Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-08
2001-07-03
Korzuch, William R. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256280
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc device for CDs, DVDs, and the like, and more particularly, to a disc ejection means for ejecting a disc from the disc device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional disc device of a slot-in loading type, a disc is loaded and ejected by a feeding force of a feeding roller serving as a disc conveyor means that is disposed near a loading slot.
This disc device is further divided into, for example, a type in which a disc is clamped between a feeding roller and a driven roller disposed parallel to the feeding roller, and a type in which a disc is clamped between a feeding roller and a disc guide member disposed on a top plate of the disc device or the like.
In the conventional disc device, a disc inserted from the loading slot is conveyed to a disc driving section in the inner part of the device by a forward feeding force of the feeding roller to be laid on a turntable in the disc driving section. Then, a disc conveyor means is retracted away from the disc, and a clamper moves down, whereby the disc is clamped between the clamper and the turntable. Subsequently, a predetermined rotation is applied to the disc by a spindle motor, and a pickup performs disc playback or recording.
When ejecting the disc, the rotation of the spindle motor is stopped, and the damper moves up, thereby releasing the disc. Moreover, the disc is clamped again by the disc conveyor means, is ejected from the disc driving section by reversely rotating the feeding roller, and is then ejected from the loading slot to the outside of the disc device.
In the above-described disc device, however, loading and ejection of the disc is performed by the same disc conveyor means, and therefore, disc exchange takes much time. That is, for the purpose of disc change, there is a need to eject the existing disc (first disc), which has undergone playback or recording, to the outside and to subsequently insert a new disc (second disc) into the disc device. Furthermore, since the existing disc and the new disc are manually switched outside the disc device, such disc exchange requires much time and labor.
In order to solve such problems, it may be possible to shorten disc switching time by separating a disc loading device and a disc ejection device so that a new disc is loaded by the disc loading device, and simultaneously, the existing disc is ejected by the disc ejection device. In this case, it is necessary to perform the disc switching operation inside the disc device to avoid troublesome disc exchange.
It is, however, a problem as to which disc ejection device is to be used to eject the disc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a disc device in which a disc loading device and a disc ejection device are separate to solve the above conventional problems, and more particularly, to provide the disk ejection device.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disc ejection device of a disc device including a conveyor means for transferring a disc inserted from a loading slot to a disc driving section, and an ejection means for ejecting the disc from the disc driving section to an ejection slot, wherein the ejection means has a first ejection member for moving the disc from the disc driving section toward the ejection slot by a predetermined distance, and a second ejection member for further pushing the disc moved by the predetermined distance to the ejection slot.
The first ejection member serves to convey the existing disc positioned in the disc driving section to the second ejection member on the side of the ejection slot, and the second ejection member serves to eject the conveyed disc from the ejection slot to the outside of the disc device. That is, the existing disc can be ejected with the cooperation of the first ejection means and the second ejection means.
After the first ejection member expands and delivers the existing disc to the second ejection member, it immediately returns to an initial retracted state. Therefore, a loading operation of a new disc to be simultaneously performed is prevented from being interfered with by the first ejection member, and functions smoothly. Furthermore, since an operation for finally ejecting the disc is performed by the second ejection member disposed on the side of the ejection slot, it can be reliably performed without being interfered with by an operation of loading a new disc into the disk driving section in the inner part of the device.
Preferably, the first ejection member is formed of a pair of ejection arms that intersect each other.
Since the pair of ejection arms act in a so-called pantographic manner, that is, the leading ends thereof expand toward the ejection slot, they can feed out the disc toward the second ejection member. Furthermore, since the leading ends move in a direction such that they come close to each other, it is possible to reliably feed out the disc positioned between the leading ends, regardless of the diameter of the disc.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the attached drawings.
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Nakayama Keisuke
Ohkita Masao
Sakurai Toshihiro
Alps Electric Co. ,Ltd.
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Chen Ianjie
Korzuch William R.
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