Portable compact disc player and vehicle audio apparatus with slidable tray for supporting compact disc player

A vehicle audio system having speaker circuitry and audio circuitry wherein there are a carrier and structure thereon to attach the carrier to a vehicle instrument panel to be supported by the panel; a tray supported by the carrier for movement between extended and retracted positions relative to the carrier and instrument panel; a compact disc player is positioned for removal and retracted portions in which the disc is normally substantially concealed, the player having an output connection; a switching circuit associated with the carrier and having terminals electrically connectible with the speaker circuitry, the audio circuitry and the player output connection. The switching circuitry being manually or automatically operable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to use of compact disc players in 
vehicles, and more particularly to combinations of hardware and circuitry 
adapting a portable CD player to audio circuitry utilized in vehicles. 
Vehicles most commonly have radio and/or stereo circuitry, and speakers, in 
place; whereas portable compact disc players are not integrated into that 
circuitry. As a result, the vehicle occupant must turn off his radio or 
stereo, and turn on his CD player, or vice versa, when he wants to hear 
one or the other. There is no convenient way to operate one switch to 
accomplish the changeover, and there is consequently need for such 
switching equipment; also there is need for positioning the player so that 
not only is a compact disc readily changeable, but also the player is 
located in compatable position for a "one-switch" control, as referred to. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a major object of the invention to provide a solution to the above 
problem, meeting the described need. Basically, the invention is addressed 
to that solution, and contemplates the provision of a vehicle audio system 
having speaker and audio (radio or stereo) circuitry, and wherein there is 
also provided the following: 
(a) a carrier, and means thereon to attach the carrier to a vehicle 
instrument panel to be supported by the panel, 
(b) a tray supported by the carrier for movement between extended and 
retracted positions relative to the carrier and instrument panel, 
(c) a compact disc player supported by the tray for movement therewith 
between said extended positions in which a compact disc carried by the 
player is positioned for removal, and said retracted position in which the 
disc is normally substantially concealed, the player having an output 
connection, 
(d) a switching circuit associated with the carrier and having terminals 
electrically connectible with: 
(i) said speaker circuitry, 
(ii) said audio circuitry, and 
(iii) the player output connection, 
(e) the switching circuitry being operable to have a first or static 
position in which the audio circuitry is connected with the speaker 
circuitry, and a second and alternate position in which the player output 
connection is connected with the speaker circuitry. 
As will appear, the switching circuitry may be at least partly concealed 
within the carrier to be connected to the CD player placed in the tray; 
and such placement and locating affords direct access to player controls 
in both retracted and extended positions of the tray. Also, the carrier 
may comprise a forwardly and rearwardly elongated housing having upper and 
lower generally horizontal walls, a rear wall and side walls, the lower 
wall projecting forwardly to substantially greater extent than said upper 
wall, the tray supported to move forwardly and rearwardly above said lower 
wall so that the player supported thereby becomes substantially concealed 
below said upper wall of the housing in said tray retracted position. 
These and other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the 
details of an illustrative embodiment, will be more fully understood from 
the following specification and drawings, in which:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a vehicle audio system 10 includes a carrier 11 having 
a top horizontal wall 12 attachable to the underside 13a of a vehicle 
instrument panel 13. The carrier also includes a bottom wall 14, upright 
opposite side walls 15 and 16, and an end wall 17. Side walls 15 and 16 
have reduced height extents 15a and 16a which, together with bottom wall 
14, project forwardly away from the instrument panel, and beyond the 
forward edge 12a of top wall 12. A front opening from the carrier is 
provided at 18, just below and forwardly of edge 12a. Brackets 19 and 19a 
connect the top wall to the instrument panel underside 13a, and a fastener 
20 connects the brackets together. 
The lower extents of the side walls are turned inwardly to provide tray 
support flanges 21 and 22, as seen in FIG. 8. A tray 23 is supported by 
the carrier, as on the two flanges 21 and 22, for tray movement between 
forwardly extended (FIGS. 2 and 3) positions, and rearwardly retracted 
(FIGS. 1 and 5) positions. The tray typically has a bottom wall 24 with 
opposite extents 24a and 24b slidably supported on the flanges 21 and 22. 
Also, the tray has L-shaped downward projections 26 and 26a that are 
carried by bottom wall 24 and that extend beneath the flanges to block 
lifting of the tray relative to the carrier. The tray also includes 
upright, forwardly and rearwardly extending rails 27 and 28 projecting 
above the bottom wall extents 24a and 24b to provide a space therebetween 
to closely fit opposite sides 30a and 30b of a compact disc player housing 
30. Bottom wall extents 24a and 24b also are received beneath laterally 
inward, forwardly and rearwardly extending flanges 33 and 34 integral with 
the carrier side walls. The tray bottom wall inner end has sliders 35 
thereon (see FIG. 3) adapted to slidably fit closely against the flanges 
33 and 34. 
The forward extent 36 of the tray projects upwardly above the bottom wall, 
at 36a, and to a height at 36b corresponding to the upper edges of the 
carrier side walls 15a and 16a. Forward extent 36 also projects downwardly 
at 36c to provide a lip at 36d to be finger grasped for tray pull-out. 
Front wall 36a is forwardly convex as shown and may be indented or 
recessed at 37, for thumb grasping. Rearward edge 36e of the tray forward 
extent 36 are adapted to register with and engage the forward edges 15c 
and 16c of walls 15 and 16, to stop tray closing. A downward abutment 39 
from the tray bottom wall is engageable with a downward lug 40 on the 
carrier bottom wall to limit forward opening or slide-out of the tray. The 
space 41 between the flange 21 and flange 33, as well as space 41 between 
flange 22 and flange 24 tapers in a rearward direction to grip the slides 
35 and bend item downwardly to functionally lock the tray in closed 
position, for retention as in FIG. 5. 
The compact disc player 42 located within the housing is conventional in 
design and operation, and is well known. One example is Model SL - XP5 
made by Technics, Div. of Matsushita, Japan. 
The compact disc itself is indicated at 43, in FIG. 2. In tray extended 
position, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the compact disc is exposed for 
removal, whereas in tray retracted position, the disc is substantially 
concealed by the carrier. In this regard, a cover 44, which may be 
considered as part of the disc housing, is hinged to tilt upwardly and 
rearwardly in tray extended position, as seen in FIG. 2, to give access to 
the disc; whereas in tray retracted position, the cover is closed down 
onto the remainder of the disc housing. On the other hand, the player 
controls, indicated at 45 and 46 are fully accessible in both extended and 
retracted positions of the tray, the tray and carrier providing an 
effective side "cut-out" to provide access to on-off and volume controls 
at the side of the player. Typically, the player cover or lid 44 is closed 
down, as seen in FIG. 1, while the tray is moved toward or from tray 
extended position. Inadvertent attempts to lift the cover 44 in tray 
retracted position are blocked by cover engagement with the carrier edge 
extent 12a. 
In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, switching 
circuitry is associated with the carrier and has terminals electrically 
connectible with: 
(i) speaker circuitry on the vehicle, 
(ii) audio circuitry on the vehicle, 
(iii) and an output connection on the compact disc player. 
Further, that switching circuitry is manually or automatically operble to 
have a first or static position in which the audio circuitry (as for 
example a car radio) is connected with the vehcile speaker circuitry; and 
a second and alternate position in which the compact disc player output 
connection is then connected with the speaker circuitry on the vehicle. 
Accordingly, the user can quickly switch either way, i.e. to obtain either 
radio or other audio (stereo for example) programming on the vehicle 
speaker system, or compact disc player output on his vehicle speaker, and 
at the same time his player remains housed as discussed above. Also, if 
his compact disc player is playing, i.e. the on-off control at 46 is "ON", 
the user can quickly switch by means of the referenced alternate switching 
circuitry to his radio output, and back and forth at any time, using only 
that one alternate switch. 
See for example FIG. 9 wherein switching circuitry is indicated by block 50 
within which a switcher 51 is shown as having output at 52 to a vehicle 
speaker circuit input 52. The circuitry 50 has an input at 53 from the 
output 54 of portable CD player 42, described above; and the circuitry 50 
has a second input at 55 from the vehicle stereo preamplifier 56. 
Circuitry 50 may include a pre-amplifier at 57 between 53 and 51. Power 
input is indicated as including a 12 volt supply 58, DC power converter 59 
within circuitry 50, and voltage regulator 60 connected at 61 and 62 with 
42 and 51. Thus, the switcher circuitry may be provided with suitable 
connections at 52, 53, 55, 58 and 61. In simplified form, the switcher 51 
includes a switch arm 51a connected with 52, and connectible with either 
one of the two contacts 51b and 51c, the former connected to 42 and the 
latter to 56. 
In FIG. 10, switching circuitry indicated by block 60 includes a switcher 
61 having output at 61a to vehicle wiring harness 62 representative of 
vehicle speaker circuitry. The block 60 has an input at 63 from output at 
54 of the portable compact disc player 42. Circuitry 60 has a second input 
at 65 from a vehicle radio, as via a Delco Bose (or other) radio connector 
66, for example. A pre-amplifier 57 is employed within 60 with a voltage 
selector 67, to which power is supplied via line 68 from harness 62, for 
supply on line 69 to the radio and on line 69a to the units 54 and 57. 
In FIG. 11, the circuitry is similar to FIGS. 9 and 10, except that the 
switcher 70a switches between the output of CD player 42, and the output 
at 71 of an auto stereo unit 72, for selected audio signal delivery at 73 
to the auto stereo amplifier 74 and then to the auto speaker 75. Power is 
supplied at 76, 77 and voltage selector 78. 
The circuitry in any of the blocks 50, 60 and 70 may be associated with the 
carrier 11; for example, it may be located at position 80 seen in FIG. 3, 
i.e. at the rear of the carrier, and have terminals indicated at 81 for 
establishing the connections indicated at 52, 55 and 58 in FIG. 0. Also, 
it has jack connections indicated at 53a and 61a to connect to the 
portable CD player 42 when the latter is placed into position in the tray, 
as via a flexible cable and plugs. Broken line 42a in FIG. 3 indicates an 
appropriate receptacle to receive the jacks, which correspond to 
connections 53 and 61, in FIG. 9. Other arrangements and location of 
circuitry 50, 60 and 70 are possible. 
The element 51a, 51b and 51c may be conveniently located, in association 
with the apparatus and/or the instrument panel. 
In FIG. 5, a cantilevered, upwardly biased slides 35 is shown projecting 
rearwardly beyond the rearward end 33a of flange 33, to lock the tray in 
retracted position. Forward pulling of the tray serves to unlock the 
slides by camming it beneath the flange or rail 33. 
In FIG. 3, the fastener 20 may be loosened to enable tilting of bracket 18 
relative to bracket 19, and corresponding tilting of the carrier and tray, 
for optional positioning thereof.