US 12,449,673 B1
Ball bearing sensor shift camera with flexure
Ya-Wen Hsu, San Francisco, CA (US); Aurelien R Hubert, San Jose, CA (US); Jinjun Zhang, San Jose, CA (US); Yazan Z Alnahhas, Stanford, CA (US); Kevin Garrison, Santa Clara, CA (US); Nitin Kumar Chennupati, Mountain View, CA (US); and Nicole Elizabeth Cazares, Yongsan-gu (KR)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 29, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/478,041.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/582,219, filed on Sep. 12, 2023.
Int. Cl. G02B 27/64 (2006.01); G03B 30/00 (2021.01); H04N 23/68 (2023.01)
CPC G02B 27/646 (2013.01) [G03B 30/00 (2021.01); H04N 23/687 (2023.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A camera, comprising:
a lens barrel comprising at least one lens;
a shield can fixedly coupled with the lens barrel;
an image sensor to capture image data based on light that has passed through the at least one lens;
a carrier fixedly coupled with the image sensor;
a ball bearing voice coil motor (VCM) actuator to move the image sensor relative to the lens barrel, wherein a side of the shield can that encloses the ball bearing VCM actuator extends further away from the camera barrel than an opposite side of the shield can, the ball bearing VCM actuator comprising:
a coil fixedly coupled with the carrier, such that the coil moves together with the carrier;
a magnet fixedly coupled with the shield can; and
a bearing suspension arrangement to suspend the carrier from the shield can, wherein the carrier is configured to move on ball bearings so as to allow motion enabled by the ball bearing VCM actuator; and
a flexure that provides an electrical connection between the carrier and a stationary structure of the camera, wherein a flexible portion of the flexure allows motion of the carrier relative to the stationary structure enabled by the ball bearing VCM actuator while maintaining the electrical connection, and wherein the flexure conveys electrical signals between the carrier and the stationary structure via the electrical connection.