Reproducing apparatus with built-in optical disk drive

• US 7,760,601 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2007
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Igi, Yasumasa
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thang V
• Application Number:
  US11/982,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 988 Days
• Field of Search: 369/53.2, 369/53.3, 369/53.43
• US Class Current: 369/53.2
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 17/051 Direct insertion, i.e. without external loading means

Abstract

Conventional reproducing apparatuses used to perform incorrect detection or consume electricity considerably. According to the present invention, the comparator 61 comparing voltages at both ends of the spindle motor 15 and outputting the result is provided, and the control IC 12 judges whether or not the spindle motor 15 is rotating based on the output from the comparator 61. Based on this judgment, brake pulses are repeatedly supplied to the spindle motor 15 until the spindle motor 15 stops. Based on the number of times the brake pulses are supplied until the spindle motor 15 stops, the presence or absence of an optical disk in the disk drive is determined.

Claims

1. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive including a spindle motor to rotate an optical disk and an optical pickup to emit a laser beam for reproducing information recorded on the optical disk and to receive a reflected light from the optical disk, said reproducing apparatus comprising:

a driver that outputs a drive voltage to said spindle motor;

a comparator that compares voltages produced at both terminals of said spindle motor, outputs LOW when a voltage to rotate the spindle motor in a direction of reading the disk is inputted, outputs HIGH when a voltage of said spindle-motor brake pulse is inputted to said spindle motor, keeps outputting at the same level as the one immediately before a suspension when the input of the voltage is suspended for a predetermined time, and then outputs LOW; and

a control integrated circuit (IC) including a counter that outputs a control signal to control the output of the drive voltage of said driver while receiving the output from said comparator at a general purpose input output (GPIO) and outputs a voltage as a base of said drive voltage to said driver,

said control IC stops said spindle motor by controlling said driver, resets said counter, and waits a predetermined time after controlling said driver and rotating said spindle motor at a predetermined rotation rate in a positive direction;

said control IC repeatedly supplies brake pulses to said spindle motor until said spindle motor stops;

said control IC counts the number of times said brake pulses are supplied with said counter;

said control IC determines that said spindle motor is stopped if it detects HIGH in a predetermined time after said brake pulses are inputted; and

wherein, while said spindle motor is stopped, said control IC determines that an optical disk is not mounted when the value of said counter is smaller than a threshold value, determines that the optical disk is mounted when the value of said counter is equal to or larger than the threshold value and smaller than a predetermined upper-limit number of times, and determines that said spindle motor is out of working order when the counter is equal to or larger than the predetermined upper-limit number of times.

2. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive including a spindle motor to rotate an optical disk and an optical pickup to emit a laser beam for reproducing information recorded on the optical disk and to receive a reflected light from the optical disk, said reproducing apparatus, comprising:

a comparator that compares voltages at both ends of said spindle motor and outputs a result;

a rotation detector that judges whether or not said spindle motor is rotating based on the output from the comparator;

a braking circuit that repeatedly supplies brake pulses, based on the judgment of said rotation detector, to said spindle motor until said spindle motor stops;

a memory that stores the number of times said brake pulses are supplied until said spindle motor stops; and

an optical disk presence-or-absence determining unit that determines the presence or absence of said optical disk based on said number of times stored in said memory.

3. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2, wherein said braking circuit increases a rotation rate of said spindle motor to a predetermined rotation rate and supplies brake pulses to said spindle motor until said spindle motor stops.

4. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 3, wherein said braking circuit once stops the rotation of the spindle motor before increasing the rotation rate of said spindle motor.

5. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 3, wherein, after the rotation rate of said spindle motor is increased to the predetermined rotation rate, said braking circuit waits a predetermined time and supplies said brake pulses.

6. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2, wherein said optical disk presence-or-absence determining unit determines that said optical disk is not mounted when the number of times the brake pulses are supplied is smaller than a first prescribed number of times.

7. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2, wherein said optical disk presence-or-absence determining unit determines that said optical disk is mounted when said number of times the brake pulses are supplied is equal to or larger than the prescribed number of times.

8. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2, wherein said optical disk presence-or-absence determining unit is provided with a first prescribed number of times and a second prescribed number of times which is larger than the second prescribed number of times and determines that said spindle motor is out of working order when said number of times the brake pulses are supplied is larger than the second prescribed number of times.

9. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2,

wherein said comparator outputs LOW when a voltage to rotate said spindle motor in a direction of reading information on a disk is inputted, outputs HIGH when a voltage of said spindle-motor brake pulse is inputted to said spindle motor, and keeps outputting at the same level as the one immediately before a suspension for a predetermined time and outputs LOW when the input of voltage is stopped;

and

wherein said rotation detector judges that said spindle motor has stopped when detecting HIGH in a predetermined time after the brake pulse is inputted by said braking circuit.

10. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2,

wherein said comparator is included in the counter-electromotive force detecting circuit;

wherein, of the two terminals to which drive voltages of said spindle motor are inputted, the voltage of the terminal to which a positive voltage is inputted when reading information recorded on the optical disk is referred to as a positive-side terminal voltage and the voltage of the terminal to which a negative voltage is inputted is referred to as a negative-side terminal voltage;

wherein the positive-side terminal voltage and the negative-side terminal voltage are inputted to said comparator and compared, and the output of the comparator is set such that the output is LOW when (Positive-side terminal voltage)−

(Negative-side terminal voltage) is positive and the output is HIGH when (Positive-side terminal voltage)−

(Negative-side terminal voltage) is negative; and

wherein (Positive-side terminal voltage)−

(Negative-side terminal voltage) shows a rotational direction of the spindle motor.

11. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2, wherein, in said rotation detector, the output of said comparator is HIGH because (Positive-side terminal voltage)−

(Negative-side terminal voltage) is negative when said brake pulse is applied to said spindle motor, and it is judged that said spindle motor is rotating if the output of said comparator is LOW after said brake pulse is applied and that said spindle motor is not rotating if the output of said comparator remains HIGH after said brake pulse is applied.

12. A reproducing apparatus with a built-in optical disk drive according to claim 2, wherein there are provided threshold values separately for the number of times said brake pulses are supplied necessary to stop said optical disk whose diameter is 8 cm and the number of times said brake pulses are supplied necessary to stop said optical disk whose diameter is 12 cm, and the optical disk whose diameter is 8 cm and the optical disk whose diameter is 12 cm are distinguished by the number of times the brake pulses are supplied necessary to stop the rotation of said spindle motor.