U.S. patent application number 09/357751 was filed with the patent office on 2001-12-27 for recording media library apparatus having a medium inversion unit separatedfrom a transport mechansim.
Invention is credited to SUZUKI, HIROYUKI, YOKOYAMA, KATSUMASA.
Application Number | 20010055266 09/357751 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 16571254 |
Filed Date | 2001-12-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010055266 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
SUZUKI, HIROYUKI ; et
al. |
December 27, 2001 |
RECORDING MEDIA LIBRARY APPARATUS HAVING A MEDIUM INVERSION UNIT
SEPARATEDFROM A TRANSPORT MECHANSIM
Abstract
Recording media library apparatus includes an inversion unit for
inverting a desired or designated recording medium of the
double-side recording type so as to correspond to a predetermined
driving direction of a drive unit. The inversion unit is installed
in any one of a plurality of predetermined installing areas
separate from a transport mechanism within the library apparatus.
By the inversion unit performing necessary inversion of the
double-side recording type medium, the same transport mechanism can
be used for recording media of both the double-side recording type
and the single-side recording type. Because the inversion unit is
provided separately from the transport mechanism, the inferior of
one recording medium by the inversion unit and the transport of
another recording medium by the transport mechanism can be
performed concurrently in a parallel fashion, which can greatly
enhance the processing speed and hence the processing performance
of the library apparatus. Particularly, because the transport
mechanism in this library apparatus does not perform the function
of inverting the recording medium and thus does not have to halt or
wait its medium transporting operation during the medium inversion,
the transport mechanism can perform the medium transporting
operation with greatly increased efficiency.
Inventors: |
SUZUKI, HIROYUKI;
(HADANO-SHI, JP) ; YOKOYAMA, KATSUMASA; (NAKA-GUN,
JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DAVID L. FEHRMAN
MORRISON & FOERSTER
555 WEST FIFTH STREET
SUITE 3500
LOS ANGELES
CA
90013
US
|
Family ID: |
16571254 |
Appl. No.: |
09/357751 |
Filed: |
July 20, 1999 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
369/200 ;
G9B/17.018 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11B 17/0407
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
369/200 |
International
Class: |
G11B 017/04; G11B
017/08 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 24, 1998 |
JP |
10-209335 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A recording media library apparatus capable of storing and
processing at least recording media of a double-side recording
type, said recording media library apparatus comprising: a
plurality of storage units, removably installed in a plurality of
predetermined installing areas within said recording media library
apparatus, for storing a multiplicity of the recording media; a
drive unit for driving a desired one of the recording media in a
predetermined driving direction; a transport mechanism for
transporting a desired one of the recording media between one of
said storage units and said drive unit; and an inversion unit,
installed in any one of the plurality of predetermined installing
areas, for, when a desired one of the recording media of the
double-side recording type is to be driven at a particular surface
thereof, inverting the desired recording medium of the double-side
recording type to correspond to the predetermined driving direction
of said drive unit.
2. A recording media library apparatus as recited in claim 1
wherein said inversion unit is removably installed in any one of
the predetermined installing areas.
3. A recording media library apparatus as recited in claim 1 which
is capable of mixedly storing recording media of both a single-side
recording type and the double-side recording type.
4. A recording media library apparatus as recited in claim 1
wherein said recording media are DVDs.
5. A recording media library apparatus as recited in claim 1
wherein transport of one recording medium by said transport
mechanism and inferior of another recording medium by said
inversion unit can be performed concurrently in a parallel fashion.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to recording media
library apparatus, and more particularly to a recording media
library apparatus for storing and handling or processing at least
recording media of a double-side recording type which, without
sacrificing or lowering the processing efficiency and speed, is
capable of inverting a designated double-side recording type medium
so as to be oriented in a predetermined direction where it can be
driven by a drive unit.
[0002] DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) library apparatus have been
known extensively today, which store and drive (read/write) DVDs
and perform other necessary processing on the DVDs. The DVD library
apparatus, in general, include a magazine for storing a
multiplicity of DVDs in storage cells thereof, a drive unit for
driving (reading/writing) a desired or designated DVD, and a
transport mechanism (also called a "handling mechanism") for
transporting a designated DVD between the magazine, the drive unit
etc. Typically, the DVD library apparatus include a plurality of
(e.g., six) magazines removably installed therein, each of which is
capable of storing a multiplicity of DVDs. When a DVD stored in a
particular storage cell of one of the magazines is to be driven by
the drive unit, a carrying holder, usually in a box-like shape, of
the transport mechanism is first moved to a position where it faces
the particular storage cell, and then pulls the DVD out of the
particular storage cell until the DVD is held in place within the
holder. Then, the carrying holder is moved, along with the DVD held
therein, to a position where it faces the drive unit, and inserts
the DVD into the drive unit for necessary driving.
[0003] Although the drive unit can always drive only one
predetermined surface (lower or upper surface) of each DVD, the
DVDs marketed today are of not only a single-side recording type
but also a double-side recording type such as DVD-RAMs. For this
reason, in such DVD library apparatus mixedly storing and handling
the DVDs of both the single-side recording type and the double-side
recording type (hereinafter also called "single-side recording type
DVDs" and "double-side recording type DVDs", respectively), there
sometimes arises a need for inverting or turning the double-side
recording type DVD upside down (or inside out) so as to be oriented
in a predetermined direction corresponding to the driving direction
of the drive unit. Thus, in some of the conventionally-known DVD
library apparatus, the transport mechanism includes an inversion
unit for inverting the double-side recording type DVD so as to be
oriented in the predetermined driving direction (i.e., so as to
correspond to the driving direction of the drive unit), as
typically disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No.
HEI-8-249782.
[0004] However, these conventional DVD library apparatus including
the inversion unit in the transport mechanism is very
disadvantageous in that the transport mechanism can not perform its
primary operation, i.e., DVD transport operation, during the
inversion of the DVD by the inversion unit, which would
significantly lower the DVD transporting efficiency and hence the
processing capability or performance of the entire library
apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] It is therefore an object of the present invention to
provide a recording media library apparatus which, without lowering
its processing performance, can invert a recording medium of the
double-side recording type so as to correspond to a predetermined
driving direction of a drive unit.
[0006] To accomplish the above-mentioned object, the present
invention provides a recording media library apparatus which is
capable of storing and processing at least recording media of the
double-side recording type and which comprises: a plurality of
storage units, removably installed in a plurality of predetermined
installing areas within the recording media library apparatus, for
storing a multiplicity of the recording media; a drive unit for
driving a desired one of the recording media in a predetermined
driving direction; a transport mechanism for transporting a desired
one of the recording media between one of the storage units and the
drive unit; and an inversion unit, installed in any one of the
plurality of predetermined installing areas. When a desired
recording media of the double-side recording type is to be driven
at a particular surface thereof, the inversion unit inverts the
recording medium of the double-side recording type to correspond to
the predetermined driving direction of the drive unit.
[0007] In the recording media library apparatus of the present
invention, the inversion unit for inverting a desired or designated
recording medium of the double-side recording type is installed in
any one of the plurality of predetermined installing areas separate
from the transport mechanism. Because the inversion unit in the
present invention is provided separately from the transport
mechanism, the inferior of one recording medium by the inversion
unit and the transport of another recording medium by the transport
mechanism can be effected concurrently in a parallel fashion, which
can greatly enhance the processing speed and hence the processing
performance of the library apparatus. Particularly, in the present
invention, the transport mechanism itself does not perform the
function of inverting the recording medium and thus does not have
to halt or wait its medium transporting operation due to the medium
inversion as in the prior art apparatus, so that the transport
mechanism can perform the medium transporting operation with
greatly increased efficiency.
[0008] Most preferably, the recording media library apparatus of
the present invention is capable of mixedly storing recording media
of both the single-side recording type and the double-side
recording type, and the inversion unit can be removably installed
in any selected one of the installing areas. Thus, the installed
position of the inversion unit relative to the drive unit can be
varied as desired depending on a frequency of necessity of
inverting the double-side recording type media. That is, if the
frequency of necessity of inverting the recording media is high,
then the inversion unit may be provided in one of the installing
areas which is closest to the drive unit so that each recording
medium inverted by the inversion unit can be carried to the drive
unit with a minimum travel distance after having been passed from
the inversion unit to the transport mechanism. Further, a plurality
of such inversion units can be provided where the frequency of
necessity of inverting the recording media is extremely high. The
provision of two or more inversion units can even further enhance
the processing speed and performance.
[0009] Each of the storage units may be a portable magazine-type
unit. The recording media may be DVDs which are bare or contained
in a case.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] For better understanding of the object and other features of
the present invention, its preferred embodiments will be described
in greater detail hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a general
organization of a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) library apparatus in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an inversion unit employed
in the DVD library apparatus of FIG. 1, which shows an exemplary
external construction of the inversion unit; and
[0013] FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams explanatory of an
exemplary manner in which the inversion unit operates, and show the
interior of a retainer of the inversion unit in vertical
section.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0014] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a general
organization of a DVD library apparatus in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[0015] The DVD library apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is arranged to
mixedly store and process DVDs of both the single-side recording
type and the double-side recording type (i.e., single-side
recording type DVDs and double-side recording type DVDs), although
only the double-side recording type DVDs may be stored and
processed in the library apparatus. Specifically, the DVD library
apparatus includes one or more (four in the illustrated example)
magazines 4, each of which is provided as a removably-installable
storage unit for storing a multiplicity of DVDs 2 in storage cells
thereof. The DVD library apparatus of FIG. 1 also includes one or
more (two in the illustrated example) drive units 5 each provided
for driving (reading/writing) a desired or designated DVD 2, and a
single transport or handling mechanism 6 for transporting a
designated DVD 2 between the magazine 4, the drive unit 5 etc. In
the storage cells of the removable magazines 4, a plurality of the
DVDs 2 (only several DVDs 2 are shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity of
illustration), each not contained in a case (i.e., in an exposed or
bare state), are stored along with respective trays 3 supporting
thereon the DVDs 2; each of the trays 3 is reciprocatively movable
back and forth into and out of the associated storage cell. The
transport mechanism 6 includes a carrying holder 8, which carries a
designated DVD 2 between the magazine 4, the drive unit 5 etc. by
removably holding the DVD 2 and vertically moving along a transport
guide shaft G.
[0016] When, for example, a DVD 2 is to be taken out of a
designated one of the storage cells, the carrying holder 8 holds
the tray 3, received in the designated storage cell and supporting
thereon that DVD 2, at locking notches (not shown) formed in
opposite side edges of a fore end portion of the tray 3 and thereby
pulls out the tray 3 and the DVD 2 placed thereon out of the
storage cell until the tray 3 and DVD 2 are introduced into place
within the holder 8. Then, the carrying holder 8 retains together
the DVD 2 and tray 3 and transports them to the drive unit 5 or
other destination. However, because such a transporting operation
itself is not part of the present invention and conventionally
known in the art, a detailed description thereof is omitted
here.
[0017] In the illustrated example, four magazines 4 and two drive
units 5 are provided on opposite sides of the transport mechanism
6, two magazines 4 and one drive unit 5 on each side of the
transfer mechanism 6, in order to enhance the processing
performance of the library apparatus. Therefore, the single
carrying holder 8 is constructed to be able to access the magazines
4 and drive units 5 on the opposite sides of the transport
mechanism 6, such as by being horizontally rotated 180.degree. (or
directly without such a 180.degree. rotation).
[0018] The DVD library apparatus according to the illustrated
example has a total of six predetermined spaces or areas for
removably installing six magazines 6 (hereinafter called
"magazine-installing areas"). However, in the illustrated example,
only four magazines 4 are installed in four of the
magazine-installing areas, and in the remaining two
magazine-installing areas, there are installed two inversion units
10 separately from the transport mechanism 6, each of which
functions to invert or turn a designated DVD 2 of the double-side
recording type upside down when necessary.
[0019] When one DVD 2 stored in a designated storage cell of one of
the magazines 4 is to be driven by the drive unit 5, the carrying
holder 8 of the transport mechanism 6 is moved to a position where
it faces the designated storage cell, and then pulls the tray 3 out
of the storage cell so that the tray 3 and the DVD 2 placed thereon
are together introduced into and held in place within the carrying
holder 8. If the thus-held DVD 2 is of the double-side recording
type that has to be inverted, then the carrying holder 8 transports
the tray 3 and DVD 2 to the inversion unit 10 located on the same
side of the transport mechanism 6 as the above-mentioned magazine 4
and then sends the tray 3 and DVD 2 into the inversion unit 10. In
turn, the inversion unit 10 inverts or turns the tray 3 and DVD 2
upside down so as to correspond to its predetermined driving
direction. In this embodiment, during the inversion of the tray 3
and DVD 2 by the inversion unit 10, the carrying holder 8 can
perform the operation of transporting another DVD 2, because each
of the inversion units 10 is provided separately from the transport
mechanism 6 and the transport mechanism 6 itself does not have to
perform the DVD inverting function. After completion of the
inversion, the inversion unit 10 sends the thus-inverted tray 3 and
DVD 2 back into the carrying holder 8. Thus, the carrying holder 8
can carry the tray 3 and DVD 2, having been duly reoriented to
correspond to the predetermined driving direction, into the drive
unit 5 located on the same side of the transport mechanism 6.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the inversion unit 10, which
shows an exemplary external construction of each of the inversion
units 10 employed in the DVD library apparatus of FIG. 1. As shown,
each of the inversion units 10 includes a retainer 12 having, for
example, a generally box-like shape, into which the tray 3 and DVD
2, having been transported by the carrying holder 8 of the transfer
mechanism 6, are introduced in a direction denoted by arrow B. The
retainer 12 has a rotation shaft 14 secured to a central portion of
one of end walls 12a thereof extending perpendicularly to the
arrow-B direction, and this rotation shaft 14 is rotatable by an
electric motor 16 via an endless driving belt 15. Thus, through the
rotation shaft 14, the retainer 12, having the tray 3 and DVD 2
received therein, can be rotated 180.degree. vertically as denoted
by arrow C, to thereby cause the DVD 2 to be vertically inverted
along with the tray 3. In this case, to prevent the DVD 2 and tray
3 from accidentally falling off the retainer 12 during or after the
inversion operation, it is preferable that these DVD 2 and tray 3
received in the retainer 12 are substantially sandwiched between
the upper and lower walls of the retainer 12. It should be obvious
that the inversion units 10 employed in the embodiment may be
modified in a variety of ways, rather than being limited to the
construction illustrated in FIG. 2.
[0021] FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams explanatory of an
exemplary manner in which each of the inversion units 10 operates,
and show the interior of the retainer 12 in vertical section. More
specifically, FIG. 3A shows the tray 3 and the DVD 2 placed thereon
when they have been introduced into place within the retainer 12 in
the arrow-B direction. Namely, in this condition, an empty tray 3'
facing downward is on standby in an upper inner space of the
retainer 12, and the tray 3 with the DVD 2 placed thereon is
inserted underneath the empty tray 3'. The upper surface of the
thus-inserted DVD 2 is denoted by reference numeral 2a. FIG. 3B
shows the retainer 12 after having been inverted 180.degree. or
turned upside down from the position of FIG. 3A. In FIG. 3B, the
vertical relationship between the empty tray 3' and the
DVD-supporting tray 3 has been inverted from that of FIG. 3A, so
that the DVD 2, having been inverted by the inversion of the
retainer 12, is now placed on the tray 3'; in this position, the
opposite surface 2b of the DVD 2 to the above-mentioned surface 2a
faces upward or has become a new upper surface of the DVD 2. In the
condition illustrated in FIG. 3B, the tray 3' with the DVD 2 placed
thereon can be transferred from the retainer 12 (i.e., from the
inversion unit 10) into the carrying holder 8 by pulling that tray
3' in an opposite direction to the arrow-B direction.
[0022] As the most important feature of the present invention, the
inversion units 10 in this embodiment are each provided only in the
magazine-installing area separately from the transport mechanism 6,
not in the transport mechanism 6 as in the prior art library
apparatus. As noted earlier, the reason why the inversion units 10
are employed is that each of the drive units 5 can always drive
only a predetermined one surface of each of the DVDs 2 and thus it
is sometimes necessary to turn the DVD 2 180.degree. upside down to
correspond to the predetermined driving direction of the drive unit
5. Because each of the double-side recording type DVDs 2 that is to
be driven after inversion is thus inverted by the inversion unit
10, both the single-side recording type DVD and the double-side
recording type DVD can be transported via the common transport
mechanism 6 to the drive unit 5, without a need for the transport
mechanism 6 itself to perform the inversion of the double-side
recording type DVDs.
[0023] Further, according to the embodiment of the present
invention, each of the inversion units 10 can be removably
installed in any selected one of the six magazine-installing areas.
Thus, depending on a frequency of necessity of inverting the
double-side recording type DVDs 2, the installed position of each
of the inversion units 10 relative to the drive units 5 can be
varied optionally. Namely, in the illustrated example, many of the
DVDs 2 stored in the magazines 4 located to the left of the
transport mechanism 6 are of the single-side recording type that
need not be inverted; for this reason, the inversion unit 10
associated with the left-side magazines 4 (i.e., left-side
inversion unit) is provided in one of the magazine-installing areas
farther from the left-side drive unit 5 than the left-side
magazines 4. Thus, the single-side recording type DVDs 2,
constituting the majority of the DVDs 2 in the left-side magazines
4, can be quickly transported via the transport mechanism 6 to the
left-side drive unit 5, because the necessary traveling distance to
the drive unit 5 is short.
[0024] On the other hand, many of the DVDs 2 stored in the
magazines 4 located to the right of the transport mechanism 6 are
of the double-side recording type that need be inverted; for this
reason, the inversion unit 10 associated with the right-side
magazines 4 (i.e., the right-side inversion unit) is provided in
one of the magazine-installing areas closer to the right-side drive
unit 5 than the right-side magazines 4. Thus, the double-side
recording type DVDs 2, constituting the majority of the DVDs 2 in
the right-side magazines 4, can be quickly inverted by the
inversion unit 10 and then transported via the transport mechanism
6 to the right-side drive unit 5.
[0025] Because the inversion units 10 are provided separately from
the transport mechanism 6 in the described embodiment, the
inversion of one DVD 2 by the inversion unit 10 and the transport
of another DVD 2 by the transport mechanism 6 can be performed
concurrently in a parallel fashion, which can greatly enhance the
processing speed of the library apparatus. Further, the installed
positions of the inversion units 10 relative to the drive units 5
can be changed depending on the frequency of necessity inverting
the DVDs 2, the DVDs can be transported by the transportation
mechanism 6 with increased efficiency, and thus the processing
speed and efficiency can be enhanced even further. Furthermore, by
providing a plurality of the inversion units 10 as in the
illustrated example, the necessary DVD inversion and transport
operations can be performed concurrently in a parallel fashion, so
that an even further increase in the processing speed is
achieved.
[0026] Whereas the embodiment has been described as including the
magazines 4, inversion units 10 and drive units 5 on both sides of
the transport mechanism6, the basic principles of the present
invention may of course be applied to a DVD library apparatus where
the magazine 4, inversion unit 10 and drive unit 5 are provided 5
only on one side of the transport mechanism6.
[0027] Further, the DVDs handled by the DVD library apparatus of
the present invention are not limited to bare DVDs as described
above and may be cartridge-type DVDs contained in respective cases.
Generally, in the DVD library apparatus handling such
case-contained DVDs, the DVDs will each be stored, transported etc.
without being placed on the trays.
[0028] Furthermore, the basic principles of present invention may
be applied to any other recording media library apparatus than the
DVD library apparatus, such as those which mixedly store and
process single-side recording type and double-side recording type
recording media other than the DVDs.
[0029] In summary, the present invention is characterized primarily
in that the inversion unit for inverting the recording medium of
the double-side recording type is provided separately from the
transport mechanism, the inversion of one recording medium and the
transport of another recording medium can be performed concurrently
in a parallel fashion, so that the processing speed of the
recording media library apparatus can be increased to a significant
degree.
* * * * *