Patent Publication Number: US-2005138651-A1

Title: Slot-in optical recording and/or reproduction apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      (1) Field of the Invention  
      The invention relates to a slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to the guiding device in the slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus such as an optical slot-in compact disk drive.  
      (2) Description of the Prior Art  
      As various applications in multi-media technology widely spread, the demand for the large-volume data storage media, such as Compact Disk, and the access device, such as Compact Disk Drive, have been growing rapidly. In particular, the application using CD as a storage media has remarkable increased, so the optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus (named as optical read/write device hereafter), which is used to read/write the CD, is also extremely popular. Nowadays, for example, each Personal Computer at least has one optical access (read/write) device, such as CD-ROM, CD-RW, Slot-In Optical read/write device, Combo CD drive, DVD-R/RW drive, . . . and external CD drive.  
      In order to easily and quickly draw/insert the CD from/to the CD drive, as well as to the request for slim, thin, and light product design, the slot-in is a very attractive option for the CD drive design. So this type of design (slot-in type) is generally adopted in car stereo system and notebook computer as an optical read/write device to read and/or write CD.  
       FIG. 1  schematically shows a perspective view of the front portion of the traditional slot-in optical read/write drive  2  and a Compact Disk  4  fed thereto. Sparing the ejectable tray for loading CD, the slot-in optical drive  2  prevails other types of the optical driver. When the user wants to insert a CD to the slot-in optical drive  2 , the user only has to push the CD  4  into the slot-in optical drive  2  through slot  6 .  
      In addition,  FIG. 2  schematically illustrates the cross-section of the front portion of the traditional slot-in optical drive in side view. Once the CD  4  contacts the roller  8 , the rolling of roller  8  draws the CD  4  to move inwardly/outwardly, and thus the traditional slot-in optical read/write drive  2  can draw/eject the CD  4  correspondingly.  
      However, sometimes the user do not feed the CD  4  into the slot-in optical drive  2  in an inappropriate manner, such as push the CD  4  into the slot  6  with a wrong angle (far from being perpendicular to the front panel of the case of the slot-in optical drive  2 ). As shown in  FIG. 3 , the CD  4  is inserted into the slot-in optical drive  2  through the slot  6  in an inappropriate angle toward the roller  8 . In this case, the CD  4  will be pushed toward against roller  8 , it may not only hinder the user from normal operation, but also may make the parts or component of the slot-in optical drive  2  out of order, malfunction, or even broken.  
      So it is definitely welcome to the skilled in the art to introduce a guiding mechanism to the slot-in optical drive  2  to solve the problems mentioned above.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a guiding mechanism to lead the compact disk along the surface of the guiding mechanism to slide to the top portion of the roller within the optical read/write drive, thus enabling the user to smoothly insert the compact disk (or optical storage media, e.g., optical disk) through the slot to the optical read/write drive.  
      The present invention relates to a slot-in type optical drive which can smoothly lead optical disk into the drive includes a case having a slot, a roller, a base plate, and a guiding mechanism.  
      According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the case has a slot formed at a panel of the front portion of the case, thus enable the optical disk to enter/leave the slot-in optical drive through the slot. The slot mentioned above is made possible the optical storage media (compact disk) move inwardly/outwardly to enter/leave the optical disk drive. The roller is positioned in the case and is adjacent to the slot, thus providing a force delivering the optical disk into/out of the case. The rotation of the roller can move the optical disk inwardly/outwardly when the disk contact the roller.  
      The base plate is positioned over the roller, the base plate is positioned to parallel to the optical disk passing below, the base plate includes a guiding structure, wherein the guiding structure is formed by upwardly inclined stretching from an edge of the base plate to an upper position higher than the slot.  
      The guiding mechanism mentioned above is positioned between the slot and the roller. The guiding mechanism is used to confine the optical disk, and make the optical disk reach the top portion of the roller. The guiding mechanism includes a first guiding part and a second guiding part, the first guiding part is formed closed to the roller and is horizontal posed. The second guiding part is downwardly inclined stretching from the first guiding part to a lower position lower than the slot. The second guiding part is used to guide the front edge of the optical disk to move along the surface of the first guiding part to reach the top portion of the roller.  
      For the reason mentioned above, the user can smoothly insert the optical disk into the optical read/write drive with the guiding mechanism according to the present invention. Thus, when the user insert the optical storage media into the optical read/write drive, the possibility to push the optical storage media against the roller of the driver is largely reduced, and the probability of malfunction is obviously reduced. So the quality of the optical read/write drive with the guiding mechanism according to the present invention is apparently improved.  
      The present invention will now be specified with reference to its preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  schematically shows a perspective view of the front portion of the traditional slot-in optical read/write drive  2  and a Compact Disk  4  fed thereto;  
       FIG. 2  schematically illustrates the cross-section of the front portion of the traditional slot-in optical drive in side view;  
       FIG. 3  illustrates how the compact disk is inserted into the slot-in optical drive through the slot in an inappropriate angle toward the roller;  
       FIG. 4  schematically illustrates the guide mechanism accompanied with the front portion of the optical read/write drive in a cross-sectional side view according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  schematically illustrates the bottom plate and the read/write operating module positioned thereupon according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  schematically illustrates the relation between the guiding mechanism and the read/write operating module according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  schematically illustrates the bottom plate and the guiding mechanism fixed thereupon according to the third embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 8  schematically illustrates the fourth embodiment of the present invention in a cross sectional view, in which the base plate includes two supporting parts respectively fixed at the right and the left end of the base plate&#39;s front edge closing to the slot; and  
       FIG. 9  schematically illustrates the base plate according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention in a front view, showing that the compact disk can freely move through the space limited between the two supporting parts. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which schematically illustrates the guide mechanism in a cross-sectional side view according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is related to a guiding mechanism, which can often be utilized in a slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as slot-in optical read/write drive, which is the preferred embodiment in this disclosure. However the name of the apparatus using the present invention does not confine the scope of the present invention.  
      As shown in  FIG. 4 , the slot-in optical driver  32  includes the guiding mechanism  30 , the roller  34 , base plate  35 , and a case  33  with a slot  38  formed thereupon, through which the CD  36  can enter the slot-in optical driver  32 . It is noted that the CD  36  is not limited to compact disk, every kind of optical disk, such DVD, can be used as the CD  36 .  
      The slot  38  is formed at the front of the case of the slot-in optical driver  32 , and the roller  34  outwardly/inwardly rotates to eject/drag the CD  36  out of/into the slot-in optical driver  32 .  
      In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the base plate  35  and the roller  34  are fixed at a first position and a second position (e.g., over and under) respectively. The CD  36  passes into/out of the slot-in optical driver  32  through the space between the base plate  35  and the roller  34 . The base plate  35  includes a base guiding protrusion  37 , which, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, is formed by upwardly inclined stretching from the side of the base plate  35  close to the slot  38 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . So it is obvious that the CD dragged by the slot-in optical driver  32  will firstly be guided to pass the base guiding protrusion  37  and the guiding mechanism  30  therebetween, then the CD  36  will be pushed to contact the top portion of the roller  34 . Subsequently, the CD  36  will be dragged by contacting to the rotating roller  34 . Finally, the CD  36  reached a predetermined position where the slot-in optical driver  32  can record/reproduce the date on the CD  36 .  
      The guiding mechanism  30  is positioned and/or fixed between the slot  38  and the roller  34 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the guiding mechanism  30  includes a first guiding part  302  and a second guiding part  304 . The first guiding part  302  is close to the roller  34  and is horizontally posed. The horizontal level of the top surface of the first guiding part  302  is lower than that of the roller  34 . The second guiding part  304  is fixed and is formed on the position closer to the slot  38  with respect to the first guiding part  302 . The second guiding part  304  is formed downwardly inclined stretching from the first guiding part  302 .  
      As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , it is obvious that, even if the CD  34  has not been fed into the slot-in optical driver  32  with an appropriate angle, the upper surface of the second guiding part  304 , which is downwardly inclined stretching from the first guiding part  302 , will force the front edge of the CD  36  to move in the direction to the upper surface of the first guiding part  302 . Thus the CD  36  can finally touch the top portion of the roller  34 , and the rotating of the roller  34  can drag the CD  36  in a predetermined direction. The CD  36  reached a predetermined position where the slot-in optical driver  32  can record/reproduce the data on the CD  36 .  
       FIG. 5  schematically illustrates the bottom plate and the read/write operating module positioned thereupon. The slot-in optical driver  32  further includes a bottom plate  44  which adopting the read/write operating module  40 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bottom plate  44  and the read/write operating module  40  are both formed under the roller  34 , e.g., at the bottom of the case of the slot-in optical driver  32 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 6 , the special relation between the guiding mechanism and the read/write operating module according to the second embodiment of the present invention is shown. The guiding mechanism  30  includes the first guiding part  302 , the second guiding part  304 . In the second embodiment of the present invention illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the guiding mechanism  30  is formed by stretching from the bottom plate  44 , i.e., the guiding mechanism  30  and the bottom plate  44  are manufactured in one piece.  
      Referring to  FIG. 7 , the bottom plate and the guiding mechanism fixed thereupon according to the third embodiment of the present invention is shown. The guiding mechanism  30  includes the first guiding part  302 , the second guiding part  304 . The bottom plate  44  and the guiding mechanism  30  are not manufactured in one piece. Besides, the guiding mechanism  30  is screwed or stuck on the bottom plate  44 . It does not limit the way to dispose the guiding mechanism  30  on the bottom plate  44 . The bottom plate  44  and the guiding mechanism  30  can be formed either of metallic or plastic material.  
      Refer to  FIG. 8 , which illustrates the fourth embodiment of the present invention, in which the slot-in optical driver  32  includes the roller  34 , the base plate  35  and the case  33  with the slot  38  formed thereupon. In this embodiment of the present invention, the base plate  35  includes two supporting parts  42  respectively fixed at the right and the left edge of the base plate  35  closing to the slot  38 . The two downwardly stretched supporting parts  42  are connected to the guiding mechanism  30 . Refer to  FIG. 9 , the base plate according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention in a front view is shown. The distance between the inner edge of the two supporting parts  42  is larger than the diameter of the CD  36 , so that the two supporting parts  42  does not hinder the CD  36  from passing through the space defined by the base plate  35 , the two supporting parts  42  and the guiding mechanism  30  attached thereto. In addition, the guiding mechanism  30  connected to the two supporting parts  42  (all are also manufactured in one piece) restrain the CD  36  to enter the slot-in optical driver  32  within the space confined by the base plate  35  and the guiding mechanism  30 . In further aspect of the present invention, the guiding mechanism  30 , the two supporting parts  42  and the base plate  35  are manufactured in one piece.  
      Consequently, with the guiding mechanism  30  according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, even if the user pushed the CD  36  into the slot  38  with a large angle with respect to the direction perpendicular to the surface of the front panel of the slot-in optical driver  32 , the guiding mechanism  30  will direct the CD  36  to smoothly move in the predetermined direction, thus enabling the slot-in optical driver  32  to read/write the date on the CD  36 . In other words, even when the storage media is pushed into the slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus with large angle, the guiding mechanism  30  can direct the media to an appropriate path into the slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus without its component being out of order, malfunction, or even broken. So the user will feel much smoother when he inserted the media into the slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus with the guiding mechanism according to the present invention installed inside, thus the quality of the quality of the slot-in optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus has been improved.  
      While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.