JPH039558B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a disc-shaped information recording medium storage case, for example, a disc-shaped information recording medium (hereinafter also referred to as a disk) that is rotatably driven within an apparatus. In a device that reproduces a recorded signal by relatively scanning the disc with an optical pickup unit, the disc stored in the disc-shaped information recording medium storage case can be stored in the device together with the case without the need to operate the disc alone. The present invention relates to a disc-shaped information recording medium storage case that protects the disc by inserting it in a horizontal state, for example, and allowing the disc stored in the case to remain inside the device together with the disc mounting member.

(Prior art and its problems) In the conventional method of recording (or reproducing) an audio signal in the form of an analog signal on a disc-shaped information recording medium such as a record, noise may be generated in the reproduced sound due to the characteristics of the media. Analog technology has problems that cannot be avoided, such as distortion and the inability to obtain high quality sound.

In recent years, with the increasing quality of audio equipment (high-fidelity technology), instead of the conventional analog recording method, analog signals are converted to digital signals, and audio signals are converted into digital signals on disk-shaped information recording media (hereinafter referred to as "disc-shaped information recording media"). So-called digital audio recorded digitally on
Disks (DAD) are becoming popular. This digital audio disk records audio information at a high density, is free from noise and distortion compared to conventional analog signal recording methods, and produces high-quality sound with a wide frequency band. That's what you get.

A playback device that plays back such a digital audio disk includes a playback device equipped with a vertical disk loading mechanism that optically plays back signals by rotating the disk while standing vertically within the device; Two types of loading methods have been proposed: one is a reproducing device equipped with a horizontal disk loading mechanism that reproduces signals by rotating the disk in a horizontal state;

When playing back signals recorded on a disc using the two types of playback devices mentioned above, the disc is removed directly from the flat box-shaped storage case and placed on the playback device's disk mounting base. After placing the disc, by operating a loading operation button, the disc is pulled into the device along with the disc mounting base, and the disc is set in a playable state.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned digital audio disk, the audio signal is recorded with an extremely high density of track pitches by intermittent bit strings having minute shapes such as, for example, 0.1 μm in depth, 0.5 μm in width, and 3.3 μm in length at most. Since an aluminum reflective film is deposited on the recorded surface to reflect the laser beam, extreme care must be taken when handling to avoid scratches, dust, and fingerprints on the signal recording surface. It is desirable to operate it without touching it with human hands as much as possible.

Therefore, none of the above-mentioned conventional playback devices have been designed to protect the signal recording surface of the disk, so they can be used, for example, as a car stereo in a car with a lot of vibrations, or for karaoke and alcohol use. If the disc is used and operated while under the influence of alcohol, the disc may hit other parts due to car vibrations, damaging the signal recording surface, or contaminating the signal recording surface with alcohol or dirty hands. This caused many problems, such as preventing the reflection of the laser beam during reproduction and causing signal dropout, and in the worst case, making the disk unusable.

(Objective of the Invention) The object of the present invention was to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and to reproduce (or record) recorded signals on a disk without touching the disk directly. In a disc-shaped information recording medium storage case that can be inserted into and retrieved from a playback (or recording) device together with the disc-shaped information recording medium storage case, the vertical direction between the case body and the disk mounting member that stores and places the disc. To provide a disk-shaped information recording medium storage case which prevents erroneous insertion of the disk and protects the signal recording surface of the disk by regulating the vertical movement of the stored disk.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a case body with one side open, and a disk-shaped information recording medium that is removably housed in the case body. a disk mounting member having a disk storage recess, and a lid removably coupled to the opening of the case body to close the opening, and the lid is inserted into the device with the lid as a leading end. In a disc-shaped information recording medium storage case configured such that when the case is pulled out, the disc-shaped information recording medium is retained in the apparatus along with the disk mounting member, an inner surface of the case body is provided with a direction in which the case body is inserted. A guide portion for instructing is formed to protrude along the insertion direction across the disk storage recess of the disk mounting member, and in the disk storage recess,
A protrusion that supports the housed disk-shaped information recording medium is formed in a protruding manner, and the guide portion and the protrusion restrict movement of the disk-shaped information recording medium in the vertical direction. The present invention provides a disk-shaped information recording medium storage case.

(Embodiment of the Invention) An embodiment of the disc-shaped information recording medium storage case according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the disk-shaped information recording medium storage case (hereinafter referred to as disk storage case) according to the present invention, in which a portion of the internal disk mounting member is protruded and a portion of the upper half is broken. FIG. 4A is a side view and FIG. B is a top view. 2 is a longitudinal side view taken along the Y--Y line showing the state in which the disk in FIG. 1 is housed, and FIG. 3 is a rear view of the disk mounting member.

In each figure, a disk storage case A includes a case body 1 formed into a rectangular shape by combining a pair of upper half bodies 1a and a lower half body 1b, and a case body 1 with a front side in the insertion direction indicated by an arrow _X1 . It is generally composed of a slidable disk mounting member 2 on which a disk 3 is placed and which are detachably connected to each other.

The case body 1 has an opening 4 on the side in the insertion direction, and the remaining three sides are closed, and within the flat space is a disk mounting member 2 for placing and storing a disk 3 on which signals are recorded on one and both sides. It is slidably stored.

A protrusion (identification part) 5 such as a knurl is integrally formed near the rear end of the top surface of the case body 1, so that it can be easily detected by touch in the dark, for example, without visually checking the top and bottom of the case body 1. The upper and lower sides of the case body 1 are then identified.

In addition, a storage recess 8 is provided on the rear side 6 of the case body 1.
is provided here for manually releasing lock arms 37 and 38, which will be described later, of the disk mounting member 2, which are integrally formed in a substantially U-shape by a pair of arm portions 7a and 7b that stand up from the main body 7c. A tool 7 for unlocking is stored. The tips of the pair of arms 7a, 7b of this tool 7 are provided with hook portions 7a', 7b' bent inward from each other, and usually have storage recesses formed in the case body 1 and shaped to correspond to the tool 7. The hook portions 7a', 7 are attached to the recessed portions 8a, 8b in the 8
b′ is elastically fitted and stored. In this stored state, the main body 7c of the tool 7 constitutes a part of the rear surface 6 of the case main body 1, and is substantially flush with this. By detachably attaching the tool 7 to the case body 1 in this way, the disk 3 stored in the disk storage case A can be taken out as needed without being used only with a dedicated playback device. As a result, the ejected disk 3 can be played back by the conventional playback device described above, which adds to the mobility of the disk 3.

In addition, the side walls 9 and 10 that constitute a part of the opening 4 of the case body 1 have notches 11 and 12 and through holes 13 and 14 that are continuous from the opening 4 approximately in the direction in which the case body 1 enters. The lock arms 37 and 38 of the disk mounting member 2 and operating levers 45 and 46 in the device are allowed to enter and rotate, respectively, and the lock arms 37 of the disk mounting member 2 are formed in a straight line. ,3
It has the function of locking and holding 8.

As shown in FIGS. 1B and 2, the inner surface of the upper half 1a of the case body 1 has a disk storage recess 16 (described later) in the insertion direction of the case body 1 into the device.
A pair of guide portions 15a and 15b are formed to extend and protrude in the direction of the lid portion 18 astride. That is, since the guide portions 15a, 15b and the projection portion 5 for identifying the upper and lower portions formed on the upper surface of the upper half body 1a have a certain relationship with each other, in the disk recovery operation described later, the case body 1
This will prevent the device from being incorrectly inserted upside down into the device.

The disk mounting member 2 is formed into a flat plate shape,
In addition, a disk mounting portion 17 having an arcuate disk storage recess 16 for placing and storing the disk 3 and a lid portion 18 for closing the opening 4 of the case body 1 are integrally formed. A turntable insertion hole 19 is formed in the center of the turntable for allowing a turntable (not shown) of the device to enter therein, and a long hole 20 is formed continuously behind the turntable insertion hole 19. has been done. Lid part 1
8 is configured to form one side of the hexahedron of the case body 1 when it is housed in the case body 1. Note that 19' is an arcuate protrusion provided around the turntable insertion hole 19.

During playback when the disk mounting member 2 is retained in the device together with the disk 3, a turntable (not shown) enters the turntable insertion hole 19, and the disk is removed by the collector portion of the device (also not shown). A pickup section (not shown) relatively scans the rotating disk 3 through an elongated hole 20 to reproduce recorded signals.

21 and 22 are reference holes drilled at predetermined positions in the disk mounting portion 17 and lid portion 18 of the disk mounting member 2, and these holes are used when the disk mounting member 2 is loaded in the predetermined position of the device. The positioning pin (not shown) enters into these and the disk mounting member 2
One of the reference holes 21 is a long hole, and the other reference hole is a round hole.

Reference numerals 23 and 24 denote a pair of rectangular support holes that are bored near the rear end of the disk mounting portion 17 with the disk storage recess 16 in between, so that the disk mounting member 2 can be loaded into the apparatus. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the support member 30 of the device, to which a clockwise rotational force is applied by the coil spring 31, enters and locks and supports it.

25 and 26 are through holes 19 of the disk storage recess 16
A pair of disk detection holes are bored on the same straight line with the disk 3 in the disk storage recess 16.
Detect the presence or absence of.

As shown in FIG. 1, the leading end 18a of the cover 18 of the disk mounting member 2 in the entry direction has a support recess 27 at the center of the upper surface (disk mounting side), and a support recess 27 on the lower surface. A pair of support recesses 2
8 and 29 are provided, and these are in a mutually shifted positional relationship (asymmetrical). That is, when the disk mounting member 2 is loaded into the apparatus, the upper and lower support recesses 27, 28, and 29 are in the enlarged view shown in FIG.
Further, projections 32a, 32b, 32c of a stopper member 32 provided at the rear end of the device shown in FIG.
are fitted to each other to hold the disk mounting member 2 horizontally within the device, and also work together with the aforementioned supporting member 30 to horizontally support the disk storage member 2 at three points to restrict its vertical movement. do. If the disk storage case A is inserted into the apparatus upside down, the fitting positions of the stopper member 32 and the lid part 18 will not match, so that incorrect insertion can be prevented.

Reference numerals 33 and 34 denote a pair of grooves provided across the disk storage recess 16, and these grooves are connected to the guide portion 1 formed protrudingly within the case body 1.
5a and 15b to prevent the disk mounting member 2 from being inserted upside down into the case body 1 and to prevent the disk storage member 2 from rattling in the left and right direction inside the case body 1. It also has the ability to

Reference numeral 35 denotes an arcuate protrusion provided close to the inner wall of the disc storage recess 16, which is approximately equal to the arcuate protrusion 19' provided around the turntable insertion hole 19. It is set to height. That is, when the disk mounting member 2 is assembled into the case body 1, the case body 1
A pair of more protruding guide portions 15a, 15b
The distance between the protrusion 19' and the arcuate protrusion 35 in the disc storage recess 16 is slightly larger than the thickness of the disc 3 to be stored. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the disk 3 stored in the disk storage case A is connected to the arcuate protrusion 35 and the protrusion 19' and to the guide portions 15a and 15b of the case body 1. Therefore, vertical movement is restricted. In this way, a pair of guide portions 15
The disk 3, which is stored so as to be sandwiched between a, 15b and the protrusion 19', will not dance or vibrate within the disk storage case A, for example, even in a car with a lot of vibration. Without,
The existing signal recording surface can be protected.

Note that reference numerals 47 and 48 indicate a pair of through holes provided at the tip of the lid 18, into which locking members 49 and 50 of the device described later enter to lock the lid 18.

On the other hand, the lower surface portion of the disk mounting member 2
As shown in the figure, a pair of lock arms 37 and 38, each of which is biased outwardly by a linear elastic spring 36 near both ends of the lid 18, is attached to a shaft 39, 40 so as to be rotatable, and the rest position is regulated by contacting a pair of stoppers 41 and 42 provided on the disk mounting member 2.

The pair of lock arms 37, 38 are provided with locking claws 37a, 38a projecting outward at their tips, and protrusions 37c, 38c projecting outward from base parts 37b, 38b, which are shown in FIG. And when the disk 3 is stored as shown in FIG.
Notches 1 provided in side walls 9 and 10 of case body 1
1 and 12 and the through holes 13 and 14, and their protrusions 37c and 38c lock the through holes 13 and 14, respectively, and the disk mounting member 2 is removed from the case body 1.
It has a function as a locking part that prevents the disk mounting member 2 from protruding and takes out the disk mounting member 2 by operating levers 45 and 46 of the device, which will be described later.

Disk storage case A configured as above
As shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, if the tool 7 is taken out from the case body 1 and the arms 7a and 7b are engaged against the elastic force of the lock arms 37 and 38, the disk can be placed. Since the engagement between the lock arms 37 and 38 provided on the member 2 and the case body 1 can be released, it is possible to easily take out the case body 1.

Here, the operation of loading the disk-shaped information recording medium storage case (disk storage case A) according to the present invention into the device and recovering the disk 3 will be explained.

The operator inserts the disk storage case A, which stores the disk 3 into the device, into the case body 1.
As shown in FIG. 4, grasp the rear identification part 5 of the
This is done by inserting the lid part 18 as the leading end into the inner part of the playback device in the direction of arrow P, and then pulling out the case body 1.

When the disk storage case A is inserted into the insertion hole (not shown) of the playback device in the direction of arrow P, the case body 1
support member 30 of the apparatus shown in FIG.
is rotated upward (clockwise) and removed as shown by the two-dot chain line to allow this intrusion. If you continue to press the disk storage case A in this state, the coil spring 43,
A pair of operating levers 45 and 46 in the device to which rotational force is applied at 44 are connected to the notches 11 and 12 of the case body 1.
At the same time, the locking claws 37a and 38a of the lock arms 37 and 38 of the disk mounting member 2 are respectively locked, and the protrusions 37c and 38c that were locking the case body 1 are removed from the through holes 13 and 14. The case body 1 is removed, the locked state of both is released, and the case body 1 can be moved independently in the Q direction. At approximately the same timing, the lid portion 18 of the disk mounting member 2 is appropriately fitted with the stopper member 32 of the apparatus, and the horizontal position is secured. Therefore, when the disk storage case A is further pushed, the cushion material 51 elastically supporting the stopper member 32 from the rear is slightly bent, and the pair of locking members 4 provided on the device are bent slightly.
9 and 50 lock the through holes 47 and 48 of the lid portion 18. Due to the locking of the locking members 49 and 50, the disk mounting member 2 is ultimately retained within the apparatus, so that it does not protrude from the apparatus. When the case body 1 is pulled out in the Q direction in order to remove it from this state, the support member 30 of the device is allowed to rotate counterclockwise at the same time as the case body 1 is removed, as shown by the solid line in FIG. Then, it enters the support holes 23, 24 of the disk mounting member 2 and locks them, so that the disk storage member 2 is finally set in the apparatus.

With this setting, the disk mounting member 2
The movement in both the P and Q directions is completely regulated by the locking members 49, 50 and the support member 30 of the device, and a stable state is maintained. Further, as described above, the movement of the disk mounting member 2 in the vertical direction is also restricted by engagement with the stopper member 32 and the support member 30.

Therefore, when a drive operation button (not shown) of the device is operated, the disk mounting member 2 is lowered together with the chassis base 53 which can be raised and lowered in a restricted state, and its reference holes 21, 2 are guided by the positioning pins of the device and are connected to the drive unit. After the disc 3 is placed on a turntable (not shown) with accurate positioning, it is held between the turntable and the turntable (not shown), and is ready for playing.

Here, if the disk 3 is not housed in the disk mounting member 2, the detection holes 25, 26
A detector (not shown) of the device detects this, and reproduction becomes impossible.

Next, to explain the operation for recovering the disk 3, when the playback device is set to the disk ejecting mode after the performance is over, the disk mounting member 2 rises together with the chassis base 53 and returns to the initial position as shown in the fourth figure. return. Therefore, when the empty case body 1 is inserted again from the opening of the device in the P direction with the identification part 5 facing upward, the support member 32 shown in FIG.
is pressed by the front end of the disc mounting member 2, and rotates clockwise (indicated by the chain double-dashed line) in the same way as when setting the disc, thereby releasing the engagement between the disc mounting member 2 and the disc mounting member 2. When the case body 1 is further inserted until it reaches the innermost part of the device, one side of the opening 4 presses the base of the operating levers 45 and 46 of the device, and the levers are rotated as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. to release the lock between the disk mounting member 2 and the device. At the same time, the pair of protrusions 37c and 38c of the lock arms 37 and 38 are inserted into the through hole 1 of the case body 1.
3 and 14 are locked again, the disk mounting member 2 becomes movable in the Q direction together with the case body 1.

If the empty case body 1 is inserted into the device with its identification part 5 facing down, the grooves 33 and 34 of the disk mounting member 2 and the guide parts 15a and 15b of the case body 1 will fit into each other. Since the alignment position does not match, it becomes impossible to insert it, and erroneous insertion can be prevented.

Therefore, the disc-shaped information recording medium storage case A according to the present invention can be loaded into and retrieved from the device without any manual intervention during signal reproduction and retrieval of the stored disc 3. Damage and contamination of the signal recording surface can be prevented.

(Effects) As described above, the disc-shaped information recording medium storage case according to the present invention allows the stored disc-shaped information recording medium to be operated without directly touching it with hands, and the case body is formed protruding inside the case body. an arcuate protrusion 19' provided in the disk storage recess of the disk mounting member;
The protrusions such as 35 can prevent the case body and the disk mounting member from being incorrectly inserted in the vertical direction, and their interaction can restrict the vertical movement of the stored disk, so that, for example, When used in a car with a lot of vibrations, the disk does not dance or vibrate within the case body, and its signal recording surface can be sufficiently protected.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which an internal disk mounting member is partially protruded and a portion of the upper half of the disk-shaped information recording medium storage case according to an embodiment of the present invention is broken; Figure A is a side view, Figure B is a top view, Figure 2 is a vertical side view along the Y-Y line showing the disk in Figure 1 in a stored state, Figure 3 is a rear view of the disk mounting member, FIG. 4 is a rear view showing the operation state of the disk-shaped information recording medium storage case, FIG.
The figure is an external perspective view of the stopper member of the device. A...Disk storage case, 1...Case body, 2...Disk mounting member, 3...Disk,
5... Identification part, 7... Tool, 9, 10... Side wall,
11, 12... Notch, 13, 14... Through hole, 1
5a, 15b...Guidance guide part, 16...Disk storage recess, 17...Disk mounting part, 18...
Lid part, 19...Turntable insertion hole, 19'...
... Arc-shaped protrusion, 21, 22 ... Reference hole, 2
3, 24... Support hole, 25, 26... Disc detection hole, 27, 28, 29... Support recess, 30...
Support member, 32... Stopper member, 33, 34...
...Groove, 35...Circular protrusion, 37, 38...
Lock arm, 45, 46... Operating lever, 53...
...Siyashi base.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A case body with one side open, a disk mounting member that is removably inserted into the case body and has a disk storage recess for storing a disk-shaped information recording medium, and a disk mounting member that is closed in the opening of the case body. The disk-shaped information recording medium is inserted into the device together with the disk mounting member by inserting the lid into the device using the lid as a leading end and pulling out the case. In the disk-shaped information recording medium storage case configured to be retained and retained, a guide portion for indicating the insertion direction of the case body is provided on the inner surface of the case body so as to extend over the disk storage recess of the disk mounting member in the insertion direction. A protrusion is formed to protrude along the disk storage recess, and a protrusion for supporting the disk-shaped information recording medium stored in the disc storage recess is formed to protrude, and the guide portion and the protrusion support the disk-shaped information recording medium. A disc-shaped information recording medium storage case characterized by being configured to restrict movement in the vertical direction.