Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Record medium – In container
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-31
2001-12-25
Miller, Brian E. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Record medium
In container
C369S291100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06333834
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to disk drives and, in particular, disk drives where data is stored on hard disks.
BACKGROUND OF THE ART
The present assignee holds a number of patents describing removable cartridge disk drives and cartridges therefore. By way of example, these patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,474 issued Mar. 5, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,879 issued Mar. 12, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,981 issued Jan. 5, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,506 issued Jul. 28, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,012 issued Jan. 26, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,518 issued Sep. 26, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,685 issued Oct. 23, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,452 issued Sep. 5, 1989. All of these references are incorporated herein by reference. These patents are directed to a removable cartridge disk drive which can receive a cartridge containing a hard disk upon which can be stored substantial amounts of data comparable, in some cases, to that stored on fixed disk drives.
In reviewing these patents, it is evident that design challenges reside in accurately receiving the cartridge into the disk drive cartridge receiver and settling the hub of the cartridge repeatedly and accurately onto the spindle shaft of a spindle motor. The spindle motor causes the disk contained in the cartridge to rotate at the appropriate operating speed. Design challenges also reside in the ability of the head and head arm assembly, located in the disk drive, to be positioned through a door in the cartridge in order to be loaded onto the disk contained in the cartridge for the read/write operations. Further, the design feature of reliably ejecting the cartridge from the disk drive once the read/write operations have been concluded is addressed.
A removable cartridge disk drive is highly useful for a number of reasons. The first reason is that a substantial amount of data can be stored on the cartridge, the cartridge can be removed, and, if desired, conveniently shipped to another location. With the requirement to transport ever increasing amounts of data, as for example found in graphics files, the removable cartridge can store a substantial amount of data which would otherwise require a multitude of floppy disks. The data can thus be conveniently sent to, for a example, a publisher for publishing the graphics.
A second reason for such designs is that removable cartridge disk drives have an infinite capacity. Once a cartridge is filled with data, the cartridge can be replaced with a blank cartridge. Unlike with fixed drives, there is no need to trade up to a higher capacity disk drive or to purge lesser used documents from the hard disk drive.
A third reason is that if confidential or secret information is contained on the disk, the disk can be removed from the disk drive and secured in a safe location so that the data cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals.
The trend in the computer market, and in particular the personal computer market, is to develop smaller, higher capacity and less expensive hardware. Thus, what used to be acceptable as far as performance and capacity in a desk top computer is now required for a notebook computer but at a substantially reduced size. Accordingly, there is a need to provide computer hardware, and for example, a removable cartridge disk drive and removable cartridge which is smaller, easier to manufacture as for example, having fewer parts, and with higher data capacity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to providing a removable cartridge disk drive having a smaller form factor, which can be produced more economically, as for example with fewer parts, and with a higher data capacity.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a removable cartridge disk drive and cartridge which has a form factor of 1.8 inches and smaller.
Within this form factor, cartridges containing 40, 60 and 80 megabytes and more of storage can be configured.
The invention includes a system of a disk drive and a removable cartridge which are designed in such a way in order to minimize the size of the disk drive and cartridge. Such advantages are achieved by, for example, limiting the number of parts, designing the parts to perform multiple functions and designing the drive and cartridge system such that spaces in the system perform multiple functions such that when the disk in the cartridge is accurately positioned on a spindle motor for access by a read/write head, there is no unwasted space other than the space required for clearances.
The invention further includes a disk drive which is slidable into a docking port for immediate connection to, for example, a notebook or laptop computer.
The invention includes a cartridge which has a disk which is movable within the cartridge in order to appropriately position the hub which mounts the disk onto a spindle motor and also to appropriately position the disk so that the disk can be accessed by a read/write heads of the disk drive.
The invention further includes the ability to move the disk into clearance space in the cartridge preparatory to positioning the hub of the cartridge onto a spindle motor and then positioning the disk out of the clearance space and the appropriate distance between the walls of the cartridge for allowing the spindle motor to spin the disk at operating speeds.
The invention includes the cartridge having a hub which is extendable past the envelope of the cartridge in order to allow the disk to be positioned within the cartridge.
The invention includes a disk drive operating handle which performs multiple functions in order to allow a cartridge to be received and registered in a disk drive, allow the read/write heads of the disk drive to access the disk in the cartridge and allow the cartridge to be ejected from the disk drive. Such a multiple function handle provides for a compact design which can be provided on a 1.8 inch form factor.
The invention includes a head arm ramp of the disk drive which allows the position of the head to be accurately controlled and allows the head arm to be efficiently, smoothly and dynamically loaded onto the spinning disk as well as allows the head to be removed from the spinning disk.
The invention includes a disk drive cover which is easy and convenient to assemble to the drive base.
The invention further includes the cartridge having one or more projections extended therefrom for operating with the disk drive in order to register the cartridge with respect to the disk drive and to position the disk contained in the cartridge so that the disk can be properly accessed by the read/write heads of the drive.
The invention includes a cartridge design which protects the projections on the cartridge which are used to interface the cartridge with the disk drive. In keeping with the space reduction criteria of the design, these projections perform additional functions such as (1) ensuring that the cartridge is correctly inserted into the drive, and (2) operating the multifunction handle of the drive.
As part of the innovative cartridge registration design, the screw nut of the cartridge is accurately and repeatedly positioned both axially and radially with respect to a receiver in the disk drive to accurately position the cartridge in the drive.
Additionally, the cartridge includes a device for preventing the disk from rattling when the cartridge is removed from the disk drive.
A further invention of the cartridge includes the cartridge door and the door opening mechanism.
In addition to the reasons for having a disk drive with a reduced form factor as specified above, is the fact that with a 1.8 inch form factor cartridge, a single project can be assigned to a single cartridge and thus multiple projects can conveniently be stored and transported on multiple cartridges. This allows greater flexibility for use of such drivers with notebook computers.
Other important inventions, features and objects of the disk drive and removable cartridge are described herein and in the claims and figures. It is to be understood that the invention is multifaceted and that there is no requ
Guerini Albert J.
Iftikar Syed H.
Kay Teong-Hoe
Thompson Herbert E.
Lyon & Lyon LLP
Miller Brian E.
SyQuest Technology, Inc.
LandOfFree
Rattle reduction mechanism in a removable cartridge for a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Rattle reduction mechanism in a removable cartridge for a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rattle reduction mechanism in a removable cartridge for a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2576839