferably a piezoelectric actuator, and the rod unit 151 coupled thereto by the volume expansion thereof can linearly reciprocate in the vertical direction. The ball joint 152 is coupled to the end of the rod portion 151. Alternatively, the driving unit 150 is not limited to any one such as a voice coil motor (VCM) or a stepping motor may be selected in addition to the piezoelectric actuator.

A support member 144 protrudes integrally from the long side wall 143 of the elastic deformation part 141 in a horizontal direction, and a ball joint socket 145 is provided on the support member 144. The ball joint 152 is rotatably coupled to the hemispherical coupling groove formed in the ball joint socket 145.

As such, the rotating part may be coupled to the ball joint socket part 145 coupled to the elastic deformation part 141 and the driving part 150 to connect the ball joint 152 rotating the imaging module 110 at a predetermined angle. Include.

In this embodiment, a module holder 130 is provided to provide a space for accommodating the photographing module 110, and the module holder 130 is positioned between the photographing module 110 and the elastic deformation part 140. In this case, the module holder 130 and the photographing module 130 can be rotated at the same time, but the photographing module 110 is fixed inside the elastic deformation part 140 without the module holder 130. It will be more preferred that 130 rotate at an angle.

The elastic deformation part 140 is a leaf spring disposed to face the bottom surface 173 of the lower housing part 170. The elastic deformation part 140 includes four bent protrusions 143 to adjust the tension of the stopper 190 in the vertical, vertical, left and right directions. The bending protrusion 143 is in contact with the bottom surface 173 of the lower housing portion 170, when the ball joint coupled portion does not reach the desired position due to the shaking of the camera module 100, restoring force It serves to control the fine rotation interval by providing a. Alternatively, the elastic force of the elastic deformation part 140 may be adjusted without the bending protrusion 143.

The stopper 190 penetrates through the first hole 132 of the module holder part 130, the second hole 142 of the elastic deformation part 140, and the third hole 173 of the lower housing part 170. It is fixed by the inserted center pin 200, limiting the degree of rotation of the module holder 130 accommodated with the photographing module 110. The center pin 200 serves as a central axis when the module holder unit 130 in which the photographing module 110 is accommodated rotates.

The operation of implementing the panoramic image using the camera module 100 having the above configuration is as follows.

The module holder part 130 in which the photographing module 110 is accommodated is rotatable by the driving force of the driving part 150 installed on the bottom surface 173 of the lower housing part 170. That is, the ball joint 152 installed at the end of the rod part 151 of the driving part 150 is rotatably coupled to the ball joint socket part 145 coupled to the support member 144 of the elastic deformation part 140. Therefore, when the rod part 151 is moved up and down in the vertical direction, the module holder part 130 in which the photographing module 110 is accommodated by the ball joint part is rotated by a predetermined angle in the horizontal direction.

Accordingly, while the module holder unit 130 in which the photographing module 110 is accommodated rotates, the photographing module 110 continuously acquires an image of a subject while moving a predetermined angle from left to right or right to left. .

In this case, the stopper 190 limits the angle of rotation of the module holder unit 130 in which the photographing module 110 is accommodated, and the position sensor 180 located at the lower center of the elastic deformation unit 140 is The position of the module holder 130 in which the photographing module 110 is accommodated is detected in real time.

Therefore, when the ball joint portion does not reach the correct position due to the driving force of the driving unit 150, the elastic deformation unit 140, the plurality of bending protrusions 143, the bottom surface 173 of the lower housing portion 170 By providing the restoring force in the left and right directions while elastically contacting), it is possible to obtain an image of the subject at a desired position.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a method of correcting a shake of the camera module 100 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the image of the subject is obtained through the optical system, and the shake of the camera module 100 is detected by the shake detecting means. The camera module 100 is shaken by a driver 301 including an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, a digital-to-analog (D / A) converter, and a CPU. Minimize by driving the shake correction unit. Meanwhile, the degree of correction after shaking of the camera module unit 100 is determined by an image signal processor (ISP) 302.

4 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a process of implementing a panoramic image by using the camera module 100 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the camera module 100 is initialized in steps S401 to S402. That is, in step S401, the number of shots is initialized (N = 0), and in step S402, a buffer for storing the image to be photographed is initialized.

Subsequently, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) is performed in the Y-axis direction (that is, up and down direction) using the shake correction means (see FIG. 3) provided in the camera module 100 to correct the shake of the camera module 100. In operation S403, the ball holder portion is rotated by the driving force of the driving unit 150 of FIG. 1 to rotate the module holder unit 130 accommodating the imaging module 110 to the left in the X-axis direction as much as possible. (S404)

Next, it is determined whether the home position is reached in the X-axis direction (S405), and when the home position is reached, photographing is performed using the photographing module 110. (S406) If the home position is not reached, Return to step S404 and continue to rotate in the left direction until reaching the correct position. Alternatively it can be rotated in the opposite direction.

When the photographing is performed, the photographed image is stored in the buffer (S407), and the module holder unit 130 accommodating the photographing module 110 at an angle arbitrarily designated by the user is sequentially rotated to the right. At this time, the rotation angle is preferably 0 to 60 degrees. (S408)

Next, when the user shoots by arbitrarily setting how many images to acquire, the number of shots is increased (N = N + 1) (S409), and it is determined that the total number of shots is the same as the designated number of images. In the case (S410), successively photographed images are synthesized into a single image using software provided in the camera module 100 (S412), and a panoramic image is calculated. Can be checked by judging whether the specified angle has been reached.

After the panoramic image is calculated, the shake correction of the camera module 100 is completed by ending OIS driving in the Y-axis direction (S414).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the total number of image capturing is not the same as the designated number of images (S410), it is determined whether the module holder unit 130 accommodating the photographing module 110 has reached the left to right limit. (S411)

If the right limit is not reached, the process returns to the shooting mode at step S406, and shooting is performed again. In contrast, when the right limit is reached, the image is synthesized (S412).

The panorama image implementation as described above is not limited to any one of an auto focus camera and a short focus camera in addition to the zoom camera for a mobile phone of the present embodiment.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

100 ... Camera Module 110 ... Shooting Module
120 .... shutter assembly 121 ... lens
130 ... Module holder section 140 ... Elastic deformation section
143 ... Bent protrusion 145 ... Ball joint socket
150 ... Driver 151 ... Rod
152 Ball joint 160 Upper housing
170 ... Lower housing 180 ... Position sensor
190 ... stopper 200 ... center pin

Claims (10)

An imaging module having a lens;
A housing part having an upper housing part and a lower housing part coupled thereto to receive the imaging module;
A rotation unit installed around the photographing module to rotate the photographing module at a predetermined angle in left and right directions; And
And an elastic deformation unit positioned between the photographing module and the lower housing part to control a rotation interval of the photographing module. The method of claim 1,
The rotation unit includes:
A support member extending upwardly from a sidewall of the long side portion of the elastic deformation portion and bent in a horizontal direction therefrom, and a ball joint socket portion formed on the support member; And
A rod part connected to a driving part installed at an edge of the lower housing part to linearly reciprocate in a vertical direction, and a ball joint installed at an end of the rod part and coupled to the ball joint socket part to rotate the photographing module; Panoramic image implementing camera module comprising a. The method of claim 2,
The driving unit is a piezoelectric actuator, a voice coil motor, or a stepping motor selected from any one of the panoramic image implementation camera module. The method of claim 2,
And a module holder part provided between the photographing module and the elastic deformation part to provide a space in which the photographing module is accommodated. The method of claim 4, wherein
A first hole is formed in the side wall of the short side portion of the module holder portion,
A second hole is formed in the side wall extending upward from the short side portion of the elastic deformation portion,
A third hole is formed in the side wall extending in the upper direction from the short side portion of the lower housing portion,
A stopper is located on the side wall of the lower housing part,
And a center pin installed through the first hole, the second hole, and the third hole, and having a center pin coupled to the stopper to control a rotation angle of the module holder unit in which the photographing module is accommodated. The method of claim 1,
The elastic deformation unit is a panoramic image implementing camera module, characterized in that the leaf spring to elastically adjust the rotation interval of the photographing module. The method according to claim 6,
The lower surface of the elastic deformation unit is a panoramic image implementing camera module, characterized in that the position detection sensor for detecting the position of the photographing module is further installed. Rotating the imaging module in one direction as much as possible;
Determining whether the photographing module reaches a home position, and obtaining and storing an image image;
Rotating the imaging module in a different direction at a predetermined angle to continuously acquire an image image; And
And synthesizing the obtained plurality of image images to calculate a panoramic image. The method of claim 8,
The photographing module is coupled to the ball joint coupled to the end of the rod coupled to the driving portion with respect to the ball joint socket portion installed along the circumference, panoramic image realization camera module, characterized in that for rotating the photographing module at a predetermined angle Shooting method used. The method of claim 9,
The photographing module is a method of photographing using a panoramic image implemented camera module, characterized in that the elastic deformation portion is installed in the lower portion is supported elastically to the housing portion housing the elastic module to reach the correct position of the photographing module.

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