Abstract:
The invention relates to a computer system capable of automatically duplicating data into discs with automatically blank-disc-supplying. The invention can be implemented by software, hardware, or any of the combinations. Since the invention does not utilize a mechanical arm to move the discs, the structure of the invention saves space compared with a traditional disc duplicating machine; moreover, the cost is less than that of the prior art.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a computer system of duplicating data into discs with automatically blank-disc-supplying and a method capable of automatically duplicating data into discs. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     At present, when a user wants to duplicate data into a disc, a disc is manually disposed into a duplicator. After the duplication is finished, the disc is again manually taken out. If the user wants to duplicate data into a lot of discs, it is wasting time for the user to use this manual duplicating apparatus. 
     Therefore, an automatic duplicating apparatus of duplicating data into discs with automatic blank-disc-supplying by using a mechanical arm was developed. However, although the aim of duplicating data into discs with automatic blank-disc-supplying can be reached by using the mechanical arm to pick up the disc, the structure of the duplicating apparatus is apparently complicated and needs physically space-occupied and uneconomically expensive. The related prior art can be referred to in Taiwan patent NO. 594,693 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,145,841. 
     Therefore, the scope of the invention is to provide a computer system of automatically duplicating data into discs with automatic blank-disc-supplying and a method capable of automatically duplicating data into discs to solve the above problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A scope of the invention is to provide a computer system capable of duplicating data into discs with automatic blank-disc-supplying and a method of automatically duplicating data into discs. 
     According to an embodiment of the invention, the computer system capable of duplicating data into discs with automatic blank-disc-supplying comprises a host, a disc holding unit, a first actuating unit, a data duplicating unit, a second actuating unit, a disc collecting unit, a first limit switch, and a second limit switch. 
     In the embodiment, the host comprises a first housing and a second housing. The disc holding unit is set on the second housing. The disc holding unit comprises a third housing and a fourth housing, which is capable of rotating under the third housing. A first actuating unit and the fourth housing are connected to rotating the fourth housing, and then one of the discs fall down during the process of duplicating data into the disc. 
     The data duplicating unit is set in the first housing. The data duplicating unit comprises a disc tray capable of being selectively ejected beneath the disc holding unit to receive the disc falling from the disc holding unit. The second actuating unit and the disc tray are connected to actuate the disc tray opening or closing. The disc collecting unit is set in the second housing and located under the ejected disc tray for collecting the discs falling from the disc tray. 
     Based on the structure of the aforementioned computer system, according to the invention, the method of automatically duplicating data into discs comprises the following steps: 
     (a) a plurality of discs are set in the disc holding unit; 
     (b) a disc tray is ejected from the data duplicating unit to be beneath the disc holding unit, and the second actuating unit actuates the disc tray to open when the disc tray touches a first limit switch; 
     (c) when the disc tray is opened and then touches a second limit switch, the second actuating unit actuates the disc tray to close after a predetermined period of time; 
     (d) after the disc tray is closed, the first actuating unit actuates the fourth housing to rotate, so as to let one of the discs fall down to the disc tray; 
     (e) the disc tray is actuated to enter the data duplicating unit, and it begins to duplicate data into the disc; 
     (f) after the duplication process is finished, the disc tray is ejected from the data duplicating unit, and when the disc tray touches the first limit switch, the second actuating unit actuates the disc tray to open, so as to let the disc fall into the disc collecting unit located under the ejected disc tray; and 
     (g) repeating steps (c) to step (f) until each of the discs is completely duplicated. 
     In this way, duplicating data into discs with automatically blank-disc-supplying can be easily achieved in the invention. In addition, since there is no mechanical arm in this invention, the structural design can save space and money compared to that in the prior art. 
     The advantage and spirit of the invention may be understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the computer system in an embodiment according to the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the disc tray in an embodiment according to the invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the disc tray shown in  FIG. 2  along the A-A line. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of the disc holding unit shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the disc holding unit shown in  FIG. 4  along the B-B line. 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged blown-up view of the disc holding unit shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart of the method of automatically duplicating data into discs in an embodiment according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the computer system  1  in an embodiment according to the invention.  FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the disc tray  160  in an embodiment according to the invention.  FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the disc tray  160  shown in  FIG. 2  along the A-A line.  FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of the disc holding unit  12  shown in  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the disc holding unit  12  shown in  FIG. 4  along the B-B line.  FIG. 6  is a blown-up view of the disc holding unit  12  shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the computer system  1  comprises a host  10 , a disc holding unit  12 , a first actuating unit  14 , a data duplicating unit  16 , a second actuating unit  18 , and a disc collecting unit  20 . 
     The host  10  comprises a first housing  100  and a second housing  102 . The disc holding unit  12  is set on the second housing  102 . The disc holding unit  12  comprises a third housing  120  and a fourth housing  122  capable of rotating under the third housing  120 . In the embodiment, the third housing  120  is exposed outside the second housing  102 , and the fourth housing is hidden in the second housing  102 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the fourth housing  122  comprises an outer thread  1220 , and the first actuating unit  14  comprises a first motor  140  and a belt  142 . The first motor  140  and the outer thread  1220  of the fourth housing  122  are connected by the belt  142 . In addition, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the fourth housing  122  comprises an inner thread  1222  for holding the discs  22 , and when the fourth housing  122  rotates under the third housing  120 , each of the discs  22  falls in proper order through the inner thread  1222 . In the embodiment, a pitch P of the inner thread  1222  is designed to be larger than the thickness T of each disc  22 . The disc holding unit  12  further comprises a cover  124 , and the cover  124  has a disc conducting rod  1240 . When the cover  124  covers on the third housing  120 , the disc conducting rod  1240  is capable of assisting the positioning of each disc  22  in the disc holding unit  12 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 3 , the data duplicating unit  16  is set in the first housing  100  and comprises a disc tray  160 . The disc tray  160  is capable of being selectively ejected beneath the disc holding unit  12  to receive the disc  22  falling from the disc holding unit  12 . After the data duplication is completed into the disc  22  in the data duplicating unit  16 , the disc tray  160  is ejected and then is opened to let the disc  22  fall out. 
     In the embodiment, the disc tray  160  comprises a first plate component  1600  and a second plate component  1602 . A first screw  1604  is set on the first plate component  1600 , and a third screw  1606  is set on the second plate component  1602 . In addition, the second actuating unit  18  comprises a second motor  180  and a second screw  182 , and the computer system  1  further comprises a first limit switch  24  and a second limit switch  26 . In practical applications, the first screw  1604  is capable to be set on the first plate component  1600 , or the third screw  1606  is capable to be set on the second plate component  1602 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , when the disc tray  160  is ejected and then touches the first limit switch  24 , the second motor  180  will actuate the second screw  182  to drive the first screw  1604  and the third screw  1606  and then to open the disc tray  160 . When the disc tray  160  opens and touches the second limit switch  26 , the second motor  180  will actuate the second screw  182  to actuate the disc tray  160  closing after a predetermined period of time. When the disc tray  160  is closed, the first actuating unit  14  will actuate the fourth housing  122  of the disc holding unit  12  to let the disc  22  fall out. 
     After the disc  22  falls on the disc tray  160 , the disc tray  160  is actuated to enter the data duplicating unit  16 , and then the data duplicating unit  16  begins to duplicate data into the disc  22 . The disc tray  160  will be ejected out from the data duplicating unit  16  after the duplication finishing. When the disc tray  160  touches the first limit switch  24 , the second actuating unit  18  actuates the disc tray  160  to open, so as to let the duplicated disc  22  fall into the disc collecting unit  20  located under the ejected disc tray  160 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the disc collecting unit  20  comprises a base  200  and a shaft  202 . The base  200  is capable of being drawn from the second housing  102  of the host  10 . The discs  22  falling from the disc tray  160  are collected by the shaft  202 . 
     There are at least one guiding rod and at least one corresponding guiding groove to assist the positioning. In the embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the first plate component  1600  has two guiding rods  16000 , and the second component  1602  has two corresponding guiding grooves  16020 . The guiding rod  16000  is movable to be disposed in the corresponding guiding groove  16020 . When the first plate component  1600  moves closer to the second plate component  1602 , the guiding rod  16000  and the guiding groove  16020  will assist the positioning. 
     In addition, the disc tray  160  can also comprise at least one elastic member  1608  (e.g., two elastic members  1608  shown in  FIG. 2 ). The elastic member  1608  is connected to the first plate component  1600  and the second plate component  1602 . The elasticity provided by the elastic member  1608  can assist the closing of the disc tray  160 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 7  is a flow chart of the method of automatically duplicating data into discs according to the present invention. Please also refer to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 6 : based on the structure of the aforementioned computer system  1 , the method of automatically duplicating data into discs according to the present invention comprises the following steps. 
     Firstly, at step S 100 : a plurality of discs  22  are hold in the disc holding unit  12 . Next, at step S 102 ; a disc tray  160  is actuated to be ejected from the data duplicating unit  16  to be beneath the disc holding unit  12 , and then the disc tray  160  is actuated to open when the disc tray  160  touches a first limit switch  24 . Then, at step S 104 : when the disc tray  160  is opened and then touches a second limit switch  26 , the disc tray  160  is actuated to close after a predetermined period of time. At step S 106 : after the disc tray  160  is closed, the fourth housing  122  of the disc holding unit  12  is actuated to rotate and one of the discs  22  falls on the disc tray  160 . Afterwards, at step S 108 : the disc tray  160  is actuated to enter the data duplicating unit  16 , and the data begins to be duplicated into the disc  22 . Next, at step S 110 : after duplication, the disc tray  160  is actuated to eject out the data duplicating unit  16 , and when the disc tray  160  touches the first limit switch  24 , the disc tray  160  is actuated to open to let the disc  22  fall into the disc collecting unit  20  located under the ejected disc tray  160 . Finally, at step S 112 : step S 104  to step  110  are repeated until the data duplication of every discs  22  are completed. 
     In another embodiment, the control logic shown in  FIG. 7  can be achieved by software. The software can be performed in a computer, such as a laptop or a desktop. Of course, each part or function in the control logic can be achieved by software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. In addition, the control logic shown in  FIG. 7  can be stored in the data of the computer readable storage medium and be operated exteriorized. The computer readable storage medium can be a floppy disc, a hard disc, an optical disc, other magnetic storages or other optical storages, or a combined apparatus. The data representing command, stored in the computer readable storage medium, can be performed by computer to generate a controlling order, so as to further control the computer system  1  to automatically supply blank discs and automatically duplicate data into discs. 
     Compared with prior art, duplicating data into discs with automatic blank-disc-supplying can be easily realized in the invention. In addition, because the mechanical arm is not needed in the present invention, the structural design saves space and money compared with that in the prior art. 
     With the above example and explanation, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.