Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – With mechanism to place disc on a turntable
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-31
2003-09-30
Ometz, David L. (Department: 2653)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
With mechanism to place disc on a turntable
C369S077110, C369S249100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06628597
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to disk drives, and more particularly, to a guide rail assembly for use in a disk drive, the guide rail assembly minimizing vibrations between the tray and the housing when the tray is secured inside the housing during a play mode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
CD-ROM and DVD disk drives are well-known. For example, CD-ROM disk drives are commonly used within a notebook-size personal computer. A CD-ROM is a type of an optical disk which is capable of storing a large amount of data including programs or database data. The CD-ROM, which is placed in the CD-ROM disk drive, is accessed by a laser pickup of the CD-ROM disk drive so that data is reproduced from the CD-ROM.
FIG. 1
illustrates a conventional CD-ROM disk drive
20
, which includes a tray
22
which is slidably positioned in a housing
23
of the disk drive
20
for reciprocating movement in both an ejecting direction A and an inserting direction B. The housing
23
has a top cover and a bottom cover
28
, and the tray
22
includes a chassis that is secured (e.g., by screws) to the bottom of the tray
22
. When a disk (not shown) is loaded into the disk drive
20
, the tray
22
(with the disk being placed thereon) is manually pushed into the disk drive
20
in the inserting direction B and set at a loaded position in the disk drive
20
.
In the disk drive
20
, a drive unit (not shown) is provided below the tray
22
. A turntable
24
which is rotated by a spindle motor (not shown) is attached to the drive unit, with the disk that is placed on the tray
22
being held on the turntable
24
. An optical pickup
26
is coupled to the drive unit for accessing the disk to read out data from the disk. A pickup moving unit (not shown) is also coupled to the drive unit for moving the optical pickup
26
in a radial direction of the disk.
An ejection unit is provided for ejecting the tray
22
from the housing
23
. A front bezel
30
is attached to a front end of the tray
22
, and includes a rectangular opening which extends laterally in the front bezel
30
. An ejection switch
32
is attached to the tray
22
and provided in the rectangular opening of the front bezel
30
. When the ejection switch
32
is manually pressed, the tray
22
is ejected from the housing
23
to an ejected position, where the tray
22
at the ejected position can be further pulled out from the housing
23
to a disk-change position by the user. When the tray
22
is set at the disk-change position (as shown in FIG.
1
), the tray
22
is completely outside the confines of the housing
23
and the disk on the tray
22
can be removed and replaced with a new one.
A guide rail assembly is provided to guide the movement of the tray
22
in either the inserting direction or the ejecting direction.
FIGS. 1 and 2
illustrate the guide rail assembly of the conventional disk drive
20
of FIG.
1
. The guide rail assembly includes a pair of movable rails
34
, a pair of guide rails
36
, and a pair of slide rails
38
. One movable rail
34
is secured to each of the opposing sides of the tray
22
and arranged such that each movable rail
34
is movable with respect to the bottom cover
28
. Each guide rail
36
is secured to each of the opposing sides of the bottom cover
28
, and each guide rail
36
is arranged on the bottom cover
28
so that the guide rail
36
can extend in directions parallel to the corresponding movable rail
34
. Each guide rail
36
has a channel that receives a corresponding slide rail
38
therein, and each slide rail
38
also has a channel that receives a corresponding movable rail
34
therein. Each slide rail
38
is movably arranged between the corresponding movable rail
34
and guide rail
36
so that the slide rail
38
is movable with respect to both the movable rail
34
of the tray
22
and the guide rail
36
of the bottom cover
28
. In other words, there is a relative displacement between each set of slide rail
38
and movable rail
34
, and between each set of slide rail
38
and guide rail
36
. Each set of rails
38
+
34
and
38
+
36
slides along its own defined paths.
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the connections between the rails
34
,
36
,
38
, and the support provided by these rails
34
,
36
,
38
, play an important role when the tray
22
and its play module
40
are completely slid out of the confines of the housing
23
of the disk drive
20
. Regardless of whether the tray
22
is in the play mode (i.e., with the tray
22
completely retained inside the housing
23
) or in the disk-change mode (i.e., with the tray
22
completely pulled out of the confines of the housing
23
), there must be sufficient clearance between each of the rails in the two sets of rails (e.g., sufficient clearance between rails
34
and
38
, and between the rails
36
and
38
) to allow for smooth reciprocating movement of the tray
22
. However, as best shown in
FIG. 2
, when the tray
22
is in the play mode, the movable rails
34
on the sides of the tray
22
virtually contact the walls of the channel of the sliding rails
38
, so there is usually insufficient clearance to offset any vibrations that may be caused by the disk drive
20
. For example, in such a situation, vibrations from the external environment can be transferred via the housing
23
and the rails
36
,
38
,
34
(in this order) to the tray
22
and its play module
40
during the play mode, which can seriously affect the performance of the disk drive
20
. As another example, vibrations from the play module
40
and optical pickup
24
can be transferred via the tray
22
and the rails
34
,
38
,
36
(in this order) to the external environment. The user will be uncomfortable when the housing
23
vibrates, and such vibrations can have a negative effect on the other parts of the notebook computer. In other words, this lack of a sufficient clearance between the rails
34
,
38
,
36
may worsen the effect of any vibrations that may be generated.
Widening the clearances of the channels in the rails
36
and
38
does not necessarily provide an adequate solution to this problem, because an excessively large clearance may give rise to multi-directional shaking of the tray
22
, and may have a negative impact on the smooth sliding motion of the movable rails
34
in the channel of the slidable rails
38
.
Thus, there remains a need for a guide rail assembly that minimizes the effects of vibrations, and which minimizes the spread of vibrations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a guide rail assembly that minimizes the effects of vibrations, and which minimizes the spread of vibrations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a guide rail assembly that promotes smooth movement by the tray when the tray is being slid between the play mode and the disk-change mode.
The objects of the present invention may be accomplished by providing a guide rail assembly for use with a disk drive, the assembly having a first rail that has a raised ridge with a wavy upper edge and a wavy lower edge, and a second rail having a channel defined therein, with the channel having a wavy upper wall and a wavy lower wall. The raised ridge of the first rail is positioned for reciprocating movement inside the channel of the second rail.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5119357 (1992-06-01), Tsuruta et al.
patent: 5555227 (1996-09-01), Kurosu
patent: 5691969 (1997-11-01), Fujisawa
patent: 5844874 (1998-12-01), Saito et al.
Chen Han-Chao
Chuang Jui-Nan
Yeh Shih-Lin
Blouin Mark
Lite-On It Corp.
Ometz David L.
Sun Raymond
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