Optical disk player

Details Optical disk player Optical disk player

1998-10-01

2001-07-24

Ometz, David L. (Department: 2652)

Dynamic information storage or retrieval

With particular cabinet structure

Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc

C369S223000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06266311

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk player, and more particularly to an optical disk player wherein a pickup unit ejects a tray by virtue of a driving power of a pickup motor in a read-in area without using a separate motor for ejecting, and which simplifies a mechanism of an emergency device for manually ejecting the tray, in the event of an optical disk player malfunction.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, an optical disk player is a device for playing or recording an optical disk, such as a digital video disk (DVD) or a compact disk (CD), and is largely divided into two types, one is a tray loading type in which a tray on which an optical disk is placed moves in front and rear for thereby loading/unloading the disk, and the other is a slot loading type which is inserted into a slot provided in an optical disk player for loading/unloading a disk.
Hereinafter, the tray-loading-type optical disk player will be described, being taken as an example of a conventional optical disk player.
FIG. 1
illustrates major elements in the conventional optical disk player.
As shown therein, the conventional optical disk player is provided with a frame
1
a
, a main base
1
b
which is disposed so as to be ejected/injected from/to the frame
1
a
, a spindle motor
2
disposed on the main base
1
b
for playing or recording a disk, a pick up unit
4
for reading data on the disk while moving forward and backward along a guide shaft
3
and a lead screw
3
′ which is provided on the main base
1
b
, a driving motor
5
for driving the pick up unit
4
, a tray (not shown) formed on a back side of the main base
1
b
for safely placing the disk, and an ejecting means for ejecting/injecting the tray.
More specifically, the ejecting means includes an ejection knob
6
disposed in a front area of the player, an ejection motor
7
which is driven by the ejection motor
7
, a switch
8
which controls the operation of the ejection motor
7
, a cam gear
9
which rotates by being engaged with the ejection motor
7
, a stopper lever
10
which operates in accordance the cam gear
9
, an elastic member
11
which elastically supports the tray to be ejected when the tray is released from the stopper lever
10
, and an emergency lever
12
disposed at one side of the ejection knob
6
.
Now, the ejecting operation of the thusly provided disk player will be described as follows.
First, when a user presses the ejection knob
6
, the ejection motor
7
rotates and therefore the cam gear
9
rotates in accordance with the ejection motor
7
.
Next, by virtue of the rotation of the cam gear
9
, the stopper lever
10
which fixes the tray releases the tray, thus the tray is ejected by the elasticity of the elastic member
11
which supports the tray, and then the stopper lever
10
returns to the original location.
At this time, the switch
8
senses the rotation of the cam gear
9
to suspend the ejection motor
7
.
While, in case of which the disk player suddenly malfunctions, an emergency ejecting means for manually ejecting the tray is provided at a portion of the main base
1
b.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the emergency ejecting means is provided with a hole (not shown) provided in the front side of the main base
1
b
, the emergency lever
12
disposed on the main base
1
b
to correspond with the hole, the stopper lever
10
which moves forward and backward around a pivot
10
b
by virtue of the emergency lever
12
, a hook unit
10
a
provided at a portion of the stopper lever
10
and a fixing protrusion
1
c
being protruded from the main base
1
b
to fasten the hook unit
10
a.
Now, the operation of the above emergency ejecting means will be described with reference with the accompanying drawings.
First, when the user inserts an interposition, such as a wire or a pin, into the hole formed in the main base
1
b
, the emergency lever
12
moves to the back side of the hole by the interposition, and the stopper lever
10
, provided at a bottom part of a part of the emergency lever
12
, turns around the pivot
10
b.
Here, in accordance with the movement of the stopper lever
10
, the hook unit
10
a
of the stopper lever
10
is released from the fixing protrusion unit
1
c
of the main base unit
1
b
, and the tray is ejected by the elastic member
11
which elastically supports the tray.
However, the conventional optical disk player has a problem in that the elements, such as the spindle motor for rotating the disk, the driving motor for driving the pickup unit, the ejection motor for driving the tray, the switch and the cam gear, etc., are independently provided, thus increasing the manufacturing cost and the number of the motor, and accordingly increasing the size of the disk player.
Therefore, in order to overcome the foregoing problems, according to Japan Utility model No. 50558, 1993, there has been introduced a method of ejecting a tray without using an ejection motor.
FIGS. 3 and 4
illustrate a tray ejecting unit portion in accordance with Japan Utility model No. 50558, 1993.
As shown therein, the tray ejecting unit is provided with a driving motor
13
, a driving gear
14
connected with the driving motor
13
, an intermediate gear
16
engagedly connected with the driving gear
14
by a link
15
, a loading gear
17
which engages with the intermediate gear
16
which turns clockwise, a lock arm
18
which maintains the engagement of the intermediate gear
16
and the loading gear
17
, a spring
19
elastically connected to one side of the lock arm
18
, a rack gear
20
engaging with the loading gear
17
, a thrust plate
21
for loading/unloading a disk by moving forward and backward by virtue of the rack gear
20
, and a releasing portion
22
for releasing the engagement of the intermediate gear
16
and the loading gear
17
.
Next, the ejecting operation of the thrust plate
21
of the conventional optical disk player will be described.
First, when rotating the driving motor
13
in opposition to the direction of the disk rotation in the disk loading operation, the intermediate gear
16
is engaged with the loading gear
17
and the engagement of the two gears
16
,
17
is maintained by the lock arm
18
.
Through the rack gear
20
, being engaged with the loading gear
17
, and a rack
21
a
of the thrust plate
21
, engaged with the rack gear
20
, the thrust plate
21
is driven, to thereby eject the disk.
While, after the intermediate gear
16
is released from the lock arm
18
, when rotating the driving motor
13
, the link
15
starts to rotate anticlockwise and thus the intermediate gear
16
is separated from the loading gear
17
to thereby play the disk.
However, although the above-described system may have the advantage of ejecting the disk only by virtue of the driving motor, without using the exclusive ejecting motor, when the disk player malfunctions, or when a power failure occurs, the thrust plate on which the disk is placed cannot be ejected.
In order to solve the foregoing problem, there also has been introduced a method for manually ejecting a tray in case where a disk player malfunctions, as well as ejecting the tray without using the ejecting motor, as recorded in Japan Patent No. 236860, 1990.
In accordance with
FIGS. 5 and 6
, the structure of the ejecting portion of the optical disk player, published in Japan Patent No. 236860, 1990, will be described.
As shown therein, under a frame
23
there are fixedly provided a motor
24
, a worm gear
25
, a worm wheel
26
, an intermediate gear
27
, a lever
28
, a pinion
29
, a rack plate
30
, a cam
31
, a first spring
32
, a second spring
33
and a plate
35
with a longitudinal plate member
34
placed thereon.
The structure of the member placed on the plate
35
will be described as follows.
The motor
24
which provides the driving power to eject the disk is fixed and the worm gear
25
is coupled to a pivot thereof and engaged with the worm wheel
26
.
Further, the worm wheel
26
is engaged with the intermediate gear
27

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