Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-01
2001-06-05
Miller, Brian E. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
C369S077210, C360S099010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243346
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a disk device, and more particularly to a disk device having a drive unit which reproduces information from a recording disk and/or records information in the disk, wherein a disk holder is movable between an insert/eject position and a disk-loaded position so that the disk on the disk holder is loaded or unloaded.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Various types of recording media including floppy disks (FD), compact disks (CD), laser disks (LD), magneto-optical disks (MO), mini disks (MD), optical disks and others are commercially available in recent years. A disk device uses a recording disk which is one of these recording media, in order to reproduce information and/or record information. A compact disk-read-only memory (CD-ROM) and a recordable compact disk (CD-R) are types of optical disks. In a case of a CD-R disk device, a CD-R disk held on the disk device is accessed to reproduce information from the CD-R disk and/or record information in the CD-R disk by using an optical head.
It is desirable to design a CD-R disk device having a small-size, small-height structure, in order to install the CD-R disk device in a host computer. In order to provide a small-height structure for the CD-R disk device, it is necessary to widen an internal space of the disk device for installing other parts of the disk device. In addition to the need for a small-size, small-height structure of the disk device, there is a need for a reduction of the manufacturing cost for the CD-R disk device.
Further, in the case of the CD-R disk device, it is desirable to take vibration-preventive measures to prevent vibrations of a drive unit of the disk device when any impact is given to the disk device. In order to take the vibration-preventive measures for the CD-R disk device, it is necessary to widen an internal space of the disk device and install vibration preventive parts in the internal space of the disk device.
Further, in the case of the CD-R disk device, it is desirable to provide a disk device having a small-height structure in which an improved flexible printed circuit cable having a number of required signal lines is included. It is required that the printed circuit board of the CD-R disk device include many signal lines in order to reproduce information from the disk and/or record information in the disk. The signal lines of the improved flexible printed circuit cable must be connected to the signal lines of the printed circuit board.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional CD-R disk device
11
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the disk device
11
generally has a casing
12
, a printed circuit board
13
, a drive unit
14
, and a cover plate
15
. The printed circuit board
13
includes a control circuit therein and is arranged at a lowermost portion of the casing
12
. The drive unit
14
is arranged over the printed circuit board
13
. The cover plate
15
is arranged on the top of the casing
12
to protect internal parts of the drive unit
14
.
A front bezel
21
is arranged at a front surface of the casing
12
. The front bezel
21
includes an insertion opening
22
, and an eject button
23
is arranged on the front bezel
21
. The front bezel
21
includes an ejection hole
24
, and the ejection hole
24
is used to manually eject the disk from the disk device
11
when an emergency occasion occurs.
The drive unit
14
includes a drive mechanism
25
, a slider
26
and a disk holder
27
. A disk cartridge
29
containing a disk (CD-R)
28
is inserted into the disk holder
27
. The disk cartridge
29
has a shutter
29
a
. When the disk cartridge
29
is inserted, the shutter
29
a
of the cartridge
29
is slid so that the disk
28
is partially exposed.
The drive mechanism
25
includes a chassis
31
and an optical head
32
mounted on the chassis
31
. The drive mechanism
25
includes a head moving unit which moves the optical head
32
in a radial direction of the disk
28
. The movement of the optical head
32
by the head moving unit is supported on a pair of guide rods
33
a
and
33
b
. Further, the drive mechanism
25
includes a disk ejecting unit which automatically ejects the disk cartridge
29
from the disk device
11
by rotating an ejection motor
26
a
to move the slider
26
. The disk ejecting unit includes the ejection motor
26
a
, a worm gear (not shown) and a gear
26
b
. The rotating force of the ejection motor
26
a
is transmitted to the slider
26
through the gear
26
b
and the worm gear.
Electrical parts of the drive unit
14
are electrically connected to the printed circuit board
13
by a flexible printed circuit cable
34
.
The slider
26
moves up and down the disk holder
27
. The slider
26
includes a pair of cam plates
35
provided on right and left sides of the slider
26
adjacent to the disk holder
27
. Each cam plate
35
has guide portions
35
a
and
35
b
with sloping regions. The disk holder
27
has laterally extending pins
36
a
and
36
b
provided on right and left sides of the disk holder
27
. The pins
36
a
and
36
b
of the disk holder
27
are engaged with the guide portions
35
a
and
35
b
of the cam plates
35
and slidable on the sloping regions of the guide portions
35
a
and
35
b.
The disk holder
27
has a rotating lever
37
. When the disk cartridge
29
is inserted into the disk holder
27
, the shutter
29
a
of the disk cartridge
29
is slid by the rotating lever
37
so that the disk
28
is partially exposed.
In the above-described drive unit
14
, when the disk cartridge
29
is not yet inserted into the disk holder
27
, the disk holder
27
is arranged at an insert/eject position above the slider
26
.
When the disk cartridge
29
is inserted into the disk holder
27
, the slider
26
is slid in an eject direction opposite to the insert direction of the disk cartridge
29
so that the disk holder
27
is moved down from the insert/eject position to a disk-loaded position by the movement of the slider
26
. When the disk holder
27
is at the disk-loaded position, the disk
28
in the disk cartridge
29
is rotated by the disk motor and is accessed by the optical head to reproduce information from the disk
28
or record information in the disk
28
.
When the disk cartridge
29
is automatically ejected from the disk device
11
, the eject button
23
on the front bezel
21
is depressed by the operator. The ejection motor
26
a
is rotated by the depression of the eject button
23
to move the slider
26
in the insert direction. The disk holder
27
is moved up from the disk-loaded position to the insert/eject position by the movement of the slider
26
.
The disk device
11
includes an emergency ejection mechanism provided on the slider
26
. When an emergency occasion such as a malfunction of the ejection motor
26
a
or a power down of a host computer occurs. By using the emergency ejection mechanism, the disk cartridge
29
can be manually ejected from the disk device
11
. The emergency ejection mechanism is constituted by a crank mechanism including a crank arm and a rotary lever. The slider
26
is moved in the insert direction by the crank mechanism so that the disk holder
27
is moved up from the disk-loaded position to the insert/eject position.
In the above emergency ejection mechanism, a longitudinally extending eject lever
38
is arranged on one side of the slider
26
. When the emergency occasion occurs, a shaft or the like is inserted from the ejection hole
24
of the front bezel
21
to push the eject lever
38
in the insert direction. The slider
26
is slid in the insert direction by the movement of the eject lever
38
due to the pushing force of the shaft, so that the disk holder
27
is moved up from the disk-loaded position to the insert/eject position by the movement of the slider
26
.
The disk holder
27
includes a guide member
27
a
, and the guide member
27
a
serves to guide a upward or downward movement of the disk holder
27
.
FIG. 2A
shows a bottom of the slider
26
of the conventional di
Furukawa Ken'ichi
Hori Ken'Ichi
Imi Kazutomo
Kirii Atsushi
Manabe Satoru
Anderson Kill & Olick P.C.
Miller Brian E.
Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd.
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