IMAGE STABILIZING DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR TELESCOPIC OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

• US 20150219920A1
• Filed: 01/27/2015
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kamakura KOKI Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Kamakura KOKI Company Limited
• Inventors: ANDO, Kunio, KATO, Masashi, ITOH, Haruo, MIYAJI, Kazuya
• Granted Patent: US 9,417,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/18 for binocular arrangements focusing binocular pairs G02B7/06; adjusting pupillary distance of binocular pairs G02B7/12
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/646 compensating for small deviations, e.g. due to vibration or shake movement of one or more optical elements for control of motion blur in cameras, projectors or printers G03B2205/0007; image stabilisation in cameras peculiar to the presence or use of an electronic image sensor H04N23/68
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/04 Prisms
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 41/0354 Lorentz force motors, e.g. voice coil motors

Abstract

An image stabilizing device and system for a binocular telescope having a pair of telescopic optical systems each comprising an objective lens, a gimbal mounted erecting prism and an eyepiece lens which is capable of compensating for deterioration in quality of an observed image due to user hand shake or other external vibrations.

Claims

1. An image stabilizing device for a binocular telescope having a pair of telescopic optical systems which are installed in parallel in a binocular housing and each of which is made up of an objective lens, an erecting prism and an eyepiece lens coaxially arranged in this order, each said erecting prism being capable of rotating on horizontal first and vertical second axes of rotation intersecting an optical axis of said telescopic optical system including said erecting prism as a constituent optical element so as to compensate for deterioration of an telescopic optical image caused due to external vibrations, said image stabilizing device comprising:

gimbal structure for mounting thereon both of said erecting prisms, said gimbal structure comprising;

a gimbal easing fixedly mounted in said binocular housing;

an external gimbal frame rotatably mounted on said gimbal casing so as to rotate on said horizontal first axis of rotation; and

a pair of internal gimbal frames rotatably mounted on said external gimbal frame each of which fixedly holds said erecting prism thereon and are rotatably mounted on said external gimbal frame so as to rotate on said vertical second axis of rotation;

an angular velocity detector for detecting an angular displacement of at least one of said internal gimbal frames;

an external frame drive voice coil motor disposed between said gimbal casing and said external gimbal frame for rotating said external gimbal frame on said horizontal first axis of rotation; and

an internal frame drive voice coil motor disposed between said, external gimbal frame and each of said internal gimbal frames for rotating each of said internal gimbal frame on said vertical second axis of rotation;

each of said external frame drive voice coil motor and. said internal frame drive voice coil motors comprises first yoke members having a permanent magnet mounted thereon and second yoke members having a looped coil with an empty space therein and a position detection device disposed in said empty space of said looped coil for providing a position signal indicating a position of said looped coil relative to said permanent magnet.

2. The image stabilizing device of claim 1, wherein each of said coil voice motors is at least partially mounted on said external gimbal frame.

3. The image stabilizing device of claim 2, wherein at least one of said first, and second yoke members of each of said voice coil motors is mounted on said external gimbal frame.

4. The image stabilizing device of claim 2, wherein at least one of said first and second yoke members of each of said voice coil motors is at least partially embedded in said external gimbal frame.

5. The image stabilizing device of claim 1, wherein said angular velocity detector detects vertical and horizontal components of angular velocity of vibrations of either one of said pair of internal gimbal frames.

6. The image stabilizing device of claim 5, wherein said angular velocity detector comprises a biaxial angular velocity detection sensor disposed between said external gimbal frame and either one of said pair of internal gimbal frames.

7. The image stabilizing device of claim 5, wherein said angular velocity detector comprises an angular velocity detection sensor disposed between said gimbal casing and said external gimbal frame for detecting a horizontal component of angular displacements of said external gimbal frame and an angular velocity detection sensor disposed between said external gimbal frame and either one of said pair of internal gimbal frames for detecting a vertical component of angular displacement of one of said pair of internal gimbal frames.

8. The image stabilizing device of claim 1, further comprising a drive controller operative to perform drive control of each said voice coil motors based on position information provided by said position detection device associated with each of said voice coil motors and angular displacement information provided by said angular velocity detector related to at least one of said pair of internal gimbal frames.

9. An image stabilization system for a binocular imaging instrument comprising;

left and right optical, paths extending between left and right objectives and corresponding left and right eyepiece lenses respectively;

left and right erecting prisms pivotally retained for vertical rotation within said left and right optical paths on left and right internal gimbal frames, respectively;

an external, gimbal frame supporting said left and right internal gimbal frames, said external gimbal frame being pivotally retained for horizontal rotation within a gimbal casing disposed within a housing of the instrument;

at least one angular velocity detector for detecting an angular displacement of at least one of said left and right internal gimbal frames; and

first, second, and third voice coil motors operatively associated for rotationally controlling said left and right internal and external gimbal frames respectively in response to said angular velocity detector.

10. The image stabilization system of claim 9, wherein said left and right erecting prisms comprise Schmidt prisms.

11. The image stabilization system of claim 9, wherein said at least one velocity detector comprises a biaxial velocity detection device.

12. The image stabilization system of claim 9 wherein said first, second, and third voice coil motors comprise split-yoke type voice coil motors.

13. The Image stabilization system of claim 9, wherein said first and second voice coil motors are at least partially disposed within said left and right internal gimbal frames, respectively.

14. The image stabilization system of claim 9, wherein said first and second voice coil motors are at least partially disposed within said external gimbal frame.

15. The image stabilization system of claim 9, wherein said third voice coil motor is at least partially disposed within said external gimbal frame.

16. The image stabilization system of claim 9, wherein said third voice coil motor is at least partially disposed within said gimbal casing.

17. The image stabilization system of claim 9, further comprising a controller board affixed to said external gimbal frame, said controller board including a processor for operatively driving said first, second, and third voice coil motors in response to signals from said at least one angular velocity detector.