Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-03
2004-07-06
Letscher, George J. (Department: 2653)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
active
06760284
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk changer type disk player such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) changer set which is compact and capable of rotating smoothly and quietly.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a disk changer type disk player is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 4-58842. The conventional disk changer type disk player is explained as follows referring to
FIGS. 7 and 8
. There is provided a rotary tray
1
having a plurality of disk mounting sections
1
a
. This rotary tray
1
is pivotally supported by a central shaft
4
arranged on a tray support face
3
of a casing
2
. A rim
1
b
protruding from a lower face of the rotary tray
1
is movably set on a plurality of guide rollers
5
that are arranged in the outer circumferential section
3
a
of the tray support face
3
at the angular interval of 120°.
As shown in
FIG. 8
, each guide roller
5
is inserted into a recess
6
formed in the outer circumferential section
3
a
of the tray support face
3
. The support shafts
5
a
protruding from both end faces of the guide roller
5
are respectively pivotally inserted into a shaft hole
7
and a long groove
8
formed on an inner face of the recess
6
. An outer circumferential face of the guide roller
5
is covered with a rubber layer, the frictional coefficient of which is high. When the rotary tray
1
is rotated in the direction of arrow “a”, each guide roller
5
is rotated via the rim
1
b
, so that the rotary tray
1
can be smoothly rotated.
As shown in
FIG. 8
, there is provided a drive mechanism
11
including: an swing arm
11
a
, one end of which is pivotally supported by a support shaft
9
, the other end of which is provided with a cam follower
10
; and a rotary cam
11
b
, a cam groove
12
on the outer circumferential face of which is engaged with the cam follower
10
. A spindle motor
13
is fixed to the swing arm
11
a
, and a turn table
14
is attached to a drive shaft
13
a
of the spindle motor
13
. An optical pickup
15
is movably arranged on the swing arm
11
a
. A chuck arm
17
supports a damper
16
being opposed to the turn table
14
so that the damper
16
can be moved upward and downward in a predetermined range. A forward end of the chuck arm
17
is connected with a central portion of the casing
2
via the central shaft
4
, and a rear end of the chuck arm
17
is connected with a side wall of the casing
2
.
As shown in
FIG. 8
, in the above structure, when the rotary cam
11
b
is rotated so that the swing arm
11
a
is moved upward via the cam groove
12
and the cam follower
10
, disk D is chucked by the turn table
14
and the damper
16
, and moved to the rotary tray
1
side. When the spindle motor
13
is driven, the turn table
14
is rotated, and the optical pickup
15
is moved in the radial direction of disk D. Due to the foregoing, information recorded on disk D can be read out and played back by the optical pickup
15
.
In the above structure, the diameter of the guide roller
5
for supporting the rotary tray
1
is, for example, about 8 mm. That is, the diameter of the guide roller
5
is relatively large so that the guide roller
5
is voluminous. Therefore, it is difficult to make the casing
2
compact, and further the position at which the guide roller
5
is arranged is restricted and the number of the guide rollers
5
is also restricted. (In this example, three guide rollers are provided.) As a result, the rotary tray
1
tends to be supported unstably.
In some cases, the rotary tray
1
is deformed by residual strain generated in the process of forming, and errors tend to be caused in levelness of the lower edge of the rim
1
b
. Due to the foregoing, contact pressure of the rim
1
b
with each guide roller
5
can not be kept uniform, so that it becomes difficult to rotate the rotary tray
1
at a constant speed. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the optical pickup
15
can not correctly read out information from the disk.
Further, when the guide roller
5
is rotated, irregular slippage is caused at the contact point of the guide roller
5
with the rim
1
b
and also at the contact point of the support shaft
5
a
of the guide roller
5
with the shaft hole
7
and also at the contact point of the guide roller
5
with the long groove
8
, that is, irregular slippage is caused at the three contact points. When slippage is caused as described above, a relatively high intensity of noise is generated, which makes a user uncomfortable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a disk changer type disk player which is compact and capable of rotating smoothly and quietly.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention according to a first aspect provides a disk changer type disk player including: a casing having a tray support face; a recess step circumferential face formed along an inner edge of an outer circumferential section of the tray support face; a plurality of support frames arranged in the outer circumferential section at regular intervals in the circumferential direction, each support frame having a substantially C-shaped frame body integrally formed in the outer circumferential section and being opposed to the recess step circumferential face and a pair of substantially L-shaped engaging pieces integrally protruding from both ends of the frame body; a central shaft disposed on the tray support face; a rotary tray having a plurality of disk mounting sections, the rotary tray being rotatably supported by the central shaft; a rim protruding from a lower face of the rotary tray; a plurality of sliding face blocks, each sliding face block is engaged in a space formed between the recess step circumferential face and the support frame; and an optical pickup, wherein a disk mounted on the disk mounting section is opposed to the optical pickup when the rotary tray is intermittently rotated by a predetermined angle, wherein the sliding face blocks are made of fluororesin, the frictional coefficient of which is low, and wherein the rim is in slidably contact with the sliding face blocks.
According to the above structure, each sliding face block is supported by the C-shaped frame body of the support frame and the recess step circumferential face so that the sliding face block can not be moved in the horizontal direction, and at the same time each sliding face block is supported by a pair of L-shaped engaging pieces integrally protruded from both end portions of the frame body so that the each sliding face block can not rise up. Therefore, each sliding face block can be positively fixed at a predetermined position on the outer circumferential section on the tray support face.
Height of the sliding face block to support the rotary tray is very small, that is, the sliding face block is not voluminous. Therefore, the sliding face block can not be a cause to hinder the reduction in the size of the casing. Therefore, it is possible to arbitrarily determine the positions at which the sliding face blocks are arranged and it is also possible to arbitrarily determine the number of the sliding face blocks, so that the rotary tray can be stably supported.
Further, even when the rotary tray is deformed by residual strain generated in the process of forming and errors are caused in the levelness of the lower edge of the rim, since the weight of the rotary tray is supported by a large number of sliding face blocks, it is possible to keep the contact pressure of each sliding face block with the rim to be substantially constant so that the rotary tray can be stably rotated. Due to the foregoing, the optical pickup can accurately readout information from the disk.
Further, when the rotary tray is rotated, slippage is caused only at one contact point of the rim with the sliding face block. Furthermore, the sliding face block is made of material, the slipping sound of which is very small. Therefore, compared with the conventional rotary tray, an intensity of th
Kume Hideki
Murakami Takayuki
Tamura Tetsuya
Funai Electric Co. Ltd.
Letscher George J.
Magee C R
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
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