JP3163371B2 - Collective optical disk drive - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cartridge storage capable of storing a plurality of optical disk cartridges, a disk drive for reading and writing an optical disk, and an optional optical disk cartridge between the cartridge storage and the disk drive. The present invention relates to a collective optical disk device having a cartridge transport mechanism for transporting the optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a collective type optical disk apparatus of this type, recently, a collective optical disk having a cartridge transport mechanism capable of inserting and removing a cartridge from the outside of the apparatus to replenish and replace an arbitrary optical disk cartridge, and the like. Equipment is being developed.

FIG. 8 shows an optical disk cartridge 8 used in the above-described apparatus. The optical disk cartridge 8 is formed by housing an optical disk 82 as an information recording medium in a cartridge 83. A groove 88 for gripping the optical disk cartridge 8 with a hand described later is provided near the rear end of the side of the cartridge 83. A taper 84 is provided by cutting off the front end side portion of the cartridge 83 to facilitate loading of the optical disk cartridge 8 into a disk drive or the like. On the flat surface of the cartridge 83, a shutter 85 is slidably provided.
When information is recorded in 2 and the like, the head is brought close by opening it.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a configuration in which a plurality of such optical disk cartridges 8 are provided, and the inside of a replaceable collective optical disk apparatus is schematically projected. 6 (a) and 6 (c) are elevation views, and FIG.
(B) is a plan view. The collective optical disk device 61
A cartridge slot 63 provided in the housing and opened.
Optical disk cartridge 8 inserted into the device from
A transport mechanism called a cartridge access station 64 for transporting the optical disk cartridge 8 horizontally and transporting it to a predetermined position inside the apparatus, and receiving the optical disk cartridge 8 from the cartridge access station 64 at the predetermined position and transporting the optical disk cartridge 8 in the vertical direction Then, a transport mechanism called an accessor 66 for transporting the cartridge to a cartridge storage 65 having a large number of cartridge storage shelves is provided, and addition and exchange of the optical disk cartridge 8 are realized by the two transport mechanisms.

Further, the accessor 66 includes a picker 7
1, which connects the cartridge storage 65 with the disk drive 67, and selectively pulls out the optical disk cartridge from one storage shelf.
This is temporarily housed inside the picker 71 and moved inside the device,
It also takes charge of the cartridge transfer operation inside the apparatus, which is transferred to the disk drive 67. Disk drive 6
When the recording and reading of the information at 7 are completed, the picker 71 takes out the optical disk cartridge 8 from the disk drive 67 and stores it again, and the accessor 66 transports the picker 71 to the original cartridge storage shelf position. Optical disk cartridge in cartridge storage 6
Insert into 5 and store.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an outline of a configuration and an operation procedure of the above-described conventional picker 71. As shown in FIG. In the picker 71, a pair of hands 72 for gripping the groove 88 of the optical disk cartridge 8 and moving the groove 88 in the horizontal direction are rotatably provided on the hand support 73. The operation of the hand 72 is controlled by both a power source of a motor 74 for moving the hand support 73 in the horizontal direction and a rotary sonoleid 75 for opening and closing the hand 72 itself.

When pulling out the optical disk cartridge 8 from the cartridge storage 65 (or the disk drive 67), the hand support 73 is moved to the cartridge storage side (FIG. 7A). First, Rotary Sonorade 7
5, the hand 72 is closed, and the optical disk cartridge 8 is gripped. In this state, the motor 74 is driven, and the hand support 73 is moved backward to take the optical disk cartridge 8 into the picker 71 (FIG. 7B).
Picker 71 is moved to disk drive 6 by accessor 66
After moving to the height of 7 (or a predetermined cartridge storage shelf), the motor 74 is driven in reverse, the hand support 73 is advanced, and the optical disk cartridge is loaded into the disk drive 67 (or the predetermined cartridge storage shelf). Then, the rotary sonorade 75 is driven to reverse, the hand 72 is opened, and the loading operation is completed. The picker 71 retracts the hand support 73 to prepare for the next operation, and prepares for the vertical movement by the accessor 66.

At this time, there is a technique disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 1-140661 as a means for solving the problem that a lot of time is spent moving the hand supporting portion 73.
That is, each optical disk cartridge 8 is stored with the groove 88 protruding from the cartridge storage 65 (the position of the imaginary line 651) whose depth is set to be short.
2 can be moved in the vertical direction without retreating.

[0009]

However, the above technique has problems in the following two points. First, the hand 72
Is operated by both the power source of the motor 74 for moving the hand support 73 in the horizontal direction and the rotor resonating blade 75 for opening and closing the hand 72 itself. And a complicated control mechanism was required.

Further, in order to control these two power sources, it is necessary to set an idling time for operation switching in addition to the time when the power source is actually operating.
In general, the longer the number of operation switching, the longer the time.

Second, in the conventional mechanism, when the hand 72 grasps the optical disk cartridge 8 and moves forward to complete the loading of the cartridge storage 65 (or the disk drive 67), the hand 72 is still closed. Therefore, it is not possible to immediately operate the accessor 66 to move the picker 71 in the vertical direction. In order to operate the accessor 66, it is necessary to wait for the operation time until the hand 72 opens. In order to operate the accessor 66 immediately after the completion of the loading, it is desirable that the hand 72 is already open at the time of the completion of the loading.
There was no such idea.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a collective optical disk apparatus having a picker capable of reducing the operation steps, operating the accessor immediately after the completion of the loading of the optical disk cartridge, and shifting to the operation of loading the next optical disk cartridge. Is to do.

[0013]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cartridge storage for accommodating a plurality of optical disk cartridges containing an optical disk, a disk drive for reading and / or writing the optical disk, and a disk storage for accommodating the optical disk cartridge. The present invention is applied to a collective optical disk apparatus including a cartridge transport mechanism for transporting between a cartridge storage and the disk drive. In the above apparatus, the cartridge transport mechanism may include a cartridge pull-out mechanism that accommodates the optical disk cartridge from either the cartridge storage or the disk drive, and a cartridge that inserts the optical disk cartridge into the cartridge storage or the disk drive. An insertion mechanism. Also, the cartridge transport mechanism is
Mechanism for transferring the optical disk cartridge in a horizontal direction
Transferring the optical disk cartridge in a vertical direction.
A mechanism may be provided.

[0014] The cartridge pull-out mechanism includes a hand support provided so as to be horizontally movable, and a hand support provided on the hand support.
The pair of hands are urged in a direction to close each other, and are rotatably provided. The hand supporting portion is held while holding the groove provided on the exterior side of the optical disk cartridge with the pair of hands. The optical disk cartridge is configured to be drawn into the cartridge transport mechanism to house the optical disk cartridge. The cartridge insertion mechanism includes the hand support, and a push rod protruding mechanism including a push rod protrudably provided from the hand support toward the optical disc cartridge. Advancing the hand support toward either the cartridge storage or the disk drive while abutting the push rod on the push rod, and driving the push rod projection mechanism to move the optical disk cartridge into the cartridge. It is configured to be inserted into either a storage or a disk drive.

[0015] The collective optical disk device of the present invention comprises:
In the above-described collective optical disk device, the cartridge transport mechanism may cause the pair of hands to resist the urging when the cartridge insertion mechanism inserts the optical disk cartridge into either the cartridge storage or the disk drive. It has a hand opening mechanism for opening.

Further, the collective type optical disk apparatus of the present invention comprises:
In any one of the above-mentioned collective optical disk devices, the push rod projecting mechanism includes a spring for locking the push rod to the hand support, and a first flange projecting vertically from the hand support. Protruding 2
And two links protruding from above the push rod are connected in parallel to each other, and a link consisting of two rods supported respectively, and from the cartridge storage side of the cartridge transport mechanism. It comprises a link actuating rod stretched horizontally between a pair of second flanges projecting vertically.

At least one of the two rods is
The first flange has a protruding end outside the shaft protruding from the first flange to a height of the link operating rod. The above components are characterized in that they are configured as follows.
That is, when the hand support is advanced toward either the cartridge storage or the disk drive, the protruding end abuts on the link operating rod, the link is distorted into a parallelogram, and the push rod projects. Let it. When the hand support is further advanced, the abutment is released beyond the link operation rod, the contact is released, and the push rod is drawn to the hand support by the spring, and the protrusion of the push rod is released. Is done.

Further, the collective optical disk apparatus of the present invention
In any one of the above-mentioned collective optical disk devices, the hand opening mechanism section includes a pair of hand pins vertically projecting from the cartridge storage side of the cartridge transport mechanism, and a pair of hand pins vertically projecting from the pair of hands. And a third flange provided. Each of the above components is configured as follows. That is, when the hand support is advanced toward either the cartridge storage or the disk drive, the third flanges abut against the hand pins, respectively, and the pair of hands open against the bias. .

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a collective optical disk device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a picker 1 having a cartridge insertion mechanism and a cartridge removal mechanism, which is an embodiment of a collective optical disc apparatus according to the present invention, and a state of an operation of inserting and removing an optical disc cartridge 8 into and from a cartridge storage 65. FIG. 1A is an elevation view in which the picker 1 and the cartridge storage 65 are projected from the side.
(B), FIG. 2 (a) and FIG. 2 (b) are all bottom views.

The base frame 9 is a skeleton to which the members constituting the picker 1 are attached. Base frame 9
Inside, a hand drive motor 4, which is a power mechanism for moving the hand plate 3 in the horizontal direction, a timing belt 5, a pulley 6, and a belt clamp 7 are housed. The belt clamp 7 is provided so as to protrude from the plane of the hand plate 3, and holds the timing belt 5. The timing belt 5 is stretched between the rotation shaft of the hand drive motor 4 and the pulley 6, and is configured to horizontally move the hand plate 3 by rotating the hand drive motor 4.

A picker cell 1 which is a space for accommodating the optical disk cartridge 8 is provided below the base frame 9.
0 is provided, and a pair of hands 2 for gripping the optical disc cartridge 8 and pulling it into the picker cell 10 is rotatably provided on the bottom surface of the hand plate 3 (FIG. 1). 1 (a)
Also, in FIG. 3 to be described later, a side surface portion of the cell frame 11 is not drawn in order to represent a state inside the picker cell 10). The hand 2 is urged by a hand spring 12 to always close inward. Each cell frame 1
An operating rod flange 13 as a second flange of the present invention is provided by being bent from the side of one cartridge storage 65 (the left side in each drawing). A link operating rod 14 is stretched between the two operating rod flanges 13.

The cartridge storage 6 of the hand plate 3
From the fifth side (left side in each drawing), a pair of link flanges 15 as the first flange of the present invention is provided by being bent. Each link flange 15 has a long rod 16
Links 16 that connect two rods 1 and a short rod 162 with two fulcrum shafts respectively and that can be distorted into a parallelogram are provided. Both the long rod and the short rod have shafts 163 and 164 (see FIG. 3) projecting from the link flange 15 on the lower side, and shafts projecting from the push rod 17 on the upper side.
Each is axle mounted. A coil spring 18 is stretched between one end of the push rod 17 and the hand plate 3,
The push rod 16 is biased so as to be drawn toward the hand plate 3 (see FIGS. 3B and 3C).

The procedure when the picker 1 loads the optical disk cartridge 8 into the cartridge storage 65 (or the disk drive 67) will be described below. The optical disc cartridge 8 is housed in the picker cell 10 by engaging and gripping the groove 88 with the hook 21 provided at the tip of each hand 2 (FIG. 1B). At this time, the position of the optical disc cartridge 8 is regulated by a weak force by a leaf spring (not shown) provided in the cell frame 11. In this state, the hand motor 4 is driven, and the hand plate 3 is moved to the cartridge storage 65 side via the timing belt 5 and the belt clamp 7 (the left side in each drawing).
Attraction.

Since the tip of the hook 21 is located outside the groove 88, the hook 21 is disengaged from the groove 88 against the urging force of the hand spring 12 and rides on the side surface of the optical disk cartridge 8 to move forward. At this point,
The optical disk cartridge 8 does not move yet due to the action of the leaf spring. When the hand plate 3 is further moved,
The front end of the push rod 17 is
2 and starts pushing (FIG. 2 (a)).

FIG. 3 shows the operation of pushing the optical disk cartridge 8 by the link 16. FIG. 3A shows a state immediately before the long rod 161 of the link 16 contacts the link operating rod 14. 3 (b) and 3 (c) are enlarged views of the link 16 and FIG. 3 (b) is the link 1
6 is distorted and the push rod 17 is projected, FIG.
(C) shows that the link 16 returns to the original position and the push rod 17
Represents the retracted state.

When the motor 4 is further driven from the state shown in FIG.
The protruding end 165 of the long rod 161 of the link 16 is the link operating rod 1
Contact 4 When the hand plate 3 is further advanced, the long rod 161 and the short rod 162 are pivotally mounted on the shafts 163 and 164 projecting from the link flange 15, respectively, and the link 16 is parallelized. The push rod 17 is distorted in a quadrilateral shape and protrudes toward the cartridge storage 65 (FIG. 3B). The optical disc cartridge 8 is pushed by the push rod 17 and loaded into the cartridge storage 65. When the hand plate 3 is further advanced, the protruding end 165 of the long rod 161 exceeds the link operating rod 14 and the distortion of the link 16 is released. The push rod 17 is pulled back by the coil spring 18 and separates from the optical disk cartridge 8 (FIG. 3C).

FIGS. 4 and 5 show details of the shape of the hand 2 and how the hand 2 is opened by contacting the hand pin 42. FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the shape of the hand 2. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing details when the hand is opened. In the horizontal direction of each of the cell frames 11 on the side of the cartridge storage 65, a pin flange 41 is provided to protrude. A hand pin 42 projects from the bottom surface of the pin flange 41. On the other hand, from the bottom surface of the base portion of the hand 2, the hand flange 42, which is the third flange of the present invention, is located at a horizontal level with the hand pin 42.
Are protruding. Each hand 2 opens and closes by rotating around the hand rotation shaft 23, but is always urged in the closing direction by the hand spring 12 as described above.

When the push plate 17 pushes the optical disc cartridge 8 into the cartridge storage 65 as described above, the hand flange 2 is moved forward.
2 reaches the position of the hand pin 42. When the hand plate 3 is further advanced, the hand flange 22 comes into contact with the hand pin 42, rotates against the urging force of the hand spring 12, and opens the hand 2 (FIG. 2B). In the state where the push rod is pulled back as described above (FIG. 3C), the loading operation of the optical disk cartridge 8 ends.

In this state, the hand 2 does not touch the optical disk cartridge 8 and is in a state where the picker 1 can be immediately moved in the vertical direction. When the picker 1 is moved vertically to take in a new optical disk cartridge 8, the hand drive motor 4 is reversed and the hand plate 3 is drawn toward the pulley 6 (right side in each drawing). The hand flange 22 is separated from the hand pin 42, and the hand 2 is urged in the closing direction by the action of the hand spring 12,
The groove 21 of the optical disk cartridge 8 is engaged and gripped by the hook 21, and is housed in the picker cell 10.

Although the present embodiment is as described above, the present invention is not limited to the above example, and a configuration change can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. In particular, in the configuration for rotating the hand 2 by the hand pin 42, the hand pin 42 and the hand flange 22 do not necessarily need to be at the positions of the above-described embodiment. For example, the hand pin projects from a predetermined position on the bottom surface of the hand 2. Then, the link operation rod 14 may be rotated.

In the structure for pulling back the push rod 17, the use of the coil spring 18 is merely an example, and a spring or other means for urging the long rod 161 (or the short rod 162) to rotate is used. There may be. The collective optical disk device to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to a device having a cartridge access station as shown in FIG. 6 and capable of replenishing and replacing an arbitrary optical disk cartridge. Further, the present invention is not limited to an apparatus having a configuration including a plurality of sets of the cartridge storage and the picker as shown in FIG.

[0032]

As described above, in the collective optical disk apparatus of the present invention, when inserting an optical disk cartridge into a cartridge storage or the like, a push rod projecting mechanism is used instead of pushing in while holding the cartridge with a hand. Used. For this reason, a pair of hands urged in a direction to close each other and provided rotatably can be employed, and a power source such as a sonolide for opening and closing the hands can be omitted. As a result, it is possible to omit the complicated configuration for controlling the operation switching of the power source and the time required for the operation switching, and to save the time required for recording and reading on the optical disk.

In the collective optical disk drive of the present invention, when the optical disk cartridge is completely loaded into the cartridge storage or the like by the push rod projecting mechanism, the distortion of the link is released and the push rod is separated from the optical disk cartridge. At the same time, the hand is also separated from the side of the optical disk cartridge by the hand opening mechanism, so that the accessor can be operated immediately after the completion of the loading of the optical disk cartridge, and the operation can be shifted to the work of taking in the next optical disk cartridge.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a projection view showing a configuration of a picker used in a collective optical disk device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view showing the operation of the picker in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an elevation view illustrating an operation of pushing an optical disk cartridge by a link in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the shape of a hand according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing that a hand comes into contact with a hand pin and opens.

FIG. 6 is a projection view illustrating a configuration example of a collective optical disk device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a configuration example of a picker used in a conventional collective optical disc device.

FIG. 8 is a projection view showing a configuration of an optical disk cartridge used in the collective optical disk device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 71 picker 2, 72 hand 3 hand plate 8 optical disk cartridge 88 groove 10 picker cell 11 cell frame 12 hand spring 13 operating rod flange 14 link operating rod 15 link flange 16 link 161 long rod 162 short rod 163, 164 shaft 165 tip 17 push Rod 18 Coil spring 22 Hand flange 41 Pin flange 42 Hand pin

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cartridge storage for storing a plurality of optical disk cartridges containing an optical disk, a disk drive for reading and / or writing the optical disk, and a cartridge storage for storing the optical disk cartridge and the disk drive. A cartridge transport mechanism comprising a cartridge transport mechanism for transporting the optical disc cartridge between the cartridge storage mechanism and the disc drive; A cartridge insertion mechanism for inserting the cartridge into a cartridge storage or a disk drive, wherein the cartridge withdrawing mechanism is provided on a hand support provided so as to be horizontally movable, and on the hand support, A pair of hands that are urged in the direction of twisting and are provided rotatably, while holding the groove provided on the exterior side of the optical disc cartridge with the pair of hands, The cartridge insertion mechanism is configured to be retracted into a cartridge transport mechanism to house the optical disk cartridge, and the cartridge insertion mechanism is configured to include the hand support portion and a push rod provided so as to protrude from the hand support portion toward the optical disk cartridge. A push rod projecting mechanism comprising: abutting the exterior part of the optical disc cartridge to the push rod,
The hand support is advanced toward either the cartridge storage or the disk drive, and the push rod is protruded by the push rod protruding mechanism so that the optical disk cartridge can be moved to either the cartridge storage or the disk drive. It is configured to crab insertion, the push rod protruding mechanism portion, the push rod
A spring for locking the hand to the hand supporting portion;
From the first flange vertically projecting from the part
Two shafts and the push rod protruded from above
Two shafts are connected in parallel, and two shafts are supported
A link consisting of a rod and the cartridge transport mechanism
A pair of vertically projecting from the cartridge storage side
A link operating rod stretched horizontally between the second flanges
And at least one of the two rods is the first flag.
The link actuating rod outside the shaft protruding from the
And the hand supporting portion is connected to the cartridge storage
Forward toward one of the
Is in contact with the link operating rod, and the link is
Distorted into a shape, causing the push rod to protrude, and the protruding end exceeding the link operating rod, releasing the abutment
Then, by the spring, the push rod is
Pulled to the hand support, the push rod
A collective optical disk device characterized in that the projection is released . 2. The cartridge transport mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said cartridge insertion mechanism opens said pair of hands against said bias when said cartridge insertion mechanism inserts said optical disk cartridge into said cartridge storage or a disk drive. 2. The collective optical disk drive according to claim 1, further comprising a hand opening mechanism. 3. A hand release mechanism section comprising: a pair of hand pins vertically projecting from the cartridge storage side of the cartridge transport mechanism; and third third hand pins vertically projecting from the pair of hands. The hand support is advanced toward either the cartridge storage or the disk drive,
Flanges are respectively contact with the Handopin, said pair of hands is configured to open against the biasing, the set optical disk apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein. 4. The optical disk drive according to claim 1, wherein
A mechanism for transferring the disk cartridge in a horizontal direction;
A mechanism for transporting the optical disk cartridge in the vertical direction.
The collective optical disk according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Disk device.