KR20040010016A - A disk cartridge and a disk drive apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A disc cartridge and a disc drive using the disc cartridge are provided to perform an operation of loading a disc into the disc drive more stably. CONSTITUTION: A disc cartridge(100) includes a case that houses a disc. When the case is inserted into a holder of a disc drive, the case is guided by both side walls of the holder. The case is composed of plane parts coming into contact with both side walls of the holder and a curved part(103) that connects the plane parts to each other. Each plane part includes the first portion(101) formed at both sides of the case along the first rectilinear direction and the second portion(102) formed at both sides of the case along the second rectilinear direction perpendicular to the first rectilinear direction.

Description

A disk cartridge and a disk drive apparatus using the same}

The present invention relates to a disc cartridge which accommodates a disc, which is an information recording and reproducing medium, and protects the recording surface from fingerprints, and a disc drive device for loading and using the disc cartridge.

The disc cartridge is a kind of disc protective device which is loaded with the disc in the disc drive device, and is usually composed of an upper and a lower case which can be opened and closed to accommodate the disc in the storage space therein. As such a disc cartridge, generally, a rectangular case is widely adopted. That is, the general form is to create a space for accommodating a circular disk in a rectangular case and to store the disk therein. By the way, such a rectangular case has been pointed out to have a part which hinders the miniaturization of the disk drive apparatus since four corner portions are formed to protrude unnecessarily in addition to the circular portion necessary for accommodating the disk.

Therefore, as a structure in view of this point, a circular disk cartridge 20 as shown in Fig. 1 has been proposed. The case is also formed in a circular shape along the shape of the disk D, making the overall size compact, and enhancing the aesthetic effect of the smooth round shape. By the way, the disc cartridge 20 made of such a circular case has a high risk of unstable loading when loaded into a disc drive device such as the camcorder 10 illustrated. That is, the disc cartridge 20 is inserted into the holder 12 provided inside the door 11 of the camcorder 10 and then closed at the door 11 to be loaded in the correct position inside the camcorder 10. The holder 12 When you get inside, it is more likely that the position will go out of alignment. Since the case of the cartridge 20 is in a circular shape, when inserted into the holder 12 as shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge 20 is almost in close contact with the inner wall 12a of the holder 12. It is easy to return to the direction of the arrow and move out of position. In the case of the disc cartridge 20, an access hole 21 is formed up and down so that the recording / reproducing unit inside the disc drive device such as the camcorder 10 can access the disc D. The disc cartridge 20 If it is loaded out of position, the position of the access hole 21 is also changed so that the recording / reproducing unit cannot access the disc D properly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an improved disk cartridge and a disk drive device using the same, which can be more stably loaded in the disk drive device while making the overall size compact. There is this.

1 shows a conventional disc cartridge and a camcorder used for recording and reproducing thereof;

2 is a view illustrating the main parts of FIG. 1;

3 shows a disc cartridge and a camcorder using the same according to the present invention;

4 is an enlarged view of the disc cartridge shown in FIG. 3;

5 to 8 show various cases in which the disc cartridge shown in Fig. 4 is inserted into a holder of the disc drive device.

<Description of Symbols for Major Parts of Drawings>

100 ... disc cartridge 101,102 ... 1st, 2nd flat

103.Curved section 104 ... Step

100a ... access hole 110,120 ... top, bottom case

200 ... disk drive unit 210 ... door

220 ... holder 221 ... inner wall of holder

D ... disk

Disc disk of the present invention for achieving the above object is a disk cartridge comprising a case that is guided and entered on both side walls of the holder when the disk is received and inserted into the holder of the disk drive device, the case is the said And flat surfaces formed to be in surface contact with both side walls of the holder, and curved surfaces connecting the flat portions.

In addition, the disk drive apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object is a disk drive apparatus for performing a recording and reproducing operation by inserting a disk cartridge housed in a case into a holder and then loading the disk cartridge, the case, It has a relatively thin thickness on either side of the first flat portion formed on both side ends parallel to the direction inserted into the holder, the second flat portion formed on both side ends perpendicular to it, and the first flat portion on both sides. And a stepped portion formed to protrude, and the holder has an inner wall provided at both sides to support the insertion of the disc cartridge while being in surface contact with the first flat portion, and a slot portion connected to either one of the inner walls provided at both sides to insert the stepped portion. It is characterized by including.

In addition, the disc drive device according to another aspect of the present invention, the disc drive device for performing a recording and reproducing operation by inserting the disc cartridge containing the disc in the case and then loading the disc cartridge, the case is inserted into the holder A first plane portion formed at both end portions so as to be perpendicular to the direction of the insertion, a second plane portion formed at both end portions so as to be parallel to the insertion direction, and a relatively thin thickness on one of the first side portions at both sides And a stepped portion formed to protrude, wherein the holder includes inner walls provided at both sides to support the insertion of the disc cartridge while being in surface contact with the second flat portion, and the distance between the inner side walls of the both sides is at a distance between the first and second flat portions. It is characterized in that it is formed narrower than the sum of the protruding length of the stepped portion.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 shows a disk cartridge 100 and a disk drive apparatus 200 in which the disk cartridge 100 is loaded and used according to the present invention. That is, when the disc cartridge 100 containing the disc D is inserted into the holder 220 of the disc drive device 200 such as a camcorder and the door 210 is closed, the disc cartridge 100 is loaded to record and play back. You can do your work.

The disk cartridge 100 includes upper and lower cases 110 and 120 for accommodating the disk D as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. These upper and lower cases 110 and 120 are hinged to be opened and closed. Hereinafter, the upper and lower cases 110 and 120 will be collectively referred to as a case. Reference numeral 100a denotes an access opened up and down so that a turntable (not shown), a clamper (not shown), a pickup (not shown), and the like can access the disk D for recording and reproducing in the disc drive device 200. Represents a hole.

On the other hand, the case 110, 120 employed in the disc cartridge 100 of the present invention has a circular shape, but partially in a shape having a straight portion for compactness. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the corner A maintains a circular shape having a round shape, and the arrow A direction entering the holder 220 provided inside the door 210 of the disc drive device is in a first straight direction. In this case, the case 110, 120 has a first flat portion 101 formed on both sides side by side in the first straight direction, and a second flat portion formed on both sides along a second straight direction perpendicular thereto. 102). Since the remaining portions except for the first and second planar portions 101 and 102 are based on a circular shape, the curved portions 103 connect the respective planar portions 101 and 102 to each other. Form. The first and second flat parts 101 and 102 serve to guide the surface of the disc cartridge 100 while being in surface contact with both inner walls 221 of the holder 220 when the disc cartridge 100 is inserted into the holder 220. That is, when the whole case is circular as in the prior art, since the guide is made by almost point contact with the inner wall of the holder, there is a high risk that the disc cartridge will return out of the correct loading position. When the two flat portions 101 and 102 are placed, the disc cartridge 100 cannot be rotated in the holder 220, thereby enabling a stable loading position guide.

Here, the first flat portion 101 is made to be in surface contact with the side wall 221 of the holder 220 when the cartridge 100 is inserted into the disk drive device having the loading direction set in the arrow A direction as shown in FIG. The two-plane portion 102 is made to be in surface contact with the holder side wall when entering the disk drive apparatus in which the loading direction is set in the direction of arrow B perpendicular thereto (see Fig. 7). Further, a round stepped portion 104 protruding outward from the first flat portion 101 adjacent to the access hole 100a is further formed. The step portion 104 serves to reinforce the portion of the case 110, 120 opened by the access hole (100a), but at the same time serves to prevent the error of incorrectly inserted by changing the left and right of the cartridge (100). Also That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the first flat part 101 is brought into surface contact with the inner wall 221 of the holder 220, and the cartridge 100 is loaded, the first flat part 101 is in a state as shown in FIG. 5. In addition to the inner wall 221 in contact with the first flat portion 101, a slot portion 222 corresponding to the thickness is formed so that the stepped portion 104 may enter. Thus, if the right side of the cartridge 100 is turned upside down to insert the stepped portion 104 toward the right side of the drawing, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. It is thicker than 104 so that it is impossible to enter the slot 222, so that misinsertion is prevented at the source.

On the other hand, in addition to such a misinsertion, if attempting to insert in the B direction to the disk drive device to insert the cartridge 100 in the A direction in Figure 4, that is, the stepped portion 104 is turned to the front to enter If you try to do this, you need a way to prevent it. To this end, the length Y between the second flat parts 102 is formed longer than the length X between the first flat parts 101. In this case, since the distance between the inner side walls 221 of the holder 220 is formed to match the length X between the first planar portions 101, the length Y between the longer second planar portions 102 is increased. In width, as shown by the dotted line of FIG. Therefore, misinsertion in this direction is also prevented.

On the contrary, there may be a disc drive device in which the loading direction of the cartridge 100 is set in the direction B of FIG. 4. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the second flat part 102 is inserted into the holder 220 while being in surface contact with the inner wall 221. And, at this time, there should be a way to prevent the insertion when the cartridge 100 is incorrectly inserted in the A direction of FIG. 4, for this purpose, the length (Y) between the second flat portion 102 is the first flat portion 101 The length X is shorter than the sum of the length X and the protruding length Z of the stepped part 104. Therefore, if the first planar portion 101 enters the cartridge 100 in the direction of surface contact with the inner wall 221, the width of the cartridge 100 and the holder 220 do not match as shown in FIG. 8. Insertion is prevented. Of course, in this case, the inner wall 221 of the holder 220 is in surface contact with both sides of the second flat portion 102 and has a shape that is joined with it to guide the entry.

In summary, the cartridge is divided into [length between first plane portion 101 (X)] <[length between second plane portion 102 (Y)] <[length between first plane portion 101 (X) + When configured in accordance with the relationship of the outer protrusion length Z of the stepped portion 104, insertion is prevented even if the cartridge is to be loaded differently from the set loading direction. Therefore, misinsertion can be prevented by such a very simple configuration.

When the disc cartridge 100 having the above configuration is inserted into the holder 220 of the disc drive device, the first flat portion 101 or the second flat portion 102 is in surface contact with the inner wall 221 of the holder 220. And because it is inserted, there is no risk of the cartridge 100 to be returned, enabling stable and accurate loading. As described above, by setting the length relationship between the flat portions 101 and 102 and the stepped portion 104, it is possible to prevent misinsertion outside of the predetermined loading direction.

The disk cartridge and disk drive apparatus of the present invention as described above have the following effects.

First, since the corners of the case of the disc cartridge are all rounded like a disc, it is advantageous for the compactness of the product.

Second, since the surface contact with the inner wall of the holder is made when entering the holder of the disk drive device, the loading operation can be performed stably and accurately.

Third, the cartridge can be prevented from being erroneously inserted by setting the relationship in which the cartridge can enter according to the loading direction.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to that described above and illustrated in the drawings and that many more modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (9)

A disc cartridge comprising a case which is received and guided to both side walls of the holder when the disc is received and inserted into the holder of the disc drive device, The case, And a flat portion formed to be in surface contact with both side walls of the holder, and a curved portion connecting the flat portions. The method of claim 1, The flat part includes a first flat part formed on both sides of the case in a first straight direction, and a second flat part formed on both sides of the case in a second straight direction perpendicular to the first straight direction. cartridge. The method of claim 2, The length (Y) between both sides of the second flat portion is longer than the length (X) between both sides of the first flat portion. The method of claim 3, The disc cartridge of any one of the first flat portion, characterized in that the step is further provided with a step portion extending from the outer side to form a step therefrom. The method of claim 4, wherein The length (Y) between both sides of the second flat portion is shorter than the sum of the length (X) between both sides of the first flat portion and the length (Z) of extending the step portion to the outer side. The method of claim 4, wherein And the stepped portion is formed of a curved portion. A disc drive apparatus for recording and reproducing by inserting a disc cartridge containing a disc in a case into a holder and loading the disc cartridge. The case has a thickness relatively thinner in any one of the first flat portion formed at both end portions parallel to the direction inserted into the holder, the second flat portion formed at both end portions perpendicular to the holder, and the first flat portion at both sides. It has a step portion formed to protrude to the outside with The holder includes an inner wall provided at both sides to support the insertion of the disk cartridge while being in surface contact with the first flat portion, and a slot portion connected to any one of the inner walls at both sides to insert the stepped portion. Drive device. The method of claim 1, And the distance between the inner walls is narrower than the length between the two second planar portions. A disc drive apparatus for recording and reproducing by inserting a disc cartridge containing a disc in a case into a holder and loading the disc cartridge. The case may include a first planar portion formed at both end portions so as to be perpendicular to a direction inserted into the holder, a second planar portion formed at both end portions parallel to the insertion direction, and one of the first side portions at both sides. It has a relatively thin thickness and comprises a stepped portion protruding outward, The holder includes inner walls provided on both sides to support the insertion of the disc cartridge while being in surface contact with the second flat portion, wherein the distance between the inner inner walls is the sum of the protruding lengths of the stepped portions and the distance between the first and second flat portions. A disk drive device characterized by being narrower.