Recording medium cartridge and signal recording apparatus

Details Recording medium cartridge and signal recording apparatus Recording medium cartridge and signal recording apparatus

2000-04-24

2002-04-16

Ometz, David (Department: 2652)

Dynamic information storage or retrieval

Storage medium structure

Adjuncts or adapters

C360S133000

Reissue Patent

active

RE037659

ABSTRACT:

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The present invention relates to a disk-shaped, recording medium housed in a cartridge, and a signal recording apparatus using such a cartridge.
Today's computers and other information equipment commonly use optical disks to meet their large memory capacity requirements. A conventional optical disk cartridge is explained below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 12
depicts a cartridge
31
housing a recording medium
32
, and having an opening window
33
through which a signal can be recorded onto the medium
32
when the cartridge
31
is mounted on a signal recording apparatus. The shutter
34
closes the opening window
33
. Mounting the cartridge
31
to the signal recording apparatus automatically moves the shutter
34
and exposes the opening window
33
.
Since the conventional cartridge
31
, housing the disk
32
, must record a desired signal accurately, the disk
32
must be protected from contaminants, such as dust or fingerprints, and from other defects, such as scratches. Such a fixed-disk structure, therefore, cannot allow a user to remove the disk
32
from its cartridge and mount it to another signal regenerating apparatus. Even if the disk
32
was removable, however, the user would not be able to identify whether the disk
32
was present in the cartridge
31
, nor recognize whether the disk
31
was contaminated with dust or fingerprints, or damaged by defects.
If such contamination or defects go unrecognized, the signal recording apparatus, when accessing a defective location on the disk, will record the signal in error. A signal recording apparatus can be equipped with a defect detection feature which would allow it to skip defective locations on the disk, however, such a feature reduces recording apparatus performance, and prohibits the apparatus from recording signals at high speed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to allow a user to recognize whether the disk housed in a cartridge has been taken out of the cartridge, and the signal recording apparatus housing the cartridge can record a signal without accessing a defective place, caused when the disk was removed from the cartridge, on the disk.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The disk cartridge of the present invention is directed to a disk cartridge that allows the user to access the disk housed in the cartridge.
In one embodiment of the disk cartridge according to the present invention, a cartridge is structured such that a recording apparatus can record a signal onto a medium when the cartridge is mounted on the recording apparatus. The cartridge houses a recording medium, and includes an opening through which the medium can be removed from the cartridge. An indicator on the cartridge informs the user as to whether the recording medium may have been removed from the cartridge.
In a second embodiment of the disk cartridge of the present invention, the cartridge houses a recording medium, and comprises at least one window or opening for recording a signal onto the medium when the cartridge is mounted on the signal recording apparatus. The cartridge includes an opening through which the medium can be removed from the cartridge, a shutter which covers the opening and an indicator which informs the user as to whether the medium may have been removed from the cartridge.
The present invention further provides a signal recording apparatus that detects whether a recording medium has been removed from its cartridge. The signal recording apparatus includes a detector which monitors the indicator on the disk cartridge, and determines whether the medium has been removed from its cartridge. If the detector determines that the medium may have been removed from its cartridge, the signal recording apparatus will not record a signal onto the medium.


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