Pioneer Corporation

Pioneer Electronic Corporation

Youichi Konno

Akira Bessho

Hitoshi Ueno

Yukinari Makisaka

Eiji Hoshinaka

Kenjirou Ooizumi

Kenji Kikuchi

Katsumi Ishii

Keitaro Kaburagi

Katsuyuki Kobayashi

Takeshi Kadowaki

Tsutomu Muta

A recording medium drive includes a disc ejecting mechanism that ejects an optical disc disposed on a turntable to a slot. The disc ejecting mechanism is provided with a first disc feeding mechanism disposed on a rear side in a drive unit body and a second disc feeding mechanism (a disc guide mechanism) that is disposed on a slot side relative to the first disc feeding mechanism and continuously feeding the optical disc fed by the first disc feeding mechanism in a direction toward the slot. The optical disc having a small diameter can be transferred from the turntable to the slot by the first disc feeding mechanism and the second disc feeding mechanism which are respectively disposed on the rear side and a front side of the slot, thereby ejecting the optical disc to the outside.

Recording medium driving device having an improved disc feeding mechanism

Provided are a disc guide mechanismthat is disposed on one end side of a slotA in a drive unit bodyand guides an optical disc; and a disc diameter detecting mechanismthat is disposed on the other side of the slotA in the drive unit bodyand retracts the disc guide mechanismwhen the optical discinserted in the slotA is large and advances the optical discwhen the optical discis small. The disc guide mechanismand the disc diameter detecting mechanismwhich are respectively disposed on sides of the slotA can center the optical discin accordance with a diameter of the optical disc

Recording medium driving device

A recess () is provided to be continuous with the circumferential edge of a tray recess () of a disk tray () housing an optical disc () to allow a pickup () to move without contacting anything. A cover section () having a substantially tongue-like shape adapted to the recess () is projected integrally from a rotor support member () covering the tray recess () from above and defining a substantially cylindrical housing space () for coaxially housing the optical disc (), the cover section continuously covering the recess () of the disk tray () and the housing space (). Even when the optical disc () is rotated at a high speed, flutter attributable to airflow or a difference between pressures on both sides of the optical disc () can be reduced to allow the optical disc () to rotate with stability.

Flutter-reducing disk device

There is provided a slot-in type reproducing/recording apparatus in which a disk ,when ejected, stops at a predetermined position in front of the apparatus to be easily handled. A stop mechanism () includes an engagement pin () formed on an eject arm () and biased toward a selector plate () and the engagement recesses (E,F) formed on the selector plate () and hold the engagement pin () in a manner that the disk is held by main arms and the eject arm (). The selector plate () can move in a direction orthogonal to a disk-eject direction as the main arms open or close. Upon the ejection of the disk, the stop mechanism () stops the disk at a predetermined position in front of the apparatus so as to prevent the disk from jumping out from a slot (A).

Slot-in type reproducing/recording apparatus

There is provided a reproducing/recording apparatus that can reduce a load required for pushing in a case to activate a motor of a loading mechanism. The recording/reproducing apparatus includes a gear mechanism coupled with the motor, and a rack () coupled with the gear mechanism and provided along an advancement and retraction direction of a base plate (), i.e., the case. Between the rack () and the base plate (), grooves (A) are formed for allowing a relative movement of the rack () and the base plate () along the advancement and retraction direction. Between the base plate () and the gear mechanism, a start cam mechanism is formed for starting rotation of the motor when the base plate () advances to a predetermined position. With such configuration, the base plate () can advance within the length of the grooves (A) without much load when a user pushes in the base plate (), therefore the disk D can be easily loaded.

Reproducing/recording apparatus

A disc driving apparatus comprises a turntable, a clamping member and a cam mechanism. A disc is to be placed on the turntable. The clamping member holds the disc between the turntable and the clamping member with a magnetic attracting force. The cam mechanism causes a relative movement between the turntable and the clamping member to move any one of them away from another thereof or move them closer to each other. The cam mechanism has a cam and a cam follower. The cam has a contour by which a variation rate of displacement of the cam follower relative to a moving amount of the cam when the turntable and the clamping member move away form each other becomes smaller than a variation rate thereof when the turntable and the clamping member move close to each other.

Disc driving apparatus

An apparatus for driving a movable body, comprises a driving power source having an output shaft; and a driving gear provided on the output shaft to drive the movable body. The driving gear is capable of slipping relative to the output shaft of the driving power source. The output shaft of the driving power source may be connected to the movable body through a gear train for transmitting driving power from the driving power source to the movable body. In this case, the gear train includes the driving gear and the driving gear slips when a prescribed load is applied to the gear train.

Apparatus for driving a movable body

A driving apparatus comprises a rotation member, a shaft and a restriction member. The rotation member has a shaft-receiving portion. The shaft is fitted into the shaft-receiving portion so as to permit rotation of the rotation member relative to the shaft. The shaft has a protrusion projecting in a direction substantially perpendicular to an axial direction of the shaft. The restriction member prevents the rotation member from deviating in a projecting direction of the protrusion.

Driving apparatus

An adhered double-sided optical disc is formed by adhering a first disc and a second disc with each other at both sides. The device has a turntable secured to a rotating shaft, a clamper for clamping the double-sided optical disc together with the turntable, and a centering hub mounted on the rotating shaft. The centering hub has a first engaging cylindrical portion and a second engaging cylindrical portion surface of which is located axially inside the first engaging cylindrical portion. Each of both of the engaging cylindrical portions has a diameter so as to be engaged with an inside wall of a center hole of each of the first and second discs. An inclining angle (.alpha.) of the first engaging cylindrical portion with respect to a vertical plane to an axis of the centering hub is larger than an inclining angle (.beta.) of the second engaging cylindrical portion with respect to the vertical plane to the axis.

Clamp centering device of an optical disc player

A magneto-optical recording and reproducing device in which recording is carried out by applying a modulated laser beam and a bias magnetic field to a recording point of a magneto-optical recording disc and erasing is carried out by reversing a direction of the bias magnetic field and continuously applying a laser beam to the recording point. The device includes an electromagnet (2) for applying the bias magnetic field, a carriage (3) on which a laser for irradiating the laser beam is mounted, an actuator including magnets (4) and coils (5) for controlling the focal point of the laser beam, a linear motor including magnets (7), yokes (8) and coils (6) for linearly moving the carriage (3). In one embodiment, the polarities of the magnets (4, 7) of the actuator and linear motor, respectively, are arranged such that a direction of the magnetic field of the actuator is opposite to that of the linear motor so as to minimize the resulting magnetic flux. In another embodiment, the magnets (7) of the linear motor are arranged such that the polarities of the magnets are opposite one another to form a closed magnetic path.

Magneto-optical recording and reproducing device

A playback/recording apparatus for a cartridge-contained disk includes a casing having a slot, a cartridge holder having an opening aligned with the slot, a conveyance mechanism for moving the cartridge holder and cartridge therein between a fully inserted position of the cartridge and a playback/recording position, and a playback/recording mechanism for recording on or reproducing from the disk. The apparatus has resilient members, mounted on the holder, for engaging with the cartridge after insertion. The resilient members are capable of being reciprocated in the directions of insertion and discharge of the cartridge. Stoppers limit the ranges of the reciprocation of the resilient members. During insertion of the cartridge, the resilient members engage with the cartridge and come into contact with recesses in the cartridge. An urging mechanism urges the cartridge toward the outside of a slot. The engagement of the resilient members and recesses in the cartridge, coacting with a forwardmost pair of stoppers, positively prevent the cartridge from springing out of the slot.

Playback/recording apparatus having a device for positively preventing

An apparatus for playing a disc rotatably stored in a flat protective cartridge has guide pins slidably fitted in guide holes for guiding a holding member that holds the cartridge loaded in a housing toward a turntable. The cartridge can be transferred from a loading/unloading slot toward the turntable with high accuracy. With the arrangement in which the holding member is guided by the guide pins and the guide holes, the apparatus is small in size and the holding member is moved smoothly with a high accuracy thereby to perform smooth loading the cartridge-stored disc while keeping accurate alignment of the disc against the spindle of the turn-table.

Growing community of inventors

Tokorozawa, Japan

Youichi Konno