Patents by Inventor Takeo Santo
Takeo Santo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 7188349Abstract: An optical disc apparatus according to the present invention is equipped with a disc rotation mechanism for placing and rotating a disc, a plurality of optical heads for emitting light beams for recording and/or reproducing data on the optical disc, a transport unit including a guide structure for guiding the optical heads to be radially transportable on the disc, an optical head transport mechanism for transporting the optical heads along the guide structure, and a transport base for supporting the disc rotation mechanism, the guide structure and the optical head transport mechanism, an optical head storing portion having a plurality of storage support guides for supporting and storing each of the plurality of optical heads, and an optical head insertion and removal mechanism for transporting each of the optical heads from the optical head storing portion to the transport unit or from the transport unit to the optical head storing portion, and each optical head stored in the optical head storing portion is tType: GrantFiled: October 2, 2002Date of Patent: March 6, 2007Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kozo Ezawa, Takeo Santo, Yoshito Saji, Teruyuki Takizawa
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Publication number: 20070033600Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost disk device with which the same spindle motor and clamper can be used for different types of disk device, such as a DVD drive. A clamper 100 comprises a clamper main body 104 and a plurality of positioning components. The clamper main body 100 clamps a disk 10 between itself and a spindle motor 210, 220, or 230 that holds and rotates the disk 10. The plurality of positioning components are formed on the clamper main body 104 for the relative positioning of the clamper main body 104 and each of the plurality of spindle motors 210, 220, and 230 in the radial direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 21, 2004Publication date: February 8, 2007Inventors: Yoshito Saji, Kozo Ezawa, Takeo Santo
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Publication number: 20050286359Abstract: First and second optical heads (3A, 3B) are disposed on the same side with respect to a plane including a disk surface. Then, a media tray (19) on which a disk is mounted is moved within a plane substantially parallel with the disk surface. Using two optical heads (3A, 3B) selectively, recording and/or reproducing is performed with respect to the optical disk. The height of a disk apparatus does not increase, and signal lines connected to the optical heads (3A, 3B) are not forced to bend.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 1, 2003Publication date: December 29, 2005Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kozo Ezawa, Takeo Santo, Masahiro Inata, Yoshito Saji, Masuo Maruyama, Teruyuki Takizawa, Yukio Morioka, Tadashi Kuroda, Gorou Naoki
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Publication number: 20050240954Abstract: A disk drive unit is provided which is capable of restraining a disk from being tilted by the weight of the disk itself, using a simple configuration. In this disk drive unit, a turntable is provided below a disk, and a pressure member is provided above the disk. The turntable includes a disk mounting portion which comes into contact with the disk. The pressure member includes a pressure portion which presses the lower surface of the disk and rotates together with the disk. An aligning ring presses the interior-end part of the disk from below. The disk mounting portion is located on the inside in the radius direction from the pressure portion.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 25, 2005Publication date: October 27, 2005Inventors: Takeo Santo, Yoshito Saji
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Publication number: 20050076349Abstract: A disk drive, selectively accommodating a cartridge with a disk and at least one positioning hole on the bottom or the disk only, includes: a drive mechanism; a read/write head; a tray for putting the cartridge or the disk thereon, inserting it to a first position, in which the drive mechanism can mount the disk, and ejecting it to a second position, in which the cartridge or the disk is removable; and at least one positioning pin, which has a top portion inserted into the positioning hole to position the cartridge within a plane parallel to the disk. The tray has at least one clearance hole, into which the positioning pin is inserted such that the top portion thereof is fitted with the positioning hole of the cartridge in the first position, and the center of the clearance hole is offset to the center of axis of the top portion.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 28, 2004Publication date: April 7, 2005Inventors: Takeo Santo, Masahiro Inata, Kozo Ezawa, Gorou Naoki, Yoshito Saji
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Publication number: 20050044558Abstract: An optical disc drive includes: a tray to mount a cartridge including a disc and having a positioning hole; a chassis for supporting the tray to move in a first direction; a spindle motor; an optical head; a traverse base, which is supported on the chassis so as to rotate around an axis defined in a second direction near one end of the chassis in the first direction and which mounts the spindle motor and the optical head thereon, the second direction being parallel to the disc and perpendicular to the first direction; a traverse holder coupled to the traverse base; a positioning pin provided for the traverse holder and fitting in with the positioning hole, thereby positioning the cartridge; and an elevating portion for moving a portion of the traverse holder in a third direction perpendicularly to the disc.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 12, 2004Publication date: February 24, 2005Inventors: Takeo Santo, Kozo Ezawa, Masahiro Inata, Yoshito Saji
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Publication number: 20040246848Abstract: A disk drive includes a plurality of optical heads corresponding to a plurality kind of disks, and a disk distinction device for distinguishing whether a set disk is a first disk or a second disk when a disk is set on a disk tray, a first disk tray conveying mechanism for the first disk and/or the second disk tray conveying mechanism for the second disk conveys the disk tray to a first tray position in which recording and/or reproducing is performed on the first tray or the second tray position in which recording and/or reproducing is performed on the second tray, according to a result distinguished by the disk distinction device, thereby, an optical head corresponding to a disk set to the disk tray is selected correctly and a recording or reproducing operation is performed on the disk.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 20, 2004Publication date: December 9, 2004Inventors: Kozo Ezawa, Takeo Santo, Masahiro Inata, Yoshito Saji, Masuo Maruyama, Teruyuki Takizawa, Yukio Morioka, Tadashi Kuroda, Goro Naoki
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Publication number: 20040216152Abstract: An optical disc apparatus according to the present invention is equipped with a disc rotation mechanism for placing and rotating a disc, a plurality of optical heads for emitting light beams for recording and/or reproducing data on the optical disc, a transport unit including a guide structure for guiding the optical heads to be radially transportable on the disc, an optical head transport mechanism for transporting the optical heads along the guide structure, and a transport base for supporting the disc rotation mechanism, the guide structure and the optical head transport mechanism, an optical head storing portion having a plurality of storage support guides for supporting and storing each of the plurality of optical heads, and an optical head insertion and removal mechanism for transporting each of the optical heads from the optical head storing portion to the transport unit or from the transport unit to the optical head storing portion, and each optical head stored in the optical head storing portion is tType: ApplicationFiled: April 1, 2004Publication date: October 28, 2004Inventors: Kozo Ezawa, Takeo Santo, Yoshito Saji, Teruyuki Takizawa
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Patent number: 6587284Abstract: An objective lens driving apparatus is improved in a tracking drive sensitivity, and is capable of suppressing the occurrence of a tilt when a moving member is driven for tracking and focusing motions. To achieve this, the objective lens driving apparatus comprises: a substantially rectangularly shaped focusing coil and a substantially rectangularly shaped tracking coil, both arranged in the same plane, and fixed to a lens holder to drive the lens holder on which an objective lens is held; and a magnet having mutually opposite magnetic poles arranged at positions opposite winding portions of the focusing coil which lie on two sides thereof extending perpendicularly to a focusing direction, and also having mutually opposite magnetic poles arranged at positions opposite winding portions of the tracking coil which lie on two sides thereof extending perpendicularly to a tracking direction.Type: GrantFiled: September 28, 2001Date of Patent: July 1, 2003Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Takeo Santo, Masanari Mohri, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Kanji Wakabayashi
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Publication number: 20020075575Abstract: An objective lens driving apparatus is improved in a tracking drive sensitivity, and is capable of suppressing the occurrence of a tilt when a moving member is driven for tracking and focusing motions. To achieve this, the objective lens driving apparatus comprises: a substantially rectangularly shaped focusing coil and a substantially rectangularly shaped tracking coil, both arranged in the same plane, and fixed to a lens holder to drive the lens holder on which an objective lens is held; and a magnet having mutually opposite magnetic poles arranged at positions opposite winding portions of the focusing coil which lie on two sides thereof extending perpendicularly to a focusing direction, and also having mutually opposite magnetic poles arranged at positions opposite winding portions of the tracking coil which lie on two sides thereof extending perpendicularly to a tracking direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 28, 2001Publication date: June 20, 2002Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.Inventors: Takeo Santo, Masanari Mohri, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Kanji Wakabayashi
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Patent number: 6344936Abstract: An objective lens driving apparatus is improved in a tracking drive sensitivity, and is capable of suppressing the occurrence of a tilt when a moving member is driven for tracking and focusing motions. To achieve this, the objective lens driving apparatus comprises: a substantially rectangularly shaped focusing coil and a substantially rectangularly shaped tracking coil, both arranged in the same plane, and fixed to a lens holder to drive the lens holder on which an objective lens is held; and a magnet having mutually opposite magnetic poles arranged at positions opposite winding portions of the focusing coil which lie on two sides thereof extending perpendicularly to a focusing direction, and also having mutually opposite magnetic poles arranged at positions opposite winding portions of the tracking coil which lie on two sides thereof extending perpendicularly to a tracking direction.Type: GrantFiled: September 28, 2000Date of Patent: February 5, 2002Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Takeo Santo, Masanari Mohri, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Kanji Wakabayashi
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Patent number: 6134058Abstract: An object lens driving device of the present invention includes a movable section, supporting sections for supporting the movable section and a base for holding the supporting sections. The movable section includes an object lens for recording and/or reproducing optical information to and/or from a disk-shaped recording medium, a lens holder for holding the object lens and at least four permanent magnets adhered to the lens holder. The supporting sections include at least four metal wires substantially parallel to each other, each wire having a first end fixed to the lens holder and a second end connected to the base, and elastic deformable elements connected to the base and having connecting sections thereof connected to the second end of each respective metal wire.Type: GrantFiled: June 29, 1999Date of Patent: October 17, 2000Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Masanari Mohri, Hitoshi Fujii, Kanji Wakabayashi, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Teruyuki Takizawa, Takeo Santo