Data recording and reproducing apparatus for use in an optical card

Abstract: Data recording and reproducing apparatus for use in an optical card on which a plurality of tracks are arranged in parallel, said apparatus comprising: card supporting means for supporting said optical card; card drive means for reciprocating said card supporting means in a first direction; an optical head for selectively providing an access to rspective tracks to irridate light beam at a position above said optical card to conduct recording/reproducing of data; and head drive means for reciprocating said optical head in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction, whereby said card drive means or said head drive means has a drive motor, said drive motor being enveloped with a vibration proof metal and a vibration proof rubber. There may be provided two vibration proof metal layers to provide a vibration proof rubber layer between these layers.

Description: Field of the Art This invention relates to a data recording and reproducing apparatus for an optical card, which is constituted to drive an optical card in a reciprocating manner in a direction parallel to tracks to conduct recording and reproducing of data. Background Art As the present time is called a card age, cash cards, credit cards, and various other cards appear on the market. Most of them are magnetic recording cards and especially cards of the business card size, which are convenient in carrying, are very often used. However, since recording capacity is not so much assured in magnetic recording cards of such a size, it is the present state that they are only used to the extent of memorization of collation card, e.g., secret code, account number or registration number, etc. extremely restricted. In this respect, optical cards which optically record information has the merit that the information content recorded is far greater than that of conventional magnetic recording cards. Such a system to record information onto an optical card to reproduce them therefrom is disclosed in, e.g., the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 137245/86 publication. In this system, the direction of laser beam is controlled by two servo control mirrors, thus to carry out scanning of recording areas on the optical card. Further, a method is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 40325/84 publication to effect recording and reproducing while vibrating laser beam in a direction vertical to the scanning direction of the optical card, and an actual mechanism for scanning laser beam is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 214239/86 publication. In addition, a format for recording data onto an optical card with high efficiency is disclosed in the application No. JP86/00134 specification under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. However, problems with the data recording and reproducing apparatus for an optical card conventionally known are as follows. (1) For an optical disc, it is sufficient to carry out scanning of laser beam by revolving the disc. In contrast, since it is necessary for an optical card to scan laser beam lengthwise and breadthwise, the mechanism of an optical system for scanning laser beam becomes complicated. In addition, the optical path of the laser beam becomes elongated, with the result that an optical aberration is likely to occur. (2) The recording area on the surface of an optical card is likely to be subjected to adhesion of dusts or scratched, with the result that reading error may occur at the time of reproduction or playback. (3) Since data is recorded in the order of pm on the optical card, it is necessary to load the optical card at a correct position within the apparatus with the accuracy of µm order. However, such an operation for loading the optical card is very troublesome in the conventional apparatus. (4) In the optical card, a plurality of tracks are defined on the recording area to arrange pits along the tracks, thus to record information. For this reason, reproduction or playback is carried out while conducting a tracking control and a focusing control. However, since there is employed a system to conduct these controls while scanning the laser beam lengthwise and breadthwise in place of conducting them while revolving the disk as in the optical disc, the control system extremely becomes unstable. (5) Since reading is conducted by scanning laser beam lengthwise and breadthwise as described above, noise components are likely to be mixed into a read signal, so that reading in which noise components are eliminated is difficult. (6) For a reading apparatus for an optical card, there is an apparatus of the type to conduct a reading every bit trains using a line sensor. However, the apparatus of the type to scan laser beam to effect reading is not compatible with the apparatus using line sensor. US-A-2 207 251 discloses an electric motor comprising the combination supporting frame including a hub, a bushing within said hub extending beyond one end thereof, a spindle rotable in said bushing, a supporting device carried by said spindle for rotation therewith, a stator mounted on the extension of said bushing, a rotor also carried by said spindle and cooperatively associated with said stator, and means interposed between said hub and said bushing for preventing mechanical vibrations from being transmitted from said frame to said supporting device. Disclosure of the invention Object of this invention is to provide a data recording and reproducing apparatus for an optical card, which permits reproduction or playback free from error even if the surface of the optical card is subjected to adhesion of dusts or scratched. The invention is a data and reproducing apparatus for reading and writing in an optical card on which a plurality of tracks are arranged in parallel, said apparatus comprising: card supporting means for supporting said optical card; card drive means having a drive motor for reciprocating said card supporting means in a first direction; an optical head or selectively providing an access to respective tracks to irridiate light beam at a position above said optical card to conduct recording/reproducing of data; and head drive means having a drive motor for reciprocating said optical head in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction; characterized in that the drive motor of the card drive means and/or the head drive means is enveloped with a vibration proof metal layer and a vibration proof rubber layer. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a view showing the basic configuration of a conventional data recording and reproducing apparatus for an optical card, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a data recording and reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of this invention, Fig. 3 is a view showing a vibration proof structure of a drive motor in the apparatus according to this invention, Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention §1 Basic configuration of the apparatus 1.1 Basic configuration of a conventional apparatus Prior to the description of the basic configuration of an apparatus of this invention, the basic configuration of a conventional apparatus will be explained in a sense of comparison. A data recording and reproducing apparatus shown in Fig. 1 is of the type which allows a card 151 to record data thereon, i.e., which scans the recording area surface of the card 151 by using a laser beam 154 generated from a light source 153 to thereby record or read a desired data. In this example, means for carrying the card 151 onto the beam track is a holder 152. Means for scanning beam on the card 151, which has been carried onto the beam track, is servo control mirrors 159 and 161. The servo control mirror 159 is affixed so that it is rotated with a rotation shaft 160 being as an axis in a direction indicated by an arrow P, and serves to find out the edges in a lateral direction of a laser recording material in the rough mode of operation, and thereafter to identify a data track existing with it being spaced from the edge by a predetermined distance in the fine mode of operation. On the other hand, the servo control mirror 161 is affixed so that it is rotated about a rotation shaft 162, and serves to effect fine control of a movement of beam along the length of the card 151. Accordingly, by movement of holder 152 and scanning by servo control mirrors 159 and 161, recording/reproducing of data are conducted at a desired address. For light source 153, a laser diode laser is used in this example. In addition, a light emitting diode or a lamp, etc. may be used. In the case of recording, the recording surface is fused or melted by irradiating a high intensity light beam thereto. Laser beams divided by the half mirror 156 are monitored by an optical detector 158 through a lens 157. Thus, confirmation of the beam intensity is made. At the time of reproduction or playback, a reflected light from the optical card 151 is detected by a light detector 165 through a half mirror 163 and a lens 164. Thus, presence and absence of pits are converted to an electric signal. Meanwhile, since two servo control mirrors are provided in the above data recording and reproducing apparatus for optical card as previously described as the background art, the optical system is prolonged and a drive mechanism to carry out scanning by the optical system is necessary. Accordingly, because of ensurance of a necessary distance of the optical system and attachment of the drive mechanism, the structure becomes complicated and is difficult to compact. In addition, the distance of the optical system is prolonged and there occur aberration and/or various optical problems resulting from the fact that lenses and mirrors are arranged to optically conduct a scanning. It will be seen that such problems are solved in the apparatus of this invention described below. 1.2 Basic configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of this invention Basic configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of this invention will be now described with reference to Fig. 2. In Fig. 2, reference numeral 101 denotes a card holder, reference numeral 102 an optical card, reference numeral 103 an optical head, reference numeral 104 an objective lens, reference numeral 105 a wire holder, reference numeral 106 a wire belt, reference numeral 107 joints,. reference numeral 108 a head drive motor, reference numeral 109 a stage drive motor, reference numeral 110 a timing belt, reference numeral 111 a timing pulley, reference numeral 112 guide shafts, reference numeral 113 ball screws, reference numeral 114 a position sensor, reference numeral 115 a sensor for control, and reference numeral 116 pulleys. The card holder 101 for holding the optical card 102 is driven by the stage drive motor 109 to effect a reciprocating movement along the guide shafts 112. Means for transmitting a drive force is timing pulley 111, timing belt 110, pulleys 116, wire belt 106, and wire holder 105, and means for detecting the position of the card holder 101 in driving is position sensor 114. As described later, a plurality of tracks are provided on the optical card 102 along the length direction which is the movement direction. By laser beam emitted from the lens 104 of the optical head arranged above with respect to the tracks, recording and reproducing of data are conducted. The head drive motor 108 drives the optical head 103 through the ball screw 113 to carry out coarse tracking for the optical card 102 with a block being as a unit (a block consists of a plurality of tracks), and to move the objective lens 104 of the optical head 103 in the case of conducting fine tracking with a track being as a unit. While the card holder 101 moves in a reciprocating manner along the guide shafts 112, positioning of the optical head 103 is carried out by the head drive motor 108 with a block being as a unit in the recording area of the optical card 102. By moving and adjusting the objective lens 104 by the control mechanism, the final tracking is conducted. Thus, recording and reproducing of data are carried out. As just described above, in this apparatus, the rough positioning control of laser beam is conducted by the movement of the card holder 101 and the optical head 103, and the fine control is conducted by the movement of the objective lens 104. Accordingly, the mechanism of the optical system used in recording and reproduction or playback becomes extremely simplified as compared to the conventional apparatus. §2 Vibration proof structure of the drive mechanism 2.1 Occurrence of vibration In §1, the basic configuration of the apparatus according to this invention has been described with reference to Fig. 2. One feature of this apparatus resides in that card holder 101 and optical head 103 make reciprocating movements, respectively. However, the reciprocating movement has the problem that vibration is likely to occur as compared to the revolving movement. Particularly, vibration may considerably occur in the drive source of the reciprocating movement, thus giving a serious bad influence to the operation that the optical system within the optical head follows tracks on the optical card. Namely, because head drive motor 108 and stage drive motor 109 reciprocate optical head 103 and card holder 101 in the apparatus shown in Fig. 2, respectively, they frequently repeat forward rotation and backward rotation, giving rise to peculiar vibration at the time of transition from forward rotation to backward rotation and vice versa. On the other hand, objective lens 104 of the optical head 103 moves while repeating a fine adjustment for positioning of tracks. Because such a movement frequency and the vibration frequency are nearly equal to each other, resonant phenomenon takes place, resulting in the problem that the optical head 103 comes off the heads. 2.2 Embodiment of vibration proof structure For elimination bad influences due to such vibrations, vibration proof structure is implemented to the drive motor. An example of such a vibration proof structure is shown in Fig. 3. A drive motor body 320 is enclosed with a vibration proof metallic plate 321 and is further enclosed with a vibration proof rubber 322. The drive motor body 320 thus enclosed is inserted into a vibration proof metallic case 323 and is fixed therewithin. Moreover, vibration proof metallic supporting legs 324 for height adjustment are fixed at the lower portion of the case 323. For these vibration proof metals, e.g., aluminum die casting (trade name: COSMARL) by Mitsubishi Kinzoku Kabushiki Kaisha may be used. Since vibrations of high frequency components are absorbed by plate 321, case 323 and supporting legs 324 which are made of vibration proof metal and vibrations of low frequency components are absorbed by vibration proof rubber 322, the problem of bad influence due to vibration is eliminated, thus making it possible to conduct a positioning of the optical head. In addition to the vibration proof measure taken for the above-mentioned vibrating unit, various measures may be taken. For example, supporting table 117, optical head supporting pole 118, and guide shaft mounting members 119, etc. in Fig. 2 may be made of vibration proof metal. Also in the drive force transmission system comprising timing belt 110 and wire belt 106, a vibration absorbable arrangement is employed. It is to be noted that this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but may be altered or changed in various manners. While a sandwich structure such that vibration proof rubber is held between two vibration proof metals is employed in the embodiment of Fig. 3, the number of vibration proof metals and that of vibration proof rubbers are not limited to those in the above embodiment, respectively. For example, there may be employed an arrangement such that member subject to vibration proof is encompassed by a single vibration proof metal and a single vibration proof rubber. When respective drive motors are enclosed with the vibration proof metal and the vibration proof rubber as described, vibrations of high frequency components are absorbed by the vibration metal and vibrations of low frequency components are absorbed by the vibration proof rubber, thus making it possible to reduce vibrations of the drive source and to precisely carry out positioning of the optical head. Utilizability in industry A data recording and reproducing apparatus for an optical card according to this invention can be widely utilized for data storage units for computer, image data storage units for video system, and terminal processors for credit card, etc. Further, for a new application of optical cards, it is conceivable that they may be utilized for an address book recording card in which character information such as addresses and names, etc. and map information such as traffic routes, etc. are recorded. When one reads character information and map information from the address book recording card to indicate them on the display, this is very convenient in making a search for his destination. Because optical cards have the merits that they are convenient in carrying, they are extremely suitable for such utilization manner. In addition, application as a golf score supervisory recording card is conceivable. Namely, optical cards are utilized for a system to record course data, e.g., map of the golf course, handicap, distance and the number of par, etc., and user data, e.g., course name, data, weather, score and play carrier, etc. to conduct a total supervision of golf score. When a recording and reproducing apparatus according to this invention is installed at a suitable place of the golf course, golfers can readily conduct recording and reproducing of their carrying cards.

Claims: A data recording and reproducing apparatus for reading and writing in an optical card (102) on which a plurality of tracks are arranged in parallel, said apparatus comprising: card supporting means (101) for supporting said optical card; card drive means (109) having a drive motor for reciprocating said card supporting means in a first direction; an optical head (103) for selectively providing an access to respective tracks to irridiate light beam at a position above said optical card to conduct recording/reproducing of data; and head drive means (108) having a drive motor for reciprocating said optical head in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction; characterized in that the drive motor (320) of the card drive means (109) and/or the head drive means (108) is enveloped with a vibration proof metal layer (321,323) and a vibration proof rubber layer (322). A data recording and reproducing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein two vibration proof metal layers are provided to provide the vibration proof rubber layer between these layers.

Inventors: KURAMOCHI WATARU, SAITOU NORIKAZU, SHIBUYA AKIRA, TSURUOKA YOSHIAKI, YAMASHITA SHUICHI, KURAMOCHI, WATARU, SAITOU, NORIKAZU, SHIBUYA, AKIRA, TSURUOKA, YOSHIAKI, YAMASHITA, SHUICHI
Applicants: DAINIPPON PRINTING CO LTD, DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1988
Main classification: G11B7
IPC codes: G11B19, G11B33, G11B7, G11B25