JP2005135496A - Disk loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize and thin an optical disk device by constituting a disk loading device so that movement of a tray on which the optical disk is placed is not prevented, while arranging efficiently each component constituting the disk loading device. <P>SOLUTION: This device is provided with a tray 3 on which a placing part 38 placing an optical disk is formed and which is moved between a loading position and an unloading position, when the tray 3 is at the loading position, a loading motor 23 for moving the tray 3 is arranged at a position at which it is not overlapped with the placing part 38 in a horizontal plane, also, arranged at a position at which it is overlapped with the tray 3 in a vertical plane being orthogonal to the horizontal plane, when the tray 3 is at the unloading position, a gear mechanism coupled to the tray 3 is arranged at a position at which it is not overlapped with the placing part 38 in the horizontal plane, and a rotation shaft of the loading motor 13 and the gear mechanism are coupled by a transmission mechanism comprising shafts. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

   The present invention relates to a disk loading apparatus applied to an optical disk apparatus that records or reproduces information on a disk-shaped recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a disk) such as a CD or a DVD.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of notebook personal computers (hereinafter referred to as personal computers), personal computers have become smaller and thinner, and optical disc drives that drive discs such as CDs and DVDs have also been miniaturized. Thinning is progressing. Desktop PCs are no exception, and miniaturization is progressing in response to end-user demands for effective use of space, and further miniaturization of optical disk devices called half-height drives that have been mainstream in desktop PCs is required. Has been.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the structure of a disk loading apparatus in a conventional optical disk apparatus. A loading motor 102 is attached to the main chassis 101, and a motor pulley 103 is fixed to a rotating shaft of the loading motor 102. A belt 5 is hung on the motor pulley 103, and its rotation is transmitted to a loading pulley 104 that is rotatably held with respect to the main chassis 101. An intermediate gear 106 and a drive gear 107 are rotatably supported on the main chassis 101, and rotation of the loading pulley 104 is transmitted to the drive gear 107 via the intermediate gear 106.

  A tray 108 having a disk mounting portion 110 is movably supported on the main chassis 101 by a guide 111. A rack 109 is formed on the inner surface of the tray 108 so as to mesh with the drive gear 107.

  When the loading motor 102 is rotated, the rotation is transmitted to the rack 109 via the motor pulley 103, the belt 5, the loading pulley 104, the intermediate gear 106, and the drive gear 107, and the tray 108 is moved with respect to the main chassis 101. . As a result, it is possible to load the disc placed on the placement unit 110 of the tray 108 to a recording / reproducing position inside the main body of the optical disc apparatus, or unload the disc from the recording / reproducing position to a detachable position of the disc.

  However, in such a disk loading apparatus, the rotation axis of the drive system extending from the loading motor 102 to the drive gear 107 is set in a direction perpendicular to the advancing / retreating direction of the tray 108. Since it protrudes downward from 101, a space for storing the loading motor 102 is required. For this reason, the thickness of the optical disk device inevitably increases, and there is a limit to the reduction in thickness of the optical disk device.

  As a disk loading apparatus for solving this problem and further reducing the thickness of the optical disk apparatus, a loading motor is arranged so that the rotation axis is parallel to the advancing / retreating direction of the tray, and the rotation is transmitted to the tray. A disc loading apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the disk loading apparatus includes a loading motor 123 disposed so that the rotation shaft is parallel to the advancing / retreating direction of the tray 122, a motor pulley 124 fixed to the rotation shaft of the loading motor 123, The motor includes a loading pulley 125, an intermediate gear 126, and a drive gear 127 that have a rotation axis orthogonal to the rotation axis of the loading motor 123 and are in pressure contact with the motor pulley 124. The loading pulley 125, the intermediate gear 126, and the drive gear 127 are rotatably supported by the main chassis 121, and the rotation of the loading pulley 125 is transmitted to the drive gear 127 via the intermediate gear 126. .

  In addition, a tray 122 having a disc placement portion 129 is supported on the main chassis 121 by a guide 130 so as to be movable. A rack 128 is formed on the inner surface of the tray 122 so as to mesh with the drive gear 127.

When the loading motor 123 is rotated, the rotation is transmitted to the rack 128 via the motor pulley 124, the loading pulley 125, the intermediate gear 126, and the drive gear 127, and the tray 122 is moved with respect to the main chassis 121. As a result, the disc placed on the placement portion 129 of the tray 122 can be loaded into the recording / reproducing position inside the main body of the optical disc apparatus, or unloaded from the recording / reproducing position to the detachable position of the disc.
JP-A-5-266562

  As described above, when the optical disc apparatus is thinned, the arrangement direction of the loading motor with respect to the advancing / retreating direction of the tray is important. Considering the size, especially thickness, of the loading motor, it is desirable to arrange the loading motor body so as to be horizontal with respect to the advancing / retreating direction of the tray, and to further make the rotation axis of the loading motor parallel to the advancing / retreating direction of the tray. It can be said that this is an optimum technique in consideration of the space efficiency inside the optical disc apparatus main body.

  However, in the case of the disk loading apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, in order not to hinder the movement of the optical disk placed on the tray 122, the loading motor 123 is formed on the tray 122 as shown in FIG. Therefore, there is a problem that the thickness of the disk loading device is increased by the diameter of the loading motor 123, which obstructs the thinning of the optical disk device. Further, the rotation axis of the loading pulley 125 that changes the rotation direction of the loading motor 123 is orthogonal to the rotation axis of the loading motor 123, and the loading pulley 125 has a pressure contact mechanism for pressing against the motor pulley 124. Since this pressure contact mechanism protrudes in the thickness direction of the optical disk device, and the thickness of the disk loading device increases by this protrusion, there is a problem that there is a limit to thinning the optical disk device.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and provides a disk loading apparatus that does not hinder the movement of a tray on which an optical disk is placed. In addition, the optical disk apparatus is reduced in size and thickness. It is intended.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems by means described below. That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a loading portion on which a disk is placed, and a loading position that enables recording and reproduction of information on the disk and an unloading position that allows the disk to be attached and detached. And a tray that is moved between the tray and a position where the tray does not overlap the placement portion in the horizontal plane when the tray is in the loading position, and a position that overlaps the tray in a vertical plane perpendicular to the horizontal plane. A motor that is disposed in a position that does not overlap the mounting portion in the horizontal plane when the tray is in the unloading position, and that is coupled to the tray, and between the rotation shaft of the motor and the gear mechanism. And a disc loading device provided with a transmission mechanism for transmitting the driving force of the motor to the gear mechanism. To configure.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the motor is arranged so that a rotation shaft thereof is parallel to a moving direction of the tray.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the transmission mechanism is constituted by a shaft.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the shaft according to the third aspect of the present invention is arranged such that one end of the shaft is coupled to the rotation shaft of the motor via a plurality of gears and is parallel to the rotation shaft of the motor. So that

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the motor is at the loading position, the motor is in a position that does not overlap with the placement portion on which the disk is placed in the horizontal plane (horizontal direction) and is perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The gear mechanism that engages with the tray on the surface (thickness direction) is placed at a position that does not overlap with the above-mentioned mounting portion on the horizontal plane (horizontal direction) when the tray is at the unloading position. In addition, since the rotation shaft of the motor and the gear mechanism are coupled by a transmission mechanism, the motor can be arranged biased to the tray surface side without interfering with the mounting portion formed on the tray. Accordingly, the optical disk device can be made thinner by the amount of overlap of the motor with the tray in the thickness direction.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the motor is arranged so that the rotation axis of the motor is parallel to the moving direction of the tray, the motor is installed in the optical disc apparatus and the optical pickup is placed. In addition to improving the space utilization efficiency inside the optical disk device, the optical disk device can be made thinner and smaller.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, since the transmission mechanism is constituted by the shaft, the space utilization efficiency is improved as compared with the transmission mechanism in which the intermediate gear is connected, and the rotation of the motor is efficiently performed on the tray. It can be transmitted to the gear mechanism to be coupled. In addition, the number of parts can be reduced compared to a transmission mechanism in which intermediate gears are connected, and the transmission mechanism can be configured at low cost. Further, since the diameter of the shaft itself is thin, the disk loading device can be reduced in size as compared with the transmission mechanism using the connecting gear.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, since one end of the shaft is coupled to the rotating shaft of the motor via a plurality of gears and is arranged so as to be parallel to the rotating shaft of the motor. The motor can be arranged while being biased toward the tray surface side, and the motor can be arranged without interfering with the mounting portion formed on the tray by biasing the rotating shaft of the shaft from the rotating shaft of the motor by a plurality of gears. Can be transmitted to a gear mechanism coupled to the tray. In addition, since the transmission mechanism is the shaft itself, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the disk loading device due to the shaft rotating shaft being deviated from the motor rotating shaft.

  A mounting portion for mounting a disk is formed, and includes a tray that is moved between a loading position that enables recording and reproduction of information on the disk and an unloading position that allows the disk to be attached and detached. A motor for moving is disposed at a position where the tray does not overlap with the mounting portion in the horizontal plane when the tray is in the loading position, and at a position where the tray overlaps with the vertical plane perpendicular to the horizontal plane; The gear mechanism coupled to the tray is disposed at a position that does not overlap the mounting portion in the horizontal plane when the tray is at the unloading position, and the rotation shaft of the motor and the gear mechanism are transmitted from the shaft. Try to combine by mechanism. At this time, it is desirable to arrange the motor so that the rotation axis of the motor is parallel to the moving direction of the tray.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is an optical disk apparatus embodying the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof. In the optical disk apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the tray is removed from the optical disk apparatus body for convenience of explanation. The optical disc apparatus 1 can be roughly divided into an optical disc apparatus main body 2 and a tray 3. The optical disc apparatus main body 2 is provided with a pickup base 4, a disc loading device 5, and a disc clamp mechanism 6. Various connectors 7 such as an interface and a power source are disposed in the section.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the pickup base 4 is disposed in the opening 8a of the main chassis 8 together with the elevating base 21 of the disc clamp mechanism 6, and two holding pieces 9 formed at the front end portion of the pickup base 4 are provided. It has a floating structure in which two holding pieces 10 formed at the rear end portion are screwed to the main chassis 8 via the elastic member 11 and fixed to the elevating base 21 via the elastic member 11. The elevating base 21 is supported so as to be swingable together with the pickup base 4 in a cantilever state, and the front end portion is supported by the slide plate 22 of the disc clamp mechanism 6 so that it can be raised and lowered around the support shaft 12. A spindle motor 13 is fixed to the pickup base 4, and a head unit 14 mainly composed of an optical pickup is disposed in the vicinity thereof.

  A turntable 15 is fixed to the drive shaft of the spindle motor 13, and when the tray 3 is loaded, the pickup base 4 rises and a disc clamper disposed on the turntable 15 and the cover member 16 of the optical disc apparatus 1. 17, the rotational force is transmitted by clamping the center hole portion of the optical disk.

  On the other hand, the head unit 14 is guided and moved by two guide shafts 18 and 19 extending in the radial direction around the spindle motor 13 as shown in FIG. It is moved by a lead groove (not shown) to record / reproduce information with respect to the optical disc.

  The disk loading device 5 is arranged in parallel with the pickup base 4 on the main chassis 8 and mainly includes a loading motor 23, a shaft 24, and a drive gear 25. A motor gear 26 is fixed to the rotating shaft of the loading motor 23. A transmission gear 27 that meshes with the motor gear 26 is fixed to one end of the shaft 24, and a worm gear 28 is fixed to the other end. The worm gear 28 meshes with a drive gear 25 disposed on the front side of the main chassis, and the drive gear meshes with a rack gear 29 formed on the back surface of the tray 3. The loading motor 23 is disposed on the rear side of the optical disc apparatus 1, and the driving force of the loading motor 23 is transmitted to the front side of the optical disc apparatus 1 via the gear 26, the gear 27, the shaft 24, and the worm gear 28. It is transmitted to the tray 3 via the gear 25. Details of the disk loading device 5 will be described later.

  The disc clamp mechanism 6 includes the above-described lifting base 21 and slide plate 22 and is disposed on the main chassis 8 near the front of the optical disc apparatus 1. As described above, the elevating base 21 is supported so as to be swingable about the support shaft 12 in a cantilever state together with the pickup base 4, and two support pins 32 project from the front end portion. The slide plate 22 is a plate formed of a horizontal surface 22a and a vertical surface 22b and is supported by the main chassis 8 so as to be slidable in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the tray. On the horizontal surface 22 a of the slide plate 22, a guide pin 33 that engages with the first guide groove 30 formed on the back surface of the tray 3 and a second guide groove 31 that is also formed on the back surface of the tray 3. A matching guide pin 34 is erected. A rack gear 35 is formed at one end of the horizontal surface 22a. On the other hand, two vertical guide grooves 36 are formed on the vertical surface 22 b of the slide plate 22, and are respectively engaged with two support pins 32 provided on the vertical base 21. In the slide plate 22, as the tray 3 moves, the guide pins 33 and 34 are guided by the first guide groove 30 and the second guide groove 31, respectively, and the rack gear 35 immediately before the tray 3 reaches the loading position. By engaging with the drive gear 25 of the disk loading device, the driving force of the loading motor 23 is transmitted to the slide plate 22, and the slide plate 22 slides in the loading direction (C direction in the figure). As the slide plate 22 slides, the support pins 32 of the lift base 21 are guided by the lift guide grooves 36 formed on the vertical surface 22b of the slide plate 22, and the pickup base 4 moves up and down.

  The tray 3 is movably supported by a guide piece 37 formed on the side wall of the main chassis 8. On the surface of the tray 3, a concave mounting portion 38 for mounting an optical disk is formed. The mounting portion 38 is formed in the moving range of the head unit from the approximate center of the mounting portion 38 where the turntable 15 is located. A hole 39 is formed. As described above, the rack gear 29, the first guide groove 30, and the second guide groove 31 are formed on the back surface of the tray 3. A holding member 40 for holding the optical disk placed on the placing portion 38 is disposed at the center of the front end portion of the tray 3 and attached to the loading direction (B direction in the figure) by a wire spring 41. It is energized. When the tray 3 reaches the loading position, the holding member 40 is pressed in the unloading direction (A direction in the figure) by the release member 42 provided in the main chassis 8, and the holding member 40 is placed on the mounting portion 38. Release the hold. The release member 42 also serves as an emergency function for manually removing the optical disc when the optical disc apparatus 1 becomes inoperable. By operating the release member 42 from the outside in an emergency, The release member 42 is moved in the direction B in the figure, and the slide plate engaged with the release member 42 is forcibly slid in the unloading direction (D direction in the figure). By this operation, the tray 3 protrudes in the unloading direction (A direction in the figure), and the tray 3 can be pulled out manually.

  Here, the disk loading device 5 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 is a rear view of the optical disc apparatus 1, and FIG. 5 is a side view. For convenience of explanation, the entire main chassis 8 or a part of the description is omitted in FIGS. 4 and 5. As described above, the disk loading device 5 mainly includes the loading motor 23, the shaft 24, and the drive gear 25.

  The loading motor 23 is disposed on the rear side of the optical disc apparatus 1, and the loading motor 23 is disposed at a loading position at which the tray 3 can record and reproduce information on the optical disc. 3 is set so as to satisfy the two conditions that it is a position that does not overlap with the mounting portion 38 formed in 3 and a position that overlaps the tray 3 in a vertical plane orthogonal to the horizontal plane. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the tray 3 is in the loading position with respect to the optical disc apparatus 1, the optical disc placement portion 38 and the loading motor 23 main body do not overlap on a horizontal plane parallel to the moving direction of the tray 3. As shown in FIG. 5, the loading motor 23 is arranged so that the tray 3 and the main body of the loading motor 23 overlap on a vertical plane orthogonal to the horizontal plane. By disposing the loading motor 23 so as to satisfy this condition, the loading motor 23 can be biased and disposed on the surface side of the tray 3 without interfering with the optical disk mounting portion 38, so that the optical disk apparatus is thin. Can be In the side view of the optical disc apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 5, the top 23a of the loading motor 23 is biased so as to be closer to the surface side of the tray 3 than the bottom 38a of the optical disc mounting portion 38. Thus, the optical disk device 1 is made thinner.

  A motor gear 26 is fixed to the rotating shaft of the loading motor 23, a transmission gear 27 that meshes with the motor gear 26 is fixed to one end of the shaft 24, and a worm gear 28 is fixed to the other end. A transmission mechanism including the motor gear 26, the transmission gear 27, the shaft 24, and the worm gear 28 constitutes a transmission mechanism. By using the motor gear 26 and the transmission gear 27, the shaft 24 is disposed at a position slightly below the rotation axis of the loading motor 23, and is disposed so as to pass through the back side of the main chassis 8. Yes. By arranging in this way, the height position of the drive gear 25 is kept low. Therefore, the optical disc apparatus can be further reduced in thickness. If the transmission gear 27 fixed to one end of the shaft 24 is disposed within a range that does not deviate from the diameter of the loading motor 23, the shaft 24 does not affect the height direction of the optical disc apparatus. It goes without saying that the shaft may be directly connected to the rotation shaft of the loading motor 23 so that the rotation shafts coincide with each other.

  On the other hand, the drive gear 25 forms a laminated gear in which a large-diameter first gear 25a formed with a pinion gear and a small-diameter second gear 25b formed with a normal gear are laminated. The gear 25a meshes with a worm gear 28 fixed to one end of the shaft 24, and the second gear 25b meshes with a rack gear 29 formed on the back surface of the tray 3. The drive gear 25 is disposed so that a part of the second gear 25 b protrudes to the front surface side of the main chassis 8 and meshes with the rack gear 29 of the tray 3, and the first gear 25 a is on the rear side of the main chassis 8. By engaging with the worm gear 28 fixed to the shaft 24 arranged so as to pass through, the height position is kept low. A transmission mechanism including the worm gear 28, the drive gear 25, and the rack gear 29 constitutes a gear mechanism.

  The drive gear 25 is disposed on the front side of the optical disc apparatus 1, and the drive gear 25 is disposed at an unloading position where the tray 3 can be attached and detached. It is set so as to satisfy the condition that it is a position that does not overlap with the mounting portion 38 formed in the above. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the tray 3 is in the unloading position with respect to the optical disc apparatus 1, the optical disc placing portion 38 and the drive gear 25 are driven so as not to overlap in a horizontal plane parallel to the moving direction of the tray 3. The gear 25 is disposed. This condition is an indispensable condition for realizing the so-called front drive of the tray 3. That is, the disk loading apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to realize the front drive of the tray 3.

  As is apparent from the above description, in the loading apparatus for moving the tray between the loading position and the unloading position, the optical disk apparatus is a position where the loading motor does not interfere with the optical disk mounting portion formed on the tray. By disposing the tray on the rear side so that the tray and the main body of the loading motor overlap with each other, the loading motor can be disposed on the surface side of the tray without interfering with the optical disk mounting portion. Therefore, the optical disk device can be thinned.

  Further, by devising the arrangement position of the shaft as a transmission mechanism coupled to the rotating shaft of the loading motor, the height position of the driving gear that transmits the driving force of the loading motor to the tray can be kept low. The apparatus can be further reduced in thickness.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said Example, Various deformation | transformation implementation is possible in the range which does not deviate from the meaning described in a claim.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the rotation axis of the loading motor 23 is arranged so as to be parallel to the moving direction of the tray 3, but when the tray 3 is at the loading position, the mounting portion 38 formed on the tray 3 in the horizontal plane. If the loading motor 23 is arranged so as to satisfy the two conditions of overlapping with the tray 3 in the vertical plane orthogonal to the horizontal plane, the rotation axis of the loading motor 23 is set to the tray. You may arrange | position so that it may become perpendicular | vertical to 3 moving directions. In this case, since the loading motor 23 is disposed sideways with respect to the optical disc apparatus 1, it is an effective arrangement condition when it is desired to shorten the depth of the optical disc apparatus 1.

  Moreover, although the transmission mechanism using a shaft has been described in the above embodiment, it may be replaced with a transmission mechanism using a belt. The transmission mechanism using the belt can be an effective transmission mechanism when the loading motor 23 is disposed sideways with respect to the optical disc apparatus 1.

1 is a perspective view of an optical disk apparatus to which a disk loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1 is a rear view of an optical disk apparatus to which a disk loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an optical disk apparatus to which a disk loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is a rear view for demonstrating the arrangement position of the disk loading apparatus with respect to an optical disk apparatus. It is a side view for demonstrating the arrangement position of the disk loading apparatus with respect to an optical disk apparatus. It is a top view for demonstrating the positional relationship of a disc loading apparatus and tray when a tray exists in a loading position. It is a top view for demonstrating the positional relationship of a disc loading apparatus and tray when a tray exists in an unloading position. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the example of the conventional disc loading apparatus. It is a top view which shows the loading state in the other example of the conventional disc loading apparatus. It is a top view which shows the unloading state in the other example of the conventional disc loading apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ..... Optical disk apparatus 2 ..... Optical disk apparatus main body 3 ...... Tray 4 ...... Pickup base 5 ..・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Disk loading device 6 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Disk clamp mechanism 7 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Connector 8 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Main chassis 9, 10 ······ Holding piece 11 ········ Elastic member 12 ······· Support shaft 13 ········ Spindle motor 14 ······· Head unit 15 ······· Turntable 16 ······ Cover member 17 ······ Disc clamper 18 and 19 ··· Guide shaft 20 ··· ·································· 21 Rate 23 ... Loading motor 24 ... Shaft 25 ... Drive gear 26 ... Motor gear 27 ... ··· Transmission gear 28 ········· Worm gear 29 ······ Rack gear 30 ········· First guide groove 31 ········ Guide groove 32... Support pin 33, 34... Guide pin 35... Rack gear 36. ······ Guide piece 38 ······ Place 39 ······················································· Wire spring 42 ... Release member 101, 121 ... Main chassis 102, 123 ... Loading motor 103, 1 24 ... motor pulley 104,125 ... loading pulley 105 ... belt 106,126 ... intermediate gear 107,127 ... drive gear 108,122 ... tray 109,128 ...・ Rack 110, 129 ... Placement section

Claims (4)

A tray on which a disc is placed, and a tray that is moved between a loading position that enables recording and reproduction of information on the disc and an unloading position that allows the disc to be attached and detached;
A motor disposed at a position that does not overlap with the mounting portion in the horizontal plane when the tray is in the loading position, and that overlaps with the tray in a vertical plane orthogonal to the horizontal plane;
A gear mechanism that is disposed at a position that does not overlap the mounting portion in the horizontal plane when the tray is in the unloading position, and is coupled to the tray;
A disk loading device comprising: a transmission mechanism disposed between a rotation shaft of the motor and the gear mechanism and transmitting a driving force of the motor to the gear mechanism.   2. The disk loading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the motor is arranged such that a rotation shaft of the motor is parallel to a moving direction of the tray.   3. The disk loading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission mechanism is a shaft.   4. The disk loading apparatus according to claim 3, wherein one end of the shaft is coupled to the rotation shaft of the motor via a plurality of gears, and is arranged in parallel to the rotation shaft of the motor.

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