JP3385669B2 - Lens cleaner for optical recording / reproducing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lens cleaner and a lens cleaning method for an optical head used in an optical information recording / reproducing apparatus such as an optical disk device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical discs have characteristics such as high recording density, long life of the medium because recording and reproducing can be performed in a non-contact manner, and random access is much faster than a medium such as tape. It is used in many applications such as image files, data files, document files, etc. as a CD and a recording and reproducing device. However, unlike magnetic hard disks, it is difficult to make the entire device into a sealed structure because of its structure that facilitates medium replacement, which is one of its greatest features, and dust in the air flowing in from the outside of the device, etc. As a result, the objective lens on the optical head is easily contaminated and the recording / reproducing characteristics of the signal deteriorate when used for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly clean the objective lens. Conventionally, with respect to such a lens cleaner, lens cleaning as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-43386 has been proposed. Figure 5 below
A conventional lens cleaner and lens cleaning method will be briefly described with reference to (a) and (b).

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a cleaning disk, which is a disk having the same shape as the optical disk. Reference numeral 1A is a cleaning member fixed to the cleaning disk by adhesion or the like. Reference numeral 2 is an optical disk or a disk motor for rotating the cleaning disk 1, 3 is an optical head for reading a signal encoded on the optical disk, 4 is an objective lens of the optical head, 5 and 6 are the optical head 3 in the radial direction of the disk. The moving mechanism and the moving mechanism motor. When the cleaning operation is performed, the cleaning disc 1 rotates in place of the normally mounted optical disc, and when the cleaning disc rotates over a predetermined rotation, the laser mounted on the optical head 3 is caused to emit light, and the objective lens 4 is moved up and down to move the disc. The focus control is pulled in to make the objective lens follow the surface deviation. The cleaning member 1A comes into contact with the objective lens 4 at the time of this focus pulling-in operation to remove dust accumulated on the lens.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned structure has a problem that the lens cleaning cannot be performed unless the cleaning disk is rotated.

Further, there is a problem that the cleaning member alone has a small effect on sticky dust such as cigarette smoke and the dust cannot be sufficiently removed. Generally, in the market, there is a lot of dirt on the lens portion due to sticky dust, and a means for cleaning this is demanded.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a lens cleaner capable of cleaning the objective lens not only with dry dust but also with adhesive dust, and a cleaning method with the cleaner being stationary. is there.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the lens cleaner of the present invention is designed to clean the lens at a height substantially corresponding to the position of the recording medium in the movable region of the objective lens of the recording / reproducing apparatus. For cleaning, the cleaning member elastically deforms into a substantially lens shape when the objective lens comes into contact with the cleaning member, and the core member is made of a brush or the like that determines the outer shape of the cleaning member, and the surface of the core member is hygroscopic. It has a structure covered with a cloth-like cleaning cover.

[0008]

According to the present invention, when the lens cleaner is made stationary by the above-mentioned structure, not only powdery dust of the objective lens of the optical head, but also alcohol or the like on the cloth of the cleaning cover depending on the dirt state of the objective lens. The cleaning member has oil-fat-dissolving characteristics and elasticity, and is deformed flexibly when the objective lens is uneven, and it contacts on many surfaces and removes dirt components, so sticky dust can also be removed. It is possible to improve the reliability of recording and reproducing information, extend the life of the device, and facilitate maintenance.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method for cleaning an objective lens of an optical head according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1A and 1B are structural views showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the lens cleaner of the present invention.

In FIG. 1A, the lens cleaner contacts the cleaning cartridge 7 with the objective lens 4 of the optical head 3, the objective lens holder, or other optical means such as a reflective photocoupler for detecting disk mounting. The objective lens 4 facing the position where the optical head 3 moves is fixed to a cleaner holder 7B integrally formed with the cleaning lever 7A in the cartridge 7 in a fixed or semi-fixed manner. And a cleaner fixing member 8, and a substantially cylindrical lens cleaning member 9 is installed in a region where the objective lens performs a cleaning operation. The cleaning member 9 includes a brush 9A for lens cleaning and a fine fiber cloth used for cleaning eyeglasses. It has a structure in which a cleaning cover 9B composed of the above is wound. The central portion of the cleaning cartridge 7 has a larger diameter than the disk holding portion of the disk motor turntable for originally holding and rotating the disk so that the cleaner holder 7B does not rotate and the disk motor 2 idles. It is a lens cleaner with a sensor hole 7C for identifying the existence. Further, the cleaner holder 7B has a structure in which the fan-shaped region can be rotated in the direction of the arrow X by the cleaning lever 7A according to the dirt state of the lens and the cleaning result. In addition, the cleaning member 9,
The cleaner fixing member 8 can be fixed and removed in the direction of the thick arrow S, and the cleaning cover 9B also has a brush 9A.
From FIG. 1 (a), it can be attached and detached, and can be replaced depending on the degree of dirt.

Although the brush 9A has been described in the above description, the member 9A is not limited to this, and may be any member that can be elastically deformed by a relatively small force and whose outer shape can be substantially determined, and is made of a material such as foamed resin or sponge. It is also possible.

With the above-described structure, as shown in the positional relationship with the objective lens in FIG. 2B, the brush 9A has elasticity so that it can be cleaned along the surface of the lens, and the cleaning cover has a substantially objective lens. It is configured to deform along with and to be contacted on more surfaces than the brush. The cleaning cover 9B is used empirically from a period in which the lens needs to be cleaned due to an increase in recording errors of the optical disc device or a device-specific instruction, or when the lens surface is visible from the outside and the objective lens is extremely dirty by visual confirmation. Alcohol as needed,
By allowing oil-melting liquid such as a neutral detergent to soak in the cleaning operation, oily stains can be effectively removed.

In the above example, the lens cleaning member 9
Has been described with the substantially cylindrical brush 9A and the cleaning cover 9B, but as shown in FIGS. 3 (a), (b), and (c), wrap a cloth around the half surface and the other surface of the brush. It is also possible to use a combination of the above-mentioned members (a), a part of the brushes and a part of the other members with the cloth wound around the brush (b), or a triangular prism or a quadrangular prism (c) without being limited to the cylindrical shape. Yes, by preparing these various forms and replacing the cleaning member, it is performed with the brush first, and when there is no effect, the cleaning cover containing the oil and fat dissolving liquid such as cloth is used. The effect can be further improved by carrying out.

In the above embodiment, the cleaner holder 7B has been described as being placed in a movable state, but it may be fixed in a specific position in the cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of an optical disk device for explaining a lens cleaning method using the lens cleaner of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, 2 is a disk motor, 3 is an optical head, 4 is an objective lens, 5 is a feed mechanism, 6 is a feed mechanism motor, 7 is a cleaning cartridge, 8 is a cleaner fixing member, 9 is a cleaning member, and 9A. Is a brush, 9
B is a cleaning cover, 10 is a signal detection circuit, 11 is a semiconductor laser drive circuit, 12 is a focus and tracking detection circuit (hereinafter abbreviated as FO and TR detection circuit), 13 is a disk motor drive control circuit, 14 is a signal processing circuit, 1
Reference numeral 5 is a drive mechanism motor drive circuit, 16 is a focus control circuit, 17 is a tracking control circuit, 18 is a drive control circuit, and 19 is a disk motor synchronization signal detection / non-detection switching SW circuit. The cleaning cartridge used in this example has the structure shown in FIG.

The operation of the method of cleaning the objective lens 4 of the optical head 3 having the above-mentioned structure will be described. The cleaning cartridge shown in FIG. 1 is inserted from the disc insertion opening like a disc for performing normal recording / reproducing of an optical disc device. The optical disk device recognizes the sensor hole 7C for recognizing the cleaning cartridge with a micro switch or the like, and drives the drive control circuit 18
However, the switch circuit (hereinafter referred to as the SW circuit) 19 is switched to a mode in which the disc motor synchronization signal is not detected, the disc motor 2 is rotated without load, and the optical head 3 is driven by the feeding mechanism 5 and the feeding mechanism motor 6 to the outer circumference or inside. The optical head is moved inward or outward while the objective lens 4 is moved up and down. When an optical disc, which is a normal recording medium, is inserted, a laser beam spot is drawn onto the recording film of the optical disc to form a position control loop for the optical spot to perform a recording / reproducing operation. In this case, since the cleaning cartridge is recognized, the lens cleaning member 9 of the cleaning cartridge and the objective lens 4 of the optical head 3 are brought into contact with each other to perform lens cleaning. The number of times is set to be larger than that of the normal pull-in operation, for example, normally 5 to 10
If the pulling-in operation is not confirmed even after performing the pulling-in operation twice, the apparatus is stopped and the operator is informed of the abnormality. If the cleaning cartridge is recognized, the vertical movement and the feeding movement are repeated up to 20 to 50 times. It is set. If you want to cancel the operation on the way, you can take out the cartridge from the device and stop this operation. Further, it is effective to set a time limit, for example, to configure the program so as to end the main operation after moving up and down for about 2 minutes, in order to continue the main operation excessively and protect the objective lens from damage. . Further, instead of the focus pull-in operation, a DC offset may be applied to the drive portion of the actuator that moves in the vertical direction of the objective lens so that the lens cleaning member 9 and the optical head 3 are brought into contact with each other and moved in the outer or inner circumferential direction. The same effect can be obtained. Furthermore, in the above description, the operation was ignored while rotating the disk motor in order to use the normal operation routine together, but if there is enough memory in the program, it can be used for independent cleaning. By configuring the program, the disc motor 2 after the disc is inserted by means for identifying a sensor hole or the like in the lens cleaner.
Even if lens cleaning is performed by adding a mode to the optical disk device in which the optical head 3 is moved to the outer or inner circumference and the objective lens 4 mounted on the optical head 3 is moved up and down in the focus direction without operating Good.

In the above description, the objective lens is moved up and down by the retraction operation after feeding to the inner and outer circumferences using the feeding mechanism. However, after confirming the sensor hole, the objective lens is simply moved up and down at that position. The effect can be sufficiently obtained by simply performing. Further, the feeding operation is not limited to the above, and it is effective even for stains having different adhesion strengths by repetitive movement and moving by programming so as to appropriately change the feeding speed. At this time, the dirt of the objective lens is checked again by the error occurrence rate of the device, the cleaning cover 9B is made to contain a few drops of alcohol and the like, and the same operation is performed again. It is possible to remove even dirt with strong adhesion. Further, during the focus pull-in operation, the operator is informed that the objective lens is moving up and down by means such as an LED,
By synchronously swinging the cleaning lever in the horizontal direction, the cleaning effect can be further enhanced.

In the above operation, the method has been described in which the objective lens is moved up and down while being placed at a predetermined position to perform a feeding operation. However, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, half of the brush itself is the core member. When the one exposed on the surface is used, after performing the cleaning operation using the cleaning cover 9B2 or 9B3, the brush portion 9A is gradually removed.
It is suitable for effectively removing dirt that has moved strongly to 2, 9A3 or moves in the opposite direction and has strong adhesiveness, and dust and other simply accumulated matter. In this case, by selecting a material with a large amount of reflected light such as white for the cleaning cover,
If the optical disk device side also performs the cleaning operation while emitting the laser, it is possible to confirm that the reflectance has changed by the amplitude of the error signal and the peak value of the reflected light amount in the FO and TR detection circuits 12 and the like, so that both areas are confirmed. While 9A2, 9
Further cleaning effect can be obtained by performing the reciprocating operation between the cleaning cover regions a plurality of times as in B2, 9A2, 9B2 ... In this case, by moving the objective lens up and down by the above-described focus pull-in operation after inserting the cleaning cartridge, the optical head is moved by the feeding mechanism from the outermost circumference to the position corresponding to the innermost circumference of the recording medium, and the amount of reflected light at that time is changed. Use a drive control circuit such as a microcomputer to check if the maximum value changes significantly during the process. Then, as described above, 9A2, 9B2, 9A2, 9B2
Using the feeding mechanism 5, the drive control circuit 18, the focus control circuit 16 and the like in this area, a long stroke is repeatedly moved to perform lens cleaning. These operations may be ended by the number of times or may be ended by the time. Further, if the value with the largest amount of reflected light in one repetitive operation is digitized by an A / D converter or the like and taken into the drive control circuit 18, and if it is confirmed that the amount of increase in the amount of reflected light has decreased, then the operation is completed, The effect is great. Here, a mark tape having a high reflectance as much as a recording medium for information may be provided in a certain width at a specific location such as the outermost periphery of the cleaning cover 9B2 to confirm the end of the cleaning operation.
In particular, when an oil-fusing liquid such as alcohol is used, it may easily evaporate due to the nature of the liquid, so a small tank filled with the liquid or an absorber made of a sponge material is provided at the center of the cleaning member 9. That is also an effective means. Furthermore, if several kinds of cleaning members having different properties of the liquid are prepared and, for example, neutral detergent liquid, pure water, alcohol, etc. are used in a fixed order as described above,
Even dirt that is very difficult to remove can be cleaned relatively easily.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the cleaning member comes into contact with the objective lens, it is elastically deformed into a substantially lens shape, and the core member is formed by a brush or the like that determines the outer shape of the cleaning member, and the core member. The cleaning cartridge has a structure in which its surface is covered with a hygroscopic sheet-like or cloth-like cleaning cover, and it is possible to selectively use both wet and dry types, or a cleaning program dedicated to the cartridge By preparing with, it is possible to clean the lens cleanly not only with powdery dust on the objective lens of the optical head but also with sticky dust such as cigarette smoke, improving the reliability and maintenance of the recording / reproducing device. The effect of facilitating the above is obtained.

In the above embodiment, the optical disk device is used for explanation, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is obvious that the optical disk device is effective when placed in a device such as an optical card for recording and reproducing. .

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, a core member which is elastically deformable by a brush or the like for determining the outer shape of the cleaning member and the surface of the core member is covered with a hygroscopic sheet-like or cloth-like cleaning cover. By introducing a new lens cleaning member configuration in which a cleaning cartridge having the above-mentioned configuration and capable of selectively using both wet and dry types, or preparing a cleaning program dedicated to the cartridge and the apparatus in the apparatus , Not only the dry dust, but also the dirt of the objective lens of the optical head, which has sticky dust such as cigarette smoke, can be cleaned cleanly, and the effect is to improve the reliability of the recording / reproducing device and facilitate maintenance There is a big one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a lens cleaner of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing an outline of the mounting relationship between the lens cleaner of the present invention and a cleaning cartridge.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing an outline of a positional relationship between a lens cleaner and an objective lens of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a sectional view of the same.

3A, 3B and 3C are perspective views showing another embodiment of the lens cleaner of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an optical disk device.

5A is a side view of a conventional lens cleaning device, and FIG. 5B is a plan view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Cleaning Disc 2 Disc Motor 3 Optical Head 4 Objective Lens 5 Feed Mechanism 6 Feed Mechanism Motor 7 Cleaning Cartridge 7C Sensor Hole 8 Cleaner Fixing Member 9 Cleaning Member 9A Brush 9B Cleaning Cover 10 Signal Detection Circuit 11 Semiconductor Laser Drive Circuit 12 FO, TR Detection circuit 13 Disc motor drive control circuit 14 Signal processing circuit 15 Feed mechanism and feed mechanism motor drive circuit 16 Focus control circuit 17 Tracking control circuit 18 Drive control circuit 19 Disc motor synchronization signal detection / non-detection switching S
W circuit

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-6-20295 (JP, A) JP-A-2-158975 (JP, A) JP-A-4-3362 (JP, A) JP-A-1-251483 (JP , A) JP 5-250711 (JP, A) JP 4-170728 (JP, A) JP 4-176029 (JP, A) Actual flat 6-58418 (JP, U) Actual flat 3-103401 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 7/12

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cleaning cartridge case having substantially the same shape as a cartridge case of a recording medium used in a recording / reproducing apparatus for optically recording / reproducing information corresponds to a movable area of an objective lens of the recording / reproducing apparatus. A cleaning member for cleaning the lens is provided at a height substantially at the position of the recording medium, and the cleaning member elastically deforms into a substantially lens shape when the objective lens comes into contact therewith,
A lens cleaner for an optical recording / reproducing apparatus, characterized in that a core member that determines the outer shape of the cleaning member and a surface of the core member are covered with a sheet-like cleaning cover. 2. The cleaning member is semi-fixedly attached to a cleaner holder in the cleaning cartridge, the cleaner holder is movably supported in the cleaner cartridge, and the cleaner holder is installed in the recording / reproducing apparatus rather than the cleaning cartridge. 2. The lens cleaner for an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lens cleaner protrudes toward a front surface of the device when mounted and can be moved in a surface direction of the cleaner holder by a lever attached to the cleaner holder. 3. The lens cleaner for an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning member has a cylindrical shape. 4. The lens cleaner for an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning member has a polygonal column shape. 5. The optical recording / reproducing according to claim 1, wherein the surface area of the cleaning cover is smaller than the surface area of the cleaning member and a part of the cleaning member has a portion where the core member is exposed. Equipment lens cleaner. 6. The brush according to claim 1, wherein the core member is a brush in which a large number of fibers are planted on a core member.
A lens cleaner for an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to any one of 1. 7. The cleaning cover is cloth-shaped,
7. A lens cleaner for an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an oil-fusing liquid is contained in the interface between the cleaning cover and the core member. 8. The optical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning cartridge has an identification mark indicating a cleaning cartridge at a position corresponding to the detection mechanism of the recording / reproducing apparatus. Lens cleaner for recording / playback equipment.