Patent Publication Number: US-2007109381-A1

Title: Optical disc recorder with printing device

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of Invention  
      The present invention relates to optical disc recorders (e.g., CD-R drives, or CD-RW drives) and more particularly to such an optical disc recorder with a printing device adapted to print color text and/or graphics on a label side of an optical disc (e.g., CD or the like) while recording data on a data side thereof.  
      2. Related Art  
      CD-type and DVD-type optical discs have been widely employed as means of high-capacity storage media. Conventionally, an optical disc (e.g., CD) has a data side and a label side. A pick up unit of an optical disc recorder (e.g., CD-R drive) is adapted to record data on the data side of CD. The label side is also known as CD cover. Conventionally, a user may write label on the label side by means of a marker.  
      There are typically two techniques employed in the art as a replacement of the well-known marker in writing label. One involves printing color label by a color printer and adhering the color label on the label side of CD. The other is Light-Scribe technique developed by HP. The Light-Scribe technique involves scribing text and/or graphics on a label side of CD with a laser beam. The laser beam is also adapted to bleach (i.e., burn) small areas of dyed plastic in recording data on the data side of CD. However, only monochromic text or graphics is capable of printing on the label side of CD due to limitation of the dyed plastic material. In other words, only the first technique is available for printing color text and/or graphics. However, auxiliary equipment may be required for adhering correctly a label on the label side of CD. It is known that an uneven label adhered to the label side of CD may adversely affect quality of reading data from the data side of CD or writing data thereon.  
      There is another drawback associated with the second Light-Scribe technique. In short, after recording data on a data side of CD, it is required to turn over the CD prior to scribing text and/or graphics on a label side thereof. It is very inconvenient.  
      Thus, it is desirable to provide a novel optical disc recorder capable of printing color text and/or graphics on a label side of an optical disc without turning over the optical disc in order to overcome the inadequacies of the prior art and contribute significantly to the advancement of the art.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVETION  
      It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an optical disc recorder capable of printing color text and/or graphics on a label side of an optical disc loaded while recording data on a data side thereof without turning over the optical disc.  
      To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides an optical disc recorder comprising a housing; an optical pick up module; a tray; a spindle motor mounted in a center of the tray; and a printing device disposed between an inner surface of the housing and the tray and facing a label side of a loaded optical disc, the printing device comprising an inkjet printing assembly; a guide mechanism for guiding the printing assembly to move alternately back and forth along a predetermined path above the label side; and a control circuit for controlling the guide mechanism in cooperation with a movement of the printing assembly for printing color text and/or graphics on the label side when the optical disc is rotating in a data recording operation.  
      In one aspect of the present invention, the printing assembly includes a print head and an ink cartridge.  
      In another aspect of the present invention, the spindle motor is adapted to intermittently or continuously angularly rotate the optical disc in cooperation with the movement of the printing assembly.  
      In yet another aspect of the present invention, for refilling the ink cartridge it is possible of filling ink into a plurality of ink apertures thereof through a plurality of holes formed on the housing, configuring the printing assembly as a removable one, or providing a hinged cover on the housing such that opening the cover will enable a user to replace a consumed ink cartridge with a new one.  
      In a further aspect of the present invention, the printed color text and/or graphics is stored in a computer.  
      In yet further aspect of the present invention, a scanning module is additionally provided on an opening of the tray such that not only data stored in a data side of a loaded optical disc can be read by the recorder but also contents printed on the label side thereof is scanned by the scanning module when the optical disc is loading into the tray. Thus, both read data and contents of the label side can be recorded on a data side of an empty optical disc and printed on a label side of the same respectively in a next copying operation.  
      In yet further aspect of the present invention, the inkjet printing assembly is replaced by a thermal printing assembly including a color ribbon module and a heating head for heating a passing ribbon prior to printing color text and/or graphics on the label side of an optical disc.  
      The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a top plan view of a first preferred embodiment of optical disc recorder according to the invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1  where a CD is loaded and the drive shaft of spindle motor is turning while data recording and label printing are being performed concurrently;  
       FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2  where another configuration of the guide mechanism is illustrated;  
       FIG. 4  is a top plan view of a second preferred embodiment of optical disc recorder according to the invention; and  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic elevation view of a third preferred embodiment of optical disc recorder according to the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a first preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention is shown. The embodiment comprises an optical disc recorder  10  and a printing module  20 . The recorder  10  comprises a parallelepiped housing  11 , an optical pick up module  12 , and a tray  13  for loading or unloading an optical disc (e.g., CD) D. The optical pick up module  12  includes a pick up unit  121  for recording data on a data side D 1  (not shown) of optical disc D or reading data thereon, a pair of parallel guide rods  122  for guiding the pick up unit  121 , and a spindle motor  123  having a drive shaft for rotating the optical disc D.  
      The printing module  20  is provided between an inner surface of the housing  11  and the tray  13  and faces a label side D 2  of optical disc D. The printing module  20  comprises an inkjet printing assembly  21 , a guide mechanism  22  for guiding the printing assembly  21 , and a control circuit  23  for controlling the guide mechanism  22  and the printing assembly  21 . The printing assembly  21  includes a print head  211  and an ink cartridge  212  for supplying ink to the print head  211 . The print head  211  is driven by the guide mechanism  22  to move alternately back and forth along a predetermined path above the label side D 2 . Also, the print head  211  is adapted to shoot tiny droplets of ink at the label side D 2  in cooperation with the optical disc D being rotated by the activating spindle motor  123 . A plurality of holes (not shown) are formed on the housing  11 . For refilling the ink cartridge  212 , a user may fill ink into a plurality of ink apertures  2121  thereof through the holes. Ink refilling, however, is not limited to the above as contemplated by the invention. For example, it is possible of configuring the printing module  20  as a removable one in other embodiments. That is, a user may remove the ink cartridge  212  out of the housing  10  for replacement. Alternatively, a hinged cover is formed on the housing  11  such that a user may replace a consumed ink cartridge  212  with a new one by opening the cover. The guide mechanism  22  comprises two gears  221  driven by a motor (not shown) and a belt  222  rotatably put on the gears  221 . The belt  222  is operatively connected to the ink cartridge  212  such that the ink cartridge  212  may move alternately back and forth along a predetermined path in response to the rotation of the belt  222 . By configuring the recorder  10  as above, after loading an optical disc D it is possible of recording data on the data side D 1  of the optical disc D and printing color text and/or graphics on the label side D 2  thereof in one operation without turning over the optical disc D.  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , it is shown that an optical disc D is loaded and the drive shaft of the spindle motor  123  is rotating. As illustrated, in one procedure a user may perform operations of inserting the optical disc D into the recorder  10 , activating the printing module  20  to print color text and/or graphics stored in a computer on the label side D 2  of the optical disc D, and recording data on the data side D 1  of the optical disc D. Alternatively, in another procedure a user may perform operations of inserting the optical disc D into the recorder  10 , recording data on the data side D 1  of the optical disc D, and activating the printing module  20  to print color text and/or graphics stored in a computer on the label side D 2  of the optical disc D. The spindle motor  123  may intermittently or continuously angularly rotate the optical disc D for printing desired color text and/or graphics on a portion thereof when the printing assembly  21  is driven by the belt  222  to move alternately back and forth along a predetermined path above the label side D 2 . As stated above, the printing module  20  corresponds to the label side D 2  and is disposed opposite the pick up unit  121 . Thus, there is no need of removing the optical disc D and turning over same. In brief, data recording and label printing are performed concurrently in one operation.  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , another configuration of the guide mechanism  22  is illustrated. The belt  222  is replaced with a shaft  222 ′ having outer driven threads  2221 ′ through the printing assembly  21 . An internal pin  213  is provided in the printing assembly  21  and is slidably disposed in the threads  2221 ′. The threads  2221 ′ may advance as the shaft  222 ′ rotates in response to rotating the gears  221  driven by its associated motor in operation. The pin  213  thus moves along the threads  2221 ′. As a result, the printing assembly  21  moves above a corresponding surface of the optical disc D while shooting tiny droplets of ink at the label side D 2  in cooperation with the optical disc D being rotated by the activating spindle motor  123 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , a second preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention is shown. The embodiment is characterized by providing an additional scanning module  30  on an opening of the tray  13 . Not only data stored in a data side of a loaded optical disc can be read by the recorder  10  but also contents printed on the label side thereof is scanned by the scanning module  30  when the optical disc is loading into the tray  13 . Both read data and contents of the label side are then stored in a computer. Thereafter, both read data and contents of the label side can be recorded on a data side of an empty optical disc and printed on a label side of same respectively in a next optical recording (i.e., copying) operation.  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , a third preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention is shown. The printing assembly  21  is replaced by a high speed thermal printing module  40 . The thermal printing module  40  comprises two color ribbon reels  41  and a heating head  42  provided there between. The color ribbon reel  41  comprises either a first ribbon with yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) colors and a protective ribbon or a second ribbon with yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) colors. The activating heating head  42  is adapted to heat a portion of the color ribbon reels  41  passing it prior to printing color text and/or graphics on a label side D 2  of an optical disc D.  
      The heating head  42  comprises a plurality of heating elements. The number of the heating elements corresponds to the number of colors contained in the color ribbon reels  41 . Preferably, the number of the heating elements is at least four for heating each color component of the color ribbon reels  41 . The heating head  42  is adapted to heat at least 256 different shades of gray corresponding to temperature changes. Correspondingly, printed label has at least 256 different levels of color. As a result, more colorful label is obtained as compared with one printed by typical color inkjet printer.  
      While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.