Scalable and portable disc player for various optical disc sizes

• US 6,862,739 B1
• Filed: 10/27/2000
• Issued: 03/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hunter, Charles L., Taugher, Lawrence N.
• Primary Examiner(s): CASTRO, ANGEL A
• Application Number:
  US09/698,862
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 720/653, 720/652, 720/654, 720/655, 720/657, 369/75.11, 369/289.1, 369/291.1, 369/75.2, 369/77.1, 369/289, 369/291, 369/75.1
• US Class Current: 720/653
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 17/0545 adapted for discs of different sizes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/025 Portable cases

Abstract

A scalable and portable disc player or recorder for containing and transferring audio, video or computer data to and from an optical disc of various sizes. The casing of the disc player provides a case scaling mechanism having a set of pivotal wings and slidable sleeves that can be adjusted to accommodate various optical disc sizes. This same process changes the structural size of the disc player casing.

Claims

1. A scalable optical disc player comprising:

a top and bottom cover, each cover having a pair of mounting posts adjacent a back side of the player;

a top and bottom set of wings, each wing pivotally couples to the respective mounting post and including a guide pin, wherein said top and bottom set of wings expand away from respective sides of the player and contract towards respective sides of the player; and

a top and bottom sleeve movably coupled between the respective cover and pair of wings, each sleeve includes a pair of guide slots being positioned to receive each respective guide pin of each wing, wherein the top and bottom sleeves expand a front side of the player away from the back side and contract the front side towards the back side.

2. The disc player of claim 1, further including a data transfer device (“

DTD”

) attached to a surface of the bottom cover.

3. The disc player of claim 2, further including data connectors coupled between an exterior surface of the bottom cover and the DTD for transferring data from the disc to the connectors, via the DTD.

4. The disc player of claim 3, wherein the DTD can read and/or write data to/from the disc.

5. The disc player of claim 1, wherein the top and bottom sleeves and set of wings can expand or contract to accommodate optical discs of varying sizes.

6. The disc player of claim 5, wherein the expansion and contraction of the sleeves and set of wings increases or decreases the overall size of the disc player.

7. The disc player of claim 1, wherein each wing of the top and bottom set of wings further include a flange adjacent either the left or right side of the disc player to protect the disc being contained within the disc player.

8. The disc player of claim 1, wherein each sleeve of the top and bottom sleeves further include a flange adjacent the front side of the disc player to protect the disc being contained within the disc player.

9. The disc player of claim 1, wherein the top and bottom covers hingably couple to provide the disc player with an open and closed position for inserting, containing and removing the disc.

10. The disc player of claim 1, wherein a portion of the top cover is translucent or transparent to allow any indicia on the disc to be visible while being contained by the disc player.

11. The disc player of claim 1, wherein the top cover further include a first wall of a first height adjacent the back side of the disc player, and a second wall of a second height adjacent a side portion of the disc player, the first height being greater then the second height.

12. A portable disc player having a casing for containing various disc sizes, the casing comprising:

a top and bottom shell movably attached to allow the insertion and removal of the disc within a cavity of the casing, wherein the top and a bottom shell further include a first wall having a first height that extends along a portion of the shell perimeter, wherein the top shell further includes a second wall having a second height along a portion of the sides of the disc player;

a data transfer device (“

DTD”

) attached to the bottom shell for transferring data; and

a mechanism for scaling the overall size of the player to accommodate disc size, wherein the top and the bottom shell further includes two mounting posts adjacent a back side, and the mechanism further includes;

a top and bottom sleeve movably coupled to an interior surface of the top and bottom shell, respectively, each sleeve having two guide slots and a flange along a front side of the casing;

a top and bottom pair of wings, each wing providing a guide pin and a flange along either the left or right side of the casing,

wherein the shells hingeably couple together, each wing pivotally attaches to the respective cover and movably couples to the respective shell by the guide slot to accommodate the varying size discs being coupled to the DTD.