JP2543875B2 - Lens cleaning cartridge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of the Invention] The present invention reproduces information from an information storage medium housed in the cartridge in which a cartridge such as an optical disk device is freely inserted and removed. The present invention relates to a lens cleaning cartridge for cleaning a lens of an optical unit included in an apparatus.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, when cleaning a lens (objective lens) of an optical head in an optical disk device or the like, the lens of the optical head inside the device is exposed and manually cleaned with a brush or the like.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, with such a cleaning method, in order to expose the lens of the optical head to the outside, the device must be disassembled and reassembled after cleaning, which is extremely troublesome. There is a problem that it takes time and can be performed only by a limited number of people.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a lens cleaning cartridge capable of easily and reliably cleaning the lens of the optical means by anyone. is there.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the lens cleaning cartridge according to the present invention is configured such that a cartridge accommodating an information storage medium can be inserted and removed and the inserted lens cleaning cartridge is inserted. A lens cleaning cartridge, which is mounted on an apparatus having reciprocally movable optical means for reproducing information from an information storage medium in the cartridge and cleans a lens of the optical means, the lens cleaning cartridge facing the lens of the optical means. A cartridge body having an opening portion that can be inserted into and removed from the apparatus; a shutter that is slidably attached to the cartridge body and that opens and closes the opening portion in conjunction with the insertion and removal operation of the cartridge body; And a cleaning member provided inside the main body for cleaning the lens.

The cleaning member is provided so as to be rotatable between an initial position where it can contact the lens through the opening of the cartridge body and a rotation position where the lens is out of the movement path of the lens. At the initial position, it has a dry portion at one end, a central portion moistened with a cleaning agent, and a dry portion at the other end, which are sequentially arranged along the moving direction of the lens. At the time of forward movement, the lens is controlled to rotate to the rotation position so that the lens is sequentially contacted with the one end dry portion, the central portion, and the other end dry portion of the cleaning member to be cleaned,
When the lens moves back, the cleaning member has a restricting portion that allows the cleaning member to rotate so as to rotate to the rotation position according to the movement of the lens. When the cleaning member is moved to the closed position, the cleaning member is rotated from the rotation position to the initial position, and the pressing portion is provided for holding the cleaning member at the initial position.

(Operation) That is, when the lens cleaning cartridge of the present invention is loaded with the cartridge containing the information storage medium, the lens of the optical means can be cleaned just by loading it in the device, and the device can be disassembled as in the prior art to artificially remove it. The cleaning work can be more efficient than the ones that are performed.

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

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of an optical disk apparatus 1 as an information processing apparatus and a lens cleaning cartridge 2 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the appearance of a 5.25-inch standardized disk cartridge 3 handled by the optical disk apparatus 1.

The optical disk device 1 has the following configuration. That is, 4 is a main body of the apparatus, and a cartridge insertion / removal opening 6 which can be opened and closed by a shutter 5 is formed on the entire upper surface of the main body, and a drive base mechanism section 7, a loading mechanism section 8 and these are driven therein A control circuit (not shown) for the purpose is housed. The device body 4
At the lower right portion of the front surface, a status display section 9 ... And an eject switch 10 for ejecting the cartridge are provided.

Further, the disc cartridge 3 has an optical disc 11 as an information storage medium incorporated therein, and the A side / B side.
Both sides can be used and the above disc
A shutter 12 for opening and closing a window (not shown) for exposing a part of 11 is slidably provided.

As shown in FIG. 3, the drive base mechanism section 7 includes a disk rotation motor (spindle motor) 17 having a disk base 15 and a turntable 16 for rotationally driving the disk 11 and a linear motor. Move the disc 11 in the radial direction (direction of arrow A) by
The optical head 19 as an optical means for performing information processing on the information recording layer on the lower surface of 11 is mounted.

The loading mechanism 8 includes three main components, that is, a cartridge holder that holds the disk cartridge 3 and has a shutter opening / closing unit.
It has a cam member for taking in and moving the cartridge holder to a predetermined position, and a guide member for guiding the cam member and the cartridge holder and incorporating a cam member driving means. In addition,
Regarding this loading component 8, Japanese Patent Application No. 61-1374
Since it is explained in detail in No. 80, detailed explanation is omitted.

Further, the lens cleaning cartridge 2 has a structure as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, and like the disk cartridge 3, can be taken into the optical disk device 1 through the cartridge insertion / removal opening 6. (However, FIGS. 4 to 6 show the state in which the back surface, which is the lower surface in the state of being taken into the optical disk device 1, is up.) The lens cleaning cartridge 2 is substantially the same as the disk cartridge 3. The cleaning unit 23 has the same outer shape and the cleaning unit 23 is housed in the decartridge body 22 whose opening 21 is opened and closed by the shutter 20.

This cleaning unit 23 is
A movable base 25 as a substantially triangular support member rotatably attached via a support shaft 24 and an upper surface of the movable base 25 (a lower surface in a state of being taken into the optical disk device 1) will be described later. And a cleaning member 26 attached via a supporting plate 45 for exposing the cleaning member 26 through the opening 21 to bring the cleaning member 26 into contact with the lens (objective lens) 27 of the optical head 19. It is composed.

The movable base 25 is provided with a first rotation stopper 30 provided on the shutter 20 and functioning as a pressing portion, and second and third rotation stoppers 31 and 32 disposed in the cartridge body 22 and functioning as restriction portions. Rotational restriction as described below is performed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the shutter 20 moves in the direction of arrow B and is open, the first rotation stop 30 provided on the shutter 20 is separated from the end surface 25a of the movable base 25. As shown in FIG. 4, the movable base 25 is displaced in the direction of arrow C from the initial position where the end surface 25b abuts the second rotation stop 31 as shown in FIG.
It is movable within a range up to the rotation position where it comes into contact with the rotation stop 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when the shutter 20 moves in the direction of arrow D and is closed, the first rotation stop 30 provided on the shutter 20 is in contact with the end surface 25a of the movable base 25. Since the end surface 25b is in contact with the second rotation stopper 31, the movable base 25 is fixed in this state and does not rotate.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the movable base 25 pivotally displaced about the support shaft 24 in a state where the shutter 20 is opened is provided with a first rotation stop 30 provided on the shutter 20 when the shutter 20 is closed. The end surface 25a is pushed so that it is always returned to the initial state as shown in FIG.

The cartridge body 22 has ID holes 41, 41 as a detected portion for obtaining a lens movement signal for cleaning.
Are formed. The ID holes 41, 41 indicate that the cartridge is an ineffective surface. It should be noted that, as shown in FIG. 1, the shutter 20 has a recess 40 for opening and closing the shutter, as in the disk cartridge 3 described above.
Is formed so that it can be opened and closed automatically.

As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the cleaning member 26 is fixed on a rectangular support plate 45 via a double-sided adhesive tape (not shown), and the support plate 45 is attached to the movable base 25. Three lateral L-shaped presser pawls 46, 47, and 48 formed by cut and raised tongue pieces hold three sides, and the remaining one side is pressably attached by one retaining pawl 49 to be detachably attached. .

The support plate 45 is made of resin and is elastically deformable. As shown in FIG. 8, the support plate 45 can be removed by bending it at one end and separating it from the retaining claw 49 by pulling it out in the direction of arrow E. Also, it can be attached by the reverse operation.

Further, the cleaning member 26 is composed of a brush made of a soft fiber such as nylon fiber, and has a rectangular overall shape. The longitudinal direction is along the longitudinal direction of the opening 21 of the cartridge main body 22 with the movable base 25 in the initial position (the state shown in FIGS. 4 and 6), that is, in the moving direction of the optical head 19. It is installed so as to fit.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the cleaning member 26 has a portion 50 moistened with a cleaning liquid (cleaning liquid) at the central portion in the longitudinal direction. The other end dry section 51 is configured.

Next, the operation of cleaning the lens 27 of the optical disc device 1 with the lens cleaning cartridge 2 having the above-described configuration will be described.

First, the shutter 20 is opened in advance and the application state of the cleaning liquid to the cleaning member 26 is checked. If it is dry, the appropriate amount of cleaning liquid is applied to the central portion in the longitudinal direction and the shutter 20 is closed.
At this time, as described above, the movable base 25 integrated with the cleaning member 26 is set to the initial position (state of FIG. 6).

Then, the lens cleaning cartridge 2 is inserted into the cartridge insertion / removal opening 6 of the optical disc device 1.

The lens cleaning cartridge 2 inserted in the cartridge insertion / removal opening 6 is taken in by the loading mechanism section 8 and then the shutter 20 is opened to record / reproduce data on / from the disc cartridge 3 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. It is set to the regular mounting position as in the case of performing.

When the shutter 20 opens, the first rotation stop integrated with the shutter 20
Although 30 is separated from the end surface 25a of the movable base 25, no rotational force is applied to the movable base 25 in this state, so that the initial state is maintained.

Then, when the optical disk device 1 detects the ID hole 41 of the lens cleaning cartridge 2 and tko causes the linear motor 18 of the drive base mechanism 7 to operate, the optical head 19 is automatically moved by the arrow F in FIGS. 11 and 12. As shown, the optical head 19 moves forward in the direction away from the turntable 16.

The movement of the optical head 19 causes the optical head 19 to move.
The lens 29 attached to the cleaning member 26 and the cleaning member 26 move relative to each other.

At this time, first, the lens 27 is the cleaning member shown in FIG.
After moving while contacting the one end side dry portion 51 of 26, it moves while contacting the portion 50 moistened with the cleaning liquid, and again while contacting the other end side dry portion 52. By this operation, it is possible to remove stains that cannot be removed by simply rubbing by using the cleaning liquid, and moreover, the cleaning liquid can be wiped off so as not to remain on the lens 27.

Further, when the optical head 19 moves forward, the movable base 25 to which the cleaning member 26 is attached due to the contact between the optical head 19 and the cleaning member 26 moves clockwise in the state of FIG. 4 (counterclockwise in the state of FIG. 12). ), But the movable base 25 does not rotate because it is in contact with the rotation stop 31. Therefore, the lens 27 can sufficiently contact from one end side to the other end side of the cleaning member 26, and a reliable cleaning operation can be performed.

Next, when the optical head 19 reaches the position farthest from the turntable 16, the optical head 19 automatically moves to the 13th position.
As shown in the figure, the direction (arrow G
Direction) to return movement.

During the backward movement of the optical head 19, the movable base 25, to which the cleaning member 26 is attached by the contact between the optical head 19 and the cleaning member 26, moves counterclockwise (see FIG. 13) in the state shown in FIG. In this state, the movable base 25 is rotationally displaced about the support shaft 24 by receiving the force of rotating in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrow H). Therefore, the lens 27 comes into contact with the other end dry portion 52 of the cleaning member 26, but the dirt of the lens 27 adheres to the cleaning member 26.
It does not contact 51 and does not reattach dirt to lens 27.

On the other hand, when the optical head 19 returns to the original position, the lens cleaning cartridge 2 is discharged from the cartridge insertion / ejection opening 6 with the shutter 20 closed, and the cleaning operation is completed.

As described above, the lens 27 of the optical head 19 can be cleaned simply by inserting the lens cleaning cartridge 2 of the present invention into the cartridge insertion / removal opening 6 of the optical disc device 1, and the optical disc device 1 can be disassembled and artificially removed as in the conventional case. There is no need to do it, and a large increase in efficiency is possible.

Although the cleaning member 26 is made of a brush made of nylon fiber in the above-described embodiment, the cleaning member 26 is not limited to this and may be made of a brush made of other fibers. It may be configured.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the lens of the optical means can be cleaned simply by loading the lens cleaning cartridge of the present invention with the cartridge containing the information storage medium and simultaneously loading it in the apparatus. It is possible to easily and surely clean the lens of the optical means by anyone without the need to disassemble the device and artificially perform it as in the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of an embodiment of an optical disk device and a lens cleaning cartridge of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a disc cartridge handled by an optical disc device, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a drive base mechanism portion of the optical disc device, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are bottom views showing different states of the lens cleaning cartridge. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a cleaning unit, which is a main part, FIG. 8 is a perspective view for explaining a detached state of a cleaning member, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a state of applying a cleaning liquid to the cleaning member. FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view showing a state of being set in the apparatus, FIG. 11 is a schematic side view of the same, and FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view of the same state when the optical head is moving forward.
Similarly, FIG. 13 is a schematic plan view showing a state when the optical head is returning. 1 ... Optical disc device (information processing device), 2 ... Lens cleaning cartridge, 3 ... Dik cartridge, 6 ... Cartridge insertion / removal, 11 ... Optical disc (information storage medium), 19 ... Optical head (optical means) ),twenty two……
Shutter, 21 …… Aperture, 22 …… Cartridge body, 23
…… Cleaning unit, 25 …… Movable base (supporting member), 26 …… Cleaning member, 27 …… Lens, 41 …… ID hole (detected part), 50 …… Dampened with cleaning liquid, 51,52 …
… Dry part.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cartridge containing an information storage medium is inserted into and removed from the cartridge, and the cartridge is loaded into a device equipped with reciprocating optical means for reproducing information from the information storage medium in the inserted cartridge. A lens cleaning cartridge for cleaning the lens of the optical means, the cartridge main body having an opening facing the lens of the optical means and being attachable / detachable to / from the apparatus; and slidably attached to the cartridge body. A shutter that opens and closes the opening in association with an inserting / removing operation of the cartridge body, and a cleaning member that is provided in the cartridge body and that cleans the lens, the cleaning member including the opening of the cartridge body. It is possible to rotate between an initial position where it can contact the lens through a part and a rotation position where it deviates from the movement path of the lens. The cartridge main body, which has one end dry portion, which is sequentially arranged in the initial position along the moving direction of the lens at the initial position, a central portion moistened with a cleaning agent, and the other end dry portion. And the cleaning member has the rotation position of the cleaning member so that the lens is cleaned by sequentially contacting the one end dry portion, the central portion, and the other end dry portion of the cleaning member during the forward movement of the lens. The rotation to
The shutter has a restricting portion that allows the cleaning member to rotate so that the cleaning member rotates to the rotation position according to the movement of the lens when the lens moves back. A lens cleaning cartridge, comprising: a pressing portion that rotates the cleaning member from the rotating position to the initial position and holds the initial position when the cleaning member moves from the closing position to the closing position. 2. The lens cleaning cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge body has a detected portion for obtaining a lens movement signal for cleaning. 3. The lens cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning member is removably provided on a support member that is rotatably provided in the cartridge body. cartridge.