1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slot-in disc drive, particularly to a slot-in disc drive, which has a disc ejection module to adjust the disc ejecting distance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the technology of electronic and mechanical industries continue to develop and progress, the quality of computer peripherals such as hard drives, disc drives, scanners, printers and so on are becoming better. As far as the storage medium of the disc drive is concerned, the standard disc has evolved from the 700 MB storage capacity of traditional CD (compact disc) or VCD's to the latest 4.7 GB storage capacity of the DVD, a digital versatile disc. As these types of discs are capable of storing data in very long term, they have become the mainstream of the market for storing data. Whereas, no matter the capacity varies, a popular and standard size of the disc is still classified into two sizes of 12 cm and 8 cm in diameter.
The disc drive for reading the discs can be classified into a tray-loading disc drive and a slot-in disc drive. The tray-loading disc drive comprises a tray for supporting a disc and loading/ejecting the disc into/out of the disc drive. In comparing with the tray-loading disc drive, an ejecting module is built in the slot-in disc drive for loading/ejecting the disc from a slot formed on front side of the slot-in disc drive.
However, a problem is found in the slot-in disc drive while a small-size disc such as an 8 cm disc is loaded or unloaded. The ejecting module of the slot-in disc drive is usually by means of an ejecting lever, however, the final position of the ejecting lever is usually fixed no matter the disc size is an 8 cm disc or a 12 cm disc. Thus, the 8 cm disc may be not ejected fully.
Please refer to
In conventional slot- in disc drive, the final ejecting position of the ejecting lever 3 is fixed no matter what size the disc has. Hence, as shown in
Furthermore, if the final ejecting position of the ejecting lever is designed to be suitable for an 8 cm disc, the ejecting distance d1 of a 12 cm disc may too long, therefore, causing the 12 cm disc dropped out from the slot-in disc drive.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to overcome foregoing problems.
A slot-in disc drive is provided to comprise an ejecting lever rotated about a rotating axis; a first sensor and a second sensor, disposed on the rotating path of the ejecting lever; and a firmware, built in the disc drive for selecting a first setting or a second setting according to the size of a loaded disc, wherein the first and the second settings are respectively related to the first and the second sensors, and the firmware controls the ejecting lever to stop rotating based on the selected setting.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
A slot-in disc drive according to the present invention includes sensor or limit switch and/or an end point and a firmware to control the ejecting position of the ejecting lever so that the big size (12 cm) disc or small (8 cm) disc will be ejected and stopped at a predetermined ejecting distances.
When a disc is loading into a slot-in disc drive, as the rotating inertia momentum of the disc will vary with the size of the disc, the rotating inertia momentum of the disc is used as a factor to judge the size of the disc. Usually, the larger disc with a larger rotating inertia momentum. The other way to judge the size of the disc is using the read head to detect the disc size directly. After confirming the disc size, a firmware built in the slot-in disc drive decides the ejecting position of the ejecting lever according to the disc size when ejecting the disc.
Referring to
With respect to the ejection of the 8 cm disc, please refer to
During the ejection of the 8 cm disc 5, the ejecting lever 3 first touches the first sensor 1, and the firmware also receives the signal from the first sensor. However, the second setting is selected by the firmware to control the ejecting lever 3 to stop rotating based on the second sensor 2 according to the judgment that the disc size is an 8 cm disc, the firmware will ignore the signal from the first sensor 1. Therefore, after touching the first sensor 1, the ejecting lever 3 will continue to push the 8 cm disc 5, till the ejecting lever 3 touches the second sensor 2.
Accordingly, with the first sensor 1, the second sensor 2 and the firmware provided in the present application, the ejecting lever 3 will selectively be stopped at different ejecting position and eject the disc with different suitable ejecting distance according to the size of the disc.
Alternatively, the second sensor can be replaced by an ending point 6. As shown in
According to the present invention, the ejecting position of the ejecting lever can be changed by the settings of the firmware according to different ejecting conditions.
As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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200910129681.0 | Mar 2009 | CN | national |
The present application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/726,561 filed on Mar. 18, 2010, which claims the benefit from the priority of China Application Serial Number 200910129681.0, filed on Mar. 26, 2009, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12726561 | Mar 2010 | US |
Child | 13251398 | US |