Disc protection casing and drive for receiving the same

Details Disc protection casing and drive for receiving the same Disc protection casing and drive for receiving the same

1999-07-06

2003-03-04

Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)

Dynamic information storage or retrieval

Storage medium structure

Adjuncts or adapters

C206S308100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06529471

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc protection casing and a drive for receiving the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Types of a disc are classified into a reproducing-only type such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, etc., and a recordable type such as a WORM(Write Once Read Many) type, a rewritable type, etc. in accordance with the number of the data writing operations.
The writable-type disc is generally placed in a disc protection casing such as a cartridge, to protect the disc from external contamination or damage.
It is required that the disc casing is designed to be opened when changing the disc.
Namely, when using a small size cartridge in a large size driving apparatus, since the small size cartridge does not have a certain size opening for the large size driving apparatus, the small size cartridge having a disc therein may not be used for the large size driving apparatus. Recently, a new cartridge capable of changing the disc inserted in the casing has been introduced in order to overcome the above-described problems.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the cartridge includes a cartridge body
2
for receiving a disc
1
therein, and a disc holder
6
which may be detachably inserted via one edge of the cartridge body
2
.
An opening(not shown) is formed in the bottom of the cartridge body
2
, so that a pick-up unit of a drive can access the disc
1
, and the opening is closed and opened by a shutter
4
.
A receiving portion
5
is formed in the one edge of the cartridge body
2
, so that the disc
1
may be inserted into the interior of the cartridge body
2
.
In the thusly constituted conventional disc cartridge, when a user wishes to insert a bare state disc(the disc is separated from the cartridge body
2
) into the cartridge body
2
, the user holds a certain portion of a non-recorded surface of the disc
1
to prevent the data recorded surface from being contaminated and inserts the disc
1
into the receiving portion
5
of the cartridge body
2
and then inserts the disc holder
6
into the receiving port
5
.
On the contrary, in a state that a disc
1
is already inserted in the interior of the cartridge body
2
, in order to use a bare state disc
1
, for removing the disc
1
from the cartridge body
2
, the disc holder
6
is detached from the cartridge body
2
, and the disc
1
falls down by gravity due to the weight of the disc through the receiving port
5
when the cartridge is held upright by the user.
However, in the conventional disc cartridge, in order to insert the disc into the interior of the cartridge body or remove the disc from the cartridge body, the user holds the disc and inserts the disc into the cartridge body or holds the disc falling from the cartridge body by the weight of the disc. In this case, the data recorded surface of the disc may be contaminated by pollutants or the like. Therefore, the disc must be very carefully handled.
As a very high capacity and high speed disc is introduced, if the disc is contaminated by pollutants and the like, it is impossible to reproduce the data recorded on the CD or a data reproducing error may occur.
In addition, discs are further classified into a disc having one recordable surface(hereinafter called a single sided disc) and a disc having two recordable surfaces(hereinafter called a double sided disc).
The single sided disc includes a recordable surface for recording and reproducing data and a label surface for attaching a label thereon, and the double sided disc includes only two recordable surfaces.
In the case of the single sided disc, the data recording surface is opposite to the optical pick-up unit, and in the case of the double sided disc, one or both recordable surfaces of the double side disc may be opposite to the optical pick-up unit for thereby recording and reproducing the data. In the above-described structure, the disc holder
6
is inserted into the cartridge body
2
in a certain direction.
In the case of the single sided disc, the disc must be inserted in one direction, and in the case of the double sided disc, the surface to be recorded or reproduced must be inserted in a certain orientation.
However, when a user re-inserts a bare state single sided disc into the disc cartridge, since the conventional disc holder and the cartridge body are symmetrical, the user may erroneously insert the disc holder into the cartridge body, so that the insertion direction of the disc may be changed.
In particular, in the case of the single sided disc, even when the cartridge body and the disc holder are normally inserted, if the label surface of the disc is opposite to the optical pick-up unit, the optical pick-up unit can not access the disc.
Namely, when the disc is properly inserted into the cartridge body, and the disc holder is properly inserted thereinto, the disc is normally recorded and reproduced. Therefore, the user must carefully insert the disc into the disc cartridge, so that in the conventional art, there is much inconvenience to use the disc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disc protection casing and a drive for receiving the same which are capable of preventing a data recording surface of a disc from being contaminated when inserting and removing a disc.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disc protection casing and a drive for receiving the same which are capable of easily separating a disc from a disc protection casing.
To achieve the above objects, there is provided a disc protection casing according to the present invention which includes a disc protection casing body having a disc receiving space therein, and a disc holder insertable into the interior of the disc protection casing body and having an elastic member formed at one end of the same for supporting the disc.
To achieve the above objects, there is also provided a disc holder according to the present invention which includes an elastic member engaged with a certain portion thereof for elastically supporting a disc, and a shoulder formed at one side of the elastic member for rotatably positioning and separating the disc in/from a receiving space of a drive.
In a disc protection casing and a drive for receiving the same according to the present invention, a disc protection casing for a single sided disc and a disc holder are inserted in a certain direction, and a double sided disc is inserted into a disc protection casing in a certain direction, so that it is possible to prevent an erroneous insertion of the disc.
To achieve the above objects, there is further provided a drive according to the present invention which includes a receiving portion including a disc protection casing having a disc receiving space therein, and a disc holder receivable in the disc protection casing body and having one end engaged with an elastic member for supporting a disc, and a recording and reproducing unit for recording and reproducing data on/from a disc received in the interior of the disc protection casing.
Additional advantages, objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the description which follows.


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