JP2000100051A - Disk exchanger - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit the position (height) of a tray stocker so as to be easily and accurately controlled with the mechanical constitution by elevating/lowering the tray stocker by the specified amount by the intermittent rotation of a Geneva gear. SOLUTION: The device is provided with plural disk trays 17 whereon optical disks D for recording/reproducing the information are respectively placed, the tray stocker 12 for housing these disk trays 17 so that main surfaces of the optical disks D placed on the disk trays 17 are arranged nearly in parallel each other, a slide member 53 for moviong this tray stocker 12 to the direction orthogonally crossed with the main surfaces of the disk trays 17, a driving gear 112 engaging with a rack 57 arranged on this slide member 53, the Geneva gear for intermittently driving this driving gear 112 to ratate, and a driving mechanism for driving this Geneva gear to rotate. Then, the tray stocker 12 is elevated/lowered by rotating the Geneva gear.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical disk such as a CD (compact disk) and a CD-ROM (read only memory), a magneto-optical disk (OD), and other disk-shaped storage media. The present invention relates to a disc exchange device of an information storage device that performs reproduction, in particular, a storage unit that stores a plurality of mounting members on which a disk-shaped storage medium is mounted is moved up and down, and an arbitrary mounting member is moved to a stock position and a chucking position. And a disk exchange device capable of being transported between the two.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of an information storage device, a disk recording / reproducing device for reproducing music, movies, and the like using a disk-shaped storage medium such as a CD or a CD-ROM has been provided. As this type of disk recording / reproducing apparatus, for example, an MD player 1 as shown in FIG. 22 is known.

This MD player 1 accommodates three MDs (mini-discs) 2 at a time and plays three MDs continuously.
It has a function of reproducing the music recorded on the MDs in an arbitrary order. Therefore, the MD player 1 has a 3MD exchange device 3 capable of storing three MD2s, a transport mechanism for selecting and transporting an arbitrary MD2 between the 3MD exchange device 3 and the disk drive, and a transport mechanism. A recording / reproducing mechanism for recording or reproducing music or the like by chucking the MD2 conveyed by the mechanism in the storage medium mounting portion is provided.

[0004] The 3MD exchange device 3 is mounted at the center of the front of the device main body 4, and three cartridge insertion ports 5a, 5b, 5c are provided on the front thereof. These three cartridge insertion openings 5a to 5c are formed in three layers at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. Eject buttons 6a, 6b and 6c are provided on one side of each of the cartridge insertion ports 5a to 5c for individually ejecting the MD2 inserted into the corresponding cartridge insertion port 5a to 5c.

[0005] The front of the 3MD exchange device 3 can be opened and closed by an opening and closing lid 7 attached to the front of the device main body 4. On both sides of the opening / closing lid 7, a power button for turning on / off the power, a number of operation buttons 8 such as a feed button, a stop button and the like are arranged. By opening the opening / closing lid 7, the front of the 3MD exchange device 3 is exposed, and the cartridge insertion ports 5a to 5
By inserting MD2 individually from 5c, three M
D2 is stored and held in each of three cartridge storage sections in the apparatus main body 4.

[0006] Behind the 3MD exchange device 3 in the device main body 4, three MD2s stored at predetermined positions are arranged.
A transport mechanism for selectively taking out and transporting an arbitrary one of them is provided. In the vicinity of the transport mechanism, the information storage disk of the MD2 transported by the transport mechanism is chucked to read out a tone signal or the like and reproduce music or the like, or write a tone signal or the like and record music or the like. A recording / reproducing mechanism is provided.

[0007]

However, in the conventional MD player 1 as described above, it is necessary to select and take out an arbitrary MD2 from three MD2s stored in three cartridge storage sections. A motor for moving the take-out holder up and down, a motor for transporting the MD holder holding the taken-out MD2 to the storage medium mounting portion, and a spindle motor being moved in the storage medium mounting portion to chuck the MD2 And a total of three motors were used as drive sources. Therefore, since an independent motor is used for each operation such as the mounting and dismounting operation of the MD and the transporting operation of the MD, the number of motors used is large, the motor control becomes complicated, and the weight of the entire apparatus becomes heavy. There was a problem that it was uneconomical.

[0008] This means that instead of MD2 described above, CD
The same applies to a CD player using a disk storage medium such as. This type of CD player is provided with a plurality of disc trays on which a plurality of CDs are individually placed, a tray stocker holding the plurality of disc trays, and a slide member for moving the tray stocker up and down. ing. As the driving sources, a motor for moving the tray stocker up and down, a disc tray held by the tray stocker protruding forward of the apparatus main body, and a CD mounted on the disc tray are stored. A total of three motors are used: a motor for transporting the medium to the medium mounting section, and a motor for chucking the CD by moving the spindle motor in the storage medium mounting section. Similarly, the number of motors was large.

Therefore, the inventor of the present patent application has completed a mechanism for performing the above three types of operations with two motors. The mechanism is such that a single motor can perform a raising / lowering operation of a tray stocker holding a plurality of disk trays and a carrying operation of taking out and carrying the disk trays held by the tray stocker one by one. It was made. And, using one motor as a drive source,
During the recording and / or reproduction of the disk-shaped storage medium, the operation of replacing the disk-shaped storage medium (hereinafter referred to as "exchange")
e) ". As a result of making an effort to make this possible, an exchange mechanism having such a function was invented.

However, in the exchange mechanism, a plurality of cam grooves are provided on the slide member, and a plurality of cam pins slidably engaged with these cam grooves are provided on the tray stocker. By restricting the direction by a vertical groove provided in the mechanical chassis, the slide member is slid to move the tray stocker in the vertical direction. Therefore, in order to know the position (height) of the tray stocker, it is necessary to know the position of the slide member. Therefore, a switch means for detecting the position of the slide member and position detection means such as an optical sensor are required. Therefore, there is a problem that the position control until finally determining the position (height) of the tray stocker becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and the position (height) of the tray stocker is mechanically adjusted by raising and lowering the tray stocker by a fixed amount by intermittent rotation of the Geneva gear. An object of the present invention is to provide a disk exchange device that can be controlled easily and accurately, and to solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and the like, and to achieve the above-mentioned object, a first aspect of the present invention is described.
In the disk exchange device described above, a plurality of mounting members on each of which a disk-shaped storage medium for recording and / or reproducing information is mounted, and the plurality of mounting members are mounted on the mounting members. A storage means for storing the main surfaces of the disk-shaped storage medium substantially parallel to each other, a slide member for moving the storage means in a direction perpendicular to the main surface of the mounting member, and meshing with a rack provided on the slide member A driving gear, a Geneva gear for intermittently driving the driving gear, and a driving mechanism for driving the Geneva gear to rotate are provided, and the Geneva gear is rotated to move the storage means up and down.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the disk exchange device, the Geneva gear has a Geneva pin gear rotationally driven by a drive mechanism, and a Geneva groove gear intermittently rotated by a pin provided in the Geneva pin gear. The Geneva pin gear is provided with an operation section for operating a switch means for detecting the position of the storage means.

With the above construction, in the disk exchange apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the driving mechanism drives the Geneva gear to rotate, the drive gear rotates intermittently, and the rack meshed with the driving gear rotates. By sliding the slide member through the intermediate member, the storage means can be raised and lowered by a predetermined amount with one rotation of the Geneva gear, and the raising and lowering operation of the storage means can be controlled with high accuracy.

In the disk exchange apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention, when the driving mechanism drives the Geneva pin gear to rotate, the pin slides in the guide groove to intermittently rotate the Geneva groove gear, and the slide member is mounted. By moving the storage unit by a fixed amount, the storage unit is raised or lowered by a predetermined amount, and the position of the storage unit can be accurately controlled.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 21 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which information is recorded (written) and / or reproduced (read) using an optical disk such as a CD or a magneto-optical disk as a disk-shaped storage medium. The present invention is applied to a recording / reproducing disc recording / reproducing device showing a specific example of the information storage device.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention exploded for each block, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same disassembled for each part, and FIG. 3 is a chassis assembly and stocker assembly of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a three-dimensional structure, FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a tray storage state in which five disk trays are stored in a tray stocker at a stock position, and FIG.
6 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 7, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a state where the tray stocker is raised to the uppermost stage, FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an ejected state where the disk tray is pulled out, and FIG. 10 is a central longitudinal sectional view of a state in which the disk tray is moved to the storage medium mounting portion and chucked, and FIG. 11 is a central longitudinal sectional view of a disk exchange (exchange) state during reproduction of the disk.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a disk tray according to the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram comparing a disk tray of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention with a conventional disk tray. 14 is a perspective view of a tray stocker according to the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the same slide member, FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a power transmission path of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 18 is a side view showing a power transmission path of a chucking operation system, FIG. 19 is a side view showing a power transmission path of a slide member driving system, and FIG. 20 is a disk tray transportation system. And FIG. 21 is a perspective view of a stepped switching lever according to the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

This disk reproducing apparatus 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, a chassis 11 having a housing opened on the upper surface is provided. In the chassis 11, five optical disks D for both recording and reproduction, which are one specific example of a disk-shaped storage medium, are provided at one time. A tray stocker 12 showing a specific example of a storage means capable of stocking, and a disc showing a specific example of a storage medium driving device which chucks the optical disk D supplied from the tray stocker 12 and drives it to rotate at a predetermined speed. Writing (recording) of an information signal on the rotation drive device 13 and the optical disc D that is rotated at a predetermined speed.
An optical pickup device 14 for performing reading and / or reading (reproduction), a controller for controlling the operation of these devices, and other devices are built in.

The chassis 11 is formed of a rectangular box having an open upper surface, and has a substantially rectangular bottom plate 11a, a front plate 11b connected to the front of the bottom plate 11a, and both side portions of the bottom plate 11a. Left and right side plates 11c, 11
d and a rear plate 11e continuous with the rear of the bottom plate 11a. In the upper part of the front plate 11b of the chassis 11, a tray entrance 15 is provided, which is formed by an elongated opening extending in the horizontal direction by setting the height to be lower than the side plates 11c and 11d. On both sides of the tray entrance 15, a pair of tray guide portions 16, 16 that protrude forward outside the front plate 11 b and extend continuously rearward inside the front plate 11 b are provided.

The pair of tray guides 16, 16 support each side of the disc tray 17 which is a specific example of the mounting member in a direction intersecting with the transport direction of the disc tray 17 from below. Guide rails 16a and 16 extending in the tray transport direction, which is the front-back direction of the chassis 11,
a is provided so as to protrude upward. A front mounting base 18 is fastened and fixed to a front upper portion of the chassis 11 in association with the pair of tray guides 16 and 16 by a fixing screw 19 which is a specific example of a fixing means.

As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the front mounting base 18 is formed of a block-shaped member that is mounted so as to straddle the chassis 11 in the lateral direction. A pair of tray pressing portions 18a and 18b are provided so as to face the guide portions 16 and 16 in the vertical direction. When the disc tray 17 is ejected, the upper and lower tray guides 16, 16 and the tray pressing portions 18a, 18b support both sides so that the front portion of the disc tray 17 projects forward of the front plate 11b. Is held.

As shown in FIG. 5 and the like, a front detection arm 20 and a rear detection arm 21 for detecting the ingress and egress of the disc tray 17 are provided on one of the tray pressing portions 18a of the front mounting base 18 in the vertical direction. It is mounted so that it can swing. Each of the detection arms 20 and 21 has input portions 20a and 21a protruding on the movement locus of the disk tray 17, and a detection switch 22 is provided on the opposite side of the input portions 20a and 21a.
a and 22b are respectively arranged. By pushing up these detection arms 20 and 21 with the disk tray 17 to turn on and off the corresponding detection switches 22a and 22b, it is possible to detect that the disk tray 17 has passed the position where the switches are mounted. it can.

Further, a front feed gear 23 is rotatably mounted on one tray holding portion 18a of the front mounting base 18. A part of the front feed gear 23 protrudes above the tray guide portion 16, and the rack of the disk tray 17 is engaged with the protruding portion at the time of ejection. Due to the rotational force of the front feed gear 23, the disc tray 17 is moved forward or backward according to the rotational direction. Furthermore, one side plate 11 of the chassis 11
The shelf 11f is provided with a shelf 11f to which a side attachment base 25 described later is attached. And the other side plate 1
In 1d, two vertical grooves 26a and 26b are provided at predetermined intervals in the front-rear direction of the chassis 11 so as to extend in the vertical direction.

Further, as shown in FIG.
An opening / closing lid 27 for opening and closing the tray entrance 15 is mounted inside the pair of tray pressing portions 18a and 18b. The opening / closing lid 27 is formed of a plate elongated in the horizontal direction.
7a and 27a are provided. These shaft portions 27a,
In order to rotatably support 27a, a pair of bearing portions 28a, 28b are provided inside a pair of tray pressing portions 18a, 18b.
The open / close lid 27 is rotatably supported at both ends by the bearing portions 28a and 28b. Then, it is urged by the spring force of a coil spring 29 attached to one shaft portion 27a of the opening / closing lid 27, and
Is closed by the opening / closing lid 27.

As shown in FIG. 12, the disc tray 17 which is put in and taken out of the tray entrance 15 is made of a plate-like member larger than the optical disc D to be used. Mounting portion 30 having a large-diameter concave portion 30a on which the optical disc D is mounted and a small-diameter concave portion 30b on which an optical disc D having a diameter of 8 cm is mounted.
Is provided. At the center of the front portion of the disc tray 17, trapezoidal center projecting portions 17a are provided by providing square notches 31a and 31b on both sides thereof. A pair of supported portions 17b and 17c are provided on the opposite side of the central protruding portion 17a so as to protrude outward from the disk mounting portion 30 in parallel with each other.

The disc tray 17 is provided with an opening hole 34 as a specific example of a slit-shaped opening from the center to the rear of the disc mounting portion 30. The opening hole 34 is for inserting the turntable 33 of the disk rotation drive device 13 in the tray mounted state. At the stock position before the tray mounting, whether the optical disk D is mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 is determined. It becomes a light path of a photodetector for detecting the above. In the portion of the disc tray 17 surrounded by the back of the disc mounting portion 30 and the pair of supported portions 17b and 17c, two pieces of the two pieces arranged in the vertical direction while avoiding contact with a cam member, a gear, and the like described later. An escape portion 35 for shortening the length of the disc tray 17 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 13, the central projection 17a of the other disk tray 17 can be inserted into the clearance 35 of one disk tray 17. In this manner, by arranging the two disk trays 17 in the vertical direction, compared to the case of arranging two conventional disk trays 37 having no notch on both sides at the front in the vertical direction, the whole of the disk tray 17 is arranged in the vertical direction. The length can be reduced by the distance S. Accordingly, the distance between the stock position of the disk tray 17 and the disk rotation drive device 13 is shortened to shorten the depth direction, and the overall size of the device can be reduced.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, guide grooves 38a and 38b are provided on both side edges in the direction intersecting with the transport direction of the disk tray 17 so as to open to the lower surface side and extend straight in the front-rear direction. . These guide grooves 38a and 38b regulate the lateral movement of the disc tray 17 and allow the disc tray 1
The guide rails 16a, 16a provided on the pair of tray guides 16, 16 of the chassis 11 are slidably inserted into the guide grooves 38a, 38b at the time of ejection. Is done.

On one side edge of the disk tray 17, a rack 39 is provided which is formed from the front end and reaches the rear end of the supported portion 17b. In the vicinity of the rear end of the supported portion 17b, a V-shaped concave portion 41 is provided as a positioning portion that is positioned by a slider 40 described later. Further, the supported portion 1 of the disc tray 17
In the vicinity of 7b, a lock hole 42 for locking the disc tray 17 to prevent the disc tray 17 from moving is provided.

The five disk trays 17 having such a configuration are stored in the tray stocker 12 with the information recording surfaces which are the main surfaces of the optical disk D mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 substantially parallel to each other. ing. The tray stocker 12 has a disk tray 17 as shown in FIG.
A base plate 12a formed slightly wider than the base plate 12a, and left and right side plates 12b and 12c attached so as to stand up on both sides in the width direction of the base plate 12a. Each side plate 12b and 12c is provided with a fixing screw 43a. And is integrally formed by fixing means.

Each side plate 12 of the tray stocker 12
Inside the b and 12c, five shelf pieces 12d and 12d are provided at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction so as to be parallel to each other. The uppermost shelf piece 12d serves to prevent the disk tray 17 housed in the uppermost stage from being pulled out, and the tray storage portion formed between the respective shelf pieces 12d and the lowermost shelf piece 12d are connected to the bottom surface. The left and right side edges of the disc tray 17 are movably held by the tray storage section surrounded by. Further, the one side plate 12b is provided with an opening window 45 into which the middle feed gear 44 is inserted. The opening windows 45 are respectively opened in five tray storage sections, and the middle feed gear 44 enters the tray storage section from a corresponding hole according to the elevation position of the tray stocker 12, and the disk tray held at that level. 17 is detachably engaged with the rack 39.

As shown in FIG. 2, a stopper plate 46 is attached to the front of the tray stocker 12 by a fixing means such as a fixing screw 43b. The stopper plate 46 restricts the tray stocker 12 from moving forward. An upper surface plate 46 is stretched between the left and right side plates 12b and 12c, and the upper surface plate 46 is fixed to an upper portion of the both side plates 12b and 12c by a plurality of fixing screws 43c. Further, a light passing hole 49 for passing light of a photodetector 48 to be described later is provided at a substantially central portion of the bottom plate 12a. In the light passage hole 49, the chassis 11
The sensor holding portion 11h provided on the bottom plate 11a is inserted. Further, guide pins 50 are provided on both sides of the bottom plate 12a.
The two screw holes 51 into which the screw portions are screwed are provided at predetermined intervals in the front-rear direction.

The tray stocker 1 having such a configuration
2 is placed on the slide member 53. As shown in FIG. 15, the slide member 53 is
It has a lower surface plate 53a formed to be slightly wider than it, and left and right side plates 53b and 53c formed so as to rise upward continuously to the left and right of the lower surface plate 53a. Guide holes 54, 55 for moving the slide member 53 in the front-rear direction are formed in the lower surface plate 53a of the slide member 53.
Are provided at two places. Of the two guide holes, one
One of the guide holes 54 is arranged at a substantially central portion of the front part of the lower surface plate 53a, and the other one of the guide holes 55 is arranged at the rear part with a slight offset to one side.

At the front of these guide holes 54 and 55, wide-opening portions 54a and 55a for inserting a head for retaining are provided.
Is provided. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, a sensor holding portion 11h provided on the bottom plate 11a of the chassis 11 is inserted into one guide hole 54, and a guide protrusion provided on the bottom plate 11a is inserted into the other guide hole 55. 11i is inserted. The slide member 53 guided by the sensor holding portion 11h and the guide protrusion 11i is
1 is slidably supported in the front-rear direction.
Further, a notch 53d extending in the front-rear direction is provided at a rear portion of the bottom plate 11a and between the guide hole 55 and one side plate 53b, and the guide hole 55 and the other side plate 53c are provided.
A notch 53e for preventing contact with a cam member or the like described later is provided between the notches 53e. On one side edge of the one notch 53d, a rack 57 is provided in which teeth meshing with a drive gear 56 described later are continued in the front-rear direction.

The left and right side plates 5 of the slide member 53
3b, 53c are provided with two elevating cam grooves 58, 58 in front and rear, respectively, with a predetermined gap in the front-rear direction. These elevating cam grooves 58, 58 are formed by step-like long holes having the same shape and size, and are arranged so as to face each other between the left and right side plates 53b, 53c. A guide pin 50 screwed and fixed to the tray stocker 12 is slidably inserted into each of the elevating cam grooves 58.

The guide pin 50 is formed of a screw member having a stepped shaft portion, and the shaft portion slides in the elevating cam groove 58. The guide pin 50 is inserted into the two elevating cam grooves 58 of the one side plate 53b after penetrating a vertical groove provided in a side mounting base 66, which will be described later. It is screwed into the hole 51. Also, two lift cam grooves 58 of the other side plate 53c have
After passing through the vertical grooves 26a and 26b provided in the chassis 11, the guide pin 50 is inserted, and the screw portion at the tip is screwed into the screw hole 51 of the base 12a.

The elevation cam grooves 58 are composed of five horizontal portions 58a provided at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction and four inclined portions 58b obliquely communicating the upper and lower horizontal portions 58a.
The five horizontal portions 58a are formed to have the same height corresponding to the five tray storage portions of the tray stocker 12. The above-mentioned tray entrance 15 is formed corresponding to the height of the tray stocker 12.

That is, when the four guide pins 50 inserted in the respective lifting cam grooves 58 are located at the lowermost first horizontal portion 58a, the uppermost tray storage portion of the tray stocker 12 is located at the tray entrance / exit. The height is set to be substantially the same as 15. And the four guide pins 50
When the tray is moved to the horizontal portion 58a, the tray stocker 12 is lifted by a predetermined amount, and the lowermost tray storage section coincides with the tray entrance 15.

The vertical movement of the tray stocker 12 includes two vertical grooves 26a and 26b provided on one side plate 11d of the chassis 11, two vertical grooves provided on the side mounting base 66, and a slide member. This is realized by the four lifting cam grooves 58 provided in 53. That is, the tray stocker 12 is supported by the vertical grooves 26a and 26b so as to be able to move up and down only in the vertical direction with respect to the chassis 11, while the slide member 53 is supported so as to be movable only in the front and rear direction with respect to the chassis 11. By moving the slide member 53 in the front-rear direction,
a, 26b, the guide pins 50, 50 and the elevating cam grooves 58,
The tray stocker 12 is moved up and down in the vertical direction through the action of the stocker elevating mechanism consisting of 58.

In order to allow the disk tray 17 housed in the tray stocker 12 to enter and exit through the tray entrance 15, an eject position, the tray stocker 12, and the storage medium mounting A tray transport mechanism 60 that transports the disk tray 17 is provided between the first and second units. The tray transport mechanism 60 constitutes a disk tray transport system.
As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, a drive motor 61 as a drive source
A rubber-belt-type reduction mechanism 62 for reducing the number of rotations of the drive motor 61 to increase the transmission torque; and three feed gears 23, 44, 63 driven by the torque transmitted from the rubber-belt reduction mechanism 62. And the like, and a power transmission path as shown in FIG. 17 and the like is configured.

The drive motor 61 of the tray transport mechanism 60
As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, is fixed to a side mounting base 66 which is mounted on a shelf 11f of one side plate 11c of the chassis 11 with a plurality of fixing screws 65a. A rotation shaft 61a of the drive motor 61 projects from the upper surface of the side mounting base 66, and a drive pulley 67 is attached to the rotation shaft 61a. The drive pulley 67 has three belt hooks provided at predetermined intervals in the axial direction, and rubber belts 68a, 68b, 68c as endless power transmission media are hung on each belt hook. I have.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 16, the other end of the first rubber belt 68a hung on the center belt hanger of the driving pulley 67 extends to the front side of the chassis 11 and is attached to the side. Support shaft 69 erected at the front of base 66
a, which is hung on a front driven pulley 70a rotatably supported by a. The front driven pulley 70a is integrally provided with a front output gear 70b.
Ob is meshed with the large diameter portion 71a of the front intermediate gear 71. The front intermediate gear 71 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 69b erected on the front side of the support shaft 69a, and is provided with a small diameter portion 71b integrally with the large diameter portion 71a. The small-diameter portion 71b of the front intermediate gear 71 is meshed with the front feed gear 23 described above.

The other end of the second rubber belt 68b hung on the lower belt hanger of the drive pulley 67 extends to the rear of the chassis 11 and stands upright in the middle of the side mounting base 66. And is hung on a center driven pulley 72a rotatably supported by the support shaft 69c. A swing arm 73, which is also rotatably supported by a support shaft 69c, is disposed below the middle driven pulley 72a, and a central output gear 72b provided integrally with the middle driven pulley 72a on the swing arm 73. It is placed. The large-diameter portion 74a of the middle intermediate gear 74 is meshed with the middle output gear 72b, and the small-diameter portion 74b is provided integrally with the large-diameter portion 74a. The small diameter portion 7 of the middle intermediate gear 74
The above-mentioned middle feed gear 44 is meshed with 4b.

The middle feed gear 44 and the middle intermediate gear 74 are rotatably supported by shafts 73c and 73d provided on one arm piece 73a of the swing arm 73, respectively. Therefore, the middle feed gear 44 and the middle intermediate gear 74
The middle output gear 7 is driven by the swing operation of the swing arm 73.
It is configured to rotate around 2b. And
When the swing arm 73 rotates clockwise in FIG. 4, the middle feed gear 44 is rotated inward, enters the tray storage section through the opening window 45 provided in the tray stocker 12, and is held in the tray storage section. Is engaged with the rack 39 of the disc tray 17. An operating pin 73e projecting downward is provided on the other arm piece 73b of the swing arm 73.

Further, the other end of the third rubber belt 68c hung on the upper belt hanger of the drive pulley 67 extends to the rear of the chassis 11 and stands upright at the rear of the side mounting base 66. And is hung on a rear driven pulley 75a rotatably supported by the support shaft 69c. The rear driven pulley 75a is integrally provided with a rear output gear 75b, and the rear output gear 75b is provided with a rear intermediate gear 76.
Are engaged with each other. The large diameter portion 76a of the rear intermediate gear 76 is integrally provided with a small diameter portion 76b. The rear intermediate gear 76 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 77 a erected on the chassis 11. Further, below the rear intermediate gear 76, a support shaft 77 is also provided.
A stepped switching lever 78 rotatably supported by a is disposed, and the small diameter portion 76b is mounted on the stepped switching lever 78.

As shown in FIG. 21, the stepped switching lever 78 has a cylindrical tubular shaft portion 78a and two arm portions 78b and 78c protruding from the tubular shaft portion 78a.
The first arm portion 78b is provided with an operation pin 78d projecting upward, and the second arm portion 78c is provided with an inclined surface 78e inclined in the circumferential direction. An upper surface portion 78f and a lower surface portion 78g are set on both sides of the inclined surface 78e, and a step having a predetermined height is provided between the upper and lower surfaces 78f, 78g. The second arm portion 78c is provided with a long hole 79 that reaches the lower surface portion 78g from the upper surface portion 78f via the inclined surface 78e.

The long hole 79 of the stepped switching lever 78 is formed in an arc shape centering on the axis of the cylindrical portion 78a, and the support shaft 77b erected on the chassis 11 is slidably inserted therethrough. . An elevating gear 80 is rotatably supported by the support shaft 77b, and is urged toward the second arm 78c by the spring force of a coil spring 81a. This lifting gear 80
Large-diameter portion 8 meshed with small-diameter portion 76b of rear intermediate gear 76
0a and a small diameter portion 80b integrally provided below the large diameter portion 80a. The lifting gear 80 is moved up and down along the inclined surface 78e against the urging force of the coil spring 81a by the rotation of the stepped switching lever 78, and the upper surface portion 78f
An upper upper position and a lower position on the lower surface portion 78g can be taken. Before and after this elevating operation, the elevating gear 80
Is always meshed with the small diameter portion 76b of the rear intermediate gear 76.

A movable gear 82 is detachably engaged with the large diameter portion 80a of the lifting gear 80. The movable gear 82 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 77c provided upright on the chassis 11, and is urged toward the bottom plate 11a of the chassis 11 by the spring force of a coil spring 81b. Below the movable gear 82, an operation arm 8 provided on a swing frame 83 described later.
3a are opposed to each other, and the operation arm 83a swings up and down to move up and down against the urging force of the coil spring 81b. Before and after the elevating operation, the movable gear 82 is meshed with the large diameter portion 80a when the elevating gear 80 is at the upper position, and is disengaged from the large diameter portion 80a when moved to the lower position. .

The movable gear 82 has a side mounting base 6
A rear feed gear 63 rotatably supported by 6 is engaged with the rear feed gear 63. The rear feed gear 63 is always meshed with the movable gear 82 before and after the operation of moving the movable gear 82 up and down. The other ends of the two coil springs 81a and 81b are
It is seated on a spring receiving piece 66a provided on the side mounting base 66.

Thus, in FIGS. 4, 8 and 9,
When the drive motor 61 rotates clockwise as indicated by the solid line, all three driven pulleys 70a, 72a, and 75a are driven to rotate clockwise from the drive pulley 67 via the three rubber belts 68a to 68c. As a result, in the front conveyance section to which the torque is transmitted from the front driven pulley 70a, the front feed gear 23 is driven to rotate clockwise via the output gear 70b and the intermediate gear 71. Also, the middle driven pulley 72a
The output gear 72 in the central transport section to which torque is transmitted from
The middle feed gear 44 is driven to rotate clockwise through the intermediate gear 74 and the intermediate gear 74. Then, in the rear conveyance section to which the torque is transmitted from the rear driven pulley 75a, the rear feed gear 63 is similarly rotationally driven clockwise via the output gear 75b, the intermediate gear 76, the elevating gear 80, and the movable gear 82.

At this time, the front feed gear 23 of the front conveyance section
And the central feed gear 44 of the central transport section are directly connected to the output gear 70b and the output gear 72b, respectively, so that the two feed gears 23 and 44 are always driven to rotate. On the other hand, in the rear conveyance section, the space between the elevating gear 80 and the movable gear 82 can be intermittently engaged with each other.
Depending on the presence or absence of the engagement, the rear feed gear 63 is driven to rotate or is in a stationary state.

The front feed gear 23 and the rear feed gear 63 are supported at a predetermined position on the chassis 11 and are located on the movement locus of the rack 39 provided on the disk tray 17, so that the disk is located at that position. When the tray 17 moves, it is always engaged with the rack 39. on the other hand,
Since the middle feed gear 44 is supported by the swing arm,
In accordance with the swing movement of the swing arm, the swing arm protrudes on the movement trajectory of the rack 39, and can engage with the rack 39 only at that time.

The tray transport mechanism 6 having such a configuration
Plural disc trays 17 taken in and out by 0
A swing frame 83 supported swingably with respect to the chassis 11 is disposed behind the tray stocker 12 in which is stored. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and the like, the swing frame 83 is formed of a substantially rectangular frame, and the above-described operation arm 83a is provided at a lower front portion of one side surface so as to protrude forward. At the rear upper portion on both sides of the swing frame 83, a rotation shaft portion 83b serving as a rotation center with respect to the chassis 11 is provided. This rotating shaft 8
3b is rotatably supported by a bearing support provided on the chassis 11, so that the swing frame 83 is configured to be tiltable forward and downward with respect to the chassis 11. Further, a lock pin 117 projecting upward is provided on the upper surface of the swing frame 83. The lock pin 117 is used to hold the disc tray 17 during chucking.
This locks the disc tray 17 to restrict the movement.

To secure the tilting operation of the swing frame 83, an opening window 84 slightly larger than the swing frame 44 is provided on the bottom plate 11a of the chassis 11. The lower front portion of the swing frame 83 projects downward from the opening window 84 only when the front frame is lowered, that is, before chucking. A sub chassis 86 is elastically supported inside the swing frame 83 via four mount members 85. The disk rotation drive device 13 and the optical pickup device 14 are mounted on the sub-chassis 86. The mounting member 85 is formed of a hollow gourd-shaped cylindrical body formed of a rubber-like elastic body.
The sub-chassis 86 is elastically supported by the mount members 85 to prevent the vibration of the chassis 11 from being transmitted to the disk rotation driving device 13 and the like.

The disk rotation driving device 13 has a spindle motor 87 fixed to the front of the sub-chassis 86, and the turntable 33 is attached to the tip of a rotation shaft set upward of the spindle motor 87. I have. The turntable 33 is set so as to be substantially parallel to the upper surface of the sub-chassis 86,
At the center of the upper surface, a centering guide into which the center hole of the optical disc D is fitted is provided.

Behind the spindle motor 87, the optical pickup device 14 is supported by one guide shaft 88a and one guide plate 88b on both sides so as to be movable forward and backward. Both ends of one guide shaft 88a are fixed to the sub-chassis 48, and the other guide plate 88b is fixed to the sub-chassis 86 so as to be parallel to each other. The carriage 14 a of the optical pickup device 14 slidably supported by the guide shaft 88 a and the guide plate 88 b is configured to be able to approach and separate from the turntable 33.

An optical head 14c on which an objective lens 14b is installed upward is attached to the upper part of the carriage 14a. The laser light emitted from the objective lens 14b is applied to the information recording surface of the optical disc D chucked on the turntable 33, and the laser light reflected from the information recording surface is transmitted through the objective lens 14b to the optical head. 14c. Objective lens 14b
The center of the turntable 33 (spindle motor 87) is set on the movement locus of the center of the disc tray 17, and the objective lens 14b can move in the front-rear direction at the rear of the optical disc D mounted on the turntable 33. Have been.

[0059] Above the turntable 33, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 11 and the like, a disc clamper 89 that holds the optical disc D between the turntable 33 and is integrated in the rotation direction is disposed. The disc clamper 89 is held by a rear mounting base 90 arranged so as to cover the upper part of the swing frame 83 with a certain play in the vertical and horizontal directions and in the front and rear directions. The rear mounting base 90 is mounted at the rear of the chassis 11 so as to bridge between the left and right side plates 11c and 11d, and is fixedly fastened with a plurality of fixing screws 19a.

A disk clamper 89 is disposed substantially at the center of the rear mounting base 90. The disc clamper 89 includes a cylindrical shaft portion vertically extending through a hole provided in the rear mounting base 90, a flange-shaped pressing plate provided at a lower end portion of the cylindrical shaft portion, and a disk clamper 89 attached to and detached from the upper end portion of the cylindrical shaft portion. And a mounting plate mounted so as to be capable of being mounted. A chucking magnet is housed inside the cylindrical shaft portion, and the disc clamper 89 is attracted to the turntable 33 by the attracting force of the magnet. Thereby, the optical disc D mounted on the turntable 33 is
The disk clamper 89 and the turntable 33 sandwich the disk from above and below, and are driven to rotate in this chucking state.

Also, as shown in FIG. 5 and the like, on one side of the rear mounting base 90, whether or not the disk tray 17 has been moved to the storage medium mounting portion where information signals are recorded and / or reproduced. A front detection arm 91 and a rear detection arm 92 for detecting the position are mounted so as to be swingable in the vertical direction. Each of the detection arms 91 and 92 is provided with the disc tray 17.
Input portions 91a and 92a protruding on the movement locus of
A detection switch 2 is provided on the opposite side of these input sections 91a and 92a.
2c and 22d are arranged respectively. The detection arms 91 and 92 are pushed up by the disk tray 17 to turn on / off the corresponding detection switches 22c and 22d, thereby detecting that the disk tray 17 has passed the position where the switches are mounted. it can.

Also, one side plate 11d of the chassis 11
Rear guide rails 93a and 93b supporting both sides of the disc tray 17 conveyed from the rear of the tray stocker 12 to the turntable 33 side are provided on the inner surface of the side mounting base 66 and the inner surface of the side mounting base 66. The rear guide rails 93a and 93b are set at substantially the same height as the tray entrance 15 surrounded by the pair of tray guides 16 and 16 and the tray pressing portions 18a and 18b.

A cam pin 94 projecting forward is provided at the upper center of the front surface of the swing frame 83 described above.
The tip of the cam pin 94 is formed in a spherical shape to reduce sliding frictional resistance. The cam pin 94 is slidably engaged with a cam groove 96 of a cam member 95 disposed in front of the cam pin 94.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the like, the cam member 95 is composed of a rotating body having a cam groove 96 extending helically on the outer peripheral surface.
5a is provided, and an end face cam 95b is provided on the upper surface. The cam groove 96 of the cam member 95 has a slope 96a inclined at a predetermined angle, and an upper horizontal portion 96b and a lower horizontal portion 96c which are continuous on both sides of the slope 96a. The inclined portion 96a of the cam groove 96 is a long groove that descends to the right. An upper horizontal portion 96b is formed at a high position on the left side of the inclined portion 96a.
A lower horizontal portion 96c is formed at a lower position on the right side of a. The upper horizontal portion 96b of the cam groove 96 is set at the same height position as the horizontal state of the swing frame 83, and the swing frame 8 has a height difference from the lower horizontal portion 96c.
3 is in the state of falling forward.

The cam member 95 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 77d erected on the bottom plate 11a of the chassis 11 with the cam gear 95a disposed below. The cam gear 95a of the cam member 95 is meshed with an output gear 98 located at the end of the power transmission path in the cam drive mechanism 97 of the chucking operation system. The output gear 98 is meshed with the small diameter portion 99a of the intermediate gear 99, and the large diameter portion 99b is provided integrally with the small diameter portion 99a. The driving gear 1 is provided on the large diameter portion 99b of the output gear 98.
00a is engaged.

The driven gear 100a has a driven pulley 100b
Are provided integrally, and one end of an endless rubber belt 68d is hung on the driven pulley 100b. The other end of the rubber belt 68d extends rearward and is hung on a driving pulley 101a.
“a” is fixed to the rotation shaft of the cam drive motor 101.
The cam drive motor 101 is fixed inside the side plate 11d of the chassis 11, and includes a drive gear 100a, an intermediate gear 9
The output gear 9 and the output gear 98 are rotatably supported by support shafts provided on the bottom plate 11a.

The end cam 95b provided on the upper surface of the cam member 95 is formed by an annular groove which is displaced to one side about the center of rotation of the cam member 95, and is determined by the amount of displacement of this annular groove in the radial direction. Set the distance stroke. A convex portion 40a protruding from the back surface of the slider 40 is slidably engaged with the end surface cam 95b.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the slider 40 is made of a plate-like member that is long in the horizontal direction, and has two long holes 40 extending in the horizontal direction at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction.
b, 40c are provided. One elongated hole 40b of the slider 40 is provided with a support shaft 77d for supporting the cam member 95.
Mounting screw 10 which is opposed to the top of
By 2a, falling off is prevented while guiding the movement in the lateral direction. The other long hole 40c of the slider 40 extends above the support shaft 77e erected on the chassis 11, and is attached to the top by a mounting screw 102b.
Similarly, dropout is prevented while guiding lateral movement.

An arm piece 40d is provided on the side of the side mounting base 66 of the slider 40.
The two operating rings 103a, 103 forming an annular shape are provided at the tip of Od.
03b and a positioning piece 104 are provided. FIG.
7, one operation ring 103 of the slider 40
The operation pin 73e of the swing arm 73 described above is loosely inserted into a, and the operation pin 78d of the stepped switching lever 78 is loosely inserted into the other operation ring 103b. The positioning piece 104 of the slider 40 positions the disk tray 17 at the storage position, and engages with the positioning recess 41 of the disk tray 17 so as to limit the movement in the front-rear direction.

On the front side of the slider 40, a lifting shutter 105 is supported so as to be able to move up and down. The lifting shutter 105 is for preventing the optical disk D mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 of the disk tray 17 from moving toward the storage medium mounting portion due to disturbance such as vibration. The upper portion of the elevating shutter 105 is protruded above the upper end surface of the cam member 95, and is lowered by a predetermined amount when the disc tray 17 is conveyed to the storage medium mounting portion side so that the disc tray 17 can pass therethrough. ing.

For this purpose, the elevating shutter 105 is provided with a pair of left and right inclined guide holes 106, 106. The guide holes 106, 106 have the slider 40
Are slidably engaged with each other. A spring 108 is stretched between the slider 40 and the elevating shutter 105.
5 is constantly urged toward the side mounting base 66. In order to restrict the horizontal movement of the lifting shutter 105,
A stopper 109 is provided upright on the bottom plate 11 a of the chassis 11. The lifting shutter 105 is moved by the stopper 109.
Of the guide pin 107,
When the guide holes 106 and 106 are moved downward by being guided by the 107, the lifting shutter 105 is pushed down as a whole and moves downward.

A Geneva pin gear 110, which constitutes one of the Geneva gears, is rotatably supported on a support shaft 77f that supports the side mounting base 66 of the slider 40. As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, etc., the Geneva pin gear 110 includes a cam convex portion 110a that is formed in a fan shape,
It has a cam pin 110b provided radially outside of the cam projection 110a, and a switch operation section 110c formed by expanding the cam projection 110a downward. Geneva groove gear 11 constituting the other of the Geneva gear
Reference numeral 1 denotes a cross-shaped cam groove 111a with which the cam pin 110b is slidably engaged, a stopper curved surface 111b which slides on the outer peripheral surface of the cam projection 110a to prevent transmission of rotational force, and Gear portion 111c formed integrally
And

The gear portion 111c of the Geneva groove gear 111
Is engaged with the large-diameter portion 112a of the drive gear 112. The large diameter portion 112a is provided integrally with a small diameter portion 112b, and the small diameter portion 112b is engaged with the rack 57 of the slide member 53 described above. The drive gear 112 and the Geneva groove gear 111 are rotatably supported by a support shaft erected on the chassis 11.

Further, as shown in FIG. 19, a coil spring 113 is loosely fitted to the Geneva pin gear 110,
One end is pressed against the lower surface of the slider 40 via the sleeve 114. By releasing the cam pin 112b from the cam groove 111a against the urging force of the coil spring 113, an excessive load is prevented from being applied between the Geneva pin gear 110 and the Geneva groove gear 111.

As shown in FIG. 1, a middle mounting base 115 is mounted between the front mounting base 18 and the rear mounting base 90 with a plurality of fixing screws 19b.
A light receiving sensor 48b that constitutes one of the photodetectors 48 is attached to the middle attachment base 115 via an attachment bracket 116. A light emitting sensor 48a is attached to a sensor holding portion 11h provided on the bottom plate 11a of the chassis 11 so as to face the light receiving sensor 48b. The light transmitted between the light emitting sensor 48a and the light receiving sensor 448b is set at a position passing through the center hole of the optical disc D placed on the disc tray 17 stored in the tray stocker 12. The light from the light detection sensor 48 is transmitted to the optical disc D placed on the disc tray 17.
In this case, it is possible to know that the optical disk D is placed on the disk tray 17.

The disk recording / reproducing apparatus 10 having such a configuration is used, for example, in the following manner to mount and discharge the optical disk D to and from the five disk trays 17 and to perform the operation of the five stacked layers. A desired one optical disc D is selected and taken out of the five optical discs D placed on each disc loading section 30 of the disc tray 17, and recording or reproduction of an information signal such as music performance is performed. At the same time, it is possible to execute a so-called exchange function of exchanging the optical disk D mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 of another disk tray 17 during the recording or reproduction.

FIGS. 4 to 6 show the storage state of the disk tray 17 as the initial state of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus 10. FIG. In this tray storage state, the swing frame 83 is in the forward lowered state, and the disc clamper supported by the turntable 33 of the disc rotation driving device 13 held by the swing frame 83 and the rear mounting base 90. A gap large enough for one disc tray 17 to enter is provided between the disc tray 89 and the disc tray 89. The tray stocker 12 holding the five disk trays 17 is located at the lowermost end. At this time, the uppermost tray storage section is opposed to the tray entrance 15.

Since the projection 40a engaged with the end cam 95b of the cam member 95 is located outside the end cam 95b, the slider 40 has been moved to the side mounting base 66 side. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, the operation pins 73e and 78d inserted into the two operation rings 103a and 103b of the slider 40 are both at positions displaced outward. Therefore, the middle feed gear 44 located on the other end side of the operation pin 73e is connected to the opening window 45 of the tray stocker 12.
From the tray storage section, and is engaged with the rack 39 of the disk tray 17 held therein.

First, after the power switch is turned on to supply power to the electric system, a tray operation switch of a group of operation switches mounted on a front panel (not shown) disposed on the front of the chassis 11 is operated. The desired disk tray 17 is advanced to protrude forward from the tray entrance 15. At this time, for example, when the disc tray 17 located at the fifth stage, which is the uppermost stage, is projected, the projecting operation can be executed as it is from this initial state, but it is located at a stage lower than the fourth stage. Disc tray 17
When the disc tray 17 is to be protruded, a stocker elevating mechanism, which will be described later, needs to be moved up and down before the disc tray 17 is protruded.

In this case, when the tray operation switch is turned on, the drive motor 61 of the tray transport mechanism 60 is driven by the operation of a control device (not shown), and the rotational force of the drive motor 61 is transmitted from the drive pulley 67a to the three rubber belts 68a to 68a. 68c at each transport unit before, during, and after
It is transmitted to the driven pulleys 70a, 72a, 75a, respectively. As a result, in the front conveyance section and the middle conveyance section, the feed gears 23 and 44 are driven to rotate via the output gears 70b and 72b and the intermediate gears 71 and 74, respectively. Further, in the rear conveyance section, the output gear 75b and the intermediate gear 7 are provided.
6, feed gear 6 via lifting gear 80 and movable gear 82
3 is driven to rotate.

Thus, the disc tray 17 is moved forward by the rotational force of the middle feed gear 44 meshing with the rack 39 of the disc tray 17. When the disk tray 17 moves a little forward, the front end of the rack 39 meshes with the front feed gear 23 and is further moved by the rotational force of both feed gears 23 and 44. And the disc tray 17
Abuts on the opening / closing lid 27, and the opening / closing lid 27 is tilted forward to open the tray entrance 15. Thereafter, the middle feed gear 44 separates from the rack 39, and thereafter, the disc tray 17 is moved forward by the rotational force of the front feed gear 23. When the disk tray 17 projects to a predetermined position, the position is changed to the front and rear detection arms 20 and 21 and the detection switch 2 attached to the front mounting base 18.
The driving motor 61 is stopped based on the detection signal.

In this ejected state, substantially the entire disc mounting portion 30 of the disc tray 17 is
The optical disk having a diameter of 8 cm can be easily placed in the small-diameter concave portion 30b of the disk mounting portion 30 and the optical disk having a diameter of 12 cm can be smoothly placed in the large-diameter concave portion 30a. . The disk tray 17 is a pair of tray guides 1 of the chassis 11.
6, 16 and a pair of tray holding portions 1 of the front mounting base 18
Since the supported portions 17b and 17c are held from above and below by 8a and 18b, the disk tray 17 can be firmly supported while protruding as far forward as possible.

As a result, the ejection amount of the disc tray 17 can be sufficiently large, so that the optical disc D can be easily taken out from the disc mounting portion 30. Moreover, it is provided on the tray guide section 16.
16a enter the guide grooves 38a, 38b provided on both sides of the disc tray 17, and these guide rails 1
Since the disc tray 17 is guided by 6a, the disc tray 17 can be moved straight forward and smoothly.

After the desired optical disk D is mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 of the disk tray 17 in this way, when the tip of the disk tray 17 is lightly pressed or the tray operation switch is turned on, the drive motor 61 Are rotated in the reverse direction, and the torque of the drive motor 61 is transmitted from the front feed gear 23 to the rack 39. As a result, the disk tray 17 is drawn into the chassis 11, passes through the tray entrance 15 through the tray storage section of the tray stocker 12, and is conveyed as it is to the recording medium mounting section side.

At this time, when the optical disk D is mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 of the disk tray 17 passing through the tray stocker 12, the optical disk D is detected by the photodetector. In this case, the photodetector 48
The light emitting sensor 48a and the light receiving sensor 48b are arranged so as to face the movement locus of the center hole of the optical disc D, so that light is interrupted once while the optical disc D moves from the eject position to the stock position. By checking whether or not the optical disk D is present, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of the optical disk D.

That is, after the light from the photodetector 48 is cut off by the information recording surface of the optical disk D, the light passes through the information recording surface to reach the center hole and is transmitted again. The presence or absence of the optical disk D can be detected by the off operation. Therefore, according to the photodetector 48, the presence or absence of the optical disk D can be accurately and reliably determined regardless of whether the optical disk D is 12 cm or 8 cm. For example, when an optical disk D of 8 cm is mounted so as to protrude from the small-diameter concave portion 30b of the disk mounting portion 30, the information recording surface of the optical disk D is located at a position through which light passes. It is possible to detect a disc rag.

Next, by the rotational force of the middle feed gear 44,
When the disc tray 17 moves rearward through the tray storage section of the tray stocker 12 and the rear portion of the rack 39 is engaged with the rear feed gear 63, the disc tray 17 is moved by the rotational force of both feed gears 44 and 63. You. Then, when the middle feed gear 44 separates from the rack 39, the disc tray 17 is thereafter moved only by the rotational force of the rear feed gear 63. As a result, when the disk tray 17 moves to a predetermined position of the storage medium mounting portion, the position is detected by the front and rear detection arms 91 and 92 and the detection switches 22c and 22d attached to the rear mounting base 90, and the detection signal is output. The drive motor 61 is stopped based on the result.

Thereafter, the optical disk D is placed on the turntable 3
3 is performed. This disc chucking operation is performed by the operation of the cam drive mechanism 97. First, the cam drive motor 101 is driven,
The rotational force of the cam drive motor 101 is
a to the rubber belt 68d, the driven pulley 100b, the drive gear 100a, the large-diameter portion 99b and the small-diameter portion 99a of the intermediate gear.
, And transmitted to the cam gear 95a via the output gear 98. Thereby, when the cam gear 95a is rotationally driven,
The rotation of the cam groove 96 causes the cam pin 94 to move the lower horizontal portion 96c of the cam groove 96 toward the inclined portion 96a. And
After the cam pin 94 enters the inclined portion 96a, it is gradually pushed up by the inclined portion 96a and moves upward, so that the swing frame 83 rotates its rotation shaft portion 83b according to the amount of rise of the cam pin 94. It is pivoted upward as a center.

At this time, by the upward rotation of the swing frame 83, the spindle motor 87 supported by the swing frame 83 via the sub-chassis 86 is gradually pushed up, and the turn is fixed to the rotation shaft. The table 33 is inserted into an opening hole 34 provided substantially at the center of the disc tray 17. The turntable 33 approaches the optical disk D mounted on the disk mounting portion 30 from below and enters into the center hole.
Push up.

When the cam pin 94 reaches the upper end of the inclined portion 96a, the optical disk D mounted on the turntable 33 becomes substantially horizontal, and the disk clamper 89 disposed above the turntable 33.
Is attracted to the turntable 33 by the attraction force of a magnet incorporated therein. This is the chucking state shown in FIG. As a result, the optical disk D is sandwiched between the turntable 33 and the disk clamper 89 from above and below, whereby the chucking operation of the optical disk D is performed.

At this time, when the swing frame 83 rises to some extent, as shown in FIG. 17, the operation arm 83a contacts the movable gear 82 from below, and pushes the movable gear 82 upward. As a result, the movable gear 82 and the lifting gear 80
Is disengaged from the large-diameter portion 80a, and the power transmission path to the feed gear 63 is cut off. This prevents the rear feed gear 63 from rotating even though the rear feed gear 63 is meshed with the rack 39 of the disc tray 17, thereby ensuring the stationary state of the disc tray 17.

At the same time, the lock pin 117 provided on the upper surface of the swing frame 83 enters the lock hole 42 provided in the disc tray 17. As a result, the disc tray 17 transported to the storage medium mounting portion is
And the movement in the transport direction is restricted.
Therefore, in addition to the above-described power transmission path blocking means,
The movement of the disk tray 17 can be more reliably prevented, and a reliable stationary state can be ensured.

Further, when the cam pin 94 enters the upper horizontal portion 96b from the inclined portion 96a, the driving of the cam driving motor 101 is stopped and the rotation of the cam member 95 is stopped. At this time, the optical head 14c mounted on the carriage 14a of the optical pickup device 14 enters the opening 34 of the disc tray 17, and the objective lens 14b approaches the information recording surface of the optical disc D. Around this, the spindle motor 87 is driven, and the optical disc D chucked on the turntable 33 is rotated at a predetermined speed.

Thereafter, the optical pickup device 14 is moved in the radial direction of the optical disk D, and at this time, the optical head 1
4c writes an information signal on the information recording surface of the optical disc D,
Alternatively, by reading the already recorded information signal, information recording and / or information recording by the optical pickup device 14 can be performed.
Alternatively, reproduction is executed.

Next, in the tray storage state, in order to select and eject the disk tray 17 located at the lower stage than the fourth stage instead of the fifth stage, or during the reproduction performance,
One of the other four disk trays 17 is selected and exchanged (exchange)
To turn on the desired tray operation switch,
In the lower horizontal portion 96c or the upper horizontal portion 96b, the cam gear 9
5a is slightly rotated. At this time, since the cam pin 94 is held in the upper horizontal portion 96b or the lower horizontal portion 96c, the rotation of the cam member 95 causes the swing frame 83 to rotate.
Is not changed, and the horizontal or inclined state is maintained.

As a result, the convex portion 40a of the slider 40 engaged with the end surface cam 95b slides while being guided by the cam surface, so that the mounting screws 102a, 102b, which are inserted through the two elongated holes 40b, 40c. The slider 40 moves to the rotation center side of the cam member 95 while being guided by 102b. As a result, the two operation rings 103a and 103b similarly move toward the cam member 95, and move the operation pins 73e and 78d inward.

Thus, the swing arm 73 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 4 by the movement of the operation pin 73e, and the middle feed gear 44 is moved outward. Further, the movement of the operation pin 78d causes the stepped switching lever 78 to move as shown in FIG.
, The arm portion 78c is rotated in the same direction, so that the elevating gear 80 slides on the inclined surface 78e from the upper surface portion 78f and moves to the lower surface portion 78g. As a result, while the large-diameter portion 80a of the elevating gear 80 secures the meshing state with the intermediate gear 76, the small-diameter portion 80b is
10 meshes. Thus, the rotational force of the drive motor 61 is transmitted from the intermediate gear 76 to the Geneva pin gear 110 via the elevating gear 80.

As shown in FIG. 19, the rotational force of the Geneva pin gear 110 is transmitted from the cam pin 110b to the Geneva groove gear 111 and transmitted to the rack 57 of the slide member 53 via the drive gear 112. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 7 and the like, the guide pins 5 and 50 fixed to the tray stocker 12 are slidably engaged with the step-like elevating cam grooves 58 and 58 provided on the slide member 53. The movement of these guide pins 50, 50
Are limited by the vertical grooves 26a and 26b provided in the slide member 53. Therefore, when the slide member 53 moves in the lateral direction,
The guide pins 50, 50 are pushed up by being guided by the vertical grooves 26a, 26b.

As a result, the tray stocker 12 supported by the four guide pins 50 is pushed upward substantially vertically while maintaining a substantially horizontal state. Since the horizontal portions 58a of the elevating cam grooves 58, 58 correspond to the tray storage portion of the tray stocker 12, for example, the guide pins 50, 50 are located at the third horizontal portion 58a from the lowermost horizontal portion 58a. , The tray stocker 12 is lifted up by two levels, and the tray storage section located at the third level from the top becomes the same height as the tray entrance 15.

In this state, the third-stage disc tray 17 is projected from the tray entrance 15 so that
Even during reproduction, a desired disc tray 17 can be ejected to perform an exchange work of the optical disc D or a new insertion work. FIG. 11 shows the eject state during the play.

Thereafter, the projecting disk tray 17
Or the corresponding tray operation switch is turned on, and the disc tray 17 is stored in the tray stocker 12. This allows the tray stocker 12 to move up and down. For example, the tray stocker 12 is further moved up to eject the second or first stage disk tray 17, and a new optical disk D is inserted into them. , The optical disc D can be exchanged. In addition, the tray stocker 12 can be moved down to return the disk tray 17 on which the optical disk D that has contributed to the reproducing operation to the fifth tray storage section.

Thereafter, when the reproducing operation such as music performance is completed, the driving of the spindle motor 87 is stopped, and the cam driving motor 101 of the cam driving mechanism 97 is driven to rotate the cam member 95. Thereby, the cam pin 9
4 comes out of the upper horizontal portion 96b of the cam groove 96, and the inclined portion 9
6a and moves to the lower horizontal portion 96c. as a result,
The posture of the swing frame 83 changes from the substantially horizontal state shown in FIG. 10 to the inclined state shown in FIG.

At this time, due to the downward rotation of the swing frame 83, the turntable 33 is gradually pulled down, and the turntable 33 is separated from the disk clamper 89 against the attraction of the magnet. as a result,
The chucking of the optical disk D by the turntable 33 or the like is released, and the optical disk D is left behind on the disk mounting portion 30 of the disk tray 17 being transported to the disk mounting portion. As a result, the disc tray 17
Can be returned from the disc mounting section to the fifth tray storage section of the tray holder 12. Then, the disc tray 17 is transported forward by a predetermined amount, and
Is stopped, the drive of the drive motor 61 is stopped. As a result, the disc player device 10 returns to the initial tray storage state shown in FIG.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, a disk player capable of recording and reproducing using an optical disk as a disk storage medium is described. Although an example in which the present invention is applied to the apparatus 10 has been described, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a dedicated apparatus for recording or reproduction. Further, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic disk or the like can be applied as a disk-shaped storage medium. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an example in which five disk trays are arranged in five layers is described. However, the number of disk trays may be four or less, or six or more.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which chucking is performed by rotating the swing frame 83 about the rotation shaft portion 83b to change the attitude, but other than this. In addition, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the swing frame 83 is moved in parallel with the disk tray to change the posture, thereby chucking the disk-shaped storage medium. Thus, the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit thereof.

[0106]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the disk exchange device described in (1), the driving mechanism rotates the Geneva gear to rotate the drive gear intermittently, and slides the slide member through a rack that meshes with the Geneva gear, so that one rotation of the Geneva gear The effect is obtained that the storage means is raised and lowered by a predetermined amount, and the raising and lowering operation of the storage means can be accurately controlled.

According to the disk exchange apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, when the driving mechanism drives the Geneva pin gear to rotate,
The pin slides in the guide groove, intermittently rotates the Geneva groove gear, and moves the slide member by a predetermined amount, whereby the storage means is raised or lowered by a predetermined amount, and the position of the storage means is accurately determined. The effect of being able to control is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using a disk loading apparatus according to the present invention, in which components are disassembled into blocks.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention, in a state where each component is disassembled.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention, showing a chassis assembly and a stocker assembly;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention, showing a tray storage state in which five disk trays are stored in a tray stocker at a stock position. .

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of an embodiment of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention, showing a state where a tray stocker is raised to the uppermost stage.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an example of an embodiment of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention, showing an ejected state in which a disk tray is pulled out.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an example of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention, showing a tray mounted state in which a disk tray is moved to a storage medium mounting section.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an embodiment of a disc recording / reproducing apparatus using the disc loading apparatus of the present invention,
FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a central portion of the disk tray moved to a storage medium mounting portion and chucked.

FIG. 11 shows an example of an embodiment of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk loading apparatus of the present invention,
FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a central portion of a disc exchange state during disc reproduction.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a disc tray according to the disc recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a comparison between a disk tray according to the disk recording and reproducing apparatus of the present invention and a conventional disk tray.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a tray stocker according to the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a slide member according to the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a power transmission path of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a side view showing a power transmission path of a disk tray transport system of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a side view showing a power transmission path of a chucking operation system of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a side view showing a power transmission path of a slide member drive system of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of a power transmission path in a disk tray transport system of the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing a stepped switching lever according to the disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional disk recording / reproducing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 disc playback device (information storage device), 11 chassis, 12 tray stocker (storage means), 13
Disk rotation drive device, 14 optical pickup device, 15 tray entrance, 16 tray guide section,
17, disk tray (mounting member), 18, 66,
90, 115 mounting base 23, 44, 63 feed gear, 26a, 26b vertical groove, 30 disk mounting part, 33 turntable, 34 opening hole, 39
Rack, 40 slider, 41 positioning part, 4
2 lock hole, 45 opening window, 48 light detector, 5
0 guide pin, 53 slide member, 56 drive gear, 57 rack, 58 elevating cam, 60 tray transport mechanism, 61 drive motor, 78-stage switching lever, 80 elevating gear, 82 movable gear, 83
Swing frame, 94 cam pins, 95 cam members,
95b End face cam, 96 cam groove, 97 cam drive mechanism, 101 cam drive motor, 105 elevating shutter, 110 Geneva pin gear, 111 Geneva groove gear, 117 lock pin

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of mounting members on each of which a disk-shaped storage medium for recording and / or reproducing information is mounted, and a disk on which the plurality of mounting members are mounted. Storage means for storing the main surfaces of the shape storage medium substantially parallel to each other, a slide member for moving the storage means in a direction perpendicular to the main surface of the mounting member, and meshing with a rack provided on the slide member. A driving gear, a Geneva gear for intermittently driving the driving gear, and a driving mechanism for driving the Geneva gear to rotate, wherein the Geneva gear is rotated to move the storage means up and down. Disk exchange device. 2. The disk exchange device according to claim 1, wherein the Geneva gear has a Geneva pin gear rotationally driven by the drive mechanism, and a Geneva groove gear intermittently rotated by a pin provided in the Geneva pin gear. A disc exchange device, wherein the Geneva pin gear is provided with an operation section for operating a switch means for detecting a position of the storage means.