Apple patents relate to disk drive media access systems for portable computers

Posted by Dennis Sellers Jan 25, 2007 at 12:35pm

An Apple patent (number 20070019374) for a “disk drive media access system” has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates generally to disk drives, and more particularly to disk drive media access systems such as access systems for optical disk drives in portable computers. Some of the images lead me to believe the technology involves portable Apple systems we haven’t seen yet.

And a related patent (number 20070019375) is for an access system for a portable device.

The invention in the first patent provides a disk drive media access system. The disk drive media access system opens a media access door to the interior of a disk drive sufficiently for ejection of disk media from the disk drive but insufficiently for manually engaging and removing disk media that is operationally positioned within the disk drive. The disk media is kept substantially laterally stationary during the opening of the media access door. The disk media is moved sufficiently for manually engaging the disk media for removing the disk media from the disk drive, according to Apple.

Here’s Apple’s background on the invention: “Computers are becoming increasingly powerful, lightweight, and portable. The computing power of a computer that once filled an entire room now resides in a computer that sits on a desktop. Due to continuing advances in technology over the past several years, the size of these personal computers has steadily decreased while the performance has steadily increased. As a result, the use of portable computers, and particularly portable “laptop” computers, has increased dramatically during that same period of time. These portable computers have become virtually as powerful as their desktop counterparts. Even smaller hand-held computers are now capable of computing tasks that just a few short years ago required much larger computing machines.

“The portability of laptop computers enables a user to perform tasks conveniently and to access computing resources wherever and whenever desired. For example, a wirelessly networked portable computer running on a battery pack enables a user to access computational resources without the requirement of an external electrical source and free of the need to connect to a wired network link.

” Contemporary portable computers have a lid display section that pivots or rotates with respect to a base section of the computer. The lid moves between a closed position that places the lid against the base and an open position that exposes a display screen and various other components, such as a computer keyboard.

“The lid display section includes the display screen. The base section carries various components used for operating the portable computer. These components typically include a keyboard, a track pad or other cursor positioning device, a central processing unit (‘CPU’), a power supply, memory, a floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive, an optical disk drive (‘ODD’), other data storage devices, network connection and interface devices, and so forth.

“The network connection and interface devices may be, for example, connectors, ports, or wireless radio devices that enable the portable computer to communicate with external sources and peripheral devices such as a computer network, a printer, a serial device such as a mouse, a scanner, a docking station, and so forth. Connectors or ports may also enable the portable computer to interface with an electrical power source or power supply.

“Connectors and ports associated with a portable computer are often located on the sides or the rear of the base section. Occasionally, incidental access is also provided through the bottom of the portable computer, for example for access to the computer’s batteries. Often, connectors and ports are covered by manually accessed doors to protect the connectors and ports, e.g., from damage while the portable computer is being transported.

“In portable computers, traditional ODD modules are self-contained units having their own enclosures and their own electromagnetic interference (‘EMI’) shielding. If mounted within the portable computer, the ODD modules are mounted along one side or perimeter edge thereof (typically the left, front, or right side edge). Access for inserting and removing a disk (such as a compact disk (‘CD’) or a digital versatile disk (‘DVD’) is then commonly provided through the adjacent side of the portable computer housing (so-called ‘sidewall access’ or ‘side-access’).

“As portable computers continue to become thinner and thinner, placement of the ODD is becoming increasingly problematic. For example, the available area on the perimeter edge surfaces of the base of the computer housing (available ‘real estate’) diminishes as the thickness of the portable computer diminishes. Such real estate consequently becomes increasingly valuable as other services compete for use of the same diminishing resources. However, relocating the ODD away from the perimeter edge of the computer housing base poses problems and dilemmas that require solutions that have heretofore been deficient.

“One important consideration in the placement of the ODD is the convenience afforded to the user of the portable computer when inserting and removing a disk from the ODD. Users have become accustomed to intuitive user interfaces and convenient access to the ODD through the real estate along the side edges of the portable computer housing. Any reconfiguration, therefore, of the user interface for the ODD must take into account user expectations, efficiency, and convenience. It must not be unintuitive or counter-intuitive.

“Side edge access involves moving the disk horizontally, parallel to the plane of the disk. Removal of the disk from the portable computer or other portable device is thus relatively simple, because major portions of the flat surfaces (top and bottom) of the disk can be easily presented to the user. Thus, even a person with large fingers can easily grasp and remove the disk from the portable computer.

“However, when disk access is provided through a door which does not shift or move the disk laterally out of the portable computer, it can be much more difficult for the user to engage and remove the disk. Also, the disk access mechanism itself may be vulnerable to accidental damage. Therefore, to enable the user to grab the disk, such a portable device must present an opening that is large enough for the user to grasp the sides of the disk and pry it off the hub latch of the ODD. The opening must therefore be large enough to accommodate both the disk and the fingers of the user, with additional appropriate clearance to accommodate the disk removal action. This can be a substantial design burden as portable computers and portable devices become smaller and smaller. As sizes shrink, it is increasingly costly both from a design standpoint and from a functionality standpoint to have an unnecessarily large access door and open, wasted space around the periphery of the disk.

“An access door that opens outwardly from a portable computer can also be particularly vulnerable to damage, especially damage to the door hinge mechanism. When opened, even a modest force to the door can easily and quickly damage the door hinge due to the leverage of the force as it is applied to the hinge. The vulnerability of such door hinges thus only further complicates and aggravates efforts to move away from side-access disk mechanisms. As a result, side-access continues to be a popular solution, notwithstanding the considerable disadvantages from a design, implementation, and cost standpoint.

“Thus, a need still remains for solutions for efficiently and economically providing better user access to disk drives in an ergonomically user-friendly manner, and to readily accommodate changeable media for use with such drives. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures and consumer expectations, and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. Moreover, the ever-increasing need to save costs, improve efficiencies, and meet such competitive pressures adds even greater urgency to the critical necessity that answers be found to these problems.

“Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.”

The inventors are Gregory A. Springer, Chris Ligtenberg, Bartley K. Andre and Brett William Degner. FIG. 1 (below) is a view of a portable computer with a display mounted and hinged to a housing base in accordance with the present invention.

The second invention—by the same inventors plus Chris Ligtenberg and Jonathan Ive—is for an access system for a portable device provides a portable computer having a bottom surface. The portable computer is accessed through an active user interface on the bottom surface of the portable computer.

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