Sony Corporation

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Sony Nec Optiarc Inc.

Sony Optiarc Inc.

Kiyoshi Omori

Satoshi Muto

Yuji Suzuki

Hitoshi Taniguchi

Hiroshi Kawashima

Takashi Aoyama

Manabu Obata

Hidekazu Seto

Shigeru Tamura

Hideaki Tsutsumi

Kazuya Sunami

Masazumi Shiozawa

Koji Natsubori

Hidehiko Yamamoto

Takashi Ootsuka

Katsunori Takahashi

Yoichiro Mitsumoto

Keiji Jitsukawa

Ryuzo Tamayama

Manabu Yoshii

Hidekuni Aizawa

Kiyoaki Tsuji

Hiroyuki Fukuchi

Noriyoshi Ishii

Toru Tanaka

Michihiko Iida

Toshikazu Kobayashi

Masayasu Ito

Tsuneo Nemoto

Aki Yoguchi

Hideaki Kawada

Masaki Nagatsuka

Katsumi Toyama

Satoshi Mimura

Hideho Maeda

Tomoyasu Takaoka

Kazuo Ike

Yusuke Izumiya

Tsuyoshi Abiko

Takeshi Kunishima

Naoya Hoshino

Toshisada Takada

Tatsuya Isoda

Kouji Shinohara

Akio Ishiwata

Kunitaka Nerome

Yoko Maruyama

A disc drive apparatus includes: an apparatus body to which a disc is inserted and from which the disc is ejected; a disc recording and reproducing unit having a disc loading unit configured to load the disc inserted into the apparatus body, a disc rotation drive mechanism configured to rotate the disc loaded onto the disc loading unit, an optical pickup configured to record and/or reproduce a data signal with respect to the disc, and a pickup feeding mechanism configured to convey the optical pickup in a radial direction of the disc; a disc conveying mechanism configured to insert the disc into the apparatus body and eject the disc from the apparatus body; and a conveyance drive mechanism provided in the apparatus body and configured to drive the disc conveying mechanism; wherein the apparatus body includes a shoulder which is reduced in thickness in the vicinity of an insertion end of the disc.

Reduced thickness disc drive apparatus

A recording medium drive device includes: a holding unit configured to hold a recording medium inserted from a slot; a link mechanism including a plurality of arms turnably connected to each other; an eject lever activated in response to the turning motions of the link mechanism for pushing the recording medium to eject the recording medium from the slot; a drive source configured to supply a drive force for the turning operations of the link mechanism; an urging spring disposed in the link mechanism for applying an urging force in the ejecting direction to the recording medium when the recording medium is inserted from the slot; and position regulating means disposed at a position to suppress the urging spring for the recording medium, for regulating the arms of the link mechanism at the ejecting time.

Disk transfer mechanism, and disk drive device

A disk transfer includes: a transfer arm rotatably supported by an apparatus body to/from which a disk-shaped recording medium is inserted and removed, when the disk-shaped recording medium is inserted, rotated in an insertion direction by being pressed by the disk-shaped recording medium, and when the disk-shaped recording medium is ejected, rotated in an ejection direction to eject the disk-shaped recording medium; and a lift section provided with a rotation axis supported at a tip end portion of the transfer arm rotatably in a direction substantially orthogonal to a main surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, and from the rotation axis, an abutting piece abuts against the disk-shaped recording medium on a front side surface in the insertion direction inserted in the apparatus body. A support piece supports a lower surface portion of the disk-shape recording medium.

Disk transfer mechanism and disk recording and/or reproduction apparatus

A disk drive device includes: a rotary arm rotatable according to loading of a disk between a draw-in position and an eject position for ejecting the disk from a housing; a drive mechanism providing driving force for the rotary arm; a link arm mechanism interconnecting the rotary arm and the drive mechanism and rotating the rotary arm from an insertion position to the eject position when ejecting the disk; and a guide cam having a guide edge on which a guide projection of the link arm mechanism slides when ejecting the disk to rotate the rotary arm in an ejecting direction via the link arm mechanism, the guide projection moving around the guide cam from insertion to ejection of the disk. Engagement between the guide projection and the guide edge is released when a force opposite to a rotation direction is applied to the rotary arm when ejecting the disk.

Disk drive device

A disk drive device includes a device main body in which a disk slot for inserting and removing a disk-like recording medium is provided, a disk holding unit that rotatably holds the disk-like recording medium, a main chassis that supports the disk holding unit and a base unit, an arm unit rotatably supported on one or the other side in a plane parallel to the disk-like recording medium, an urging arm that urges the disk-like recording medium, a first centering member that supports the side of the disk-like recording medium, and a second centering member that supports the side of the disk-like recording medium. The first centering member and the second centering member are regulated in positions to support the side of the disk-like recording medium. The first centering member and the second centering member support the disk-like recording medium in a centering position.

Disk drive device and centering members therefor

A recording medium driving device which records information in or reproduces information from the recording medium, includes a device body in which a recording medium is inserted and from which the recording medium is removed, a conveying mechanism that conveys the recording medium in a loading direction and an eject direction, a mounting section on which the recording medium is mounted, a conveyance arm that moves according to movement of the recording medium in the loading direction and the eject direction and conveys the recording medium, and a driving mechanism that has a driving source for imparting a driving force for moving the conveyance arm. The conveyance arm includes a contact section that brought into contact with the recording medium and an urging member that urges the contact section in the eject direction of the recording medium.

Disk conveying apparatus

A disc drive apparatus is adapted to be driven when incorporated into a host appliance provided with a see-through section and comprises a disc receiving section for receiving a disc-shaped recording medium, a disc rotary drive mechanism for driving the disc-shaped recording medium to rotate, a recording and/or reproduction mechanism for recording information signals on and/or reproducing information signals from the disc-shaped recording medium and an apparatus main body arranged in correspondence to the see-through section formed in the host appliance and provided with a see-through hole exposing part of the disc-shaped recording medium placed on the disc receiving section to the outside of the host appliance by way of the see-through section.

Disc drive apparatus and electronic appliance

There is provided a disk drive including first and second sliding members () made to slide in synchronization with each other, a sliding-member movement driving mechanism () to move the first sliding member () and have the second sliding member () slide in synchronization with the sliding of the first sliding member (), and a shock absorbing mechanism () interposed between the first and second sliding members (). The shock absorbing mechanism () includes a shock absorbing member () to absorb a difference in movement between the first and second sliding members (), caused by an external force to the optical disk brought into or to outside a housing () through a disk slot () in a direction opposite to the direction in which the optical disk () is loaded or ejected when the first sliding member () is moved by the sliding-member movement driving mechanism ().

Disk drive

The present invention relates to a disk drive apparatus or a base unit which can prevent contact between an FPC (flexible Printed Circuit board) and an optical disk. The FPCis connected at one end portion thereof to an optical pickupand is extended in one of feeding directions thereof (for example, in a substantially leftward direction), curved and turned back intermediately and then extended in the other one of the feeding directions (for example, in a substantially rightward direction). The top coveris attached between the FPCand the optical disk and covers part of the FPC. A guide partis attached to a portion which corresponds to a framework of a dotted line on the lower face of the top coverfor guiding the posture of the FPCso that a portion of the FPCwhich is not covered with the FPCand the optical disk are spaced away from each other. The present invention can be applied to a drive apparatus for an optical disk such as a DVD or a CD.

Disk drive device and base unit

The present invention is directed to a disk drive apparatus in which an optical disk () is detachably loaded, and comprises a casing () including a front panel () in which a disk insertion/withdrawal hole () of which length in length direction is caused to be substantially the same as the diameter of the optical disk, and a biasing member () for biasing plural rotational arms (), () for holding the outer circumference of the optical disk therebetween in a predetermined direction in accordance with carrying position of the optical disk, wherein, between the disk insertion/withdrawal position and the disk loading position, there are provided a disk carrying mechanism () for performing carrying operation of the optical disk, a disk loading portion () to which the optical disk is loaded, a disk rotation drive mechanism () for optical disk, an optical pick-up () for performing recording and/or reproduction of information signals with respect to the optical disk, and a pick-up feed mechanism () for allowing the optical pick-up to undergo feed operation, wherein a slide contact piece () caused to be slidably in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the optical disk caused to undergo insertion/withdrawal operation with respect to the disk insertion/withdrawal hole is provided at one end portion in a length direction of the disk insertion/withdrawal hole to limit sudden movement of the optical disk.

Disk drive apparatus

The present invention is directed to an optical pick-up apparatus used for recording/reproduction of an optical disk, which comprises an optical pick-up () caused to undergo feed operation in the radial direction of optical disk (), and for performing write or read operation of information signals with respect to the rotating optical disk, and a flexible printed wiring board () having one end portion () connected to the optical pick-up, and the other end portion () provided in a manner extended in the feed direction of the optical pick-up. The flexible printed wiring board includes a folded portion () folded back toward the bottom surface portion side of the optical pick-up, and a bending displacement portion () for allowing folded position of the folded portion to undergo displacement in a manner following the feed operation of the optical pick-up, wherein a slit () for escaping a projected portion () projected from the bottom surface portion of the optical pick-up is provided at the folded portion.

Optical pickup device, disk drive unit, and disk drive device

Disc drive units out of the tolerance for assembling errors are rejected by narrowing the skew regulation range for them. Such a disc drive unit comprises a base plate, an optical pickup for writing a signal on and/or reading a signal from the optical disc, a pair of guide shafts for allowing the optical pickup to slide in a radial direction of the optical disc, support means, each being adapted to support the corresponding one of the guide shafts by pinching the opposite ends of the guide shaft between itself and the base plate, urging members for urging the respective ends of the guide shafts in the sense of the height thereof, regulation members for regulating the supported positions of the ends of the guide shafts, a skew regulation means having respective bearing sections including respective holding holes for holding the respective urging members, respective guide slits for receiving and guiding the respective ends of the guide shafts and respective insertion holes exposed to the respective holding holes and applied to receive the respective regulation members and limiting sections arranged between the base plate and the corresponding respective support means and adapted to limit the respective movable ranges of the guide shafts driven to move by the respective skew regulation means in the sense of the height thereof.

Disc drive unit and disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus

The present invention relates to a disc drive apparatus capable of preventing skew or wobble from occurring when a spindle motor is attached to a base. The disc drive apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a turntablewhich holds an optical disc; a spindle motor which rotatively drives the turntable; an optical pick-upwhich writes/reads signals on or from the optical disc; guide shaftsandwhich slidably supports the optical pick-upin the radial direction of the optical disc, and a baseto which a spindle motorand both end portions of each of the guide shaftsand, wherein the spindle motoris attached to the basethrough a spacer memberwhich performs positioning of the turntablein the vertical direction thereof relative to the base

Disc drive apparatus

There is provided a disk drive including a base chassis, a first optical pickup mechanism including a disk rotation drive disposed on the base chassis, first optical pickup unit to write and/or read data to and/or from a first optical disk and a first pickup moving mechanism to move the first optical pickup unit radially of the first optical disk, a second optical pickup mechanism disposed opposite to the first optical pickup mechanism and including a second optical pickup unit to write and/or read data to and/or from a second optical disk and a second pickup moving mechanism to move the second optical pickup unit radially of the second optical disk, and a controlling means for detecting the movement of one of the optical pickup units and moving the other optical pickup unit to make weight balancing of the base chassis. Thus, the base chassis weight is balanced while one of the two optical pickup units is being moved.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kiyoshi Omori