Abstract:
Apparatus and method for an optical disc drive to feed and eject a disc are provided. The optical disc drive includes a housing having an opening, a disc-driving device for feeding the disc into the housing or ejecting the disc to a pickup position through the opening, and a logic unit for controlling the disc-driving device to feed the disc into the housing when the disc has stayed at the pickup position over a predetermined time.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to an apparatus and related method for use in an optical disc drive, and more particularly, to an apparatus and related method of feeding or ejecting a disc used in an optical disc drive.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Optical media is a popular data storage means having high storage density, reliable data stability, and good portability. Compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) have all but replaced traditional competing storage devices such as magnetic floppy discs and audio and video tapes. While digital devices used to read and write optical media, such as CD-ROM drives and DVD players, are complicated and highly precise, technological innovation has made these devices reliable and practical.  
         [0005]     However, a user using the conventional optical disc drive may forget to remove the ejected disc from the insertion slot on account of carelessness, resulting in the disc becoming dirty and stained due to a long time exposure in a dirty environment. Meanwhile, dust also drifts inside the optical disc drive when the insertion slot is open, resulting in damage to the optical disc drive. Therefore, an improvement of such conventional optical disc drive is required.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide an apparatus and related method of feeding or ejecting a disc used in an optical disc drive.  
         [0007]     According to the claimed invention, a feed-and-eject disc device of an optical disc drive comprises a housing having an opening, a driving device for feeding a disc into the housing or ejecting the disc to a pickup position through the opening, and a logic unit for controlling the driving device to feed the disc into the housing when the time in which the disc has stayed at the pickup position reaches a predetermined time.  
         [0008]     According to the claimed invention, a method for controlling an optical disc drive to feed and to eject a disc comprises the steps of when a disc is ejected to a pickup position, starting to count a time in which the disc stays at the pickup position, and when the time in which the disc has stayed at the pickup position reaches a predetermined time, feeding the disc into the optical disc drive.  
         [0009]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  shows a disc being ejected to a pickup position from an optical disc drive.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the disc being fed within the optical disc drive according to the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of the disc being ejected out of the optical disc drive according to the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart according to the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the disc being fed within the optical disc drive according to the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of the disc being ejected out of the optical disc drive according to the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  shows another embodiment of a disc on a tray ejecting to a pickup position from an optical disc drive.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of the tray positioned within the optical disc drive.  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram of the tray being ejected out of the optical disc drive.  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart of another embodiment according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0020]     Please refer to FIGS.  1  to  3 .  FIG. 1  shows a disc  20  being ejected to a pickup position from an optical disc drive  10 .  FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the disc  20  being fed within the optical disc drive  10  according to the present invention.  FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of the disc  20  being ejected out of the optical disc drive  10  according to the present invention. The optical disc drive  10  comprises a housing  12 , an insertion slot  16 , and a control button  14 . The user can press the control button  14  or utilize a software interface by means of a computer to control the disc-driving device  25  to feed or eject the disc  20  through the insertion slot  16 . The optical disc drive  10  also comprises a sensor  18  and a light source  22 . When the disc  20  is ejected to the pickup position, the disc  20  blocks the light emitted from the light source  22 , thereby causing the sensor  18  to fail to sense the light. At this moment, the disc  20  is at the pickup position. While the disc  20  is at the pickup position, the logic unit  30  will drive the disc-driving device  25  to feed the disc  20  within the housing  12 . In other words, when the disc  20  is removed, the sensor  18  senses the light again, so that the discdriving device  25  does not need to be activated. Conversely, when the disc  20  is not removed, the logic unit  30  drives the disc-driving device  25  to feed the disc  20  within the housing when the time in which the sensor  18  fails to sense the light reaches a predetermined time.  
         [0021]     Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which is a flowchart of the present invention. It occurs as follows:  
         [0022]     Step  100 : Eject the disc  20  by pressing the control button  14  or utilizing a software interface by means of a computer to control the disc-driving device  25  to eject the disc  20  through the insertion slot  16 , so that the disc is at a pickup position (i.e. the disc  20  is moved from the position shown in  FIG. 2  along a direction of arrow A to the position shown in  FIG. 3 ).  
         [0023]     Step  102 : Count the time in which the disc  20  stays at the pickup position. A timer  24  starts to count the time in which the sensor  18  fails to sense the light emitted from the light source  22 , which results from the light being blocked by the disc  20 .  
         [0024]     Step  104 : If the time in which the disc  20  has stayed at the pickup position reaches a predetermined time, the logic unit  30  drives the disc-driving device  25  to feed the disc  20  into the housing  12  (i.e. the disc  20  is moved from the position shown in  FIG. 3  along a direction of arrow B to the position shown in  FIG. 2 ).  
         [0025]     Notice that, the timer  24  is activated to count time after the disc  20  is present within the housing  12 . In other words, under the circumstance that the disc  20  is not present within the housing  12  in advance, the timer  24  does not count time even though the sensor  18  senses light from the light source  22 .  
         [0026]     Another arrangement of the sensor  18  described as follows is possible. Please refer to  FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the disc  20  being fed within the optical disc drive  40  according to the present invention.  FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of the disc  20  being ejected out of the optical disc drive  40  according to the present invention. The optical disc drive  40  shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6  is similar to the optical disc drive  10 , except for the relative locations of the sensor  18 , the light source  22 , and the disc  20  fed within the housing  12 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , the disc  20  in the housing  12  blocks the light emitted from the light source  22 , such that the sensor  18  fails to sense the light, indicating the disc  20  is present within the housing  12 . Conversely, as shown in  FIG. 6 , the disc  20  is ejected to a pickup position and the sensor  18  senses that the light is not blocked by the disc  20  again. The timer  24  starts to count time when the sensor  18  senses the light. If the time counted by the timer  24  reaches a predetermined time, the disc  20  is also fed.  
         [0027]     Please refer to FIGS.  7  to  9 .  FIG. 7  shows another embodiment of a disc  20  on a tray  55  ejecting to a pickup position from an optical disc drive  50 .  FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of the tray  55  positioned within the optical disc drive  50 .  FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram of the tray  55  being ejected out of the optical disc drive  50 . The optical disc drive  50  comprises a housing  52 , an insertion slot  57 , a tray  55  for supporting a disc  20 , and a control button  54 . The user can press the control button  54  or utilize a software interface by means of a computer to control the tray-driving device  25 to feed or eject the tray  55  through the insertion slot  57 . The optical disc drive  50  comprises a sensor  58  and a light source  62 . When the sensor  58  fails to sense the light, indicating that the tray  55  is emerging out of the housing  52 , the logic unit  70  drives the tray-driving device  65  to feed the tray  55  when the time in which the tray  55  has been out of the housing  52  reaches a predetermined time.  
         [0028]     Please refer to  FIG. 10  in conjunction with  FIGS. 8 and 9 .  FIG. 10  is a flowchart of another embodiment according to the present invention. It occurs as follows:  
         [0029]     Step  200 : Eject the tray  55  by pressing the control button  54  or utilizing a software interface by means of a computer to control the tray-driving device  65  to eject the tray  55  (i.e. the tray  55  is moved from the position shown in  FIG. 8  along a direction of arrow C to the position shown in  FIG. 9 ).  
         [0030]     Step  202 : Count the time in which the tray  20  is out of the housing  52 . A timer  64  starts to count time while the sensor  58  fails to sense the light emitted from the light source  62 , resulting from the light being blocked by the tray  55 .  
         [0031]     Step  204 : If the time in which the tray  55  has been out of the housing  52  reaches a predetermined time, the logic unit  70  drives the tray-driving device  65  to feed the tray  55  into the housing  52  (i.e. the tray  55  is moved from the position shown in  FIG. 9  along a direction of arrow D to the position shown in  FIG. 8 ).  
         [0032]     Similarly, shifting the relative location of the sensor  58  and the light source  62  is allowed. In this case, the sensor  58  can sense the light from the light source  62  when the tray  55  is in the housing  52 . Conversely, the sensor  58  fails to sense the light emitted from the light source  62  and the timer  54  starts to count time when the tray  55  is ejected out of the housing  52 .  
         [0033]     The optical disc drive  50  shown in  FIG. 6  is a tray-in type optical disc drive, in which the sensor  58  is used for determining whether the tray  55  is emerging out of the housing  52 . Alternatively, the sensor  58  of the optical disc drive  50  also can determine whether either the disc  20  or the tray  55  is ejected.  
         [0034]     The above-mentioned predetermined time can be defined during the manufacture process of the optical disc drive or can be defined by the user at any time by means of a computer program.  
         [0035]     The logic units  30 ,  70  can be a hardware circuit or computer code stored in a memory. The disc  20  can be a CD-R disc, a CD-RW disc, a DVD−R disc, a DVD+R disc, a DVD−RW disc, a DVD+RW disc, or a HD-DVD disc.  
         [0036]     In contrast to prior art, the present invention optical disc drive can auto-feed the emerging disc or tray into the housing after a predetermined time has been exceeded, preventing the disc from being contaminated due to a long time exposure outside and preventing the optical disc drive from allowing dust to drift inside, thereby shortening its life.  
         [0037]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, that above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.