Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Dynamic mechanism subsystem – Access of multiple storage elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-08
2002-01-22
Ometz, David L. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Dynamic mechanism subsystem
Access of multiple storage elements
C369S291100, C369S075110, C369S077110, C206S308100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06341119
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a disk storage magazine which stores a plurality of disks recorded or reproduced by light.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A disk unit has been used widely for an audio disk and video disk or as a data storage unit for a computer, and it includes an optical disk unit or the like.
Optical disks include a disk capable of being recorded and reproduced, which is stored in a cartridge and is mainly used for data storage, and a disk dedicated to reproducing, which is used as the disk only, such as a music CD and a CD-ROM. As the digitization of AV equipment and the fulfillment of AV function of a computer advance at the same time, for the optical disk as well, a function as a widely used digital disk has been demanded for both of the AV equipment and the computer.
The configuration and operation of a conventional general auto changer recording/reproducing apparatus for an optical disk will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 51
is a perspective view showing a schematic shape of one example of a conventional disk storage magazine for storing disks capable of being recorded or reproduced by light. Reference numeral
101
denotes a disk capable of being recorded or reproduced,
102
denotes a magazine case for storing the disk
101
,
103
denotes a partition on which the disk
101
is placed and which separates the disks
101
individually,
104
denotes an opening for the disk
101
to go into and out of the magazine case
102
,
105
denotes a removal lever for removing the disk
101
stored in the magazine case
102
, and
106
denotes a storage portion in which the disk
101
is stored in the magazine case
102
.
Referring to
FIG. 51
, first, the disk
101
is inserted into the storage portion
106
through the opening
104
in the magazine case partitioned by the partitions
103
, and is stored. At this time, the removal lever
105
provided at each of the storage portions
106
is pushed by the disk
101
and is moved to the inner side of the magazine case
102
in the direction of the arrow
201
. Although ten storage portions
106
are provided in this example, the arbitrary number of disks
101
, not more than ten, can be stored in the arbitrary storage portions
106
.
The magazine case
102
having stored the disks
101
appropriately in this manner is inserted into a magazine holder (not shown) for holding the magazine case
102
in a recording/reproducing apparatus which records or reproduces the disk
101
.
FIG. 52
is a perspective view showing the operation for removing the disk
101
stored in the magazine case
102
in order to effect recording or reproducing.
In
FIG. 52
, the disk
101
that is selected for recording or reproducing is taken as 101
a
. Reference numeral
107
denotes a pair of conveying rollers which are provided in the recording/reproducing apparatus to hold the disk
101
a
therebetween and to convey the disk
101
a
by rotation. The conveying rollers
107
are disposed near the opening
104
of the magazine case
102
inserted in the magazine holder (not shown) so that the axes thereof are located in the direction perpendicular to the removal direction of the disk
101
. In
FIGS. 51 and 52
, the conveying rollers
107
move to a height of the disk
101
a
, and the removal lever
105
of the storage portion
106
in which the selected disk
101
a
is stored is pushed in the direction of the arrow
202
by a lever operating means (not shown) provided in the recording/reproducing apparatus. Then, the disk
101
a
pushed by the removal lever
105
is moved in the direction of the arrow
203
, so that the disk
101
a
comes out of the magazine case
102
. Subsequently, the disk
101
a
having come out is immediately held between the conveying rollers
107
. The conveying rollers
107
rotate in the directions of the arrow
204
and the arrow
205
to convey the disk
101
a
in the direction of the arrow
206
and to move the disk
101
a
to the recording/reproducing position.
In recent years, the amount of data handled by information processing has increased more and more. Not only the package software has been made very large, but also on a personal computer, one file has come to handle several ten to several hundred megabytes or more, for example, for digital audio and digital video. As a storage place for such a large amount of data, an optical disk drive unit is effective, which unit has both of the facilities of a high recording capacity and a capability of changing a plurality of recording media. In particular, as a storage unit for large-scale database, an auto changer recording/reproducing apparatus for the optical disk has been developed. For the auto changer recording/reproducing apparatus, a magazine-type apparatus has often been used especially in the field of car audio considering the space efficiency.
Recent audio, video, and information equipment has made smaller and becomes of high capacity, and the magazine-type equipment is not exceptional. Because the magazine-type equipment stores many disks, it has a problem in that the distance between the adjacent disks is decreased in order to decrease the thickness of the whole magazine and to increase the number of disks per unit volume in the recording/reproducing apparatus.
However, in the above-described configuration, since a partition
103
is provided between the disks
101
, the thicknesses of the partitions
103
are added to the thickness of the magazine case
102
by the number of disks
101
stored in the magazine case
102
. In addition, in order to pull out the disk
101
through the opening
104
, a clearance between the surface of the disk
101
and the partition
103
is needed in each tier as an operation margin for the pull-out operation. The dimensions of the clearances are added to the thickness of the magazine case
102
by the number of disks
101
stored in the magazine case
102
.
For these reasons, the above-described configuration has a limitation in decreasing the distance between the adjacent disks
101
, so that a hindrance is caused in decreasing the thickness of the whole magazine and in increasing the number of stored disks
101
per unit volume in the recording/reproducing apparatus.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and accordingly an object thereof is to provide a disk storage magazine which can increase the number of stored disks per unit volume.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the problems, the present invention provides a disk storage magazine comprising a magazine case capable of being opened and closed; and a disk holding member capable of holding a disk, at least a part of which is fixed and supported on the magazine case, characterized in that in the magazine case, the disk is held by the disk holding member in a densely stacked state, and the disk holding member changes the stacking interval of the disks in accordance with the opening/closing operation of the magazine case.
By this configuration, the number of stored disks per unit volume of the disk storage magazine can be increased.
The disk storage magazine of the basic aspect of the present invention comprises a magazine case capable of being opened and closed; and a disk holding member capable of holding a disk, at least a part of which is fixed and supported on the magazine case, wherein inside the magazine case, the disk is held by the disk holding member in a densely stacked state, and the disk holding member changes the stacking interval of the disks in accordance with the opening/closing operation of the magazine case. In this configuration, the disk holding member is formed so that a clearance in the stacking direction between the disk and the disk holding member at the time when the disks are loaded is made smaller than the conventional clearance or the clearance itself is eliminated. Thereby, when the magazine case is closed, a stacking interval between the disks can be decreased as compared with the conventional disk storage magazine, so that the number of stored disks per unit vo
Ezawa Kozo
Takizawa Teruyuki
Ueno Shigeto
Altman, III Franklin D.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ometz David L.
Parkhurst & Wendel L.L.P.
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