Camera driver

The A camera driving apparatus, comprising:

• a camera section including an imaging element, a lens for forming a subject image on an imaging plane of the imaging element, and a lens barrel for holding the lens;
• a fixed unit at least partially formed of a magnetic member and having a protrusion section having a shape of at least a part of a spherical face;
• a movable unit including a first movable section having an attracting magnet for generating a magnetic attracting force in the magnetic member and a conical contact face with which the protrusion section is loosely engageable by the magnetic attracting force and is contactable, the first movable section being freely pivotable around a sphere center of the protrusion section and having the camera section mounted thereon;
• a fall preventive regulation face provided at a bottom of the camera section in a state where a prescribed gap, along which the camera section is freely pivotable with respect to the fixed unit when the movable unit pivots, is sandwiched between the fall preventive regulation face and the fixed unit;
• a detector for detecting an inclining angle of the camera section with respect to the fixed unit and a rotating angle of the camera section around an optical axis of the lens;
• a first driving section for inclining the camera section with respect to the fixed unit;
• and
• a second driving section for rotating the camera section around the optical axis with respect to the fixed unit;
• wherein:
• the first driving section includes two pairs of inclination driving magnets located symmetrically with respect to the optical axis of the lens and fixed to the movable unit in a state where one pair and the other pair are located on two lines perpendicular to each other;
• two pairs of first magnetic yokes provided on the fixed unit so as to face the inclination driving magnets respectively;
• and inclination driving coils provided on the first magnetic yokes;
• the second driving section includes a pair of rotation driving magnets located symmetrically with respect to the optical axis of the lens and fixed to the movable unit;
• second magnetic yokes provided on the fixed unit so as to face the rotation driving magnets respectively;
• and rotation driving coils provided on the second magnetic yokes;
• side faces of the inclination driving magnets facing the first magnetic yokes each have a part of a first convexed spherical face which has a center matching the sphere center of the spherical face and has, as a radius, distance R1 from the center to a median of the side face of the inclination driving magnet, the distance R1 being defined on a plane which is perpendicular to the optical axis and passes the sphere center of the spherical face;
• side faces of the rotation driving magnets facing the second magnetic yokes each have a part of a second convexed spherical face which has a center matching the sphere center of the spherical face and has, as a radius, distance R2 from the center to a median of the side face of the rotation driving magnet, the distance R2 being defined on the plane;
• side faces of the first magnetic yokes facing the side faces of the inclination driving magnets each have a part of a concaved spherical face which has, as a center, a first point on a line extended from a line connecting the center to the median of the side face of the inclination driving magnet, the extended line being defined on the plane, and has radius R3 which is longer distance L1 from the first point to a median of the side face of the first magnetic yoke, the distance L1 being defined on the plane;
• and
• side faces of the second magnetic yokes facing the side faces of the rotation driving magnets each have a part of a concaved spherical face which has, as a center, a second point on a line extended from a line connecting the center to the median of the side face of the rotation driving magnet, the extended line being defined on the plane, and has radius R4 which is longer distance L2 from the second point to a median of the side face of the second magnetic yoke, the distance L2 being defined on the plane.

A camera driving apparatus, comprising:

• a camera section including an imaging element, a lens for forming a subject image on an imaging plane of the imaging element, and a lens barrel for holding the lens;
• a protrusion section at least partially formed of a magnetic member and having a shape of at least a part of a spherical face;
• a protrusion supporting section for supporting the protrusion section;
• a first movable section having an attracting magnet for generating a magnetic attracting force in the magnetic member and a conical contact face with which the protrusion section is loosely engageable by the magnetic attracting force and is contactable, the first movable unit being freely pivotable around a sphere center of the spherical face of the protrusion section;
• a second movable section having the camera section mounted thereon and fixed to the first movable section, the second movable section having a fall preventive regulation face in a state where a prescribed gap, along which the second movable section is freely pivotable with respect to the protrusion supporting section when the first movable section pivots, is sandwiched between the fall preventive regulation face and the protrusion supporting section;
• a third movable section for supporting the protrusion supporting section;
• a fixed unit for supporting the third movable section such that the third movable section is freely pivotable around an optical axis;
• a panning driving section for inclining the camera section in a panning direction with respect to the third movable section;
• a tilting driving section for inclining the camera section in a tilting direction, perpendicular to the panning direction, with respect to the third movable section;
• a rolling driving section for rotating the third movable section in a rolling direction, in which the third movable section rotates around the optical axis of the lens with respect to the fixed unit;
• a first detection section for detecting an inclining angle of the camera section in the panning and tilting directions with respect to the third movable section;
• and
• a second detection section for detecting a rotating angle of the third movable section in the rolling direction with respect to the fixed unit.