Optical disc drive

Details Optical disc drive Optical disc drive

2001-08-29

2004-10-12

Neyzari, Ali (Department: 2655)

Dynamic information storage or retrieval

With particular cabinet structure

With mechanism to place disc on a turntable

C369S077110

Reexamination Certificate

active

06804184

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2001-3415 filed Jan. 20, 2001, in the Korean Patent Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc drive, and more particularly, to an optical disc drive having an improved structure so that a slim optical disc drive is possible.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an optical disc drive such as a CD player or DVD player records information by emitting light onto a disc which is a recording medium or reproduces information by reading information from the disc. In a conventional optical disc drive as shown in
FIG. 1
, a tray
40
has a first receiving surface
41
for accommodating a disc
1
having a 120 mm diameter and a second receiving surface
42
for accommodating a disc (not shown) having a 80 mm diameter. The tray
40
moves into and out of a main frame
10
while carrying the disc. A pivoting sub-frame
20
is installed at the main frame
10
. A base chassis
30
is supported on the sub-frame
20
.
A turntable
32
, on which the disc
1
carried by the tray
40
is placed, and an optical pickup
31
for recording information on the disc
1
or reproducing information therefrom while moving across the disc
1
are installed on the base chassis
30
. A loading motor
11
drives the tray
40
to retract into and eject from the main frame
10
through a predetermined loading unit. Reference numeral
12
indicates a cam member having a cam groove (not shown) into which a cam protrusion
21
of the sub-frame
20
is inserted, for moving up and down the cam protrusion
21
according to the rotation of the loading motor
11
. Thus, as the cam member
12
rotates, the cam protrusion
21
ascends and descends while moving along the trace of the cam groove. Accordingly, the sub-frame
20
pivots around a pivot axis passing through pins
22
supported by the main frame
10
.
In the disc drive as shown in
FIG. 1
, where a disc
1
is placed on the tray
40
and the tray
40
enters the main frame
10
, the cam member
12
is rotated and the sub-frame
20
pivots so that the disc
1
is placed on the turntable
32
. Then, the turntable
32
rotates and the optical pickup
31
reproduces information recorded on the disc
1
or records new information thereon.
However, in the above conventional optical disc drive, since the cam protrusion
21
provided at the sub-frame
20
is directly inserted in the cam member
12
and thus the sub-frame
20
is moved up and down by the cam motion between the cam protrusion
21
and the cam member
12
, the cam member
12
is required to be located at a position lower than the lowest position in which the cam protrusion
21
is located in a range that the sub-frame
20
pivots. That is, as shown in
FIG. 2
, to secure the elevation height of the turntable
32
according to pivot of the sub-frame
20
, the cam member
12
inevitably occupies a space down at a lower position (h+h1) out of a pivot range (h) of the sub-frame
20
. Thus, this pivot structure occupying a large space of the optical disc drive in height is considered to be an inappropriate structure considering a current trend in which products are made light and thin.
Another problem in making an optical disc drive slim is that, where an 80 mm disc is carried by being placed on the second receiving surface
42
of the tray
40
, the disc is caught by a boss
32
a
of the turntable
32
so that the tray
40
may not be moved. For example, when the 80 mm disc placed on the turntable
32
is taken out, the sub-frame
20
is lowered and pivots to place the disc on the second receiving surface
42
of the tray
40
so that the tray
40
is taken out of the main frame
10
. When the lowering height of the turntable
32
is too small in order to making an optical disc drive slim, the disc is caught by the boss
32
a
(
FIG. 1
) of the turntable
32
so that the tray
40
is not easily ejected from the main frame
10
. Where the lowering height of the turntable
32
is too large, it is difficult to make an optical disc drive slim. Thus, there is a need to prevent the disc from being caught by the boss
32
a
while making the lowering height small.
In another conventional optical disc drive, a turntable or optical pickup is directly installed on the tray to realize a slim optical disc drive for notebook computers. However, in most cases, tray motions such as entering in or ejecting from the main frame are manually performed which inconveniences a user. Thus, an optical disc drive having a structure to solve the above problems is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical disc drive having an improved structure which enables automatic tray loading and a slim optical disc drive.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
According to the present invention, a disc carrying tray is supported by a main frame. A base chassis is pivotable with respect to the main frame and supports a turntable which rotates a disc. The turntable is common with a rotor of a spindle motor which drives the turntable.
The base chassis has a free end which is elastically coupled with a free end of a sub-chassis which also pivots with respect to the main frame. An optical pickup, which records information on and reproduces information from the disc, is mounted on the base chassis. A feeding unit moves the optical pickup in a radial direction of the disc to record information on and/or reproduce information from the disc. A tray loading unit retracts the tray into and ejects the tray from the main frame.
A cam member has a cam groove which is slidingly engaged with a cam protrusion on the sub-chassis. The cam member is operationally engaged with the tray loading unit to pivot the sub-chassis as the tray loading unit retracts the tray into or ejects the tray from the main frame. The sub-chassis pivots the base chassis to engage the turntable with the disc or to disengage the turntable from the disc.
A loading motor drives a gear rail on the tray loading unit via a loading gear. A cam gear, selectively engaged with the cam member, transfers the driving force of the loading motor to the cam member. The disc drive comprises a latch which prevents escape of the tray where the tray is retracted into the main frame. The latch comprises a hooking piece formed on the tray which engages an interference piece provided on the cam gear to block a return path of the hooking piece where the tray is retracted.
The feeding unit comprises a guide rail arranged at the base chassis along a radial direction of the disc and a lead screw installed parallel to the guide rail to be rotated and driven by a motor. A gear portion provided at one side of the optical pickup is coupled to the lead screw.
The tray comprises an outer surface and a first disc receiving surface. The first disc receiving surface is formed to be recessed from the outer surface and to accommodate a disc having a first diameter. A stepped portion connects the outer surface and the first disc receiving surface.
The tray further comprises an escape preventing unit which prevents the disc from escaping from the tray by pressing the disc placed on the first disc receiving surface against the stepped portion in a direction opposite the direction in which the tray retracts. A rotary lever is installed at the outer surface of the tray. An elastic member provides an elastic force to urge the rotary lever in a direction to push the disc against the stepped portion. A locking protrusion protrudes from the outer surface of the tray toward the rotary lever to prevent the disc from being pushed above the outer surface.
A second disc receiving surface is formed to be recessed from the first disc receiving surface

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Optical disc drive does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Optical disc drive, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Optical disc drive will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3303441