U.S. patent application number 09/832270 was filed with the patent office on 2001-08-16 for small library horseshoe architecture.
This patent application is currently assigned to Storage Technology Corporation. Invention is credited to Ostwald, Timothy C., Plutt, Daniel James.
Application Number | 20010013990 09/832270 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23426668 |
Filed Date | 2001-08-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010013990 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ostwald, Timothy C. ; et
al. |
August 16, 2001 |
Small library horseshoe architecture
Abstract
A storage library for recording and retrieving information from
storage media cartridges each having a label side includes a front
side having an opening. Left and right slots are disposed proximate
the left and right sides of the storage library for holding the
storage media cartridges. The slots and the storage media
cartridges are oriented so that each label side of the storage
media cartridges is visible to an operator through the opening.
Each of the slots are accessible to the operator via the opening
for the operator to access the storage media cartridges being held
by the slots. A media drive is disposed proximate the back side of
the storage library and is operative to receive a storage media
cartridge through a port. A robotic mechanism is disposed between
the slots and is operative to move the storage media cartridges
between the slots and the media drive.
Inventors: |
Ostwald, Timothy C.;
(Louisville, CO) ; Plutt, Daniel James; (Superior,
CO) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Timothy R. Schulte
Brooks & Kushman P.C.
1000 Town Center, 22nd Floor
Southfield
MI
48075-1351
US
|
Assignee: |
Storage Technology
Corporation
One StorageTek Drive MS-4309
Louisville
CO
80028-4309
|
Family ID: |
23426668 |
Appl. No.: |
09/832270 |
Filed: |
April 10, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09832270 |
Apr 10, 2001 |
|
|
|
09362583 |
Jul 28, 1999 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
360/92.1 ;
G9B/15.135; G9B/17.054 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 1/401 20130101;
G11B 15/68 20130101; G11B 17/225 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
360/92 |
International
Class: |
G11B 015/68 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A storage library for recording and retrieving information from
a plurality of storage media cartridges, wherein each storage media
cartridge has a label side, the storage library comprising: a
housing having left, right, front, and back sides, wherein the
front side of the housing has an opening; left and right plurality
of slots disposed proximate the left and right sides of the housing
for holding the plurality of storage media cartridges, wherein the
left and right plurality of slots and the plurality of storage
media cartridges are oriented so that each label side of the
plurality of storage media cartridges is visible to an operator
through the opening, wherein each of the left and right plurality
of slots are accessible to the operator via the opening for the
operator to access the storage media cartridges being held by the
left and right plurality of slots; at least one media drive
disposed proximate the back side of the housing, the at least one
media drive being operative to receive a storage media cartridge
through a port; and a robotic mechanism disposed between the left
and right plurality of slots, the robotic mechanism being operative
to move the plurality of storage media cartridges between the
plurality of slots and the at least one media drive.
2. The storage library of claim 1 wherein the robotic mechanism
further comprises: a first linear carriage disposed between the
left and right plurality of slots, and operative to move along a
first path perpendicular to the back side of the housing; a second
linear carriage disposed on the first linear carriage and operative
to move in a direction perpendicular to the first linear carriage;
a rotational carriage disposed on the second linear carriage and
operative to rotate between the left and right plurality of slots
and the at least one media drive; and a picker assembly disposed on
the rotational carriage and operative to insert and remove at least
one storage media cartridge from the left and right plurality of
slots and the at least one media drive.
3. The storage library of claim 2 wherein each storage media
cartridge has a bar-code on the label side, the storage library
further comprising a bar-code reader disposed on the rotational
carriage, and operative to read the barcode on the label side of
each storage media cartridge.
4. The storage library of claim 1 wherein the robotic mechanism
further comprises: a first linear carriage disposed between the
left and right plurality of slots, and operative to move along a
path approximately perpendicular to the back side of the housing; a
rotational carriage disposed on the first linear carriage, and
operative to rotate between the left and right plurality of slots
and the at least one media drive; and a picker assembly disposed on
the rotational carriage, and operative to insert and remove at
least one storage media cartridge from the left and right plurality
of slots and the at least one media drive.
5. The storage library of claim 4 wherein each storage media
cartridge has a bar-code on the label side, the storage library
further comprising a bar-code reader disposed on the rotational
carriage, and operative to read the barcode on the label side of
each storage media cartridge.
6. The storage library of claim 4 wherein the at least one media
drive is at least two media drives, the storage library further
comprising a rear linear carriage disposed between the at least two
media drives and the housing, and operative to move the at least
two media drives approximately parallel to the back side of the
housing to align each media drive one at a time with the picker
assembly.
7. The storage library of claim 1 further comprising: a left linear
carriage disposed between the left plurality of slots and the
housing, and operative to move the left plurality of slots
approximately parallel to the left side of the housing; a right
linear carriage disposed between the right plurality of slots and
the housing, and operative to move the right plurality of slots
approximately parallel to the right side of the housing; and
wherein the robotic mechanism further comprises: a rotational
carriage disposed adjacent to the at least one media drive and
disposed between the left and right plurality of slots, the
rotational carriage being operative to rotate between the left and
right plurality of slots and the at least one media drive; and a
picker assembly disposed on the rotational carriage, and operative
to insert and remove at least one storage media cartridge from the
left and right plurality of slots and the at least one media
drive.
8. The storage library of claim 7 wherein each storage media
cartridge has a bar-code on the label side, the storage library
further comprising a bar-code reader disposed on the rotational
carriage, and operative to read the barcode on the label side of
each storage media cartridge.
9. The storage library of claim 7 wherein the at least one media
drive is at least two media drives, the storage library further
comprising a rear linear carriage disposed between the at least two
media drives and the housing, and operative to move the at least
two media drives approximately parallel to the back side of the
housing to align the port of each media drive one at a time with
the picker assembly.
10. The storage library of claim 1 further comprising at least one
additional slot disposed approximate the back side of the
housing.
11. The storage library of claim 1 wherein the left plurality of
slots are in the form of a left magazine, and the right plurality
of slots are in the form of a right magazine, the storage library
further comprising at least two magazine sockets demountably
coupling the left magazine and the right magazine respectively to
the housing.
12. The storage magazine of claim 1 wherein the left plurality of
slots is at least ten slots, and the right plurality of slots is at
least ten slots.
13. The storage library of claim 1 wherein: the port of the at
least one media drive is approximately facing the opening of the
front side of the housing.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation application of U.S.
application Ser. No. 09/362,583 filed on Jul. 28, 1999.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This invention is related to the field of desktop and
rack-mounted libraries that read and write information in removable
storage media cartridges.
BACKGROUND ART
[0003] Magnetic tape cartridges are often used to backup computer
hard drives and disk arrays nightly, and to provide mass storage
for information that is not accessed on a regular basis. For
standalone computers and small network systems, a single manually
loaded tape drive is sufficient to handle most backup and archived
information needs. As the storage requirements expand, however, it
becomes practical to integrate the tape drive into an automated
library that can mount and dismount one of several tape cartridges
under computer control.
[0004] Small to medium office network systems can benefit from a
small desktop or rack-mounted library having multiple tape
cartridges. Current magnetic tape cartridges, such as the digital
linear tape (DLT) and eight-millimeter formats, have capacities
greater than twenty gigabytes per cartridge. These capacities are
sufficient to copy the entire contents of modest disk servers on
just one cartridge. By providing seven or more cartridges in the
library, backup operations can be performed automatically every day
for an entire week.
[0005] The capacity of rack-mounted libraries is usually limited by
the standard nineteen-inch width of the rack, the need for a user
to access the cartridges, and the desire for the user to be able to
see the labels on the cartridges. Many libraries are configured
with all of the cartridges and drives lined up across the front of
the housing with the cartridge labels facing outward. A robotic
mechanism transports the cartridges to and from the drives from the
label side of the cartridges. Operating on the label side of the
cartridges also allows the robotic mechanism to carry a bar-code
reader that can scan bar-codes on the labels for positive cartridge
identification. The advantages of these configurations are easy
user access to the cartridges, a direct user and robotic mechanism
view of the labels to determine quickly which cartridges are
installed, a simple robotic mechanism, and a low housing height
determined mainly by the height of the cartridges. The primary
disadvantage is that only a limited number of cartridges and drives
fit across the nineteen-inch rack width. Using the DLT cartridges
as an example, only seven DLT cartridges and one DLT media drive
fit within the nineteen-inch width constraint.
[0006] To increase the total capacity of the library, some library
configurations position the drives in a back row behind the
cartridges. Front row space vacated by the drives is used to hold
additional cartridges. The robotic mechanism is now positioned
between the cartridges and drives. Using the DLT cartridge example
again, approximately eleven DLT cartridges can be positioned across
the front row of the housing and up to three DLT media drives can
be positioned in the back row. The primary limitation of these
configurations is still the total number of cartridges that can be
installed at any given time. A bar-code reader requirement acts to
reduce the total number of cartridges. Since the robotic mechanism
cannot view the bar-codes on the labels directly, the bar-code
reader cannot be mounted on the robotic mechanism. Instead, the
bar-code reader is installed facing inward in one cartridge
position. Here the bar-code reader scans the cartridge held in
front of it by the robotic mechanism. The tradeoff for the bar-code
reader capability is one less cartridge in the library.
[0007] Two other configurations have been used to increase the
total number of cartridges within the library. Some configurations
place additional cartridges in the back row next to the drives. An
example of this configuration can be seen in U.S. Pat. No.
5,892,750, issued to Barkley et al., on Apr. 6, 1999. Barkley
discloses a library having ten cartridges held in a removable
magazine positioned at the front of the housing. Five additional
cartridges are stored in a back row next to the drive. These five
additional cartridges cannot be directly accessed by a user, nor
can they be directly viewed by a user who wishes to read their
labels. Another library configuration stacks a second row of
cartridges above the first row at the front of the housing. Here,
all of the cartridges are readily accessible and viewable to the
user. The tradeoffs for having vertically stacked cartridges are
that the height of the housing is doubled, and this library
requires a more complicated robotic mechanism that can move up and
down as well as left and right.
[0008] Yet another configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
5,870,245 issued to Kersey et al., on Feb. 9, 1999. Kersey
discloses a library where the cartridges and drives are aligned in
a row perpendicular to the front of the housing. In this approach,
the total number of cartridges and drives are limited by the depth
of the housing instead of by the width of the housing. Since the
housing can be greater than nineteen inches deep, more distance is
available to arrange the cartridges and drives. One limitation of
the Kersey disclosure is that all of the cartridges are hidden from
the user when installed in the library. In order to access or view
the label of any one cartridge, a magazine holding all of the
cartridges must be removed from the library. Removing the magazine
from the library causes all cartridge transfers to and from the
magazine to be halted until the magazine is reinstalled.
[0009] To increase the capacity of rack-mounted libraries, more
efficient placements of the cartridge, drive and robotic mechanism
are required. What is desired is a configuration in which the
height of the housing is kept to a minimum, all of the cartridges
are directly accessible by the user, and all of the labels are
directly viewable by the user and the robotic mechanism.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
[0010] The present invention is an automated storage library
suitable for rack-mount and desktop installations. Storage media
cartridges are positioned in rows along the left and right sides of
the library's housing, and one or more media drives are positioned
along the back side of the housing creating a "horseshoe" like
architecture. A robotic mechanism operates between the left and
right rows transporting the storage media cartridges to and from
the media drives. This architecture results in a large number of
storage media cartridges within the nineteen-inch width rack-mount
constraint. Access to the storage media cartridges is provided
through an opening provided in the front side of the housing. The
storage media cartridges are oriented in their rows so that their
label sides are generally facing inward toward the middle of the
housing. This inward orientation allows a user to view the labels
through the opening in the front side of the housing.
[0011] The inward facing label sides of storage media cartridges
make it easy for the library to read the bar-codes on the labels
using a bar-code reader mounted on the robotic mechanism. All of
the labels can be read by the bar-code reader without moving any of
the storage media cartridges from their slots. Alternatively, the
bar-code reader may be mounted off of the robotic mechanism. This
configuration requires that the robotic mechanism remove the
storage media cartridges from their slots and transport them to the
bar-code reader for scanning.
[0012] The robotic mechanism generally moves in at least three
degrees of freedom. In the first degree of freedom, the robotic
mechanism moves along the rows of storage media cartridges to align
itself with the desired storage media cartridge or media drive. In
the second degree of freedom, a robotic mechanism rotates to align
its picker assembly with the left or right rows of storage media
cartridges, or the media drives. The third degree of freedom is
supplied by the picker assembly to insert and remove storage media
cartridges from the slots and the media drives.
[0013] When the library contains several media drives, the media
drives may be oriented along an arc that matches the rotation of
the picker assembly. Where space constraints force the media drives
to be in a straight line parallel to the back side of the housing,
then two alternate configurations are possible. First, the robotic
mechanism may include a fourth degree of freedom that allows the
robotic mechanism to move into alignment with the appropriate media
drive. Alternatively, the media drives may be mounted on a linear
carriage that moves the appropriate media drive into alignment with
the robotic mechanism.
[0014] In another embodiment, the robotic mechanism is designed to
rotate about a fixed position. Here, both rows of storage media
cartridges and the multiple media drives are mounted on linear
carriages. These linear carriages bring the desired storage media
cartridge and media drive to the robotic mechanism. The robotic
mechanism rotates its picker assembly to face the left side of the
library to obtain and deposit storage media cartridges in the left
row. Rotating the picker assembly to face the right side of the
library provides access to the storage media cartridges in the
right row. To insert or extract a storage media cartridge from a
media drive, the robotic mechanism rotates the picker assembly to
face the back side of the library.
[0015] Where only one or two media drives are installed in the
library, the unused space beside the media drives may be used to
hold more storage media cartridges. This allows for additional
storage capacity in the library. The storage media cartridges may
also be mounted in magazines for quick mass installation and
removal.
[0016] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to
provide an efficient packaging configuration for the storage media
cartridges and media drives in a library housing suitable for
rack-mount and desktop operations.
[0017] Another object of the present invention is to orient the
storage media cartridges so that their labels can be viewed by a
user at the front side of the housing, and by a bar-code reader
mounted on the robotic mechanism.
[0018] These and other objects, features and advantages will be
readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed
description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0019] FIG. 1 is a top view of a library implementing the present
invention;
[0020] FIG. 2 is a top view with the robotic mechanism removing a
storage media cartridge from a slot;
[0021] FIG. 3 is a top view with a robotic mechanism inserting the
storage media cartridge into a media drive;
[0022] FIG. 4 is a top view with the robotic mechanism positioned
to allow direct viewing and access to the storage media
cartridges;
[0023] FIG. 5 is a top view of a second embodiment of the present
invention where storage media cartridges are on three sides;
[0024] FIG. 6 is a top view of a third embodiment of the present
invention where the robotic mechanism has four degrees of
freedom;
[0025] FIG. 7 is a top view of a fourth embodiment of the present
invention where the media drives are moved on a linear
carriage;
[0026] FIG. 8 is a top view of a fifth embodiment of the present
invention where the robotic mechanism has two degrees of freedom;
and
[0027] FIG. 9 is a top view of a sixth embodiment of the present
invention where the storage media cartridges are disposed at an
angle.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0028] The Electronic Industries Alliance of Arlington, Va.,
controls the specification EIA-310 that defines the standards for
nineteen-inch (483 millimeters) cabinets, racks, panels and
associated equipment.
[0029] FIG. 1 is a top view of a library implementing the present
invention. The library has a housing 100 defining four sides, a
front side 102, a left side 104, a right side 106 and a back side
108. In the preferred embodiment, the width of the housing is
nineteen inches (483 millimeters), as measured from the left side
104 to the right side 106, in compliance with EIA-310. The height
of the housing is seven inches (178 millimeters) which is four rack
units as defined by EIA-310. The depth of the housing is
twenty-seven inches (686 millimeters) as measured from the front
side 102 to the back side 108. Other housing widths, heights and
depths may be used within the scope of the present invention.
[0030] Internal to the library, multiple storage media cartridges
110 and one or more media drives 112 are packaged in a horseshoe
shaped, "U" shaped, or cup-shaped configuration. One row of storage
media cartridges 110 are positioned in slots (not shown) along the
left side 104 of the housing 100. The media drive 112 is positioned
along the back side 108. A second row of storage media cartridges
110 are positioned in slots (not shown) along the right side 106,
completing the horseshoe configuration. A robotic mechanism 114 is
positioned between the two rows of storage media cartridges 110
where it can access all of the storage media cartridges 110 and the
media drive 112. The storage media cartridges 110, media drive 112
and robotic mechanism 114 are coplanar to minimize the height of
the housing 100. In the preferred embodiment, at least ten magnetic
digital linear tape type storage media cartridges 110 are stored
along the left side 104 and at least ten more along the right side
106 of the housing 100.
[0031] To manipulate the storage media cartridges 110, the robotic
mechanism 114 has a picker assembly 116. The picker assembly 116
has the ability to grasp one storage media cartridge 110 at a time,
remove that storage media cartridge 110 from a slot or the media
drive 112, and insert it into the media drive 112 or any empty
slot. A rotational carriage 118 rotates the picker assembly 116 to
face the left and right rows of storage media cartridges 110 and
the media drive 112. The rotational carriage 118 may also rotate
the picker assembly 116 toward an opening 122 provided in the front
side 102 of the housing 100. This orientation allows the picker
assembly 116 to receive or give a storage media cartridge 110 to
the user 120 through the opening 122. A linear carriage 124,
operating on a track 126, moves the rotational carriage 118 and the
picker assembly 116 parallel to the two rows of storage media
cartridges 110. The linear carriage 124 aligns the picker assembly
116 before the desired storage media cartridge 110, empty slot, or
the media drive 112. As mentioned earlier, the linear carriage 124
may also position the picker assembly 116 near the opening 122 to
receive or give a storage media cartridge 110 to the user 120.
[0032] The opening 122 in the front side 102 of the housing 100
serves several purposes. First, the user inserts and removes the
storage media cartridges 110 from the library through the opening
122. Maintenance on the robotic mechanism 114, media drive 112, and
other internal components (not shown) may be performed through the
opening 122. Also, the user can view labels on the label side 128
of the storage media cartridges 110 looking in through the opening
122. Opening 122 may be a fixed hole in the front side 102 of the
housing 100, or it may be created by moving part or all of the
front side 102. In the preferred embodiment, the entire front side
102 is hinged at the bottom and swings downward to create the
opening 122.
[0033] FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show an example operation of the robotic
mechanism 114 moving a desired storage media cartridge 110a from a
slot in the left row to the media drive 112. Referring to FIG. 2,
the robotic mechanism 114 first aligns with the desired storage
media cartridge 110a. Next, the gripper assembly 116 grips and
removes the desired storage media cartridge 110a from its slot. The
rotational carriage 118 rotates the desired storage media cartridge
110a for insertion into the media drive 112. Simultaneously, or
independently of the rotational carriage 118 motion, the linear
carriage 124 moves the desired storage media cartridge 110a toward
the media drive 112. Referring to FIG. 3, once the robotic
mechanism 114 is aligned with the media drive 112, the picker
assembly 116 inserts the desired storage media cartridge 110a into
the media drive 112 through a port 300. To return the desired
storage media cartridge 110a to its original slot, the steps of the
above operation are reversed. The process to move the desired
storage media cartridge 110a from one slot to another is similar to
the process of moving the desired storage media cartridge 110a to
the media drive 112 with the destination slot substituted for the
media drive 112.
[0034] Referring to FIG. 4, one advantage of the present invention
is that the horseshoe configuration allows the label side 128 of
all of the storage media cartridges 110 to be viewed by the user
120 through the opening 122. Each storage media cartridge 110 is
oriented in the slots with its label side 128 faces inward toward
the track 126. To avoid any obstructions of the label side 128 by
the robotic mechanism 114, the robotic mechanism 114 may be moved
to the end of the track 126 nearest the media drive 112. By making
the opening 122 sufficiently large, and with the robotic mechanism
114 parked near the media drive 112, the user 120 has room to reach
into the housing 100 to install and remove the storage media
cartridges 110 from all of the slots.
[0035] Another advantage of having all of the label sides 128
facing the track 126 is that it allows the library to read
bar-codes on the labels using a bar-code reader 130 mounted on the
robotic mechanism 114. In the preferred embodiment, the bar-code
reader 130 is mounted on the rotational carriage 118 so that it
parallels the picker assembly 116. To read a bar-code on the label
side 128 of a storage media cartridge 110, the robotic mechanism
114 aligns the bar-code reader 130 with the storage media cartridge
in the same fashion that it aligns the picker assembly 116 with the
storage media cartridge 110.
[0036] FIG. 5 is a top view of a second embodiment of the present
invention having a second media drive 112b and six additional
storage media cartridges 110b for a total of twenty-six storage
media cartridges 110. Here the second media drive 112b and the
additional storage media cartridges 110b are positioned along the
arc of the horseshoe shape. The combination of the media drives
112a and 112b allow this embodiment to transfer data faster than
the single media drive 112 embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Also, the
additional storage media cartridges 110b give this embodiment a
larger storage capacity than the library shown in FIG. 1. The
disadvantage of this embodiment, as compared with the embodiment
shown in FIG. 1, is that direct access to the additional storage
media cartridges 110b requires the user 120 to reach over, or to
one side to the robotic mechanism 114.
[0037] FIG. 6 is a top view of a third embodiment of the present
invention. In this embodiment the horseshoe shape is more squared
than the horseshoe shape shown in FIG. 5. Extra storage media
cartridges 110c are positioned near the left side 104 and the right
side 106 of the housing 100, and to the left and right side of the
media drive 112. To accommodate the positioning of the extra
storage media cartridges 110c, this embodiment of the robotic
mechanism 614 has a second linear stage 625 between the first
linear stage 624 and the track 626. The second linear carriage 625
is oriented parallel to the back side 108 of the housing 100. This
extra degree of motion in the robotic mechanism 614 allows the
extra storage media cartridges 110c to be positioned along shallow
curves and straight lines. Positioning the storage media cartridges
110 along shallow curves or straight lines requires only small gaps
between adjacent storage media cartridges 110, resulting in an
efficient use of the space claim inside the housing 100. As with
the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, an additional media drive (not
shown) could be installed adjacent the current media drive 112 in
place of some or all of the extra storage media cartridges
110c.
[0038] A fourth variation of the present invention is shown in FIG.
7. In this embodiment, the horseshoe shape is squared-off (a cup
shape) and three media drives 112a-c occupy the portion of the
horseshoe shape adjacent the back side 108 of the housing 100. A
rear linear carriage 728, operating on a rear track 730, is used to
align the media drives 112a-c with the picker assembly 116. More
storage media cartridges 110d are positioned along the left side
104 and right side 106 of the housing 100 to increase the total
capacity of the library over that shown in FIG. 1. One advantage of
this embodiment over the other embodiments shown is that all curves
have been eliminated from the horseshoe shape allowing for very
efficient packaging of the storage media cartridges 110 and 110d
and the media drives 112a-c. Another advantage of this embodiment
over the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is that the robotic mechanism
114 has only one linear carriage 124 and thus is smaller and
simpler than the robotic mechanism 614. The disadvantage of this
embodiment is that the weight of the media drives 112a-c must be
moved each time a different media drive 112a-c must be aligned with
the picker assembly 116.
[0039] FIG. 8 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention
where the robotic mechanism 814 does not include the linear
carriage. In order to align the storage media cartridges 110 with
the picker assembly 116, the two rows of storage media cartridges
110 are mounted on a left linear carriage 832 and a right linear
carriage 834 operating on a left track 836 and a right track 838
respectively. Alignment of the picker assembly 116 with the media
drives 112a-c is accomplished in the same fashion as was shown in
FIG. 7, the three media drives 112a-c are mounted on a rear linear
carriage 728 operating on the rear track 730. To facilitate mass
storage media cartridge 110 removal and insertion, the left linear
carriage 832 and the right linear carriage 834 may be designed to
be removable from the left track 836 and the right track 838
respectively through the opening 122. Alternatively, demountable
magazines (not shown) may be provided on the left linear carriage
832 and the right linear carriage 834 to allow for quick
installation and removal of the storage media cartridges 110. The
use of magazines can be extended to the other embodiments where the
storage media cartridges 110 remain in fixed positions while the
robotic mechanism 114 move to achieve alignment. In this case, a
left and right magazine, having slots to hold the storage media
cartridges, are demountably coupled to a left and right magazine
socket respectively. The left and right magazine sockets, in turn,
are positioned along the left side 104 and right side 106 of the
housing 100 respectively.
[0040] FIG. 9 shows a sixth embodiment of the present invention
where the storage media cartridges 110 are angled toward the
opening 122. This configuration makes it easier for the user 120 to
view the label sides 128, and to install and remove the storage
media cartridges 110 as compared to the configuration shown in FIG.
1. This configuration also allows the library to accommodate
storage media cartridges that are larger than the digital linear
tape cartridges without increasing the width of the housing 100.
Other types of storage media cartridge formats within the scope of
the present invention include, but are not limited to
four-millimeter format, eight-millimeter format, quarter inch
format, disk format, IBM 3480/3490 format and the like. The media
within the storage media cartridges may include, but is not limited
to magnetic, optical, metallic films, dye-polymer films, bubble
forming material, magneto-optical, amorphous to crystalline phase
transition, and semiconductor media.
[0041] Another variation shown in FIG. 9 is that the bar-code
reader 130 may be mounted in a fixed position with respect to the
housing 100 instead of on the robotic mechanism 914. This variation
accounts for situations where the bar-code reader 130 cannot be
aligned close enough to the storage media cartridges 110 to read
the bar-codes on the labels due to interference by neighboring
storage media cartridges 110 or other objects. Here, the robotic
mechanism 914 must remove the storage media cartridge 110 from its
slot, transport the storage media cartridge 110 to, and align the
label side 128 with the bar-code reader 130.
[0042] While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and
described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and
describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words
used in the specification are words of description rather than
limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
* * * * *