Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Head mounting – For adjusting head position
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-03
2004-04-27
Miller, Brian E. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Head mounting
For adjusting head position
Reexamination Certificate
active
06728076
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application Nos. 97-66479, filed Dec. 6, 1997; 98-849, filed Jan. 14, 1998; 98-21401, filed Jun. 10, 1998; 98-24157, filed Jun. 25, 1998 and 98-30964, filed Jul. 30, 1998, in the Korean Patent Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information processing field in which digitalized information is recorded/reproduced on/from a disc, and more particularly, to a disc cartridge in a drive apparatus for Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory (Hereinafter referred to as ‘DVD-RAM’), which has a sensor hole to be opened/closed, and to an apparatus and method for driving the same in which the sensor hole is opened/closed in accordance with an opened state of the cartridge and an inspected state of the disc.
Here, the term of the “opened state of the cartridge” means that the disc has been withdrawn from a cartridge case to be used and returned thereto. Further, the term of the “inspected state of the disc” means that the disc returned to the cartridge case has gone through a Certification and/or re-Certification process so that contaminations and defects of the disc are eliminated by the defect managing method suggested in corresponding specifications.
Further, the term “Verification” hereinafter means one of information recording processes in which the newly recorded information is re-read and compared and checked with respect to the previously existing information to confirm that the new information is successively recorded. Also, the term “Certification” hereinafter means the process which detects the defects over a predetermined area or entire area of the disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a DVD-RAM driver employs a cartridge to protect a disc from bad outside factors such as scratches, fingerprints, dirts, or the like, and to secure a safe environment for the disc while recording.
As described, employing the cartridge gives an advantage that the disc is protected, while it also brings a shortcoming that a laptop personal computer or the like has a limit in thinness, especially these days when the purchasers demand thinner products.
To meet the demand of the purchasers, i.e., to realize a thinner product, a bare disc itself has to be used. Since the bare disc has no way to be protected from scratches, fingerprints, dirts, etc., the bare disc has to go through the information Verification process in which the recorded information of the disc is verified.
Such a Verification process brings the advantage that the temporarily or permanently damaged area of the disc is detected in advance so that safety of the information is promoted. At the same time, however, it also brings the shortcoming that access time of the driver is lengthened due to the presence of the Verification process in which the recorded information is re-read and compared and checked with respect to the previously existing information to confirm that the newly recorded information is successively recorded.
Comparatively, the disc in the cartridge is protected from the scratches, fingerprints, dirts, etc., so that, once the unavailable area of the disc is checked, the recorded information can be further read without going through the Verification process, thereby having still less possible errors. Accordingly, most of the information reproducing apparatuses employ the cartridge, selecting the way of information recording which does not require the Verification process.
According to the Standard DVD-RAM specifications, three types of the cartridges are defined. In the Standard DVD-RAM specifications, the state that the disc has been withdrawn from the cartridge case is additionally defined, and it is defined that such state is detected by a A
1
sensor hole. In a double-side disc, there provided A
1
and B
1
sensor holes corresponding the respective sides of the disc.
The first type cartridge receives a single-side or double-side disc whose withdrawal from the cartridge is not possible once the disc has been received. The second type cartridge receives a single-side disc which can be withdrawn from the cartridge. When the disc is withdrawn from the cartridge, the A
1
sensor hole for sensing such a state is opened and never to be closed. Thus, once the disc is withdrawn from the cartridge, such a state is noticeable. The third type cartridge has the A
1
sensor hole for sensing the disc withdrawal, which is initially in an open-state. Thus, the disc can be repeatedly withdrawn and returned from/to the cartridge case. Here, the cartridge includes a disc and a cartridge case. Therefore, the cartridge collectively means the cartridge case and the disc received in the cartridge case.
In the Standard DVD-RAM specifications also, it is defined that the second and third type cartridges whose discs have been withdrawn from the cartridge case are put under the same condition of the bare disc. That is, the second type cartridge having the disc once withdrawn from the cartridge case is used under the same condition with the third type cartridge, and since the discs received in these types of cartridges are thus unclear about damage from the scratches, fingerprints, dirts, etc., the disc is put under the same condition with the bare disc. Accordingly, after the recording process, the Verification process is required, and the time for information processing is lengthened.
The Table 1 below shows the three types of cartridges, and open/closed-states of A
1
sensor holes respectively corresponding to the cartridges.
TABLE 1
Initial
Available
Cartridge
state
Disc-withdrawal
Disc-returning
disc
1st type
Closed
Disc not-
—
Single &
withdrawn
Double-side
2nd type
Closed
Automatically open
Open-state
Single-side
continue
3rd type
Open
Open-state continue
Open-state
Single-side
continue
As shown in the above Table, the second and the third type cartridges whose discs have been withdrawn therefrom are put under the same condition with the bare disc, even though the discs are protected in the cartridge case. Thus, the user cannot take advantage of the full benefit of having the cartridges.
More specifically, when the discs in the second and the third type cartridges are withdrawn therefrom for the purpose of disc replacement, the A
1
sensor holes for sensing the disc withdrawal are in the open-state. Such opened A
1
sensor holes are never to be closed, and accordingly, when the new disc is received in the cartridge and the cartridge is received into the driver, it is determined from the open-state of the A
1
sensor hole that the Verification process has to be performed. The problem arises in that even some discs which actually do not require the Verification process have to go through the Verification process, and the time for recording and/or reproducing the information on/from the disc is accordingly lengthened.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems, and accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge having a sensor hole to be opened/closed at a user's will so that the disc whose states are verified to the user does not go through the Verification process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge driving apparatus and method thereof in the first and the second type cartridges in which the states of the disc are verified through the open-state of the sensor hole and then the sensor hole is subsequently controlled to be closed.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge having such a sensor hole to be opened/closed and a driving apparatus and method thereof.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
In order to accomplish above and other objects of the present invention, the cartridge includes a
Choi Han-kook
Ko Jung-wan
Lee Kyu-hyeong
Park Hee-deuk
Park In-sik
Altman Franklin
Miller Brian E.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd
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