Patent ID: 7291996

Claim:
An optical disc drive which can record and/or reproduce data onto and/or from an optical disc, the optical disc drive comprising: a three-phase spindle motor for rotating the optical disc, the spindle motor having three coils; rotation number measuring means for measuring the rotation number of the spindle motor; brake means for braking the spindle motor to reduce the rotation number thereof to finally stop the rotation of the spindle motor, the brake means including at least three types of brake modes, the at least three types of brake modes including a first brake mode which uses windage loss by idling of the spindle motor, a second brake mode which uses a short brake that is made by causing short circuit in between any two coils of the three coils in the spindle motor, and a third brake mode which uses a reverse rotation brake that is made by controlling the current flow so as to rotate the spindle motor in the reverse direction of the normal rotation; and selecting means for selecting one of the three types of brake modes in response to the rotation number measured by the rotation number measuring means when the rotation number of the spindle motor is to be reduced, wherein the selecting means selects the first brake mode to reduce the rotation number of the spindle motor using the windage by the idling of the spindle motor when the rotation number exceeds a first predetermined threshold value, to thereby reduce the rotation number of the spindle motor below the first threshold value, then when the rotation number of the spindle motor is reached at the first threshold value, the selecting means selects the second brake mode to carry out the short brake to thereby reduce the rotation number of the spindle motor below a second predetermined threshold value, and then when the rotation number of the spindle motor is reached at the second threshold value, the selecting means selects the third brake mode to carry out the reverse brake to thereby stop the rotation of the spindle motor, and wherein the selection of the brake modes is operated only when the spindle motor rotates at a high rotational speed above the first threshold value.