JPS6233383A - Cartridge of optical disk - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a cartridge containing an optical disc, and particularly to an optical disc cartridge that allows an optical disc device to be made thinner.

[Background of the invention]

Conventionally, in a cartridge that stores an optical disk and drives the optical disk to rotate within the cartridge, the space formed by the upper and lower cases has a structure in which the optical disk is held in a predetermined position. It is necessary to provide a certain clearance (approximately 2 plates) above and below to prevent the optical disc from coming into contact with the inner walls of the upper and lower cases.As this space is required, the cartridge shape, especially the height dimension, becomes large, and the cartridge does not fit in the optical disc device. The operating distance for inserting the cartridge and coding the cartridge in a predetermined position also becomes long, which poses a major problem when trying to reduce the thickness of an optical disk device into a magnetic disk device board. Additionally, since the space inside the cartridge is larger than the thickness of the optical disc, the optical disc can move freely within the cartridge, which may cause scratches on the surface of the optical disc. The cartridge structure becomes complicated,
Problems such as increased cost may also be considered. Therefore, in order to make the optical disc device thinner, there is a need for a cartridge that houses the optical disc to be thinner, as well as a cartridge with a simple structure.

In addition, as an optical disc cartridge,
-162581, JP-A-55-1222tI, etc. are shown.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a thinner cartridge for storing an optical disk and a cartridge with a simple structure in order to solve the nine problems of the prior art described above and to reduce the thickness of an optical disk device.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides a thin cartridge that enables thinning of an optical disc device.In the cartridge alone state, the height dimension of the space in which the optical disc is stored, which is composed of an upper case and a lower case, is the thickness dimension of the optical disc. When the upper case and lower case are brought into close contact with each other by a leaf spring or magnet, etc. that engages the upper case and the lower case, an optical disc can be inserted into the space formed by the upper case and the lower case. are held in close contact with each other, and the height of the cartridge is equal to the thickness of the upper and lower cases and the thickness of the optical disk (approximately 4.2 mm), allowing for an extremely thin structure. Since the optical disc is in close contact with the upper and lower cases, the optical disc is restrained within the cartridge, and there is no need for a mechanism to securely hold the optical disc, resulting in a simple cartridge configuration. Note that the method in which the optical disc in the cartridge is rotated with a predetermined clearance with respect to the upper and lower cases by inserting the cartridge in an optical disc device and performing a loading operation is a method in which the cartridge is inserted and the upper case is fixed. By moving the clamper part that engages and holds the optical disc with the disc drive part in the optical disc equipment downward, the lower case is moved together with the optical disc against the attractive force of the leaf spring or magnet, and the upper case is moved downward. The device is characterized in that a predetermined clearance is maintained by separating the lower case from a close contact state.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cartridge showing an embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a top perspective view and Φ) is a bottom perspective view. 8
Figures 1 and 2 are exploded perspective views of the cartridge shown in Figure 1;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge in FIG. 1 taken along the line AA, where (a) shows the cartridge as a single unit, and (b) shows the cartridge installed in an optical disc device. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge taken along line BB in FIG. 1, where (a) shows the cartridge as a single unit, and (b) shows the cartridge installed in an optical disk. Figure 5 is a block diagram of the leaf spring, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing how the upper and lower cases are held together by the leaf spring. (a) shows the cartridge as a single unit, and (b) shows the cartridge installed in an optical disc device. show. FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram when the cartridge of the present invention is not inserted or mounted in an optical disc device, in which (a) shows the inserted state and (b) shows the mounted state.

In these figures, 1 is a cartridge, 1 is an upper case, 2 is a lower case, 5 is a guide groove, 4 is a guide pin, 5 is a leaf spring, 6 is a fixing part of the leaf spring 5, 7 is a magnetic material, 8. 9 is a concave cutout, 10 is an optical disc, and 11 is an optical disc 10
12 is a hole, 13 is a hole into which the guide pin 4 is inserted, 15 is an optical head insertion part, 16 is a magnet, 17 is a hole provided in the leaf spring 5, 18 is a screw, 20.21 is a 22 is a hole, 23 is a holding part, 25 is an optical disc storage part, 30 is a disc motor, 51 is a spindle, 32 is a turntable, 34 is an optical head, and 35 is a guide shaft.

36 is a clamper, 37 is a loading holder, 68 is a bending portion, and 40Fi optical disc device.

Next, the configuration of the five-blade cartridge will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cartridge case basically consists of an upper case 1 and a lower case 2, in which an optical disc 10 is housed. Here, the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are held together by a leaf spring 5, one of which is held by the fixed part 6 of the upper case 1.
This is achieved by the elastic force of the magnetic material 7 provided on the upper case 1 and the magnetic holding force of the magnet 16 provided on the lower case 2. In addition, upper case 1 and lower case 2
Positioning is performed by inserting a guide pin 4 provided in the upper case 1 into a hole 13 provided in the lower case 2. In addition, as described later, the optical disk family [40
In order to reduce the loading stroke, a four-part notch 8 is provided in one part of the upper case 1 and the lower case 2.
9 is provided.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the structure of the cartridge will be explained in more detail.

The upper case 1 has a hole 12 approximately in the center thereof into which a clamper 36 in the optical disc device 40 can be inserted, and a recessed cutout 8 along the insertion direction. Further, a hole portion 20 and a guide pin 4 for fixing and holding the magnetic material 7 are provided. A fixing portion 6 for fixing the leaf spring 5 in a predetermined position with a screw 18 or the like is also provided.

The lower case 2 has a hole 15 into which the guide bin 4 provided in the upper case 1 is inserted. A hole portion 21 for fixing and holding the magnet 16. There is a hole 22 into which the fixing part 6 of the upper case 1 is inserted.
2 is provided with a presser portion 23 for engaging with an end portion of the leaf spring 5. Further, an optical disk storage section 2 for holding an optical disk 10 having a center hole 11 is provided approximately in the center.
5, an optical head insertion portion 15 is provided on the lower surface so that the optical head 34 in the optical disk device 40 can be inserted therein, and a recessed cutout 9 is provided along the insertion direction.

Here, the vertical dimension (digging depth) of the optical disc storage section 25 is approximately the same as the thickness dimension of the optical disc 10,
Upper case 1 and lower case 2 are in close contact and the next state (single state)
In this case, the optical disc 10 is in contact with the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 and is in a restrained state, and if the cartridge hu is alone, the optical disc 10 cannot move (shake vh) within the car) IJ edge υ. There is no problem such as damage to the optical disc 10.

As mentioned above, the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are held together by the leaf spring 5 fixed to the fixed part 6 of the upper case 1.
The magnetic material 7 provided in the upper case 1 and the magnetic material 16 provided in the lower case 2 are connected to each other by the elastic force of the leaf spring 5 by connecting the end of the This is done by holding power. It should be noted that there is no problem whether both are held together by the leaf spring 5 or by the magnetic holding force between the magnetic material 7 and the magnet 16.Next, using FIG. 6 and FIG. The configuration in the loading state will be explained.

Figure 3 shows the car h'J Tsujiri A-A[ shown in Figure 1.
! In the ifr view, (a) is a single body! , (b) show the loading state of the optical disc device.

That is, in the stand-alone state of (a), the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are in close contact with each other, and the optical disc 10 is in a restrained state in which the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are in contact with each other.

In this case, the thickness of the cartridge can be made very thin, with the upper case 1 and lower case 2 each having a thickness of 1.5 m, and the optical disc 10 having a thickness of 1.2 mm, which is a total of 4.2 mm. However, in the simple state shown in (a),
Even if the optical disc 10 is inserted and mounted in the optical disc device [40], it is impossible to rotate the optical disc 10. Therefore (b)
As shown in the loading state shown in FIG. It enables rotational driving and records or reproduces information signals on the optical disc 10.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge U shown in FIG. 1 taken along line B-B, where (a) shows the unit state and (b) shows the loaded state installed in the optical disk device. In other words, the unit state of (a) In this case, the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are in the Sho iMt state. In order to achieve this close contact, one side is caused by the elastic force of the leaf spring 5, and the other is by the magnetic force between the magnetic material 7 and the magnet 16. It is done with target-holding power.

That is, the end of the leaf spring 5 fixed to the fixing part 6 of the upper case 1 with the screw 18 etc. is coupled to the holding part 26 provided in the hole 22 of the lower case 2, and the elastic force of the leaf spring 5 acts upward. As a result, the lower case 2 is brought into close contact with the upper case 1 via the holding portion 25. Mana, magnetic coupling is
The upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are brought into close contact by the magnetic holding force (attractive force) between the magnetic material 7 fixedly held in the hole 20 of the upper case 1 and the magnet 16 fixedly held in the hole 21 of the lower case 2. It is something that makes you Therefore, in the loading state shown in FIG.
And the magnetic material 7 and the magnet 16 are separated against the magnetic coercive force. Naturally, when the loading mechanism is released, the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are brought into close contact again due to the elastic force of the leaf spring 5 and the magnetic holding force between the magnetic material 7 and the magnet 16. 1 is a configuration diagram of the leaf spring 5, in which a fixing hole 17 is provided and one end is bent at a predetermined angle.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing the state in which the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are held together by the leaf spring 5, in which (a) shows the stand-alone state, and (b) shows the a-ding state when it is attached to an optical disc device. It is.

That is, in the stand-alone state shown in (a), the end of the leaf spring 5 fixed to the fixing part 6 of the upper case 1 with the screw 18 etc. is connected to the presser part 23 provided in the hole 22 of the lower case 2. In this state, the bent portion of the leaf spring 5 shown in FIG. 5 is the holding portion 23t.
Since the state I is in the zero-displaced state, the upward elastic force is strong enough to bring the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 into close contact with each other.

In addition, in the loading state shown in (L,), upper case 1
and the lower case 2 are separated by a loading mechanism against the elastic force of the leaf spring 5. As mentioned above, in case the loading mechanism is released, please release the leaf spring 5.
From the loading state shown in (b) due to the elastic force of
This is the state shown in (a) in which the single body is in close contact with the state shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram when the car storage device of the present invention is inserted into and mounted on the optical disk drive 40, with (a) showing the inserted state and (b) showing the mounted state.

That is, in the insertion state shown in (1), the cartridge is inserted 50% from the front part 41 of the optical disc device, and the bent part 68 of the loading holder 57 holding the clamper 56 is inserted.
Then, the cartridge υ is inserted in the direction guided by the guide groove 3 provided in the lower case 2.

Here, from the upper surface of the upper case 1 of the cartridge 4, the convex portion 5 of the 9th clamper 36 is held by the loading holder 37.
6A is located below, but the convex portion 56A of the clamper 36 does not come into contact with the concave cutout 8 provided in the upper case 1. Similarly, the convex portion 32A (the portion that engages with the center hole 11 of the optical disk 10 to center the optical disk 10) of the turntable 32 fixed to the spindle 31 of the disk motor 30 is located above the bottom surface of the lower case 2. However, the concave cutout 9 provided in the lower case 2 prevents them from coming into contact with each other.

Therefore, in order to detect that the insertion operation as shown in (a) has been reliably carried out, by moving the loading holder 37 downward (by using a micro switch, etc.), (b)
). In other words, in the loading state shown in (b), when the loading holder 37 holding the clamper 36 moves downward, the cartridge 50 is also moved downward by the bent portion 38 of the loading holder 37 through the guide groove 3 of the lower case 2. to operate. By moving a predetermined distance, the upper case 11 is in a fixed state (using the kite bin 4 provided in the upper case 1, it comes into contact with a shaft etc. provided on the reference surface in the optical disc device 40, and only the upper case 1 is moved downward. The lower case 2 is moved downward by further moving the rope 1' ring holder 57 downward. At this time, optical disc 1
0 is held on the turntable 32 and is located between the center hole 11 of the optical disc 10 and the convex portion 32 of the turntable 32.
By engaging with A, the center position of the optical disc 10 can be determined. Further, due to the downward movement of the loading holder 57, the clamper 66 held by the loading holder 37 also moves downward, and the convex portion 36A of the clamper 36
The optical disk 10 is positioned by engaging with the hole 32B in the convex portion 52 of the turntable 52, and the optical disk 10 is reliably held by the turntable 52 and the clamper 56 by the magnetic holding force of a conventionally used magnet. It is something that can be done. As mentioned above, in the loading state, the optical disc 10 is held with a predetermined clearance between the inner wall surfaces of the upper case 1 and the lower case 2, which are located in the vertical direction of the optical disc 10, so that it can be loaded onto the turntable 32 without any problem. The held optical disc 10 can be rotationally driven via a disc motor 30 and a spindle 31. Further, an optical head 34 held on a guide shaft 35 records or reproduces a predetermined information signal on the optical disc 10 being rotated. It is possible to do so.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the optical disc cartridge of the present invention, the optical disc is stored and held in the internal space composed of the upper case and the lower case, and the height dimension of the space for storing the optical disc is By setting the thickness to be approximately the same as the thickness of the cartridge, when the cartridge is in its own state, the upper case and lower case can be connected to each other by the elastic force of the leaf spring that engages the upper case and the lower case, or by the magnetic holding force of the magnetic material and the magnet. By making the lower case in close contact with the cartridge, the thickness of the cartridge can be made extremely thin, and since the optical disc is brought into contact with the upper and lower cases and held in a restrained state, there is no movement of the optical disc. It is also possible to prevent scratches and the like. In addition, by inserting and loading the cartridge into the optical disk device, the cartridge is mounted in a predetermined position, which resists the magnetic holding force between the leaf spring or the magnetic material and the magnet that engages the upper and lower cases. By separating the upper case and the lower case and maintaining a predetermined clearance between the inner wall surfaces of the upper case and the lower case with respect to the upper and lower surfaces of the optical disc, it is possible to rotate the optical disc.

In other words, in the case of a single cartridge, the upper case, optical disc, °, and lower case are in close contact with each other to make the cartridge thinner, which reduces the operating range of the loading mechanism in the optical disc device, which makes it possible to make the cartridge thinner. In this state, the upper case and lower case are separated to enable the specified operation, and a compact, large-capacity optical disk device can be provided, and furthermore, optical disks can be handled by simply inserting a cartridge. Thus, it is possible to provide an optical disc cartridge with excellent operability and reliability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cartridge showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view thereof, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA of the cartridge shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a view of the cartridge shown in FIG. Figure 5 is a configuration diagram of the leaf spring, Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge shown in Figure 6.
The figure shows the configuration of the upper and lower cases engaged by the plate springs, and FIG. 7 shows the configuration when the cartridge is inserted and mounted in the optical disc device. 1... Upper case 2... Lower case 5... Leaf spring 6... Fixed part 7... Magnetic material
8.9...Concave cutout 10...Optical disc
11... Center hole 16... Magnet 22.
... Hole 25 ... Holding part 25 ... Optical disk storage section 50 ... Disc motor 32 ... Turntable 34 ... Optical head 56 ... Clamper 37 ... Loading holder

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) In a cartridge in which an optical disc is housed in an internal space constituted by an upper case and a lower case, the inner space in which the optical disc is housed is constituted by either or both of the upper case and the lower case. In addition to having a height dimension comparable to the thickness dimension of the optical disk, the upper case and the lower case are provided with a coupling member that engages them in a separable manner, and is composed of the upper case and the lower case. When the cartridge is in a single state, the upper case and the lower case are brought into close contact with each other by the coupling member, the optical disc is also brought into contact with the upper case and the lower case, and the cartridge is placed in a restrained state, and the cartridge is inserted into the optical disc device. When the cartridge is installed in a predetermined position, the upper case and the lower case of the cartridge are separated against the coupling force of the coupling member, and the optical disc stored in the upper case and the lower case is separated. 1. An optical disc cartridge, characterized in that a predetermined clearance is maintained between a lower surface and inner wall surfaces of the upper case and the lower case. 2) In the optical disc cartridge according to claim 1, an elastic member fixed to either the upper case or the lower case serves as a coupling member that separably engages the upper case and the lower case. By displacing and engaging the elastic body and the unfixed end of the elastic body with a presser provided on one of the upper case or the lower case to which the elastic body is not fixed, An optical disc cartridge characterized by being configured to be connected by elastic force caused by displacement of an elastic body. 3) In the optical disc cartridge according to claim 1, a magnetic member fixed to either the upper case or the lower case serves as a coupling member that separably engages the upper case and the lower case. A magnet is fixed to the material and one of the upper case or the lower case to which the magnetic material is not fixed, and the magnetic material and the magnet are coupled by magnetic coercive force. optical disc cartridge.