JPH11185353A - Optical disk - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the reliability by precisely position controlling a cartridge carrying section. SOLUTION: A cartridge carrying section 25A is constituted of a picker 30, guding members 31, a base plate 43, a horizontal motion driving motor 32 and sensors 61, 62 and 63. The picker 30 is provided with a pawl member 36 and is moved by the motor 32. The members 31 are moved up and down along guiding shafts 56 by the motor 32. The section 25A is supported by a repulsive force generating mechanism 28. The mechanism 28 prevents the going down motion of the section 25A by the gravity of the section 25A by supporting the section 25A through the repulsive force which is balanced with the weight of the section 25A.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an optical disk apparatus using an information recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk or an optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional optical disk devices using optical disks include a so-called stand-alone type optical disk device,
There are two types, a music box type. The former is provided with one optical disk drive (hereinafter, referred to as a drive), mounted with an optical disk cartridge (hereinafter, referred to as a cartridge) having an optical disk therein, and connected to a host computer as computer memory. is there. On the other hand, the latter is mainly used when a large-capacity memory is required, and is equipped with a plurality of drives and simultaneously accommodates a plurality of optical discs. Recording, reproduction, or erasure of information is performed by being mounted on a drive.

Recently, a device has been proposed in which a large amount of information is stored in a plurality of optical discs at a high transfer rate and a plurality of discs can be carried as a set (Japanese Patent Application No. 8-249998).

FIG. 18 shows a cartridge transport mechanism in a conventional music box type optical disk apparatus.
The transport mechanism 1 includes a picker 3 having two openable and closable claw members 4 for holding a cartridge 2, a horizontal drive motor 5 for moving the picker 3 forward and backward, and a screw rod 6.
A reversing drive motor 7 for reversing the picker 3, two guide shafts 8a and a drive screw 8b for guiding the picker 3 to be able to move up and down, and a vertical drive for rotating the screw 8b to move the picker 3 up and down. A motor 9 and a sensor 10 for detecting the presence or absence of the cartridge 2 are provided. A transmission gear 11 to which rotation of the motor 9 is transmitted is fixed to a lower end of the driving screw 8b. Reference numeral 12 denotes a mounting plate for the picker 3.

[0005]

In the above-described transport mechanism 1 of the conventional optical disk apparatus, the opening and closing of the claw member 4 is performed by using a solenoid and a sensor, so that the number of parts increases and the mechanism itself becomes complicated. At the same time, there is a problem that it is expensive and large. There is no problem when the screw rod 8 is used as the rotation transmission mechanism of the vertical drive motor 9, but when a belt is used instead of the screw rod, the vertical drive is performed by the total weight of the picker 3, the motors 5 and 7, and the like. When the motor 9 rotates, the stop position of the picker changes, so that the position can be controlled with high accuracy, and the reliability of insertion / removal of the cartridge and mounting on the optical disk drive decreases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. It is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of parts of a transport mechanism, simplify the cost, and reduce the cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical disk device capable of performing position control and improving reliability.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical disk drive capable of loading a plurality of optical disk cartridges having a built-in optical disk, and a magazine loading section for loading a magazine containing the optical disk cartridge. A cartridge transport unit that transports the optical disk cartridge in the magazine loaded in the magazine loading unit to the optical disk drive; and a reaction force generating mechanism that supports the cartridge transport unit with a reaction force that balances the weight of the cartridge transport unit. And characterized in that: In the present invention, since the cartridge conveyance section is supported by the reaction force generating mechanism, even when a belt is used as the rotation transmission mechanism, the cartridge conveyance section does not descend due to its own weight, and positioning is performed with high accuracy. Can be. Therefore, insertion and removal of the cartridge,
The mounting to the optical disk drive is reliable, and the reliability is improved.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a
It is characterized by comprising a picker having a claw member for holding an optical disk cartridge in a magazine, a driving device for moving the picker, and a vertically movable guide member for guiding the picker. In the present invention, the picker is supported by the guide member and moved by the driving device, so that a reversing driving device is not required.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the reaction force generating mechanism is constituted by a plurality of connecting members which are flexibly connected, and a spring which generates a reaction force on these connecting members.
In the present invention, the configuration of the reaction force generating mechanism is simple and inexpensive.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that a detecting mechanism for detecting the presence or absence of the optical disk cartridge is provided in the transport mechanism. According to the present invention, the presence or absence of the optical disk cartridge can be reliably detected.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the insertion / removal operation is performed again when the insertion / removal operation of the optical disk cartridge by the picker is not normally performed based on the detection signal from the detection means. In the present invention, when the insertion / extraction operation is not performed normally, the insertion / extraction operation is performed again, so that the optical disk cartridge that has been displaced or the like is not erroneously transported to the optical disk drive.

The present invention further includes a sensor for detecting a horizontal position of the picker and a sensor for detecting a vertical position of the guide member, and transmits the horizontal position information of the picker to a picker driving device. The vertical position information of the guide member is obtained from the number of pulses applied to the drive device of the guide member, and the initial value of the pulse count of each drive device corresponds to the output of each sensor. It is characterized by having been set. In the present invention, since the picker and the guide member can be controlled with high positional accuracy, the insertion and removal of the cartridge and the attachment to the optical disk drive are reliable, and the reliability is improved.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an optical disk device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the device, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a cartridge transport mechanism, FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the guide member, and FIG. 6 is a side view of the reaction force generating mechanism. In these figures, the optical disk device 20 includes a box-shaped housing 21. Inside the housing 21, a magazine loading unit 23 that is opened to the front of the housing 21 and is loaded with a magazine 22;
A plurality of drives 24 stacked below the magazine loading section 23 and a transport mechanism 25 for transporting each cartridge 2 in the magazine 22 loaded in the magazine loading section 23 to the drive 24; Reaction force generating mechanism 28 supporting cartridge transport section 25A of this transport mechanism
The power supply and the circuit unit 26 are provided above the magazine loading unit 23. The magazine loading section 23 includes a drawer 27 on which the magazine 22 is installed and which can be pulled out.

In this embodiment, a magazine 22 for storing six cartridges 2 and six drives 24 are provided, and six cartridges 2 can be loaded at one time. When the magazine 22 is loaded into the magazine loading section 23 by the tray 27 as shown in FIG. 2, a detecting means (not shown) detects the loading of the magazine 22. If the magazine 22 is loaded normally, the cartridge transport section 25A causes all the cartridges 2A to move. Are sequentially extracted from the magazine 22 and conveyed to each drive 24, after which information recording, reproduction,
Erasing becomes possible. On the other hand, if it is not loaded normally, it is determined to be inappropriate and the loading is performed again. The loading of the magazine 22 is not limited to manual, and may be automatic loading. Next, the configuration and the like of the transport mechanism 25 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

3 to 5, the transfer mechanism 25
The picker 30 is interposed between the base plate 43 and the top plate 51 and is capable of moving forward and backward in the insertion / removal direction (horizontal direction) indicated by an arrow in FIG. 4 of the cartridge 2, and two pickers 30 having different lengths for guiding the picker 30. The cartridge transport unit 25A includes a guide member 31, a horizontal drive motor 32 for moving the picker 30 forward and backward, and the like, and a vertical drive motor 33 for lifting and lowering the cartridge transport unit 25A.

The picker 30 has a claw mounting member 35 formed in a U-shape in plan view, and is provided so as to face each corner of the claw mounting member 35, and holds the cartridge 2.
It is composed of two claw members 36, a light shielding plate 37 movably attached to the claw attachment member 35 in the insertion and removal direction of the cartridge 2, a plurality of rollers 38, and the like. Claw member 36
Has an L-shape in plan view, and has a base end at the claw mounting member 35.
It is rotatable in a horizontal plane by being pivotally supported by a pin 39 projecting from the upper surface of the. The tip of the cartridge 2 integrally has a claw 36 a which is engaged with a recess 40 called a clipper slot provided on the side surface of the cartridge 2, and is closed by a torsion spring 41, that is, the claw 36 a is engaged with the recess 40. It is urged in the direction to match.

The light shielding plate 37 includes two detection pieces 37a, which operate two sensors 61, 62 described later, respectively.
37b, and is urged forward by a spring (not shown). Therefore, when the picker 30 moves forward and is pressed against the cartridge 2, it moves backward. The roller 38 is connected to the claw mounting member 3.
5, side plates 35b, 35 erected on both sides 35a, 35a.
c, each of which rolls on a rail 42 provided on the upper surface of the guide member 31.

Since the guide member 31 is formed substantially symmetrically except for the length, it will be described together with the same reference numerals. The guide member 31 is formed so as to extend in the moving direction of the picker 30, and is attached on the base plate 43 so as to be parallel at a predetermined interval. On the upper surface side of the guide member 31, there are provided the rail 42 and a support portion 44 extending long along the rail 42 and movably supporting the lower side edge of the cartridge 2. The support 44 is provided inside the rail 42. On the other hand, outside the rail 42, two walls having different heights, that is, a partition wall 53 and an outer wall 55 are protruded in parallel with the rail 42. The groove between the rail 43 and the partition wall 45 and the groove between the partition wall 53 and the outer wall 55 form guide tracks 54 and 46, respectively, and the outer surface of the rail 43 and the partition wall 5 are formed.
3 are the raceway surfaces 45a, 46 of the rollers 48 to be described later.
a are formed respectively. The rail 42 and the partition wall 53 are set at substantially the same height and lower than the outer wall 55 as shown in FIG.

The two guide tracks 45 and 46 open and close the claw member 36 when the picker 30 extracts the cartridge 2 from the magazine 22 and when the cartridge 2 is returned to the magazine 22 or mounted in the drive 24. It is used for That is, when the cartridge 2 is extracted from the magazine 22, the track surface 45 a of the inner guide track 45 guides the roller 48 provided at the bent portion of the claw member 36 to engage the claw member 36 with the concave portion 40 of the cartridge 2, When the cartridge 2 is returned to the magazine 22 or mounted in the drive 24, the track surface 46a of the outer guide track 46 guides the roller 48 and holds the claw member 36 in an open state. Two guide tracks 45,
46 communicate with each other at the rear ends thereof.
Track change lever 47 for changing the track through which 6 passes
Is provided.

The track surface 45a of the inner guide track 45
At the front end portion, a slope portion 50 inclined outward and a straight portion 50a following the slope portion 50 are provided. On the other hand, at the front end of the partition wall 53, a concave portion 51 is formed corresponding to the linear portion 50a. The inclined portion 50 is provided for opening the claw member 36 immediately before holding the cartridge 2, and the concave portion 51 is for releasing the roller 48 at that time. The claw member 36 reciprocates along the upper surface of the rail 42, at which time the roller 48 moves along the outer surface of the rail 42, that is, the track surface 45a, or the outer surface of the partition wall 53, that is, along the track surface 46a. To roll. It should be noted that the guide tracks 45 and 46 are provided with the claw members 36 every one reciprocation.
Switch orbits. The change of the trajectory of the claw member 36 will be described later in more detail. The top plate 51 is provided on the outer wall 5.
The cover 5 covers the picker 30 and the guide member 31 by being fixed to the upper surface of the pickup 5.

The track change lever 47 has a rear end side rotatably supported in a horizontal direction so as to be rotatable in a communicating portion R of the guide tracks 45 and 46, and has a triangular projection 47a at the front end side in a plan view. It has integrally. And the torsion spring 5
By giving the return behavior in the inward direction (the direction of arrow B in FIG. 4) by 2, the normal stopper 54 (see FIG. 8) is pressed and regulated. Track change lever 47
Is lower than the height of the rail 42 and the partition wall 53, and the height of the convex portion 47a is substantially equal to the height of the rail 42 and the partition wall 53. This is for bringing the roller 48 into contact with the side surface of the projection 47a.

The base plate 43 is mounted on two guide shafts 56, which are vertically provided in the housing 21, and slide bearings 5.
It is vertically movably held via 7, 57. The base plate 43 includes the two guide members 31, the horizontal drive motor 32 for moving the picker 30 forward and backward, and a rotation transmission mechanism 60 thereof, and a photoelectric sensor for detecting the horizontal origin position of the picker 30. 61, a sensor 62 for detecting the presence / absence of the cartridge 2, a photoelectric sensor 63 for detecting a vertical origin position of the base plate 43 itself, and the like. As the horizontal drive motor 32, a stepping motor is used. As the rotation transmission mechanism 60, a toothed transmission belt 66 stretched between two front and rear pulleys 65, 65 is used, and the claw mounting member 35 of the picker 30 is fixed to the belt 66 via a mounting plate 67. ing. Therefore, when the horizontal drive motor 32 is driven to run the belt 66, the picker 30 moves forward or backward along the upper surface of the guide member 31.

Behind the base plate 43, a mounting plate 70
The vertical drive motor 33 for raising and lowering the guide member 31 together with the base plate 43 and a rotation transmission mechanism 72 thereof are mounted on the mounting plate 70. As the vertical drive motor 33, a stepping motor is used. As the rotation transmission mechanism 72, two pulleys 73, 73 and a toothed belt 74 stretched between these pulleys are used similarly to the rotation transmission mechanism 60 of the horizontal drive motor 32, and are fixed to the belt 74. A bracket 76 provided on the base plate 43 is fixed to the plate 75 thus formed. Therefore, when the vertical drive motor 33 is driven to run the belt 74, the guide member 31 moves up and down along the two guide shafts 56 integrally with the base plate 43.

Of the two pulleys 73, 73, the lower pulley 73 is fixed to the output shaft of the vertical drive motor 33, and the upper pulley 73 has a brake unit 77.
Is provided. The brake unit 77 is used to secure the positional accuracy of the guide member 31. The brake unit 77 does not act on the belt 74 at all when the power is supplied, and brakes the belt 74 when the power is not supplied to the guide member 31 to thereby control the position of the guide member 31. Prevent descent due to its own weight. In addition, the guide member 31 functions so as not to move even when there is no power supply to the apparatus.

In FIGS. 2, 3 and 6, a reaction force generating mechanism 80 is provided below the base plate 43. The reaction force generating mechanism 80 urges the four connecting members 83 to 86 connected in series and flexibly by the three connecting pins 81 and the connecting members 84 and 85 in the intermediate portion in a direction to open the legs. The base plate 43 and the picker 30, the guide member 31, the motor 32, which move integrally with the base plate 43.
The base plate 43 is stably held at an arbitrary height by generating a reaction force that balances the total weight of various members and components such as 33. The connecting member 83 at the upper end is fixed to the lower surface of the base plate 43, and the connecting member 86 at the lower end is fixed to a frame (not shown) inside the housing.

FIG. 7 shows the weight G of the cartridge transport section 25A.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the angle θ of the reaction force generation mechanism 28 and the reaction force R. The effective operating angle of the reaction force generating mechanism 28 that cancels out the weight of the cartridge transport section 25A is 4 to 14
The angle is set to about 7 °, so that the load torque applied to the vertical drive motor 33 can be reduced by about one digit.

Next, the operation of the transport mechanism 25 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 and FIGS. When the power of the apparatus is turned on, the magazine 22 is loaded in the magazine loading unit 23.
When the magazine 22 is loaded, the detecting means detects the magazine 22 and sends a detection signal to the control unit (CPU). When the CPU determines that the magazine 22 is normally loaded, it sends a drive signal to the transport control circuit of the transport mechanism 25. As a result, the horizontal drive motor 32 is first driven to move the picker 30 toward the horizontal position origin sensor 61. A predetermined count value is set in the pulse counter of the horizontal drive motor 32 with the moment when the detection piece 37a of the light shielding plate 37 crosses the horizontal position origin sensor 61 as a trigger. Thereafter, the guide member 31 is moved toward the vertical position origin sensor 63. A predetermined count value is set to a pulse counter of the vertical drive motor 33 at the moment when the vertical position origin sensor 63 crosses the edge of the vertical light shielding plate 90 provided in the housing 21 as a trigger. Thereafter, the horizontal and vertical movement positions are controlled by counting the pulses.

Next, the operation of taking out the cartridge 2 in the magazine 22 by the transport mechanism 25 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 and FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a state where the picker 30 is at the horizontal origin position. In this state, the pawl member 36 is located at the communicating portion R between the guide tracks 45, 46, and the roller 48 is in the inner guide track 45, and the force of the torsion spring 41 causes the outer surface of the rail 42, that is, the track surface 4 to move.
5a (FIG. 5). Therefore, when the picker 30 is moved forward, the roller 48
Of the cartridge 2 along the rail 42 toward the cartridge 2. When the roller 48 moves forward by a certain distance, the roller 48 rides on the inclined portion 50 of the guide track 45 as shown in FIG. 8, so that the pawl member 36 opens against the torsion spring 41, and the pawl 36a comes into contact with the side surface of the cartridge 2 (FIG. 9). When the roller 48 advances further and moves to the linear portion 50a, the claw 36a
As shown in FIG. 10, the cartridge falls into the concave portion 40 of the cartridge 2, and the cartridge 2 is held between the two claw members 36.
The forward distance of the picker 30 at this time is controlled with high accuracy by the number of pulses applied to the horizontal drive motor 32. When the cartridge 2 is sandwiched by the claw members 36, the cartridge 2 moves integrally with the picker 30. At this time, since the light shielding plate 37 is pressed by the cartridge 2, the light shielding plate 37 is moved rearward by the urging means. After the picker 30 is advanced by a predetermined distance and the claw member 36 clamps the cartridge 2, the horizontal drive motor 32 is rotated in the reverse direction to
Move back 0. When the picker 30 retreats, the claw member 3
The sixth roller 48 moves along the guide track 45, and when the picker 30 retreats to near the substantially horizontal origin position, as shown in FIG. 11, the roller 48 comes into contact with and presses the convex portion 47a of the track change lever 47. Therefore, the track change lever 4
7 rotates outwardly against the torsion spring 52 to allow the passage of the roller 48. Then, the roller 48 is moved to the convex portion 47.
a, the torsion spring 52 as shown in FIG.
It returns to the original state by the force of.

When the picker 30 retreats to the horizontal origin position in this manner, the light-shielding plate 37 retreats by the amount pressed by the cartridge 2, so that the detection piece 37b is applied to the cartridge presence / absence sensor 62 to block the light. Thus, the presence or absence of the cartridge 2 is indirectly detected. If the claw member 36 does not hold the cartridge 2, the light-shielding plate 37 does not move backward, so that the sensor 62 cannot detect the presence of the detecting piece 37 b, and the CPU detects the presence of the detecting piece 37 b based on the signal. It is determined that there is no retry, and the picker 30 is caused to perform a retry operation for retrieving the cartridge 2 again.

If it is determined that the cartridge 2 has been normally removed from the magazine 22, the cartridge transport section 25A is lowered according to a flowchart described later while maintaining the state of FIG. 12, and then the picker 30 is moved forward and held. The cartridge 2 is mounted on the drive 24. When all the cartridges 2 are sequentially mounted on the respective drives 24 within the predetermined time in this way, the drives 24 become sequentially ready. When the mounting of all the cartridges 2 is completed and it is confirmed that the cartridges 2 are normally mounted, the recording, reproduction, and erasing of information on the optical disk are enabled. The vertical movement of the cartridge transport section 25A is performed by a vertical drive motor 33. The position control in the vertical direction is performed by the number of pulses applied to the vertical drive motor 33.

When the picker 30 is moved forward after the picker 30 is vertically moved together with the guide member 31, the claw member 3 is moved forward.
The roller 6 opens outward against the torsion spring 41 when the roller 48 abuts against the projection 47a of the track change lever 47 from the rear as shown in FIG. As a result, the pawl 36a comes off the concave portion 40 of the cartridge 2, and the holding state of the cartridge 2 is released. When the roller 48 further advances, the roller 48 passes through the outside of the projection 47a and enters the outside guide track 46, and moves along the outside surface of the partition wall 53. For this reason, the cartridge 2 advances integrally with the picker 30 while being released from the claw member 36. When the picker 30 advances a predetermined distance (FIG. 14) and the roller 48 moves to the front end position of the guide track 46 as shown in FIG. 15, the cartridge 2 is mounted on the predetermined drive 24 or stored from the designated entrance of the magazine 22. You. Thereafter, when the picker 30 is retracted, the cartridge 2 on the picker 30 remains in the drive 24 or the magazine 22 because the cartridge 2 is not locked by the claw member 36. When the claw member 36 returns to the position of the communication portion R between the guide tracks 45 and 46, the roller 4
Since the roller 8 passes through the convex portion 47a of the track change lever 47, the roller 8 is rotated inward by the force of the torsion spring 41 to position the roller 48 in the guide track 45, and returns to the state shown in FIG.

When the cartridge 2 is normally inserted into the drive 24 or the magazine 22, the light shielding plate 37 is released from the cartridge 2 and returns to the original position. The signal cannot be detected, and the CPU determines from the signal that the cartridge 2 is not present. When the cartridge 2 is not inserted normally, the operation of inserting the cartridge 2 is performed again.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for loading a cartridge. First, in step 100, the picker 30
Is moved to the magazine 22, the claw member 36 picks up the cartridge 2 in the magazine 22 (Step 101). The removed cartridge 2 is detected by the above-described sensor 62 (Step 102), and in some cases, the picker 30 moves to the designated drive 24 (Step 103), and the cartridge 2 is mounted (Step 10).
4). At step 105, the drive 24 detects whether or not the cartridge 2 has been received. If the cartridge 2 has been received normally, the mounting operation of the cartridge 2 is terminated. If not, the retry is performed at step 106, and a predetermined number of retries are performed. If it is determined that the cartridge 2 is not mounted, the CPU processes the error as an error by transmitting an error signal (step 107), and terminates the loading of the cartridge.

In step 102, if the cartridge 1 is not detected, a retry is performed in step 108. If the retry is successful, the process proceeds to step 103.
Return to On the other hand, if it is determined that the cartridge 2 cannot be taken out even after the predetermined number of retries, the CPU
Is processed as an error by transmitting an error signal (step 109), and the cartridge loading is terminated.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the cartridge ejection. In step 130, the picker 30 is moved to the designated dry 24 based on a command from the CPU. Next, the CPU stores the cartridge 2 in the drive 24.
The drive 24 ejects the cartridge 2 (step 131), and the picker 30 receives it (step 132). If not, try again. It is determined whether or not the picker 30 has received the cartridge 2 (step 133). If it is determined that the cartridge 2 has been received, the picker 30 is moved to the designated entrance of the magazine 22 in step 134, and the cartridge 2 is stored in the magazine 22 (step 133). 135), the cartridge ejection ends. On the other hand, when the cartridge 2 has not been received, a retry is performed according to a command from the CPU (step 136), and if the retry is successful, the process returns to step 134. If it is determined that the cartridge 2 cannot be received even after performing the predetermined number of retries,
The CPU processes the error as an error by transmitting the error signal (step 137), and ends the cartridge ejection.

In the present invention, the cartridge transport unit 2
5A is supported by the reaction force generating mechanism 28, so that the vertical drive motor 33 does not rotate by the weight of the cartridge transport unit 25A even when the belt 66 is used as the rotation transmitting mechanism, and the picker 30 is moved to a predetermined position. It can be stopped reliably. Therefore, the reliability of insertion / removal of the cartridge 2 and attachment to the drive 24 can be improved.

In the present invention, the claw member 36 is opened and closed by the movement of the two guide tracks 45 and 46 provided on the guide member 31 and the picker 30, so that the driving for opening and closing the claw member 36 is performed. Without the need for a source,
The number of parts can be reduced, the apparatus can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, stepping motors are used as drive motors for moving the picker 30 and the guide member 31, respectively, and the positional information of the picker 30 and the guide member 31 is obtained from the number of pulses applied to each of the stepper motors. Position control, and the reliability of the device can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the reaction force generating mechanism 28 is constituted by the four connecting members 83 to 86.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to configure with two connecting members 84 and 85. In this case, the upper end of the upper connecting member 84 is rotatably connected to the base plate 43 via a pin, and the lower end of the lower connecting member 85 is rotatably connected to the housing 21 via the pin. I just need. Further, in the above embodiment, since a drive motor for reversing the cartridge 2 is not provided, when recording, reproducing, and erasing by reversing the cartridge 2, the cartridge 2 is temporarily transferred from the magazine loading unit 23 together with the magazine 22 to the apparatus. , The cartridge 2 is taken out of the magazine 22, turned over, stored in the magazine 22 again, and loaded in the magazine loading unit 23 again.

[0039]

As described above, according to the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, since the cartridge transport section is supported by the reaction force generating mechanism, the cartridge transport section can be moved up and down even if a belt is used as the rotation transmitting mechanism. The drive unit does not rotate due to the weight of the cartridge transport unit, and the cartridge transport unit can be positioned at a predetermined position with high accuracy. Therefore, it is possible to improve the reliability of inserting and removing the cartridge and mounting the cartridge on the optical disk drive.

Further, according to the present invention, the position information of the picker in the horizontal direction is obtained from the number of pulses applied to the drive device of the picker, and the position information of the guide member in the vertical direction is obtained from the number of pulses applied to the drive device of the guide member. Then, the initial value of the pulse count of each drive device is set according to the output of the sensor that detects the horizontal position of the picker and the output of the sensor that detects the vertical position of the guide member. Thus, highly accurate position control can be performed, and the reliability of the device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an optical disk device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the same device.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a transport mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a transport mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a guide member.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a reaction force generating mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the weight of the cartridge transport unit, the angle of the reaction force generating mechanism, and the reaction force.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of cartridge loading.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of cartridge ejection.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a conventional transport mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 2 denotes a disk cartridge, 22 denotes a magazine, 23 denotes a magazine loading section, 24 denotes an optical disk drive, 25 denotes a transport mechanism, 25A denotes a cartridge transport section, 28 denotes a reaction force generating mechanism, 30 denotes a picker, 31 denotes a guide member, and 32 denotes a horizontal plane. Drive motor, 33: Vertical drive motor, 36: Claw member, 3
7 ... light shielding plate, 43 ... base plate, 45, 46 ... guide track,
45a, 46a: track surface, 47: track change lever,
61: Horizontal position origin sensor, 62: Cartridge presence / absence sensor, 63: Vertical position origin sensor, 83-86 ...
Connection member, 87 ... spring.

Claims (6)

[Claims] An optical disk drive capable of loading a plurality of optical disk cartridges containing an optical disk, a magazine loading section loaded with a magazine for storing the optical disk cartridge, and an optical disk in the magazine loaded in the magazine loading section An optical disc device, comprising: a cartridge transport unit that transports a cartridge to the optical disk drive; and a reaction force generating mechanism that supports the cartridge transport unit with a reaction force that balances the weight of the cartridge transport unit. 2. The optical disk device according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge transport section includes a picker having a claw member for holding the optical disk cartridge in the magazine, a driving device for moving the picker, and a vertically movable guide for guiding the picker. An optical disk device comprising: a guide member; 3. The optical disk device according to claim 1, wherein the reaction force generating mechanism comprises a plurality of connecting members that are flexibly connected, and a spring that generates a reaction force on these connecting members. An optical disc device characterized by the above-mentioned. 4. The optical disk device according to claim 1, wherein a detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of the cartridge is provided in the transport mechanism. 5. The optical disk device according to claim 4, wherein the insertion / removal operation is performed again when the insertion / removal operation of the optical disk cartridge by the picker is not normally performed based on the detection signal from the detection means. Optical disk device. 6. The optical disk device according to claim 1, further comprising: a sensor for detecting a horizontal position of the picker; and a sensor for detecting a vertical position of the guide member. The horizontal position information of the picker is obtained from the number of pulses applied to the driving device of the picker, and the vertical position information of the guide member is obtained from the number of pulses applied to the driving device of the guiding member. An optical disk device, wherein an initial value of a pulse count is set corresponding to an output of each of the sensors.