Sony Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Sony Nec Optiarc Inc.

Sony Optiarc Inc.

Panasonic Corporation

Manabu Obata

Naoki Inoue

Yuji Iwaki

Mitsuyoshi Kawaguchi

Mitsunori Matsumura

Hideaki Tsutsumi

Shuichi Kikuchi

Teiko Hoshi

Kiyoshi Omori

Yoichiro Mitsumoto

Shigeru Tamura

Zensaku Mitsuji

Yuji Suzuki

Hisashi Negoro

Yusuke Izumiya

Teruyuki Takizawa

Katsunori Takahashi

Yoshito Saji

Kuniko Nakata

Hironori Okazawa

Morihiro Murata

Yusuke Hirano

Noriyoshi Ishii

Masakazu Usui

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 disk drive apparatus includes: a disk table on which a disk recording medium inserted into a disk insertion port for loading is mounted; an eject lever rotatably supported by a chassis, and having a disk holding part that holds the inserted medium; and a support lever rotatably supported by the chassis and having a disk holding part, wherein these levers are rotated between a waiting position at which the disk holding part waits for the inserted medium and a drawing position at which the medium held by the disk holding part is drawn, wherein when the eject lever and the support lever are at the waiting positions, the disk holding parts are each positioned at a position which is located more on the disk insertion port side than a centering projecting part of the disk table and is not overlapped with the insertion direction of the medium.

Disk drive apparatus and electronic appliance

The present invention is related to a disc cartridge in which an optical disc, an inner shell and shutter members are housed in a main cartridge body unit, formed by abutting and combining upper and lower shells and in which the inner shell is run in rotation to cause the shutter members to open or close an aperture provided in the main cartridge body unit. The inner shell is formed by a resin molding portion comprised of a first molded portion for forming the inner shell and a second molded portion connected to the first molded portion. The second molded portion is provided at a position forming the aperture in the inner shell and is connected to the first molded portion through a flanged thin-walled section. The inner shell is formed by severing the second molded portion and the flanged thin-walled section.

Disc cartridge including an inner shell formed by severing a molded portion and a flanged thin-walled section

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 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 disk drive unit advantageously prevents dust from adhering to a pickup. The disk drive unit has a housing and a tray. The tray reciprocates between a retracted position and a projected position. A first pickup and a second pickup have a spindle motor located therebetween. The tray has a first cutout and a second cutout. A cover is provided to cover the top of the second pickup in its retreated position. The cover has a cover piece, which is disposed in a front portion of the cover that is positioned on the upstream side relative to the rotational direction of a disk-shaped recording medium such that it is movable in a direction parallel to the direction in which the second pickup moves, and urged in the projecting direction.

Disk drive unit

The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a disk-like recording medium such as an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk and a magnetic disk is accommodated within a disk compartment of a cartridge housing, a disk recording medium device in which the disk-like recording medium is accommodated in advance within the disk compartment so as to become freely rotatable and a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information by using this disk recording medium device. A disk cartridge according to the present invention comprises a cartridge housing in which a disk compartment is formed by combining an upper shell and a lower shell and in which an opening portion is formed on the lower shell and the like and a pair of shutter members provided on the cartridge housing so as to become movable between the opening position at which the opening portion is opened and the closing position at which the opening portion is closed and which has joint portions that are joined to each other at the closing position, wherein a rectangular groove portion and a rib portion that can be engaged with each other are provided on each joint portion of a pair of shutter members over approximately the total length of the joint portion. According to the present invention, a dust-proof property of the joint portions, which are joined to each other, of a pair of shutter members can be enhanced. Thus, it is possible to provide the disk cartridge, the disk recording medium device and the disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which dusts, smudges and so on are difficult to enter the disk compartment.

Disk cartridge and disk recording medium device having shutter members

A disc cartridge includes a cartridge body, a first shutter, a second shutter, and a rotational member. The cartridge body includes a disc storage portion, a chucking opening and a head opening. The disc storage portion has a disc window and a bottom and stores a disc, having first and second sides, therein so that the disc is rotatable in the disc storage portion and that the disc exposes the first side inside the disc window. The first and second shutters are provided on the bottom of the disc storage portion to expose or cover the head opening. The rotational member is provided over the first and second shutters inside the disc storage portion and is engaged with the first and second shutters in such a manner as to open or close the first and second shutters when rotates inside the disc storage portion.

Disc cartridge having deeper concave portion continuous with shutter opener/closer groove

In a disc cartridge, the shutter opening/closing operation is to be performed reliably. To this end, the distal ends of a first engagement memberand a second engagement memberprovided to a baseare pivotally movable in a direction along a lateral surface of a housing, in addition to being movable in a direction perpendicular to the lateral surface of the housing. The state of engagement of the first engagement memberand the second engagement member, provided to the base, with a first mating engagement sectionand with a second mating engagement section, provided to an inner rotor, facing outwards from one lateral surface of the housing, when the baseperforms relative movement along the lateral surface of the housing, may be maintained for prolonged time, while the load applied to the distal ends during engagement and disengagement may be reduced.

Shutter closing mechanism and disc driving apparatus

A disk drive apparatus includes a casing having an upper plate; and a tray. The upper plate includes an arm having an attracted member fixed thereto. When the tray moves from a protruding position to a recording-and-playback position, since engagements of the arm and the tray are engaged with each other, the main body of the arm swings, and the attracted member serves as a chucking position facing a chucked portion of the disk-shaped recording medium placed on the tray. When the tray moves from the recording-and-playback position to the protruding position, since the engagement of the arm is detached from the engagement of the tray, the main body of the arm swings, and the attracted member serves as a retracting position retracting above the chucked portion of the disk-shaped recording medium.

Disk drive apparatus

The present invention is relative to a disc cartridge in which an optical disc (), an inner shell () and shutter members (), () are housed in a main cartridge body unit (), formed by abutting and combining upper and lower shells (), (), and in which the inner shell is run in rotation to cause the shutter members (), () to open or close an aperture () provided in the main cartridge body unit (). On an inner side of the peripheral wall sections of the upper and lower shells, abutted to each other, a crank-shaped dust intrusion prohibiting unit (A) is provided for prohibiting intrusion of dust and dirt from the abutting surfaces of the peripheral wall sections of the upper and lower shells towards the optical disc housed in the main cartridge body unit to protect the optical disc housed in the main cartridge body unit. The inner shell provided in the main cartridge body unit includes an aperture () in register with an aperture in the main cartridge body unit, and includes a connecting portion () bridging an open end side of the aperture. This connecting portion has a height not protruding towards the lower shell.

Disc cartridge with crank-shaped dust intrusion prohibiting unit

A method for producing an inner shell used for a disc cartridge in which an optical disc, an inner shell and shutter members are housed in a main cartridge body unit. The inner shell provided in the main cartridge body unit includes a first molded portion, provided with an aperture, a second molded portion having a resin injection port and molded at a position where the aperture is formed, and a flanged thin-walled section connecting the first and second molded portions to each other. The method includes the steps of injecting molten resin into a cavity defined by a fixed metal die and a movable metal die for molding the first molded portion, the second molded portion, and the flanged thin-walled section, and severing the flanged thin-walled section by a punch provided to the movable metal die before the molten resin injected into the cavity is cooled and solidified.

Method for producing inner shell for a disc cartridge

A disk cartridge housing in which a disk compartment is formed by combining an upper shell and a lower shell. The cartridge has an opening portion which overlaps with a shutter member to expose a part of the disk compartment. A convex rib and a concave groove arrangement is used between the opening portion and shutter member to form a dust-proof housing.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Manabu Obata