Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – With mechanism to place disc on a turntable
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-10
2003-03-04
Cao, Allen (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
With mechanism to place disc on a turntable
Reexamination Certificate
active
06529462
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk loading device for loading/unloading an optical disk for a recording/reproduction device which records/reproduces information on/from the optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical disks have been widely used as audio disks, video disks, and data memory devices for computers.
Optical disks include rewritable disks cased in cartridges mainly used for data storage and reproduction-only naked disks such as music CDs and CD-ROMs. With the advance of multimedia technology, both the digitization of AV apparatuses and the enhancement of the AV functions of computers are in progress simultaneously. To meet this progress, optical disks which are widely applicable to recording/reproduction of a variety of information regardless whether they are for AV apparatuses or for computers have been requested.
Also, with the increasing request for size reduction of personal computers as well as AV apparatuses, the recording/reproduction devices for optical disks are desired to be made thinner.
In short, a recording/reproduction device for an optical disk, which is thin and applicable to various forms of media has been strongly requested.
Conventionally, however, since the loading method is different between disks incorporated in cartridges and naked disks, individual, exclusive disk loading devices for the cartridges and the naked disks are required.
CONVENTIONAL EXAMPLE 1
A conventional mechanism for loading an optical disk-incorporated cartridge which is mainly used as a data memory device will be described with reference to
FIGS. 41
to
43
.
In an optical disk device including the cartridge loading mechanism, in general, after a cartridge is inserted into the device, the cartridge needs to be moved toward a spindle motor and an optical pickup so that a disk incorporated in the cartridge can be placed on a turntable to be ready for recording or reproduction.
FIG. 41
is a perspective view illustrating the disk loading mechanism of Conventional Example 1.
FIGS. 42A and 42B
are side views illustrating the operation of the disk loading mechanism.
FIG. 43
is a schematic view illustrating the dimensional relationship between the components of the device in the thickness direction.
Referring to
FIGS. 41
,
42
A, and
42
B, a cartridge
201
is inserted into a cartridge holder
202
at the front of the device. At the insertion, a shutter
201
a
of the cartridge
201
engages with a shutter opener
210
incorporated in the cartridge holder
202
and slides to allow a portion of a disk in the cartridge
201
to be exposed. The cartridge holder
202
is provided with four guide rollers
203
on both sides thereof, which engage with respective guide grooves
205
formed on both sides of a slider
204
. Each guide roller
203
is movable only vertically by a distance d along a guide pole
207
mounted on a chassis
206
.
The slider
204
is shaped to sandwich the cartridge holder
202
from the bottom, and slidable in direction A by a distance s along a guide pin
208
mounted on the chassis
206
. The slider
204
is always urged in direction A by a slider spring
209
, and initially stopped by a lock arm (not shown) in the state where the slider spring
209
has expanded at maximum (see FIG.
42
A).
A damper
214
is rotatably held by a support arm
215
, and located above an opening
202
a
of the cartridge holder
202
at the center of the upper surface thereof, facing a turntable
212
attached to the axis of a disk motor
211
. The damper
214
and the turntable
212
are attracted to each other by an attractive force between a magnet and a magnetic piece incorporated therein.
The support arm
215
rotates by an action of a cam (not shown) disposed on the slider
204
depending on the position of the cam, so as to move the damper
214
upward/downward. In the initial state, the damper
214
has been lifted to a position where the damper
214
does not interfere with the cartridge
201
which is inserted into the cartridge holder
202
(see FIG.
42
A).
As the cartridge
201
is inserted into the cartridge holder
202
, one corner of the cartridge
201
pushes the lock arm, releasing the lock arm from the engagement with the slider
204
. When released, the slider
204
slides in direction A by the force of the slider spring
209
, allowing the guide rollers
203
to move along the respective guide grooves
205
and thus the cartridge holder
202
to move toward the chassis
206
(direction B) by a distance d. Simultaneously, the support arm
215
rotates as the slider
204
moves, allowing the clamper
214
to move toward the turntable
212
. As the cartridge
201
in the cartridge holder
202
falls, the disk in the cartridge
201
is seated on the turntable
212
. The clamper
214
attaches to the disk from above so that the disk is set to be rotatable on the turntable
212
and sufficiently close to an optical pickup
213
for recording/reproduction (see FIG.
42
B).
When the cartridge
201
is to be removed from the device, the slider
204
is pulled back against the urging force of the slider spring
209
by a loading motor
216
, to allow both the clamper
214
and the cartridge holder
202
to be lifted to the respective initial states. This separates the disk from the turntable
212
, and thus the cartridge
201
is ready for unloading.
As shown in
FIG. 43
, at the insertion of the cartridge
201
, a distance D which exceeds the thickness of the cartridge
201
is necessary between the turntable
212
and the clamper
214
.
CONVENTIONAL EXAMPLE 2
A conventional loading mechanism of an optical disk device for a naked disk such as a music CD and a CD-ROM will be described with reference to FIGS.
44
and
45
A to
45
C.
On a main chassis
53
are mounted a disk motor
56
, a turntable
58
attached to the axis of the disk motor
56
, a center cone
58
a
on the turntable
58
which is to engage with a center hole
45
a
of a recording disk
45
, a head
43
which is slidable in directions Y
1
-Y
2
along a guide shaft
55
and has a coil
43
a
for a linear motor, and a magnetic yoke
54
for the linear motor. A hole
53
b
as the center of rotation is provided at an end
53
a
of the main chassis
53
, and a rotation spindle
51
extends through the hole
53
b.
Likewise, a hole
47
b
as the center of rotation is provided at an end
47
a
of a clamp lever
47
, and the rotation spindle
51
extends through the hole
47
b
. The rotation spindle
51
is fixed to projections
52
of the bottom surface of a box
42
.
A tray
41
is attached to the box
42
so as to move horizontally in directions Y
1
-Y
2
by the engagement between a rack
41
a
formed on the back surface of the tray
41
and an output gear wheel of a loading motor
57
provided with a gear unit for deceleration. The tray has a dish-shaped depression
46
for receiving and holding the disk
45
. A smaller-diameter depression is formed inside the depression
46
to receive a small-diameter disk
60
thereon.
A cam
50
engages with the main chassis
53
and the clamp lever
47
at the rear sides thereof. The cam
50
is driven by a geared motor
49
. The main chassis
53
and the clamp lever
47
rotate around the rotation spindle
51
depending on the rotational position of the cam
50
so that the main chassis
53
and the clamp lever
47
are closer to or farther from each other. The box has an opening
44
for insertion of the tray
41
. The tray
41
has an opening
41
b
. A damper
48
is attached to the clamp lever
47
. The loading motor
57
and the geared motor
49
are operated under control of a microcomputer in a normal manner, for example. The positions of the tray
41
and the cam
50
driven by the respective motors are detected using normal microswitches or the like. These operations are not specifically shown in these figures, and the description thereof is omitted here.
FIGS. 45A
,
45
B, and
45
C show the operation of the disk loading device of this conventional example.
The case where the disk
Ezawa Kohzoh
Hanakawa Eiichi
Kurozuka Akira
Maeda Shinichi
Cao Allen
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Renner , Otto, Boisselle & Sklar, LLP
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