Patent ID: 7236432
Filing Date: 2007-06-26
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for reading a data storage medium, the data storage medium including a rectangular card body that has a surface formed with a data storage track having a plurality of parallel and equally spaced apart track sections that are stored with optically detectable information, said apparatus comprising: a housing; a carrier frame mounted movably in said housing and adapted to be loaded with the data storage medium thereon; a first driving unit mounted in said housing and associated operably with said carrier frame, said first driving unit being operable so as to drive said carrier frame to move back and forth between first and second limit positions along a first direction parallel to the track sections; an optical detecting unit mounted movably in said housing and adapted for reading the optically detectable information stored in one of the track sections when said carrier frame is moved by said first driving unit along the first direction; a second driving unit mounted in said housing and associated operably with said optical detector unit, said second driving unit being operable so as to drive said optical detecting unit to move along a second direction transverse to the first direction; and a control unit mounted in said housing and coupled electrically to said first and second driving units and said optical detecting unit, said control unit controlling said first driving unit so as to enable said first driving unit to drive said carrier frame to move back and forth between the first and second limit positions along the first direction, said control unit receiving the optically detectable information read by said optical detecting unit and activating said second driving unit to move said optical detecting unit by a predetermined distance along the second direction upon detection that said carrier frame has been moved by said first driving unit from one of the first and second limit positions to the other one of the first and second limit positions.