Disk drive which prevents misthreading

Details Disk drive which prevents misthreading Disk drive which prevents misthreading

2001-06-29

2003-09-30

Heinz, A. J. (Department: 2653)

Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval

Record transport with head stationary during transducing

Disk record

C360S254100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06628476

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates to data storage devices, or disk drives, for recording digital information on or reading digital information from a flexible magnetic media, which is disposed within a cartridge shell, and more particularly, to an apparatus to prevent misthreading of the media during insertion into the disk drive.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Microprocessors and supporting computer technologies are rapidly increasing in speed and computing power while decreasing in cost and size. These factors have led to the broad application of microprocessors to an array of electronic products, such as hand-held computers, digital cameras, cellular phones and the like. All of these devices have, in effect, become computers with particular application-specific attributes. For this new breed of computer products, enormous flexibility is gained by the ability to exchange data files and store computer software.
A variety of proprietary storage devices have been used in computer products. For example, hand-held computers have used integrated circuit memory cards (“memory cards”) as the primary information storage media. Memory cards include memory storage elements, such as static random access memory (SRAM), or programmable and erasable non-volatile memory, such as “flash” memory. Memory cards each typically are the size of a conventional credit card and are used in portable computers in place of hard disk drives and floppy disk drives. Furthermore, memory cards enhance the significant advantages of the size, weight, and battery lifetime attributes of the portable computer and increase portability of the storage media. Because of the limited memory density attainable in each memory card, however, and the high cost of the specialized memory chips, using memory cards in hand-held computers imposes limitations not encountered in less portable computers such as conventional personal computers, which typically use more power-consuming and heavier hard and/or floppy disk drives as their primary storage data device.
More portable computer products, such as the digital camera, have employed miniature video disks as the storage media. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,175, which issued Nov. 12, 1985 to Baumeister, discloses a digital camera configured to store information on a magnetic disk. In Baumeister, a signal processor receives signals representative of a picture from a photo sensor. Those signals are recorded on a magnetic disk for later processing. Unfortunately, the video disk storage product provides limited storage capacity. For that and other reasons such as power consumption and cost, the video disk has not been used in other computer products. As a result, interchanging data from one of these digital cameras with other computer products, such as a hand-held computer, is not readily achieved.
Miniature hard disk drives also have been suggested for use in portable computer products. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,314, which issued Nov. 21, 1995 to Morehouse et al., discloses a miniature hard drive for use in portable computer applications. In Morehouse, a hard disk drive is described that is approximately 50 mm in diameter. While addressing many of the problems presented by storage requirements in portable computers, the obvious problem of removability of the storage media remained present.
Similar to a standard size cartridge, a miniature cartridge contains a flexible magnetic disk (or media) disposed within a hard outer shell. Such a standard size cartridge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,157 (Takahashi). The Takahashi patent generally is directed to a disk cassette that contains a flexible magnetic disk having a center core, i.e., a hub, and an apparatus for reading digital information from and recording digital information on the flexible magnetic disk.
Apparatus for reading digital information from and recording digital information on flexible magnetic media, or disk drives, often employ rotary actuators for positioning read/write heads of the disk drive over the surfaces of the storage media, which rotates about its hub. Rotary actuator assemblies (or rotary assemblies or head stacking assemblies (HSA's)) are used to carry the heads for magnetic disk drives, CD players, and optical drive devices. A rotary assembly has a pivot on bearings about which the actuator rotates to position the heads onto the desired track of the rotating storage media. An exemplary cartridge load and eject mechanism for a drive having such a rotary assembly is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,125, which issued Apr. 25, 2000, to Muse et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,125 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The relatively small size of disk drive bays found in laptop and notebook computers, and smaller devices such as digital cameras, can place significant constraints on the designer of internal disk drives for use in such computers. Techniques that address and overcome the problems associated with these size constraints are therefore important.
A top plan view of an exemplary disk drive is shown in FIG.
1
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the disk drive comprises a rotary actuator assembly
10
, a pivot
20
about which the actuator
10
rotates and the platform
22
on which the storage media rests.
FIG. 2
shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the disk drive of
FIG. 1
across line II—II. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the disk drive also contains a load ramp
30
, which is known in the art.
FIG. 3
shows a top plan view of the disk drive of
FIG. 1
when the rotary actuator
10
is parked or situated on the load ramp
30
. The actuator
10
is in this position when the actuator
10
is not accessing data from or recording data on the flexible media.
FIG. 4
shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the disk drive of
FIG. 3
across line IV—IV. As shown in
FIG. 4
, the rotary actuator
10
is positioned (or “parked”) in back of the load ramp
30
(away from the media). Also, the rotary actuator
10
has two arms
12
and
14
, which serve as a suspension for the read/write heads, which themselves are situated on the distal ends of the arms
12
and
14
.
As also shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, the load ramp
30
has two ramp-shaped halves
32
and
34
. This load ramp
30
is referred to as a scissors-type load ramp. When the actuator
10
is rotating away from the flexible storage media to its parked position, the halves
32
and
34
of the load ramp
30
are in a closed position, as shown in FIG.
2
. When the actuator
10
is rotating into its parked position, the upper arm
12
of the actuator
10
is guided over the upper half
32
of the load ramp
30
. Similarly, the lower arm
14
of the actuator
10
is guided under the lower half
34
of the load ramp
30
.
When the rotary actuator
10
is in its parked position, as shown in
FIG. 4
, the halves
32
and
34
of load ramp are in an open position. When a disk cartridge is inserted into the drive, it is designed such that the flexible media threads between the halves
32
and
34
of the load ramp
30
, as they are positioned as shown in FIG.
4
.
During insertion of the cartridge, however, a problem can arise when the media misthreads below the lower half
34
of the ramp
30
. This problem presents a minor failure in that every time it occurs, the user must eject the cartridge and reinsert it because in the misthreaded state, the drive cannot read from or record to the media.
Additionally, misthreading presents a major failure in that if the media misthreads, the heads of the actuator
10
can stick together. Further, in some cases when the heads stick together and as the actuator
10
rotates toward its parked position, the arms
12
and
14
of the actuator become stuck between the halves
32
and
34
of the load ramp
30
, i.e., instead of riding on the outside of the ramp
30
. When this happens, the cartridge-eject mechanism in some disk drives cannot operate. At that point, the drive must be serviced to remove the cartridge.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a disk drive that prevents misthreading of the f

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