JPS6076051A - Automatic disk exchanging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the disk exchanging time by changing the array order of disk cases after storing the disk case to an idle slot temporarily and putting the disk having the highest availability into the slot of a store part close to a deck part. CONSTITUTION:The information for a change of order of the disks stored in slots (n) and (m) is given to a CPU203 from a keyboard 200 via an input part 202. The CPU203 decides a slot storing no disk case according to the information showing the presence or absence of the disk stored in an RAM205. Then the CPU203 draws out a disk case 8n stored in the slot (n) to store it to the slot (m) and changes the array order of disks 7n and 7m stored in slots (n) and (m) respectively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic disc exchange device that stores a plurality of discs and automatically selects a desired disc for recording or playing back.

Conventional Structure and Problems Recently, a document file device has been proposed that records document information by recording digital signals on a disk. In particular, in the method using an optical disk, the laser beam is focused to about 1 μm and a continuous signal is formed on the optical disk with a track pitch of 2 μm, so the recording density is about 100 times that of conventional magnetic recording. The amount of recorded information can be 10,000 sheets of regular A4 size documents per side of the disc. Therefore, for example, 600,000 documents can be filed on 50 disks.

By using optical disks in this manner, an enormous amount of documents do not take up valuable office space.

Conventionally, a jukebox has been known as an automatic disk exchange device, but access time for exchanging disks has not been a problem with this jukebox.

However, in a document file device using an automatic disk exchange device, the access time for disk exchange must be shortened.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic disk exchange device that can shorten the disk exchange time by changing the arrangement order of the disks.

Composition of the Invention The present invention provides a disc case that rotatably houses a disc, a storage section comprising a slot for arranging and storing a plurality of the disc cases at predetermined intervals, and a storage section in which the disc case is placed in the storage section. an insertion/removal means for inserting/removing the disc, and a deck unit for recording or reproducing required information on the disc;
a transfer means that carries the insertion/removal means and moves in the disk arrangement direction of the storage unit between a first position where the disk case is inserted into and removed from the storage unit and a second position where the deck unit is arranged; a control unit that controls the operations of the insertion/removal means, the transfer means, and the deck unit; a disk case detection unit that detects the presence or absence of a disk case accommodated in each slot of the storage unit in the transfer unit; and a disk case detection unit that stores the detection results. This automatic disk exchange device is provided with a storage means for storing a disk case, and a determination means for detecting an empty slot in which a disk case is not stored in the storage section from the storage means, and a disk case is temporarily stored in the empty slot. By changing the arrangement order of the disk cases and arranging the most frequently used disks in the slots of the storage section near the deck section, the time required for disk replacement can be shortened.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an automatic disk exchange device according to the present invention. In the figure, a device main body 1 stores a plurality of disks and searches for a desired disk at high speed, and is composed of a disk exchange mechanism section 2 and a control section 3 that controls the operation of the disk exchange mechanism section 2. , housing 5
Built-in. The insertion slot 4 is where disk cases containing disks (to be described later) are inserted and removed one by one.

2 and 3 show a disk case containing a built-in disk applied to this automatic disk exchange device. FIG. 2 shows a plan view, and FIG. 3 shows a side view. In this figure, a disk 7 is rotatably housed in a disk case 8. 6
indicates the center hole of the disk. A side wall 9 of the disc case 8 and a side plate 10 screwed to the disc case 8 prevent the disc from separating from the disc case. The central portion of the disc case 8 is constructed so that both sides of the disc 70 are exposed, as shown in a sectional view in FIG. Further, the disc case 8 has an arcuate positioning groove 11 for regulating the position within the storage section. A retaining protrusion 12 that engages with the insertion/removal means. D. Positioning hole 13 for positioning the disc case 8 in the flap part.
It is comprised of an end portion 12b that comes into contact with a stopper, which will be described later, when the disc case 8 is inserted into the insertion slot 4, and a reflection plate 14 for detecting the presence or absence of the disc case.

4, 5, and 6 below show an outline of the internal structure of the disk exchange mechanism section 2 of the automatic disk exchange apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view, FIG. 5 is a side view, and FIG. 6 is a plan view.

In the figure, the disk storage section 16 is constructed by fixing an upper rail 1 and a lower rail 18, each having a plurality of grooves 16 formed at a constant pitch, with side plates 19 and 20 at an interval slightly larger than the outer diameter of the disk case 8. , is attached to the board 21. The disc case 8 is housed in a space narrowed by two partition plates 22 (hereinafter referred to as slots) between the upper and lower hooks, and is designed to reduce friction when inserting and removing the disc case 8.
The surface of the groove portion 16 is coated with Teflon. As shown in FIG. 5, positioning rollers 24 supported by leaf springs 23 are arranged in each groove 16 of the upper rail 17. As shown in FIG. The positioning roller 24 intervenes in the hole 16a passing through the groove 16 of the upper rail 17, and regulates the position of the disk case 8. The lower rail 18 has a detection hole 25 for detecting that the disc case 8 is stored in the storage section 15, and the light from a reflective photosensor 8o disposed on a moving means (to be described later) is transmitted to the reflective plate 14. The presence or absence of the disc case 8 is detected by returning the disc case 8.

Further, at the end of the storage portion 16, there is an insertion slot 101 at a position corresponding to the insertion slot 4, and an empty slot 102 adjacent to the slot 101 that does not store a disk case.
A reflective photosensor 104 attached to the substrate 21 is arranged in the slot 101 at a position corresponding to the detection hole 103 for determining the insertion position of the disk case. The side plate 19 is provided with a stopper 1o6 for controlling the insertion and removal of the disc case. Attachment plate 106 to stopper 105
A rotating piece 1081 which is rotatably supported by the shaft 107 and moves in and out of the insert thrower) 101 and engages with the disc case 8 and an engaging claw of an insertion/removal means to be described later is inserted. It is composed of a leaf spring 119 that is always inserted into the slot 101 and has a negative force. With the above configuration, the rotating piece 108 is inserted into the slot 1o1 from the insertion opening side in the direction of arrow G, as shown in FIG. The end portion 12b of the disc case 8 that is rotated comes into contact with a plane 108a perpendicular to the axis 107 of the rotating piece 108, and the disc case 8 stops. On the other hand, the disk case 8 discharged from the transfer means (described later) in the direction of arrow H to the insertion port 4 contacts the inclined surface 108b of the rotating piece 108, rotates the rotating piece 108 in the direction of the arrow 1, and the disk The case 8 passes through and is transferred to the insertion port 4. The disk case 8 that has been positioned and stopped by the stopper 106 is moved into the apparatus by rotating the rotary piece 108 in the direction of the arrow 1 by a disk case insertion/removal means described later. As described above, the stopper 105 controls the movement of the disc case when the disc case is taken in and out of the insertion slot 4.

Place the disc case 8 against the disc case storage section 15,
An insertion/removal section 26 serving as an insertion/removal means for insertion/removal is mounted on a carrier board 27. A movable body 3o with an engaging claw 29 connected to a sliding guide 28 fixed to a carrier board 27
moves in the direction of arrow A. The engaging claw 29 is for engaging the protrusion 12 of the disc case 8 and transporting the disc case 8. The engaging pawl 29 is driven by a motor 31 fixed to the carrier board 27 via a wire 32. The wire 32 is stretched between a motor pulley 33 connected to the motor and a relay pulley 34 attached to the carrier board 27, and is fixed to the engaging claw 29.

The upper drawer rail 35 and the lower drawer rail 36 are guides when pulling out the disk case 8 from the disk case storage section 16, and are installed at the same height as the upper rail 17 and the lower rail 18, respectively, and are connected to the carrier board 27 and the support column. It is fixed at 37.38. The upper rail 35 and the lower rail 36 have metal fittings 41 a and 41 b with 9 attached thereto.

41C, 41d and elastic bodies 42a, 42b, 42c.

Lateral guides 43.44 are attached via 42d. Further, on the second drawer rail 35, a positioning row 246 for positioning the disk case 8 is supported by a leaf spring 46 and intervenes in the hole 47 of the upper drawer rail.

FIG. 16 shows a part of the control section of the automatic disk exchange device of the present invention.
PU) 203, and the input section 2o2.
It is connected to the CPU 203 via a data bus (DB). The light detection unit 201 is a sensor for checking the movement inside the device, and includes a photo coupler 40.48.77.78, a positioning sensor 76, and a reflective photo sensor 80°104.
, 116 are connected to the input section 202, and this information is input to the CPU 203 via a data bus.

The ROM 204 stores a program for controlling the apparatus, and is read out and controlled by the CPU 203. The RAM 205 stores information necessary for the CPU to operate, and the output section 206 is connected to the solenoid 5.
In order to control the 6,90° motors 31, 63, the CPU 2
This is for outputting the information from 03 to the solenoid drive units 209, 210° motor drive units 211, 212, respectively.

Output section 207. The input unit 208 records in the deck unit 81,
It is used to exchange information necessary for reproduction, search, etc. with the CPU 203.

The operation of the insertion/removal section 26 in this configuration will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 and 15. The disk case 8 is stored at a predetermined position in the disk case storage section 15. in this case,
An engaging pawl 29' is located at the center of the groove 12a of the protrusion 12 of the disc case 8. In order to transfer the disk case in the force direction indicated by the arrow A' in the figure, the CPU 203 in FIG. 10 sends a command to the motor drive unit 211 via the output unit 206. Then, the motor 31 rotates, and the movable body 30 moves in the direction of arrow A' via the wire 32, thereby transporting the disk case 8. When the disk case 8 is detached from the disk case storage portion 16 and further moves in the direction of arrow A', the late closing plate 39 attached to the movable body 30 closes the photocoupler 40 late. C
The PU 203 detects that the photocoupler 40 is closed late by the photodetector 201. When detected via the input unit 202, a motor rotation stop command is sent to the motor drive unit 211 via the output unit 206.
input to stop the rotation of the motor 31. At the stopped position, the engaging claw 29 and the protrusion 12' are in contact, and the positioning roller 45 is in the positioning groove 11 of the disc case 8.
, the disc case 8 is moved in the direction of arrow A' and positioned at a predetermined position, and the operation of pulling out the disc case 8 is completed. Furthermore, when storing the pulled-out disk case 8 in the disk case storage section 16, the CPU 203 instructs the motor drive section 211 via the output section 206 to rotate the motor 31 in the opposite direction to the above-described direction. Output. Then, the movable body 30 moves in the direction of arrow A'', and the delay closing plate 39' closes the photocoupler 48 late.C
The PU 203 detects that the photocoupler 48 is closed late by the photodetector 2o1. When detected via the input unit 202, a motor rotation stop command is sent to the motor drive unit 211 via the output unit 206.
input to stop the rotation of the motor 31. Therefore, the disk has been transferred from the position of disk case 8' (broken line) to the position of disk case 8 (solid line).

In Fig. 4, Fig. 6, Fig. 6, and Fig. 16, the column 37
．． A clamp section 49 is disposed at 38, and a clamper 60 fixes the disk to a turntable to be described later.A shaft 61 is fixed to the clamper 50. A spring 52° thrust bearing 69 is inserted into the shaft 51, and the clamper 60 is biased by the spring 52 in the force direction indicated by arrow B'. The shaft 61 passes through the clamp board 53 and the stopper 54
is fixed. A release block 55 for releasing the crank knob is fitted into the clamp shaft 51, and the release lever 57 engaged with the solenoid 56 and the pin 68 fixed to the release block 55 are engaged, and the CPU 203 drives the solenoid via the output section 206. When a command is output to the section 209 for the solenoid 56 to suck, the solenoid 56 operates and the release lever 57 rotates in the direction of arrow C around the rotation axis 6o. Therefore, the spring 52 is compressed and The B″ direction clamper 5o moves. Also, the CPU 203
When a command to release the solenoid 56 is outputted to the solenoid drive section 209 via the solenoid 06, the solenoid 56 is released and the clamper 60 returns in the direction of arrow B'.

The damper 61 is for slowing down the return speed when the solenoid 66 is released, and is for preventing impact force from being applied to the disk when the disk is clamped, which will be described later.

The carrier 62 on which the above-described insertion/removal section 26 is mounted is driven by a carrier driving motor 63 via a wire 64 in the direction of arrow B, which is the direction in which the disk cases of the disk case storage section 16 are arranged. The sliding guide 66 is fixed to the substrate 21 parallel to the direction of arrow B, and the movable body 67 is fixed to the carrier substrate 21.
7 to guide the movement of the carrier 62. Wire 64 connects to motor pulley 68 . connected to motor 63 . Drive pulleys 69° 70. attached to carrier board 27.
71 , 72 and a stopper 74 stretched over an intermediate pulley 73 attached to the substrate 21 and attached to the substrate 21
Fixed. A carrier positioning sensor that detects the moving position of the carrier 62 is located in the disk case storage section 15.
The disc case 8 includes a positioning plate 76 having a slit formed therein corresponding to the storage position of the disk case 8, and a photocoupler 77 attached to the carrier board 27 with the main positioning plate 76 in between. The CPU 203 has an output section 206. By rotating the motor 63 via the motor drive section 212, the carrier 62 is equipped with the insertion/removal section 26, and the disk case storage section 160 is moved between the first position, which is the storage position of the desired disk case, and the disk. The second position, which is the position of the deck section for recording and playback, is moved. At the second position, a photocoupler 78 is fixed to the substrate 21 as a carrier stop position detection sensor for detecting the stop position of the carrier 62.
When the slow-closing plate 79 fixed to the carrier board 27 interrupts the photocoupler 78, the CPU 203 receives information from the photodetector 201 that the photocoupler 78 is interrupted via the input unit 202, and outputs the information to the motor drive unit via the output unit 206. At 212, the motor 63 is controlled to stop 6, and the carrier 62 is positioned at a predetermined position f. A reflective photosensor 80 is provided on the carrier board 27 in order to detect the presence or absence of a disc case in the disc case storage section 16.

The CPU 203 sends a signal detected by the reflective photosensor 80 to the light detection unit 201 via the input unit 202 to detect the presence or absence of the disc case based on the reflected light from the reflective plate 14 of the disc case.
The judgment or detection result is stored in the RAM 205.

In the deck unit 81 for recording or reproducing required information on the disc, a disc motor 83 integrated with the turntable 82 is installed. An optical head 86 and the like, which are guided by guide shafts 84 and 85 and transported in the direction of arrow C by a linear motor (not shown), etc., are arranged on a substrate 87. A lock part 8 for regulating the movement of the carrier 62 is located at the bottom of the deck part 81.
8 is attached to the substrate 21. The lock portion 88 includes a lock lever 89° solenoid 902 and a rotation shaft 91. which engage with the pin 93 of the carrier 62. Spring 92. When the carrier 62 is in the second position of the deck part 81, the lock lever 89 is biased by a spring and the bin 9 is
3, the carrier 62 is restricted to the second position and cannot move. When the CPU 203 inputs a solenoid ON command to the solenoid drive unit 210 via the output unit 206, the solenoid 9o attracts the plunger, rotates the lock lever 89, releases the lock with the bottle 93, and allows the carrier 62 to move. Become.

The operation of attaching a disk to the deck portion 81 in the blank book configuration will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4, 8, and 15.

In FIG. 8, the carrier 62' is shown transporting the disk 7', and FIG. 4 shows the carrier 62 with the disk 7 mounted on the deck portion 81.

In FIG. 8, the solenoid 56' is in the ON state and is suctioning, and the clamper 50' and the disk 7' are separated. In this state, the CPU 203 causes the motor 63 to rotate via the output section 206 to the motor drive section 212, and the carrier 62'
command to move in direction B'. The movement of the carriers 2' is decelerated as they approach the deck portion 81, and the carriers 62
moves to the second position, and when the CPU 203 detects from the light detection section 201 via the input section 202 that the delay closing plate 79 has cut off the photocoupler 7 days, the CPU 203 immediately controls the motor drive section 212 via the output section 206. A command is outputted so that the motor 63 stops. The carrier 62 is thus positioned in the second position. As shown in FIG. 4, this positioned state of the carrier 62 is such that the lock lever 89 and the pin 93 are engaged to restrict the position of the carrier 62 so that it does not move from the second position. The disc case 8 is fitted into the positioning post 94 and the positioning hole 13 of the disc case, and is positioned coaxially with the turntable 82, and the side guide 43°, '4 is pushed back in the direction of arrow B" by the disc case 8. Therefore, the disk case 8 is also positioned and fixed in the direction of arrow B by applying a negative force to the side surface of the positioning post 94 by the side guides 43 and 44.

On the other hand, when the disc 7 is centered by the tapered part (not shown) of the turntable 82, the solenoid 56
is turned off and the clamper 50 applies a negative force to the disk 7 against the turntable 82 surface, thereby attaching the disk 7 to the turntable 82 surface. Since the mounted disk 7 is positioned at the center of the disk case 8, it does not come into contact with the side wall 9 and side plate 10 of the disk case 8.

Next, the insertion slot for setting the disc into the storage section will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5, 6, and 10. FIG. 10 is a view of the insertion opening in FIG. 6 in the direction of arrow C. The insertion opening portion 109 includes an insertion plate 110 that has the insertion opening 4 and is partially exposed from the housing 6, and an insertion board 11 to which the insertion plate 110 is attached and the entire insertion opening portion 109 is fixed to the housing 6.
1. A lid 11 that closely fits the side surface of the insertion port 4 and covers the insertion port 4
A lid support 118 rotatably supports the lid 112 and is fixed to the insertion board 111. A rotating lever 113 that engages with the lid 112 and rotates the lid 112 by suction from the solenoid 114. A lid that detects the opening of the lid 112. Open sensor 115. Consists of a reflective photo sensor 116 that determines whether the disk is front or back when the lid 112 is opened.With this configuration, the lid 112 is caused by the solenoid being sucked by the CPU 203 into the solenoid drive unit 213 via the output unit 206. By commanding this, the solenoid 114 is turned ON and sucks, and the rotation lever 113 is rotated in the direction of arrow E, thereby rotating in the direction of the arrow and opening the insertion port 4. When the solenoid 114 is turned OFF, In this case, the torsion spring 117 applies a negative force to the lid 112 in close contact with the side surface of the insertion opening 4, thereby closing the insertion opening 4.

11, 12, 13, and 16 show the operation of inserting and removing the disk case in the insertion slot in the above configuration.
This will be explained in the figure. Figure 11.

In FIG. 12a, when the disc case 8 is inserted into the insertion slot 4, the lid 112 is rotated and opened in the direction of the arrow, and the disc case 8 slides in the insertion slot 101 and is stopped by the stopper 105. The disk case 8 is stopped and positioned at the position (3). When the disc case 8 stops at the position, the CPU 203 uses the reflection photo sensor 104 in the light detection unit 201 via the input unit 202 to determine whether the disc case 8 is at a predetermined position by the return light from the reflection plate 14 of the disc case 8. Detects that it has been inserted into.

Still, the CPU 203 is not connected to the photodetector 2 via the input unit 202.
The reflective photosensor 116 in 01 confirms that the disc 7 is set in a predetermined direction based on the difference in reflectance between the front and back sides of the disc 7 or the presence or absence of a label on the disc 7. Next, the carrier 62 is inserted into the empty slot 1
As shown in FIG. 12a, the engaging pawl 29 is moved from 0 to P −+ Q by the motors 31 and 63, and is positioned at the center of the groove 12a of the disc case.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 13, when the first retaining pawl 29 moves from position P to Q,
08 and rotate it in the direction of the arrow.

Therefore, the movable piece 108 is removed from the insertion slot 101, and the disk case 8 becomes ready for transport.

Next, the insertion/removal section 26 detaches the disk case 8 from the drawer/accommodation section 16 using the engaging claw 29 and inserts it into the insertion/removal section 26 in the same manner as described above.

Next, the operation of ejecting the disk case positioned at position K by the positioning row 224 of the insertion loss slot 1o1 will be explained. As shown in FIG.
It comes into contact with the end of the protrusion 12 at a distance from the groove 12a. The engaging claw 29 is moved in the direction of arrow M by the motor 31 to transport the disc case 8 to a certain position. therefore,
A portion of the disk case 8 protrudes from the insertion slot 4 and can be taken out from the outside of the casing.

Next, the operation of the automatic disk exchange device with the above configuration will be explained.

First, to explain the initial setting operation, it is assumed that the movable body 30 is located at the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. CPU20
3, the photocoupler 48 in the photodetector 201 determines whether the movable body 3 is at a determined position via the input unit 202.
ol' is detected, a command is sent to the motor drive section 211 via the output section 206 so that the movable body 3 is at a predetermined position, and the motor 31 is rotated to position the ol' movable body 3. The carrier 62 is then positioned in the second position as previously described. The CPU 203 then outputs the output unit 20
6 to the motor drive unit 212 to move the carrier 62 in the direction B'' in FIG. A reflective photosensor 8o detects whether or not there is a reflective plate 14 provided on the disc case 8, and records in the RAM 205 whether there is a disc case in the slot (1) or "absent" in association with the slot number. Therefore, it is detected whether or not there is a disk case in each slot of the storage section 15, and the operation is performed to record it in the RAM.

Next, enter information specifying the slot number and track address of the disk to be searched using the keyboard 200 into the input section 200.
2 to the CPU 203.

The operation of each mechanism will be explained below based on FIG. 9. FIG. 9 shows the operation of each mechanism when the search for the disk 7m pulled out from the thrower )m is completed and the disk 7m is replaced with the disk of the thrower)n.

In this figure, the carrier 62 is in the second position, and the disk 7m is mounted on a turntable 82 and rotated by a disk motor 83. In response to a command from the keyboard 200, the CPU 203 first stops the disk motor 83 and then turns on the solenoid 56 to release the clamper 5o. Next, the solenoid 90 of the lock section 88 is turned on to release the second position restriction of the carrier 62, and then the carrier 62 is moved to the slot m of the storage section 9. After the carrier 62' has been positioned and stopped, the engaging claw 29 of the insertion/removal portion is engaged with the engaging claw 2.
9″If, it moves, is positioned and stops, and the CPU 20
3 indicates that the disk presence/absence information corresponding to slot m stored in the RAM 205 is stored as "present". By the above operation, the disk +m attached to the deck part 81 is
and the disc case 8m are stored in the slot m of the storage section 9. Next, the engaging claw 29' is connected to the protrusion 1 of the disc case.
With the carrier 62' located in the center of the groove 12a of
moves to slot n in the storage section. After the carrier 62 has been positioned and stopped, the engaging claw 29' is inserted into the disc case 8n.
, moves to the engaging claw 29 and stops. By this operation, the disk 7n and the case 8n are detached from the storage section 9 and mounted on the carrier 62''.Then, the CPU 203
The disk presence/absence information corresponding to slot n stored in the RAM 205 is restored to "absence". Next, carrier 6
2'' moves in the second position, and stops after being positioned by the position detection sensor. At the same time as the carrier 62 stops, the solenoid 66 is turned off, and the disk 7n has completed mounting on the turntable 85.

On the other hand, the disc case 8n also has a carrier 62 as described above.
It is positioned at the same time as the stop. Also, carrier 6
2 is regulated to a second position by a lock lever 89 of a lock portion 88.

With the above steps, the disk exchange operation is completed. In the subsequent operation, the disk motor 83 is activated in the deck section 81, and the optical head 86 is moved by the linear motor to perform recording or reproduction on a desired track.

Next, the operation of setting the disc into the storage section will be explained.

Disc case 8 containing the disc to be set
is inserted into the insertion slot 4, and the keyboard 200 is used to specify which slot the disc case is to be inserted into. Disc case 8 inserted into insertion slot 101 from insertion slot 4
If the front and back sides of the disc are set incorrectly, the disc case 8 is ejected to the correct position with an error message.

If the setting is good, the carrier 62 moves the disc case 8 to the second position and mounts it on the deck part 81, similar to the disc exchange operation described above. Deck part 8
1, the disc management number recorded in advance on the disc is read out, and the slot number and management number are stored in the RAM 205 in correspondence with each other.

Next, the carrier 62 stores the disc case in a predetermined slot, sets the disc presence/absence information corresponding to the slot to "present", and stores it in the RAM 205.

In addition, when taking out a predetermined disk from the storage section, when the management number of the disk is inputted from the keyboard, etc., the slot number is compared with the management number, and the CPU 2o3 operates the carrier 62 to take out the disk case 8 from the predetermined slot. eject it from the insertion slot 4, clear the disk management number corresponding to the slot, and set the disk presence information to "No".
and stores it in the RAM 205.

Next, the operation of changing the arrangement order of the disks in the storage section 16 in this automatic disk exchange device will be explained.

The operation of each mechanism will be explained below based on FIG. 14. FIG. 14 shows the operation of each mechanism when changing the order of the disks stored in slots n and m of the storage section 16.

In this figure, carrier 62. The engaging claw 29 is in a state in which the disk 7 is housed in the thrower)n.

When input from the keyboard 200 to the CPU 203 via the input unit 202 indicates that the order of the disks stored in slot n and slot m will be changed, the CPU 203
Based on the disk presence/absence information stored in 205, a thrower)/ in which a disk case is not housed in the slot is determined. Then, the engaging claw 29 of the insertion/removal portion moves to 29', is positioned, and stops. Therefore, the disk case 8n stored in the thrower)n is pulled out from the storage section 15. Next, the carrier 62 moves to the slot 1, is positioned at 62', and stops. Next, the engaging claw 29' of the insertion/removal portion engages with the disc case 8n, moves to the engaging claw 29, is positioned, and stops. Next, the carrier 62' moves to the thrower) m, is positioned at 62'' and stops, and the engaging claw 29
moves the disc case 8m housed in the slot m to the engaging claw 29', is positioned, and stops. Next, the carrier 62'' moves to the thrower), is positioned at 62, and stops.Then, the engaging claw 29' moves to 29, is positioned, and stops.
The disk case 8m that was stored in the thrower) m
The carrier 62 is pulled out from the slot n and stored in the slot n.Next, the carrier 62 moves to the slot l, is positioned at 62', and stops. The engaging claw 29 of the insertion/removal part is
It engages with the disc case 8n, moves to the engaging claw 29', is positioned, and stops. Next, the carrier 62' moves to slot m, is positioned at 62'', and stops.Then, the engaging claw 29' moves to 29, is positioned, and stops. This means that the disk case 8''f was pulled out from the slotter)n and stored in the slotter)m. Therefore, storage part n,
This means that the arrangement order of the disks 7n and 7m stored in the m slot has been changed.

As described above, this embodiment detects a slot in which no disk case is stored and temporarily stores a disk case in this slot in an automatic disk exchange device for multiple disks, without providing a dedicated slot in the storage section for changing the arrangement. ,
The arrangement order of the disk cases in the storage section is changed.

Effects of the Invention: A disc case that rotatably houses a Dinuk; a storage section that includes a slot for arranging and storing a plurality of the disc cases at predetermined intervals; and the disc case is inserted into and removed from the storage section. an insertion/removal means, a deck section for recording or reproducing required information on the disc, a first position for inserting and removing the disc case from the storage section, and a second position where the deck section is arranged for the insertion and removal. a transfer means that carries a means and moves in the disk arrangement direction of the storage section; a control section that controls the operations of the insertion/removal means, the transfer means, and the deck section; A disc case detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a disc case, a storage means for storing the detection result, and a determination means for detecting an empty slot in which no disc case is stored in the storage section from the storage means are provided. To reduce the access time required to replace a disk case by temporarily storing the disk case in an empty slot, changing the arrangement order of the disk cases, and arranging the disks in the storage section in the order of most use from the deck side. I can do it. It is also possible to classify the discs according to the content recorded on them, and being able to automatically change the arrangement order of the discs in the storage unit is most effective in terms of the system and has a great effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an automatic disk exchange device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a disk case used in the device, Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of the same, and Fig. 4 is the same device. Fig. 6 is a front view of the disk exchange mechanism section of .
7 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the insertion/removal section, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the clamper, FIGS. 9 and 14 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of each mechanism of the disk exchange mechanism, and FIG. 11, 12, and 13 are explanatory views of the operation of the insertion port, and FIG. 16 is a block diagram of the control section. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Device main body, 2... Disk exchange mechanism section, 3... Control section, 4... Insertion slot, 6... Housing Body, 7... Disk, 8.
...Disk case, 9...Insertion/removal part, 5
1...Carrier, 81...Deck part,
200...Keyboard, 201...Photodetector, 2o3...Microprocessor, 20
6...RAM0 Name of agent Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and one other person Figure 1 (Figure 8 3 O Figure 10 Figure 121Xl ((L) (b) Figure 13

Claims (1)

[Claims] A disk case that rotatably houses disks therein, a storage section comprising slots for arranging and storing a plurality of the disk cases at predetermined intervals, and insertion/removal means for inserting and removing the disk case into and from the storage section. and a deck part for recording or reproducing required information on the disc, a first position for inserting and removing the disk case from the storage part, and a second position in which the deck part is arranged, and the insertion/removal means is mounted thereon. a transfer means that moves in the disk arrangement direction of the storage section; a control section that controls operations of the insertion/removal means, the transfer means, and the deck section; and presence or absence of a disk case stored in each slot of the storage section in the transfer means. A disk case detection means for detecting a disc case, a storage means for storing the detection result, and a determination means for detecting an empty slot in which a disk case is not stored in the storage means are provided. An automatic disk exchange device whose mission is to temporarily store disk cases and change the arrangement order of the disk cases.