Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-15
2002-06-04
Cao, Allen (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
active
06400669
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium ejecting apparatus, and more particularly to a recording medium ejecting apparatus by which a tray usually inserted inwardly and ejected outwardly from a drive is sufficiently ejected by means of electric power to a position where a disk can be inserted or removed in a tray-loading type optical disk drive typically used in a notebook computer.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
A conventional tray-loading type optical disk drive
20
using a disk as a recording medium includes, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a lower chassis
1
and an upper chassis
2
which are joined together to form an outer casing, and a disk is driven between the lower chassis
1
and the upper chassis
2
.
The conventional optical disk drive is constructed such that a tray
6
is slidably installed at an upper portion of the lower chassis
1
so as to be movable inwardly and outwardly to and from the drive
20
.
A turntable
7
upon which a disk D may be mounted is installed in the tray
6
. A damper
8
for preventing the disk K from dismounting during rotation after being inserted on the turntable
7
is installed at an upper surface of the turntable
7
.
At one side of the turntable
7
, there is provided an optical pick-up
9
for recording and reproducing signals onto and from the disk D, and a lead screw (not shown) being rotated by a sled motor (not shown) is installed to move the optical pick-up
9
in a radial direction of the disk D.
For convenience's sake, regarding explanations on the formation of the lower chassis
1
and the upper chassis
2
, and other elements combined thereto, hereinafter the direction in which the tray
6
is ejected from the drive
20
is referred to as the forward direction, while its opposite direction is referred to as the backward direction.
A driving plate
10
operable by the lead screw is installed at a lower surface of the front side of the tray
6
.
An eject lever
11
is installed to be operable according to the operation of the driving plate
10
.
In explanations hereinafter, of the both sides of the lower chassis
1
and the tray
6
, the opposite side to the side where the eject level
11
is positioned is referred to as the one side, while the side where the eject level
11
is positioned is referred to as the other side.
The eject lever
11
is rotatably installed centering around a hinge shaft
11
h
connected to a lower surface of the tray
6
, and a protrusion
11
s
is provided at a rear side of the hinge shaft
11
h
. The protrusion
11
s
is engaged in an engaging portion
5
formed in the lower chassis
1
to thereby control the rotation of the eject lever
11
.
A spring
14
is installed at a predetermined portion of a lower surface of the tray
6
so that the tray
6
may have an elasticity in the forward direction when the tray
6
is completely inserted into the drive
20
.
An elastic support guide
13
is installed at an upper surface of the tray positioned outwardly of the spring
14
, so that the elastic support guide
13
is elastically and selectively supported by the spring
14
as being combined thereto. The guide
13
is selectively contacted with an elastic support plate
4
installed at an upper surface of the upper chassis
2
.
That is, when the tray
6
is positioned inside the drive
20
, as the elastic support guide
13
is contacted with the elastic support plate
4
and is moved backwardly, the spring
14
is put in a tensioned state.
Meanwhile, as shown in
FIG. 4
, sliding legs
6
s
and
6
s
′ for guiding the tray
6
when it moves forward and backward to and from the drive
20
are formed along the entire length of both side edges of the tray
6
.
The sliding legs
6
s
and
6
s
′ are respectively inserted into guide rails
3
and
3
′ that are installed along the entire length of both sides of the tray, and guide the movement of the tray
6
as they move along the guide rails
3
and
3
′.
Support rails
3
s
and
3
s
′ for supporting the sliding legs
6
s
and
6
s
′ are installed between the guide rails
3
and
3
′ and the sliding legs
6
s
and
6
s
′ so that the tray
6
can be extracted outwardly of the guide rails
3
and
3
′.
The operation of the tray
6
for loading and unloading the disk D in the conventional disk drive constructed as described above will now be explained, largely focussing on the ejection of the tray
6
from the drive
20
.
When an eject button
12
combined with the other side of the front side of the tray
6
is pressed by a user, the optical pick-up moves to one side of the outer periphery of the disk D.
At the instant when the movement of the optical pick-up
9
toward the outer periphery of the disk D occurs, an overstroke occurs at the lead screw which moves the optical pick-up
9
, and the driving plate
10
is moved forwardly by the overstroke.
According to such movement of the driving plate
10
, the eject lever
11
is rotated counterclockwise centering around the hinge shaft
11
h
, and then the engaging portion
11
s
is released from the engagement with the protrusion
5
.
With such operation, when the tray is released from the lower chassis
1
, as shown in
FIG. 3
, it is a bit (as long as a distance movement produced by the elasticity of the spring
14
) protruded forwardly from the drive
20
due to the elasticity of the spring
14
. At this time, since the tray
6
is not sufficiently ejected outwardly to the position where the recording medium can be inserted or removed, the tray needs to be manually taken out from the drive
20
by the user to the position shown in
FIG. 4
where the disk D can be inserted to or removed from the turntable
7
.
Then, after the disk D is inserted to or removed from the turntable
7
, the tray
6
needs to be manually pushed back into the drive
20
by the user.
By pushing the tray
6
into the drive
20
completely, the engaging portion
11
s
of the eject lever
11
is again engaged with the protrusion
5
, and then the tray
6
is fixed inside the lower chassis
1
.
Of course, as the tray
6
moves inwardly of the drive
20
, the elastic support guide
13
is moved backwardly by the elastic support piece
4
, rendering the spring
14
to be in a tensioned state.
Accordingly, when the spring
14
is in the tensioned state, the tray
6
is urged to be moved outward from the drive
20
by the spring
14
, nevertheless, the tray
6
won't move outwardly because the engaging portion
11
S is engaged with the protrusion
5
.
Reference numeral
39
denotes an insertion detection protrusion.
However, the conventional optical disk drive as described above is disadvantageous in that most operations of the tray for loading and unloading of the disk are manually done, causing users's inconveniences.
In detail, when the eject button is pressed, since the tray is not sufficiently ejected for the user to insert the disk onto the turntable or to remove the inserted disk therefrom, the user must use his or her hands directly to pull out the tray.
In addition, after the disk is inserted or removed, the user must again use his or her hands to push the tray into the drive for complete insertion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium ejecting apparatus by which a loading tray can be automatically moved for loading and unloading of a disk with respect to a thin and small optical disk drive.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a recording medium ejecting apparatus including a drive main body, a tray for carrying a recording medium and being movable outwardly and inwardly of the drive main body, and a driving unit for movement of the tray, and also for movement of the tray even in a state that the tray is completely ejected from the drive main body.
There is also provided a recording medium ejecting a
Cao Allen
LG Electronics Inc.
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