Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-11
2003-05-06
Davis, David (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
active
06560171
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk changer device which is mounted with a magazine storing a plurality of disk holding members which hold disks and which extracts disks from this magazine and performs recording/replay of these disks, and particularly relates to a loading mechanism for performing the operation of extracting disk holding members from the magazine, the operation of chucking the disks, and the operation of returning the empty disk holding members to the magazine.
2. History of the Prior Art
In recent years, there are many disk devices such as CD players wherein a magazine capable of storing a plurality of disks is provided thereto and automatic selection of one of the plurality of disks stored within the magazine is selected according to selection made by the user so that recording/replay thereof can be made, in order to reduce disk exchanging operations by the user as much as possible, thereby increasing ease of use. With such disk devices, a disk changer device is provided for selectively extracting the desired disk from the magazine mounted to the magazine mounting portion and transporting this disk to the recording/replay means, and returning the disk to the magazine again following recording/replay thereof, in order to perform sequential recording/replay of a plurality of disks by means of common recording/replay means which conducts recording/replay of the disks.
The configuration of such a disk changer device differs according to the configuration of the magazine to be used. For example, a disk changer device is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 6-290528 employing a magazine provided with disk holding members which can easily hold disks simply by inserting the disks in the plate surface direction thereof.
FIG. 28
is a drawing illustrating this device disclosed in the Publication.
This disk changer device illustrated in
FIG. 28
is provided with a recording/replay unit
2
capable of moving vertically as to a chassis
1
, and a transporting/chucking mechanism
3
. The magazine
4
is constructed such that a plurality of disk holding members
5
such as shown in
FIG. 29
are arrayed so as to be extractable therefrom and replaceable thereto.
In this case, as shown in
FIG. 29
, the disk holding member
5
is formed in a cylindrical shape which can store only one disk
6
, and is provided with disk insertion opening
5
a
situated on the side of the opening
4
a
of the magazine
4
, and with a spring
5
b
provided internally. At the point that the disk
6
is inserted to the predetermined position from the insertion opening
5
a
, the disk
6
is held by the spring
5
b
. This disk holding member
5
is also configured so as to be extracted to the position above a turntable
2
a
of the recording/replay unit
2
by means of a transporting member
3
a
of the transporting/chucking mechanism
3
, as shown in FIG.
28
.
Further, regarding the device shown in FIG.
28
and
FIG. 29
, a cam gear
7
provided with two gullet portions
7
a
, two cam grooves
7
b
and
7
c
, and an arm linkage
7
d
is used as a single driving source, as shown in
FIG. 30
, and the arrangement is such that the transporting/chucking mechanism
3
is driven by means of the rotation of this cam gear
7
. In this case, as shown in
FIG. 30
, the arm linkage
7
d
on the periphery of the cam gear
7
is linked to one end of the arm
3
b
of the transporting chucking mechanism
3
, with the other end of this arm
3
b
being linked to the transporting member
3
a
via a gear mechanism
3
f
comprised of a large and small gear
3
c
, fixed rack
3
d
, and a rack
3
e
provided to the transporting member
3
a
, and so forth. The arrangement of the gear mechanism
3
f
is such that the motion stroke of the arm linkage
7
d
in the transportation direction is doubled and transferred to the transporting member
3
a
. Also, the two cam grooves
7
b
and
7
c
of the cam gear
7
are arranged so as to drive an unshown chucking unit.
Regarding the device having a construction such as shown in FIG.
28
through
FIG. 30
, in the event that one of the disks
6
within the magazine
4
is to be played, the recording/replay unit
2
and transporting/chucking mechanism
3
are vertically moved, and positioned at a position corresponding with one of the disk holding members
5
of the magazine
4
, and then the following disk loading operation is performed by means of the cam gear
7
turning on the first direction by 360°. That is to say, in the disk loading operation, first, the transporting member
3
a
is driven by means of the cam gear
7
rotating in the first direction by 180° so as to extract the disk holding member
5
holding the disk
6
from the magazine
4
. Next, the chucking unit is driven by the gullet portion
7
a
of the cam gear
7
so as to perform chucking of the disk
6
on the turntable
2
a
. Following this, the transporting member
3
a
is driven by means of the cam gear
7
rotating in the first direction by 180° so as to cause the disk holding member
5
to move in the direction opposite to the extracting direction (i.e., the returning direction), thereby returning the disk holding member
5
to within the magazine
4
. Consequently, the disk
6
chucked onto the turntable
2
a
is extracted from the disk holding member
5
during this moving of the disk holding member
5
and left on the turntable
2
a
, so the disk holding member
5
alone is returned into the magazine
4
.
Also, in order to return the disk
6
which has been chucked onto the recording/replay unit
2
to the magazine, the following disk ejecting operation is performed. In this disk ejecting operation, the transporting member
3
a
is driven by means of the cam gear
7
rotating in the second direction by 180° so as to extract the empty disk holding member
5
from the magazine
4
, thus inserting the disk
6
which has been chucked on the turntable
2
a
into the holding member
5
in accordance with the movement of the holding member
5
, thereby the disk
6
being held within the holding member
5
. Next, the chucking unit is driven by the gullet portion
7
a
of the cam gear
7
so as to disengage chucking of the disk
6
. Following this, the transporting member
3
a
is driven by means of the cam gear
7
rotating in the second direction by 180° so as to return the disk holding member
5
to the magazine
4
. In this case, the disk
6
is not extracted from the holding member
5
, so the disk holding member
5
is returned into the magazine
4
with the disk
6
therein.
As described above, with the device described with reference to FIG.
28
through
FIG. 30
, the recording/replay unit
2
and transporting/chucking mechanism
3
are vertically moved, and positioned at positions corresponding with each of the disk holding members
5
of the magazine
4
, thereby allowing the disks
6
to be extracted from the magazine
4
in a horizontal manner and chucked onto the turntable
2
a
of the recording/replay unit
2
in that same state. Consequently, the complicated disk transportation operation of extracting the disk from the disk holding member and lowering the disk to the turntable becomes unnecessary, and there is no need to form a gap between this disk holding member and the disk for returning the disk holding member to the magazine. Thus, this arrangement is advantageous in that the amount of space necessary for transporting disks can be reduced, and the number of parts can be reduced.
However, there are problems with the conventional disk changer shown in FIG.
28
through
FIG. 30
, such as (1) increased dimensions owing to usage of a cam gear, and (2) non-continuity of control owing to non-correspondence of the direction of rotation of the driving source and the transporting direction. These problems will be described below.
(1) Increased dimensions owing to usage of a cam gear
For example, in the event that the conventional device shown in FIG.
28
through
FIG. 30
is applied to a CD changer device, the diameter of
Hayashi Hideki
Satoh Nobuhiro
Takai Kazuki
Clarion Co. Ltd.
Davis David
Hogan & Hartson LLP
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