METHOD FOR DISCRIMINATING DISCS

Abstract

A method for discriminating a disc includes the steps of: detecting that the disc is inserted into an optical drive; starting a roller motor to load the disc; counting the number of operating sensors; counting time of a disk loading procedure; judging whether all of the sensors operate to determine the disc is a primary disc; judging whether the number of the operating sensors decreases to determine the disc is a secondary disc; determining whether a disc loading time exceeds a default time by comparison; and ejecting the disc. If the number of operating sensors is kept the same as the original one and the time of the loading procedure does not exceed a default value, the method goes back to the judging steps to discriminate the disc repeatedly. If the disc loading time exceeds the default time, the disc is ejected.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a schematic top view showing that a small disc is loaded in a conventional slot-in disk drive.

FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is a schematic top view showing that a large disc is loaded in the conventional slot-in disk drive.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration showing an optical drive using a disc discriminating method of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the disc discriminating method according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for discriminating a disc in an optical drive having a plurality of sensors, the method comprising the steps of: (1) detecting that the disc is inserted into the optical drive;(2) loading the disc;(3) counting the number of operating sensors when the inserted disc is detected;(4) counting time when the inserted disc is detected;(5) judging whether all of the operating sensors operate, wherein the disc is judged as a primary disc if all operating sensors operate;(6) judging whether the number of the operating sensors decreases, wherein the disc is judged as a secondary disc if the number of the operating sensors decreases;(7) determining whether a disc loading time exceeds a default time by comparison, and repeating step (5), (6) and (7) until the disc loading time exceeds the default time; and(8) ejecting the disc.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the disc is detected to be inserted into the optical drive when any one of the sensors operates in step (1).

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the optical drive further comprises a roller, which is rotated to load the disc in step (2).

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein step (8) comprises reversing the roller to eject the disc.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein step (4) comprises a time counting step for recording a time of loading the disc.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein step (5) comprises judging whether all of the sensors operate according to the counted number of operating sensors in step (3).

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein step (6) comprise judging whether the number of operating sensors decreases according to the counted number of operating sensors in step (3).

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the disc is judged as the secondary disc in step (6), the method enters step (8) to eject the disc.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the primary disc is a 12 cm disc and the secondary disc is an 8 cm disc.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step (7), the disc loading time is the time counted in step (4).

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the default time is the time when the primary disc is loaded to enable all of the sensors to operate.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the default time equals 0.3 seconds.