Patent Publication Number: US-7900218-B2

Title: Tray used in an optical disk drive

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a tray used in an optical disc drive, and particularly to having aligning means formed integrally with the tray and the aligning line formed through the aligning means used for determining the dimensional accuracy of each component located on the front side and back side of the tray, respectively. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows the structural diagram of a front side of a tray of a conventional optical disc drive, and  FIG. 2  shows a structural diagram of a back side of the tray of the  FIG. 1 . After the conventional tray  10  is made, e.g. the conventional tray  10  made by using an extrusion, the tray  10  has to be measured precisely to make sure the size of each component arranged on the tray  10  and the relative sizes between the components. These sizes must meet a product specification such that they can be really arranged in the optical disc drive. After a measurer finishes measuring each component on the front side of the tray  10 , he will continue to measure each component on the back side of the tray  10 . Since the front side and the back side of the tray  10  do not have a common measuring standard, when measuring the back side of the tray  10 , the tray  10  has to be turned to the back side from the front side. However, as soon as the tray  10  moves, the measuring standard will have deviation, and the tray  10  cannot precisely keep the measuring standard used by the front side and that used by the back side. Therefore, it is hard to measure the tray  10  more precisely. 
     In view of the shortcomings of the above mentioned prior art, the inventor of the present invention wants to improve and invents a tray with a measuring dimensional accuracy mechanism. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a tray with a measuring dimensional accuracy mechanism. 
     To achieve the above mentioned object of the present invention, the present invention provides a tray-used in an optical disc drive which comprises: at least two aligning means arranged in a tray for marking an aligning line on a front side and a back side of the tray, respectively; and the aligning line is used for determining a dimensional accuracy of each component located on the front side and back side of the tray, respectively. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a structural diagram of a front side of a tray of an conventional optical disc drive; 
         FIG. 2  shows a structural diagram of a back side of the tray of the  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  shows the aligning means arranged in the front side of the tray of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  shows a structural diagram of the back side of the tray corresponding to the aligning means in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 3  shows aligning means arranged in the front side of the tray of the present invention, and  FIG. 4  shows a structural diagram of the back side of the tray corresponding to the aligning means in  FIG. 3 . Each component is respectively located on the front side and back side of the tray  20  of the present invention, such as carrier plane  201  for carrying an optical disk, longitudinal rack  203 , etc., and aligning means  30  are formed integrally and simultaneously. After the tray  20  is made, e.g. the tray  20  is made of a plastic material in extrusion and formed integrally, for ensuring the made tray  20  completely meets the dimensional requirement of the product specification, it is necessary to measure the tray  20 . Since the tray  20  of the present invention has a feature of aligning means  30 , the measurer can obtain an aligning line A-A by drawing a line through the aligning means  30 . From the aligning line A-A obtained on the front side of the tray  20  and a protruding point D, please refer to the aligning line A-A shown in  FIG. 3 , an aligning line B-B, aligning line C-C, can be obtained. The protruding point D is a center position of the carrier plane  201 . Next, using the protruding point D, each component located on the front side of the tray  20  are measured to determine whether each component completely meets the dimensional requirement of the product specification. For example, measure whether the length of the circumference of the carrier plane  201  completely meets the dimensional requirement of the product specification. Similarly, the measurer can use the aligning means  30  through the back side of the tray  20  and draw a line to obtain an aligning line A-A. From the aligning line A-A obtained on the back side of the tray  20  and a protruding point D, please refer to the aligning line A-A shown in  FIG. 4 , an aligning line B-B, aligning line C-C can be obtained. The protruding point D is a center position of the carrier plane  201 . Next, using the protruding point D, each component located on the back side of the tray  20  are measured to determine whether each component completely meets the dimensional requirement of the product specification. For example, measure whether the longitudinal rack  203  on the back side of the tray  20  completely meets the dimensional requirement of the product specification. 
     Since each aligning means  30  of the present invention is arranged at exactly the same position on the front surface and the back surface of the tray  20 , the aligning lines A-A respectively obtained on the front surface and the back surface of the tray  20  by the measurer are the same aligning lines. The protruding points D on the front surface and the back surface from the same aligning line are the same center point. 
     The alignment means  30  shown in  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  have embodiments of through holes  30  through the front side and back side of the tray  20 . Further, another embodiment of the aligning means  30  is a prominent means projecting outward from the front side and back side of the tray  20 , e.g. the prominent means as a spur. Of course, the aligning means  30  of the present invention is not limited to the through hole  30  and the prominent means. Persons skilled in the art can change to other types of aligning means  30  according to the principles disclosed in the present invention. However, these changed types of aligning means  30  are also in the scope of the present invention. 
     Various modifications, changes, and variations apparent to those skilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation, and details of the methods and systems of the present invention disclosed herein without departing from the scope of the claimed invention.