Disc emergent ejecting mechanism for optical disc drive

Abstract

A disc emergent ejecting mechanism for an optical disc drive is disclosed that includes a drive motor; a first gear set in meshing engagement with the drive motor; an advancing and retracting member; a second gear set in meshing engagement with the advancing and retracting member; and a clutch assembly including a clutch gear engaged with the first and the second gear sets for transmitting torque from the drive motor to the advancing and retracting member. During a disc emergent ejecting operation, the clutch gear is moved to disengage with the second gear set.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a conventional optical disc drive;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a disc emergent ejecting mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of part of the disc emergent ejecting mechanism in FIG. 2 where the clutch assembly is engaged with both the first and second gear sets; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part of the disc emergent ejecting mechanism in FIG. 2 where the clutch assembly is disengaged with the second gear set in response to the optical drive being inoperative.

Claims

1. A disc emergent ejecting mechanism disposed in an optical disc drive including a disc carrying in/out mechanism for disc loading and unloading, the disc emergent ejecting mechanism comprises: a drive motor;a first gear set in meshing engagement with the drive motor;an advancing and retracting member for actuating the disc carrying in/out mechanism;a second gear set in meshing engagement with the advancing and retracting member; anda clutch assembly including a clutch gear; the clutch gear is in a first position where the clutch gear is engaged with both the first and the second gear sets for transmitting torque from the drive motor to the advancing and retracting member;wherein during an disc emergent ejecting operation, the clutch gear is moved from the first position to a second position where the clutch gear is disengaged with the second gear set.

2. The disc emergent ejecting mechanism of claim 1, wherein the clutch assembly further comprises: a slide member including a guiding groove and is movable in a moving direction; anda link connected to the guiding groove and is movable along the guiding groove;wherein the clutch gear is disposed on the link, and when the slide member is pushed to move in the disc emergent ejecting operation, the link is driven to move along the guiding groove, and in turn to move the clutch gear from the first position to the second position.

3. The disc emergent ejecting mechanism of claim 2, wherein the guiding groove is disposed at an angle relative to the moving direction of the slide member.

4. The disc emergent ejecting mechanism of claim 2, wherein the slide member further comprises a pin provided in a groove disposed in the optical disc drive such that manually pushing the slide member will slide the pin along the groove.

5. The disc emergent ejecting mechanism of claim 4, wherein the slide member further comprises a resilient member disposed within the groove and provides a compressing force on the pin of the slide member.

6. The disc emergent ejecting mechanism of claim 1, wherein each of the first and the second gear sets comprises one or more gears.