JPH10247370A - Caddy for optical disk - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a caddy for an optical disk enhancing the operability or life by considering the protection of the disk surface and the interchangeabilty with a conventional recording/reproducing device. SOLUTION: The caddy is provided with a case (main body of caddy) 1 for housing optical disk, a fixed cover part 1d arranged so as to cover a part of one surface of the optical disk, and a turning cover part 2 turnably mounted on the case so as to cover the remained parts of one surface of the optical disk. Also, a clamper 3 for clamping the optical disk is provided on the turning cover part 2. For instance, the range covered by the caddy turning cover 2 is made to nearly 2/3 of this side of the upper surface of the caddy main body 1. The upper cover 2 is openable in the state leaving nearly 1/3 of the caddy main body 1 in the optical disk device, and further, the disk is attachable/ detachable along guide groove 1a which are furnished on both side surfaces of the inner side of this side of the caddy main body 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a caddy for loading a disk into an optical disk device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are two types of optical disk loading methods, a tray type and a caddy type.

In the tray type, the disk can be easily taken in and out, but the disk is merely placed on the tray, so that the optical disk apparatus cannot be used in a vertically installed state.

On the other hand, in the caddy type, the disk is once mounted in the caddy and then inserted into the optical disk device together with the caddy. When a plurality of caddies are prepared, the disk can be protected from scratches and dust. It is easy, and the optical disk device can be used either horizontally or vertically.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of a caddy used in such a conventional caddy type disk loading system. In this caddy, the disk 12 is mounted by opening the upper lid 9 and mounting the disk 12 from above the caddy. Since the ratio of the size of the portion D5 with the upper lid 9 to the portion D6 without the upper lid 9 is about 8: 1, it is difficult to exchange the D6 portion while keeping it inserted into the optical disk device. That is, when replacing the optical disk, it is necessary to take out the entire caddy from the optical disk device to the outside. Further, when the disc 12 is taken out, a pick-up space into which a fingertip can be inserted in order to lift the disc 12 is a space 8 around the disc.
a, and since the space 8a is narrow, it is difficult to grasp the disk 12.

Therefore, in the caddy system, when it is desired to frequently exchange a number of disks with one caddy,
Compared to the tray type, there is a need to insert a disk via a caddy, and the number of operation procedures increases, which causes a problem in operability.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the drawback that the optical disk device cannot be set vertically in the tray type,
JP-A-6-251479, JP-A-8-45153,
As described in JP-A-8-45154, JP-A-8-45155, and JP-A-8-45157, when providing a hook or the like for fixing a disc on a tray, or mounting a disc, There is a method in which both the tray and the turntable are taken out and the disk is fixed directly to the turntable.

However, these methods have disadvantages in that the disk cannot be easily attached to and detached from the tray or the turntable, and that the disk surface is exposed during the operation so that the disk is easily damaged.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-7429 discloses a disk which can be operated as if it were a tray, without removing a disk loading adapter (corresponding to a caddy) itself from the disk drive device when replacing the disk. A loading adapter is disclosed.
In particular, the disc loading adapter (130) as shown in FIG. 13 ejects the disc loading adapter containing the disc (44) from the disc drive device (26) when exchanging the optical disc,
A mechanism is provided by opening the rotatable case portion (132) to replace the disc, closing the case portion, and then pushing the disc loading adapter into the opening to mount it on the disc drive device.

However, in the disk loading adapter described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-7429, when a disk is replaced, the entire disk is ejected to the outside of the disk drive device because the disk is placed from above and below. There is a need. That is, it is necessary to discharge the disk loading adapter outside at least the diameter of the disk. Therefore, as the disc loading adapter 130 protrudes outward, the weight of the disc loading adapter and the disc increases the force applied to the opening and the case at the device opening point for inserting the disc loading adapter, and the There is a disadvantage that the life is shortened. In addition, there is a disadvantage that it is necessary to secure a space in front of the disk drive device for the disk loading adapter to be ejected. Thus, the disc loading adapter described in the publication is
Although compatibility with conventional recording / reproducing devices is taken into consideration, operability and machine life may be sacrificed.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-221935 discloses a disk cartridge in which a part of a case for storing an optical disk is used as a pivotable door and an opening for inserting and removing a disk is provided. The disc cartridge described in this publication does not pursue tray-type operability, and it is understood that disc replacement is performed with the disc cartridge taken out of the apparatus. The door is as small as about 1/4 of the upper surface of the case. Therefore, in this disk cartridge, it is difficult to replace the optical disk without human hands touching the recording information surface of the optical disk, and there is a possibility that the recording information surface of the optical disk becomes dirty and reading of the recording information becomes difficult. There is.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a caddy for an optical disk in which the optical disk is pulled out to the front and replaced.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a caddy for an optical disk that has improved operability and life while taking into consideration disk surface protection and compatibility with a conventional recording and reproducing apparatus.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A caddy for an optical disk according to the present invention is a caddy for loading a disk in an optical disk device, comprising a case for storing an optical disk and a part of one surface of the optical disk stored in the case. A fixed lid portion provided on the case so as to cover the optical disk, and a rotary lid portion rotatably attached to the case so as to cover the remaining portion of one surface of the optical disc, wherein the rotary lid A clamper for an optical disk clamp is provided in the section.

With this configuration, when the optical disk caddy is ejected from the optical disk device, only the rotating lid portion is ejected while the fixed lid portion is left inside the optical disk device, and the optical disk is opened by opening the rotating lid portion. Can be exchanged. Since the fixed lid is provided on the case so as to cover a part of one surface of the optical disk, the rotating lid has a size corresponding to the remaining part of one surface of the optical disk. In order to make the rotating lid part openable, it is sufficient that only a part of the caddy corresponding to the rotating lid part protrudes from the optical disk device to the outside. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the mechanical force applied to the opening and the optical disk caddy caused by excessively projecting the optical disk out of the apparatus as in the related art. At the same time, by providing the clamp for the optical disc clamp on the pivot lid, it is ensured that the pivot lid has a certain size or more (for example, half or more of the case). Therefore, the size of the rotating lid does not become excessively small, and the operation of replacing the disk does not become inconvenient.

In the optical disk caddy, guide portions for accommodating the optical disk in the case while guiding the optical disk may be provided on both side surfaces of the case. Thus, the optical disk can be guided to an accurate position by, for example, a guide groove serving as a guide portion, and the center hole of the optical disk can be aligned with the center of the clamper, thereby enabling accurate positioning. In addition, since the optical disc is guided so as not to contact the case when the optical disc is placed, the information reading surface is not damaged.

In the optical disk caddy, the size of the rotating lid corresponds to, for example, about ／ of the upper surface of the caddy on the disk insertion side. As a result,
The balance between the effect of reducing the mechanical force applied to the opening and the optical disk caddy caused by projecting the optical disk to the outside of the device and the operability of optical disk exchange can be appropriately balanced.

In the optical disk caddy, preferably, the rotating lid has a front side surface at a front edge thereof bent at a substantially right angle from a main plane of the rotating lid. An opening is provided at a position corresponding to the front side surface. This makes it possible to mount and remove the optical disk while sliding it, and to protect the optical disk by closing the front side portion of the caddy when the rotating lid is closed.

Further, in the caddy for an optical disk, a taper may be provided from the central portion to both side portions. According to this configuration, when the optical disk is mistakenly placed on the near side, the outer peripheral portion of the optical disk and the taper provided on the front side surface of the rotating lid only come into contact with each other, so that unnecessary force is applied to the optical disk. It is possible to avoid adding or damaging the optical disk.

In the above-mentioned optical disk caddy, an opening may be provided in the bottom surface of the case, the opening being opened from the substantially center of the case toward the front. In this case, it becomes easy for the user to mount and take out the optical disk with the finger inserted into the center opening of the optical disk. That is,
When operating the optical disc, a finger protruding from the center opening of the optical disc is prevented from coming into contact with the case, so that the optical disc can be loaded and unloaded using the center opening of the optical disc, and operability is improved. improves.

As described above, in general, according to the present invention, when replacing an optical disk by pulling the optical disk toward the user, operability and life can be improved while taking into consideration the protection of the disk surface and the compatibility with the conventional optical disk device.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of an optical disk caddy 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the configuration of the caddy 20, the caddy 20 includes the caddy main body 1 and the rotating lid 2. The caddy body 1 constitutes a case for accommodating the optical disk 5 (see FIG. 2), which comprises a bottom surface 1c, side surfaces 1e, 1f, 1g standing up to these three sides, and a fixed lid 1d. The rotating lid 2 covers a part and the opening of the front side surface.

Side portions 1e, 1f on both sides of the caddy body 1.
The guide groove 1a for guiding the side of the disk 5 when the disk 5 is mounted on the caddy body 1 is symmetrically arranged.

The bottom 1c of the caddy main body 1 is provided with an opening lb (hatched portion) for inserting a turntable and an optical pickup of the optical disk device 6 (see FIG. 2). , Can be opened and closed by a shutter 4 slidable in the direction of arrow 21.

The rotating lid 2 is provided on the upper surface of the caddy body 1 so as to be freely rotatable. That is, the rotating lid 2 is rotatably supported by the caddy main body 1 by the two hinges 2b on both sides. The size of the rotating lid 2 is a size that covers a range of about 2/3 of the diameter of the disk 5 mounted at a fixed position of the caddy 20 on the near side. In the present embodiment, the size of the caddy main body 1 is just large enough to accommodate the disk 5, and thus the size of the rotating lid 2 is large enough to cover a range of about ／ of the front side of the caddy 20. It can be said that there is. The rotating lid 2 supports the disk clamper 3 on its main surface in a rotatable and vertically movable state.

The rotating lid portion 2 further has a front side surface portion 2c at its front edge, which is bent substantially at a right angle from the main surface.
The free end of the front side portion 2c extending in the longitudinal direction has a taper formed from the center to both sides. In other words, the front side surface portion 2c has a slight recess 2a inclined from both sides toward the center. This can be more clearly understood from the front view of FIG. With such a configuration, even if the front edge of the rotating lid 2 comes into contact with the disk 5 at the time of disk replacement or the like, the contact point is limited to the peripheral edge of the disk. No damage to the surface.

The mounting of the disk 5 on the caddy 20 is performed by opening the rotating lid 2 and sliding the disk 5 from the near side of the caddy 20 between the guide grooves 1a. At other times, the disk surface can be protected by closing the rotating lid 2. Therefore, the disk 5 can be stored in this state.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a method of exchanging the disk 5 while a part of the caddy 20 of FIG. 1 is inserted into the main body of the optical disk apparatus 6, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a method of inserting a “0” into the optical disc device 6;

In FIG. 2, the caddy main body 1 is divided into a portion D1 having the rotating lid portion 2 and a portion D2 not having the rotating lid portion 2.
The ratio of 2 is about 2: 1. That is, D2 is caddy 2
It corresponds to about 1/3 of the depth of 0. When the disk 5 is replaced, only the D1 portion is protruded to the outside while the D2 portion is left inside the optical disk device 6, as shown in the figure.
In this state, the disk 5
Can be mounted along the guide groove 1a from the near side of the caddy body l.

According to this configuration, the caddy 20 does not fall off the caddy main body 1 because the D2 portion is almost one third of the whole. For the same reason, in this protruding state, the force applied to the opening and the case at the opening of the optical disk device 6 is not large, and the problem of shortening the life of the opening and the case is solved. In addition, since there is no need to discharge the entire caddy 20 to the outside when replacing a disk, the operation space on the front of the apparatus can be reduced.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the rotating lid 2 is closed and the disk 5 is about to be inserted into the caddy 20. That is, the caddy 20 can be inserted into the optical disk device 6 by pushing the front edge of the closed rotating lid 2 in the direction of arrow 31 in the figure.

As described above, the structure of the caddy as shown in FIG. 1 protects the disk surface and does not detract from the characteristics of the conventional caddy in which the mounting direction of the optical disk device 6 is free. Further, when the rotating lid 2 is opened, there is no obstacle on the front side of the caddy main body 1. Therefore, when the disk is taken out, the disk is guided on the caddy main body 1 with the rotating lid 2 opened. The disk can be removed simply by sliding it forward along the groove 1a, which facilitates disk replacement.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an optical disk caddy 40 according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining a disk replacement method when the caddy 40 of FIG. 4 is used.

The structure of the caddy 40 shown in FIG. 4 is provided with an opening which is opened from the approximate center of the bottom surface 1c of the caddy body 7 toward the front. Specifically, the caddy body 7 corresponding to the caddy body 1 of the caddy 20 in FIG. 1, removing the hatched portion 7 b of the disc insertion opening of the bottom portion 1c, in which removing the shutter 4. Hatched portion 7 b is formed in a substantially chevron shape in the illustrated embodiment, the opening 1b by the removal of this portion will be opened to extend to the disc insertion slot of the leading edge of the caddy body 7. Other configurations are the same as those of the caddy 20 in FIG.

By making the caddy of this embodiment have a structure as shown in FIG. 4, as shown in FIG. 5, the disk 5 is inserted into the guide groove 7a while the finger is inserted in the center hole (center opening hole) of the disk 5. (Corresponding to 1a in FIG. 1) to be mounted or taken out. Therefore, the attachment and detachment of the disk is extremely easy as compared with a case where there is not enough space for mounting the disk in the caddy with the finger inserted in the center hole of the disk as in the embodiment of FIG.
The caddy according to the present embodiment is not suitable for the purpose of storing the disk in the caddy 40 since the disk surface is exposed at the portions 7b and 1b in the caddy bottom portion 1c, but the disk is frequently used with one caddy. Suitable for replacement applications. That is, the embodiment of FIG. 4 can be used in an operation closer to the tray type.

[0037]

According to the present invention, a fixed lid portion provided on a case so as to cover a part of one surface of an optical disk, and a rotatably attached to the case so as to cover the remaining portion of one surface of the optical disk. And a rotating lid, and a clamp for an optical disk clamp provided on the rotating lid, so that the operability and the life can be enhanced by considering the disk surface protection and compatibility with the conventional recording / reproducing apparatus. . In addition, since it is sufficient that only a part of the caddy corresponding to the rotating lid protrudes from the optical disk device to the outside, it is added to the opening or the optical disk caddy caused by excessively protruding the optical disk to the outside of the device as in the related art. Mechanical force can be reduced.

Further, since the conventional caddy has the same outer dimensions and the conventional caddy type optical disk apparatus and caddy can be used as they are, the frequently used disks are stored in the conventional caddy and stored. Discs which are infrequent but frequently exchanged can be selectively used, such as using the caddy of the present invention.

The front side portion of the rotating lid portion is tapered from the center portion to both side portions, so that even if the rotating lid portion comes into contact with the disk while the disk is being attached or detached, it comes into contact with the disk. This is because only the outer edge portion of the disk has no adverse effect on the recording portion of the disk.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an optical disk caddy according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining a method of exchanging a disk while a part of the caddy of FIG. 1 is inserted into an optical disk apparatus main body.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining a method of inserting the caddy of FIG. 1 into the optical disc device following the operation of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an optical disk caddy according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining a disk replacement method when the caddy of FIG. 4 is used.

FIG. 6 is a front view for explaining a front shape of the rotating lid shown in FIGS. 1 and 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional optical disk caddy.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Caddy main body, 1a ... Guide groove, 1b ... Opening, 1c ... Bottom part, 1d ... Fixed lid part, 1e, 1f, 1g
... side surface part, 1d ... fixed lid part, 2 ... rotating lid part, 2a
... recess, 2b ... hinge, 2c ... front side part, 3 ...
... Disc clamper, 4 ... Shutter, 5 ... Disc, 6 ... Optical disc drive, 6a ... Caddy insertion slot, 7
... Caddy body, 7a guide groove, 7b opening, 8 caddy body, 8a disk removal space, 9 top cover, 10 clamper, 11 shutter, 12 disk , 20 ... caddy, 21,22 ...
... Arrow, 40 ... Caddy.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A caddy for loading a disk in an optical disk device, comprising: a case for storing an optical disk; and a fixed lid provided on the case so as to cover a part of one surface of the optical disk stored in the case. And a rotating lid part rotatably attached to the case so as to cover the remaining part of one surface of the disk, wherein an optical disk clamping clamper is provided on the rotating lid part. Optical disk caddy. 2. A caddy for an optical disk according to claim 1, wherein guide portions for accommodating the optical disk in the case while guiding the optical disk are provided on both side surfaces of the case. 3. The caddy for an optical disk according to claim 1, wherein the size of said rotating lid portion is equivalent to about ／ of the upper surface of the caddy on the disk insertion side. 4. A caddy for an optical disk according to claim 1, wherein said pivoting lid has a front side surface portion, which is bent at a right angle from a main plane of said pivoting lid, at a front edge thereof. Wherein the case has an opening at a position corresponding to the front side portion. 5. The caddy for an optical disk according to claim 4, wherein said front side surface portion has a taper from a center portion to both side surface portions. 6. The caddy for an optical disk according to claim 1, wherein an opening is provided in a bottom surface of said case and is opened from a substantially center of said case toward the front. .