Abstract:
A loading and unloading module for optical disk drives includes a track plate, a moving plate, a guiding plate, a guiding arm and three rollers for three-point anchoring to achieve the functions of retrieving a disc, conveying the disc and ejecting the disc to substitute for conventional tray loading type or leaf-actuation loading type designs. The optical module is prevented from being scraped or damaged, and space utilization is improved. It also is adaptable for handling different sizes of discs.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates to a loading and unloading module for optical disk drives and particularly to an slot-in type loading and unloading module adaptable for discs of various sizes in optical disk drives.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The commonly seen optical disk drives at present can be categorized as tray loading type and leaf-actuation loading type. The former type is usually used on desktop computers, while the later type is mostly adopted on notebook computers. The tray loading type requires greater space. When in use, the tray has to be ejected for loading the optical disc, and the tray is withdrawn into the optical disk drive for reading. Ejection of the tray requires a lot of space. Moreover, impact may occur and damage the disk drive. If the optical disc is not properly positioned when the tray is withdrawn, the optical disc will be jammed between the tray and the optical disk drive.  
         [0003]     The leaf-actuation loading type is generally used when space is constrained. It is mostly used in notebook computers. However, during ejection the optical module and the tray are ejected together. If a slight error happens while placing or removing the optical disc, the optical module is easily scraped and damaged, and could result in dysfunction of the optical disk drive.  
         [0004]     In order to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages, U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,927 discloses a roller loading method. Its main design concept is to deploy an elongated roller on the exit of the optical disc drive. When an optical disc is inserted, the roller conveys the optical disc to a correct position by friction. As it is driven by roller friction, it can be adapted to optical discs of various sizes (commonly 8 cm and 12 cm). However, because it is driven by roller friction, the surface of the disc is frequently scraped and damaged during the conveying process. Moreover, if the roller is smeared by dust or external objects, it could cut into the disc surface and cause serious damage.  
         [0005]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,449,234 discloses another type of loading scheme that uses an actuating lever to move the optical disc. While it can save the tray and avoid the problem of scraping the disc surface occurring with U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,927, it cannot be adapted for different sizes of discs.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     In view of the aforesaid disadvantages, the primary object of the invention is to provide a loading and unloading module for optical disk drives to substitute for the conventional tray loading or leaf-actuation loading design to prevent the optical module from being scraped and damaged, improve space utilization, and to be adaptable to different sizes of discs.  
         [0007]     The loading and unloading module of the invention includes a track plate, a moving plate, a guiding plate, a guiding arm and three rollers. The track plate has two biased main tracks located on two sides of the front end extending rearwards and a rear track on a rear end thereof. Each main track has a side dead point on the outmost side, a front dead point on the front end and a rear dead point on the rear end. The moving plate is movably mounted onto the track plate, has a bottom track corresponding to the rear track, and a first track matching the biased main track. The guiding plate is mounted onto the moving plate and is connected thereon by an elastic mechanism. It has transverse tracks on two sides of the front end normal to the entering direction of the disc. The guiding arm is mounted onto the guiding plate and has a rear end coupled with the moving plate and anchored on a pivotal fulcrum.  
         [0008]     The three rollers are divided into two front rollers and one rear roller according to the locations at which they are installed. The front rollers pass through the main tracks of the track plate, the first tracks of the moving plate and the transverse tracks of the guiding plate. The rear roller passes through the rear track of the track plate, the bottom track of the moving plate and the rear track of the guiding arm, and is harnessed to move synchronously with the front rollers.  
         [0009]     When a disc is inserted, the two front rollers are pushed to the side dead points of the main tracks, and the guiding plate is driven at the same time to slide rearwards. Due to the elastic force of the elastic mechanism, the disc is moved inwards to be clamped by the front rollers and the rear roller. Then the moving plate is driven to convey the disc into the optical disk drive until the front rollers are moved to the rear dead points to release the disc for reading. After reading is finished, the moving plate is driven to move the disc outwards until the front rollers are moved to the front dead points of the main track to discharge the disc, then the elastic mechanism may unload the disc.  
         [0010]     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIGS. 1A through 1B  are schematic views of the invention coupling with an optical disk drive.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the moving plate of the invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the track plate of the invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a rear view of the invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the rollers of the invention.  
         [0016]      FIGS. 6A through 6H  are schematic views of the invention in operating conditions adopted for large discs.  
         [0017]      FIGS. 7A through 7H  are schematic views of the invention in operating conditions adopted for small discs.  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is a schematic view of the stopping member of the invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  is a control time sequence chart of the invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]     Refer to  FIG. 1A  for the loading and unloading module  400  for optical disk drives according to the invention. The module is mainly used in an optical disk drive to couple with an optical module  100 , bottom plate module  200 , driving module  300  and detection module  500 . The bottom plate module  200  mainly aims to support the optical module  100 , driving module  300  and loading and unloading module  400 . The optical module  100  includes an optical pickup, spindle motor and transmission system (not shown in the drawing) for reading the optical disc. The driving module  300  provides power required by the loading and unloading module  400 . The following description focuses mainly the loading and unloading module  400 .  
         [0021]     The loading and unloading module  400  includes a track plate  44 , a moving plate  43 , a guiding plate  41 , and a guiding arm  42  stacking and assembling in this order. Referring to  FIG. 1B , three rollers  61 ,  62  and  63  are provided (also referring to  FIG. 5 ) to offer a three-point anchoring approach to clamp the optical disc. The loading and unloading module of the invention aims to convey a disc into or out of an optical disk drive. It includes a track plate  44 , a moving plate  43 , a guiding plate  41 , two front rollers  62  and  63 , a rear roller  61 , and a guiding arm  42 . The track plate  44  located on the bottom is formed by a metal sheet. Referring to  FIG. 3 , it has a rear track  441  to couple with the rear roller  61  and guiding tracks  442  to couple with the front rollers  62 . As operations of the front rollers  62  and  63  are the same, only the front roller  62  will be discussed. The rear roller  61  is movably located in the rear track  441  of the track plate  44  and the bottom track  432  of the moving plate  43 . Moreover, the guiding track  442  includes a main track  4425  and a secondary track  4424  to support respectively large discs and small discs. The guiding tracks  442  are symmetrically formed on two sides of the front end of the track plate  44 . The rear track  441  is located on the rear end of the track plate  44 .  
         [0022]     The movable plate  43  has a bottom track  432  and a moving track  431  at the front end, as shown in  FIG. 2 . The moving track  431  has first tracks  4311  and second tracks  4312  for supporting respectively large discs and small discs. It has an opening  435  in the center to enable a damper  70  of the optical disk drive to pass through (also passing through an aperture  444  in the center of the track plate  44 , as shown in  FIG. 3 ). The moving plate  43  may be driven by the driving module  300  and moved. It has an anchor track  436  mating with a plurality of anchor bulged points  443  located on the track plate  44  (referring to  FIG. 3 ) to allow the moving plate  43  to move forwards and backwards relative to the track plate  44 . In other words, the moving plate  43  is movably mounted above the track plate  44 . The bottom track  432  on the rear end corresponds to the rear track  441 . The moving plate  43  further has moving tracks  431  symmetrically located on two sides corresponding to the guiding tracks  442 .  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 1B , the guiding plate  41  is substantially formed in a U-shape, and is held by a clamping section  438  at the edge of the moving plate  43  and anchored on the moving plate  43  (also referring to  FIG. 2 ). It has two sides connecting to the moving plate  43  through springs  412  which control the relative position of the two. The guiding plate  41  further has transverse tracks  411  located on two sides of the front end that are substantially normal to the inserting direction of the disc. That is, the guiding plate  41  is located above the moving plate  43  with the transverse tracks  411  located horizontally on two sides at the front end thereof.  
         [0024]     Preferably, the moving plate  43  and the guiding plate  41  are connected through an elastic mechanism  412  to enable the two to move reciprocally and elastically relative to one another.  
         [0025]     The guiding arm  42  is located above the guiding plate  41 , and is movably located above the moving plate  43  and pivotally connected thereon. The guiding arm  42  is a biased arm which has one bottom end pivotally engaged with a pivot point  437  on the moving plate  43  (referring to  FIG. 2 ). The guiding arm  42  further has a front end track  421  and a rear end track  422  to couple respectively with the front roller  62  and the rear roller  61 . That is, the front roller  62  are coupled respectively in the guiding tracks  442  of the track plate  44 , moving tracks  431  of the moving plate  43  and transverse tracks  411  of the guiding plate  41 . As the front rollers  62  and  63  are symmetrical on the left and right sides, and are movable synchronously under the control of the guiding plate  41 , in order to enable another roller  61  to move synchronously with the two rollers  62  and  63 , the guiding arm  42  is provided.  
         [0026]     When adopted for use on large discs, a large disc  91  (the most common size is 12 cm) is loaded at the front end as shown in  FIG. 6A . First, the disc is in contact with the rollers  62  and  63  (also referring to  FIG. 8 ); with the large disc  91  being moved inwards continuously, the rollers  62  and  63  are pushed and moved. As the rollers  62  and  63  are constrained by the transverse tracks  411  of the guiding plate  41 , moving tracks  431  of the moving plate  43  and guiding tracks  442  of the track plate  44 , the rollers  62  and  63  are moved along the first tracks  4311  of the moving tracks  431  of the moving plate  43  and the main tracks  4425  of the guiding tracks  442  of the track plate  44  towards two sides. Meanwhile, the transverse tracks  411  of the guiding plate  41  are being pushed and the entire body is moved rearwards to stretch the spring  412 , as shown in  FIG. 6B . The roller  61  is also constrained by the guiding arm  42  and moved synchronously rearwards. When the large disc  91  is continuously moved inwards and has its largest diameter passing through, the rollers  62  and  63  are pushed to the side dead points  4421  of the main tracks  4425  of the guiding track  442  to enable the large disc  91  to be moved in continuously (referring to  FIG. 6B ). Once the large disc passes through, due to the force of the spring  412 , the guiding plate  41  is moved forwards to continuously convey the large disc  91  inwards, as shown in  FIG. 6C , until the large disc  91  is clamped and anchored at three points by the three rollers  61 ,  62  and  63 .  
         [0027]     Once the disc is clamped and firmly positioned, the driving module  300  drives the moving plate  43  rearwards as shown in  FIG. 6D . Meanwhile, the damper  70  of the optical disk drive is moved from its original elevated position, bucked by the bulged ridge  4351  of the moving plate  43  to avoid interference with the large disc  91 , to a recess section  4352  for clamping the large disc  91  (also referring to  FIG. 2 ). Next, the moving plate  43  is moved rearwards continuously until the rollers  62  and  63  are moved to the rear dead points  4423  of the main tracks  4425  of the track plate  44  so that the rollers  62  and  63  are located on positions greater than the diameter of the large disc  91  and the large disc  91  is freed from the clamping of the rollers  61 ,  62  and  63 . The damper  70  then clamps the disc and the optical module  100  may start reading.  
         [0028]     For ejecting the large disc  91 , first, the large disc  91  is restored to the clamping condition by the rollers  61 ,  62  and  63 ; and the moving plate  43  is driven forwards to move the roller  62  outwards along the main track  4425  of the track plate  44  until reaching the front dead point  4422 , as shown in  FIG. 6E . At that condition the rollers  62  and  63  are moved away from the large disc  91 , and an actuating member  82  is driven (referring to  FIG. 4 ) to push the large disc  91  out at the first stage as shown in  FIG. 6F . Then the moving plate  43  is driven back to the position of the main tracks  4425  of the track plate  44  (referring to  FIG. 6G ). The force of the spring  412  pulls the guiding plate  41  to drive the rollers  62  and  63  to push the large disc  91  out (as shown in  FIG. 6H ).  
         [0029]     For small optical discs, the basic operation principle is the same as that for the large disc  91 . First, a small disc  92  (the commonly used size is 8 cm) is inserted from the front end, as shown in  FIG. 7A , to hit the rollers  62  and  63  (also referring to  FIG. 8 ). Continuous inward movement of the small disc  92  pushes the rollers  62  and  63  to move. As the rollers  62  and  63  are constrained by the transverse tracks  411  of the guiding plate  41 , moving tracks  431  of the moving plate  43  and guiding tracks  442  of the track plate  44 , the rollers  62  and  63  are moved along the first tracks  4311  of the moving tracks  431  of the moving plate  43  and the main tracks  4425  of the guiding tracks  442  of the track plate  44  towards two sides. Meanwhile, the transverse tracks  411  of the guiding plate  41  are being pushed and the entire body is moved rearwards to stretch the spring  412 , as shown in  FIG. 7B . The roller  61  is also constrained by the guiding arm  42  and moved synchronously rearwards. When the small disc  92  is continuously moved inwards and has its largest diameter passing through, as the small disc  92  has a smaller diameter than the large disc  91 , the rollers  62  and  63  are not being pushed to the side dead points  4421  of the main tracks  4425  of the guiding track  442  (referring to  FIG. 7B ). But similarly, after the largest diameter of the small disc has passed through, due to the spring  412 , the guiding plate  41  is continuously moved forwards to convey the small disc  92  inwards (as shown in  FIG. 7C ) until the small disc  92  is clamped and anchored at three points by the three rollers  61 ,  62  and  63 .  
         [0030]     Once the disc is clamped and firmly positioned, the driving module  300  drives the moving plate  43  rearwards, as shown in  FIG. 7D . Meanwhile, the damper  70  of the optical disk drive is moved from its original elevated position, bucked by the bulged ridge  4351  of the moving plate  43  to avoid interference with the small disc  92 , to a recess section  4352  for clamping the small disc  92  (also referring to  FIG. 2 ). Next, due the smaller size of the small disc  92 , the roller  62  is moved along the secondary track  4425  of the track plate  44  (referring to  FIG. 7E ) until the rollers  62  and  63  are located on positions greater than the diameter of the small disc  92  and the small disc  92  is freed from the clamping of the rollers  61 ,  62  and  63 . The damper  70  then clamps the disc and the optical module  100  may start reading. In addition, due the smaller size of the small disc  92 , an anchor member  81  must be provided at the rear end of the track plate  44  (referring to  FIG. 4 ) to anchor the small disc  92 . In order to prevent the anchor member  81  from interfering with the large disc  91 , it adopts a pivotal design so that interference may be avoided when the large disc  91  is moved rearwards.  
         [0031]     For ejecting the small disc  92 , first, the small disc  92  is restored to the clamping condition by the rollers  61 ,  62  and  63 , and the moving plate  43  is driven forwards to move the roller  62  along the secondary track  4424  of the track plate  44  until reaching the front end to be harnessed by the second track  4312  of the moving plate  43 , as shown in  FIG. 7F . At that condition the rollers  62  and  63  are moved away from the small disc  92 , and the actuating member  82  is driven (referring to  FIG. 4 ) to push the small disc  92  out at the first stage, as shown in  FIG. 7G . Then the moving plate  43  is driven back to the position of the main tracks  4425  of the track plate  44 , and the force of the spring  412  pulls the guiding plate  41  to drive the rollers  62  and  63  to push the small disc  92  out (referring to  FIG. 7H ).  
         [0032]     As the invention is different from the conventional tray loading optical disk drives, a mechanism to prevent repetitive loading of disc must be provided. Refer to  FIG. 8  for such a design. It includes a stopping member  83 . After an optical disc is loaded, the stopping member  83  is moved upwards to close the entrance and exit of the disc so that repetitive loading of disc may be prevented.  
         [0033]     In addition, the detection module  500  may be used to precisely control the operation of the driving module  300 . It is installed on the track plate  44 , and mainly includes a first sensor  51 , a second sensor  52 , a third sensor  53  and a fourth sensor  54 . As shown in  FIG. 1B , the first sensor  51  and the second sensor  52  are mainly triggered by a bulged rim  413  of the guiding plate  41  to transmit signals to the control module and thereby control the driving module  300  to drive the moving plate  43  to a desired position and to indicate the current disc position. The third sensor  53  and the fourth sensor  54  are respectively activated by a first trigger plate  433  and a second trigger plate  434  of the moving plate  43 . They mainly detect the driving of the moving plate  43  driven by the driving module  300  to indicate the position of the track plate  44 . The control time sequence is shown in  FIG. 9 . Through the first sensor  51 , second sensor  52 , third sensor  53  and fourth sensor  54 , the current position and condition of the disc can be precisely determined to accurately execute the driving movement.  
         [0034]     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.