JP3383167B2 - Card type optical disk cartridge and drive device thereof - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical disk cartridge using magneto-optical recording and a recording / reproducing apparatus. [0002] With the development of digital technology, data to be handled is increasing. For this reason, data recording / reproducing media suitable for each application have been developed. Recording and playback media used in computers, etc.
Examples include a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, and a tape device. Among them, the recording / reproducing media using the optical disk is excellent in low cost per capacity by replacing the optical disk, random accessibility, ease of manufacturing of the disk when it is dedicated to reproduction, and the like. [0003] On the other hand, there is a demand that hardware using such a recording / reproducing medium should be carried not only indoors but also carried and used. For example, a mini personal computer, a portable information terminal, a handy game machine, a handy karaoke, an electronic still camera, and the like correspond to this. At this time, when the amount of information is small in the data recording medium, a semiconductor memory is used. Semiconductor memories have advantages such as low power consumption, no failure due to no mechanism, and high data transfer speed, but they have high cost per capacity and are not suitable for large-capacity recording media. [0004] On the other hand, a device called a hard disk in a magnetic disk device is suitable for a large-capacity recording medium because it has a high transfer speed, though not as high as a semiconductor memory, and has a low cost per capacity. Recording and reproduction are performed by bringing the magnetic head close to the hard disk and rotating the disk at high speed, so a mechanism is required. Hard disks using 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch magnetic disks have also been developed. However, a certain degree of miniaturization is also feasible. In the prior art, a semiconductor memory is small, power-saving, and high-speed transfer, but has a high cost per capacity and is not suitable for large-capacity recording and reproduction.
In the case of a hard disk, the transfer speed is high and the cost per capacity is low. However, since the hard disk cannot be replaced by itself, the capacity cannot be increased later, and it is necessary to replace the hard disk including the recording / reproducing drive. Because of this, the small, large capacity available for portable hardware,
There has been a need for replaceable media that achieves low cost. On the other hand, PCMCIA (hereinafter, referred to as a PC card) is used as a small hardware interface.
PC Car that uses card-shaped media called
There is a standard called dStandard, and if the main unit has a PC card connector, connecting a SCSI interface PC card increases the number of magnetic disk devices and optical disk devices used in personal computers,
Data can be transferred at high speed by connecting to another personal computer with an N-connection PC card. [0007] However, these hard disk devices and optical disk devices cannot be stored in a mini personal computer, which hinders portability. On the other hand, there are products in which a hard disk device and a semiconductor memory are directly compliant with a PC card, and these can be stored in a mini personal computer. However, as described above, it is costly to increase the capacity of a PC card using a semiconductor memory. In the case of a hard disk drive using a 1.8-inch magnetic disk, P
Since the thickness of the C card is 10.5 mm at the maximum in TYPE, it is difficult to increase the number of hard disks in order to increase the capacity, and it is difficult to increase the capacity in a PC card-compliant hard disk device. The present invention provides an optical disk cartridge that solves the above problems. A card type optical disk cartridge according to the present invention has a cartridge body having a long rectangular shape in plan view, a disk-shaped optical disk housed in the cartridge body, and an opposing optical disk. An opening formed in the cartridge body; and a shutter for opening and closing the opening. Then, the opening, the cartridge
Of the optical disk positioned eccentrically on one short side of the main body
A drive motor connecting part provided in the center and an optical
Pass the center of the disc and line up with the long and short sides of the cartridge.
Includes the optical disk plane area surrounded by two
Only half the surface area of the optical disk
It is characterized by being formed in a rectangular shape. Further, the optical disk has a configuration in which the optical disk is installed so as to be deviated to one rectangular side of the cartridge body. A drive device having a card-type optical disk cartridge is provided with a connector conforming to the PCMCIA standard and an external shape continuous with the connector.
An optical disk drive main body formed in a shape corresponding to the IA standard, a tray for opening and closing the optical disk drive main body to store a cartridge containing an optical disk, Recording / reproducing equipment members for recording / reproducing information. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an optical disk cartridge 50 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow C in FIG. The optical disk cartridge 50 has a box-shaped main body having a card-shaped planar shape, and a disk-shaped optical disk 60 is mounted in the internal space 52. The diameter of the optical disk 60 is, for example, 45 mm, and the cartridge in which the optical disk 60 is mounted is a small card type having a long side of about 68 mm, a short side of about 48 mm, and a thickness of about 3.5 mm. At least one of the flat surfaces of the cartridge 50 has a rectangular opening 56 facing the optical disk 60, and a shutter 54 for opening and closing the opening 56 is attached. The shutter 54 is slidably mounted in the direction of arrow S. By the operation of inserting the cartridge 50 into the tray 20, the shutter 54 opens the opening 56,
The shutter 54 closes the opening 56 by the operation of pulling out the cartridge 50 from the tray 20. The opening 56 provided in the cartridge 50 has a large size that exposes a half or more of the surface of the optical disc 60 to be mounted, and has a dimensional shape including a central driving portion 62 that comes into contact with a drive motor of the optical disc 60. Utilizing this large opening, the recording / reproducing equipment member of the optical disk drive device into which the cartridge is inserted can be arranged close to the optical disk. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the outline of a drive device for recording and reproducing information on and from the optical disk cartridge of the present invention. The optical disk drive device, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, has a card-shaped main body 10, and has a connector 12 corresponding to a PC card on one rectangular side of the main body 10. The outer shape of the main body 10 on the connector 12 side has a shape that can be inserted into a PC card slot provided in an electronic device. The portion 14 connected to the main body 10 disposed outside the slot after the insertion can be formed, for example, by increasing the size of the main body 10 in the thickness direction to form the storage section 14 for housing the components of the optical disk device. . On the upper surface of the main body 10, a tray 20 for housing a cartridge containing an optical disk is provided. The tray 20 can be opened and closed around a hinge 22 attached to the body 10 on the side opposite to the connector 12, and the end of the tray 20 opposite to the hinge 22 has
An opening 24 for inserting a cartridge is formed. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the tray 20 of the optical disk door live apparatus 1 is opened upward from the main body 10 about the hinge 22. When the tray 20 is open, the cartridge 50 containing the optical disk in the opening 24 can be pulled out. FIG. 5 shows the cartridge 50 in the tray 20.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of the optical disc apparatus 1 in which is inserted.
It is an arrow view. Tray 20 of optical disk drive 1
When the cartridge 50 containing the optical disk 60 therein is inserted therein and the tray 20 is closed with the hinge 22 as a center, the optical disk drive device 1 returns to the card shape inserted into the slot for the PC card. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a part of information recording / reproducing equipment members provided in the optical disk drive 1, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a view on arrow B in FIG. 7. The main body 10 has an optical disc 60 contained in a cartridge 50 inserted into the tray 20.
And a head 80 for recording and reproducing information on and from the optical disk 60. The head 80 is attached to a carriage 82, and the carriage 82 is guided by a guide 84 to
Move in the radial direction. The drive motor 70 provided on the main body 10
The recording / reproducing equipment members such as the recording / reproducing head 80
0 is mounted on the side opposite to the connector 12 side.
Since the main body 10 has a shape conforming to the PC card standard, the space that can be used for arranging the recording / reproducing equipment members is extremely limited. The storage section 14 provided as necessary continuously to the main body 10 is arranged outside the PC card slot of the partner apparatus into which the optical disk apparatus 1 is inserted, so that the storage section 14 has a shape larger than the opening shape of the slot. Can be provided. Therefore, by arranging the recording / reproducing equipment member at a position apart from the connector 12, the recording / reproducing apparatus member is close to the storage unit 14 side, and the degree of freedom in design can be improved. The optical disk cartridge 50 has a large opening 56 as described above. Therefore, by opening the large opening 56 of the optical disk cartridge 50 when inserting the cartridge 50 into the tray 20,
Drive motor 70 and head 8 mounted on main body 10 side
The recording / reproducing apparatus including the recording / reproducing apparatus 0 can be close to the optical disk 60 inside the cartridge 50 through the opening, and the recording / reproducing apparatus members are disposed without being hindered by the housing of the cartridge. The degree of freedom in designing the main body in the thickness direction and mounting the recording / reproducing equipment members in the plane arrangement direction is improved. As described above, the optical disk cartridge of the present invention is a card-type cartridge in which a disk-shaped optical disk is biased toward one of the rectangular sides of the cartridge. The opening provided in the cartridge for arranging the recording / reproducing equipment member on the optical disk has a size such that at least half of the surface of the optical disk is exposed. By providing the large-sized opening, a device member for recording and reproducing information on and from the optical disk can be disposed in the opening, and the drive device can be reduced in size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of an optical disk cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an optical disk drive. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where a tray of the optical disk drive is used. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the optical disk drive device in which an optical disk cartridge is stored. FIG. 6 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 5; FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a part of the recording / reproducing device of the optical disk drive device. FIG. 8 is a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 7; DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 optical disk drive device 10 main body 12 connector 14 storage 20 tray 22 hinge 24 opening 50 optical disk cartridge 54 shutter 56 opening 60 optical disk 70 drive motor 80 recording / reproducing head

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 23/03 G11B 25/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] A card having a card-shaped long rectangular shape in plan view.
Cartridge body and disk inside cartridge body
Optical disk and a cartridge facing the optical disk
An opening formed in the main body and a shutter for opening and closing the opening
The opening is offset to one short side of the cartridge body.
Located at the center of the optical disk
The cartridge passes through the motor connection and the center of the optical disk.
Surrounded by two radii parallel to the long and short sides of the
Surface area of the optical disk plane
Card formed in a rectangular shape exposing more than half the area of
Drive device for mounting
Therefore, a connector compatible with the PCMCIA standard and an optical disk
The tray that allows the mounted cartridge to be mounted
Installed on a main body formed into an external shape corresponding to CMCIA storage
For the optical disk contained in the cartridge.
PCMCIA for recording / reproducing equipment for recording / reproducing information
Main unit with external shape conforming to the standard, or
An optical disk drive device provided in a continuous storage unit .