Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Record medium – In container
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-01
2001-01-16
Miller, Brian E. (Department: 2754)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Record medium
In container
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175471
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disc cartridge for rotatably housing a disc-shaped recording medium, such as a magnetic disc.
2. Description of Related Art
Up to now, a disc cartridge having a magnetic disc as an information recording medium housed therein has generally been used for an electronic equipment, such as a computer. This disc cartridge is now explained by referring to the drawings.
This disc cartridge is comprised of a magnetic disc rotatably housed within a main cartridge body portion
103
made up of an upper cartridge half and a lower cartridge half combined together, as shown in
FIGS. 1
to
5
. In this main cartridge body portion
103
is formed a recording/reproducing aperture, not shown, faced by a recording/reproducing head provided on a recording/reproducing apparatus
110
, as later explained, in adjacency to the front end faced by the recording/reproducing apparatus
110
, and a shutter member
107
is arranged for opening/closing the recording/reproducing aperture, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
The main cartridge body portion
103
of the disc cartridge
101
has a pre-set longitudinal size L in a direction parallel to the direction of insertion into the recording/reproducing apparatus
110
and a pre-set width W and a pre-set thickness (height) H in a direction perpendicular to the direction of insertion, as shown in
FIGS. 3
to
5
.
The recording/reproducing apparatus
110
, into which is inserted the above-described disc cartridge
101
, is now explained by referring to
FIGS. 6
to
9
. This recording/reproducing apparatus
110
includes a substantially rectangular cartridge inserting aperture
110
a
, into which is inserted the disc cartridge
101
, as shown in FIG.
6
. This cartridge inserting aperture
110
a
has a pre-set width W
D
and a pre-set height H
D
, as shown in FIG.
6
. In an opening portion is mounted a lid
110
b
for opening/closing the opening portion.
Referring to
FIG. 7
, the recording/reproducing apparatus
110
has, in the cartridge loading portion for loading the disc cartridge
101
therein, a base plate
110
c
on which is set the disc cartridge
101
inserted from the cartridge inserting aperture
110
a
, and a holder member
110
d
in which is housed the inserted disc cartridge
101
.
Referring to
FIG. 7
, when the disc cartridge
101
is inserted from the cartridge inserting aperture
110
a
, the front surface of the main cartridge body portion compresses against the lid
110
b
of the recording/reproducing apparatus
110
for pivoting and uplifting the lid
110
b
in the direction indicated by arrow D in FIG.
7
.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, the disc cartridge
101
inserted from the cartridge inserting aperture
110
a
of the recording/reproducing apparatus
110
is advanced along a base plate
110
c
so as to be housed within a holder member
110
d
. The front surface of the disc cartridge
101
compresses against an abutment surface of the holder member
110
d
for sliding the holder member
110
d
in a direction shown by arrow C in FIG.
8
.
Referring to
FIG. 9
, the size of the recording/reproducing apparatus
110
in a direction parallel to the direction of insertion of a cartridge loading section, corresponding to the size between the abutment surface of the holder member
110
d
and a guide provided at the cartridge inserting aperture
110
a
, is set to a longitudinal size L
D
slightly larger than the longitudinal size L of the disc cartridge
101
.
Referring to
FIG. 9
, when loaded at the pre-set cartridge loading position, the disc cartridge
101
is thrust onto the base plate
110
c
under the force of a spring
110
e
provided on the holder member
110
d
, whilst the holder member
110
d
and the base plate
110
c
are moved in the direction indicated by arrow E in
FIG. 9
so as to be set on a turntable, not shown. When the disc cartridge
101
is loaded in position, there is maintained a pre-set clearance between its front surface and the abutment surface of the holder member
110
d
, while there is also maintained a pre-set clearance between its rear surface and the guide of the cartridge inserting aperture
110
a.
The disc cartridge
101
has its magnetic disc rotated by the turntable for recording/reproducing information signals on or from the magnetic disc.
With the recent tendency towards multi-media, the information signals being handled, such as picture data or speech data, have become diversified and voluminous. In keeping up with this tendency, the recording capacity of the disc cartridge is also increasing. Thus, it is required of the disc cartridge to be able to record information signals to high density. Specifically, there is currently proposed a large-capacity disc cartridge of an outer size substantially equal to that of a conventional disc cartridge and having the recording capacity for information signals of the order of 120 megabytes (MB).
Since the main cartridge body portion of the large-capacity disc cartridge has the outer size approximately equal to that of the conventional disc cartridge
101
, there is a risk of inadvertent insertion of the large-capacity disc cartridge on the recording/reproducing apparatus
101
designed for loading only the conventional low-capacity disc cartridge
101
thereon.
Since the information signals are recorded to high recording density on the large-capacity disc cartridge such that the recording tracks for information signals of the large-capacity disc cartridge are of narrow widths, if such large-capacity disc cartridge is inadvertently loaded on the conventional recording/reproducing apparatus
110
having different specifications, such as recording capacity, there is raised a problem that signal errors be produced, or information signals recorded on the magnetic disc be destroyed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge which can be positively prevented from being inadvertently loaded on a recording/reproducing apparatus into which can be loaded only a disc cartridge housing a disc-shaped recording medium of different specifications.
The present invention provides a disc cartridge including a main cartridge body portion having housed therein a disc-shaped recording medium having specifications different from those of a disc-shaped recording medium housed within a first disc cartridge, a recording/reproducing aperture provided in main cartridge body portion for being faced by recording and/or reproducing means provided on a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and a shutter member provided for opening/closing recording/reproducing aperture. The disc cartridge also includes a loading regulating portion provided on a main cartridge body portion for regulating loading of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus adapted for loading only the first disc cartridge thereon.
In this disc cartridge, the loading regulating portion provided on the main cartridge body portion operates for preventing the disc cartridge from being inadvertently loaded on a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which only the first disc cartridge is loaded.
With the present disc cartridge, the loading regulating portion is provided for regulating loading the disc cartridge on a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which only the first disc cartridge is loaded. Thus, the disc cartridge can be positively prevented from being inadvertently loaded on a recording and/or reproducing apparatus having different specifications. Therefore, with the present disc cartridge, there is no risk of the disc cartridge being loaded on the recording and/or reproducing apparatus having different specifications to destruct the information signals recorded on the disc-shaped recording medium.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5530691 (1996-06-01), Fujisawa
patent: 5548571 (1996-08-01), Mistretta
patent: 5570252 (1996-10-01), Sumner et al.
patent: 5631791 (1997-05-01), Osaki et al.
patent: 5748420 (1998-05-01), Ko et al.
patent: 5953187 (1999-09-01), Uwabo et al.
Frommer William S.
Frommer & Lawrence & Haug LLP
Miller Brian E.
Ryan Mathew K.
Sony Corporation
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