JPH05120782A - Automatic cassette exchanger - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time required for exchanging a disk cassette by transferring the cassette while correspondingly moving plural shelves and a recording and reproducing device. CONSTITUTION:Plural disk cassettes 1 incorporating optical disks are respectively housed in plural vertical staged horizontal shelves 2 of a shelf casing 4 and the casing is arranged opposing to the recording and reproducing device 3. The casing 4 is vertically moved by a mobile mechanism 5 and by the corresponding movement with the device 3 the required cassette 1 and the device are opposed to each other and the cassette is transferred between the device 3 and the case body through a transfer mechanism 6 without using a carrier. Thus the time required for the exchange of the cassette is remarkably shortened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is for storing cassettes containing recording media such as optical disks and magnetic tapes in a plurality of shelves and automatically exchanging these cassettes for a recording / reproducing apparatus. Of the cassette auto changer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has proposed a disc cassette for automatically exchanging a disc cassette containing an optical disc.
As the autochanger, the one shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 has been filed first.

This disc cassette autochanger comprises a plurality of recording / reproducing devices 103 for recording and / or reproducing the optical discs in the disc cassette 101 at the bottom of a plurality of upper and lower shelves 102 for accommodating the disc cassette 101.
Are arranged, and the plurality of shelves 102 and the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 are arranged.
The carrier 104 is vertically moved along the front surface of the carrier 03. The carrier 104 is configured to be driven by the drive belt 106 along the vertical guide rail 105. Also, carrier 1
Reference numeral 04 denotes a transfer mechanism 107 for the disc cassette 101.
Further, the carrier 104 is configured to be vertically reversible about the reversing shaft 108.

[0004]

However, the conventional disc cassette autochanger is a system in which the disc cassette 101 is conveyed by the carrier 104 between the plurality of shelves 102 and the recording / reproducing device 103, and therefore the disc cassette is changed. It takes a long time to replace 101,
There was a problem that the space factor was also bad.

That is, in order to replace the disc cassette 1, (1), the carrier 104 is moved to the position of the shelf 102 in which the designated disc cassette 101 is stored. (2) The disc cassette 101 stored in the designated shelf 102 is taken into the carrier 104 by the transfer mechanism 107. (3) The carrier 104 is conveyed to the designated recording / reproducing device 103. (4),
The disc cassette 10 is attached to the designated recording / reproducing device 103.
1 is sent by the delivery mechanism 107 to record and / or reproduce the optical disc. (5) The disc cassette 101, on which the recording and / or reproduction of the optical disc has been completed by the other recording / reproducing device 103, is taken into the carrier 104 by the transfer mechanism 107. (6), carrier 1
04 is conveyed to the original shelf 102 of the disc cassette 101. (7) A large number of steps are required due to the complicated operation of returning the disc cassette 101 to the original shelf 102 by the transfer mechanism 107.
The exchange time of 1 can be shortened.

Further, since the entire transport area between the plurality of shelves 102 of the carrier 104 and the recording / reproducing apparatus 103 becomes a dead space, the space factor is poor, and there is a limit to downsizing the entire disc cassette / autochanger.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cassette autochanger capable of greatly shortening the cassette replacement time.

[0008]

A cassette autochanger of the present invention for achieving the above object is provided with a plurality of shelves for accommodating a cassette containing a recording medium and a plurality of shelves facing each other. A recording / reproducing apparatus that takes in the cassette to record and / or reproduce the recording medium, a moving mechanism that relatively moves the plurality of shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus, the plurality of shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus. And a delivery mechanism for delivering the cassette between the two.

[0009]

The cassette autochanger of the present invention constructed as described above does not use a carrier, but relatively moves a plurality of shelves and a recording / reproducing apparatus which are arranged face to face to each other, and thereby the shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus. Since the cassette is directly delivered to and from the cassette, the time for exchanging the cassette can be greatly shortened.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a disc cassette autochanger will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, the gist of this disc cassette autochanger is to arrange a plurality of upper and lower horizontal shelves 2 for accommodating a plurality of disc cassettes 1 that contain (store) the optical disc D, which is a recording medium, and the optical disc D. The recording and / or reproducing device 3 for recording and / or reproducing is arranged to face each other, and the plurality of upper and lower shelves 2 and the recording and reproducing device 3 are relatively moved in the vertical directions a and b. At this time, the heavy-weight recording / reproducing device 3 is fixed at a fixed position, and the light-weight upper and lower horizontal shelves 2 are housed in the shelf housing 4, and the shelf housing 4 is moved up and down by the moving mechanism 5. Move in the direction. Then, a transfer mechanism 6 for the disc cassette 1 provided on the front side of the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 (on the side facing the shelf 2).
The disc cassette 1 is transferred between each shelf 2 and the recording / reproducing device 3. Further, a reversing mechanism 7 for reversing the entire shelf housing 4 up and down, and a loading / unloading mechanism for loading / unloading the disk cassette 1 into / from the upper and lower shelves 2 from the loading / unloading opening 9 of the disk cassette 1 formed in the front panel 8. 10 etc. are provided.

Next, the details and operation of each part will be described together.

First, the operation of inserting the disc cassette 1 into the upper and lower shelves 2 is started by the operator inserting the disc cassette 1 into the loading / unloading port 9 in the direction of arrow c. The inserted disc cassette 1 is received by the cassette tray 49. Then, after the insertion of the disc cassette 1 is detected by a sensor (not shown), the rack 5 of the plate 50 integrated with the cassette tray 49.
0a is driven by the pinion 51 and the motor 52,
The cassette tray 49 is pulled in the direction of arrow c. Then, the sensor (not shown) detects that the disc cassette 1 has been drawn to the position immediately before the shelf 2, and the motor 52 is stopped.

Next, the moving mechanism 5 moves the entire shelf housing 4 in the arrow a direction or the arrow b direction so that the empty shelf 2 designated by the command comes in front of the cassette tray 49. Then, after this, the loading / unloading mechanism 10 inserts the disc cassette 1 on the disc tray 49 into the designated empty shelf 2 in the direction of arrow c and stores it.

Next, the moving mechanism 6 moves the shelf housing 4 to the carrying frame 1
4 and is configured to be inserted into vertical guide shafts 15a and 15b by sliding portions 14a and 14b so as to be moved and guided in the directions of arrows a and b. Then, the timing pulleys 16a, 16b and 17a, 1
Timing belts 18a, 18b wound between 7b
Is fixed to the fixing portions 14c and 14d of the transport frame 14, and the timing belts 18a and 18b are synchronously driven by the motor 21 via the drive shaft 20.
Is smoothly moved in the directions of arrows a and b along the guide shafts 15a and 15b. At this time, the movement amount of the shelf 2 is counted by the encoder 21, and the position of the shelf 2 is confirmed by the slit plate 23 perpendicular to the sensor 22 attached to the transport frame 14.

Next, the disc cassettes 1 inserted into the shelves 2 are locked with the lock springs 27a and 2a fixed in the shelves 2.
7b are fitted in the positioning grooves 1a, 1b formed on both sides of the disc cassette 1 and brought into contact with the stopper 28 to be positioned and held in the correct position. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, each shelf 2 is formed by a plurality of upper and lower U-shaped rails 2 a and 2 b mounted in the shelf housing 4 so as to face each other. Is horizontally inserted into the U-shaped rails 2a, 2b and stored.

Next, the reversing mechanism 7 is used for the disc cassette 1
The optical disc built in is a double-sided disc, and is for flipping the disc cassette 1 upside down in response to a command in order to selectively record and / or reproduce both sides of the optical disc D. For this purpose, both ends of a horizontal reversing center shaft 29 penetrating through the upper and lower center positions at the left and right centers of the shelf housing 4 are fixed to the transport frame 14, and a bearing 30 is provided on the outer periphery of one end of the reversing center shaft 29. The reversing gear 31 attached as above is fixed to the outside of one side wall of the shelf housing 4. Also,
The other side wall of the shelf housing 4 is rotatably supported on the outer periphery of the other end of the reversing center shaft 29 via a bearing 32, and a drive gear 34 of a motor 33 attached to the conveying frame 14 is meshed with the reversing gear 31. .. Then, the reversing gear 31 is driven by the motor 33 via the driving gear 34, so that the shelf housing 4 is reversed in the conveying frame 14 about the reversing central axis 29 by 180 ° in the up and down directions of arrows d and e. It was done. At this time, the rotation amount of the shelf housing 4 is determined by the encoder 3
5, the reversal position of the shelf housing 4 is confirmed by the detection pieces 36a and 36b of the shelf housing 4 and the sensor 37 of the transport frame 14.

Next, when the disc cassette 1 in the designated shelf 2 is taken out and inserted into the recording / reproducing apparatus 3,
The shelf mechanism 4 is moved in the arrow a direction or the b direction by the moving mechanism 5, and the specified shelf 2 is inserted into the cassette of the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 while confirming the position of each shelf 2 by the sensor 22 and the slit plate 23. Stop in front of mouth 3a. At this time, the reversing mechanism 7 flips the shelf 4 up and down 180 degrees as needed to select the front and back of the optical disc D.

Next, the disc cassette 1 in the designated shelf 2 is pulled out in the direction of arrow d by the transfer mechanism 6 and, at the same time, it is inserted into the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 from the cassette insertion port 3a in the direction of arrow d.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the delivery mechanism 6 is provided with gears 40a, 4 by motors 39a, 39b.
0b and 41a, 41b through levers 42a, 42
The drive belts 43a and 43b are rotated integrally with b in the direction of the arrow f to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, and the left and right side surfaces of the disc cassette 1 in the shelf 2 are clamped by the drive belts 43a and 43b. Next, the drive belts 43a and 43b, which drive the pulleys 45a and 45b by the motors 44a and 44b, are moved between the pulleys 45a and 45b and 46a and 46b by the arrow g.
Drive in a direction, and the pair of drive belts 43a, 43b
The disk cassette 1 is pulled out from the shelf 2 in the direction of arrow g, and at the same time, it is inserted into the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 from the cassette insertion port 3a in the direction of arrow g.

When the sensor 47 detects that the insertion of the disc cassette 1 into the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 is completed, the transfer mechanism 10 is stopped, and the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 places the optical disc D in the disc cassette 1 on the disc table. And the recording and / or reproduction is performed. While this recording and / or reproduction is completed, the designated shelf 2 waits in front of the cassette insertion port 3a as it is.

Next, recording and / or recording of the designated optical disk
Alternatively, after reproduction, the transfer mechanism 6 works again by the above-described reverse operation, and the disk cassette 1 is taken out from the cassette insertion opening 3a of the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 and, at the same time, inserted into the original shelf 2 in the direction of arrow c.

At this time, the light emitting element 53 and the light receiving element 54 are obtained when the disc cassette 1 is completely inserted into the original shelf 2.
When detected by the motor 39 of the transfer mechanism 6,
a and 39b are reversed, and the drive belts 43a and 43b are shown in FIG.
Is opened in the direction of arrow h to the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line, and is detected by the switches 55a and 55b and stopped.

The withdrawal mechanism 10 is the delivery mechanism 6.
Since it has the same structure as the above, the description of the take-out mechanism 10 is omitted.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the description was given of the automatic changer of the disc cassette containing (containing) the optical disc, but it is an automatic changer that automatically exchanges various cassettes such as a tape cassette containing a recording medium such as a magnetic tape. Is also good. Further, in the above embodiment, the shelf is moved up and down with respect to the recording / reproducing apparatus, but the recording / reproducing apparatus may be moved with respect to the shelf, or both may be moved.

[0026]

Since the cassette autochanger of the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

Since the plurality of shelves arranged face to face and the recording / reproducing apparatus are moved relative to each other without using a carrier so that the cassette is directly transferred between the shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus, The replacement time can be greatly reduced.

Since no carrier is required, the structure of the entire cassette / autochanger can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

Since no carrier is required and the shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus can be placed close to each other with the shelves facing each other, the space factor is good and the cassette autochanger can be made compact.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing a disc cassette autochanger according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a delivery mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a shelf.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a conventional example of a disc cassette autochanger.

FIG. 7 is a side view illustrating a conventional carrier.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 D optical disc (recording medium) 1 disc cassette (cassette) 2 shelves 3 recording / reproducing device 5 moving mechanism 6 passing mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of shelves for accommodating a cassette containing a recording medium, and a recording / reproducing apparatus arranged facing each other to the plurality of shelves for taking in the cassette and recording and / or reproducing the recording medium. A cassette autochanger comprising a moving mechanism that relatively moves the plurality of shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus, and a delivery mechanism that delivers the cassette between the plurality of shelves and the recording / reproducing apparatus.