JPH04356785A - Card with built-in disk - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize a card with built-in disk, to enhance the portability and to record and reproduce a large capacity of data by specifying a recording and reproducing head structure and specifying outside dimensions of the case. CONSTITUTION:In the case 17 of a card size, the device is provided with the recording and reproducing head structure of 3-3.5mm in height consisting of a magnetic disk 12 of >=2in. in diameter, a composite type magnetic head 11, a supporting member 11' and an actuator 13. The head 11 is formed of a record/ reproduction separation type magnetic head, a serve pattern detection optical head and a fine adjustment actuator on a slider. Also the outside dimensions of the case 17 is made >=55mm in depth, >=86mm in width and >=3.5mm in thickness. Ultrasonic motors >=3.5mm in thickness are preferred for both a spindle motor in the case 17 and a head drive motor.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an external memory that has both the portability of a card memory and the large capacity and low cost of a hard disk.

0002

[Prior Art] Storage media of external memory or external storage devices include floppy disks and hard disks (HDDs).
, magnetic card (magnetic memory), optical disk, magneto-optical disk, optical card (optical memory), semiconductor disk, IC card, IC memory card (semiconductor memory)
etc., and there is no compatibility between the respective devices. on the other hand,
2. Description of the Related Art As personal computers and the like are becoming smaller and lighter in the future, compact and large-capacity storage media are increasingly desired. In addition, conventional technology uses floppy disks, optical disks, and IC cards for portability and interchangeability, hard disks and optical disks for large capacity, and IC cards for compactness and light weight.
Applicable media have been selected appropriately depending on the purpose. However, when it came to a device as small as a card and with a large capacity, it was not always possible to be satisfied.

0003

[Problem to be solved by the invention] Items required for storage media - large capacity, high speed, low bit cost, small size, portability,
In terms of ease of providing applications and high reliability, hard disks are superior to IC cards in terms of storage capacity and bit cost, and are superior to floppy disks and optical storage media in terms of high speed. It can be said that this is the shortest route to achieving the desired storage medium. At this time, the miniaturization of disk devices such as hard disk devices -
In particular, the biggest challenge is reduction to card size. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an external storage device that is as small as a card, has excellent portability, and is capable of recording and reproducing large amounts of data. .

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a disk as a recording medium and a head mechanism for recording and reproducing information in a card-sized case, as shown in FIG. 1, for example. , the above disc is less than 2 inches in diameter;
The recording/reproducing head mechanism has a height of 3 mm to 3.5 mm or less, consisting of a head, a head support section, and an actuator, and further includes, for example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
, the slider end face at the tip of the recording/reproducing head mechanism is equipped with a recording/reproducing separated head and a head for detecting and controlling the slider position, and a slider is provided on the recording medium separately from a track for recording/reproducing information. Equipped with a servo pattern for position detection control, this allows the outer diameter of the case to be reduced to 55 mm vertically.
mm or less, width 86 mm or less, and thickness 3.5 mm or less. Here, the disk of the recording medium and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing information may be a magnetic disk device having a magnetic disk and a magnetic head. In that case, if the head for detecting and controlling the slider position is an optical head. Desirable for increasing recording density. Alternatively, the disk of the recording medium and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing information are each driven within the case by a spindle motor built into the disk spindle hub and a head drive motor integrated with the head support part, and both motors are An ultrasonic motor with a diameter of 3.5 mm or less is preferable for downsizing the card. Alternatively, the disk of the recording medium and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing information may be driven by a spindle motor and a head drive motor outside the case. Here, it is preferable to incorporate at least a part of the circuit for controlling the device inside the case and for data signal processing inside the case, since the space can be used effectively and the device can be miniaturized. Alternatively, if the head mechanism for recording and reproducing the information is driven by a plurality of drive motors, it is possible to increase the track density, which is desirable for large-capacity recording. Furthermore, if a plurality of disk drives can be installed to form an array disk device, the application as a mass storage device will be expanded. It is preferable to enable the array disk device to be used in combination with an IC card, since this allows the high speed of the IC card and the large capacity of the hard disk card of the present invention to be effectively utilized. Furthermore, as a medium for providing application programs, ROM area,
Having both RAM areas will further improve usability. The card with the above configuration will be referred to as a disk built-in card in the present invention.

[0005]

[Operation] The dimensions for providing a card-sized device are:
Width approx. 55mm or less, height approx. 86mm or less, thickness approx. 3.5m
m or less. In the present invention, the disk stored in the case has a diameter of 2 inches or less, and the recording/reproducing head mechanism consisting of a head, a head support part, and an actuator has a height of 3 mm.
Setting the thickness to 3.5 mm or less allows the device to be miniaturized to the size of a card. In the present invention, the head is a separate recording/reproducing head, and the reproducing head and the recording head are each optimized in terms of the gap between magnetic poles, the material of the magnetic poles, and other head structures, even in the case of a magnetic head. This improves the recording and reproducing characteristics, making it possible to respond to higher recording densities. Furthermore, in the present invention, a dedicated head and servo pattern are provided for position detection control in addition to those for recording and reproduction, which makes it easy to avoid interference between recording and reproduction information and position detection control information, and increases density. is possible. In the case of a magnetic disk drive in which the recording medium disk is a magnetic disk, the magnetic head has a simple configuration, so the magnetic head mechanism for recording and reproducing can be easily miniaturized. If a magnetic track is used, and an optical head and a servo pattern for optical detection are used for position detection control, there will be no interference between recording and reproduction information and position detection control information, and high-density recording will be possible. (
Conventionally, in the case of the so-called data surface servo method, which uses a magnetic servo area for position detection control and a data area for recording and reproducing on a magnetic disk, for example, a margin is set to prevent interference between the two areas. I needed to take it. However, in the case of the present invention, since there is no interference as described above, there is no need to take such a margin, and high-density recording becomes possible. ) Ultrasonic motors have a simple mechanism, and the stator and rotor can be constructed from thin flat plates. Therefore, using this for a spindle motor or a head drive motor is effective in housing the device into a card size. If at least a part of the circuit for controlling the device and for processing data signals is provided in a space other than the disk and actuator section within the case, space can be saved and miniaturization can be facilitated. Driving the recording/reproducing head mechanism with multiple drive motors makes it possible to drive the same mechanism with a multi-stage configuration of coarse adjustment and fine adjustment, which allows for high precision in response to high-density recording. This makes it possible to control the position of the tracks and, conversely, to increase the density of tracks. Among the above means, in the case where the spindle motor or the head drive motor is built into the case, the slot into which the card is inserted can be the same as the slot for the IC card. When the disk built-in card of the present invention is inserted instead of an IC card, the CPU recognizes that it is a disk built-in card, and it is equivalent to an IC card operated as a FAT file system (a file system that uses a file allocation table). It is possible to handle In other words, when looking at an IC card or a card with a built-in disk as an external memory from the CPU side,
Other than the difference in performance, they can be recognized as completely similar storage media. Among the above means, those having a structure that utilizes a spindle motor or a head drive motor outside the case require a drive device exclusively for the disk built-in card. When a card with a built-in disk is inserted into the slot of a dedicated drive, the card is fixed in place, and at the same time the disk with built-in Each rotating shaft on the card side is joined by a joining mechanism. The rotation of the spindle and the drive of the actuator are therefore provided by the drive side. Reading and writing of data is operated as a FAT file system, and is exactly the same as the method described above. As a result of the above, it is possible to provide a card system with a built-in disk that has a storage capacity approximately 100 to 1000 times larger than that of an IC card in a device of the same size.

[0006]

Embodiments Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the disk built-in card device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a basic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the disk built-in card device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a basic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the disk built-in card device according to the present invention. A schematic diagram of a composite magnetic head, a disk, and a disk pattern used in the device, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration example of the magnetic head section of the composite head, and FIG. 5 is a detailed configuration example of the optical head section of the composite head. FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams for explaining the principle of servo pattern detection, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing various examples of servo patterns.
9 is a diagram showing the configuration of an actuator in the disk built-in card of the first embodiment explained in FIG. 1, and FIG. 10 is an example of a configuration in which one piezoelectric drive motor is added to the actuator configuration of FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of the spindle motor in the disk built-in card of the first embodiment explained in FIG. 1, and FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the device drive in the disk built-in card of the second embodiment explained in FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram schematically showing the bit unit price of each memory, and FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of an array disk drive configured with the device of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a composite magnetic head 11
, an actuator 13 that drives the servo pattern etching magnetic disk 12, a support member 11' that supports the magnetic head 11, a spindle and a spindle motor 14 that rotationally drives the magnetic disk 12, and a spindle motor 14 and the actuator. 13, a circuit system 15 for controlling the writing/reproduction of recorded data, data signal processing, and data input/output control, an external interface connector section 16, and a case 17 containing the above-mentioned components inside. When the device is inserted into the IC card slot (not shown) in a card device with a built-in disk that constitutes the basic element, control signals from the CPU are used to recognize the device, control disk rotation, control recording/playback, etc. Data is recorded on the magnetic disk medium 12, and data can be reproduced. Furthermore, the magnetic head 11
The configuration of the actuator 13 is shown in FIG. 3, the configuration of the actuator 13 is shown in FIG. 9, and the configuration of the motor 14 is shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the invention. The disk built-in card section has composite magnetic heads 21a and 21b.
, a servo pattern etching magnetic disk 22, an actuator 23 that drives a support member 21' that supports the magnetic heads 21a and 21b, and the magnetic disk 22.
a spindle 24 that rotationally drives the , a circuit system 25 that performs writing/reproduction control of recorded data, data signal processing, data input/output control, an external interface connector part 26, and a case containing the above components inside. 27, and the device drive section (slot side) includes a spindle motor section 24' that is connected to the spindle 24 when a disk built-in card is inserted, an actuator motor 23' that is connected to the actuator 23, and their respective drive controls. It is composed of a control circuit 25 or 25' that performs the above operations, and a drive device 28 that houses these circuits. When the device is inserted into the IC card slot (not shown), the device is fixed in place and the spindle motor 24' shaft and the actuator motor 23' shaft are joined with their rotation centers aligned. Ru. Next, device recognition, disk rotation control, recording/playback control, etc. are performed by control signals from the CPU, and data is recorded on the magnetic disk medium 22.
Or playback becomes possible. The configuration of the composite magnetic head is as shown in FIG. 3. In addition, the control circuit of the device is 25
It may be divided into 25' and 25', or it may be placed on either side.

FIG. 3 schematically shows a composite magnetic head, a disk, and a disk pattern used in the disk built-in card device of the present invention. Separate recording/reproducing magnetic head 3
1, a servo pattern detection optical head 32, and a fine movement actuator 33 are mounted on a slider 34, which is a non-conductive sintered body, and when the magnetic disk 35 rotates at high speed in the direction of the arrow, the disk surface and the slider Due to the balance between the air film generated between the slider support spring 37 and the surface 36, the slider 34 floats while maintaining a gap of 0.1 μm or less from the surface of the magnetic disk 35. The optical head 32 moves the slider 3 while reading the servo pattern 38 on the magnetic disk.
4 and controls the drive of the magnetic head to an appropriate position. At this time, the magnetic head 31 can record data on the predetermined track 39 or reproduce the recorded data.

FIG. 4 shows a detailed configuration example of the magnetic head section of the above composite head. However, in this example, an inductive type is used for the recording head, and a magnetoresistive type is used for the reproducing head. At the rear end of the slider 43 (slider surface 43'), there is a playback section 4.
1. Heads are formed in the order of the recording section 42 by a thin film forming process. The reproduction section consists of a shield 44 and an electrode 45,
The recording section consists of a core 46 and a coil 47. The track width of each head is about 1 μm. The recording/reproducing principle is similar to the conventional magnetic recording/reproducing method.
FIG. 5 shows a detailed configuration diagram of the optical head section of the composite head. A semiconductor laser 52, an optical waveguide 53, and a photodetector 54 are configured at the rear end of the slider 51 (slider surface 51'). The principle of servo pattern detection will be explained using FIGS. 6 and 7. In FIG. 6, the emission end face 61 of the semiconductor laser 52
The distance h between the magnetic disk 60 and the surface 63 of the magnetic disk 60 is set within 5 μm. Generally, a semiconductor laser has its emission end face 6
1 and the rear end surface 62 to emit light. However, in the above arrangement, in addition to the resonance between both end surfaces, a complex resonance between the output end surface 61 and the medium surface 63 is generated. There are conditions for the phenomenon to occur. At this time, the output end face 6
1 and the pit bottom 64, which is a servo pattern, does not cause a complex phenomenon of resonance. The above relationship may be reversed. In FIG. 7, when looking at the laser characteristics with the horizontal axis representing the laser drive current and the vertical axis representing the emission power, the laser characteristic normally shows state a, but when a complex phenomenon occurs, state b shows. Therefore, when the laser drive current is I0, H and L are 2 depending on the presence or absence of pits.
value can be obtained.

FIG. 8 shows various examples of servo patterns etched on a magnetic disk. (a)
The pits 81 are arranged in a staggered manner with respect to the track center 80. (b) is the track center 80
On the other hand, the cuts of the grooves 82 parallel to the center line are arranged in a staggered manner. In either case, positional deviation is detected by taking the difference between left and right pit signals.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the structure of the actuator in the disk built-in card of the first embodiment described in FIG. 1. Support member 9 that supports composite magnetic head 90
1 constitutes an ultrasonic motor with a piezoelectric element 92 that also serves as a motor rotor and generates a traveling wave in the circumferential direction, and a case 93
Fixed. The total thickness t of this actuator is approximately 3
It is about mm to 3.5 mm.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a configuration in which one piezoelectric drive motor is further added to the above-described actuator configuration. A part 103 of the support member 101 that supports the composite magnetic head 102 is processed into the shape shown, and a piezoelectric element 104 is incorporated therein. The magnetic head exhibits movement b in contrast to the movement a of the piezoelectric element.

As already shown in FIG. 3, the composite magnetic head itself also has the function of an actuator, so the system shown in FIG. 9 has two stages (dual stage).
In the system shown in FIG. 10, the actuator constitutes a three-stage actuator. All of these are means for improving the servo characteristics of the actuator.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of the spindle motor in the disk built-in card of the first embodiment described in FIG. 1. A magnetic disk 111, a hub 112,
An ultrasonic motor is configured with a piezoelectric element 113 that generates a traveling wave in the circumferential direction, and is fixed to a case 114. The overall thickness t' is approximately 3 mm to 3.5 mm.

FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing the device drive section of the disk built-in card of the second embodiment described in FIG. 2. The device drive 121 is composed of a disk built-in card insertion opening (slot) 122, a spindle motor 123, and an actuator motor 124. The configuration of the connector 125 and the like other than each motor is almost the same as that of the IC card device.

The greatest advantage of the above-described disk built-in card over an IC card is that the bit cost is low. FIG. 13 shows an outline of the bit unit price of each memory. If the bit unit price of an optical disk is 1, it is about 100 for a mask ROM card and about 10 for an SRAM card.
It is 00. On the other hand, a card with a built-in disk is almost equivalent to an optical disk.

Since the disk built-in card of the present invention is small, it can be used not only as a standalone card but also as an array disk. Furthermore, Figure 1
When configuring an array drive device such as 4, for example, insert an IC card into slots 1 to 3, and insert an IC card into slot 4.
~10 can be used to insert a card with a built-in disk. This mixed use allows for extremely flexible usage, such as the IC card section being mapped to the computer's CPU and used as part of the main memory, and the disk built-in card section being used as a mass storage device. becomes. Furthermore, because of its portability and large capacity, it is also excellent as a medium for providing application programs. If the structure has both a ROM area and a RAM area, the usability will be further improved.

Although the above description has been made regarding a magnetic disk device having a magnetic disk and a magnetic head, the present invention is not limited to magnetic disks as recording medium disks. For example, in the case of an optical disc, the same configuration can be achieved by using the servo optical head described in this embodiment as a recording/reproducing head.

[0020]

According to the present invention, a small-sized, large-capacity external storage device can be provided at low cost. Further, by using the memory in combination with an IC card, the degree of freedom in how the memory can be used can be increased. This makes it possible to easily handle large amounts of data such as image information, which greatly contributes to the further development of a highly information-oriented society.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a disk built-in card device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a basic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the disk built-in card device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a composite magnetic head, a disk, and a disk pattern used in the disk built-in card device of the present invention.

[Fig. 4] A diagram showing a detailed configuration example of the magnetic head section of the composite head.

[Fig. 5] A diagram showing a detailed configuration example of the optical head section of the composite head.

[Figure 6] Diagram for explaining the principle of servo pattern detection

[Figure 7] Diagram for explaining the principle of servo pattern detection

[Figure 8] Diagram showing various examples of servo patterns

[Figure 9]
A diagram showing the configuration of the actuator in the disk built-in card of the first embodiment explained in FIG.

[Figure 10] Figure 9
A diagram showing an example of a configuration in which one piezoelectric drive motor is added to the actuator configuration of

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of a spindle motor in the disk built-in card of the first embodiment described in FIG. 1;

[Fig. 12] The second example explained in Fig. 2.
A diagram schematically showing the device drive unit in the disk built-in card of the embodiment.

[Figure 13] Diagram showing an outline of the bit unit price of each memory

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of an array disk drive configured with the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 21a, 21b; composite magnetic head;
11'; head support member; 12, 22; magnetic disk;
13, 23; head actuator, 14; spindle motor,
15, 25; Control circuit, 16, 26; Interface connector, 17, 27; Case, 24';
spindle motor,
28; Drive device 31; Magnetic head;
32;
Optical head, 33; fine movement actuator,
34; slider, 35; magnetic disk,
36; slider surface, 37; head support member,
38; servo pattern, 39; magnetic recording information,
41; Reproduction Department, 42;
recording department,
43; Substrate, 43'; Slider surface,

44; shield, 45; electrode,
46; core, 47; coil
51; substrate, 51';
slider surface,
52; semiconductor laser; 53; optical waveguide;

54; Photodetector 60; Magnetic disk,
61; Output end surface, 62; Rear end surface, 63; Medium surface, 64;
pit bottom
80; Track center, 81; Servo pit,
82; grooves 90, 102; composite magnetic head;
91, 101; supporting member; 92; piezoelectric element;

93; Case 103; Fine movement actuator,
104; piezoelectric element 111; magnetic disk, 1
12; hub, 113; piezoelectric element,
114; Case 121;
external drive device,
122; insertion port, 123; spindle motor, 124;
Actuator motor, 125; connector

Claims (9)

[Claims] Claim 1: A disk as a recording medium and a head mechanism for recording and reproducing information are provided in a card-sized case, the disk has a diameter of 2 inches or less, and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing includes a head, a head support portion, and an actuator. The recording/reproducing head mechanism has a height of 3 mm to 3.5 mm or less, and further includes a recording/reproducing separation type head and a head for detecting and controlling the slider position on the end face of the slider at the tip of the recording/reproducing head mechanism,
Further, the recording medium is provided with a servo pattern for controlling the position detection of the slider in addition to the track for recording and reproducing information, so that the outer diameter of the case is 55 mm or less in length, 86 mm or less in width, and 3.5 mm in thickness. A disk built-in card characterized by the following: 2. The disk of the recording medium and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing information are a magnetic disk device having a magnetic disk and a magnetic head, and the head for detecting and controlling the slider position is an optical head. The disk built-in card according to claim 1. 3. The disk of the recording medium and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing information are each driven within the case by a spindle motor built in a disk spindle hub and a head drive motor integrated with the head support section. 3. The disk built-in card according to claim 1, wherein both motors are ultrasonic motors having a thickness of 3.5 mm or less. 4. The disk according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the disk of the recording medium and the head mechanism for recording and reproducing information are driven by a spindle motor and a head drive motor outside the case. Built-in card. 5. The disk built-in card according to claim 3 or 4, wherein at least a part of a circuit for controlling a device inside the case and for data signal processing is built in the case. Card with built-in disk. 6. The disk built-in card according to claim 2, wherein the information recording/reproducing head mechanism is driven by a plurality of drive motors. 7. A disk built-in card in which a plurality of cards can be installed to form an array disk device. 8. The disk built-in card according to claim 7, which can be used in combination with an IC card in an array disk device. 9. A disk built-in card characterized by having both a ROM area and a RAM area as a medium for providing application programs.