Patents Assigned to Sony Optiarc Inc.
  • Patent number: 8356313
    Abstract: A disc drive apparatus includes: an apparatus body to which a disc is inserted and from which the disc is ejected; a disc recording and reproducing unit having a disc loading unit configured to load the disc inserted into the apparatus body, a disc rotation drive mechanism configured to rotate the disc loaded onto the disc loading unit, an optical pickup configured to record and/or reproduce a data signal with respect to the disc, and a pickup feeding mechanism configured to convey the optical pickup in a radial direction of the disc; a disc conveying mechanism configured to insert the disc into the apparatus body and eject the disc from the apparatus body; and a conveyance drive mechanism provided in the apparatus body and configured to drive the disc conveying mechanism; wherein the apparatus body includes a shoulder which is reduced in thickness in the vicinity of an insertion end of the disc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventors: Yusuke Izumiya, Manabu Obata, Kiyoshi Omori
  • Patent number: 8141109
    Abstract: A disc drive apparatus includes: an outer casing; a disc drive unit that includes a disc table on which a disc-like recording medium is mounted, a spindle motor, an optical pickup, and a pickup base; a slider that includes a main body and a rack gear, is movable in a first direction as an insertion direction and a second direction as an ejection direction, and moves in the second direction during loading and moved in the first direction during ejection; a drive motor functioning as a drive source of the slider; a deceleration gear group that intermeshes with the rack gear; an eject lever that is rotated to press the recording medium during the ejection; and a link member coupled with the eject lever, the slider including a lock plate and a slide plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventors: Hisashi Negoro, Keiji Jitsukawa, Mitsuru Iba, Shunsuke Nirei, Tomoyasu Takaoka
  • Patent number: 8098560
    Abstract: Provided is a light-spot-position control apparatus including: a first-light-source; a second-light-source; a beam-splitter splitting a beam of the second-light-source into m beams; an optical-system allowing a first-beam of the first-light-source and the m beams to irradiate a disk-shaped recording-medium, where grooves and lands are alternately formed with an equal radial width to form the grooves in spiral/concentric shape through common-objective-lens, the optical-system allowing the three beams to irradiate the recording-medium so that an interval of m beam-spots is 1/m of track pitch; a tracking-control-mechanism tracking-controlling the beam by changing a relationship between the optical-axis and the recording-medium; a light-receiving unit individually receiving the m beams; an error-signal generator generating error-signals representing radial-position-errors of the spot-positions of the m beams with respect to the tracks based on received signals; an error-signal selector selecting at least one erro
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventor: Junichi Horigome
  • Publication number: 20120002519
    Abstract: In a case of performing recording/playing with an information recording layer with a first light irradiation, and controlling the recording/playing positions on the information recording layer by a second light irradiating as to a position control information recording layer provided separately from the information recording layer, corrections to shifts in recording positions and playing positions that occurs as a result of shifts in the optical axes of the first and second lights. A disc-shaped recording medium has multiple pit row phases wherein, the pit rows having a spacing between one round of pit formable positions that is limited to a predetermined first spacing are formed in a spiral shape or concentrically, and with pit rows arrayed in the radius direction, the spacing in the pit row forming direction of the pit formable positions is set to positions shifted by a predetermined second spacing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2010
    Publication date: January 5, 2012
    Applicant: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventor: Junichi Horigome
  • Patent number: 8074236
    Abstract: A disk drive device includes: a device body having a front surface that forms a disk insertion and ejection opening; a pair of arms supported at proximal end portions thereof pivotally from the front surface of the device body to a downstream side in a disk insertion direction; transport rollers respectively rotatably supported at distal ends of the arms and transporting the disk to an inside or outside of the device body by being brought into contact with a side surface of a disk; an urging member urging the arms so that the transport rollers supported respectively by the arms approach each other; and a transport roller rotation mechanism driving at least one of the transport rollers, supported respectively by the arms, for rotation, wherein the arms synchronously pivot the transport rollers in such a manner that the pivotally supported proximal end portions are coupled to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshiteru Taka, Kiyoaki Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20110061067
    Abstract: A disc drive apparatus includes: an outer casing; a disc drive unit that includes a disc table on which a disc-like recording medium is mounted, a spindle motor, an optical pickup, and a pickup base; a slider that includes a main body and a rack gear, is movable in a first direction as an insertion direction and a second direction as an ejection direction, and moves in the second direction during loading and moved in the first direction during ejection; a drive motor functioning as a drive source of the slider; a deceleration gear group that intermeshes with the rack gear; an eject lever that is rotated to press the recording medium during the ejection; and a link member coupled with the eject lever, the slider including a lock plate and a slide plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2010
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Applicants: Sony Corporation, Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventors: Hisashi Negoro, Keiji Jitsukawa, Mitsuru Iba, Shunsuke Nirei, Tomoyasu Takaoka
  • Publication number: 20100199129
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes: a memory in which an apparatus-unique key is stored, the apparatus-unique key being a key that is unique to the information processing apparatus; an input section that inputs user operation information; a communication section that performs data reception processing; a data processor that executes validity determination processing for the apparatus-unique key; and an output section that outputs a result of the validity determination processing executed by the data processor. The data processor receives, via the communication section, key-validity determination data for determining whether the apparatus-unique key is valid or invalid. The data processor also executes the apparatus-unique-key validity determination processing by using the key-validity determination data in response to a user instruction input via the input section, and outputs a result of the validity determination processing to the output section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2010
    Publication date: August 5, 2010
    Applicant: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventor: Satoshi Kitani
  • Publication number: 20100182883
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes: an optical head section to irradiate a laser beam onto a recording medium and perform recording, reproduction, or erase of information; a laser drive section to drive the optical head section to output the laser beam; a modulation-degree measurement section to measure a modulation degree of a signal read out by the optical head section; and a control section to execute controlling the laser drive section and the optical head section to execute the recording and the erase on a test area of the recording medium while varying a laser power, calculating a power reference value based on an erase characteristic and a reproduced signal growth characteristic in accordance with the variation of the laser power, each of the characteristics being obtained by acquiring a modulation-degree measurement value of a reproduced signal, and setting a recording laser power by using the power reference value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2010
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventor: Kazutaka Imamura
  • Publication number: 20100050191
    Abstract: A disk drive device includes: a device body having a front surface that forms a disk insertion and ejection opening; a pair of arms supported at proximal end portions thereof pivotally from the front surface of the device body to a downstream side in a disk insertion direction; transport rollers respectively rotatably supported at distal ends of the arms and transporting the disk to an inside or outside of the device body by being brought into contact with a side surface of a disk; an urging member urging the arms so that the transport rollers supported respectively by the arms approach each other; and a transport roller rotation mechanism driving at least one of the transport rollers, supported respectively by the arms, for rotation, wherein the arms synchronously pivot the transport rollers in such a manner that the pivotally supported proximal end portions are coupled to each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2009
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshiteru Taka, Kiyoaki Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20090320053
    Abstract: A disc drive apparatus includes: an apparatus body to which a disc is inserted and from which the disc is ejected; a disc recording and reproducing unit having a disc loading unit configured to load the disc inserted into the apparatus body, a disc rotation drive mechanism configured to rotate the disc loaded onto the disc loading unit, an optical pickup configured to record and/or reproduce a data signal with respect to the disc, and a pickup feeding mechanism configured to convey the optical pickup in a radial direction of the disc; a disc conveying mechanism configured to insert the disc into the apparatus body and eject the disc from the apparatus body; and a conveyance drive mechanism provided in the apparatus body and configured to drive the disc conveying mechanism; wherein the apparatus body includes a shoulder which is reduced in thickness in the vicinity of an insertion end of the disc.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2009
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: Sony Optiarc Inc.
    Inventors: Yusuke Izumiya, Manabu Obata, Kiyoshi Omori