Dynamic optical information storage or retrieval – Dynamic mechanism optical subsystem – Optical storage medium support
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-31
2004-10-19
Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)
Dynamic optical information storage or retrieval
Dynamic mechanism optical subsystem
Optical storage medium support
Reexamination Certificate
active
06807672
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2001-42348, filed Jul. 13, 2001, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated hereby by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk drive, and more particularly, to an optical disk drive having a function for dynamically controlling a skew between an optical pickup and a disk recording surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical disk drive is a machine that reads data from and writes data onto a disk, which is a recording medium, by emitting a laser beam onto the disk.
In
FIG. 1
an optical disk drive includes a drive main body
10
, a tray
40
having a surface
41
on which a disk
1
is placed and transported in or out of the main body
10
, a frame
20
rotatably installed in the main body
10
, and a chassis
30
supported on the frame
20
. A turntable
32
on which the disk
1
transported by the tray
10
is mounted and an optical pickup
31
moved in the radial direction of the disk
1
for recording and reproducing data on the disk
1
, are mounted on the chassis
30
. Relay gears
13
a
,
13
b
and
13
c
mesh a loading motor
11
with a rack
42
disposed on the bottom of the tray
40
so that the loading motor
11
transmits power to the rack
42
. A cam member
12
having a cam groove
12
a
is fitted into a cam protrusion
21
of the frame
20
. The cam member
12
receives the power of the loading motor
11
to move the cam protrusion
21
up and down while sliding from side to side. Thus, as the cam member
12
moves from side to side, the cam protrusion
21
moves up and down along the cam groove
12
a
, thereby enabling the frame
20
to rotate about a rotary axis
22
supported on the main body
10
.
A protrusion
12
c
is provided on the cam member
12
so that the protrusion
12
c
contacts a guide rail
43
provided on the bottom of the tray
40
to slide when the tray
40
moves in or out of the main body
10
. The protrusion
12
c
slides along a linear portion of the guide rail
43
until the tray
40
almost goes into the main body
10
and is slightly displaced to the right of
FIG. 1
at a slanting portion
43
a
thereof, thereby allowing a gear
12
b
of the cam member
12
to mesh with the relay gear
13
c
. Consequently, the power of the loading motor
11
used for moving the tray
40
into the main body
10
is also the power used for sliding the cam member
12
.
In
FIG. 1
, when the disk
1
is loaded on the tray
40
and introduced into the main body
10
, the cam member
12
turns to rotate the frame
20
so that the disk
1
is mounted on the turntable
32
. Then, the turntable
32
rotates to enable the optical pickup
31
to reproduce information recorded onto the disk
1
or record new information onto the disk
1
.
To form a focused light spot on the disk
1
, light emitted from the optical pickup
31
must be incident perpendicular to a recording surface of the disk
1
. If the direction of the incident light deviates from the perpendicular angle, forming a focused light spot on the disk
1
is difficult. As a result, errors may occur in recording and reproducing data. Thus, to form a focused light spot, the angle between the disk
1
and the optical pickup
31
needs to be adjusted accurately so that the light is incident perpendicular to the recording surface of the disk
1
. Generally, the adjustment is called a “skew adjustment.”
The optical pickup
31
has a servomechanism for dynamically controlling or displacing an objective lens so that light is focused on the recording surface of the disk
1
. However, if the optical pickup
31
is skewed relative to the disk
1
at an angle greater than 1° due to process errors in the disk
1
or the surface of the turntable
32
on which the disk is to be placed, the skew between the optical pickup
31
and the disk
1
may not be completely compensated for simply by the servomechanism of the objective lens.
Accordingly, to more precisely perform recording and reproducing, an optical disk drive with a function of dynamically controlling skew between the disk
1
and the optical pickup
31
is highly desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical disk drive having an automatic skew adjustment function.
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.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing an optical disk drive including, a main body, a tray, driven by a loading motor, and transporting a disk in or out of the main body, and a base chassis on which an optical pickup emitting a beam onto a recording surface of the disk is mounted. The optical disk drive also includes a rotary chassis, installed to rotate with respect to the base chassis and having a turntable on which the disk is to be placed, and a skew adjustment mechanism controlling skew between the disk placed on the turntable and the optical pickup mounted on the base chassis by rotating the rotary chassis.
The screw adjustment mechanism includes a cam member, driven by the power of the loading motor and having a predetermined cam groove, and a cam protrusion formed at a free end of the rotary chassis to fit into the cam groove. When the cam member is driven by the loading motor, the cam protrusion slides along the cam groove, thereby raising the free end of the rotary chassis.
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Klimowicz William
Staas & Halsey , LLP
LandOfFree
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