Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Dynamic mechanism subsystem – Access of multiple storage elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-15
2002-05-21
Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Dynamic mechanism subsystem
Access of multiple storage elements
C369S030780, C369S030820
Reexamination Certificate
active
06392981
ABSTRACT:
This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of prior PCT International Application No. PCT/JP98/00807 which has an International filing date of Feb. 27, 1998 which designated the United States of America, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a disk system, and particularly to a disk system capable of selectively operating a plurality of disks without use of a removable magazine.
2. Background Art
FIG. 106
is a sectional side view showing an essential portion of a related art general disk system capable of selectively operating a plurality of disks, and
FIG. 107
is a sectional view of the essential portion.
In
FIGS. 106 and 107
, reference numeral
1
indicates a magazine in which exchange disks are contained, and
2
is a disk rotating portion. The disk rotating portion
2
includes a disk rotating motor
3
; a disk clamp hub
13
provided on a shaft of the disk rotating motor
3
; a disk clamper
4
; a disk roller
6
for feeding, a disk
8
which is fed out by a driving lever
5
provided in the magazine
1
and driven by a driving means (not shown), to the disk rotating portion
2
; a driving shaft
9
fixed on a housing
7
for supporting the disk rotating portion
2
; and a tilting plate cam
10
and upper and lower guide plates
11
operated in the direction A in the figures.
In this disk system, to take off a plurality of the disks
8
contained in the magazine
1
, the disk rotating portion
2
is moved in the direction B in the figures by interlocking of the driving shaft
9
, tilting plate cam
10
and upper and lower guide plates
11
, to be positioned at a desired disk position in the magazine
1
.
In this way, according to the related art disk system, since disks contained in the magazine
1
are perfectly independent from a disk rotated on the disk rotating portion
2
side within a plane region, there occurs a problem that a length, that is, a dimension D of the disk system becomes larger.
To solve the above problem, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 63-200354 has proposed a disk system.
FIG. 108
is a sectional side view of an essential portion of such a disk system, and
FIG. 109
is a sectional top view of the essential portion of the disk system.
In
FIGS. 108 and 109
, reference numeral
19
indicates a magazine for containing exchange disks;
21
is a disk rotating motor;
22
is a disk clamp hub provided on a shaft of the disk rotating motor
21
; and
23
is a disk clamper.
Reference numeral
26
indicates a disk roller for feeding a disk
25
fed by a driving lever
24
driven by a driving means (not shown) to a disk rotating portion, and
27
is a driven roller disposed opposite to the disk roller
26
.
Reference numeral
32
indicates a pair of tilting plate cams which are engaged with a plurality of trays
31
in the magazine
19
. When the disk
25
selected by a magazine moving means (not shown) is moved in the direction of the plane of the disk, the pair of tilting plate cams
32
provide a space E more than at least a plate thickness of the disk in the rotating axis of the disk
25
with respect to the disk rotating portion
20
.
Here, the disk rotating portion
20
includes the disk rotating motor
21
, disk clamp hub
22
, disk clamper
23
, driving lever
24
, disk
25
, disk roller
26
, drive roller
27
, and tilting plate cams
32
.
Next, operation of the above disk system will be described.
To take off one of the plurality of the disks
25
contained in the magazine
19
, the magazine
19
is moved in the direction F in the figures by the driving means to be positioned at a desired disk position in the magazine
19
.
The disk
25
slides along a disk guide portion
35
in the magazine
19
by operation of the driving lever
24
in the magazine
19
, and a leading end of the disk
25
is bitten between the disk roller
26
and the driven roller
27
of the disk rotating portion
20
. Then, the disk
25
is carried to the disk clamper
23
and the disk clamp hub
22
provided on the shaft of the disk rotating motor
21
by turning of the disk roller
26
. The clamp position of the disk
25
is checked by a disk detecting means (not shown), and the disk clamper
23
and also the disk roller
26
and the driven roller
27
are moved in the direction of the disk clamp hub
22
by the driving means, to clamp the disk
25
.
At the same time when the driven roller
27
is moved toward the disk clamp hub
22
, a pair of the tilting plate cams
32
provided on the disk rotating portion
20
are moved on the magazine
19
side by the driving means, to tilt the tray
31
to form suitable space E as shown in
FIG. 108
b.
The related art disk system configured as described above requires a magazine case, and consequently, it presents problems that disks cannot be selectively inserted in or ejected from the disk rotating portion one by one and that it is enlarged in size.
Further, since the related art disk system employs a portable magazine case, it is technically difficult to disassemble racks containing disks from each other in the disk system. As a result, to form a gap between a desired disk to be reproduced and a disk facing to the desired disk, only one-ends of the disks can be opened. In other words, to form a large gap between the disks, a space corresponding to the large gap must be provided in the system, thus causing a problem that the disk system is enlarged in size.
Further, since the related art disk system employs a portable magazine case, it is very difficult to separate racks containing disks from each other in the disk system while tilting each rack.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Additionally, to ensure a space in the disk system, there occurs a problem that the disk system is enlarged in size.
To solve the above-described problems, the present invention has been made, and an object of the present invention is to provide a disk system capable of being miniaturized, even in the case where the disk system is configured so that a plurality of disks are contained without the need of provision of any removable magazine and are each operated, that is, each disk is selectively inserted, ejected, and operated, for example, reproduced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disk system capable of achieving space-saving even in the case where the disk system is configured that a disk containing position is different from a disk reproducing position.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a disk system capable of preventing a disk being damaged by holding the disk upon insertion or ejection of the disk and moving both roller portions holding the disk upon reproducing or exchange of the disk.
The present invention provides a disk system including: a plurality of stockers for containing disks in such a manner as to substantially align rotational axial lines of the disks to each other; a stocker moving means for moving the stockers to specific positions; and a disk driving means for rotating the disks contained in the stockers; wherein the stocker moving means moves, on the basis of a command, at least one of a desired stocker and another stocker for providing a gap between the desired stocker and another stocker, and also moves, on the basis of the command, at least one of the desired stocker and a stocker facing to a specific surface of the desired stocker for further enlarging only the gap provided between the desired stocker and the stocker facing to the specific surface of the desired stocker up to a gap. With this configuration, upon operation of disks, the disk driving means can be moved in the gap between the desired disk and a disk adjacent to the desired disk, so that it is possible to share portions at which disks are disposed and hence to miniaturize the disk system.
The stocker moving means, preferably, moves at least one of the desired stocker and another stocker for providing the gap between the desired stocker and another stocker, and moves at least one of the desired stocker a
Ishimoto Yoshisada
Itou Shigehiro
Matsuda Takashi
Watanabe Hidetaka
Klimowicz William
Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Company Limited
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