Lens barrel apparatus for camera

An apparatus for rotating a camera lens, the apparatus comprising:

• a generally eye-shaped lens barrel;
• a vertical driving unit that rotates the lens barrel about a vertical axis in response to a vertical rotation control signal;
• a horizontal driving unit that rotates the lens barrel about a horizontal axis in response to a horizontal rotation control signal;
• a rotation-position sensing unit that generates rotation-position data of the lens barrel in response to the rotation of the lens barrel, the rotation-position sensing unit comprising:
• encoders that generate analog signals in response to the rotation of the lens barrel;
• an amplifier that amplifies the analog signals of the encoders;
• and
• an analog-to-digital converter that converts the amplified analog signals into digital signals to generate the rotation-position data;
• a coordinate input unit that generates input coordinate data according to a manipulating action of a user;
• and
• a controller that generates the vertical rotation control signal and the horizontal rotation control signal according to the input coordinate data from the coordinate input unit and the rotation-position data from the rotation-position sensing unit.

A method of rotating a camera lens, the method comprising:

• generating digital rotation-position data of a lens barrel in response to the rotation of the lens barrel;
• receiving user input from a joystick;
• generating input coordinate data according to the user input;
• generating a signal according to the input coordinate data and the rotation-position data;
• and
• rotating the lens barrel about an axis in response to the signal.