JPH0896495A - Optical disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain the optical disk device using selectively an optical disk compatible with one side access and both side access with simple configuration. CONSTITUTION: The optical disk device that has a couple of optical heads and is accessible simultaneously to both sides of an optical disk is provided with a 1st disk cartridge 14 containing an optical disk compatible with double side access and with a 2nd disk cartridge containing an optical disk compatible with one side access. An insert port 12 provided to a case 10 of the optical disk device is formed to be a flat rectangle having a chamfered part 12a at one corner. The 2nd disk cartridge has a rectangular cross section whose one corner is chamfered and the cartridge is inserted to the insert port only when the chamfered part 53 is in matching with a prescribed facial direction coincident with the chamfered part of the insert port.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical disk device for recording and reproducing information on an optical disk as a recording medium, and more particularly to a double-sided simultaneous access type optical disk device capable of simultaneously accessing both surfaces of the optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical disc apparatus uses an optical disc as a recording medium, and recording, reproducing, or erasing of information on the optical disc is performed by a laser beam emitted from an optical head. Generally, an optical head includes a laser light source such as a semiconductor laser, an objective lens for focusing and irradiating a laser beam emitted from the laser light source onto a recording surface of an optical disc, and an access for moving the objective lens to a desired position. And a mechanism.

Conventionally, as an optical disk device, a single-sided access type optical disk device and a double-sided simultaneous access type optical disk device are known. A single-sided access type optical disc apparatus is provided with a single optical head and an access mechanism for driving the same, and information is recorded by the optical head on one recording surface of the optical disc mounted at a predetermined position.
Playback etc. Recording, reproduction, and the like on the recording surface on the opposite side of the optical disc are performed by once taking out the optical disc from the device, turning it over, and then loading it again in the device.

On the other hand, the double-sided simultaneous access type optical disk device includes a pair of optical heads provided opposite to each other,
A pair of access mechanisms that drive these optical heads,
It is possible to simultaneously perform recording, reproduction and the like on both recording surfaces of an optical disc loaded in a predetermined position by a pair of optical heads.

In general, an optical disk used in an optical disk device is provided with a reinforcing disk positioned in the middle and two recording and reproducing disk substrates attached to both surfaces of the reinforcing disk. A recording layer is formed on the inner surface of the substrate.

As described above, in the single-sided access type optical disc apparatus, recording and reproduction of information are performed on one side of the optical disc using a single optical head. Therefore, in an optical disc used for a single-sided access type optical disc device, each disc substrate independently has a predetermined mechanical characteristic,
For example, it suffices that the flatness, the thickness, etc. be satisfied, and it is not necessary to consider the mechanical characteristics between the two disk substrates, such as the parallelism between the disk substrates and the distance. When manufacturing such an optical disc, it is sufficient to inspect the mechanical properties once from both sides of the optical disc, that is, twice in total.

When the above-mentioned single-sided access type optical disk is used in a double-sided access type optical disk apparatus, recording is performed by using only one optical head of the optical disk apparatus, for example, the optical head located on the spindle motor side. Playback is performed. Therefore, the single-sided access type optical disc is not limited to the inserting direction with respect to the double-sided access type optical disc device, and any direction, that is, the direction in which one disc substrate faces the optical head, and The other disk substrate can be loaded in either of the directions facing the optical head.

On the other hand, in the double-sided simultaneous access type optical disc apparatus, since recording and reproduction are simultaneously performed on both sides of the loaded optical disc, two optical discs are loaded in the optical disc apparatus. It is necessary that the disk substrates of (1) and (2) are simultaneously arranged at predetermined positions with respect to the corresponding optical heads. Therefore, an optical disc used in a double-sided access type optical disc device is formed such that each disc substrate has a predetermined mechanical characteristic and the mechanical characteristic between two disc substrates also satisfies the predetermined characteristic. Must be Therefore, when manufacturing such an optical disc, for one disc substrate, inspection of mechanical characteristics of the disc substrate itself,
It is necessary to perform the inspection of the mechanical characteristics of the other disc substrate twice, that is, a total of 4 in total for the optical disc.
It is necessary to perform inspection once.

[0009]

However, when the inspection process is performed four times as described above, the inspection takes time, the yield of the products is reduced, and the manufacturing cost is increased. Therefore, in order to prevent such an increase in manufacturing cost, it is desirable to inspect and use the optical disc by the following method. In other words, when manufacturing an optical disc,
With one disc substrate of the optical disc as a reference, only the mechanical properties of this reference disc substrate and the mechanical properties of the other disc substrate with respect to the reference disc substrate are inspected, and during use, this reference disc substrate is predetermined for the optical disc device. It is desirable to specify the loading direction so that it is loaded in the opposite direction.

Therefore, the above-mentioned single-sided access compatible optical disk whose insertion direction is not regulated and the above-described specified double-sided access compatible optical disk in the insertion direction are selectively used in a double-sided simultaneous access type optical disk device. In this case, it is necessary that both optical discs can be easily distinguished and each optical disc can be inserted in the correct orientation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide an optical disk device capable of selectively using an optical disk compatible with single-sided access and an optical disk compatible with double-sided access with a simple structure. .

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, an optical disk system according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises:
A first disk cartridge having two recording surfaces facing each other and capable of simultaneously accessing both recording surfaces, and a first disk cartridge containing two facing recording surfaces, and one recording surface having two recording surfaces facing each other A second disk cartridge accommodating an accessible single-sided access optical disk is formed so that it can be selectively loaded, and the first cartridge is inserted only when it is inserted in alignment with a predetermined surface direction. The second cartridge is mounted at a predetermined position in the housing, and a housing having an insertion opening formed in a shape that allows the second cartridge to be inserted even when inserted in any surface direction. Driving means for rotating and driving the optical disk in the first or second disk cartridge, and a pair of light arranged in the housing. When the head and the first disk cartridge are loaded at a predetermined position through the insertion opening, the pair of optical heads performs information processing on both recording surfaces of an optical disk compatible with double-sided access and the second disk. When one of the optical disk cartridges is loaded into a predetermined position through the insertion port, one optical head controls information on one recording surface of an optical disk compatible with single-sided access.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the insertion port of the housing has a regulation portion protruding from the peripheral edge into the insertion port, and the first cartridge is arranged in a predetermined plane direction. In addition, the second cartridge has a single insertion allowing recess that matches the regulation portion only when the first disc cartridge is inserted into the insertion opening.
It has a pair of insertion permitting recesses which are formed at symmetrical positions with each other and which respectively coincide with the restricting portions when the second disk cartridges are inserted into the insertion opening in alignment with one of the surface directions.

[0014]

According to the optical disk device configured as described above, when information processing is performed using an optical disk compatible with double-sided access, the first disk cartridge is inserted into the optical disk device through the insertion port of the optical disk device.
At this time, only when the first disc cartridge is inserted in alignment with a predetermined surface direction, for example, when the first one of the two recording surfaces is inserted in the direction in which the recording surface is located on the drive means side. The cross-sectional shape of the first disc cartridge and the contour of the insertion slot match, and the insertion into the optical disc device is possible through the insertion slot. Further, when it is inserted in the opposite surface direction, the cross-sectional shape of the first disk cartridge does not match the contour of the insertion opening, and the insertion is hindered.
Therefore, an optical disk compatible with double-sided access is always loaded in a predetermined direction in the optical disk device.

On the other hand, when information processing is performed using an optical disc compatible with single-sided access, the second disc cartridge is inserted into the optical disc device through the insertion port of the optical disc device. At this time, the second disc cartridge can pass through the insertion port regardless of the surface direction, and can be inserted into the optical disc device in any orientation.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An optical disk device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the optical disc apparatus includes a rectangular casing 10, and a disc cartridge 1 to be described later is provided on the front face of the casing.
An insertion opening 12 for inserting 4, 15 is formed. A cartridge holder 26 that receives the disc cartridge inserted through the insertion port 12 and holds the disc cartridge at a predetermined position is provided in the housing 10.

A spindle motor 20 functioning as a driving means is arranged at substantially the center of the housing 10. The spindle motor 20 includes a turntable 24 fixed to its rotary shaft. Spindle motor 20
Are supported on the bottom wall of the housing 10 via a lifting mechanism 38. Then, by driving the motor 30 of the lifting mechanism 28, the spindle motor 20 is moved up and down with respect to the loaded disk cartridge.

Further, in the housing 10, a first optical head 36 for processing information on one surface of the optical disk in the disk cartridge loaded in a predetermined position, that is, the upper surface, and the first optical head 36 are provided. A first access mechanism 34 that reciprocally drives the optical head in the radial direction of the optical disc, and a second optical head 38 that performs information processing on the lower surface of the optical disc.
And a second access mechanism 40 that reciprocally drives the second optical head in the radial direction of the optical disc.

A base 18 is provided on the bottom wall 16 of the housing 10. The first access mechanism 34 includes a pair of support members 108 and 110 that are erected on the base 18.
A guide rod 100 supported between these supporting members,
Is equipped with. The guide rod 100 extends in the radial direction of the optical disc in parallel with the upper surface of the loaded optical disc. In particular, the guide rod 100 extends from the vicinity of the central portion of the optical disc to the outside beyond the end portion on the insertion side of the disc cartridge.

The first optical head 36 includes the guide rod 1
It is slidably supported by 00. The first optical head 36 also includes a laser light source (not shown) and an objective lens 37 that irradiates a laser beam emitted from the laser light source onto the upper recording surface of the optical disc.

The first access mechanism 34 has a magnetic circuit 102 arranged along the guide rod 100. The magnetic circuit 102 is attached to the first optical head 36 and is not shown. Together with this, it constitutes a linear motor. Then, by driving the linear motor, the first optical head 36 is moved along the guide rod 100 to face the inner peripheral portion of the loaded optical disc, and the retracted position shown away from the disc cartridge. Driven back and forth between positions.

The second optical head 38 and the second access mechanism 40 for driving the second optical head are arranged on the lower surface side of the loaded optical disk, that is, on the same side as the spindle motor 20. These second optical heads 39
The access mechanism 40 is disposed so as to face the first optical head 36 and the access mechanism 34, and has the same configuration. That is, the second access mechanism 40 includes the guide rod 104 supported between the support members 108 and 110, and the guide rod 104 is
It extends in the radial direction of the optical disc from the vicinity of the central portion of the optical disc to the outside beyond the insertion side end of the disc cartridge in parallel with the lower surface of the optical disc.

The second optical head 38 is slidably supported by the guide rod 104, and includes a laser light source (not shown) and an objective lens 39. Further, the second access mechanism 40 has a magnetic circuit 106 arranged along the guide rod 104.
Composes a linear motor together with a magnetic circuit (not shown) attached to the second optical head 38. Then, by driving the linear motor, the second optical head 38 is moved along the guide rod 104, as shown in FIG.
It is reciprocally driven between a position facing the inner peripheral portion of the optical disk 60 shown in FIG. 2 and a retracted position located outside the disk cartridge 14.

The first and second optical heads 36, 38,
The first and second access mechanisms 102, 104, the spindle motor 20, and the motor 30 of the lifting mechanism 28 are
It is connected to a control unit 80 that functions as control means, and the operation is controlled by this control unit.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first disk cartridge 14 used with the optical disk device has a flat rectangular case body 50 formed by joining an upper case 50a and a lower case 50b, and a case body. Side members 51a and 51b attached to both side surfaces of the. An optical disc 60 compatible with double-sided access as an information recording medium is housed in the case body 50.

Openings 61a and 61b for accessing the optical disk 60 are formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the case body 50 so as to face each other. Opening 52
a and 52b are the first disc cartridge 14 and
In the insertion direction A of the case to the vicinity of the front end of the case.

The case body 50 has openings 52a, 5
It has a front end frame 64 located adjacent to 2b, and notches 66a and 66b communicating with the openings 52a and 5b are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the front end frame, respectively. The notches 66a and 66b are formed to have a width substantially equal to the width of the openings 52a and 52b, and when the first disc cartridge 14 is loaded into the optical disc device,
It is formed to a sufficient depth so that interference between the optical head and the tip frame 64 does not occur.

The first disk cartridge 14 has a shutter 54 for opening and closing the openings 52a and 52b, and this shutter is slidably attached to the case main body 50 along a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction A. Shutter 54
Is formed by bending a plate material into a substantially U shape.
It is moved between a closed position that closes the a and 52b and covers the front end frame 64, and an open position that opens both openings and the front end frame. When the openings 52a and 52b are opened, the central portion of the optical disc 60 and a part of the disc surface are exposed, and the optical disc can be accessed through these openings.

The shutter 54 is constantly urged toward the closed position by a spring (not shown) provided in the case body 50. The shutter 54 includes a lock claw 58 provided at the front end of the case body 50 and a locking projection 56 formed at the front end of the shutter 54.
Normally locked in the closed position.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the optical disc 60 comprises a reinforcing disc 70 and two disc substrates 61a attached to both sides of the reinforcing disc, respectively.
61b and. Then, each disk substrate 61
A recording layer is formed on the inner surfaces of a and 61b.
72b is formed. Hubs 62 are fitted into the inner holes of the disk substrates 61a and 61b, respectively, and suction plates 62 having a center hole 62a are fixed to the respective hubs.

In the case of the optical disk 60 compatible with double-sided access, it is manufactured so as to satisfy predetermined mechanical characteristics with one disk substrate 61a as a reference. That is, in the inspection process during manufacturing of the optical disc 60, as shown by the arrow a, the disc substrate 61b is moved from the disc substrate 61b
b, the mechanical characteristics such as smoothness and thickness are inspected.
With reference to, the mechanical properties of the other disk substrate 61a and the mechanical properties of the two disk substrates, such as parallelism and spacing between the two disk substrates, are inspected. Then, by manufacturing the optical disk 60 so as to satisfy these mechanical characteristics, it is possible to obtain an optical disk in which both recording surfaces 72a and 72b can be simultaneously accessed.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Each of a and 51b is formed in an elongated rod shape.
The side surface member 51a has a rectangular cross-sectional shape with one corner chamfered, and as a result, a chamfered portion 53 extending along the insertion direction A of the disc cartridge 14 is formed. The chamfered portion 53 constitutes the insertion allowance recess in the present invention.

The other side member 51b is not chamfered and is formed in a rectangular cross section. The side members 51a and 51b are detachably attached to the case body 50 by a method such as screwing or fitting. And the side member 51
When a and 51b are attached to both side surfaces of the case main body 50, the sectional shape of the entire first disc cartridge 14, particularly the sectional shape in the direction orthogonal to the insertion direction A, is
It has a substantially flat rectangular shape with the upper left corner chamfered in the insertion direction A.

On the other hand, the second disk cartridge 15 used together with the optical disk device has substantially the same structure as the first disk cartridge 14. That is, the second disc cartridge 15 includes a case body 50 that houses the optical disc 59, and a pair of side surface members 51a and 51b attached to both side surfaces of the case body. The case body 50 and the side surface member 51a are
The optical disk 59 and the side surface member 51 have the same structure as the first disk cartridge 14, that is, the same structure.
Only the configuration of b is different from the first disk cartridge.

That is, the second disk cartridge 15
In, the optical disk 59 is configured as an optical disk compatible with single-sided access. The optical disk 59 compatible with single-sided access has the same structure as the optical disk 60 compatible with double-sided access described above, but the mechanical characteristics at the time of manufacture are controlled. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the optical disc 59 includes a reinforcing disc 70, and two disc substrates 61a and 6 attached to both sides of the reinforcing disc, respectively.
1b, recording surfaces 72a and 72b formed on the inner surface of each disk substrate 61a and 61b, a hub 62, and a suction plate 62 having a center hole 62a.

However, an optical disk 59 that supports single-sided access
In this case, the disk substrates 61a and 61b are independently manufactured so as to satisfy the mechanical characteristics, and the mechanical characteristics between the two disk substrates are not taken into consideration. That is, in the inspection process at the time of manufacturing the optical disc 59, the arrow c
, The mechanical properties of only the disc substrate 61a are inspected from the side of the disc substrate 61a, for example, the smoothness, the thickness, and the like.
From the side, the mechanical characteristics of only the disc substrate 61b are inspected. Then, by manufacturing the optical disk 59 so as to satisfy these mechanical characteristics, the recording surfaces 72a,
It is possible to obtain an optical disk which can access 2b one by one.

Further, in the second disk cartridge 15, the side surface member 51b is similar to the side surface member 51a.
It has a rectangular cross-sectional shape with one corner chamfered, and as a result, a chamfered portion 55 extending along the insertion direction A is formed. The chamfered portion 55 constitutes the insertion allowing recess in the present invention. Therefore, the side members 51a, 51b
With the attached to both sides of the case body 50,
The cross-sectional shape of the entire second disk cartridge 15, particularly the cross-sectional shape in the direction orthogonal to the insertion direction A, has two diagonal corners, that is, an upper left corner and a lower right corner in the insertion direction A. It has a substantially flat rectangular shape with chamfered corners. The second disk cartridge 15
Also in the above, the side members 51a and 51b are the case main body 5
It is detachably attached to 0. A common member is used as the side surface members 51a and 51b, and is attached to each side surface of the case main body 50 while changing its direction during assembly.

Therefore, by using the single case main body 50 and the two kinds of side surface members 51a and 51b in combination, the first and second disk cartridges 14 and 15 having the above construction can be obtained.

The above-mentioned two kinds of disc cartridges 1
When performing information processing by selectively using 4, 15
Since the single-sided access compatible optical disks 59 accommodated in the disk cartridge 15 are accessed one by one, the insertion surface direction with respect to the optical disk device does not matter. That is, in the case of the second disc cartridge 15, the disc substrate 61 of the optical disc.
It does not matter if either a or 61b is inserted into the optical disk device in a state of facing up.

On the other hand, the optical disc 60 housed in the first disc cartridge 14 has both disc substrates 61a and 61b based on one disc substrate 61b.
Since it is manufactured so as to satisfy the mechanical characteristics of No. 2, it is necessary to insert and load the disc cartridge into the optical disc device in accordance with a predetermined plane direction so that the two recording faces 72a and 72b can be simultaneously accessed. is there.
That is, the first disc cartridge 14 needs to be inserted into the optical disc device in such a direction that the disc substrate 61b of the optical disc 60 is placed on the turntable 22 of the spindle motor 20 in the optical disc device.

Therefore, according to the optical disk device of the present embodiment, the insertion port 12 of the housing 10 cooperates with the sectional shapes of the first and second disk cartridges 14 and 15,
The first disc cartridge is formed in a shape that restricts its insertion in a predetermined plane direction and allows the second disc cartridge to be inserted in any plane direction.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the insertion port 12
Is formed into a flat rectangular shape, and one corner thereof, for example, the upper left corner is chamfered to form a chamfered portion 12a that functions as a restriction portion. Further, the width and height of the insertion opening 12 are formed to be the minimum dimensions that allow the first and second disk cartridges 14 and 15 to be inserted, including the chamfered portion 12a. In addition, in order to improve the operability when the disc cartridge is inserted, the height dimension of the insertion port 12 is formed slightly larger than the thickness dimension of the disc cartridge. However, the dimensional difference between them is set smaller than the dimension in the height direction of the chamfered portion 12a.

Therefore, the first disk cartridge 14
Only when the chamfered portion 53 is inserted in alignment with the chamfered portion 12a of the insertion opening 12, the cross-sectional shape matches the shape of the insertion opening, and can be inserted into the housing 10 through the insertion opening 12. That is, the first disk cartridge 14
Is inserted into the insertion opening 12 only in a state in which the disc substrate 61b of the optical disc 60 used as a reference in the inspection process is oriented in a plane direction in which the disc substrate 61b is positioned on the spindle motor 20 side. be able to.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, since the second disc cartridge 15 has two chamfered portions 53 and 55 located diagonally, it can be inserted in any state of being aligned. It can be inserted into the mouth 12. That is, in either case of the surface direction in which the disk substrate 61a faces downward and the surface direction in which the disk substrate 61a faces upward, one of the chamfered portions 53 and 55 matches the chamfered portion 12a of the insertion opening 12, The disk cartridge 15 can be inserted.

The disc cartridge and the insertion port may be color-coded so that the surface direction when the disc cartridge is inserted can be easily determined. That is, a side surface member having no chamfered portion, in the embodiment, the chamfered member 51 of the first disc cartridge 14 is used.
b and the case main body 50 have the same color, and the side surface member having a chamfered portion, in the embodiment, the side surface member 51a of the first disk cartridge 14 and the side surface members 51a and 51b of the second disk cartridge 15 are Case body 5
Make it a prominent color different from 0. At the same time, the portion of the insertion opening 12 in the vicinity of the chamfered portion 12a is colored in the same prominent color as the side surface member having the chamfered portion.

As a result, the assemblability of the disc cartridge is improved, and when the user selectively inserts the two types of disc cartridges into the optical disc device, the colors of the side surface member and the chamfered portion 12a of the insertion opening 12 are matched. This makes it possible to easily determine the insertion surface direction.

Next, the operation of the entire optical disc device configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, in a state before the disc cartridge is inserted, the cartridge holder 26 of the optical disc device is held so as to face the insertion opening 12, and the spindle motor 20 is lowered to the lower position by the elevating mechanism 28. , Is held at a retracted position separated from the moving path of the inserted disk cartridge. Furthermore, the first and second optical heads 36, 3
Both 8 are on standby at the retracted position.

In this state, for example, the first disk cartridge 14 is inserted into the housing 10 along the insertion direction A from the insertion opening 12 with the side provided with the shutter 54 facing forward. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the chamfered portion 53 of the first disc cartridge 14 has the insertion opening 12
It can be inserted into the housing 10 through the insertion opening 12 only when it is inserted in the same direction as the chamfered portion 12a.

First disc cartridge 1 inserted
4 is taken into the cartridge holder 26 by a loading mechanism (not shown), and further the spindle motor 20
It is moved in the horizontal direction between the upper and the first and second access mechanisms 34, 40 and is held at the predetermined loading position shown in FIG. During this time, the shutter 54 of the first disk cartridge 14 is opened by the shutter opening / closing mechanism (not shown).

Further, the first and second optical heads 3
Since Nos. 6 and 38 are on standby at the retracted position, the first disk cartridge 14 is inserted from the insertion port 12 to a predetermined loading position without interfering with these optical heads.

Then, the elevating mechanism 28 raises the spindle motor 20 to a predetermined driving position. Thereby,
The hub 62 of the optical disk 60 is magnetically attracted to the turntable 22 of the spindle motor, and as a result, the optical disk is held on the turntable. In this case, as described above, since the first disc cartridge 14 is inserted in alignment with the predetermined surface direction, the optical disc 60
Is loaded with the disk substrate 62b supported on the turntable 22.

When the optical disk 60 is mounted on the turntable 20, the surface direction detector (not shown) detects the surface direction of the first disk cartridge 14. This surface direction detection is performed by, for example, the first disk cartridge 14
This is performed by detecting holes formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the case main body 50 for indicating surface direction information with an optical sensor. Then, the rotation direction of the optical disc 60 is determined according to the detection result, and at the same time, the first and second optical heads 36 and 38 are moved from the retracted position to the optical disc 6.
The recording medium is moved to a position where recording / reproduction can be performed with respect to the upper recording surface 72a and the lower recording surface 72b of 0.

At this time, the first disk cartridge 14
Since the front end frame 64 is formed with the notches 66a and 66b, the first and second optical heads 36 and 38 move into the openings 52a and 52b without interfering with the front end frame, and the predetermined positions are provided. It opposes the upper and lower surfaces of the optical disc 60 at a distance.

In this state, the optical disk 60 is rotationally driven by the spindle motor 20 and the first and second access mechanisms 34, 40 are used.
The optical heads 36 and 38 are moved to desired positions with respect to the optical disc 60. Then, by irradiating the recording area of the optical disk 60 with the laser beam from the first and second optical heads 34 and 36, desired information is recorded on the recording surfaces 72a and 72b on the upper surface side and the lower surface side of the optical disk, Can be played.

When the first disk cartridge 14 is ejected from the optical disk device after the desired information processing,
First, the first and second access mechanisms 34 and 40 move the first and second optical heads 36 and 38 to the retracted position. At the same time, the elevating mechanism 28 moves the spindle motor 20 to the lowered position and separates it from the optical disc 60. Then, the first disk cartridge 14 is horizontally moved by the loading mechanism and ejected from the insertion slot 12.

It should be noted that the optical disk 59 is compatible with single-sided access.
The second disk cartridge 15 in which is stored is also loaded into and ejected from the optical disk device by the same operation as described above. However, when the second disk cartridge 15 is loaded, the second optical head 38 is used, and only on the recording surface located on the spindle motor 20 side.
Information is recorded and reproduced.

According to the optical disk device configured as described above, information can be recorded and reproduced by selectively using an optical disk compatible with double-sided access and an optical disk compatible with single-sided access. When the optical disk 60 that supports double-sided access is loaded into the optical disk device, the first disk cartridge 14 that stores this disk is installed.
The combination of the cross-sectional shape of the
It is possible to regulate the surface direction when the disk cartridge is inserted into a predetermined direction. Therefore, among the disk substrates of the optical disk 60, the first disk cartridge 14 is loaded in the optical disk device in a surface direction in which the disk substrate 61b used as a reference in the inspection process during manufacturing is always located on the spindle motor 20 side. be able to. As a result, stable recording and reproduction can be performed on both recording surfaces of the optical disc 60.

Also, an optical disk 59 compatible with single-sided access
The second disk cartridge 15 accommodating therein can be loaded into the optical disk device through the insertion opening 12 in any surface direction.

Further, the first and second disk cartridges 14 and 15 have a common case body 50, and a side member 5 detachably attached to the case body 50.
1a and 51b. Therefore, the case body 50 and the two kinds of side surface members 51a and 51b
By rearranging the above, it is possible to easily manufacture a disk cartridge for single-sided access and a disk cartridge for double-sided access. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the disc cartridge.

Further, by color-coding the case main body of the disc cartridge, the side surface member, and the portion near the chamfered portion 12a of the insertion opening 12, the user can easily distinguish the two types of disc cartridges, and at the time of insertion. Thus, it becomes possible to easily determine the surface direction of the disc cartridge.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the chamfered portion was used as the regulation portion of the insertion opening, but the regulation portion is not limited to this, and may be formed of a projection having a desired shape protruding from the edge of the insertion opening into the insertion opening. The position is not limited to the corner portion and may be provided at any of the upper edge, the lower edge and the side edge of the insertion opening. In this case, the insertion permitting recess of the first disc cartridge is constituted by one recess formed in a shape corresponding to the protrusion at a position corresponding to the protrusion, and the permitting portions of the second disc cartridge are It is composed of a pair of recesses formed at symmetrical positions.

In the above embodiment, the optical disk is held on the turntable by magnetic attraction. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a clamp mechanism may be used to hold the optical disk.

[0063]

As described above in detail, according to the optical disk device constructed in accordance with the present invention, the double-sided access is achieved by the combination of the shape of the insertion port of the optical disk device and the sectional shapes of the first and second disk cartridges. The insertion, particularly the surface direction, of the first disk cartridge accommodating the compatible optical disk can be regulated, and the surface direction at the time of insertion of the second disk cartridge accommodating the optical disk compatible with single-sided access can be freely selected.

Therefore, it is possible to provide an optical disk device which can selectively use an optical disk compatible with single-sided access and an optical disk compatible with double-sided access with a simple structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an optical disc device of an optical disc device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first disc cartridge with a shutter opened.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an optical disc.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a second disk cartridge with a shutter closed.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a step of inserting the first disc cartridge into the insertion port of the optical disc device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a step of inserting a second disk cartridge into the insertion port of the optical disk device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Casing, 12 ... Insertion port, 12a ... Chamfer part, 14 ...
First disk cartridge, 15 ... Second disk cartridge, 20 ... Spindle motor, 22 ... Turntable, 36 ... First optical head, 38 ... Second optical head, 34 ... First access mechanism, 40 ... 2nd access mechanism, 59, 60 ... Optical disk, 51a, 51b ... Side member, 53, 55 ... Chamfer part, 72a, 72b ... Recording surface, 80 ... Control part.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first disk cartridge which has two recording surfaces facing each other and which accommodates an optical disk compatible with double-sided access and capable of simultaneously accessing both recording surfaces,
A second disk cartridge that has two recording surfaces facing each other and that accommodates one-sided access-compatible optical disks, one of which is accessible, and the first cartridge is A casing having an insertion opening formed so that it can be inserted only when it is inserted in alignment with a predetermined plane direction, and the second cartridge can be inserted even if it is inserted in any plane direction. A body and a first or second loaded at a predetermined position in the housing
Drive means for rotationally driving the optical disc in the disc cartridge, a pair of optical heads disposed in the housing, and the pair of optical heads when the first disc cartridge is loaded into a predetermined position through the insertion opening. The optical head performs information processing on both recording surfaces of an optical disc compatible with double-sided access, and when the second disc cartridge is loaded into a predetermined position through the insertion slot,
An optical disk device comprising: a control unit that performs information processing on one recording surface of an optical disk compatible with single-sided access by one optical head. 2. The insertion opening is formed in a flat rectangular shape with one corner chamfered, and the first cartridge is formed in a flat rectangular shape corresponding to the insertion opening, and the insertion opening is formed. 2. The optical disk device according to claim 1, wherein one corner portion corresponding to the chamfered portion of the mouth has a chamfered cross-sectional shape. 3. The second cartridge is formed in a flat rectangular shape corresponding to the insertion opening and has one corner corresponding to a chamfered portion of the insertion opening and a diagonal direction with respect to the corner. 3. The optical disk device according to claim 2, wherein the other corner portion located at is has a chamfered cross-sectional shape. 4. A first disk cartridge which has two recording surfaces facing each other and which accommodates an optical disk compatible with double-sided access capable of simultaneously accessing both recording surfaces,
An optical disk having a housing having an insertion opening formed so as to insert a second disk cartridge having two recording surfaces facing each other and capable of accessing one of the recording surfaces In the device, the first or second loaded in a predetermined position in the housing
Drive means for rotationally driving the optical disc in the disc cartridge, a pair of optical heads disposed in the housing, and the pair of optical heads when the first disc cartridge is loaded into a predetermined position through the insertion opening. The optical head performs information processing on both recording surfaces of an optical disc compatible with double-sided access, and when the second disc cartridge is loaded into a predetermined position through the insertion slot,
Control means for performing information processing on one recording surface of an optical disc for single-sided access by one optical head;
The insertion opening has a restricting portion protruding into the insertion opening from the peripheral edge, and the first cartridge is arranged only when the first disc cartridge is inserted into the insertion opening in a predetermined plane direction. The second cartridge has a single insertion-permitted recess that matches the regulation portion, and the second cartridges are formed in symmetrical positions with respect to each other, and the second disk cartridge is inserted into the insertion opening in any one of the plane directions. An optical disc device having a pair of insertion permitting recesses that respectively match the above-mentioned restricting portions in the case of the above.