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 Strategic positioning |
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Over the last five years, camera phones have revolutionised the mobile phone market, growing
from (barely)
nice-to-have features, to key must-have features. More than half of all mobile phones
sold in 2006 came with
an embedded camera, and camera phone sales could hit the 1 billion mark by 2010.
Making the most of this success, handset manufacturers are now looking at grabbing an even bigger market
by taking the low end digital still camera market. For this they need to deliver the same level of image quality.
The first step is to increase pixel count. The current market trend is clearly showing an increase in resolution
with mobile phone manufacturers pushing ‘‘mega-pixels’’, with many 2 or 3MP camera phones being launched today. Sensor sizes are at the same time being reduced to fit trendy slim phones, hence smaller pixels are constantly
being developed (from 5.6μm 3 years ago, to 2.8μm last year, and even 2.2μm this year). But this comes at the
expense of sensor sensitivity.
The next challenge is to add better optics. Features such as auto focus, zoom lenses,
and anti-jitter mechanisms,
which are standard features on today’s digital still cameras.
The need for auto focus is also driven by the emergence of new mobile applications, ranging from bar code
scanning to biometrics and optical character recognition. These applications especially require greater auto focus
accuracy, sharper and crisper focus, and fast response times. However, where makers of digital still cameras can
easily add more circuitry and/or rely on expensive mechanical systems for auto focus and zoom, camera phone
boards
are tightly packed, requiring small and extremely reliable components.
Therefore camera modules manufacturers are
faced with the challenge to develop small, reliable and inexpensive
auto focus solutions to meet the demand from handset manufacturers.
Varioptic’s liquid lens auto focus solutions feature
some crucial advantages over traditional technologies in terms of robustness, cost, size, ease of integration, power
consumption and speed Varioptic has developed several products to meet the demand from the camera phone market: |
 Liquid Lenses |
 Arctic 416 |
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This new product is the perfect fit for low footprint camera modules, especially suitable for the current trend of slim camera phones. It provides a fast track to market for OEMs and ODMs looking for an easy to integrate, high performance auto focus solution.
Taking full advantage of the ARCTIC 416 features, such as its inherent accuracy and un-matched response time, much simpler auto focus strategies can be applied to obtain sharp, crisp focus in time never reached before, well under 500 ms.
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 Download Product Datasheet |
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| Camera Modules |
| AFCM MI285 |
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To respond to the growing market demand
for small, reliable and inexpensive
autofocus solutions, the AFCM MI 285
camera module is the first 2 Megapixel,1/4”
product that integrates Varioptic’s leading
edge auto focus solution.
Based on Micron MT9D012 image sensor,
it provides best-in-class image quality
within a small form factor. Taking full
advantage of the ARCTIC 416 features,
sharply focused images can be captured
instantaneously, delivering DSC-like user
experience on mobile phones.
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| Download Product Datasheet |
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| Drivers |
| DrivIC 60 |
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The DrivIC 60 Series provides developers and integrators with a set of driver solutions for the
ARCTIC Series of variable focus lenses.
The DrivIC 60 LL3 solution is based on a
step-up converter from Durel
(www.durel.com), which is tuneable
through an adjustable pin. Its H-bridge
output can drive Varioptic’s ARCTIC
liquid lenses by supplying up to 60VRMS
into a capacitive load of 500pF maximum.
The DrivIC 60 LL3 uses an external
inductor and capacitor as part of the boost
power supply. It can be shut down to
conserve power in battery operation.
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| Download product Datasheet |
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