The present invention relates to a disk device that drives an optical disk to read/write data, and more particularly to a disk device with a lifting mechanism to move up and down a lift frame that supports a turntable to hold and rotate the disk.
Computer systems and other information devices store data to optical disks (such as CDs and DVDs) which have a decent memory capacity. The optical disk (hereinafter, disk) is loaded in a disk device for data reading and writing. Generally, the disk devices are classified into tray type and slot-in type.
The tray type devices are equipped with a disk tray that moves between a loading position where it rests in a chassis and an eject position where it projects from the chassis (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publications No. 11-185338, No. 2005-135508 and No. 2002-237119 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,266). When a disk is set in the disk tray at the eject position and an operate button, for example, is pressed, a loading motor starts working to pull the disk tray into the loading position. Then, a slider moves and lifts a lift frame, which supports a turntable unit and a pick-up unit, composing a traverse unit as a whole. During uplift of the lift frame, the disk is attached to a clamp head of the turntable unit. The lift frame is further lifted to a read/write position, and the turntable starts rotating the disk. The pick-up unit reads or writes data to the rotating disk. When the operation button is pressed again, the slider moves in the opposite direction from when the disk is loaded to bring down the lift frame to a lower-most position, and the disk tray is pushed out to the eject position.
The slot-in type devices have a bezel with a slot on a front surface of a chassis (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-228353 corresponding to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0230412 A1). A disk to be loaded is inserted to the slot of the bezel. When the disk rim touches a disk loading mechanism, a loading motor starts to activate the disk loading mechanism, and the disk is pulled into the chassis. Then, the slider moves and lifts the lift frame. The lift frame moves from a lower-most position to an upper-most position and attaches the disk to a chucking head of the turntable unit. The lift frame is then slightly brought down to a read/write position, and the turntable unit starts rotating the disk to enable reading or writing data. When an eject button is pressed, the slider moves in the opposite direction from when the disk is loaded to bring down the lift frame to a lower-most position, and the disk loading mechanism carries the disk out of the chassis.
In either type, the slider and the lift frame are connected to each other through a cam groove of the slider and a lifting pin of the lift frame that fits into the cam groove. When the disk is loaded, the slider moves to lift the lift frame from the lower-most position to the read/write position. To facilitate sliding of the slider, a small gap is created between the slider and a slide surface (for example, a bottom plate of the chassis). This gap, however, makes the slider somewhat bumpy during the slide motion, and causes unstable movement of the slider.
A small gap is also created between lifting pin and the cam groove, so that the lifting pin can slide smoothly in the cam groove. However, if the disk device is subject to vibration or impact while the disk is being rotated by the turntable unit on the lift frame at the read/write position, the lift frame vibrates up and down in the gap, possibly resulting in read/write error of the data.
In view of the foregoing, a main object of the present invention is to provide a disk device capable of stabilizing movement of a slider.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disk device capable of preventing a lift frame from vibrating up and down during data read/write operations.
In order to achieve the above and other objects, a disk device according to the present invention includes a pressing member provided on a slider and a spring to press the pressing member to a face of slide. The slider has a cam groove and slides on the face of slide. This cam groove fits onto a lifting pin of a lift frame supporting a turntable. The slide movement of the slider leads to lift the lift frame from a lower-most position so as to attach a disk to a turntable, and then put the lift frame in a read/write position.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the face of slide is a bottom plate of a device chassis. Additionally, a cam wall of the cam groove in the area where the lift frame is put in the read/write position is constituted of a resilient pin pushing portion, which is biased by the spring to press the lifting pin to an opposite cam wall of the cam groove. The spring is located between the pin pushing portion and the pressing member.
It is preferred to attach the pressing member rotatably to the slider. In this case, the pressing member has a plate-like shape with a shaft hole, which rotatably fits onto a shaft formed on the slider.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pressing member is a projection having an L-shaped cross section and is integrated with the slider.
In still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pressing member moves up and down with respect to the slider. This pressing member includes a columnar portion and a retaining flange on the columnar portion, and the columnar portion projects from an opening on a bottom of the slider.
According to the present invention, the pressing member on the slider is always pressed to a slide surface by a biasing force of the spring, and the movement of the slider is therefore stabilized.
Additionally, the pin pushing portion presses the lifting pin onto the cam groove surface, and the gap between the lifting pin and the cam groove is therefore closed when the lift frame is at the read/write position. This prevents the lift frame from vibrating even if the disk device gets vibration or impact at the read/write position. It is further possible to hold the lift frame at a certain height in the read/write position.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
The chassis 2 also includes a top plate 6. Formed in the center of the top plate 6 is an opening 6a in which a tip of a chucking head 16 (see
In
The lift frame 11 is supported on the bezel 3 side and swung up and down on the opposite tip side so as to carry the disk DI in and out of the chassis 2. To reduce impact during this lifting motion, the lift frame 11 is attached at multiple points to the base panel 10 by a shock-absorbing support structure 12. As shown in
Referring back to
Also to the lift frame 11, a pick-up unit 18 is attached. The pick-up unit 18 includes a carriage 19 on the bezel 3 side in the opening 11a and an optical pickup 20 on the carriage 19. To read and write data, the carriage 19 moves in a radial direction of the disk DI along the opening 11a.
Attached also to the lift frame 11 is a disk guide piece 21 that guides a bottom surface of the disk DI. The disk guide piece 21 extends, along a carry-in (loading) direction of the disk DI, to the side of the turntable 15. The disk guide piece 21 gradually slopes upward toward the tip, so that the disk DI can climb this slope to avoid hitting the chucking head 16 during the loading operation.
As shown in
As shown in
Note that
In
On the bottom surface of the lift frame 11, a loading motor 38 is disposed. Rotation of the loading motor 38 is transmitted through a gear train 39 to a disk loading mechanism 40, and the disk DI is thus carried in and out. The disk loading mechanism 40 is mainly composed of a loading slider 41, the disk supporting arm 24 and the drawing arm 25.
The loading slider 41 has a rack gear 42 on one end to engage with a driven gear of the gear train 39, and moves forward and backward along a side wall of the chassis 2 in response to the rotation of the loading motor 38. The disk DI is carried in to the chassis 2 as the loading slider 41 moves forward (away from the bezel 3), and carried out of the chassis 2 as the loading slider 41 moves backward.
The loading slider 41 also has cam grooves 43, 44. The cam groove 43 is overlapped by the guide slit 28, and they fit onto the cam pin 27a of the link lever 27 (see,
The link lever 45 also has a cam pin 45b, which fits into a long hole 52a of a follower slider 52. The follower slider 52 is moved in horizontal directions of the drawings by a guide hole 52b at one end and a pin 54 that fits into the guide hole 52b. The follower slider 52 is guided on the rear surface by a guide plate 53 fixed to the base panel 10.
The link lever 46 is connected through a pin 56 to a link arm 57, which is connected through a pin 58 to a base piece 24b. The base piece 24b is integrated with the disk supporting arm 24 on the top surface of the base panel 10, and rotates on the pivot 23. Nearby the base piece 24b is disposed a switch 59 that turns on when the disk supporting arm 24 is rotated by a predetermined amount by the inserted disk DI. Receiving a signal from the switch 59, a control circuit (not shown) activates the loading motor 38 to start the disk loading mechanism 40 that automatically carries the disk DI in.
The link arm 57 includes a first arm 57a, a second arm 57b slidably connected to the first arm 57a, and a spring 57c to keep the link arm 57 in the shortest length. This expandable link arm 57 allows rotating the disk supporting arm 24 without moving the link lever 46 while the disk DI is pushed into the chassis 2 by the user, in other words, until the disk loading mechanism 40 starts the auto-loading operation.
As shown in
The cam groove 44 includes horizontal groove portions 44a, 44e, a vertical groove portion 44b and a slant portion 44c. Before the disk load, the cam pin 46a of the link lever 46 is in the horizontal groove portion 44a, while the cam pin 45a of the link lever 45 is in the vertical groove portion 44d.
The loading slider 41 further has a cam groove 63 on the lateral side facing the lift frame 11, and the lifting pin 29b of the lift frame 11 fits into this cam groove 63. The cam groove 63 includes a lower portion 63a to put the lift frame 11 in the lower-most position, a slant portion 63b to move the lift frame 11 up or down, and a higher portion 63c to put the lift frame 11 in the read/write position.
As shown in
To achieve smooth up/down movement of the lift frame 11, the cam groove 65 is made slightly wider than the lifting pin 29a. The resultant gap between the cam groove 65 and the lifting pin 29a, however, causes displacement of the lift frame 11 or jerk of the lift frame 11 when the disk device 1 is get vibrated or impacted. Therefore, to close the gap at the higher portion 65c, a pin pushing portion 66 of plate-like shape is formed in the cam groove 65. As shown in
Underneath the pin pushing portion 66 is formed a cutout 67. In the cutout 67, a pin 69 is formed to rotatably support a pressing member 68. The pressing member 68 includes a shaft hole 68a to fit onto the pin 69, a pressing portion 68b slightly projecting downward, and a boss 68c. The pressing portion 68b resides in the front end of the pressing member 68 and slides on the bottom plate 2a.
A coil spring 70 is disposed between the pin pushing portion 66 and the pressing member 68, and is fitted at each end to a boss 66a on a bottom surface of the pin pushing portion 66 and the boss 68c of the pressing member 68 respectively, such that it does not come off from between the bosses 66a, 68c. The coil spring 70 pushes upward the pin pushing portion 66 so as to press the lifting pin 29a to the cam groove top wall 65c2.
Also, the coil spring 70 pushes downward the pressing member 68 so as to press the pressing portion 68b to the bottom plate 2a. This effect stabilizes the follower slider 52 when sliding on the bottom plate 2a. Note that there are projections 72a, 72b on a top surface of the follower slider 52 to reduce area of contact to the base panel 10.
As shown in
Hereinafter, with reference to
As shown in
When the disk DI is further pushed and the holder 24a of the disk supporting arm 24 passes through the lift frame 11, the base piece 24b turns on the switch 59. Receiving a signal from the switch 59, the loading motor 38 rotates to start the disk loading mechanism 40 that automatically carries the disk DI in.
Rotation of the loading motor 38 is transmitted through the gear train 39 to the loading slider 41, which moves in the forward direction (away from the bezel 3) accordingly. As the loading slider 41 moves forward, the cam groove 43 pushes the cam pin 27a of the link lever 27 along the guide slit 28. The link lever 27 is therefore moved to rotate the drawing arm 25 on the pivot 26 in the clockwise direction of
The loading slider 41 also turns the link lever 46 in the clockwise direction of
As shown in
The cam pin 45a of the link lever 45, on the other hand, is in the horizontal groove portion 44e, and the cam pin 45b and the long hole 52a cause the follower slider 52 to rotate in the left direction of
As described above, when the disk DI comes at the chucking position, the lifting pins 29a, 29b of the lift frame 11 reach the cam groove 65 of the follower slider 52 and the cam groove 63 of the loading slider 41 respectively. Then, the follower slider 52 starts sliding in conjunction with the loading slider 41 while the disk supporting arm 24 and the drawing arm 25 are suspended. This causes the lifting pins 29a, 29b to move along the slant portions 65b, 63b respectively, as shown in
As shown in
When the loading slider 41 and the follower slider 52 move after the chucking, the lifting pin 29a moves from the highest portion to the leveled higher portion 65c via the slant portion 65b, and the lifting pin 29a also moves from the highest portion to the leveled higher portion 63c via the slant portion 63b. Therefore, as shown in
While the lift frame 11 is moving from the upper-most position to the read/write position, the cam pin 27a is pushed by the cam groove 43 to move along the horizontal groove portion 28a of the guide slit 28. This rotates the drawing arm 25 on the pivot 26 in the counter-clock direction of
As shown in
In addition, as shown in
When the lift frame 11 reaches the read/write position, the loading motor 38 stops, and the spindle motor 14 starts rotating with the disk DI at high speed. In this state, the thread motor 34 rotates to move the carriage 19 along the guide shafts 32, 33. While moving in the radius direction of the disk DI, the optical pickup 20 on the carriage 19 reads or writes data.
To stop the data read/write operation, the push button 4 is operated. When the push button 4 is pressed, the spindle motor 14 stops and the thread motor 34 rotates in the reverse direction to put the carriage 19 back in an initial position. Then, the loading motor 38 starts rotating in the reverse direction to activate the disk loading mechanism 40, which now acts inversely to the carry-in operation of the disk DI.
Firstly, the loading slider 41 moves backward toward the bezel 3, and the follower slider 52 slides in the right direction of
While the lift frame 11 is descending, the disk guide piece 21 makes contact with the chuck release pin 22. When the lift frame 11 further descends, the disk guide piece 21 receives the bottom of the disk DI to prevent descending. The chucking head 16 keeps descending with the lift frame 11, and the chucking jaws 16a are pushed inward to release the chucking head 16 from the disk DI. As the lift frame 11 further descends, the bent portion 21a of the disk guide piece 21 is pushed down by the bent edge portion 11c of the lift frame 11, and as shown in
When the lift frame 11 reaches the lower-most position, the follower slider 52 stops but the loading slider 41 keeps moving backward. The loading slider 41 turns the disk supporting arm 24 and the drawing arm 25 which hold and deliver the disk DI to the eject position shown in
Another embodiment is shown in
Still another embodiment is shown in
While in the above embodiments the pressing member is pressed to the bottom plate 2a, it is possible to turn the slider up side down and force the pressing member onto the bottom surface of the base panel 10.
In addition, the pin pushing portion may be formed in the loading slider. Further, the present invention is applicable to the tray type disk devices as well.
Although the present invention has been fully described by the way of the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, various changes and modifications will be apparent to those having skill in this field. Therefore, unless otherwise these changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as included therein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2007-191384 | Jul 2007 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
6704266 | Yanagiguchi | Mar 2004 | B2 |
7966628 | Omori et al. | Jun 2011 | B2 |
20060230412 | Fujisawa et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
11-185338 | Jul 1999 | JP |
2002-237119 | Aug 2002 | JP |
2005-135508 | May 2005 | JP |
2006-228353 | Aug 2006 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090031332 A1 | Jan 2009 | US |