Abstract:
An duplicate insertion prevention apparatus for a disc drive, includes at least one door lever to guide a disc being inserted to a disc drive, in contact with the disc, and a duplicate insertion prevention lever to restrain the door lever from rotating when a disc is in operation in the disc drive, preventing insertion of another disc. Accordingly, a simple-structured and compact-sized disc drive may be implemented.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-63218, filed Aug. 11, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a disc drive. More particularly, the present invention relates to a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus to prevent insertion of a disc when another disc is already in operation in a disc drive.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Generally, disc drives record and reproduce information with respect to discs such as a compact disc (CD), a compact disc read-only-memory (CD-ROM), digital video disc (DVD) and a DVD-ROM.  
         [0006]     Recently, a slot-in type disc drive without a tray has been widely used to reduce a size thereof and save space. Also, a loading apparatus which is able to selectively load discs in different sizes, for example, 80 mm and 120 mm, has been widely used.  
         [0007]     However, because the slot-in type disc drive does not include a tray, a user may accidentally insert a disc to the disc drive although another disc is already in operation in the disc drive, causing damage to the disc and other major parts of the disc drive. As a result, an apparatus to prevent duplicate insertion of discs becomes essential. Further a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus having a simple structure and a few number of parts is required for a compact size of the apparatus and low manufacturing cost.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     An aspect of the present invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus for a disc drive, which is simply structured with a few number of component parts.  
         [0009]     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.  
         [0010]     The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus including at least one door lever to guide a disc being inserted to a disc drive, in contact with the disc, and a duplicate insertion prevention lever to restrain the door lever from rotating when a disc is in operation in the disc drive, preventing insertion of another disc.  
         [0011]     According to an aspect of the invention, the door lever includes a first door lever and a second door lever.  
         [0012]     According to an aspect of the invention, the first and the second door levers respectively include first and second door projections contacted with the disc to guide the disc.  
         [0013]     According to an aspect of the invention, the duplicate insertion prevention lever moves among an initial position where the disc is being inserted, an intermediate position where the disc is placed in a chucking position, and a final position where the disc is rotating on a turn table.  
         [0014]     According to an aspect of the invention, the intermediate position and the final position are determined to be different according to a size of the disc being inserted.  
         [0015]     According to an aspect of the invention, the duplicate insertion prevention lever includes an insertion prevention projection to obstruct the second door lever, restraining rotation of the second door lever when another disc is additionally inserted.  
         [0016]     According to an aspect of the invention, the second door lever includes a stopper and a guide groove still being selectively contacted with the insertion prevention projection according to a size of the disc.  
         [0017]     According to an aspect of the invention, the first door lever includes a protruded cam being contacted with a start switch that operates a driving motor, and a cam slot to guide a movement of the second door lever.  
         [0018]     According to an aspect of the invention, the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus may further include an elastic member to connect the first and the second door levers. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]     The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0020]      FIG. 1  is a plan view of a disc loading apparatus adopting a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIGS. 2 and 3  are views explaining an operation of the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus when a 80 mm disc is inserted in the disc loading apparatus of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0022]      FIGS. 4 and 5  are views explaining an operation of the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus when a 120 mm disc is inserted in the disc loading apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0024]     In the following description, same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements even in different drawings. The matters defined in the description such as a detailed construction and elements are nothing but the ones provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the invention. Thus, it is apparent that the present invention can be carried out without those defined matters. Also, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.  
         [0025]     A first disc  1  is a general 80 mm disc, and a second disc  2  is a 120 mm disc. A disc loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a slot-in type disc drive which is able to compatibly load discs in different sizes without a disc tray.  FIG. 1  illustrates a disc loading apparatus  200  for a disc drive having a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210  according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a first door lever  60 , a second door lever  70  and a duplicate insertion prevention lever  90 . The duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210  is disposed on a front of a main chassis  100  of the disc loading apparatus  200  to guide insertion of the discs  1  and  2  and also prevents insertion of one of the discs  1  and  2  when the other one of the discs  1  and  2  is already inserted.  
         [0026]     The first door lever  60  is mounted on the main chassis  100  to rotate with respect to a first door lever rotary shaft  61 . The first door lever  60  includes a first door projection  62 , a protruded cam  65 , a pushing projection  64 , and a cam slot  63 .  
         [0027]     The first door projection  62  is provided on the first door lever  60  to guide insertion of the discs  1  and  2  in contact with the discs  1  and  2 . When the first door lever  60  is rotated by insertion of a disc, the protruded cam  65  is brought into contact with a starting switch S, operating a driving motor (not shown). Accordingly, a transfer roller (not shown) rotates and draws the discs  1  and  2  into the disc drive.  
         [0028]     When the second disc  2  is inserted, the pushing projection  64  pushes out a locking lever  40  such that a disc guide lever  10  is more lifted up in ‘A’ direction compared to when the first disc  1  is inserted. More specifically, when inserting the second disc  2  having a greater diameter than the first disc  1 , the first door lever  60  is rotated in ‘D’ direction with respect to the first door lever rotary shaft  61  by a greater degree compared to when inserting the first disc  1 . Accordingly, the pushing projection  64  pushes a position controlling projection  44  of the locking lever  40 , which is disposed adjacent thereto. Therefore, a stopper projection  52  of a pushing lever  50  that is associated with the position controlling projection  44  is biased in ‘E’ direction by a predetermined distance, thereby enabling the disc guide lever  10  to be lifted in the ‘A’ direction without interference by the position controlling projection  44  of the locking lever  40 , as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0029]     The cam slot  63  receives a cam projection  73  of the second door lever  70  and guides a movement of the cam projection  73  when the first and the second door levers  60  and  70  rotate.  
         [0030]     An elastic member  66  interconnects the first and the second door levers  60  and  70 , so that the first and the second door levers  60  and  70  are elastically biased by each other.  
         [0031]     The second door lever  70  is mounted on the main chassis  100 , being stepped with respect to the first door lever  60 , to rotate with respect to a second door lever rotary shaft  71 . The second door lever  70  includes a second door projection  72 , the cam projection  73 , a stopper  75 , and a guide groove sill  74 .  
         [0032]     The second door projection  72  is provided on the second lever  70  to guide insertion of the discs  1  and  2  in contact with the discs  1  and  2 . The cam projection  73  received in the cam slot of the first door lever  60  moves along the cam slot  63  when the first and the second door levers  60  and  70  are biased by the discs  1  and  2  being inserted, thereby rotating in the ‘D’ and ‘C’ directions, respectively.  
         [0033]     The stopper  75  is protruded on a bottom surface of the second door lever  70 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , toward the main chassis  100 . When the first disc  1  operates in the disc drive, the stopper  75  is contacted with an insertion prevention projection  92  of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90 , which will be described hereinbelow, as shown in  FIG. 3 . If the first disc  1  is already inserted in the disc drive, the stopper  75  obstructs the insertion prevention projection  92 . Therefore, the second door lever  70  cannot rotate, and accordingly, another disc is not allowed to be inserted to the disc drive.  
         [0034]     The guide groove sill  74  is formed in an arc shape at one side of the second door lever  70 . When the second disc  2  operates in the disc drive, the guide groove sill  74  is contacted with the insertion prevention projection  92  of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . When the second disc  2  has already been inserted in the disc drive, the guide groove sill  74  obstructs the insertion prevention projection  92 . Therefore, the second door lever  70  cannot rotate, and accordingly, the another disc is not allowed to be inserted to the disc drive.  
         [0035]     When the disc  1  or  2  is rotated on a turn table, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  restrains, in association with the second door lever  70 , other discs from being inserted to the disc drive. The duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is mounted on the main chassis  100  to rotate with respect to a duplicate insertion prevention lever rotary shaft  91  by a predetermined angle and includes the insertion prevention projection  92 , a cam boss  93 , and an elastic member  94 .  
         [0036]     The cam boss  93  is received in a cam hole  12  of the disc guide lever  10 . Therefore, as the disc guide lever  10  is lifted by the discs  1  and  2 , the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  rotates in the ‘D’ direction with respect to a duplicate insertion prevention lever rotary shaft  91 .  
         [0037]     The insertion prevention projection  92  is provided on the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90 . When the disc  1  or  2  is inserted in the disc drive, the insertion prevention projection  92  is obstructed by the stopper  75  or the guide groove sill  74  so that the second door lever  70  cannot rotate. When inserting the disc  1  or  2  in the disc drive, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is initially positioned as shown in  FIG. 1 . Therefore, the insertion prevention projection  92  is placed under the second door lever  70 , and rotation of the second door lever  70  is not obstructed by the insertion prevention projection  92 . Therefore, the disc  1  or  2  may be inserted into the disc drive. When the first disc  1  is inserted and placed on a chucking position, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is contacted with the stopper  75  of the second door lever  70 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . As a result, the second door lever  70  is not able to rotate in the ‘C’ direction. When the second disc  2  is inserted and placed on the chucking position, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is contacted with the guide groove sill  74  of the second door lever  70 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . Accordingly, the second door lever  70  is not able to rotate in the ‘C’ direction.  
         [0038]     The elastic member  94  is mounted at one side of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  to elastically bias the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  in the ‘A’ direction.  
         [0039]     In  FIG. 1 , the disc guide lever  10  includes disc guide projections  18  and  19 . By contact of the discs  1  and  2  with the guide projections  18  and  19 , the disc guide lever  10  is pushed by the discs  1  and  2  and moved in the ‘A’ direction, thereby guiding the discs  1  and  2  to the chucking position.  
         [0040]     The pushing lever  50  is mounted on the main chassis  100  to rotate with respect to a pushing lever rotary shaft  51 . The pushing lever  50  pushes a slider  80  in the ‘B’ direction in association with the disc guide lever  10 , connecting the slider  80  to a power transmission unit (not shown) which drives the transfer roller (not shown).  
         [0041]     A gear cam  20  is mounted on the main chassis  100  to rotate with respect to a gear cam rotary shaft  21 . In association with a reciprocal movement of the slider  80 , the gear cam  20  is rotated by a predetermined angle. The locking lever  40  mounted on the main chassis  100  to rotate with respect to a locking lever rotary shaft  41  controls the disc guide lever  10  to be placed on the chucking position. In association with rotation of the gear cam  20 , the locking lever  40  is rotated by a predetermined angle with respect to a locking lever rotary shaft  41  so as to release the disc guide lever  10  which is locked on the chucking position.  
         [0042]     A releasing lever  30  is rotatably mounted on the main chassis  100  to rotate with respect to a releasing lever rotary shaft  31 . In association with the rotation of the gear cam  20 , the releasing lever  30  is rotated by a predetermined angle with respect to a releasing lever rotary shaft  31  so as to separate the disc guide lever from the discs  1  and  2 . Therefore, only after the disc guide lever  10  is separated from the discs  1  and  2 , the discs  1  and  2  are able to rotate on the turn table (not shown). During the rotation of the discs  1  and  2 , an optical pickup (not shown) moves in a radial direction of the discs  1  and  2  to record or reproduce information with respect to the discs  1  and  2 .  
         [0043]     Hereinbelow, an operation of the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210  of the disc drive, according to an embodiment of the present invention, will be described.  
         [0044]     When the first disc  1 , which is a 80 mm disc, is inserted, the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210  operates as follows.  
         [0045]      FIG. 1  illustrates the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  disposed in an initial position. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the first disc  1  is inserted into the disc drive in the ‘A1’ direction into the disc drive. The disc guide lever  10  is in an initial state where it is not obstructed by the first disc  1 . The inserted first disc  1  pushes the first and the second door levers  60  and  70  in contact with the first and the second door projections  62  and  72 . The first and the second door levers  60  and  70  rotate with respect to the first and the second door lever rotary shafts  61  and  71  in the ‘D’ and ‘C’ directions, respectively, thereby being distanced from each other. A protruded cam  65  of the first door lever  60  is contacted with the starting switch S, thereby operating the driving motor (not shown). Accordingly, the transfer roller (not shown) rotates, and the first disc  1  is drawn into the disc drive by the transfer roller.  
         [0046]      FIG. 2  illustrates the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  disposed in an intermediate position in a state that the first disc  1  is moved to the chucking position. The first disc  1  being inserted is brought into contact with the disc guide projections  18  and  19  of the disc guide lever  10 . By continuous rotation of the transfer roller (not shown), the first disc  1  keeps moving the disc guide lever  10  in the ‘A’ direction, and the disc guide lever  10  stops when it is lifted up to the chucking position. By the disc guide lever  10  being lifted in the ‘A’ direction, the cam boss  93  received in the cam hole  12  of the disc guide lever  10  moves up, and accordingly, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is rotated with respect to the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus rotary shaft  91  by a predetermined angle in the ‘D’ direction. Consequently, the insertion prevention projection  92  of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  comes close to the stopper  75  of the second door lever  70 .  
         [0047]      FIG. 3  illustrates the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  disposed in a final position where the first disc  1  is rotatable on the turn table after the disc guide lever  10  is separated from the first disc  1  disposed on the chucking position. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the disc guide lever  10  is separated by a certain distance from the chucking position ( FIG. 2 ) in the ‘A’ direction by the releasing lever  30 . Accordingly, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is more rotated from the chucking position in the ‘D’ direction, contacting with one side of the stopper  75  of the second door lever  70  by the insertion prevention projection  92  thereof.  
         [0048]     If the second door lever  70  is rotated in ‘C’ direction, in this state, by insertion of another disc, the insertion prevention projection  92  of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  obstructs the stopper  75  of the second door lever  70 , restraining the second door lever  70  from rotating. As a result, the another disc can not enter the disc drive.  
         [0049]     When the second disc  2 , which is a 120 mm disc, is inserted, the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210  operates as described below.  
         [0050]     As shown in  FIG. 1  in which the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is in the initial position, the second disc  2  is inserted in the disc drive in the ‘A1’ direction, that is, a loading direction. The inserted second disc  2  pushes the first and the second door levers  60  and  70 , in contact with the first and the second door projections  62  and  72  of the first and the second door levers  60  and  70 . The first and the second door levers  60  and  70  are rotated in the ‘D’ and ‘C’ direction with respect to the first and the second door lever rotary shaft  61  and  71 , respectively, thereby being distanced from each other. The protruded cam  65  of the first door lever  60  is contacted with the start switch S, operating the driving motor (not shown). Accordingly, the transfer roller (not shown) rotates, and the second disc  2  is drawn into the disc drive by the transfer roller.  
         [0051]     When inserting the second disc  2  having a greater diameter than the first disc  1 , the first door lever  60  is rotated in the ‘D’ direction with respect to the first door lever rotary shaft  61  by a greater degree compared to when inserting the first disc  1 . The position controlling projection  44  of the locking lever  40  which is in association with the pushing projection  64  of the first door lever  60  biases the stopper projection  52  of a pushing lever  50  in the ‘E’ direction. Accordingly, the pushing lever  50  is moved in the ‘E’ direction. Therefore, when inserting the second disc  2 , the disc guide lever  10  may be lifted in the ‘A’ direction more than when inserting the first disc  1 , without interference by the stopper boss  53 .  
         [0052]      FIG. 4  illustrates the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  disposed in an intermediate position in which the second disc  2  is moved to the chucking position. The second disc  2  being inserted is brought into contact with the disc guide projections  18  and  19  of the disc guide lever  10 . By continuous rotation of the transfer roller, the first disc  1  keeps moving the disc guide lever  10  in the ‘A’ direction, and the disc guide lever  10  stops when lifted up to the chucking position.  
         [0053]     Since the second door lever  70  is rotated in the ‘C’ direction with respect to the second door lever rotary shaft  71  by a greater degree compared to when inserting the first disc  1 , the insertion prevention projection  92  of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is lifted toward the guide groove sill  74  of the second door lever  70  through a path ‘G’. While the second door lever  70  is rotated by insertion of the second disc  2 , the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is rotated by a predetermined angle in the ‘D’ direction due to the disc guide lever  10  being lifted. Therefore the insertion prevention projection  92  disposed in front of the stopper  75  is lifted in the ‘A’ direction. Accordingly, when the second door lever  70  is returned to an initial state after insertion of the second disc  2 , the insertion prevention projection  92  is disposed behind the stopper  75 .  
         [0054]      FIG. 5  shows the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  disposed in a final position where the second disc  2  is rotatable on the turn table after the disc guide lever  10  is separated from the second disc  2  disposed on the chucking position. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the disc guide lever  10  is separated by a certain distance from the chucking position ( FIG. 4 ) in the ‘A’ direction by the releasing lever  30 . Accordingly, the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  is more rotated from the chucking position in the ‘D’ direction, contacting with the guide groove sill  74  of the second door lever  70  by the insertion prevention projection  92  thereof.  
         [0055]     If the second door lever  70  is rotated in the ‘C’ direction, in this state, by insertion of another disc, the insertion prevention projection  92  of the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90  obstructs the guide groove sill  74  of the second door lever  70 , restraining the second door lever  70  from rotating. As a result, the other disc can not enter the disc drive.  
         [0056]     According to the above description of the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210 , when a disc is already inserted in the disc drive, insertion of another disc may be prevented by using a simple structure including the door levers  60  and  70  and the duplicate insertion prevention lever  90 .  
         [0057]     Furthermore, since the duplicate insertion prevention apparatus  210  does not require an additional space for installment, the disc drive may be manufactured with a shin configuration, thereby saving the manufacturing cost.  
         [0058]     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.