Patent Publication Number: US-2006010462-A1

Title: Optical disc drive and optical disc cassette

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 93120306, filed Jul. 07, 2004.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to an optical disc drive and an optical disc cassette. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical disc drive and an optical disc cassette capable of holding a plurality of optical discs.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      An optical disc is among optical storage media that has many advantages including a high storage capacity, easy to produce and handle and a long and safe data storage period. No wonder the conventional magnetic storage media has been gradually replaced by optical discs in many applications. In the past, each optical disc drive can accommodate only one single optical disc. When a user needs to access another optical disc, discs have to be swapped manually. Due to the increasing demand for reading data from a stack of discs, a multi-disc drive capable of holding a plurality of optical discs simultaneously has been developed.  
      The aforementioned multi-disc drive typically has an optical disc cassette for holding multiple optical discs. Inside the optical disc cassette, each optical disc is held on a separate disc carrier. Because the optical discs are held in place on separate disc carriers that are all stacked close to each other, any vibration of the optical disc cassette and/or rotation of the discs may scratch the discs. The scratching not only damages the optical discs, but may also lead to the production of undesirable noise.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, the present invention is directed to provide an optical disc cassette for holding multiple optical discs firmly inside the cassette so that surface scratches resulting from rotation or vibration of the optical discs are minimized.  
      The present invention is directed to provide an optical disc drive having an optical disc cassette that can hold multiple optical discs firmly inside the cassette so that surface scratches resulting from rotation or vibration of the optical discs are minimized.  
      According to an embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc cassette for holding a plurality of optical discs is provided. The optical disc cassette comprises a housing, a plurality of optical disc carriers and a cushioning pad. The housing has an inner surface, an opening and a plurality of slide-track sets. The slide-track sets are disposed on the inner surface of the housing such that each slide-track set extends towards the opening of the housing. The optical disc carriers are disposed inside the housing such that each optical disc carrier can slide along one of the corresponding slide-track sets. Each optical disc carrier has an indentation at an edge. The cushioning pad is disposed on the inner surface of the housing. Through the indentations, the optical discs on the optical disc carriers lean against the cushioning pad.  
      According to an embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc drive comprising an optical disc cassette, a disc selecting mechanism and an optical disc data processing module is also provided. The optical disc cassette is designed for holding a plurality of optical discs. The optical disc data processing module is designed for reading data from the optical discs. And the disc selecting mechanism is designed to operate within a designated operation region for performing disc selection and the disc loading operation between the optical disc cassette and the optical disc data processing module. The optical disc cassette comprises a housing, a plurality of optical disc carriers and a cushioning pad. The housing has an inner surface, an opening and a plurality of slide-track sets. The slide-track sets are disposed on the inner surface of the housing such that each slide-track set extends towards the opening of the housing. The optical disc carriers are disposed inside the housing such that each optical disc carrier can slide along one of the corresponding slide-track sets. Each optical disc carrier has an indentation at an edge. The cushioning pad is disposed on the inner surface of the housing. Through the indentations, the optical discs on the optical disc carriers lean against the cushioning pad.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the inner surface of the housing has an area facing the opening and the cushioning pad is disposed on the area facing the opening.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the inner surface of the housing has a protruding portion and the cushioning pad is disposed on the protruding portion.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the inner surface of the housing has a lead spring and the cushioning pad is disposed on the lead spring.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the cushioning pad is fabricated from a shock-absorbing material, such as sponge or rubber.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the optical disc cassette further comprises an engaging element disposed on the inner surface facing the opening. Furthermore, each optical disc carrier has an engaging portion designed to latch with the engaging element. The engaging element is a spring plate, for example.  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, the optical disc processing module is an optical pick-up module or combining an optical pick-up module and an optical recording module, for example.  
      Accordingly, the cushioning pad is disposed on the inner surface of the optical disc cassette and each of the optical disc carriers has a corresponding indentation so that the optical discs on the optical disc carriers can be stabilized inside the optical disc cassette. Therefore, the optical discs are prevented from receiving damaging scratches as a result of direct hits between the optical discs and the optical disc carriers.  
      It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an optical disc drive according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2A  is a perspective view of an optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2B  is a cutout view showing the internal structure of an optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3A  is a perspective view showing the structure of an optical disc carrier according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3B  is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3C  is a cutout view showing the structure of an optical disc loaded optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a cutout view showing the structure of an optical disc loaded optical disc cassette according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
      Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an optical disc drive according to one embodiment of the present invention.  FIGS. 2A  is a perspective view of an optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 A, the optical disc drive  10  can be a compact disc (CD) player, a laser optical (LD) video disc player, a video compact disc (VCD) player, a digital video disc (DVD) player or other type of optical disc drive capable of holding multiple optical discs at the same time. The optical disc drive  10  mainly comprises an optical disc cassette  100 , a disc selecting mechanism  200  and an optical disc data processing module  300 . The disc selecting mechanism  200  is designed to operate within a designated operation region. The optical disc data processing module  300  and the optical disc cassette  100  are both disposed within the operation region. The optical disc cassette  100  is designed to hold a plurality of optical discs  400  (as shown in  FIG. 3C ). The disc selecting mechanism  200  is designed to move an optical disc  400  from the optical disc cassette  100  into the optical disc data processing module  300  or return an optical disc  400  from the optical disc data processing module  300  back to the optical disc cassette  100 . In addition, the disc selecting mechanism  200  is not limited to the design shown in  FIG. 1 . The disc selecting mechanism  200  can have a design using various combinations of levers and gears or other mechanical designs that facilitate the disc selection and the disc loading operation of optical discs  400 .  
      The optical disc data processing module  300  is an optical pick-up module for reading data from the optical disc  400 . However, the optical disc data processing module  300  can also have the capacity to write data into the optical disc  400 , such as optical recording module. Since the optical disc cassette  100  has accommodated a number of optical discs, it should be noted that the user is able to select one of the optical discs  400  within the optical disc cassette  100  without switching discs manually which could be a time consuming and inconvenient step. The structure and function of the optical disc cassette  100  is explained in more detail in the following.  
       FIG. 2B  is a cutout view showing the internal structure of an optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3A  is a perspective view showing the structure of an optical disc carrier according to one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3B  is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3C  is a cutout view showing the structure of an optical disc loaded optical disc cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B , the optical disc cassette  100  mainly comprises a housing  110 , a plurality of optical disc carriers  120  and a cushioning pad  130 . The housing  110  has an inner surface  110   a , an opening  110   b  and a plurality of slide-track sets  110   c . The slide-track sets  110   c  are disposed on the inner surface  110   a  of the housing  110 . The slide-track sets  110   c  extend in a direction toward the opening  110   b  of the housing  110 . The optical disc carriers  120  are disposed inside the housing  110 . Each optical disc carrier  120  is permitted to slide along one of the corresponding slide-track sets. Furthermore, the optical disc carriers  120  are free to slide into and out of the housing  110  through the opening  110   b . The cushioning pad  130  is disposed on the inner surface  110   a  of the housing  110 . In the present invention, the inner surface  110   a  has an area facing the opening  110   b . The area has a protruding portion  112  and the cushioning pad  130  is set up on the protruding portion  112  as shown in  FIG. 2B . The cushioning pad  130  is fabricated from a shock-absorbing material, such as sponge or rubber. In addition, the edge of each optical disc carrier  120  has an indentation  120   a  as shown in  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B .  
      When the optical disc carries  120  are installed inside the housing  110  with each optical disc carrier  120  holding an optical disc  400 , the cushioning pad  130  is slightly sticking into the indentations  120   a  of the optical disc carriers  120 . Through the indentations  120   a , the optical discs  400  on the optical disc carriers  120  lean against the cushioning pad  130  as shown in  FIG. 3C . It should be noted that the cushioning pad  130  disposed on the inner surface  110  is able to prevent the optical discs  400  from rotation or vibration and minimize scratching damages to the optical discs  400  when the optical discs  400  are enclosed within the optical disc cassette. Furthermore, because the optical discs  400  located inside the optical disc cassette  100  are supported by the cushioning pad  130 , the optical discs  400  and the optical disc carrier  120  are prevented from colliding with each other through the vibrating or shaking of the optical disc cassette  100 . Hence, noise emitted by the optical disc cassette  100  is minimized. Moreover, the cushioning pad  130  also stabilizes the optical disc carriers  120  inside the optical disc cassette  100  and lowers the noise created by the banging between the optical disc carriers  120  and the inner surface  110   a  of the housing  110 .  
      As shown in  FIGS. 3A through 3C , the cushioning pad  130  needs not be disposed on the protruding portion  112 . The cushioning pad  130  can be disposed on a suitable position on the inner surface  110   a  when a matching indentation  120   a  on the optical disc carrier  120  is provided such that the cushioning pad  130  is able to contact the optical disc  400 . In addition, to stabilize the optical disc carriers  120  assembled inside the housing  110 , an engaging element  140  may be disposed on the inner surface  110   a  facing the opening  110   b . Furthermore, the optical disc carriers  120  have a corresponding engaging portion  122 . The engaging portion  122  of the optical disc carrier  120  and the engaging element  140  can be latched together through a spring plate as shown in  FIG. 3B .  
       FIG. 4  is a cutout view showing the structure of an optical disc loaded optical disc cassette according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the protruding portion  112  can be replaced by a leaf spring and the cushioning pad  130  disposed thereon so that the cushioning pad  130  and the optical discs  400  are in tighter contact. The leaf spring provides an elastic preload force so that the cushioning pad  130  and the optical discs  400  are brought into closer contact with each other.  
      In summary, major advantages of the optical disc drive and optical disc cassette of the present invention includes:  
      1. The cushioning pad is disposed on the inner surface of the optical disc cassette and the optical disc carriers has a corresponding indentation so that the optical discs on the optical disc carriers can lean against the cushioning pad to prevent a collision between the discs and the carriers. Thus, damages to the optical discs due to collision are minimized. Moreover, the cushioning pad is able to stabilize the optical discs within the optical disc carriers as well as the optical disc carriers inside the optical disc cassette. Hence, the noise produced by the collision between the optical disc carrier and the optical disc or between the optical disc carrier and the optical disc cassette is significantly reduced.  
      2. When a rotating optical disc is returned to the optical disc cassette, the cushioning pad inside the optical disc cassette not only damps out the spinning disc, but also eases any vibration that might cause damages to the optical discs.  
      It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.