Seongguk Lee, Senior Researcher at LG Innotek, Selected as 'Inventor of the Year'

Simultaneous Award of Inventor of the Year and Industrial Medal at the 58th Invention Day
Invention of Optical Image Stabilization Technology

LG Innotek announced on the 12th that Seonguk Lee, a senior researcher, simultaneously received the 'Inventor of the Year' and the 'Industrial Medal' awards at the ceremony commemorating the '58th Inventors' Day' hosted by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the Korea Invention Promotion Association.

Seonguk Lee, senior researcher at LG Innotek, was recognized for his contribution in developing the world's first stable implementation of the 'high-magnification optical continuous zoom camera module (hereafter optical continuous zoom)' for smartphones, specifically the 'OIS (Optical Image Stabilization)' technology. He was selected as the recipient of both the Inventor of the Year and the Industrial Medal awards. The Inventor of the Year corresponds to the Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office Award, and the Industrial Medal is a type of decoration.

Seonguk Lee, Senior Researcher at LG Innotek. [Photo by LG Innotek]

Optical continuous zoom is a technology that implements the zoom function, previously applied to professional cameras such as DSLRs, into mobile phones. LG Innotek was the first in the world to commercialize this technology for smartphones in 2021. He invented the core technology of the optical continuous zoom, the 'OIS actuator,' in a new way.

In the past, smartphone cameras fixed at a single zoom level could capture clear images only at that fixed magnification, but at other zoom levels, software correction was essential, which caused image quality degradation issues. LG Innotek's optical continuous zoom camera module solved this problem, with a component called the 'continuous zoom actuator' playing a very important role. The continuous zoom actuator is composed in detail of the OIS actuator and the zoom actuator (a component that moves the lens to change the focal length or focus). These work organically to ensure that image quality does not degrade even when zooming in on subjects across all zoom ranges.

LG Innotek also received an Innovation Award for optical continuous zoom at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The researcher has also made efforts to secure intellectual property rights, filing 116 domestic patents and 147 overseas patents over the past five years.

Seonguk Lee, senior researcher, said, "I am proud to have contributed to enhancing the industrial competitiveness of the company and the nation through the development of various actuators," and added, "I will continue to invent technologies and products at LG Innotek that anticipate future demand and create differentiated value."