HK1018115A - Cartridge loading apparatus with improved cartridge receiver - Google Patents

Description

Disc cartridge loading apparatus having improved cartridge case

This application is a divisional application of an invention patent application having an application date of 25/8 in 1995 and an application number of 95116642.5 entitled "disc cartridge loading apparatus and method".

The present invention relates generally to data storage devices of the type which include a housing having an opening for receiving a removable disk cartridge in which the information recording medium is contained and thereby protected. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disc cartridge loading apparatus which is capable of loading a removable disc cartridge onto a magnetic attraction spindle interface for rotation relative to a read-write head and unloading the disc cartridge therefrom. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disc cartridge loading apparatus having an improved disc cartridge container.

With the widespread use of data processing systems and personal computers, there is an increasing demand for large capacity data storage. Optical data storage systems are becoming increasingly popular because they meet this wide demand. These optical data storage systems are relatively low cost, large capacity and fast access.

In optical disc systems, encoded video signals, audio signals or other information signals are recorded on an optical disc in the form of information tracks on one or both sides of the optical disc. At the center of the optical storage system there is at least one laser light source (or other light source). In a first mode of operation, the laser generates a high intensity laser beam focused to a small spot on the information track of the rotating optical storage disc. The high intensity laser beam raises the temperature of the surface of the recording material above its curie point, at which time the material loses its magnetic properties and becomes magnetized by the magnetic field in which the optical disc is placed. Thus, by controlling or biasing this surrounding magnetic field and cooling the disc below the Curie point in a controlled magnetic environment, information in the form of "pits" or "marks" on the recording medium can be recorded on the disc.

Thereafter, when the operator wants to replay or read the previously recorded information, the laser enters a second mode of operation. In this mode of operation, the laser generates a low intensity laser beam that is refocused on the track of the rotating optical disc. The low intensity laser beam does not heat the disc above its curie point. However, since the previously formed pits or marks exist, the laser beam is reflected on the surface of the optical disc to display the previously recorded information and thus to reproduce the previously recorded information. Since the laser beam is extremely fine, the recording density of such information processing systems is extremely high, and the reproduction of recorded information is extremely accurate.

The components of a typical optical storage system include a housing having a receptacle for a user to insert a recording medium into a drive. The housing contains, among other things, mechanical and electrical components for loading and unloading, reading and writing to the optical disc. The operation of these mechanical and electrical components is typically controlled by a data processing system connected to the drive.

In the case of existing optical storage systems that use cd-roms, a turntable on which the optical disc rotates is typically mounted on the base of the system. The turntable includes a spindle having a magnet for mounting the hub of the optical disc thereon. The magnet attracts the hub of the optical disc, thereby holding the optical disc at a desired position for rotation.

In the optical disc system, as described above, the magnetic bias processing is required for the optical disc at the time of writing operation, and for this reason, a desired magnetic field is applied to at least a portion of the optical disc heated by the laser at the time of writing operation (recording or erasing). Therefore, it is necessary to install a magnetic field bias device that can be conveniently placed near the surface of the optical disc when the magnet on the spindle holds the optical disc in place.

There are a variety of media or optical discs currently used in optical data storage systems for storing digital information. For example, the standard optical disc system uses 51/4 inch optical discs, which may or may not be contained in a protective case. If the optical disc is not fixedly loaded in the protective case, an operator can take the optical disc out of the protective case. The operator then loads the optical disc onto the loading mechanism while taking care not to damage the recording surface.

Alternatively, for convenience and protection, the optical disk may be contained in a cartridge, which is inserted into a socket of the drive and then transferred to a predetermined position. Such cartridges are well known in computer technology. The optical disk cartridge has a housing in which an optical disk on which data is recorded is housed.

To protect the disc when the cartridge is not in the drive, the disc cartridge typically includes at least one door or cover that is normally closed. The lid may have one or more latches associated therewith. The corresponding disc drive includes a mechanism for opening the door or cover on the cartridge as the cartridge is pushed into the device. Such a mechanism may include a door lever that contacts the latch bolt to unlock the lid. When the cartridge is further inserted into the drive, the cover is opened to partially expose the information recording medium contained in the cartridge, thereby allowing the optical disc hub to be mounted on the spindle of a motor or other drive mechanism and the read/write head and bias magnet to enter the protective cartridge. When the driving mechanism rotates, the read-write magnetic head can access all information in the optical disk medium.

In order to save space in the optical storage device, it is desirable that the size of the device for loading and unloading the optical disc on the spindle be as small as possible. Existing handling devices, which use cartridges, typically automatically transport the cartridges from the receptacles to the spindle, depending on the type of disc used. Existing handling devices automatically remove the disc from the spindle when the disc is no longer needed. The loading device for loading and unloading the optical disc is generally configured as follows: when the optical disk is loaded (i.e., the optical disk is loaded onto the spindle after being moved into the machine from the eject position), the optical disk is moved toward the turntable in parallel with the base plate and the turntable. When the optical disk is positioned above the turntable, the optical disk is placed on the spindle vertically downward from the surface of the turntable. Once placed on the turntable, the core magnet attracts the core of the optical disk, which is fixed in the center of the medium, thereby rotatably attracting the optical disk for reading and writing.

After the operator runs out of the disc, the eject operation is started. The most common method of ejecting a cartridge or optical disc from a spindle is the one used in most japanese drivers. In this disk unloading device, four pins are provided at each side of a disk case outside the disk case, and these pins are placed in the track of an adjacent sheet metal guide. When the optical disk is ejected, the square box straightly lifts the optical disk off the spindle. The device then moves the disk horizontally parallel to the base plate and turntable toward the disk slot at the front of the machine. When the disc is thus lifted off the spindle during the unloading operation, a sufficient lifting force must be generated on the cartridge to overcome the magnetic attraction holding the hub of the disc to the spindle magnet. An ejection lever can be operated by hand or an electric ejection device can be actuated to obtain the maximum uplift force required to overcome the magnetic attraction force.

In the conventional electric eject device in which the cartridge is lifted by the cartridge removing device to cut off the magnetic force between the spindle magnet and the disc hub, the electric eject motor must generate a large load in order to move the cartridge. Therefore, when the operator chooses to use the electric ejection device, a large motor with a large torque is required to generate a sufficient lifting force. The space for installing this large motor must be left in the housing of the device, so that the entire size of the housing of the cartridge loading device increases. In addition, large motors consume a relatively large amount of power.

It is therefore desirable to reduce the complexity of the laser machine while reducing the overall size of the machine so that the drive can be conveniently used in a computer. In order to accommodate an 51/4-inch optical disc case, yet be small enough to be conveniently used universally with personal computers, the mechanical and electrical components of the disc drive must be compact and arranged skillfully.

For this reason, the size of the eject motor must be reduced. To reduce this size, one approach is to reduce the amount of force required to cut off the magnetic attraction force between the disc hub and the spindle magnet. If the force is reduced, a smaller ejection motor can be used in the machine. Therefore, in a more advantageous design of the disc loading apparatus, the disc is not lifted up from the spindle magnet, but is peeled off from the magnet.

One prior art method for accomplishing this peeling action is to swing the turntable and spindle downward away from the disc. This method is discussed in U.S. patent No.4,791,511 to Marvin Davis. It would be advantageous to design a drive that peels the disc off the spindle magnet.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge loading apparatus having an improved cartridge container that solves one or more of the problems of the prior art described above.

In order to achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a disk cartridge loading apparatus for use in a disk drive having a cartridge loading end and a distal end, the disk cartridge loading apparatus comprising: a base plate having a first slide channel and a second slide channel; at least one door lever rotatably operatively connected to the base plate, the at least one door lever having a free end; a first slider slidably received in said first slider channel, said first slider having a front end proximate a cartridge loading end of the disk drive and a distal end proximate a distal end of the disk drive, said first slider further defining an S-shaped slot; a second slide plate slidably received in said second slide plate channel, said second slide plate having a front end adjacent the cartridge loading end of the disk drive and a distal end adjacent the distal end of the disk drive, said second slide plate further defining an S-shaped slot; a tiller including a first end and a second end, said first end of said tiller being swingably coupled to said forward end of said first sled, said second end of said tiller being swingably coupled to said forward end of said second sled; whereby a first rotation of said tiller in a first direction about a tiller axis drives said first slide plate towards a cartridge loading end of a disc drive while driving said second slide plate towards a distal end of the disc drive; and a second rotation of the tiller in a second direction about the tiller axis drives the first slide plate towards a distal end of the disk drive while driving the second slide plate towards a cartridge loading end of the disk drive; a disc cartridge container for receiving each disc cartridge, each disc cartridge including a disc with a central hub and at least one cartridge door for covering the disc, the disc cartridge container being connected to each of the first and second sliding plates through respective S-shaped slots, and being movable between an upper position and a lower position along with an ascending and descending movement when the respective sliding plates are driven by the tiller; a cam operatively connected to said tiller for rotating said tiller about said tiller axis such that said cartridge receptacle, each of said cartridges and said disk move such that a central hub tilts with respect to a spindle magnet as said first and said second slide plates move said cartridge receptacle between said upper position and said lower position, said at least one door lever being arranged to engage said cartridge door as said each of said cartridges tilts and moves such that the tilt setting of said disk reduces the force required to remove the central hub from the spindle magnet while said disk moves between said upper position and said lower position.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a body diagram of an optical disc drive showing a cartridge about to be inserted therein;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the optical disc drive of FIG. 1, showing the major components of the optical disc drive;

3A-3B are perspective views of the base plate shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the drive of FIG. 1 with certain components not shown to more clearly show the tiller, tiller drive gear, motor driving these gears, and the operational relationship between these components;

FIGS. 5A-5F are an isometric view and a perspective view of the tiller;

6A-6C are an isometric and perspective view of the left slide plate;

FIGS. 7A-7E are an isometric and perspective view of the right slide plate;

FIGS. 8A-8C are various views and perspective views of the park arm;

FIG. 9A is a bottom perspective view of the drive of FIG. 1, particularly illustrating the trim assembly carriage; the carriage supporting optics for focusing a laser beam onto data tracks of the optical disc; FIG. 9B is a top view of the vernier assembly carriage rest arm in two positions, one position shown in phantom, showing the rest arm resting the carriage on the rear of the drive when the drive is stopped;

FIGS. 10A-10B are perspective views of a cartridge container;

FIG. 11A is a top view of the optical disc drive of FIG. 1 during insertion of a disc cartridge, with certain parts not shown to more clearly show the trip tongue on the right door lever, the latch member and the operative relationship therebetween;

FIG. 11B is a top view of the disk drive of FIG. 1 with the cartridge partially opened by the left door lever to expose a surface of a data storage disk, as the cartridge is inserted further;

FIGS. 12A-12B are perspective views of a latch member holding the compact disc case receptacle in an upper position;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a biasing coil assembly fixture;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a biasing coil assembly;

fig. 15 is an exploded perspective view of the main components constituting the bias coil assembly;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a pivot rod rotatably supporting a biasing coil assembly;

FIG. 17 is a flexure of the bias coil assembly mounted to the flexure which in turn is mounted to the pivot rod shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a right side view of the magazine container and magazine just prior to the start of a disc ejection cycle, showing the disc in the operative position on the spindle;

FIG. 19 is a right side view of the cartridge receptacle and cartridge during a disc ejection cycle showing the cartridge tilted to peel away from the spindle; and

FIG. 20 is a right side view of the cartridge receptacle and cartridge during a disc ejection cycle showing the cartridge loading mechanism in an up position and the disc beginning to be ejected from the disc drive.

The present invention will be further understood from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and with initial reference to FIG. 1, which shows an optical disc storage apparatus, indicated generally at 10. Fig. 1 shows a replaceable cartridge 13 in a position for insertion into an optical disc drive 10 incorporating a cartridge loading and unloading mechanism. The optical disc drive 10 includes a bottom housing 16 and a face plate 19. The panel 19 includes a disc slot 122, a drive status indicator light 25 and an eject button 28.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the conventional optical disk case 13 includes the following main components. The housing of which comprises an upper flat surface 31 and a lower flat surface 32 (as shown, for example, in figure 20). The compact disc case also has a label end face 34 facing forward. In the preferred embodiment, the user still sees the forwardly facing label face 34 of the compact disc case 13 when the compact disc case 13 is inserted in the optical disc drive 10. Extending between the upper and lower planar surfaces 31, 32 is a side wall, for example a side wall 37, the compact disc case further comprising a rear wall 38 (as shown for example in figure 19) extending between the upper and lower planar surfaces 31, 32 parallel to the forwardly facing labeler face 34, the side wall 37 having a channel 40 adjacent the labeler face 34 for receiving a compact disc case location pin 43 (figures 3A-3B) located on a base plate 46.

The magazine 13 also includes a magazine door or magazine lid 49, the lid 49 being biased into a closed position (fig. 1, 2 and 11A). The cover 49 is positioned in the recess 52 of the upper plane 31 when open. Since the disc drive 10 of the preferred embodiment is capable of reading a two-sided cartridge 13, the lower surface 32 has a similar cover and recess portion, but these are not shown. The cover typically has a cover latch 55 (not shown) on the rear wall 38 of the compact disc case 13.

Protected within the magazine 13 is an optical disc 14 (fig. 18-20) having a metal disc hub 15. As is known in the relevant art, the optical disc 14 is comprised of a rigid substrate having a coating of magnetic material applied thereto. The magnetic material coating is inscribed with tracks in the form of concentric rings or spiral rings, and either or both surfaces of the rigid substrate may be coated with a magnetic coating that allows data to be recorded by a magnetic transducer, commonly referred to as a magnetic head, on the optical disk 14. The center of the rigid substrate is a metal disk hub 15.

Referring next to fig. 2, the following is a description of the major components of the optical disc drive 10 according to the present invention. There is a bottom housing 16. In which a base plate 46 is mounted. In fig. 2, spindle motor 61 is mounted to base 46. The spindle motor 61 includes a spindle magnet 63 that attracts the metal-made disc hub 15 of the optical disc 14 when the optical disc cartridge 13 is loaded in the optical disc drive 10. The ejection mechanism of the present invention is generally indicated at 67. The pop-up mechanism 67 includes a left slide plate 70, a right slide plate 73 and a tiller 76. The ejection mechanism is described in detail below. Also shown in fig. 2 is a rest arm 79 located above the left slide plate. The magazine case is generally indicated at 82. Also shown in FIG. 2 are left door lever 85, right door lever 88 and container door 91, all of which are pivotally mounted to magazine container 82. Drive face 19 is shown in front of magazine receptacle 82. Finally, rotatable magnetic bias coil assembly 94 is mounted on bias coil arm 97 with bias coil clamp 100 positioned above the bias coil arm. All of these major components are detailed below.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the bottom housing 16 includes side walls 103 and a rear wall 106. The bottom housing 16 has four mounting studs 109 on its inner bottom surface for the base plate 46 to be securely mounted on, and the bottom housing 16 also contains control electronics, not shown.

Referring to fig. 3A and 3B, the structure of the bottom plate 46 is described in detail. The base plate 46 is mounted on four mounting studs 109 (fig. 2) of the bottom housing 16. The base plate 46 has a number of components that are molded into, attached to, or coupled to the base plate 46. These parts are molded, embedded, connected or coupled to the base plate 46 with "glue". Many of the parts of the present invention are "glued" together and made to interact with each other. Along the perimeter of the base plate 46 are a front wall 112, a left outer wall 115, a left inner wall 118, a right outer wall 121, a right inner wall 124, and a rear upstanding wall 127. Vertical slots 130, 133 are provided in the left and right side outer walls 115, 121, respectively. The left vertical slot 130 receives a left tab 136 (FIG. 10A) on the cartridge receptacle 82 when the cartridge receptacle 82 is nested on the base plate 46. The right vertical slot 133 may likewise receive a right protruding pin 139 of the cartridge receptacle 82 (fig. 10B).

The two positioning pins 43 of the CD box are respectively positioned beside the front ends of the left and right outer walls 115 and 121. These alignment pins 43 are used to engage the cartridge slot 40 (FIG. 1). When the pin 43 is positioned in the slot 40, the pin 43 secures the cartridge 13 against lateral (i.e., to both sides) and longitudinal (i.e., front to back) movement.

A spindle motor mount 142 is molded into the bottom of the base plate 46. Spindle motor 61 (fig. 2) may be secured to spindle motor mount 142 by, for example, a clamp spring (not shown) mounted on intermediate rib 145.

The base plate 46 has various shafts and mounting pins associated therewith. For example, the tiller pivot 148 is mounted on the base plate 46 proximate the spindle motor mount 142. The tiller spring pin 151 is fixed to the bottom surface of the base plate 46 near the front wall 112 (fig. 3A). Other pins mounted on the bottom surface of the bottom plate 46 near the front wall 112 serve as pivots for the rear gears in the pop-up gear train.

The base plate 46 also includes a left slide plate channel 154 and a right slide plate channel 157. The slide plate channels 154, 157 extend on both sides of the base plate 46. A left slide channel 154 is formed between the left outer wall 115 and the left inner wall 118. The assembled left slide plate 70 is sandwiched between the left inner wall 118 and the left outer wall 115 and inserted into the left slide plate channel 154 (see, e.g., fig. 4, 9B, and 11A-B). Likewise, a right slide channel 157 is formed between the right outer wall 121 and the right inner wall 124. The assembled right slide plate 73 is sandwiched between the right inner wall 124 and the right outer wall 121 and inserted into the right slide plate channel 157. The left and right slides 70, 73 may be retained in their respective channels 154, 157 by means of "collets" that hold, for example, the spindle motor 61 in place over clamp springs (not shown) on the spindle motor mount 142.

At the end of the right slide channel 157 adjacent the rear upstanding wall 127, the base plate 46 has a socket 160 therein. Where the rear portion of the right inner wall 124 meets the rear portion of the right outer wall 121. The socket 160 may receive a pivot pin 163 of a cartridge receptacle latch 166 (fig. 12B and 12A). The jewel case container latch 166 has a vertical surface 169 (fig. 12B) against which a latch release catch 172 (fig. 2 and 11A-B) secured to the right door rod 88 impacts to release the jewel case container latch 166.

The base plate 46 has an aperture 175 in the rear upstanding wall 127. Light from a laser diode (not shown) located behind the rear upstanding wall between the left and right corner posts 178, 181 passes through the aperture 175 and strikes a fine adjustment assembly carriage 184 which houses optics for focusing the laser beam onto information tracks on the optical disc 14 (fig. 4, 9A-B and 11A-B). The carriage 184 is described in detail below.

The base plate 46 also has a molded aperture 187 (fig. 3A) that receives the pivot 190 of the positioning arm 79. The hole 187 is molded integrally with the left inner wall 118. Fig. 4 shows the pivot 190 of the mounted rest arm 79 inserted in the hole 187.

The details of the parking arm are further described below with reference to fig. 8A-8C. In addition to pivot 190, the resting arm 79 also includes a pressing end 193. A prong 196 is provided at the end of the arm 79 remote from the clamping end 193. The prong 196 has a long side 199 and a short side 202. When the park arm 79 is in place, the fork opening 196 straddles the lug 205 of the left slide plate 70 (FIG. 6C). The mounted rest arm 79, with its fork 196 straddling the lug 205 of the left slide plate 70, is best seen in FIGS. 4, 9B and 11A-B. The position of the park arm 79 is therefore dependent upon the position of the left slide plate 70 in the left slide plate channel 154.

Fig. 9A shows a carriage 184 that supports the fine adjustment assembly and associated optics for focusing the laser beam onto information tracks on the surface of the optical disc. The trim assembly carriage 184 is specifically of the type used in OMA optical drives sold by MOST corporation of colorado slides, usa. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the carriage 184 includes a 45 mirror (not shown) that reflects the laser beam generated by the optical module 189 upward through a focusing lens (not shown) driven by a trimmer motor to the disc surface. In the perspective view of fig. 9A, the support rail 208 on which the carriage 184 rests is partially shown.

As best seen in fig. 9B, the stop arm 79 positions the trim assembly carriage 184, which carriage 184 focuses the laser beam from the optical module through the aperture 175 in the rear upstanding wall 127 of the base plate 46. Specifically, the carriage positions the laser beam over the center of the data track containing the data to be read. The carriage 184 rests on the support rail 208. The carriage 184 is driven along the guide rail 208 by conventional magnetic means.

When the cartridge receptacle 82 is in the up position, the carriage 184 is pushed toward the rear of the drive by the park arm 79 driven by the left slide plate 70. This state is shown in fig. 4, 11A-B, and 9B, and in fig. 9B, the rest arm 79 is shown by a solid line at this time. When the left sled 70 is driven forward by the tiller 76 during ejection of the cartridge 13, the lug 205 abutting the short side 202 of the fork 196 rotates the stop arm 79 until the pinch end 193 of the stop arm 79 pushes the carriage 184 toward the rear of the disk drive 10, and when the cartridge receptacle 82 is in the down position, the tiller 76 has driven the left sled 70 toward the rear of the disk drive 10. At this time, the lug 205, which is driven backward together with the left slider plate 70, has rotated the parking arm 79 to the front of the optical disc drive 10, as shown by the broken line in fig. 9B. When the left carriage 70 and the park arm 79 are in these positions, the carriage 184 is free to move over the optical disk 14 in the optical disk drive 10 without being acted upon by the pinched end 193 of the park arm 79.

The eject mechanism 67, which can best be seen in fig. 2 and 4, includes the following main parts. The eject motor 209 powers the eject mechanism. In particular, the eject motor 209 drives a gear train which drives an output cam which in turn rotates a tiller in a first direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) to eject the cartridge 13 from the disc drive 10. When the user starts the ejection process, the motor 209 drives the worm gear 211. The worm wheel 211 is fixed to the center shaft of the eject motor 209. The worm gear 211 drives a first large gear 214 around a first axis 217. The rotation of the first gearwheel 214 causes a first pinion 220, which is fixed to the bottom side of the first gearwheel 214 and rotates therewith about a first gear axis 217, the first pinion 220 driving a second gearwheel 223 about a second gear axis 226. The second pinion gear 229 is fixed to the top surface of the second gearwheel so as to be rotatable therewith about the second toothed axis 226, the second pinion gear 229 in turn driving the third gearwheel 232 about the third toothed axis 235. The third largest gear drives a cam 238, which cam 238 forces the rudder bar 76 to rotate about the rudder bar axis 148.

The tiller 76 will be described with reference to fig. 5A-5F and fig. 4. The rudder post 76 is pivotally mounted to the base plate 46 with a rudder post shaft 198. A rudder stock spring hook 240 is molded onto the elongated portion of the rudder stock 76 and a rudder stock spring 241 (fig. 4) is fitted between the rudder stock spring hook 240 and the rudder stock spring catch 151. The rudder stock spring 241 biases the rudder stock 76 in a second direction (clockwise in fig. 4) about the rudder stock axis 198. The first direction is a cartridge loading direction, so that the right slider 73 is driven forward and the left slider 70 is driven forward and backward, thereby placing the cartridge 13 on the spindle motor 61.

The tiller further includes a tiller skirt or web 244 which is located on top of the tiller gear train to facilitate the attachment of the pop-up gears to the respective gear shafts without falling off. The end of the rudder stock near the rudder stock skirt 244 has a U-shaped fork 247 and the end of the rudder stock remote from the skirt 244 has a U-shaped fork 250. The U-shaped fork 247 rotatably fits over the connecting cylinder of the left slide plate 70 (FIG. 6C). Similarly, the U-shaped fork 250 of the rudder stock 76 is rotatably fitted over the connecting cylinder 256 (FIG. 7E) of the right slide plate 73, so that the rudder stock 76 is pivotally connected to both front ends of the left and right slide plates 70, 73. In addition, the U-shaped fork openings 147, 150 cooperate with the connecting cylinders 153, 156 to capture the rudder bar 76 on the rudder shaft 148 because the left and right slides 70, 73 are captured in the respective slide slots 154, 157 by clamp springs (not shown) that simultaneously seat the spindle motor 61.

When the tiller 76 is rotated in a first direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4), the left slide 70 in the left slide channel 154 is driven forward and simultaneously the right slide 73 in the right slide channel 157 is driven rearward. Thus, rotation of the tiller 76 in a first direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4) raises the magazine receptacle 82 so that the disk magazine 13 may be ejected or loaded into the disk drive 10. In the other direction, when the tiller 76 is rotated in the second direction (clockwise in FIG. 4), the left slide 70 in the left slide channel 154 is driven rearward while the right slide 73 in the right slide channel 157 is driven forward. Rotation of the rudder plate 76 in this direction lowers the magazine receptacle 82 and thereby places the disc onto the spindle motor. Rotation of the tiller 76 to raise or lower the magazine 82 is discussed further below.

As described above, the left slide plate 70 slides in the left slide plate channel 154 and the right slide plate 73 slides in the right slide plate channel 157 under actuation of the tiller 76. The slides 70, 73 are described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 6A-6C, the left slide plate 70 has the following components. The front end of the left slide plate has a connecting cylinder 253. The first recess 259 has the resting arm lug 205 thereon. The park arm 79 slides along the first recess 259 of the left slide plate 70 driven by the lug 205. The left slide plate 70 has an S-shaped slot 162 therein. When the left slide plate 70 is seated in the left slide plate channel 154, the opening of the S-shaped slot 162 is directed toward the right outer wall immediately rearward of the left vertical slot 130. When the magazine container 82 is nested on the base plate 46, a left side tab 136 (FIG. 10A) of the magazine container 82 is inserted into the left side vertical slot 130 of the base plate 46. The left side protruding pin has a length greater than the thickness of the outer side outer wall 115. Thus, the left side tab 136 is inserted through the left vertical slot 130 and into the S-shaped slot 262 of the left slide plate 70.

When the magazine case 82 is so fitted to the base plate 46 with its left-side projecting pin 136 inserted through the vertical slot 130 and the S-shaped slot 262, the magazine case 82 is restricted from moving back and forth and only up and down. The vertical slot 130 prevents the magazine container 82 from moving forward and backward, while the S-shaped slot 262 in the left slider plate 70 defines the vertical position of the magazine container. In other words, the magazine receptacle 82 may be in its uppermost position, its lowermost position, or a position between its uppermost and lowermost positions, depending on which portion of the S-shaped slot 262 is located behind the vertical channel 133 at a given time.

The top surface of the left slide plate 70 has a second recess 265, see FIG. 6C. A horizontal pin (not shown) mounted on the base plate 46 slides over the second recess 265. The horizontal pin (not shown) defines the forward most position and the rearward most position of the left slider plate. As the pin will abut the edge of the second recess 265 as soon as it reaches one of the two extreme positions of the left slide.

As best seen in FIGS. 6B and 2, the rearmost end of the left slide plate 70 has a notch 268. The notch 268 is located on a staggered section 272 of the left slide plate 70. The recess 268 can receive a link arm 275 of the deflection coil arm 97, the link arm 275 rotating the deflection coil arm 97 depending on the position of the left slider 70 and particularly the positional shift of the recess. The staggered section 272 of the left slide plate 70 is inserted into a recess 278 (fig. 3B) in the left outer wall 115 of the bottom plate 46.

The components of the right slide plate 73 will be described with reference to fig. 7A to 7E. The rudder stock 76 is connected to the right slide plate 73 by the connecting cylinder 256 as described above. The right slide plate 73 has an S-shaped slot 281 therein. As best seen in FIG. 2, the S-shaped slot 281 is an inverse of the S-shaped slot 262 of the left slide plate 70. It is apparent from fig. 2 that the S-shaped slots 262, 281 are each an inverted mirror image when slid left and right to connect with the tiller 76. This arrangement is necessary because the slides 70, 73 move in opposite directions driven by the tiller 76. The opening of the S-shaped slot 281 on the right slide plate 73 also faces the right outer wall when the right slide plate 73 is in the operating position in the right slide plate channel 117.

As was the case with the left slider plate 70 described above, the right tab 139 (FIG. 10B) is inserted into the right vertical slot 133 (FIG. 3B) when the magazine receptacle 82 is nested on the base plate 46. Since the length of the right side pin 139 is greater than the thickness of the right side outer wall 121, the right side pin 139 is inserted through the right side outer wall 121 in the right side vertical slot 133 into the S-shaped slot 281 of the right slide plate 73. The right vertical slot 133 prevents the right stud 139 from moving in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the base plate 46 (i.e., in a direction parallel to a line passing perpendicularly through the front wall 112 and the rear upstanding wall 127). Since the right-side protrusion 139 is inserted into the S-shaped slot 281, the vertical height of the magazine case 82 is determined by the position of the right-side protrusion 139 in the S-shaped slot 281. The S-shaped slot 281 of the right slide plate 73 moves behind the right vertical slot 133 at the same rate but in the opposite direction as the S-shaped slot 262 of the left slide plate 70 moves behind the left vertical slot 130. However, the inverted mirror image design of the S-shaped slots 262, 281 ensures that the left and right tabs 136, 139 are at substantially the same vertical height above the bottom surface of the base plate 46 at any one time.

See also fig. 7A-7E. The right slide plate also includes the following components. The top surface of the right slide plate 73 has a recess 284. A pin (not shown) may be horizontally mounted transversely in the right sled channel 157 to slide on the recess 284. The horizontal pin sliding on the recess 284 can be used to define the forward-most and rearward-most positions of the right slide plate 73, since the horizontal pin will abut against both edges of the recess 284 when the right slide plate 73 is moved to these two extreme positions. The right slide plate 73 also has a recessed area 287 for engaging a catch 290 (fig. 12A and 12B) of the compact disk case latch 166. The right slide plate 73 has a raised portion 293 at its rear end.

When the tiller 76 is rotated in a first direction (e.g., counterclockwise in FIG. 9B) to drive the right slide plate 73 to slide rearward in the right slide plate channel 157, the catch 290 of the compact disk cartridge receiver latch 166 engages the raised portion 293 of the right slide plate 73. In particular, a first sliding surface 296 (fig. 12A) on the catch 290 slides on a second sliding surface 299 (fig. 7C and 7E) of a raised portion 293 of the right slide plate 73, and when the sliding surfaces 296, 269 slide over each other, the sprung catch 290 snaps into a recessed area 287 of the right slide plate 73 in the direction indicated by the arrow in fig. 12A, thereby securing the right slide plate 73 in the rear position and thereby securing the cartridge receptacle 82 in its uppermost position. When the cartridge receptacle is in this position, the cartridge 13 in the drive 10 may be ejected, or the cartridge 13 may be loaded into the disc drive 10.

The S-shaped slots 262, 281 of the left and right slide plates 70, 73 play an important role in the peeling action achieved by the present invention when the disc cartridge is loaded onto or unloaded from the spindle motor. The function of the S-shaped slots 262, 281 in facilitating the improved stripping action of the present invention is described below.

The cartridge case and its parts will be described with reference to fig. 10A and 10B. The magazine receptacle 82 is a one-piece injection molded plastic part that houses a left door lever 85 (FIG. 2) and a right door lever 88. When the disc drive 10 is assembled, the magazine case 82 is fitted over the outer portions of the left and right outer walls 115, 121 of the bottom plate 46. As the tabs 136, 139 move up and down in their respective S-shaped slots 262, 281, the magazine receptacle 82 moves up and down. The magazine case 82 is also slightly tilted up and down about an imaginary transverse axis passing through the left and right protruding pins 136, 139. It is this slight tilting motion combined with the up and down motion that produces the advantageous stripping action achieved by the present invention. When the disc drive 10 is uncapped, the magazine receptacle 82 springs upwardly away from the remainder of the mechanism.

The magazine case 82 has a left magazine insertion slot 305 and a right magazine insertion slot 308 therein. The right-hand magazine insertion slot 308 has a stop 311 at the rear to prevent erroneous insertion of the magazine 13. As can be seen in fig. 1 and 2, magazine 13 has a pair of slots 314 molded into side walls 37, and if magazine 13 is properly inserted, i.e., with rear wall 38 inserted into disc slot 22 first, one of slots 314 in magazine 13 will receive stop 311 to allow full insertion of magazine 13 into drive 10. On the other hand, when the user inserts the magazine 13, first inserts the front label end 34 into the disc slot 72, the stopper 311 blocks the label end 34 of the magazine 13, so that the magazine 13 cannot be inserted into the disc drive 10.

The rear wall 317 of the magazine case 82 has a recessed area 320. This recessed area allows a latch release catch 172 (fig. 11A-B) fixed to the right door lever 88 to strike an upright surface 169 (fig. 12B) of the jewel case receptacle latch 166, and as the left and right door levers 85, 88 are pivoted toward the rear of the disc drive 10 when the jewel case 13 is inserted into the jewel case receptacle 82, respectively, the release catch 172 releases the jewel case receptacle latch 166 by pressing against the upright surface 169 as the jewel case 13 approaches the fully inserted position. This rotation of the magazine latch 166 disengages the catch 290 from its latched position engaging the raised portion 293 of the right slide plate 73, and when the magazine latch 166 is so unlatched, the magazine 182 is lowered to place the compact disk magazine 13 in the operative position on the spindle motor 61.

The connection of the left door lever 85 and the right door lever 88 to the disk cartridge case 82 will be described with reference to fig. 2, 10A-B, and 11A-B. Left and right door levers 85, 88 are mounted at the rear corners of the magazine case 82 adjacent the rear wall 317. Specifically, left and right door levers 85 are pivotally mounted to jewel case receptacle 82 at first pivot points 323, and right door lever 88 is pivotally mounted to jewel case receptacle 82 at second pivot points 326. A spring (not shown) biases the door levers 85, 88 toward the face plate 19 of the disc drive 10.

In operation, one of the door levers 85, 88 unlatches the lid and opens the lid 49 when the compact disc cartridge 13 is inserted into the drive 10. Whether the left door lever 85 or the right door lever 88 opens the cartridge cover 49 depends on which side of the cartridge 13 faces upward when the cartridge 13 is inserted into the drive 10. If the disk cartridge 13 is inserted with the first face up, the right door lever 88 operates the cover latch and opens the cover 49. If the cartridge 13 is inserted with the other side facing upward, the left door lever 85 operates the cover latch and opens the cover 49. If no compact disk case 13 is present in drive 10, door levers 85, 88 abut door lever stops 329 formed integrally with compact disk case 82. These door lever stops 329 ensure that the free ends of the door levers 85, 88 are in the correct position to unlatch the cover and open the cover 49 when the compact disk cartridge 13 is inserted into the drive 10.

FIG. 11B shows the compact disk case 13 inserted into the drive 10 to a depth where the free end 332 of the door lever 85 begins to open the cover 49 to expose the surface of the compact disk 14.

Rotatable magnetic biasing coil assembly 94 is described in detail below with reference to fig. 14-17. The magnetic bias coil 94 is used for write and erase operations of the optical disc drive 10. The biasing coil assembly 94 includes a steel rod 335 encased in a coil 338. As best seen in fig. 18, when the bias coil assembly 94 is placed over the disc 14, it extends across the entire radius of the disc 14, thereby creating a strong magnetic field in a radial strip of the disc 14 extending from the side of the spindle 62 (fig. 18-20) to the edge of the disc 14. When the spindle motor 61 rotates the optical disc 14 under the bias coil assembly 94, a magnetic field is generated over the entire surface of the optical disc 14, thereby allowing a user to write information on all portions of the optical disc 14 from its innermost track to its outermost track. A biased coil housing top 341 covers the coil 338 and the steel bar 335. And the top 341 is attached to an offset coil housing bottom 344.

The bias coil assembly 94 is attached to a bias coil flexure 347 (fig. 17), which in turn is attached to a bias coil arm 97 (fig. 16). The bias coil arms 97 span the width of the base plate 46 and are rotatably clamped to the two corner posts 178, 181 (fig. 3A and 3B) of the base plate 46 by a pair of bias coil clamps 100 (fig. 13). The bias coil clamp 100 thus serves as a bearing seat under which the bias coil arm 97 can rotate. The biasing coil clip 100 includes a stop flange 350 that limits upward movement of the cartridge receptacle 82 during an ejection operation, as described in more detail below with reference to fig. 18-20. As previously described, the biasing coil arm 97 includes a lever arm 275 that is operatively connected to a notch 268 on the rear end of the left slide plate 70 to raise and lower the biasing coil assembly 94. Since the lever 275 engages the notch 268 on the left slider 70, the left slider 70 controls when the biasing coil assembly 97 is rotated onto the cartridge 13 and when it is rotated off of the cartridge 13.

The biasing coil assembly 94 may deflect or rotate about a point 353 near its center and it is sprung downward. Thus, the biasing coil assembly 94 is parallel to the magazine 13 in both the down position (i.e., the position shown in FIG. 18, in which the magazine 13 is fully loaded) and the up position (i.e., the position shown in FIG. 20, in which the magazine 13 is unloaded). Since the bias coil assembly 94 remains parallel to the cartridge 13 in the up position, the necessary clearance is provided for the drive 10 to perform the disc ejection operation, as will be described. When the bias coil assembly 94 is in the down loaded position in the cartridge 13, it abuts the cartridge 13 in three places.

Ejection of the cartridge 13 from the optical disc drive 10 is described below with reference to fig. 18-20. Fig. 18 shows a disk case 13 with the disk hub 15 fully loaded onto the spindle 62 of the spindle motor 61. In this figure, the bias coil assembly 94 is loaded into the optical disk case 13 through the opened cover 49. When the magazine 13 is so fully loaded, the left slide plate 70 has been slid by the tiller 76 to its rearmost position. The lever arm 275 that biases the coil arm 97 has rotated to the rear of the optical disk drive 10. It is this rotation of lever arm 275 that loads biasing coil assembly 94 into optical disk case 13. As shown in fig. 18, when the left sled 70 is driven by the tiller 76 to the rear of the disc drive 10, the cartridge container 82 is driven by its pins 133, 136 to the lowest point of the S-shaped slots 262, 281 as the vertical slots 130, 133 (fig. 3A and 3B) allow the pins 136, 139 of the cartridge container 82 to move only up and down.

The intermediate stage of the ejection cycle is explained below with reference to fig. 19. After the user initiates ejection of the optical disc drive 10, the eject motor 209 (FIG. 4) rotates the tiller 76 in a first direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4). This rotation of the tiller pulls the left slide plate 70 towards the front of the drive 10 as shown in figure 19. As left sled 70 slides forward, dimple 268 rotates lever arm 275 forward, thereby lifting biasing coil assembly 94 off of disk cartridge 13. It can also be seen from fig. 19 that the S-shaped slots 262, 281 are forced to lift the pins 136, 139 secured to the magazine receptacle 82 as a result of rotation of the tiller 76. Since the location of the pins 136, 139 on the magazine container is such that the transverse axes through the pins 136, 139 do not pass through the spindle 62 simultaneously, a "peeling" action is created to remove the hub 15 from the spindle magnet 64 when the magazine container 82 is lifted. In other words, as shown in fig. 19, the optical disc 14 is not lifted vertically from the spindle 62 in the ejection period. Rather, due to the above-described location of the protruding pins 136, 139 on the magazine receptacle 82, the rear portion of the magazine 13 lifts up before the front portion when the protruding pins 136, 139 move along their S-shaped slots 262, 281. This stripping action reduces the maximum force required to move the disk hub 15 away from the magnet clamp 64 of the spindle motor 61.

As is also apparent from FIG. 19, after the magazine holder 82 is lifted a certain amount by sliding the slides 70, 73, a lip 356 (FIG. 10A) on the rear wall 317 of the magazine holder 82 encounters the bottom surface of the stop flange 350 (FIG. 13) on the biasing coil clamp 100. This contact of the bottom surface of the stop flange 350 with the top surface of the lip 356, coupled with continued rotation of the tiller 76 and resulting longitudinal sliding movement of the skids 70, 73, causes the magazine receptacle 82 to tilt slightly upwardly in FIG. 19 generally about the point of contact of the stop flange 350 with the lip 356 as the tabs 136, 139 continue to lift the receptacle. This slight tilting movement of the magazine receptacle 82 completes the "peeling" action described above.

Fig. 20 shows the disc drive 13 after the magazine container 82 has performed a slight tilting movement upwards and the magazine container 82 has hit a stop next to the disc insertion opening 22. At this point, the left slide plate 70 has reached its forwardmost position and pulls the lever arm 275 to its forwardmost position, thereby rotating the biasing coil assembly 94 out of the disc cartridge 13. So that the bias coil assembly rests in parallel above the magazine 13 substantially against the inside of the top surface of the optical disc drive 10 or substantially against a printed circuit board positioned close to the inside of the top surface of the optical disc drive 10. The biasing coil assembly 94 is vertically displaced by about 9mm from its position of being housed in the magazine 13 to the above-mentioned raised position.

When the compact disk case container 82 is raised to its uppermost position (about 5mm above its lowermost position), the compact disk case container latch 166 (with 12A and 12B) latches the right slide plate 73 (FIGS. 7A-7E) in its rearmost position, as described above. When the magazine receptacle 82 is in the upper position shown in FIG. 20, it is parallel to the base plate 46 for ejection of the compact disc 13. The spring force biasing the door levers 85, 88 toward the front of the disc drive 10 and the spring force biasing the cartridge cover 49 toward the uppermost position as described above causes the cartridge 13 to be ejected from the disc drive 10, as shown in fig. 20.

The disc loading process is substantially the reverse of the ejection process described above, and therefore the disc insertion process is not described in detail.

In the present invention, since the optical disk hub 15 is peeled off from the spindle magnet 64, the required ejection force is greatly reduced by the peeling manner in which the optical disk 14 is moved from the loading position to the unloading position. By using the "stripping" action of the present invention, the force required to move the optical disc hub 15 is less than with conventional vertical lift devices. Furthermore, the present design reduces the overall height of the driver. The above design accomplishes the stripping of the hub 15 from the spindle magnet 64 with a mechanism that takes full advantage of the space on both sides of the drive 10 without requiring components across the width of the base plate 46 to link the movement of the cartridge receptacle 82 to increase the height of the drive. Another advantageous feature of the present design is that most of the required dimensions do not require this property to be severe.

Moreover, the bias coil driving mechanism that can incorporate the bias coil assembly into the cartridge 13 is simple and has almost no wear parts. The entire design is easy to assemble and can be implemented mostly with components that are simple to manufacture.

While the invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example, the present invention may be used in media devices (i.e., phase change devices or write-once devices) that do not require a bias coil assembly 94, and thus components for operating the bias coil arm 97 may be omitted. Further, while the storage media is an 51/4 inch opto-magnetic cartridge disc in the preferred embodiment, the present invention is applicable to all types of media and drives of all sizes. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims.

Claims (11)

1. A disc cartridge loading apparatus for use in a disc drive having a cartridge loading end and a distal end, the disc cartridge loading apparatus comprising:

a base plate having a first slide channel and a second slide channel;

at least one door lever rotatably operatively connected to the base plate, the at least one door lever having a free end;

a first slider slidably received in said first slider channel, said first slider having a front end proximate a cartridge loading end of the disk drive and a distal end proximate a distal end of the disk drive, said first slider further defining an S-shaped slot;

a second slide plate slidably received in said second slide plate channel, said second slide plate having a front end adjacent the cartridge loading end of the disk drive and a distal end adjacent the distal end of the disk drive, said second slide plate further defining an S-shaped slot;

a tiller including a first end and a second end, said first end of said tiller being swingably coupled to said forward end of said first sled, said second end of said tiller being swingably coupled to said forward end of said second sled; whereby a first rotation of said tiller in a first direction about a tiller axis drives said first slide plate towards a cartridge loading end of a disc drive while driving said second slide plate towards a distal end of the disc drive; and a second rotation of the tiller in a second direction about the tiller axis drives the first slide plate towards a distal end of the disk drive while driving the second slide plate towards a cartridge loading end of the disk drive;

a disc cartridge container for receiving each disc cartridge, each disc cartridge including a disc with a central hub and at least one cartridge door for covering the disc, the disc cartridge container being connected to each of the first and second sliding plates through respective S-shaped slots, and being movable between an upper position and a lower position along with an ascending and descending movement when the respective sliding plates are driven by the tiller;

a cam operatively connected to said tiller for rotating said tiller about said tiller axis such that said cartridge receptacle, each of said cartridges and said disk move such that a central hub tilts with respect to a spindle magnet as said first and said second slide plates move said cartridge receptacle between said upper position and said lower position, said at least one door lever being arranged to engage said cartridge door as said each of said cartridges tilts and moves such that the tilt setting of said disk reduces the force required to remove the central hub from the spindle magnet while said disk moves between said upper position and said lower position.

2. The disc cartridge loading apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a maximum distance between the upper position and the lower position of the disc cartridge container is substantially 5 mm.

3. The disc cartridge loading apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second door lever rotatably operatively connected to the base plate, and wherein each of the disc cartridges has a first side and a second side, the second door lever having a free end so that the disc cartridge container can receive each of the disc cartridges with the first side of the disc cartridge facing upward and alternatively with the second side of the disc cartridge facing upward.

4. The disc cartridge loading apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a door lever stopper provided near one of said slide plate channels, said door lever stopper functioning to position said at least one door lever so that said free end thereof is aligned with a cover latch on said cartridge door.

5. The disc cartridge loading apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a first lever stopper provided adjacent to one of the slide channels and a second lever stopper provided adjacent to the other of the slide channels, each lever stopper functioning to align a respective free end of each lever with a cover latch on the cartridge door.

6. The disc cartridge loading apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first and second door levers are biased toward a cartridge loading end of the disc drive.

7. The disc cartridge loading apparatus of claim 6, wherein each of the door levers abuts its corresponding door lever stopper when the respective disc cartridge is unloaded from the disc cartridge container, whereby each corresponding free end is repositioned to engage its corresponding cartridge door when another disc cartridge is loaded.

8. The disc cartridge loading apparatus of claim 6, wherein the cartridge door of each disc cartridge is biased to the closing side so that when the center hub is moved down from the spindle magnet, the biasing action of the door lever and the cartridge door ejects the disc cartridge from the disc cartridge container.

9. A disc cartridge loading apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an electrical ejecting member operatively connected to the tiller, the electrical ejecting member being operative to rotate the tiller to eject the disc cartridge from the disc drive.

10. The disc cartridge loading apparatus of claim 1, wherein the label end of the disc cartridge remains visible when the disc cartridge is loaded in the drive.

11. A disc cartridge loading apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the disc cartridge container includes a first projecting pin slidably fitted in the S-shaped slot of the first slide plate and a second projecting pin slidably fitted in the S-shaped slot of the second slide plate, the projecting pins being in a non-coplanar relationship with a plane parallel to each end of the apparatus, perpendicular to the base plate and passing substantially through the center of the spindle magnet, such that rotation of the tiller in a first direction angularly unloads the disc from the spindle magnet, and rotation of the tiller in a second direction angularly loads the disc into the spindle magnet, thereby reducing the force required to unload the disc from the spindle magnet and providing minimal contact between the disc cartridge container and the first and second slide plates.