CASSETTE ADAPTOR AND MAGNETIC RECORDING/REPRODUCTION APPARATUS

Abstract: The present invention aims to make a casette adapter in which an S-casette (first casette) of the professional digital video format is housed and having a shape identical with an different-sized M-casette (second casette) operate without fail under a simple constitution, without accompanying any fear of damage on a tape. The invented casette adapter capable of housing an S-casette 2 comprises an adapter 1 whose shape is identical to an different-sized M-casette. Reels 5, 6 and a reel brake releasing member 7 of the S-casette 2 are exposed while the S-casette is mounted in the casette adapter. The adaptor 1 includes a rear door 12 capable of opening and closing. The rear door 12 comprises contacts 14 for reading identification signal by contacting the identification terminal of S-casette, wirings 16 for coupling the contacts 14 with an identification terminal 15 provided in a same location as that of M-casette and a lever 18 for opening/closing an anti-erasing window in linkage with the anti-erasing gear of S-casette 2.

Description: The present invention relates to a cassette adapter for the S-cassette (first cassette) of professional digital video format, which cassette adapter being formed in a same shape as the M-cassette (second cassette) the size of which is different from the S-cassette, as well as a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus on which the cassette adapter is to be loaded. A cassette adapter for use with a smaller ultra compact cassette in a recorder designed for larger compact cassettes is known from US-A-5 173 818. A smaller cassette can be inserted into the cassette adapter. When closing a cover of the cassette adapter after insertion, the cassette is drawn into an insertion position. In the insertion position reel brakes of the cassette are released by a projection of the adapter pushing an actuator of the cassette. This prior art is reflected by the preambles of Claims 1 and 6. There has been a VHS cassette adapter as shown in Fig.6, where a C-cassette 25 is inserted in an adapter 26 which has a same size as that of a full-size VHS cassette playable on a magnetic recording/re-producing apparatus. In the adapter, C-cassette 25 is mounted in adapter 26 from the top surface with a tape protection lid 27 of the C-cassette open, and a protection cover in the top surface of adapter 26 is closed for operation. A reel brake (not shown) of C-cassette 25 is released when a C-cassette is mounted in the adapter 26 by a lock releasing pin (not shown) provided on adaptor 26. After the protection cover of adapter 26 is closed, tape 28 is pulled out of C-cassette 25 by a pulling post 29 to be placed to a same position as that of the full-size cassette in preparation for loading in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus. As the adapter 26 incorporating a C-cassette 25 assumes an exactly the same shape and function as a full-size VHS cassette, no extra switching gear needs to be provided in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing with the adapter. US-A-4 622 605 describes a cassette adapter for miniature type tape cassettes having the form of a standard type tape cassette. A recorder receiving such a cassette adapter having a smaller cassette inserted therein discriminates whether a standard type tape cassette or the adapter being inserted into the recorder. The recorder can accordingly adapt its loading procedure in that the adapter and the standard type tape cassette are moved to particular positions inside the recorder. In the professional digital video format, there are two cassette forms; an S-cassette (S signifies small; a first cassette in the present invention) and an M-cassette of different size (M signifies middle; a second cassette in the present invention). If the same structure as in the VHS format is introduced for the professional digital video version, problems arise. Namely, as the space between the reels is small in the S-cassette and the M-cassette, the coupling of reel movement will become very complicated when forming a cassette adapter (for adapting an S-cassette for the M-cassette shape) with the reel placed in the same position as that of the M-cassette. Furthermore, if reel brake is released when an S-cassette is mounted in an adapter the reel is left unlocked and tape becomes loose inviting a damage. Difference in the level of top surface between S-cassette and M-cassette is 1mm. Therefore it is difficult to provide a protection cover on the top surface of an adapter for covering S-casette; which means that an S-cassette can not be mounted in from the top surface, and it becomes very difficult to couple the identification terminal and the anti-erasing gear of an S-cassette with the counterparts of the adapter which are disposed in the places corresponding to those of the M-cassette. Furthermore, because both the cassette adapter and the M-cassette assume an identical shape it is impossible for a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus to judge whether the one being loaded is a cassette adapter or an M-cassette. Therefore, in a case when a cassette adapter is loaded in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus which is incompatible with adapter, there will be a possiblity of broken equipment. It is the object of the present invention to prevent a damage of a cassette tape of a cassette being inserted into a cassette adapter. This object is achieved by the features of claim 1 for a cassette adapter and by the features of claim 6 for a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus. Further embodiments are the subject-matter of dependent claims. In particular, a cassette adapter according to the present invention comprises an adapter having a same shape as an M-cassette (second casette), the size being different from an S-cassette (first cassette), for mounting the S-cassette in. Reels and a reel brake releasing member of the S-cassette are exposed while the S-cassette is mounted in the adapter. The adapter is provided with a rear door which comprises a contact for reading identification signal by touching an identification terminal of S-cassette, a wiring member for coupling the contact with an identification terminal disposed at the same location as that of M-cassette, and a lever to open/close an anti-erasing window in linkage with the anti-erasing gear of an S-cassette mounted in the adapter. Under the above described constitution, as the reel and the reel brake releasing member of S-cassette mounted in the adapter remain in the same location as they were as an S-cassette, there is no need of providing mechanisms for coupling respectively the reel operation and the reel brake releasing member. Thus an adapter may be formed very simple. Furthermore, as the reading of identification signal from the S-cassette and the open/close work of anti-erasing window are performed solely by the rear door, a reliable operation is ensured from the simple structure. According to a preferred embodiment, a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a shape identification means which can receive a cassette adapter of the same shape as the M-cassette incorporating an S-cassette, and at the same time identifies whether it is a cassette adapter or an M-cassette. Based on the detection by the shape identification means, the mechanical and electrical systems of the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus are modified accordingly to accept a cassette adapter. Under the above described constitution, both the mechanical and electrical systems of an adapter-compatible magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus are easily modified to drive a cassette adapter. Fig.1 is a plane view of a cassette adapter according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Fig.2 is a perspective view showing the cassette adapter of Fig.1, with the rear door open. Fig.3 (a) is a plane view of a cassette adapter according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and Fig.3 (b) is the side view. Fig.4 is a side view showing a cassette holder of a cassette adapter-compatible magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus. Fig.5 is a side view showing a cassette holder of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus incompatible with cassette adapter. Fig.6 is a plane view of an adapter for the VHS C-cassette. A first embodiment of the present invention is described in the following with reference to Fig.1 and Fig.2. Fig.1 shows a plane view of a cassette adapter compatible with the professional digital video format, Fig.2 is a detailed view of a portion for inserting an S-cassette. As shown in Fig.1, an adapter 1 assumes a same shape as the M-cassette (second casette), has a right and a left cassette guides 3, 4 for guiding an S-cassette (first cassette) 2 to the centre of adapter 1. While an S-cassette 2 is being mounted in the adapter 1, reels 5, 6 and a reel brake releasing member 7 of the S-cassette 2 are exposed. An operation coupling member 8 is for releasing the lock and opening/closing a cassette lid of S-cassette 2 by making use of a mechanism of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus to open/close a cassette lid of M-cassette. A lever 9 is disposed on a place corresponding to a lock releasing lever (not shown) for cassette lid of M-cassette on a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus. A lever 10 is disposed on a place corresponding to a locking member (not shown) for cassette lid of S-cassette 2, and is provided with a spring 11 and coupled with the lever 9. Namely, the lock of cassette lid for protecting magnetic tape of S-cassette 2 is released by the levers 9, 10 and spring 11 which are coupled with a means for releasing the lock of M-cassette lid in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus. A rear door 12 is for fixing an S-cassette 2 inserted through a mounting slot 13. The rear door 12 comprises contacts 14 touching to the identification terminal of S-cassette 2, identification terminal 15 for outputting an M-cassette identification signal, wiring members 16 for coupling the contacts 14 with the identification terminal 15, a moving member 17 which moves in compliance with the open/close of anti-erasing gear of S-cassette 2, and a lever 18 which opens/closes the anti-erasing window of M-cassette in compliance with the moving member 17. With the above described constitution, the operation is described in the following. For mounting an S-cassette 2 in adapter 1, the rear door 12 of adapter 1 is lowered as shown in Fig.2 and then an S-cassette 2 is inserted to the opened mounting slot 13. The S-cassette 2 is guided to a specified position by the cassette guides 3, 4 disposed at the right and left of adapter 1. In the state where an S-cassette 2 is being mounted, as the reels 5, 6 and the reel brake releasing member 7 are exposed, the positioning of reels 5, 6 and reel brake releasing member 7 of the S-cassette mounted in adapter 1 remain the same as that of an S-cassette 2. Therefore, there is no need of providing a mechanism for coupling respectively the reel operation and reel brake releasing action. Thus, an adapter is constituted with a very simple structure. Next, the rear door 12 is pushed up to fix S-cassette 2. The contacts 14 embodied in the rear door 12 for reading the identification terminal of S-cassette 2 make contact, and the moving member 17 moves in accordance with the open/close of the anti-erasing gear of S-cassette 2. As the contacts 14 are electrically coupled with identification terminal 15 of adapter 1 through wirings 16, the information in the identification terminal can be read out at the same location as that of M-cassette. The moving member 17 is coupled via a pin with lever 18 provided for opening/closing the anti-erasing window of M-cassette, and opens/closes the anti-erasing window of M-cassette inaccordance with the open/close of anti-erasing gear of S-cassette 2. In the state when an S-cassette 2 is being inserted in adapter 1, a cassette lid lock member of the S-cassette 2 is still out of functioning because the lever 10 is retained by spring 11; the lid of S-cassette 2 is kept closed protecting the tape from a possible damage, and the S-cassette is protected from intrusion of dusts. When the adapter 1 is loaded in a magnetic recording/erproducing apparatus, the lever 9 is driven by a lock releasing lever of the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus provided for unlocking cassette lid of an M-cassette, and the lever 10 coupled with lever 9 is revolved to unlock the cassette lid lock member of S-cassette 2. Now in the following, a second embodiment according to the present invention is described referring to Figs 3 through 5. Fig.3 illustrates a cassette adapter which conforms with the professional digital video format, Fig.4 shows the vicinity of a cassette loading mechanism of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus compatible with the cassette adapter, and Fig.5 shows the vicinity of a cassette loading mechanism of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus incompatible with the cassette adapter. As shown in Fig.3, an adapter 19 assumes the shape of M-cassette and is provided with cassette guides 3, 4 at the right and left of the adapter for guiding an S-cassette 2 to the centre of adapter 19 and a groove 20 in the top surface for distinguishing the adapter from M-cassette. The rest portion of the adapter 19 remains the same as those of said first embodiment. In place of the groove 20, a hollow (not shown) may serve the same purpose. A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus compatible with the adapter 19 comprises a cassette holder 21 for accepting a cassette or an adapter 19, as shown in Fig.4. A shutter 22 identifies whether it is an adapter 19 or not. When an adapter 19 is loaded in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus modifies the mechanical and the electrical systems; viz. the reel positioning, the cassette reel brake releasing position, the tape tensioning and the signal processing are modified to be suitable to the loading of adapter 19. A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus incompatible with the adapter 19 comprises a cassette holder 23 for receiving a cassette or an adapter 19, as shown in Fig.5. In the case when an adapter 19 is inserted, a stopper 24 blocks loading of the adapter 19. Now in the following, description will be made on how the above mentioned structure operates. When an adapter 19 is inserted to the cassette holder 21 of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus compatible with adapter 19, the shutter 22 moves in compliance with groove 20 provided in the top surface of adapter 19 to identify that it is an adapter 19, as shown in Fig.4, and the arrangement of mechanical and electrical systems in the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus are modified accordingly. When an adapter 19 is inserted to cassette holder 23 of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus incompatible with adapter 19, the stopper 24 touches groove 20 provided in the top surface of adapter 19 , as shown in Fig.5, and blocks further insertion of the adapter 19. A cassette adapter according to the present invention comprises an adapter having a same shape as a second cassette, the size being different from the first cassette, for mounting a first cassette in; wherein the reel and the reel brake releasing member of the first cassette are exposed while the first cassette is being mounted in the adapter. When an adapter incorporating an S-cassette is used, the reel and the reel brake releasing member of an S-cassette mounted in the adapter remain in the same location as they were as an S-cassette. Therefore, there is no need of providing mechanisms for coupling respectively the reel operation and the reel brake releasing member. Thus an adapter may be constituted very simple. The adapter is provided with a rear door, which door comprises a contact for reading identification signal by touching the identification terminal of S-cassette, a means for coupling the contact with an identification terminal disposed at a same location as that of an M-cassette and a means to open/close the anti-erasing window in linkage with the anti-erasing gear of an S-cassette mounted in the adapter. As the reading of identification signal of S-cassette and the open/ close work of anti-erasing window are perfo rmed solely by the rear door, a high reliability is ensured with respect to these actions because of the simple structure. Thanks to a means for releasing the lock on a cassette lid provided to protect magnetic tape of the first cassette which works in compliance with a lid unlocking mechanism of magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, the cassette lid of S-cassette is kept closed by its own lock mechanism even after it is inserted in the adapter, and the tape is protected from a possible damage and intrusion of dusts into the S-cassette is prevented. By making the shape of a part of adapter different from that of the M-casette, an adapter whose shape is id entical to the M-cassette is easily distinguished from the M-cassette. By providing a groove or a hollow in a part of adapter, an adapter whose shape is identical to the M-cassette is easily distinguished from the M-cassette. In a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention which receives a cassette adapter of a same shape as the M-cassette incorporating an S-cassette of a different size and comprises a shape identification means for distinguishing the cassette adapter from the M-cassette, the mechanical and the electrical systems are modified based on detection result obtained from the shape identification means to be suitable to operate the cassette adapter. Therefore the cassette adapter is identified without fail when a cassette adapter is inserted in a cassette adapter-co mpatible magnetic recording /reproducing apparatus, and the mechanical and the electrical systems are modified to be suitable to loading of cassette adapter. Based on detection result obtained from the shape identification means of magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, the reel positioning, the cassette reel brake releasing position, the tape tensioning and the signal processing of the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus are modified to be suitable for a cassette adapter. Therefore, when a cassette adapter is inserted, the mechanical and the electrical systems are easily modified to accept the loading of cassette adapter. In a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention which receives a cassette adapter of a same shape as the M-cassette incorporating an S-cassette of a different size and comprises a shape identification means for distinguishing the cassette adapter from the M-cassette, the further insertion of a cassette adapter to the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus is blocked based on detection result obtained from said shape identification means. Therefore, an erroneous insertion of a cassette adapter to a cassette-incompatible magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus is readily prevented.

Claims: A cassette adapter for receiving a cassette (2) of a first size and for use in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, said cassette adapter having the size of a cassette of a second size larger than said first size, characterized in that a reel brake releasing member (7) of said cassette (2) of the first size being exposed to the outside of the cassette adapter while the first cassette (2) is mounted in the cassette adapter. A cassette adapter in accordance with claim 1, wherein said cassette adapter (1) comprising a first identification terminal (15) provided at a same location as an identification terminal of the cassette of the second size, and a rear door (12) capable of opening and closing, said rear door (12) comprising: a contact (14) for reading an identification signal by contacting a second identification terminal provided on the cassette (2) of the first size, a connecting means (16) for coupling said contact (14) with said first identification terminal (15), and a means (18) for opening and closing an anti-erasing window in accordance with an anti-erasing gear of the said cassette (2) of the first size. A cassette adapter in accordance with claim 1 or 2, wherein said cassette adapter (1) comprising a means (9, 10, 11) for unlocking a cassette lid of the cassette (2) of the first size provided for protecting the magnetic tape of the cassette (2) and the unlocking means (9, 10, 11) of said cassette adapter working in accordance with a mechanism provided in the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus for unlocking a cassette lid. A cassette adapter in accordance with any of claims 1 to 3, wherein said cassette adapter (19) being further characterized in that the shape of a part of the cassette adapter (19) is different from that of the cassette of the second size so that the cassette adapter (19) is distinguishable from the cassette of the second size. A cassette adapter in accordance with claim 4, wherein said cassette adapter (19) is further characterized in that the cassette adapter (19) comprises a groove (20) or a hollow for distinguishing the cassette adapter (19) from the cassette of the second size. A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus adapted to accept a cassette adapter (1) having a size of a cassette of a second size, wherein said cassette adapter (1) comprising a cassette (2) of a first size smaller than said second size, and said magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus comprising a lock releasing pin, characterized in that said lock releasing pin being arranged to operate a reel brake releasing member (7) of said cassette (2) of the first size while said cassette adapter (1) is mounted in the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus together with said cassette (2) of said first size. A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus in accordance with claim 6, wherein said magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus comprising a shape identification means (22) for distinguishing the cassette adapter (19) from the cassette of said second size, wherein based on a detection result obtained from the shape identification means (22) mechanical and electrical systems of the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus are modified to be suitable for loading the cassette adapter (19). A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus in accordance with claim 7, further characterized in that said mechanical and said electrical systems are adapted for modifying a reel positioning, a reel brake releasing position, a tape tensioning and a signal processing. A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus in accordance with claim 7 or 8, wherein said shape identification means comprising a shutter (22) for detecting a groove (20) or a hollow formed on the top surface of the cassette apapter (19). A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus in accordance with claim 6, wherein said magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus comprising a shape identification means (22) for distinguishing the cassette adapter (19) from the cassette of said second size, wherein based on a detection result obtained from the shape identification means (22) further insertion of said cassette adapter (19) to the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus is blocked.

Inventors: UEDA MIKIYA, UEDA, MIKIYA
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD, MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: G11B23
IPC codes: G11B25, G11B23