WO1999063533A1

WO1999063533A1 - Compact disc/dvd

Info

Publication number: WO1999063533A1
Application number: PCT/DE1999/001592
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ronald Grafe
Original assignee: Ronald Grafe
Priority date: 1998-06-03
Filing date: 1999-05-31
Publication date: 1999-12-09

Abstract

Data carriers such as standard-sized compact discs or DVDs are too big to be carried in wallets. It is, however, extremely difficult to protect smaller forms of data carriers that are known per se from damage. A data carrier needs, therefore, to be small and at the same time be protected from damage. This requires a protective casing that can be produced at low cost. If the data carrier is to be used universally, it must be able to be played in standard players without an adapter. The new elastic form of data carrier described here can be used in this manner and has recesses (6) in said material in the vicinity of the bearing surfaces (3) to enable it to be fitted with a rectangular protective casing with inner reinforcement ribs, whereby the protective casing exhibits increased stability. The bearing surfaces (3) can be provided with a friction-resistant coating to improve functionality.

Description

description

Compact disc / DVD

The invention relates to standard round, disk-shaped data carriers, such as CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW or DVD, which can also be given a smaller shape.

The previous smaller forms of such data carriers have been reduced in size for the purpose of optical design. In the area of the outer circumference, they must have at least 3 outer circumference points on a circle around the axis of rotation (cf. DE 196 07 565 A1), the diameter of this circle being determined by the diameter of the standard loading troughs and therefore being 120 mm or 80 mm. These outer circumferential points serve to support and center the data carrier in the respective loading trough and should also be spaced as evenly as possible from one another. As a result, the data carrier, for example the CD, can be centered as precisely as possible in the loading recess and can be in a position that is as stable as possible. In the case of a rectangular CD shape, there are 4 of these outer circumferential points, each of which lies in the corners of the rectangular shape. In addition, CDs for computer drives should as far as possible not contain any unbalance in order not to endanger their functionality or the drives. Corresponding data carriers in the form of credit cards (EP 0 343 982 A 2) or similar forms are known as smaller forms (round 80 mm shape reduced to the approximate width of a credit card, design MR 14-99: M 9702996 / M 9704019). A However, data carriers in the form of a credit card or similar formats can be damaged in a short time when transported in purses or key pockets. Purses or key pockets are often kept in a back pocket or other pocket. Significant mechanical loads occur. When transporting a CD in this way, for example, cracks or breaks can occur in the polycarbonate CD material after a short transport time.

The coating can also be damaged. This is particularly sensitive with the CD-R. So far there are no data carriers available on the market that are both unbreakable and insensitive to considerable pressure.

Therefore, these sensitive data carriers could only be transported in wallets or key pockets with an appropriate protective housing. This protective housing would also reliably protect against scratching the data carrier. A mere insert sleeve, as has been used for CDs in the form of credit cards, only protects against soiling, but not against breakage, scratching or damage due to pressure.

Certain conditions would apply to a protective housing. A protective case for transport in purses or key pockets should not be more than 61 mm wide, with a maximum thickness of 5 mm. These dimensions result from the universal

ERSflZBLÄT (RULE 26) Portability. The thickness of 5 mm should never be exceeded, since it already exceeds the thickness of all objects that are usually transported in the wallet. Three relevant size standards are used for comparison. Check or credit cards, including the protective cover, have maximum external dimensions of approx. 58 mm wide x 4 mm thick x 90 mm long, whereby the check or credit card itself is 54 mm wide with a thickness of approx. 1 mm and 85 mm long. These dimensions allow a convenient insertion of the credit card, including the envelope, in many credit card slots in wallets and purses, because some of these credit card slots have an internal width of more than 61 mm. A pocket-sized calendar in playing card size should also be able to be inserted there. Playing cards or pocket calendars are often 61 mm wide. Even a protective housing with the external dimensions of 61 mm wide x 5 mm thick could often be placed in these compartments despite the thickness of 5 mm. At least this protective housing can be inserted into the larger ID or bill compartments. Even small bill exchanges are so wide inside that you can still put a 10 DM bill unfolded in the bill compartment. The 10 DM bill is 65 mm wide, but only a fraction of a millimeter thick. A protective housing that is considerably thicker than the banknote itself cannot be 65 mm wide. Otherwise it could not be fully inserted into the narrow bill compartments due to the thickness of 5 mm. Taking into account the thickness of the protective housing, the maximum width of the protective housing is again approximately 61 mm. This means that it can still be inserted into small bill exchanges.

The width of 61 mm is also the approximate inner width of many key pockets or coin pockets. These should also allow you to take credit cards with you, including a fixed protective cover. A corresponding protective housing with the dimensions of 61 mm width x 5 mm thickness can generally also be inserted here.

If these external dimensions are adhered to, the universal transportability of the protective housing is still possible. The original credit card format is 54 mm wide. CDs in the form of credit cards or similar forms usually have a width of approx. 56 to 58 mm. This larger width is particularly necessary so that a relevant amount of data can be stored at all. With a width of 58 mm, almost twice the storage capacity is possible compared to the width of 56 mm. If one takes into account the comparatively small storage capacity of these reduced CDs, then the CD with a width of 58 mm is to be preferred, especially since this CD is only slightly wider than that with the minimum width of 56 mm. A corresponding protective case for this CD 58 mm width would be approx. 61 mm wide, whereby a material thickness of the side walls of approx. 1 mm each and some play for the CD is required. The material thickness of 1 mm is set low, because the protective housing should be made of simple material for use as an inexpensive mass product. Robust plastics, for example, can be used as the material, which were previously also used for stable credit card cases. The protective housing can be a maximum of 5 mm thick (see above). The CD itself is about 1.2 mm thick. The protective housing would have a total material thickness of the housing base and housing cover of a maximum of 3.4 mm (5 mm - 1.2 mm - 0.4 mm = 3.4 mm). Approximately 0.4 mm play for the CD in the case is due to technical reasons. A certain material tolerance must be taken into account. In addition, CDs in the middle area are slightly thicker than 1.2 mm.

Such a protective case, in which the CD is almost without play, would only be stable to a limited extent. It does not prevent the CD from being affected by these deformation forces with almost every action of deformation forces on the protective housing. The length of a corresponding protective housing would have to be at least 83 mm in order to be able to accommodate the smallest currently known CD with a length of 80 mm, see the design models mentioned above. If you take into account the length of this protective housing of at least 83 mm and the resulting leverage effects, considerable effects can result from deformation forces during transport. There is also an attack surface of at least 83 mm x 61 mm, which is relatively large compared to the actual data area, for these deformation forces. In terms of area, this protective housing therefore approximately requires the dimensions of a credit card sleeve. Bending this relatively elastic protective housing can damage the CD. In addition, this protective housing could hardly protect the CD from the effects of pressure, since the elastic housing material lies almost directly on the CD. Now there would be the possibility to reduce the material thickness of the protective housing and to allow the CD some play in the protective housing. The CD is thus floating and is therefore not itself affected if it is deformed or pressed onto the protective housing. However, it is known that simple materials disproportionately lose stability, the thinner the material thickness. This results in major stability problems, particularly in the longitudinal axis of this protective housing. This disadvantage thus removes the envisaged advantage. A protective housing matching the CDs in the form of a credit card or similar forms can only be made of stable material and with sufficient play if the overall thickness of the protective housing is increased considerably. However, the protective housing would no longer be suitable for universal transport in purses or key pockets. A high quality material would therefore be required. This would have to meet very high requirements. The material should be almost resistant to pressure and deformation forces and also be almost unbreakable. It remains open whether the desired protective function of a housing for CDs in the form of credit cards can be achieved in terms of materials. In addition, a rigid housing of this length represents a foreign body in the wallet. In addition, it remains open whether a correspondingly high-quality material could be designed as versatile as simple plastic, for example also transparent. Today, optical aspects play a major role in the consumer sector.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a smaller form of a standard round, disk-shaped data carrier, such as CD, CD-ROM or DVD, which, in conjunction with a protective housing, is particularly suitable for universal transport in wallets and can also be used in drawer drives without an adapter is.

The object is achieved by the design described in claim 1, wherein

- The diameter of the potential data area suitable for transport in wallets and other small pockets is integrated into the smallest possible compact and small total area of the data carrier, so that the data carrier can be inserted into a respectively compact protective housing and

- The disk is designed by the shape of elastic and

- The recessed material areas of the data carrier enable the installation of internal reinforcing ribs and locking mechanisms in the protective housing, so that a corresponding protective housing can be made as stable as possible even using a simple, conventional material.

The data carrier therefore has a potential data area arranged concentrically around the axis of rotation, bordering on the contact surfaces which are connected to the data area. These contact surfaces contain at least 4 outer circumferential points on an imaginary circle around the axis of rotation. The outer circumference points must be spaced as far apart as possible. The diameter of the imaginary circle corresponds to the diameter of the 80 mm or smaller standard loading troughs of corresponding drive drawers. No point on the data carrier lies outside the circle. The entire area of this data carrier also lies within an imaginary rectangle that circumscribes the data area. Depending on the selected diameter of the data area, this rectangle must be as small as possible, but the corner points must not lie within the circle. It is also in terms of area part of the material from the outer circumference of the data carrier is cut out from the maximum possible contact surfaces. Viewed from the outer circumference of the data carrier in comparison to the outer circumference of the imaginary rectangle, there are at least 6 recesses in the area of the contact surfaces. The structure of the bearing surfaces is symmetrical.

Based on the desired diameter of the potential data area, the most compact of all possible forms of such a data carrier is created. As such, there is already a minimized risk of deformation. In addition, the problem of an unbalance is lower, the more evenly distributed, the smaller or the closer to the axis of rotation the mass of the data carrier is. This also results in decisive advantages of this new data carrier form compared to a merely rectangular data carrier form.

In addition, the contact surfaces, which have become more elastic due to the cut-outs in the material compared to a rigid rectangular data carrier shape, reduce the deformation forces on the actual data area. Deformed or damaged data carriers can cause considerable damage, especially with fast drives. The data can also become illegible. These problems are also reduced by the data carrier form presented here. The decisive advantage is that the recesses allow the installation of internal reinforcing ribs in the protective housing. This gives this protective housing a significantly increased stability with the same external dimensions compared to containers for only rectangular data carrier shapes without cutouts. The pressure stability of a corresponding protective housing is decisively determined by the distance between the inner reinforcement of the protective housing and the outer wall. Internal reinforcement and support between the housing base and housing cover is only possible in the case of rectangular data carrier shapes in the area of the bolt circle of the data carrier. Printing on the data carrier itself is only possible in the uncoated, inner area of the data carrier. It is only in this area that pressure of the protective housing material on the data carrier is relatively harmless. In the case of a merely rectangular data carrier shape, there is a very large distance between the inner reinforcement and the outer wall, particularly in the area of the corners of a corresponding protective housing. Adequate protection against pressure is therefore not possible when using simple, conventional protective housing material and a thickness of the housing of 5 mm. If, on the other hand, the data carrier shape described here is used, the distance becomes considerable due to the additional internal reinforcing ribs of the protective housing reduced and an additional support between the housing base and housing cover enables. In addition, the torsional stiffness of the protective housing is increased considerably. In this way, the data carrier can be largely protected against deformation forces. Due to the compact size of the protective housing, it is still universally transportable. Larger deformation forces that act on the data carrier despite the protective housing are reduced in their effect on the coated data area by the elastic design of the new data carrier.

In addition, a corresponding protective housing can also be designed without side walls. The reinforcing ribs then serve as spacers between the housing base and the housing cover. This protective housing has a reduced stability. The advantage, however, is that this protective housing can be made as wide as the data area. This creates a protective housing with the smallest conceivable dimensions in terms of area.

Drive drawers are usually open to the rear. In order to make it more difficult for the data carrier to slide backwards under unfavorable conditions, the support surfaces can be provided with a thin, friction-intensive layer. This makes sliding more difficult due to its increased friction. Rubber, for example, can be used as the material.

1 shows a plan view of a data carrier according to the invention in its ideal form with eight cutouts of the material in the area of the contact surfaces. 2 shows a plan view of a data carrier according to the invention with six cutouts of the material in the area of the contact surfaces. FIG. 3 shows the lower part of a corresponding transport housing with the internal reinforcing ribs for a data carrier according to FIG. 1.

The ideal version currently results in a size of this data carrier as CD or DVD of approx. 57.5 mm x 57.5 mm. The dimensions indicate the maximum extent in the surface, starting from the axis of rotation in the horizontal x vertical direction. This results in a diagonal diameter of approx. 81 mm, measured from the outer circumferential points (4) of each support surface (3) via the axis of rotation to the corresponding counterpoint of the opposite support surface. The data area (2) is circumscribed by an imaginary square (5), the corner points of which are not within the circle (1) and which is as small as possible. The support surfaces (3) are completely integrated therein according to the invention. The data carrier has exactly four outer circumferential points (4) for centering. This CD can be inserted into the smallest loading tray of current CD or DVD drives. The loading tray has a diameter of at least 80 mm in order to be able to insert 80 mm single CDs. In fact, this diameter is more than 81 mm, since the round CDs in particular need some play to insert. If the loading trough actually only had a diameter of 80 mm, then a CD in the sense of this exemplary embodiment would have maximum dimensions of approximately 56.6 x 56.6 mm.

In this example, the potential data area (2) is 57.5 mm in outside diameter. For technical reasons, this maximum value of 57.5 mm is factually not fully used. There are eight cutouts (6) in the data carrier material in the area of the support surfaces (3), these cutouts being used for the installation of internal reinforcing ribs (8) and other devices into the protective housing.

The size of a corresponding protective housing (housing base, housing frame and reinforcing ribs, see Fig. 3) is therefore approximately 61 mm x 61 mm x 5 mm. This size still allows the universal transport of the protective housing and thus the data carrier even in small purses or key pockets.

The capacity of a data carrier in the above-mentioned ideal size for the CD-ROM is currently around 30 MB.

Another exemplary embodiment is shown in FIG. 2: A data area of less than approximately 57.5 mm in diameter was selected. This diameter is again related to an actual diameter of the loading trough of approx. 81 mm. The data area is no longer circumscribed by a square, but by a simple, imaginary rectangle. This rectangle is as small as possible, provided there is no corner point within the circle. According to the invention, the contact surfaces lie within the rectangle. There are exactly four outer circumference points. In this exemplary embodiment, there are six cutouts (6, 7) of the data carrier material in the area of the contact surfaces. In contrast, a CD in credit card format, similar to the imaginary rectangle, has no recesses.

Claims

claims

1. Smaller shape (see FIG. 1, FIG. 2) of a standard round, disk-shaped one

Data carrier, such as CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW or DVD, which has no point outside an imaginary circle (1) around the axis of rotation of the data carrier, the diameter of the circle (1) being the diameter of the 80 mm or smaller standard loading troughs corresponds to corresponding drive drawers and the data carrier contains a potential data area (2) arranged concentrically around the axis of rotation and the data area (2) is alternatively circumscribed by an imaginary rectangle (5) that, depending on the selected diameter of the data area ( 2) must be as small as possible, but the corner points of which must not lie within this circle (1), bearing surfaces (3), which also serve to center the respective loading trough, adjoin the data area (2) and with the data area (2 ) are connected and lie both entirely within the imaginary rectangle (5) and the circle (1) and the at least 4 outer circumferences that are as far apart as possible contain gpoints (4) on the circle (1), characterized in that

- The support surfaces (3) should be as small as possible while taking into account the stability and are symmetrical in their structure, so that from the outer circumference of the data carrier in comparison to the outer circumference of the imaginary rectangle (5) at least 6 recesses (6,7) in the range of the maximum possible support surfaces (3) are available and these recesses (6,7) serve for the engagement of reinforcing ribs (8) or locking mechanisms of a transport housing (Fig. 3) and for the increased elasticity of the data carrier.

2. Smaller form of a standard round, disk-shaped data carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the bearing surfaces (3) on the support side with a friction-intensive coating, e.g. Rubber, are provided.