Cartridge for disc autochange player

Abstract: A disc cartridge for holding a stack of discs for use in a disc player having an automatic disc changer. The cartridge has an opening in the side closable by a lid and through which discs are withdrawn for playing and returned.

Description: The present invention relates to a cartridge for a disc player with an automatic disc changer for playing a plurality of stored discs interchangeably. Some disc players for reproducing recorded information signals from optical discs such as digital audio discs are combined with an automatic disc changer. The automatic disc changer includes a detachable disc cartridge housing a vertical stack of disc trays with respective discs placed thereon. A selected disc is fed from the disc cartridge to a disc playback unit of the disc player. Known disc players with automatic disc changers are disclosed in US-A-4 614 474 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No 62-14372, for example. The automatic disc changer shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No 62-14372 includes a cartridge housing unit for housing the disc cartridge. Between the cartridge housing unit and the disc playback unit, there is disposed a linearly movable tray withdrawing mechanism for withdrawing a desired one of the disc trays with a disc carried thereon out of the disc cartridge toward the disc playback unit. When the disc tray is positioned out of the disc cartridge, the disc placed on the disc tray is lifted into the disc playback unit. Then, the information signal recorded on the disc is read or reproduced by a signal reading device in the disc playback unit. The disc cartridge has a casing having surrounding walls with an opening defined in the front wall. The disc trays are stacked in the casing. When one of the stored discs is to be played back, the disc tray carrying the disc is pulled fully out of the casing, and then the disc is chucked and inserted into the disc playback unit. The number of discs that can be stored in the disc cartridge is limited by the size of the disc cartridge. If the user wishes to play back other optical discs than those stored in the disc cartridge, then the user must replace the loaded disc cartridge with another disc cartridge containing those discs desired to be played back. Frequent replacement of disc cartridges makes the disc player inconvenient to use. EP-A-0 358 243 discloses a multidisk player in which discs from a magazine are selected for playing back. Disc players with automatic disc changers find use in automobiles or the like. For use on automobiles, however, the internal mechanism of the disc player, including the cartridge housing unit and the disc playback unit, needs to be suspended in the overall housing of the disc player for protection against automobile vibrations which would otherwise adversely affect the playback operation of the disc player. However, since the floating internal mechanism is movable in the disc player housing, the disc cartridge may not stably and reliably be loaded into and unloaded out of the cartridge housing unit. For playback of a disc, the display playback unit of certain disc players with automatic disc changers moves toward the disc cartridge, and the disc is withdrawn out of the disc cartridge and fed toward the disc playback unit. Since, therefore, the disc player has many motors for moving and feeding such player components and discs, the disc player is relatively complex and heavy. Another problem of the conventional disc players with automatic disc changers is that a large space is required for the tray withdrawing mechanism to operate in to withdraw a desired disc tray fully out of the disc cartridge for playback.. As a consequence, the disc player is relatively large in the direction in which the disc trays are withdrawn from the disc cartridge, e.g., the disc player has a relatively large depth, with a resultant large disc player size. According to the present invention, there is provided a disc cartridge for use in a disc player, comprising: a casing for housing a stack of discs in spaced apart relationship to each other; said casing having a front opening for allowing discs to be withdrawn from said casing and returned into said casing therethrough; means for withdrawing and returning a selected one of the discs from and into casing through said opening, characterised by said casing having a cavity defined in a side plate thereof confronting said discs, said cavity extending from said front opening of said casing into said side plate, and a lid movably mounted on said casing for selectively opening and closing said cavity. The invention will be further understood from the following description, when taken together with the attached drawings, which are given by way of example only, and in which: FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a disc player with an automatic disc changer; FIG. 2 is a plan view, partly omitted from illustration, of the disc player; FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, partly omitted from illustration, of a disc cartridge; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, partly omitted from illustration, of the disc cartridge; FIGS. 5A through 5D are enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional views of portions of the disc cartridge; FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a locking and ejecting mechanism; and FIG. 7 is a side elevational view showing the manner in which a disc is chucked. The principles of the present invention are particularly useful when embodied in a disc player with an automatic disc changer. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a disc player with an automatic disc changer according to the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the disc player has an outer housing 1 in the form of a relatively small rectangular parallelepiped having a depth D ranging from 215 to 230 mm, a width W ranging from 70 to 95 mm, and a height H ranging from 150 to 160 mm. The outer housing 1 has an insertion slot la defined in a half portion of an upper wall thereof for the insertion therethrough of a disc cartridge which stores a plurality of (at least six) discs horizontally stacked therein. A mechanical chassis 2 for supporting various mechanisms and units is resiliently supported floatingly in the outer housing 1 in spaced-apart relationship to inner surfaces thereof by resilient suspension members 3 such as coil springs or the like and support dampers 4 such as of rubber. The mechanical chassis 2 comprises a pair of spaced side plates 2a, 2b and a pair of spaced front and rear plates 2c, 2d which jointly form a quadrilateral shape. The mechanical chassis 2 has a half region 2A serving as a cartridge housing unit 5 which accommodates a disc cartridge below the insertion slot 1a. The cartridge housing unit 5 includes a locking and ejecting mechanism 6 for locking and ejecting a disc cartridge. The mechanical chassis 2 houses, in another half region 2B thereof, a movable chassis 9 which supports a disc playback unit 7 and a disc feed mechanism 8. The movable chassis 9 is movable with respect to the cartridge housing unit 5 by a chassis moving mechanism 10 in the direction in which the discs are stacked, i.e., in the transverse direction of the disc player. The cartridge housing unit 5 has an eject switch Se actuatable by the unlock lever 16 and a disc detecting switch Sd for detecting discs D in the disc cartridge. A holding pulley 75 for holding the peripheral edge of a disc D is rotatably supported on an holding arm 77 that is angularly movably supported on the shaft sleeve 71 by a pin 76. The holding arm 77 is normally urged to turn toward the cartridge housing unit 5 under the bias of a tension coil spring 78 (see FIG. 1). When a tray is turned and withdrawn from the disc cartridge, the disc D carried on the tray abuts against the holding pulley 75 and hence is pushed and held in the tray. As the tray is withdrawn under this condition, the holding arm 77 is angularly moved against the force of the tension spring 78, and the disc D together with the tray is stably fed toward the disc playback unit 7. The turning movement of the holding arm 77 actuates a disc withdrawal detecting switch Sa to confirm that the disc D has been withdrawn from the disc cartridge. The disc cartridge to be loaded in the cartridge housing unit 5 in the mechanical chassis 2 is of a structure as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The disc cartridge, generally denoted at 100 in FIGS. 3 and 4, comprises a casing 101 composed of a face plate 102 and a back plate 103 joined to each other in spaced-apart relationship to each other. The casing 101 houses a stack of trays 104 angularly movably supported therein and carrying respective discs D. As also shown in FIGS. 5A through 5D, each of the trays 104 comprises a flat panel having a disc storage region 105 defined as a recess in a back side thereof and a substantially V-shaped recess 106 defined in a front edge thereof and extending toward the center thereof. The tray 104 also has a recess 105a defined in a side thereof for exposing the disc D therethrough, and disc engaging edges 105b on a peripheral edge of the disc storage region 105 which is diametrically opposite to the recess 105a and also on a rear edge of the disc storage region 105. The tray 104 includes a bearing 104a angularly movably supported in the casing 101 by a shaft 107. The bearing 104a has, on its front edge, a gear 108 for meshing with the disc withdrawing drive gear 72 of the disc feed mechanism 8. The tray 104 also includes a positioning edge 104b opposite to the bearing 104a. Each of the trays 104 is normally urged in a direction to be stored in the casing 101 by a torsion spring 109 acting between the casing 101 and the tray 104. The back plate 103 of the casing 101 has an arcuate cavity 110 defined in a front edge thereof and extending from a front opening of the casing 101 toward the center of the back plate 103. A lid 111 for closing the cavity 110 is pivotally mounted at one end 111a thereof on the shaft 107 by which the trays 104 are supported. The lid 111 is shaped such that it is displaced out of the cavity 110 when it is opened. The pivoted end 111a of the lid 111 has an engaging finger 112 on its front edge which is engageable by an abutment 94 (see FIG. 7) disposed in the cartridge housing unit 5, i.e., projecting on the side plate portion 2a 1 of the side plate 2a in the half region 2A of the mechanical chassis 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the lid 111 is normally urged to close the cavity 110 by a torsion spring 113 having one end secured to the back plate 103. When the lid 111 closes the cavity 110, a freed end 111b thereof is engaged by a connecting rod 114 which is positioned on the front edge of the back plate 103 and by which the back plate 103 is coupled to the face plate 102. Between the face and back plates 102, 103 of the casing 101, there extends a disc holder rod 115 for engaging a peripheral edge of the disc D which is exposed through the recess 105a when the tray 104 is stored in the disc cartridge 100. The back plate 103 has a recess 116 defined in an outer marginal edge for lockingly receiving the lock pin 11 on the lock lever 13 in the cartridge housing unit 5. The disc cartridge 100 is loaded into the automatic disc changer as follows: As shown in FIG. 6, the casing 101 is inserted, with one side 101a ahead, into the cartridge housing unit 5 in the mechanical chassis 2 through the insertion slot 1a in the outer housing 1. When the casing 101 is pushed into the cartridge housing unit 5, it pushes the eject lever 19 of the locking and ejecting mechanism 6 downwardly against the bias of the tension spring 18. The lock lever 13 is caused to swing under the resiliency of the torsion spring 15 for thereby moving the lock pin 11 into locking engagement in the recess 116, whereupon the casing 101 is locked in the cartridge housing unit 5. Upon the loading of the casing 101 into the cartridge housing unit 5, the engaging finger 112 of the pivoted end 111a of the lid 111 is engaged and pushed by the abutment 94 in the cartridge housing unit 5, so that the lid 111 is turned against the bias of the torsion spring 113, opening the cavity 110 in the back plate 103 (see FIG. 7). With the casing 101 loaded in the cartridge housing unit 5, the gears 108 of the respective trays 104 are positioned for mesh with the drive intermediate gear 74 held in mesh with the disc withdrawing drive gear 72 of the disc feed mechanism 8 on the movable chassis 9. The discs D carried by the respective trays 104 are detected when their peripheral edges exposed through the recesses 105a are contacted by the disc detecting switch Sd. As shown in FIG. 7, the tray 104 is turned about the pivoted end 104a on the shaft 107 out of the casing 101 through the front opening thereof into the face side of the movable chassis 9 by the gear 108 meshing with the drive intermediate gear 74. The tray 104 reaches and is held in a tray withdrawal position when the positioning edge 104b abuts against a positioning surface 2c 1 of the front plate 2c of the mechanical chassis 2. The selected disc D is chucked on the turntable 31a with the disc D and the tray 104 being partly left in the casing 101. The chucked disc D is then rotated by the spindle motor 31b. The optical pickup 32a of the optical reading mechanism 32 is moved radially across the disc D by the pickup moving mechanism including the motor 32b while reading recorded information signals from the disc D, i.e., playing back the disc D. When the disc playback operation of the optical reading mechanism 32 to read the recorded information signal from the disc D is completed, the chuck mechanism 33 can be reversed in its operation to release the disc D from the turntable 31a. The disc D is stored in the disc storage region 105 of tray 104 that is in the tray withdrawal position . The holding pulley 75 is then pressed against the peripheral edge of the disc D upon the release of the holding arm 77 from the release plate 79 and also under the bias of the tension coil spring 78. The disc D is now held by the tray 104 while engaging in the disc storage region 105. The gear 108 of the tray 104 meshes with the reversed drive intermediate gear 74, turning the tray 104 back into the casing 101. The tray 104 is thus stored in the casing 101. Therefore, the chassis moving mechanism 10 is actuated The movable chassis 9 is now moved to a position for withdrawing the tray 104 which carries a next disc D selected, or to a standby position near the side plate 2a of the mechanical chassis 2. In this manner, any desired tray 104 can be withdrawn from the casing 101 of the disc cartridge 100 loaded in the cartridge housing unit 5 for playing back the disc D carried by the tray 104. When the disc D carried on the tray 104 closest to the back plate 103 of the casing 101 is to be fed to the disc playback unit 7, chucked by the chuck mechanism 33, and played back by the optical reading mechanism 43, since the cavity 110 is defined in the front edge of the back plate 103 and opened by the lid 111, the movable chassis 9 can be moved into alignment with the tray 104 without being obstructed by the back plate 103. Accordingly, the distance between the back plate 103 and the closest tray 104 can be minimized, resulting in a reduction in the overall width of the disc cartridge 100, i.e., the dimension thereof along which the discs D are stacked. Therefore, the size of the disc player is made relatively small. In this embodiment, the trays 104 with the respective discs D carried thereon are angularly movably disposed in a stacked arrangement in the casing 101 of the disc cartridge 100 loaded in the-cartridge housing unit 5, and can selectively be angularly moved out of the casing 101. When the disc cartridge 100 is loaded in the cartridge housing unit 5, it is locked in the cartridge housing unit 5 by the lock lever 13 of the locking and ejecting mechanism 6. The movable chassis 9 which supports the disc playback unit 7 and the disc feed mechanism 8 is moved relatively to the disc cartridge 100 by the disc moving mechanism 10 in the direction in which the discs D are stacked in the disc cartridge 100. When the movable chassis 9 is moved to position the disc feed mechanism 8 in alignment with the tray 104 carrying a desired disc D, the disc withdrawing drive gear 72 is rotated to cause the gear 108 meshing with the drive intermediate gear 74 to turn the tray 104 out of the disc cartridge 100 for thereby moving the disc D into alignment with the disc rotating mechanism 31 of the disc playback unit 7. Then, the cam gear 38 is rotated to cause the chuck mechanism 33 to chuck the disc D, after which the disc D is played back by the disc playback unit 7. After the disc D has been played back, the above process is reversed to return the disc D together with the tray 104 back into the casing 101. To unload the disc cartridge 100 from the cartridge housing unit 5, the unlock lever 16 of the locking and ejecting mechanism 6 is pushed to release the disc cartridge 100 from the lock lever 13. The disc cartridge 100 is then pushed out of the cartridge housing unit 5 by the eject lever 19 under the force of the tension spring 18. The various mechanisms of the disc player, described above, are housed in the outer housing 1, which typically has the depth D ranging from 215 to 230 mm, the width W ranging from 70 to 95 mm, and the height H ranging from 150 to 160 mm. Consequently, the disc player with the automatic disc changer is relatively small in size and may be positioned in a small space such as in a console box of an automobile or the like without presenting obstacles to efforts to operate on such a console box. In the case where the disc player according to the present invention is installed in an automobile, it is placed in one space, without being divided into a trunk and a passenger compartment as is customary, and can easily be serviced for the inspection and replacement of the disc cartridge. As described above, the movable chassis 9 is moved to position the disc feed mechanism 8 in alignment with the tray 104 carrying a desired disc D, and the disc withdrawing drive gear 72 is rotated to cause the gear 108 meshing with the drive intermediate gear 74 to turn the tray 104 out of the disc cartridge 100 for thereby moving the disc D into alignment with the disc rotating mechanism 31 of the disc playback unit 7. When the disc D is moved into alignment with the disc rotating mechanism 31, the holding pulley 75 rotatably supported on the holding arm 77 engages and hold the peripheral edge of the disc D, and the holding arm 77 is turned. On the turning movement of the holding arm 77, it turns on the disc withdrawal detecting switch Sa to confirm that the disc D has been withdrawn from the disc cartridge 100. While the discs D are housed vertically, i.e., in vertical planes, in the disc cartridge 100 and are selectively played back while being held in a vertical plane in the disc playback unit 7 in the illustrated embodiment, the discs D may be stacked in horizontal planes in the disc cartridge 100 and played back in horizontal planes in the disc playback unit 7. The mechanical chassis which houses the disc playback unit is fixedly supported in the outer housing when the disc cartridge is loaded into and unloaded from the cartridge housing unit, and is released in response to the operation to chuck a disc in the disc playback unit and floatingly supported in the outer housing during the playback of the disc. Accordingly, the disc can be played back stably and reliably without being adversely affected by vibrations applied to the outer housing. This is particularly advantageous when the disc player is mounted on an automobile. Any disc stored in the disc cartridge can be played back without having to be withdrawn in its entirety from the disc cartridge. Thus, the disc player is reduced in dimensions in the direction in which discs are withdrawn from the disc cartridge. As a result, the disc player may be relatively small in overall size. Having described a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to that precise embodiment and that various changes and modifications could be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims: A disc cartridge (100) for use in a disc player, comprising: a casing (101) for housing a stack of discs in spaced apart relationship to each other; said casing (101) having a front opening for allowing discs to be withdrawn from said casing (101) and returned into said casing (101) therethrough; means for withdrawing and returning a selected one of the discs from and into casing (101) through said opening. characterised by: said casing (101) having a cavity (110) defined in a side plate (103) thereof confronting said discs, said cavity (110) extending from said front opening of said casing (101) into said side plate (103); and a lid (111) movably mounted on said casing (101) for selectively opening and closing said cavity (110). A disc cartridge according to claim 1, further including urging means for normally urging said lid (111) to close said cavity (110).

Inventors: TAKAMATSU RYOJI, WATANABE TOMOHIRO, TAKAMATSU, RYOJI, WATANABE, TOMOHIRO
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G11B23
IPC codes: G11B17, G11B23