1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive equipped with a tray, and more particularly, to a disk drive in which a disk placed out of position on the tray can be automatically positioned at a predetermined position.
2. Related Art
In a disk drive equipped with a tray, the tray is mounted so as to travel reciprocally between a disk removal position and a disk reproduction position, such that, when setting a disk on the tray, as shown in
However, accidents do occur in which, as indicated by the imaginary line shown in
In order to eliminate the risk of damaging the recording surface of an optical disk by contact with the disk tray, a disk device according to JP-A-2003-303462 forms a continuous downward sloping inclined surface from the outer edge to the inner edge of a disk loading area. Therefore, a disk set on the disk loading area contacts the disk tray only at the edge of the disk, and thus there is no possibility that the disk recording surface will be damaged. However, the inclined surface of the loading area does not function to position a disk set awkwardly on the support surface of the tray.
In addition, in order to set the disk properly automatically regardless of its direction of displacement, in a disk loading device according to JP-A-2004-273065 “a disk placement recessed portion provided on the top surface of the tray, approximately half the distal rim of which is made higher than approximately half the proximal rim thereof, with substantially flat planar pawls provided on the distal rim and the proximal rim so as to slant downward toward the center of the recessed portion.”
Accordingly, by providing flat planar pawls that slant toward the center of the recessed portion on the rims of the recessed portion of the tray, the disk is seated automatically in the recessed portion even if the disk is not placed properly on the tray. However, the slanted pawls provided on the periphery of the recessed portion impede the removal of the disk from the tray when the latter is transported to the disk removal position.
Accordingly, the present invention is intended to solve the above-described problems of the conventional disk drive, and has as its object to provide a disk drive that uses an extremely simple tray form to automatically set even a disk placed off-center on the tray in the recessed portion of the tray and which also does not hinder removal of the disk.
To achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a disk drive equipped with a retractable disk transport tray, in which a disk is set on the tray outside the drive and the tray is retracted so as to transport the disk into the interior of the drive, with the disk drive including a recessed portion formed in the tray for accommodating the disk, the recessed portion having a pair of substantially semicircular outer rims disposed opposite each other, the semicircular outer rims of the recessed portion having a support surface that the bottom surface of the disk contacts near the outer edge of the disk and an inner surface that the outer edge of the disk contacts so at to position the disk, the support surface formed at a location above the bottom surface of the recessed portion, an inclined surface continuous with the bottom surface of the recessed portion formed at both ends of the support surface. With such a structure, even a disk that is not set properly in the recessed portion of the tray by its own weight slides over the step-less bottom surface to settle automatically atop the support surface.
Preferably, the inclined surface formed at both ends of the support surface are formed so as to be lower than the bottom surface of the disk, in a state in which one edge of the disk is placed atop the tray and the other edge contacts the bottom surface of the recessed portion. With such a structure, the problem of the bottom edge of a disk that is not set properly in the recessed portion of the tray contacting the level difference surface of the outer rim of the recessed portion can be reliably avoided and an obstacle to the sliding of the disk removed.
Preferably, an opening is formed in one of the substantially semicircular outer rims of the recessed portion of the tray that cuts through the semicircular outer rim and penetrates longitudinally through the tray, in order to make the drive lightweight. In addition, preferably, a plurality of the support surfaces is formed at the same height from the bottom surface of the recessed portion, such that a disk placed on the tray is supported substantially parallel to the bottom surface of the recessed portion.
By forming inclined surfaces that are continuous with the bottom surface of the recessed portion at both ends of the support surface of the tray, the disk drive of the present invention enables a disk that is not set in the recessed portion properly to be automatically set in the recessed portion. In other words, the edge of the disk slides along the inclined surface and the disk is set easily in the recessed portion. That is, as the disk slides, the disk does not contact the level difference surface formed between the support surface and the bottom surface of the recessed portion. Therefore, a disk set in the recessed portion and transported by the tray to the disk reproduction position is placed on the turntable by the rising of the traverse unit without damage to the disk.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.
A detailed description will now be given of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, with reference to the diagrams.
As shown in
Although the support surface 16 of the recessed portion 12, as described above, is formed at a location higher than that of the bottom surface 18 through the level difference surface 17, as is dear from
With the foregoing structure, a disk D set in the recessed portion 12 of the tray 10, for example, a disk not placed properly but offset form the center as shown in
In addition, even if the disk D is placed off center on the tray 10 and does not of its own weight automatically slide along the inclined surface 16a of the support surface 16, either the vibration of the tray 10 as it begins retraction into the interior of the drive or the entrance of the tray 10 contacting the protruding portion of the disk D causes the disk D to slide and be set in the recessed portion 12 and properly positioned.
Thus, as described above, by eliminating the level difference surface 17 from both ends of the support surface 16 of the tray 10, a disk D that is off center and not placed in the proper position can slide smoothly into the recessed portion 12, enabling the width of the tray 10 to be made substantially the same as the diameter of the disk and thereby allowing the disk drive to be made more lightweight and more compact.
As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-16745 | Jan 2005 | JP | national |