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US 7,813,047 B2Granted
Apparatus and method comprising deformable lens element
AssigneeHand Held Products, Inc.
InventorsYnjiun P. Wang, Chen Feng, William H. Havens, Jianhua Li
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus comprising a deformable lens element can be provided wherein a deformable lens element can be deformed to change an optical property thereof by the impartation of a force to the deformable lens element.
Claims56
An apparatus for use in a lens assembly, said apparatus comprising:
- a deformable lens member having an axis and a deformable surface, at least part of which transmits image forming light rays;
- and
- a force imparting structural member disposed to impart a force to said deformable surface;
- wherein said apparatus is adapted so that said force imparting structural member is capable of imparting a pushing force to said deformable surface resulting in a thickness of said deformable lens member along said axis decreasing;
- wherein said force is generated by an actuator having an optically clear area disposed about said axis.
2 more elements
An optical system for use in imaging an object, said system comprising:
- a deformable lens element capable of being deformed wherein said deformable lens element has a deformable surface that faces an exterior of said deformable lens element, said deformable lens element having an axis;
- wherein said optical system is adapted so that said system can impart a force to said deformable surface generally in a direction of said axis toward said deformable lens element in such manner that an optical property of said deformable lens element is changed by impartation of said force;
- wherein said optical system includes an actuator including an aperture disposed about said axis for imparting said force to said deformable lens element generally in a direction of said axis.
An optical system for use in imaging an object, said system comprising:
- a deformable lens element having a deformable surface, at least part of which transmits image forming light rays and which faces an exterior of said deformable lens element, said deformable lens surface being one of normally convex or capable of exhibiting a convex curvature, said deformable lens element having an axis;
- and
- an actuator for generating a force that is imparted to said deformable surface, the actuator having an aperture disposed about said axis, the optical system being adapted so that actuation of said actuator results in a force being imparted to said deformable surface to vary a convexity of said deformable lens element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.