Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-22
2001-04-17
Miller, Brian E. (Department: 2153)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
C369S075110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06219314
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a disc changer for bringing disc-shaped information carriers into and out of a position, which disc changer comprises a supporting body and a disc-shaped disc support, which is supported by the supporting body, is arranged to be movable relative to said body, and is rotatable about an axis of rotation, which disc support has supporting surfaces for said information carriers and further comprises a first toothed ring which extends around said axis of rotation and is not rotatable relative to the disc support, which toothed ring is adapted to cooperate with a second toothed ring which extends around an axis of the supporting body, which axis of the supporting body extends parallel to and at a distance from the axis of rotation, means being provided for rotating and guiding the disc support.
The invention further relates to a disc player comprising a scanning device having means for inscribing and/or reading disc-shaped information carriers and further having a turntable which is rotatable about an axis of rotation, for supporting an information carrier which is in a scanning position, and a disc changer for moving said information carriers into and out of the position related to the scanning position.
A disc player with an integrated disc changer is known from JP-A 5-182337. The known player has a housing and a drawer which is movable into and out of the housing and is supported in the frame, which drawer is constructed as a disc changer. The housing accommodates a scanning device with an optical unit for scanning a Compact Disc and a turntable for supporting and rotating the Compact Disc. The drawer has a supporting body carrying a disc-shaped disc support with three supporting surfaces for Compact Discs. The disc support has a peripheral edge whose shape differs from a circular shape and having three flattened edge portions which extend from one supporting surface to another supporting surface. The disc changer thus formed is rotatable relative to the supporting body. For this purpose the drawer has a toothed driving wheel in mesh with a toothed ring of the disc support, a rotatable guide disc with an eccentric guide shaft and fixed guide walls. The toothed driving wheel and the guide disc, which is freely rotatable relative to the toothed wheel, are both rotatable about a common shaft which is fixed relative to the supporting body. The eccentric guide shaft extends through a central opening in the disc support, the guide walls cooperating with the peripheral edge of the disc support. A disadvantage of the known disc changer is that it requires a comparatively large number of parts to realise the desired movements of the disc support. Moreover, the comparatively large toothed driving wheel occupies much space, which is undesirable in modern compact equipment. The guide walls needed in the known disc changer serve to keep the disc changer in a desired path during rotation and in desired end positions in a condition of rest. A disadvantage of the construction using a toothed driving wheel and a freely rotatable guide disc is that despite the fixed guide walls no accurately defined end positions are possible owing to the possibility of rotation of the toothed wheel and the guide disc relative to one another and the presence of play between the peripheral edge of the disc support and the fixed guide walls. In the known disc player the end positions are detected by detection means, as disclosed in JP-A 5-182339. Another disadvantage of the guide construction used in the known disc changer is that rotation of the disc support produces relatively much noise and the play in the end positions of the disc changer is so large that the disc support is movable over a considerable range.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one of the objects of the invention to provide a compact disc changer of the type defined in the opening paragraph, having simple means for a well-defined movement of the disc support and for maintaining the disc support in well-defined positions.
The disc changer in accordance with the invention is characterised in that the second toothed ring is a toothed ring which is not rotatable relative to the disc support and which is in mesh with the first toothed ring of the disc support, said means for rotating and guiding the disc support comprising a drive member which is rotatable about said axis of the supporting body, to which drive member the disc support is rotatably connected at the location of the axis of rotation. This results in an at least substantially play-free construction. A further advantage of the disc changer in accordance with the invention is that the drive member used therein defines any position which can be occupied by the disc support, as a result of which the disc support can only perform well-defined movements and occupy well-defined positions. Another advantage is the small number of parts required to rotate and guide the disc support and to ensure stable positions of this support.
An embodiment of the disc changer in accordance with the invention is characterised in that the first toothed ring of the disc support has outer teeth and the second toothed ring of the supporting body has inner teeth. The principal advantage of this embodiment is that the disc changer can have a small overall height.
An embodiment of the disc changer in accordance with the invention is characterised in that the number of outer teeth is in a ratio of 3:4 to the number of inner teeth, the distance between the axis of rotation of the disc support and said axis of the supporting body being equal to half the difference between the pitch diameters of the two toothed rings. In this embodiment one revolution of the drive member produces one third revolution of the disc support in the opposite direction of rotation. In this embodiment the disc support preferably has three contiguous or substantially contiguous supporting surfaces, in which case the transverse dimensions of the disc support can be at least twice the diameter of the information discs to be supported.
An embodiment of the disc changer in accordance with the invention is characterised in that the first toothed ring has inner teeth and the second toothed ring has outer teeth, the number of inner teeth being in a ratio of 3:2 to the number of outer teeth, the distance between the axis of rotation of the disc support and said axis of the supporting body being equal to half the difference between the pitch diameters of the two toothed rings. An advantage of this embodiment, which is a variant of the preceding embodiment, is that one revolution of the drive member produces one third revolution of the disc support in the opposite direction of rotation. This embodiment is also suitable for supporting three disc-shaped information carriers on a disc support of minimal dimensions.
It is another object of the invention to provide a silent changer whose operation is accurate and which is yet of a simple construction.
The disc player in accordance with the invention comprises a scanning device having means for inscribing and/or reading disc-shaped information carriers and further having a turntable which is rotatable about an axis of rotation, for supporting an information carrier which is in a scanning position, and the disc changer in accordance with the invention, for moving said information carriers into and out of the position related to the scanning position. An advantage of the disc player in accordance with the invention is that in operation the disc support is moved silently and in a well-defined manner, information discs situated on the supporting surfaces being brought into well-defined positions relative to the scanning device. This results in an efficiently operating disc player, requiring only a short time to move an information disc to the turntable or to change an information disc to be scanned. The disc changer may be integrated in the disc player, the scanning device extending for example underneath the disc support and being supported in or relative to the suppor
Belk Michael E.
Fields Kenneth W
Miller Brian E.
U.S. Phillips Corporation
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