JPH011175A - disc jacket - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disc jacket for housing a disc-shaped recording medium (disc) used in a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording or reproducing information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, as a means for recording video information, document information, and retrieving each piece of information at high speed, there are playback-only devices or recording/playback devices using disks. Generally, the amount of information that can be processed at a time is limited because two disks are manually replaced and used. In contrast, information processing systems that can file large amounts of information and search at high speeds
It is requested in various fields. To do this, it is necessary to store multiple discs, automatically exchange any disc at high speed, and play or record/reproduce information. A disc changing device (hereinafter referred to as an autochanger) that plays back or records predetermined information is required, and along with this, a disc jacket that can be applied to the autochanger is desired.

Conventionally, such disc jackets include jacket-type jackets that house the disc inside for video discs, allowing the disc to be inserted along with the jacket onto the turntable of a player manually without touching the disc directly. .

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the conventional disc jacket described above, in order to mount the disc on the turntable, it is necessary to pull out only the jacket. Furthermore, when replacing the disc, an empty jacket must be inserted again, which not only requires more time than necessary to mount or unmount the disc on the turntable, but also complicates the structure. Therefore, it has been desired to develop a disc jacket for an autochanger that requires high-speed retrieval.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an autochanger that searches for an arbitrary disc jacket at high speed from among a plurality of disc jackets containing discs, and automatically records on the disc or reproduces information recorded on the disc. The present invention provides an applicable disc jacket.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the disc jacket of the present invention is a disc jacket comprising a disc on which information signals are recorded and reproduced, and a housing that rotatably houses and encloses the disc. The housing has a center hole into which a rotational drive body for rotationally driving the disk can be inserted;
A head insertion opening into which a head for recording and reproducing information can be inserted into the disk, a pair of engaging parts for transporting the casing by an external transport member, and an external casing positioning member. and a positioning groove for engaging and positioning the disk, and the engaging portions are provided at symmetrical positions on both sides of the drawer side edge of the disk.

Operation With the above configuration, the disc can be taken out and replaced together with the disc jacket by engaging the engaging part and the external transfer member, and the replacement can be carried out in a stable manner by supporting the pair of engaging parts on both sides of the jacket. can. Further, the posture can be reliably maintained in a stocker, a playback device, or the like.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, a disc jacket according to an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a disc housed in a disc jacket in one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the disk 1 has a small diameter opening 3a and a large diameter circle 3b.
It has a recording area 4 in which a recording material defined by is provided, and a non-recording area 6 in which no recording material is provided at the outer and inner peripheries of the recording area 4. disc 1
The retaining hole 2 formed in the center of the rotary drive body (to be described later)
The disk 1 is engaged with a drive shaft of a motor (hereinafter abbreviated as a motor) to rotationally support the disk 1 to the motor. 7 indicates the outer peripheral side of the disk 1.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a disc jacket according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a back view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the Moum' line in FIG.

In FIGS. 2 to 4, the disk 1 is located in the upper housing 8.
! The disc jacket 8 is rotatably housed with a gap 9 between the disc jacket 8 and the lower housing 8b. The disk jacket 8 is provided with a pair of concave engaging portions 10 for pulling out the disk on its outer side in the direction of arrow C, which is the direction of pulling out the disk from the stocker, which will be described later. 1
1 is a through hole for a clamper for fixing and holding the disc 1 on the turntable of the device, and 12 is a disc provided on the outer side of the disc jacket 8 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of arrow C, which is the direction in which the disc jacket 8 is pulled out. This is a groove for positioning the jacket 8.

The disc jacket may have at least one positioning groove 12, and although it is shown as semicircular in the drawing, it may be U-shaped or V-shaped. 13 opening is the disk 1
The optical head 16 is mounted on the turntable of the device and is provided for moving the optical head 16 for recording or reproducing information.

Next, a schematic configuration of an autochanger applied to the disc jacket of the present invention will be explained using FIG. 6.

A stocker 17 stores a plurality of disc jackets 8 and is held movably in the B direction by a stocker moving means 20. Reference numeral 21 denotes a drawer mechanism, which is movable in the C direction along a drawer mechanism guide 22. 28
is a player base, which has a turntable 16 that fits into the retaining hole 2 of the disc 1, a motor 24 that rotates the disc 1, and a signal recording/reproducing unit that records information on the disc 1 or reproduces recorded information. an optical head 26 for
A transfer means 26 for transferring the optical head 26 in the radial direction of the disk 1 and a clamper 27 movable in the direction of the arrow and fixing the disk 1 on the motor 24 are mounted.

The storage state of the disc jacket and its operation in the autochanger configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. In Figure 6,
Reference numeral 17 denotes a stocker for storing a plurality of disc jackets 8. Normally, the disc jackets 8 are stored between an upper groove 18 and a lower groove 19 of the stocker 17 and positioned in the direction of arrow B. Further, the positioning of the disc jacket 8 in the direction of arrow C within the stocker 17 is performed by a positioning member 16. Positioning member 1
6 consists of a roller 3o supported by a spring member 29 as shown in FIG. 7, and a disk jacket 8.
The disc jacket 8 is positioned and held within the stocker 17 by engaging with the positioning groove 12 of the disc jacket 8 . a pull-out portion 21m of a pull-out mechanism 21 that moves the disk jacket 8 in the direction of arrow C; and an engaging portion 10 of the disk jacket 8;
The drawer portion 21m and the side portion of the disc jacket 8 are separated by a small space. Reference numeral 23 denotes a pull-out guide rail that guides the disc jacket 8 when the pull-out mechanism 21 moves the disc jacket 8 in the direction of arrow C.

The end of the drawer guide rail 23 is tapered so that the disc jacket 8 can be slid smoothly. Therefore, when attempting to search for a disc jacket 8 that accommodates a disc 1 having desired information, the stocker 17 moves in the direction of arrow B, and the disc jacket 8 in question is moved to a location opposite the drawer mechanism 21. At this time, the plurality of disc jackets 8 stored in the stocker 17 are positioned and held within the stocker 17 by the positioning member 16, so that the puller 21 can touch the sides of the disc jackets 8 and the engaging part 10. There will be no contact. When the desired disc jacket 8 is moved to the pull-out mechanism 21, the pull-out mechanism 21 begins to be moved rightward in the drawing along the pull-out mechanism guide 22 by the disk pull-out mechanism (not shown). At the same time, the pull-out portion 21A comes into contact with the engaging portion 1o, and as the pull-out portion 21A moves, the disc jacket 8 is moved to a position facing the turntable 15 as shown in FIG. 8 on the right side of the drawing. As shown in FIG. 8B, a disk mounting mechanism (not shown) allows the disk positioning member 14 protruding from the turntable 16 to enter the through hole 11 of the disk jacket 8 and engage the disk 1. The disc 1 is engaged with the hole 2 and placed on the turntable 16. Thereafter, the clamper 27 descends, enters the through hole 11 of the disc jacket 8, and presses the disc 1 in the direction of the turntable 16.
Hold it fixed.

At this time, the disk 1 is positioned with a gap 9 between it and the inner wall of the disk jacket 8, and is mounted by the disk mounting mechanism so that it can rotate within the gap 9 without coming into contact with the inner wall of the disk jacket 8. After that, motor 2
4 rotates and the optical head 26 is moved in the direction of arrow E, which is the radial direction of the disk 1, thereby reproducing predetermined information. During this time, the stocker 17 continues to be stopped at the position where the disc jacket 8 is pulled out. Therefore, when the search for the predetermined information is completed and the second information held on another disk is to be searched, the disk 1 is released from being fixed by the clamper 27 as the motor 24 stops, and the disk together with the disk jacket 8 The mounting mechanism returns the drawer portion 21 of the drawer mechanism 21 to the position shown in FIG. 8 where it engages with the person. Furthermore, the drawer mechanism 2
1 moves toward the stocker 17 along the pull-out guide 22, the pull-out portion 21A of the pull-out mechanism 21 pushes the side of the disk jacket 8, and the disk jacket 8 is inserted into the stocker 17. The movement of the pull-out mechanism 21 stops at the position shown in FIG. rotates, the positioning groove 12 and the roller 30 engage, and the disk jacket 8 is positioned at the position shown in FIG.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the disc jacket 8 rotatably houses the disc 1, and the engaging part 10 that engages with the drawer part 21 provided in the device, and a plurality of disc jackets 8. By providing the positioning groove 12 that engages with the positioning member 16 in the stocker 17 to be stored, when an arbitrary disc jacket 8 is pulled out from the stocker 17, the engaging part 10 can be held in the pull-out part 21m. The stocker 17 can be moved without the drawer part 21 coming into contact with other disc jackets, and when the engaging part 10 engages with the drawer part 21m, the disc jacket 8 can be automatically pulled out. Since the disc 1 stored in the jacket 8 can perform recording and reproduction without coming into contact with the inner wall of the disc jacket 8, it can be sufficiently applied to an autochanger that changes discs at high speed.

Effects of the Invention The disc jacket of the present invention has a very simple structure by providing a pair of engaging parts that engage with external members on both sides of the drawer side edge of the casing that rotatably stores the disc. However, the disc and jacket can be automatically inserted into and removed from the device without removing the disc from the disc jacket, so any disc jacket can be inserted into the jacket from a stocker that stores multiple disc jackets containing a huge amount of information. both of
It supports the end and can be replaced automatically at high speed in a stable posture. Furthermore, since automatic replacement can be performed, there is no need to directly touch the disc, and there is no possibility of fingerprints or damage to the disc due to accidental handling. Therefore, the effect is large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a disc housed in a disc jacket according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front view of the disc jacket according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a rear view of the disc jacket. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the Moum' line in FIG. 2, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the disk exchange device applied to the disk jacket of the present invention, FIG. FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing the operation of the main parts. 1...disc, 2...engaging hole, 8...
...Disk jacket, 8 & ... Upper case, 8b ... Lower case, 1o ... Engagement part, 11 ...... Transparent Hole, 12...Positioning groove, 13...Opening. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure 2 Figure 3 β Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] A disc jacket comprising a disc on which information signals are recorded and reproduced, and a casing that rotatably houses and encloses the disc, the casing being capable of inserting a rotational drive body for rotationally driving the disc. a pair of engaging parts for transporting the casing by an external transport member; What is claimed is: 1. A disc jacket comprising: a positioning groove for engaging and positioning an external housing positioning member, and wherein the engaging portions are provided at symmetrical positions on both sides of the drawer side edge of the disc.