JP2005129131A - Disc cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent contamination of a disk, when a disk type recording medium made high in density is dealt with as a bare disk. <P>SOLUTION: This cartridge is provided with a cartridge body 4 in which an optical disk 6 is housed and a disk insertion and ejection opening 7, through which the housed optical disk 6 is inserted and ejected, is formed at one side plane being an insertion end for the disk drive device 30; a disk holder 5 which holds the optical disk housed in the cartridge body 4 and can be moved in the direction of insertion and ejection of the optical disk 6, and when it is moved to the disk insertion and ejection opening 7 side in the cartridge body 4; and at least one part of the held optical disk 6 is made to face the outside from the disk insertion and ejection opening 7, wherein the disk holder 5 has at least a receiving part 22a, corresponding to a non-signal recording region 6d of an outer peripheral side, and the optical disk 6 is held so that the non-signal recording region 6 of the outer peripheral side is abutted against the receiving part 22a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a disc cartridge in which a disc-shaped recording medium capable of recording information signals such as image signals and audio signals is held by a disc holder in a cartridge body.

  Among optical disks that are widely used as recording media, there are bare disks that are handled as a single optical disk, such as compact disks and digital versatile disks. In this type of optical disk, a user takes out a single optical disk from a storage case, and the taken-out optical disk is loaded into a disk drive device to record and reproduce information signals.

  In addition, optical discs that have higher density than compact discs and digital versatile discs, can record high-quality image signals and video signals, and can record high-quality audio signals for a long time. The pitch and the like are also very narrow, the spot diameter of the irradiated light beam is extremely small, and the distance between the optical pickup and the objective lens is very close. Therefore, if the surface of the optical disk is minutely scratched or has dust or the like attached thereto, the information signal cannot be recorded accurately or the recorded information signal cannot be read out accurately. Therefore, an optical disk with a high density is used in a state of being stored in a disk cartridge and protected.

  On the other hand, electric devices equipped with a disk drive device such as a digital video camera have been downsized to improve portability, and accordingly, the recording medium used in the disk drive device needs to be downsized. is there.

  In a disk drive device that uses a disk cartridge that rotatably stores an optical disk as a recording medium, a transport mechanism that draws the disk cartridge into the disk drive device is required, and it is difficult to reduce the size of the disk drive device. In addition, even in the case of a disk drive device that uses a single optical disk as a recording medium, a transport mechanism such as a disk holder is required if the optical disk is transported into the disk drive device while being held by a disk holder such as a disk tray. Therefore, downsizing becomes difficult.

  That is, in order to prevent dust and the like from adhering to a high-density optical disc, it is necessary to use it in a disc cartridge. On the other hand, when a disc cartridge containing a rotatable optical disc is used as a recording medium Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the size of the disk drive device. A disk drive device is most easily miniaturized when it is used to transport a single optical disk into the device.

  In addition, there exist the following patent documents 1-5 as literature relevant to this invention.

  The disk cartridges of Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 are those in which a disk holder for holding a disk is housed in the cartridge body, and the disk holder holding the disk is pulled out to a recording / reproducing position. Information signals are recorded and reproduced. These disc cartridges are loaded into the disc drive device, and further, the disc holder is pulled into the recording / reproducing position to record / reproduce the disc. Therefore, the disc drive device is miniaturized like the bare disc disc drive device. I can't.

  In the disk cartridge of Patent Document 4, an optical disk is stored in the cartridge body, and after the disk cartridge is once loaded in the disk drive device, the optical disk is left in the disk drive device and only the cartridge body is pulled out of the disk drive device. Has been described. Accordingly, the disk cartridge of Patent Document 4 is also drawn into the disk drive device, and the disk drive device cannot be reduced in size.

  The disc cartridge disclosed in Patent Document 5 holds the optical disc exposed. Therefore, dust or the like adheres to the optical disc, and there is a risk of scratches and the like, which makes it difficult to apply to a disc with a high density. In addition, since this disk cartridge is also loaded into the disk drive device, it is difficult to reduce the size of the disk drive device.

Japanese Patent No. 3373030 JP 2000-260151 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-168666 JP-A-6-131840 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-320359

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the overall size and the disk drive by loading only a disk-shaped recording medium into the disk drive device. An object of the present invention is to provide a novel disk cartridge capable of reducing the size of the apparatus and preventing the disk-shaped recording medium from being soiled.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a disc cartridge capable of handling a disc-shaped recording medium with high density as a bare disc.

  A disc cartridge according to the present invention accommodates a disc-shaped recording medium, and a cartridge main body formed on one side surface where a disc insertion / removal port for inserting / removing the accommodated disc-shaped recording medium becomes an insertion end to the disc drive device; The disc-shaped recording medium stored in the cartridge main body is held and can be moved in the insertion / removal direction of the disc-shaped recording medium. When the cartridge main body moves to the disc insertion / removal side, at least one of the held disc-shaped recording media And a disk holder that allows the portion to face the disk insertion / removal opening. The disc holder has a receiving portion corresponding to at least the outer non-signal recording area of the signal recording surface of the disc-shaped recording medium, and the disc-shaped recording medium has an outer non-signal recording on the receiving portion. The region is abutted and supported.

  According to the present invention, when the disk holding body moves to the disk insertion / removal opening side in the cartridge body, at least a part of the held disk-shaped recording medium is exposed to the outside from the disk insertion / removal opening. Since the single unit is brought into a state in which the disk drive device can be transported, the disk-shaped recording medium can be handled like a conventional bare disk. Therefore, it is possible to use a disk-shaped recording medium on which high-density recording is performed as the recording medium, and it is possible to reduce the size of the disk drive device. Then, the disk-shaped recording medium is supported by the non-signal recording area on the outer peripheral side being brought into contact with the receiving portion of the disk holder, thereby making contact between the signal recording area of the disk-shaped recording medium and the disk holder. It can be avoided. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the signal recording area of the disc-shaped recording medium held by the disc holder from being damaged.

  A disk cartridge to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a disk cartridge 1 to which the present invention is applied holds a cartridge main body 4 formed by joining a pair of upper and lower halves 2 and 3 and an optical disk 6 serving as a recording medium and a cartridge. And a disc holder 5 movably accommodated in the main body 4.

  An optical disc 6 used in the disc cartridge 1 has a center hole 6a formed at the center, an inner peripheral non-signal recording area 6b is formed around the center hole 6a, and an outer periphery of the inner peripheral non-signal recording area 6b. A signal recording area 6c is formed on the side, and an outer peripheral non-signal recording area 6d is formed on the outer peripheral side of the signal recording area 6c. In this optical disk 6, a reflective film is applied to a light-transmitting synthetic resin substrate such as polycarbonate, a recording layer using a phase change material or an organic dye is further provided, and a protective layer is further formed on the recording layer. The recording medium is a recording medium on which information signals are recorded or reproduced by irradiating a light beam from the disk substrate side with the disk substrate side as a signal recording surface. Note that a recording medium in which a reflective film and a recording layer are provided on a disk substrate, a light-transmitting cover layer is provided on the recording layer, and the cover layer side is a signal recording surface may be used. Such an optical disk 6 includes various types of high-quality image video signals, high-quality sound signals, computer-processed processing data, computer programs, and the like with higher density than existing optical disks such as compact disks and digital versatile disks. The information signal is recorded. The recording medium to be used may be a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk or the like in addition to the optical disk 6.

  The upper and lower halves 2 and 3 constituting the cartridge body 4 for protecting the optical disk 6 as described above are formed by injection molding a synthetic resin having mechanical strength, and the whole is formed in a substantially rectangular shape. The substantially rectangular upper and lower halves 2 and 3 have a short side in the direction orthogonal to the insertion direction into the disk drive device and a long side in the insertion direction into the disk drive device. By making the insertion direction into the disk drive device a long side, the user can easily recognize the insertion direction into the disk drive device. It should be noted that the size of the cartridge body 4 may be at least as large as the optical disc 6 is substantially inscribed.

  The upper and lower halves 2 and 3 have peripheral walls 13 and 14 formed around the substantially rectangular main surface portions 11 and 12. The inner sides of the peripheral walls 13 and 14 serve as storage units for the disc holder 5 and the optical disc 6. Concave portions 7a and 7b constituting the disk insertion / removal port 7 are formed in the front walls 13a and 14a that are the insertion ends of the peripheral walls 13 and 14 into the disk drive device. The recesses 7 a and 7 b constitute a substantially rectangular disk insertion / removal port 7 on the front surface of the cartridge body 4 when the peripheral walls 13 and 14 of the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 are brought into contact with each other. The disc insertion / removal opening is formed so that the long side is substantially the same as the diameter of the optical disc 6 and the short side is substantially the same as the thickness of the optical disc 6 in order to minimize the entry of foreign matter such as dust into the cartridge body 4. It is formed to be the same. The disk insertion / removal port 7 may be provided with an open / close lid to prevent dust and the like from entering the cartridge body 4.

  The opposite side walls 13b, 13c, 14b, and 14c parallel to the insertion direction to the disk drive device constituting the peripheral walls 13 and 14 of the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 move in the cartridge body 4 in the insertion direction to the disk drive device. It functions as a guide wall for the disc holder 5 to be operated. Further, the front walls 13a and 14a function as stopper walls when the disk holder 5 moving in the cartridge body 4 moves to the front side, and the back walls 13d and 14d move the disk holder 5 to the back side. It functions as a stopper wall. The rear walls 13d and 14d are formed with protrusions 15 against which the disc holder 5 is abutted.

  On one side wall 13b, 14b of the upper and lower halves 2, 3, recesses 16a, 16b are formed that are notched between the front side and the back side over the movable range of the disc holder 5. The three concave portions 16a and 16b constitute a guide groove 16 that allows the moving operation portion of the disc holder 5 to face the outside when the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 are abutted.

  The cartridge main body 4 configured in this way is not loaded into the disk drive device, but only the optical disk 6 held by the disk holder 5 is loaded into the disk drive device. Therefore, the cartridge main body 4 is driven by a disk table that constitutes a recording / reproducing opening and a disk rotation driving unit for rotating the optical disk 6 like a cartridge main body for storing an optical disk of an existing disk cartridge. No opening or the like is formed, and the formed opening is only the disk insertion / removal opening 7 formed on the front surface. By minimizing the opening, foreign matter such as dust can be removed with a simple configuration. It makes it hard to penetrate as much as possible.

  The disc holder 5 accommodated in the cartridge body 4 as described above has a long side substantially the same as the width of the cartridge body 4 and a short side formed to be approximately half the depth from the front surface to the back surface of the cartridge body 4. The whole is formed in a substantially rectangular shape. In the disk holder 5, a disk holding part 21 is formed on one main surface part to hold a region that is approximately half of the main surface part of the optical disk 6. The disk holding part 21 is configured by a substantially semicircular recess having a depth for holding the optical disk 6. Further, the portion of the optical disc 6 that protrudes from the string portion 21 a of the disc holding portion 21 faces the outside of the cartridge main body 4 from the disc insertion / removal port 7 when the disc holding body 5 moves inside the cartridge main body 4 toward the disc insertion / removal port 7. Will be.

  Further, on the bottom surface of the disc holding portion 21, a substantially semicircular outer peripheral receiving portion 22a corresponding to the outer peripheral non-signal recording region 6d of the optical disc 6 to be held, and an inner peripheral non-signal recording region 6b are provided. A substantially semicircular inner circumferential side receiving portion 22b is provided. The outer peripheral side and inner peripheral side receiving portions 22 a and 22 b are formed as stepped portions that are one step higher than the bottom surface of the disc holding portion 21.

  Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the optical disc 6 held by the disc holder 5 has the outer peripheral side non-signal recording area 6d in contact with the outer peripheral side receiving portion 22a and the inner peripheral side receiving portion 22b. A state in which the signal recording area 6c is floated from the bottom surface of the disk holding portion 21 by contacting the inner peripheral non-signal recording area 6b, that is, between the bottom surface of the disk holding portion 21 and the signal recording area 6c. It is supported in a state where a gap is formed.

  On one side wall parallel to the moving direction of the disk holder 5 in the cartridge main body 4, a moving operation portion 23 is formed so as to face the outside from the guide groove 16 of the cartridge main body 4. The moving operation unit 23 exposed to the outside from the guide groove 16 is operated by a user, for example, and the disk holding body 5 is moved from the back side to the front side in the cartridge body 4 or from the front side to the back side. It is for moving.

  The disc holder 5 is not guided by the side walls 13b, 13c, 14b, 14c of the cartridge body 4, but is further provided inside the side walls 13b, 13c, 14b, 14c, and the side walls 13b, 13c, 14b, 14c. The movement may be guided by guide walls formed in parallel.

  By the way, in the disk drive device 30 of the disk cartridge 1, as shown in FIG. 6, an opening 32 is formed on the front surface of the device main body 31 so that the front surface of the cartridge main body 4 is engaged. The opening 32 is formed to have approximately the same size as the front surface of the cartridge body 4. The entire cartridge body 4 is not inserted through the opening 32 but is formed so that the front side of the cartridge body 4 can be inserted slightly. The front surface of the cartridge body 4 is engaged with the opening 32. In this state, the optical disk 6 held by the disk holder 5 in the cartridge main body 4 can be inserted into the disk drive device 30, and the optical disk 6 loaded in the disk drive device 30 is inserted into the cartridge. The disc holder 5 in the main body 4 can be held. That is, the optical disk 6 is transferred between the disk cartridge 1 and the disk drive device 30 in a sealed space where the cartridge body 4 is engaged with the opening 32 and the inside of the cartridge body 4 and the inside of the device body 31 are continuous. Will be done.

  A recording / reproducing unit 33 for recording and reproducing the optical disc 6 is formed in the apparatus main body 31. The recording / reproducing unit 33 includes a rotation driving unit 34 that rotates the optical disc 6 and an optical pickup 35 that irradiates the optical disc 6 with a light beam and detects a return light beam reflected. The rotation drive unit 34 includes a disk table 34 a that engages with the center hole 6 a of the optical disk 6. When the disk table 34 a is engaged with the center hole 6 a of the optical disk 6, the optical disk 6 is rotated integrally. Further, the optical pickup 35 records an information signal on the optical disc 6 by irradiating a light beam over the inner and outer circumferences of the signal recording area 6 c of the optical disc 6 and detecting a returning light beam, or records the information signal on the optical disc 6. The information signal recorded in is reproduced.

  Although not shown, a transport mechanism for transporting the optical disk 6 is provided between the opening 32 provided on the front surface of the apparatus main body 31 and the recording / reproducing section 33. This transport mechanism has a pair of rotating rollers that come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the optical disc 6, and transports the optical disc 6 between the opening 32 and the recording / reproducing unit 33. In addition, as a transport mechanism, the outer peripheral side non-signal recording area 6d of the optical disc 6 may be sandwiched and transported between the opening 32 and the recording / reproducing unit 33.

  Next, an operation until the optical disk 6 stored in the disk cartridge 1 is conveyed to the recording / reproducing unit 33 of the disk drive device 30 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the disc cartridge 1 is not in use, the disc holder 5 is moved to the back side of the cartridge body 4, that is, to the first position moved in the direction of the arrow D in FIG. The optical disk 6 is completely stored in the cartridge body 4 to prevent the optical disk 6 from being soiled. Further, the moving operation unit 23 of the disc holder 5 housed in the cartridge body 4 is located on the back side of the guide groove 16. Thereby, the user can visually recognize that the optical disk 6 is accommodated therein.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the disk cartridge 1 is engaged with the opening 32 of the disk drive device 30 with the front surface of the cartridge body 4 as the insertion end. That is, the disk insertion / removal port 7 of the cartridge body 4 is connected to the opening 32 of the disk drive device 30. When the moving operation portion 23 of the disc holder 5 located on the back side of the cartridge body 4 in the guide groove 16 is slid in the direction of arrow D in FIG. Moves to the second position shown in FIG. 8 while being guided by the side walls 13b, 13c, 14b, 14d. When the disk holder 5 moves in the cartridge body 4 from the first position on the back side to the second position on the front side, a part of the optical disk 6 held by the disk holder 5, for example, about half of the area is Then, it is exposed to the outside of the cartridge body 4 from the disk insertion / removal opening 7 and enters the opening 32 of the apparatus body 31. Note that the protrusion amount A of the optical disk 6 from the disk insertion / removal opening 7 is set so that the transport mechanism on the disk drive device 30 side can transport the optical disk 6. Then, the optical disk 6 exposed to the outside of the cartridge body 4 is transported to the recording / reproducing unit 33 in the apparatus body 31 by the transport mechanism on the disk drive device 30 side, as shown in FIG. When the cartridge body 4 is transported from the inside of the cartridge body 4 to the recording / reproducing unit 33 of the disk drive device 30, the front surface of the cartridge body 4 in which the disk insertion / removal opening 7 is formed is engaged with the opening 32 of the device body 31. And the inside of the apparatus main body 31 constitute a sealed space portion, so that the optical disk 6 can be prevented from being soiled.

  The optical disk 6 is mounted on the disk table 34a of the recording / reproducing unit 33, rotated integrally with the disk table, and the light beam emitted from the optical pickup 35 extends over the inner and outer circumferences of the signal recording area 6c of the optical disk 6. The return of the reflected and reflected light is detected by the optical pickup, whereby the information signal is written to the optical disc 6 and the information signal recorded on the optical disc 6 is read. As described above, when recording or reproduction of the optical disk 6 is performed, the optical disk 6 is conveyed alone to the recording / reproducing unit 33 and is handled as a bare disk like a conventional compact disk or digital versatile disk.

  When the optical disk 6 is loaded in the disk drive device 30, the cartridge body 4 in which the optical disk 6 is empty may be engaged with the opening 32, and may be removed from the opening 32. May be. Even when the disc holder 1 is removed from the opening 32, the disc holder 5 of the disc cartridge 1 is held on the front side of the cartridge main body 4, so that the moving operation unit 23 can move the guide groove 16. The user continues to be positioned on the front side, and the user can determine whether or not the optical disc 6 is present in the cartridge body 4 by visually recognizing the position of the movement operation unit 23.

  When the recorded or reproduced optical disk 6 is taken out from the disk drive device 30, first, as shown in FIG. 9, the front surface of the cartridge main body 4 is engaged with the opening 32 of the device main body 31, and the opening 32 and the disk are inserted. The outlet 7 is made continuous. The optical disk 6 in the recording / reproducing unit 33 is conveyed from the recording / reproducing unit 33 to the opening 32 by the conveyance mechanism, and the optical disk 6 conveyed to the opening 32 is inserted into the cartridge main body 4 from the disk insertion / removal opening 7 of the cartridge main body 4. 4, and further held by a disk holder 5 located on the front side of the cartridge body 4. Then, the disk holding body 5 holding the optical disk 6 is also moved by the user moving the moving operation unit 23 facing outside from the guide groove 16 of the cartridge body 4 from the front side to the back side of the cartridge body 4. It is moved in the direction opposite to arrow D in FIG. As a result, the optical disk 6 held by the disk holder 5 is completely stored in the cartridge body 4, and then the cartridge body 4 is removed from the opening 32 of the apparatus body 31.

  In the disk cartridge 1 configured as described above, since only the optical disk 6 is inserted into the disk drive apparatus 30 and the cartridge body 4 and the disk holder 5 are not inserted, the disk drive apparatus 30 can be reduced in size. can do. Further, the optical disk 6 is transferred to and from the disk drive device 30 by engaging the front surface side of the cartridge body 4 with the opening 32 of the disk drive device 30 and the opening 32 and the disk insertion / removal port 7 are connected. 4 and the inside of the apparatus main body 31 are performed after forming a continuous sealed space, so that the optical disk 6 can be prevented from being soiled.

  Further, in this disc cartridge 1, the outer peripheral side non-signal recording area 6d of the signal recording surface of the optical disc 6 held by the disc holder 5 is brought into contact with the outer peripheral side receiving portion 22a, and the inner peripheral side non-signal recording area. 6b is brought into contact with the inner peripheral receiving portion 22b, so that the signal recording area 6c is floated from the bottom surface of the disk holding portion 21, that is, between the bottom surface portion of the disk holding portion 21 and the signal recording area 6c. It is supported in a state where a gap is formed.

  Thus, the disc holder 5 is shaped to receive an area other than the signal recording area 6c on the signal recording surface of the optical disc 2, so that the signal recording area 6c of the optical disc 6 and the bottom portion of the disc holding portion 21 Can be avoided.

  Therefore, the disc cartridge 1 can prevent the signal recording area 6c of the optical disc 6 accommodated in the cartridge body 4 from being damaged even when subjected to external impact, vibration, or the like. .

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, the disc holder 5 is held by the disc holder 21 in order to restrict the optical disc 6 held by the disc holder 21 from moving in the thickness direction. A configuration may be provided in which a rib 22c is provided in contact with the main surface opposite to the signal recording surface of the optical disc 6. The rib 22c is a substantially semicircular protrusion that protrudes inward from the outer peripheral portion of the disk holding portion 21 so as to face the outer peripheral receiving portion 22a. The optical disc 6 is guided to the back side of the cartridge body 4 and held by the disc holding portion 21 in a state where the outer peripheral portion is engaged with a groove formed between the rib 22c and the outer side receiving portion 22a. The

  Therefore, in the disc cartridge 1 provided with such a disc holder 5, the optical disc 6 can be restricted from moving in the thickness direction even when subjected to impact, vibration, or the like from the outside. It is possible to protect the optical disk 6 accommodated therein.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a disk cartridge to which the present invention is applied. It is a perspective view of the disk cartridge. It is a perspective view shown in the state where the optical disk protruded from the disk cartridge. FIG. 3 is a perspective plan view of a disk cartridge. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line segment X ₁ -X ₁ ′ in FIG. 4. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the disk cartridge is engaged with the opening of the disk drive device. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a disc cartridge with an upper half in a position where a disc holder is placed to store an optical disc. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a disc cartridge with the upper half in a position where a disc holder exposes a part of the optical disc. It is a perspective view explaining the state which conveys an optical disk. It is a perspective view explaining the other example of the disk holding body holding an optical disk. FIG. 11 is a perspective plan view of a disk cartridge including the disk holder shown in FIG. 10. Is a sectional view according to in Figure 11 the line _{X 2} -X 2 '.

Explanation of symbols

1 disc cartridge, 2 upper half, 3 lower half, 4 cartridge main body, 5 disc holder, 6 optical disc, 7 disc insertion / removal port, 22a outer peripheral side receiving portion, 22b inner peripheral side receiving portion, 22c rib, 30 disc drive device, 32 opening

Claims (3)

A cartridge main body that stores a disk-shaped recording medium and has a disk insertion / removal port for inserting / removing the stored disk-shaped recording medium formed on one side surface serving as an insertion end to the disk drive device;
The disc-shaped recording medium stored in the cartridge main body is held, and the disc-shaped recording medium that is movable in the insertion / removal direction of the disc-shaped recording medium is moved to the disc insertion / removal side in the cartridge main body. A disk holding body for exposing at least a part of the medium to the outside from the disk insertion / removal port,
The disc holder has a receiving portion corresponding to at least the non-signal recording area on the outer peripheral side of the signal recording surface of the disc-shaped recording medium,
The disc-shaped recording medium is a disc cartridge that is supported by contacting a non-signal recording area on the outer peripheral side to the receiving portion. The disc holder has a receiving portion corresponding to a non-signal recording area on the inner peripheral side of the signal recording surface of the disc-shaped recording medium,
2. The disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the disc-shaped recording medium is supported by contacting the non-signal recording area on the inner peripheral side with the receiving portion. The disc holder has a protrusion that comes into contact with the main surface opposite to the signal recording surface of the disc-shaped recording medium,
2. The disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the disc-shaped recording medium is restricted from moving in the thickness direction between the receiving portion and the protruding portion.

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