Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-06
2002-12-24
Dinh, Tan (Department: 2653)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
C369S034010, C369S036010, C360S092100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06498771
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns data storage and more particularly apparatus for storing a plurality of individual data storage media and reading data therefrom, the data being stored by the individual storage media, for example in magnetic or optically readable form.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
So-called libraries in which data is stored in magnetic or optical form on a plurality of individual data storage media which can be selectively fed to an appropriate reader of the data are well known in the art. Particular data storage media which have been used include magnetic tape cartridges and cassettes, tape spools, magnetic storage discs, and data stored in optically readable form, for example on a storage disc.
In general, such libraries store the media in racks, drums or magazines, or on shelves, from which individual media can be extracted by a transport mechanism which conveys them to a data drive where data is read from or written to them, to other positions within the library, or even to another library.
Unlike conventional libraries for housing books, which fill rooms, magnetic and optical storage media for libraries of the type described are frequently stored in units which are of a size such that they fit within standard 19 inch (482.6 mm) racking systems, a separate computer being used to control the functioning of these units. In addition, space constraints usually dictate that these units also have as small a height as possible based on increments of 1.75 inches (44.45 mm), which is generally the standard height increment for racking systems. There is therefore a desire for storage units which are to be housed within such racking systems to provide storage space for as many individual storage media as possible but also in the smallest rack height possible. Furthermore, such storage units need to house a transport mechanism for transporting individual media within the unit itself, or to another storage unit, and especially to a data drive within the unit. In general they also have to house the data drives and a power supply for the storage unit.
Yet further equipment is usually included within these storage units, for example cooling fans and devices for identifying individual media within them, e.g. bar code readers for reading bar codes on the individual media. Devices for identifying the individual media are usually required in order that the transport mechanism can select and move the correct medium. This is clearly essential if the individual storage media are arbitrarily loaded by hand into vacant positions within the library, and it is highly desirable even where this is not the case in order that control of the positioning and movement of the media within the storage units can be satisfactorily monitored. This can be particularly desirable where media can be exchanged between adjacent storage units.
Libraries including the above elements are known in the art, but the storage arrangements for the individual media tend to be inconvenient. For example, in one such arrangement a row of magnetic tape cartridges is housed vertically across the width of the front of the library constructed to fit a standard 19 inch rack, with an incomplete second row being positioned rearwardly of the first row, the second row containing a drive for reading individual cartridges fed into it by a transport mechanism, the latter, which removes and returns individual cartridges from their storage positions in the racks and feeds them into and removes them from the drive, running on a track between the first and second rows. The transport mechanism is controlled to move along the track to a position on the track where a selected cartridge is to be removed from either the first or the second row. A drive mechanism on the transport mechanism then slides a selected cartridge in the appropriate direction from the row where it is stored and on to the transport mechanism. Thereafter, the transport mechanism is moved along the track to a position where the cartridge can be pushed by the drive mechanism into the drive. Changing cartridges is then the reverse of this process.
As will be appreciated, it is possible to arrange for all of the cartridges in the first row to be removed from the library by having them stored in a suitable carrier which could itself be loaded into it from the front of the machine. However, access to the second row of cartridges is much more difficult because it is on the opposite side of the track from the transport mechanism. The result is that rather than change the cartridges in the second row by reaching into the apparatus to gain access to them, all of the cartridges in both the front and second rows are changed by feeding them in an out of an access slot in the front of the machine. Although this avoids the problems with direct physical access to the second row, it seriously restricts the speed with which the cartridges can be changed as they all have to be fed in and removed one at a time through the same access port.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided data storage units for storing a plurality of individual data storage media, the units comprising at least one removable magazine in which the individual data storage media can be stored within the units, the magazine being removable from the front of the units; at least one drive means for reading data from or writing data to individual data storage media, the drive means being positioned relative to the magazine(s) so that the storage media are fed therein and removed therefrom in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the media are removed from the magazine(s); and selector means for selectively removing media from the magazine in which they are stored, and feeding them into the drive means, and vice versa.
Data storage units in accordance with the present invention enable all of the magazines holding the data storage media within them to be inserted into and removed from the units, without the problems encountered hitherto with units in which one row of storage media is stored behind the selector mechanism, particularly if the selector means is used to remove individual data storage media from a pair of substantially parallel and opposing magazines.
Data storage units in accordance with the invention preferably include a pair of removable magazines which are substantially parallel to each other and are removable from the front of the units, the selector means being capable of selectively removing data storage media from the respective magazines and feeding them into the drive means, and vice versa, the feeding being in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the media are removed from the respective magazines. Removal of individual data storage media from either magazine by the selector means is preferably then in a direction substantially towards the other of said pair of magazines.
The individual data storage media are preferably stored substantially vertically within the magazines, and the drive means preferably receives the media for reading or writing in a substantially vertical plane. This enables a good use to be made of the space within the units, especially when they are constructed to fit into conventional 19 inch (482.6 mm) racking systems.
The units can be arranged to house a single magazine or a single pair of removable magazines. However, two or more pairs of magazines are preferably arranged in two or more layers, one magazine of each pair of magazines being positioned directly above a magazine in another pair to provide two vertical stacks, the selector means preferably being operable to select individual media from or feed individual media from the respective layers and into the drive means. This enables a large number of individual data storage media to be stored within an individual unit. For example, if each magazine can hold ten of such media, e.g. magnetic tape cartridges, one pair of magazines can store twenty of them, two pairs can store forty, and five pairs can store a hundr
Boyce Leslie Graham
Donkin Charles William
Ebenezer Duke Rollo
Farr Edward
Hext Brian Kenneth
Dinh Tan
Morrison & Foerster LL
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