Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-07
2004-07-06
Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
C369S030900, C369S030920, C369S030780
Reexamination Certificate
active
06760283
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a disc recording and/or reproducing device for receiving and recording/reproducing a plurality of discs.
BACKGROUND ART
There is a disc player by way of disc recording and/or reproducing device mounted on motor vehicles for recording and/or reproducing sound. The disc player is constructed to store a plurality of CDs (compact discs) in a magazine and change the whole CDs at a time together with the magazine. This leads to a device enlargement, so that the main body is received in a trunk, while only the part necessary for operation is arranged in a cabin. However, changing CDs is not possible during driving of the vehicle, and requires stop thereof to open the trunk, forming a bothersome affair.
On this account, vehicle-mounted disc players to be received in cabins are developed in recent years. Such vehicle-mounted disc player, which is required to enable storage of a plurality of CDs, is received in a predetermined in-dash space in the cabin. Accordingly, there remains an essential challenge of a reduction in size of the vehicle-mounted disc players.
The vehicle-mounted disc player includes a roughly rectangular-prism casing of a given dimension called 1 DIN size or the like, in which, for example, six trays for individually mounting six CDs thereon are placed one upon another to constitute a disc compartment. Six CDs can individually be loaded and ejected to successively select one of six CDs for reproduction.
A prior-art reference 1 of the vehicle-mounted disc player is constructed such that for selecting and reproducing one of six CDs, six trays for mounting CDs are arranged to be placed vertically one upon another, and a male screw having a greater pitch in the middle portion along the length is formed with a shaft arranged through the trays to obtain a screwed shaft. Rotation of the screwed shaft causes the trays to successively rise from the top. When stopping rotation of the screwed shaft with a selected tray mounting selected CD being located in the middle portion of the screwed shaft, spaces are defined above and below the selected tray. Then, a spindle motor and turntable and a pickup unit are inserted below selected CD to engage a claw protruding upwardly from the center of the turntable with a hole of CD through upward motion of the turntable, mounting CD on the turntable. After withdrawing the turntable, CD is rotated for reproduction.
A prior-art reference 2 is constructed such that after moving CD to be reproduced to a predetermined level position by moving a cartridge upwardly or downwardly, spaces are formed above and below CD to be reproduced by space forming means. A turntable and a chucking plate are introduced into the spaces to chuck CD to be reproduced on the turntable, and an optical pickup is moved from a standby position to a reproduction position.
However, the prior-art reference 1 presented the following problem:
Since the device is not configured to hold CD from both sides for rotation, coupling is not sufficient between the turntable and CD to deteriorate the vibration characteristics during reproduction. In some cases, CD can accidentally be detached from the turntable.
The prior-art reference 2 presented the following problems 1) and 2):
1) The cartridge is moved upwardly or downwardly with respect to the optical pickup fixed at the level position shown by H in
FIG. 38
, so that for moving the cartridge
201
as illustrated by the solid line from the state of reproducing CD
202
on the uppermost stage to the state of reproducing CD
203
on the lowermost stage of the cartridge
201
, the cartridge
201
should be raised to the position as illustrated by the two-dot chain line. As a result, a height T
1
of a cartridge receiving space is roughly twice as great as a height T
2
of the cartridge
201
, forming a bottleneck to a reduction in thickness of the disc player.
2) After movement of CD to be reproduced to a predetermined level position, the space forming means are moved toward the CD to form spaces above and below CD to be reproduced. Turntable and chucking plate are introduced into the spaces to chuck CD on the turntable, and the optical pickup is moved from the standby position to the reproduction startup position. Thus, changing CD requires a lot of time.
Additionally, for accommodation of a plurality of CDs, the device needs to hold parts of operation mechanisms for carrying out various operations such as CD loading, ejection, recording, reproduction, etc., leading to difficult reduction in size of the device in its entirety.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a disc recording and/or reproducing device that solves such problems.
A disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that it comprises: a disc compartment comprising a plurality of disc mounting means placed one upon another, on which discs are mounted; a recording and/or reproducing means for selectively recording and/or reproducing a disc mounted on a selected one of said plurality of disc mounting means; an ejection means for ejecting the disc mounted on said disc mounting means; a control means, which moves along a line substantially perpendicular to said placing direction, for starting said recording and/or reproducing means when reaching a first position on one side along the line, and said ejection means when reaching a second position on another side along the line.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device further comprises a space forming means for moving in the placing direction the disc mounting means in said disc compartment and adjacent to the selected disc mounting means so as to form a first space on one side of the placing direction of the selected disc mounting means, wherein said recording and/or reproducing means ensures action of moving a disc driving means for holding and rotating/driving the disc to the first space formed by said space forming means, and wherein said ejection means ensures action of opening a shutter of a disc loading/unloading opening and moving the disc to said loading/unloading opening.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that said control means comprises a startup plate having a first engagement engaging with said recording and/or reproducing means and a second engagement engaging with said ejection means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that said control means comprises a startup plate having a first engagement engaging with said recording and/or reproducing means and a second engagement engaging with said ejection means.
According to the invention, contradictory action of the recording and/or reproducing means and the ejection means can be ensured by the only one control means (startup plate), so that there is no need to separately arrange a startup means for starting the recording and/or reproducing means and a startup means for starting the ejection means, obtaining simplified device configuration and reduced number of parts, resulting in a reduction in size of the entire device.
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Hama Toru
Ishibashi Takayuki
Taka Yoshiteru
Takizawa Kazuyuki
Watanabe Tomohiro
Klimowicz William
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Sony Corporation
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