Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-22
2004-06-01
Davis, David (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744704
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk playback apparatus of the type in which a disk pulled out from one of a plurality of disk holders stacked one on another is chucked on a drive base unit so as to be subjected to playback operation. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a disk playback apparatus in which the driver base unit is moved into a space that is formed by vertically moving at least one of the stacked disk holders, rather than by horizontally moving the entirety of the stack of disk holders.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, widely used are disk playback apparatuses of the type in which a disk is selected from a group of disks accommodated in a magazine and is automatically conveyed and subjected to playback operation. This type of disk playback apparatus has an auto-changer mechanism which automatically selects the disk to be conveyed and played back, in accordance with a predetermined program and based on instructions given by a user through operation buttons or through a remote controller.
In general, each of the disks accommodated in the magazine is individually held by an exclusive disk holder designed differently in accordance with the diameter of the disk. The disk selected by the auto-changer mechanism is horizontally conveyed to a position on the drive base unit while being located by the exclusive disk holder, thereby being played back by the drive base unit. The driver base unit is movable up and down, and is set to a level corresponding to the selected disk, before the selected disk is drawn out.
This type of disk playback apparatus has excellent operability because a desired one of a plurality of disks accommodated in the magazine can automatically be brought into playback operation simply by being selected, without requiring independent manual operations for inserting and ejecting the disk. The described disk playback apparatus, however, has a problem in that a laborious work is required for demounting and mounting the magazine for setting a new disk in the magazine, when the user wishes to playback such a new disk that has not been accommodated in the magazine. This laborious work is necessary even when only one of the disks in the magazine is to be replaced with the new disk, while other disks remain in the magazine so as to be played back subsequent to the playback of the newly set disk.
The disk playback apparatus employing a detachable magazine tends to have greater dimensions particularly when a large number of disks are to be set in the magazine. Consequently, the number of disks that can be set in the magazine is undesirably limited particularly when the space for accommodating the playback apparatus is restricted as in the case of automotive disk playback apparatuses. This problem is more fully discussed below.
A magazine, which is detachable from the main part of the disk playback apparatus, is required to have strength large enough to protect disks accommodated therein. Consequently, wall thickness, as well as overall dimensions, of the magazine is rendered large. In order to guide horizontal movement of each disk holder in the magazine, guide rails are formed on the opposing inner surfaces of the magazine, thus further increasing the magazine wall thickness. The guide rails also serve to increase the pitch or heightwise distance between adjacent disk holders, resulting in an increase in the overall height of the magazine. When a disk is drawn out from the magazine for playback operation, it is necessary that an ample space is available on at least one side of the disk. Provision of such a space inevitably increases the height of the magazine, corresponding to the number of the disks employed or, in case of an automotive disk apparatus which has to be installed in a limited space, the number of the disks that can be set in the magazine is undesirably reduced.
Under these circumstances, efforts have been made to develop a disk playback apparatus of the type devoid of any detachable magazine. More specifically, in this type of disk playback apparatus, a plurality of disk holders are stacked in the apparatus without the intermediary of a magazine, and disks inserted through the disk insertion slot are automatically set on the disk holders and are also automatically ejected.
This type of disk playback apparatus enables the user to easily replace the disks, by virtue of automatic setting and ejection of the disks. More specifically, the user is required only to operate a button or a key for ejecting the disk to let the disk be ejected, followed by manual insertion of the disk into the disk insertion slot. Further, the overall dimensions of the disk playback apparatus are reduced as compared with the apparatuses that employ magazines.
Thus, the disk playback apparatus which is being developed enables automatic setting and ejection of disks into and out of the stack of disk holders, offering advantages such as ease of operation and reduction in the dimensions. The effect to reduce the dimensions, however, is still insufficient, insofar as the apparatus relies on horizontal reciprocal arrangement in which the disk holders are constructed and arranged to reciprocate in horizontal directions.
More specifically, when such a horizontal reciprocal arrangement is used, it is necessary that a distance which is at the smallest equal to the disk radius be preserved between the point where the disk center is located when the disk is in the accommodated position and the point where the disk center is located when the disk has been moved to the position on the drive base unit. This poses a limit to the reduction in the horizontal dimension of the apparatus. Further, reduction in the dimension is limited also in the heightwise direction, because of the necessity of the guide grooves and rails for enabling the reciprocal motions of the disk holders.
In contrast to the above-described horizontal reciprocal arrangement, an arrangement referred to as “stack/separation arrangement” has recently been proposed, in which a drive base unit is introduced into a space that is formed by moving upward or downward a disk holder or disk holders above or below a separation position which is assumed on one side of the selected disk holder. This stack/separation arrangement can effectively reduce the horizontal dimensions of the whole apparatus without increasing the heightwise dimensions as compared to the horizontal reciprocal arrangement, insofar as the movements of the disk holders are concerned. A brief description will be given below in this respect.
In accordance with the stack/separation arrangement, the disk holders are initially arranged in a packed manner, such that adjacent disk holders contact each other or positioned in the close proximity of each other. For the purpose of playing back the selected disk, the disk holders that are on the upper side of the selected disk are moved upward as a unit, or the disk holders that are on the lower side of the selected disk are moved downward as a unit, whereby a space for receiving the drive base unit is formed on the upper side or lower side of the selected disk. Likewise, if the selected disk is the topmost or lowermost one of the stacked disk holders, all the disk holders are moved downward or upward as a unit, whereby the space for receiving the drive base unit is formed. The height of this space is greater than the distance between two adjacent disk holders in the horizontal reciprocal arrangement, but is almost equal to the sum of the distances of the consecutive adjacent disk holders.
The stack/separation arrangement requires horizontal reciprocal movement of the drive base unit, instead of the horizontal reciprocation of the disk holders. The horizontal position of the drive base unit where it can playback the disk may be determined arbitrarily such that it overlaps the disk holder. It suffices only to retract the drive base unit to a position where it does not interfere with the vertical movement of the disk holders. Therefore, the horiz
Funaya Seiichi
Kawabata Masakazu
Kinoshita Shigeo
Suzuki Yoshio
Clarion Co. Ltd.
Davis David
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