Compact Stepping Lens Actuator for Mobile Cameras

Abstract

An actuator (100) including: a housing (102); a driven member (104) movably disposed with respect to the housing; a magnet (114) associated with the driven member and a ferric member (112) for providing a magnetic attraction force between the driven member and the ferric member for providing a normal force (Fn) between the housing and driven member such that a friction force between the housing and driven member resulting from the normal force must be overcome to initiate a relative movement between the housing and driven member; and a magnetic drive system (118, 120) for overcoming the friction force and driving the driven member relative to the housing. The driven member can be a lens holder for holding a lens (106), in which case, the actuator can further include an image sensor (110) for acquiring image data through the lens.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.