Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Yukio Morioka

Takuto Yamazaki

Yuji Ariyoshi

Norikatsu Yoshida

Masakazu Ishizuka

Osamu Ataguchi

Kenji Shiomi

Hiroshi Takahashi

Shinichi Maeda

Hitoshi Higaki

Tatsuro Nishi

Yasuhisa Fukushima

Hirohito Tsuruta

Kazuo Ishikawa

The disc device comprises disc selector spindle that hold discs in a stacked state, separate lowermost disc from other discs, and supply separated lowermost disc to drive unit. The disc selector spindle includes first, second, and third support claws that move to storage position at which each support claw is stored inside center hole of disc and protrusion position at which each support claw protrudes in a region located in the vicinity of inner diameter of disc in plan view. First support claw moves to storage position and protrusion position independently of the movements of second support claw and third support claw. Second support claw is disposed so as to be shifted from third support claw in a stacking direction of disc by a thickness of one disc, and to move from storage position to protrusion position at a timing different from a timing of third support claw.

Disc device

The disc device that includes a disc tray which stores a plurality of stacked discs, a tray carrier which transports the disc tray, and a disc selector which supplies one disc of the plurality of discs stacked on the disc tray to a drive unit. The disc selector includes a disc selector spindle that supports the plurality of discs, a disc press on which an upper surface of an uppermost disc of the plurality of discs supported by the disc selector spindle abuts, a displacement amount detection mechanism that detects a displacement amount of the disc press displaced according to thicknesses of the plurality of supported discs, and a thickness detection unit that detects a thickness of each of the plurality of discs based on the detected displacement amount of the disc press.

A disc transfer device according to the present disclosure is a disc transfer device that transfers a disc in a first direction from a first position toward a third position via a second position, and includes a roller, a roller support mechanism, a first retaining member, a second retaining member, and a retaining member support mechanism. The roller rotates in a state of contact with a disc end face on one side in a second direction being orthogonal to the first direction, until the disc reaches the third position from the first position. The roller support mechanism supports the roller such that the roller is in contact with the transferred disc and is moveable in the first direction and the second direction. The first retaining member extends in the first direction, and is brought into contact with the disc end face on the other side in the second direction until the disc reaches at least the second position from the first position. The second retaining member is brought into contact with the disc end face on the other side in the second direction until the disc reaches the third position from the second position. The retaining member support mechanism supports the second retaining member such that the second retaining member is in contact with the transferred disc and is moveable in the first direction and the second direction.

Disc transfer device

A disc device records or reproduces information in or from a disc stored in a disc cartridge. The disc cartridge includes a casing having a front face with an opening for receiving the disc; and a cover closing the opening of the casing. The cover includes a slider moving along a side face of the casing, a shutter closing the opening; and a hinge part rotatably coupling the shutter to the slider. The disc device includes a stopper contacting the slider when the disc cartridge is inserted into the disc device to restrict movement of the slider in an insertion direction, and a cam part separating the hinge part from a contact region between the shutter and the casing when or before the casing further moves with the stopper restricting movement of the slider and the shutter is pressed by the casing to rotate about the hinge part.

Disc cartridge and disc device

A disc conveying device includes a plurality of disc holding members stacked in a first direction which is a disc thickness direction, one of the plurality of disc holding members holding a disc such that the disc can slide to one side in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, a disc holding member moving mechanism separating the one of the plurality of disc holding members from an adjacent one of the plurality of disc holding members in the first direction, moving the one of the plurality of disc holding members to the one side in the second direction, and partially protruding the disc from other discs held by the plurality of disc holding members to the one side in the second direction, and a disc conveying mechanism holding a protruded part of the disc and conveying the disc to the one side in the second direction.

Disc conveying device and disc conveying method

There is provided a disk device having a buffer portion capable of relatively moving at least a rack at the beginning of meshing with a drive gear in an opposite direction to a moving direction of a slide cam member moved by conveyance of a disk, when the disk is conveyed to a replayable position by a disk conveyance mechanism and the slide cam member moves so that the drive gear and the rack are meshed with each other.

Disk device including disk conveyance mechanism and disk installment mechanism

A disk device is provided with a pair of slide cam members that start movement when a disk is conveyed to a replayable position, and a pair of clamper lifters respectively having clamper support portions supporting a clamper. The clamper lifters are moved in opposite directions to each other in a horizontal direction orthogonal to a thickness direction of the disk device in conjunction with the movement of the pair of slide cam members. They are arranged so that the timings of the start of movement in the opposite directions to each other are different from each other. The clamper support portions have inclined surfaces in contact with an outer peripheral part of the clamper so as to move the clamper in the thickness direction of the disk device in accordance with the movement of the pair of clamper lifters in the opposite directions to each other.

Disk device having clamper lifters with different start of movement timing

A disc changer device, that houses discs, and transports a selected disc to carry out a recording/reproducing operation on the disc, includes a plurality of trays, a first tray driving unit for moving the tray in a reciprocating manner between a stand-by position and a recording/reproducing position, a traverse unit having an optical pickup and a turn table, a clamp unit for moving the traverse unit to a clamp position as well as to a retreat position, a pickup moving unit for moving the optical pickup, a first motor for driving the first tray driving unit, the pickup moving unit and the clamp unit, an elevation unit that raises and lowers the traverse unit, a second tray driving unit for moving the tray in a reciprocating manner between the stand-by position and an exchange position, and a second motor for driving the elevation unit and the second tray driving unit.

Disc changer device

The tray carry-out method for a disc changer device, comprising, while transporting the tray from a recording/reproducing position to a stand-by position by driving the first motor, starting to drive the second motor for bringing a tray driving gear unit into a tray simultaneously transportable state, and upon completion of the transport of the tray to the stand-by position, with the tray driving gear unit being set to the tray simultaneously transportable state, starting to drive the second motor to carry out the tray from the stand-by position to an exchange position.

Tray carry-out method for disc changer device

The disc changer device, for transporting a tray to a stand-by position where trays are housed in a stacked state, to a disc exchange position where a disc on the tray is exchanged, as well as to a disc recording/reproducing position where a recording/reproducing operation is carried out on the disc on the selected tray, is provided with a plurality of tray locking units that are prepared in association with the respective trays, and engaged with a corresponding trays so that each of the corresponding trays is prevented from being transported from the stand-by position to the disc exchange position, and an engagement releasing unit for releasing engagement between the selected tray and the tray locking unit related to the selected tray as well as engagement between a tray adjacent to the selected tray on a lower side thereof and the tray locking unit related to the adjacent tray.

Two positioning levers for positioning a disk and two detecting levers are provided outside an area in a disk loading device where the disk is to be mounted. A large-diameter disk is positioned when both of the two detecting levers come in contact with the disk. At the time of insertion of a small-diameter disk when one of the detecting levers comes in contact with the disk, the two positioning levers do not move and the small-diameter disk is positioned.

Disk loading device having positioning and detection levers that move entirely outside an outermost circumference of an area occupied by a disk mounted therein

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Osaka, Japan

Yukio Morioka