Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Record medium – In container
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-08
2003-06-24
Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Record medium
In container
C369S291100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06583956
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc cartridge having encased therein a disc-shaped recording medium such as an optical disc, magneto-optical disc or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the disc-shaped recording medium, a disc cartridge having a magneto-optical disc for example encased therein has been proposed.
Referring now to
FIG. 1
, there is schematically illustrated a conventional disc cartridge in the form of a perspective view. In
FIG. 1
, the disc cartridge is generally indicated with a reference
201
. The disc cartridge
201
includes a cartridge body
206
consisting of a pair of upper shell
211
and lower shell
212
assembled to each other. These upper and lower shells
211
and
212
are made of a resin material. Each of the upper and lower shells
211
and
212
has formed therein an access opening
215
having a generally rectangular shape. The access openings
215
are opposite to each other. Thus, a part of the recording area of the magneto-optical disc
205
, extending between lead-in and lead-out areas, is exposed outside through the openings
215
for data read and write.
The lower shell
212
of the cartridge body
206
has formed therein adjacent or next to the access opening
215
and a drive opening
217
through which a disc table (not shown) of a disc drive mechanism which drives to rotate the magneto-optical disc
205
comes into the cartridge body
206
.
Further, the cartridge body
206
has a shutter member
220
mounted thereon as shown in FIG.
1
. Normally, the shutter member
220
covers or closes the access openings
215
and drive opening
217
. When the disc cartridge
201
is loaded into a recorder/player, the shutter member
220
will be moved and thus the access and drive openings
215
and
217
will be opened. The shutter member
220
consists of an upper shutter portion which closes and opens the access opening
215
in the upper shell
211
, a lower shutter portion which closes and opens the access openings
215
and drive opening
217
in the lower shell
212
, and a connection to which each of the upper and lower shutter portions is connected at one end thereof.
When the disc cartridge
201
constructed as in the above is loaded into the recorder/player, the shutter member
220
is moved by a shutter open/close member of the recorder/player to open the access openings
215
and drive opening
217
. The disc table of the disc drive mechanism (not shown) of the recorder/player comes into the disc cartridge through the drive opening
217
to rotate the magneto-optical disc
205
in the disc cartridge
201
, while the write/read head of the recorder/player comes into the disc cartridge
201
through the access openings
215
to write/read information to/from the magneto-optical disc
205
.
In the aforementioned conventional disc cartridge
101
, however, since the front end thereof at which the disc cartridge
201
is first inserted into and removed from the recorder/player is formed straight perpendicularly to the direction of insertion into the recorder/player and both the main sides of the cartridge body
206
are formed generally square, it is difficult to easily know the correct inserting direction of the disc cartridge
201
from its appearance.
Therefore, the conventional disc cartridge
201
is likely to be inserted in a wrong direction into the recorder/player.
In the conventional disc cartridge
201
, the width of the access openings
215
should desirably be larger for accommodating any write/read head of the recorder/player which will vary from one type of the recorder/player to another. However, if the width of the access openings
215
in the disc cartridge
201
is thus made larger, the upper and lower shutter portions of the shutter member
220
will be larger and the shutter member
220
is moved over a longer distance, which will disadvantageously result in a larger size of the cartridge body
206
or in protrusion of the shutter member
220
to outside the cartridge body
206
when the access openings
215
are opened. Therefore, in the conventional disc cartridge
201
, the access openings
215
cannot be designed large.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a disc cartridge having a body whose front end to be opposite to a recorder/player may be designed to have an arbitrary shape for easy knowing of a correct direction of insertion into the recorder/player and provided with a shutter open/close mechanism assuring a large width of an access opening for write and/or read to and/or from a disc encased in the disc cartridge.
The above object can be attained by providing a disc cartridge including according to the present invention a disc-shaped recording medium; a cartridge body having formed therein a disc compartment to house the disc-shaped recording medium; an access opening formed in the cartridge body and through which a part of the recording area of the disc-shaped recording medium, extending between lead-in and lead-out areas, is exposed outside for data read and write; a pair of shutter members provided movably towards and away from each other to open and close the access opening; and a shutter open/close mechanism having a pair of guide recesses formed in a main side the of the cartridge body to be oblique in relation to the width of the cartridge body to support the pair of shutter members, respectively, to be movable.
In the disc cartridge constructed as in the above, the pair of shutter members is moved towards and away from each other along the pair of guide recesses formed in the main side of the cartridge body to be oblique relative to the width of the cartridge body ti open and close the access opening. Therefore, in this disc cartridge, since the pair of shutter members is moved towards and away from each other in relation to the access opening, it is possible to assure a large width of the access opening.
In the above disc cartridge according to the present invention, the guide recess formed on a main side of the cartridge body to be oblique relative to the width of the cartridge body allows the front end of the cartridge body at which the disc cartridge is first inserted into the recorder/player to be formed in an arbitrary shape for easily knowing a correct direction of insertion in the recorder/player, so that the disc cartridge can be prevented from being inserted in a wrong direction into the recorder/player. Also, in this disc cartridge, the pair of shutter members provided allows to design a large width of the access opening and also can be moved positively relative to the access opening.
These objects and other objects, features and advantages of the present intention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4358801 (1982-11-01), Faber et al.
patent: 4412260 (1983-10-01), Stricklin et al.
patent: 4497009 (1985-01-01), Oishi et al.
patent: 4724962 (1988-02-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 4740949 (1988-04-01), Davis
patent: 5048008 (1991-09-01), Haruna
patent: 0 973 163 (2000-01-01), None
patent: 63-269387 (1988-11-01), None
patent: 8-87855 (1996-04-01), None
Izu Rie
Kikuchi Shuichi
Klimowicz William
Santisi Leonard J.
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