Structure of optical disc cartridge

Details Structure of optical disc cartridge Structure of optical disc cartridge

1999-09-24

2004-08-31

Chen, Tianjie (Department: 2652)

Dynamic optical information storage or retrieval

Optical storage medium structure

Disk protection

Reexamination Certificate

active

06785900

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc cartridge receiving an optical disc, and in particular to a structure of a disc cartridge from which a disc can be smoothly taken out and which prevents the disc from being damaged, by setting the height of a rib which is positioned at an inner surface of the disc cartridge where a disc holder guiding insertion and removal of the disc is disposed, and which is contacted with a non-recording region of the disc.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, optical discs are divided into reproducible(that is, read-only) discs such as a CD-ROM and a DVD-ROM, and writable discs such as a write once read many WORM type, a rewritable type and a RAM type, in accordance with the number of time the disc can be written to.
As the writable disc is of high density, its information recording side may be easily contaminated with dust or fingerprints, or scratched.
Accordingly, the writable disc is generally received in a cartridge in order not to be contaminated or damaged.
A conventional disc cartridge will now be described with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
FIG. 1
is a plan view illustrating a general disc cartridge, and
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II′ in FIG.
1
.
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, in the general disc cartridge at upper and lower inner surfaces of a casing
12
receiving a disc
11
, ribs
13
are formed facing each other.
The ribs
13
contact with a non-writable clamping region at an inner circumferential portion of the disc
11
, and keep the writable portion of the disc
11
separated from the inner surface of the casing
12
by a predetermined spacing, thereby preventing the recording side of the disc
11
from being damaged due to contact with the inner surface of the casing
12
.
Pursuant to the standard for the digital video disc (DVD), the height of the ribs
13
in the disc cartridge
10
is not set. However, the height of the ribs
13
is defined when a thickness T between an outer surface of the casing
12
and an inner surface thereof and a height H between the outer surface of the casing
12
and the rib
13
is set.
Here, the thickness T has a maximum value of 2.2 mm, and the height H has a maximum value of 2.5 mm. Accordingly, the manufacturing companies can freely set the height of the rib
13
so long as the conditions of T and H are satisfied.
It is possible to remove the ribs
13
where the disc
11
is mounted in a drive. However, as described above, the recording side of the disc
11
may be damaged due to contact with the inner surface of the casing
12
, and thus the ribs
13
having a predetermined height need to be formed in the casing
12
.
On the other hand, there has been suggested a disc cartridge from which the disc can be taken out when the user so desires. In general, when the disc is taken out, the recording side of the disc may be damaged due to carelessness of the user, or contaminated with fingerprints. Accordingly, there is provided a disc cartridge including a disc holder for opening/closing a disc receiving groove in the casing.
For example, a disc cartridge disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 98-28766 applied for registration by the applicant concerned and also filed in US as application Ser. No. 09-347388 on Jul. 6, 1999 will now be explained with reference to FIG.
3
.
FIG. 3
is an exploded plan view illustrating a disc cartridge having a tension-arm disc holder.
As shown therein, a disc holder
30
is provided with tension arms
31
,
31
′ formed in a single body (hereinafter, referred to as ‘tension arm-disc holder’).
In case the disc
11
is received in a casing
20
or taken out from the casing
20
, although the user does not directly touch the disc
11
, the tension arm disc holder
30
holds the disc
11
by an elastic force of the tension arms
31
,
31
′.
When the disc
11
is guided into the disc cartridge, the tension arms
31
,
31
′ of the tension arm disc holder
30
contact with guide ribs
21
,
21
′ formed at a rear portion of the casing
20
, whereby the tension arms
31
,
31
′ are spread apart and thereby the disc
11
is released from the tension arms
31
,
31
′.
The tension arm disc holder
30
holds an outer circumferential surface of the disc
11
by the elastic force, thus minimizing contamination by fingerprints or the likes.
However, in the earlier proposed disc cartridge employing a tension arm disc holder, the height of the rib protruded in the disc cartridge is not specifically regulated, and thus the disc
11
and the tension arms
31
,
31
′ may interfere with each other in the disc cartridge where the tension arm disc holder
30
is disposed.
An interference between the disc
11
and the tension arms
31
,
31
′ will now be explained with reference to FIG.
4
.
FIG. 4
is a cross-sectional view illustrating a disc cartridge provided with the tension arm disc holder
30
for showing the interference between the disc
11
and the tension arms
31
,
31
′. The tension arm
31
,
31
′ are contacted with the guide ribs
21
,
21
′, thereby being separated from the disc
11
.
Normally, the disc
11
is positioned in order for its outer circumferential surface to face a receiving groove
40
formed between flanges
32
,
32
′ of the tension arms
31
,
31
′. In case the outer circumferential surface of the disc
11
is downwardly deflected due to the weight of the disc
11
, the disc
11
may interfere with the lower flange
32
of the flanges
32
,
32
′ guiding the disc
11
into the receiving groove
40
.
In this case, the tension arm-disc holder
30
cannot be taken out due to interference between the casing
20
, the disc
11
and the tension arms
31
,
31
′. Even if the tension arm-disc holder
30
is externally taken out, the disc recording side may be scratched or contaminated due to the interference between the is flanges
32
,
32
′ and the disc
11
.
In addition, in a recording or reproducing mode, the disc
11
cannot be normally rotated due to the interference between the disc
11
and the flanges
32
,
32
′, and thus it is impossible to perform a recording/reproducing operation. Moreover, the disc may be seriously damaged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge in which the height of support a rib is set to keep a disc at a proper position to prevent any interference between the disc when received in a casing and flanges of a tension arm-disc holder.
In order to achieve the above-described object of the present invention, there is provided a structure of a disc cartridge including a casing receiving a disc; and a disc holder disposed separably at a disc receiving slot of the casing, having tension arms elastically holding the disc, and guiding the disc into the casing or taking out the disc from the casing, wherein a height of a protruding member contacted with a non-recording region of the disc is set to have a predetermined height from an inner surface of the casing and is being equal to or greater than a sum of a deflection of the disc by gravity, a deflection of the tension arms, and an air gap which must be maintained between outer edges of the disc and the flanges of the tension arms.


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