JP3248396B2 - Automatic media changer and media tray - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically exchanging a plurality of optical disc media which can be read only or recorded and reproduced, such as a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disc, and a phase change optical disc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical disk media have attracted a great deal of attention as media for image processing, not to mention as external memories for computers due to the increase in capacity and the speed of data recording / reproducing. An automatic medium changer (hereinafter referred to as an autochanger) that can manage and operate the above data has been commercialized. In recent years, a small autochanger has been required due to its installation space, and an autochanger has been proposed in which a plurality of media placed on a tray are stored to improve storage efficiency and handleability.

Hereinafter, a conventional autochanger will be described. FIG. 6 shows an example of a conventional tray-type autochanger. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a tray transfer unit for taking out a tray 8 on which a medium (not shown) placed in a magazine 2 is placed, moving the tray 8 in the direction of arrow a and transferring it to a drive 3, and is guided by a guide shaft 4 and a drive motor 7 Is driven by the belt 5 via the pulley 6. As shown in FIG. 7, the tray 8 is provided with a medium storage recess 9 and a pickup 14 of the drive 3.
An opening 10 into which a turntable 13 can enter, a positioning hole 11 for positioning with respect to the drive 3, and a notch 12 for removing / inserting the tray transfer unit 1 from / to the magazine 2 are provided. The drive 3 mounted on the autochanger is provided with a turntable 13 for mounting and rotating a medium, a pickup 14 for reading signals from the medium, and positioning pins 15 corresponding to the positioning holes 11 of the tray 8. Reference numeral 16 denotes a loading mechanism for clamping the tray inserted by the tray transfer unit 1 to the drive 3. 17a,
Reference numeral 17b denotes a protrusion sensor for detecting the protrusion of the medium or the tray from the magazine 2, and reference numerals 18a and 18b denote medium presence / absence sensors for detecting whether or not the medium is placed on the tray. Reference numeral 19 controls the drive of the drive motor 7, the tray transfer section 1, and the drive 3, and operates the autochanger and changes the medium based on inputs from a host (not shown), operation buttons (not shown), various sensors, and the like. A control unit that controls and manages information and the like.

Next, the operation will be described. A case where a command to load a predetermined medium into the drive is input to the control unit 19 from outside will be described. First, based on the output signal of the control unit 19, the tray transfer unit 1 is driven by the drive motor 7 via the belt 5 in the directions of arrows a and b, and moves to the position corresponding to the designated tray 8. The tray transfer section 1 is cut out from the magazine 2
The tray 8 is taken out using 2. Next, the tray transfer unit 1 containing the tray 8 moves in the direction of arrow a and inserts the tray into the loading mechanism 16. The loading mechanism 16 engages the positioning holes 11 of the tray 8 with the positioning pins 15 of the drive 3 to position the tray 8 with respect to the drive 3. At this stage, the control unit 19 sets the drive 3
To the turntable 13 of the drive 3
The pickup 14 enters the opening 10 and simultaneously centers the medium placed on the tray 8 on the turntable 13, and fixes the medium to the turntable 13 by a clamp unit (not shown) configured in the tray transfer unit 1. Thereafter, the turntable 13 rotates and the pickup 14 reads out a signal. In this state, the tray 8 is positioned in the drive 3 and held in the loading mechanism 16 in a height relationship such that the tray 8 does not contact the medium.

The operation of returning the tray 8 after the reproduction is performed as follows. Similarly, when the turntable 13 is stopped based on a command signal from the control unit 19, the clamp of the medium on the turntable 13 is released, and the tray transfer unit 1 pulls out the tray and the medium from the loading mechanism 16. Then, the medium is transferred to a predetermined position of the magazine 2 while being placed on the tray 8, and is returned to the magazine 2 using the notch 12.

Next, the management of the medium (information on the presence or absence of the medium, information on the type of the medium, etc.) performed by the autochanger will be described. When the power is turned on, when a reset signal is input, or when the magazine 2 is inserted / replaced by the user, the control unit 19 sends a command signal, takes out the tray using the tray transfer unit, and temporarily stores it in the tray transfer unit. I do. At this time, the medium presence / absence sensors 18a, 1
The presence or absence of the medium is detected by 8b. Information on the presence or absence of this medium is stored in the control unit 19. By performing this operation for all trays, all information on the presence or absence of a medium can be stored in the control and roll units. This series of operations is also called initialization. In addition, the medium or tray may be ejected from the tray or magazine depending on the situation. In such a case, the normal medium exchange operation as described above cannot be performed. This signal is monitored by the pop-out sensor, and is constantly monitored by the control unit.

[0007]

However, the above-described conventional configuration has the following problems.

In other words, in the above-described initialization operation, information about the presence or absence of a medium can be understood only by pulling out each tray from the magazine and storing it in the tray transfer section, so that it takes time to initialize. During the initialization time, the original operation of the apparatus cannot be performed, so that the operation efficiency of the apparatus is significantly reduced.
In particular, the effect is extremely large in an environment in which the apparatus is connected to a network. In addition, a sensor for monitoring the jump of the medium or tray from the magazine must be provided independently of the medium presence / absence sensor, resulting in an increase in component costs and assembly costs. Furthermore, since it is not possible to determine whether the medium is recordable / reproducible or read-only,
Furthermore, since the mounted drive is a drive that supports only either recording / reproduction, an autochanger that can support only a single medium of either reproduction or recording / reproduction has attracted attention in recent years. CD
-There is also a problem that a read-only medium such as a ROM and a recordable / reproducible optical disk medium cannot be used together.

The present invention solves this problem, and provides an autochanger that is low in cost, has a short initialization time, and has a high operating efficiency.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of mounting and processing a read-only medium or a recording / reproducing medium, and a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of being mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus. The read-only medium or the recording
A can be placed to any medium renewable medium, wherein either置判by means mounting allows determining the placement information of the medium and the reproduction-only medium and the said recording medium A tray having a medium type discriminating means capable of discriminating any one of the medium type information , a storage part for storing the tray, and the tray stored in the storage part capable of being taken out and inserted; A tray transfer unit for transferring the tray to a reproducing apparatus, the placement information and the medium type
Medium information detecting means for detecting different information;
Sending means, the medium information detecting means
Engage at the position of the tray to be detected, and the presence / absence information of the tray
Tray intermediate position detecting means for detecting the
Information, the above-mentioned placement information, and
It is configured to have a control unit for controlling and managing .

[0011]

With this configuration, when a magazine containing a medium is replaced, initialization can be completed in a short time in a simple configuration, and the operating efficiency of the apparatus or the entire system to which the apparatus is connected can be increased.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the figure, 1 is a magazine 2
Tray 8 on which a medium (not shown) is stored
Is taken out and moved in the direction of arrow a to load the loading mechanism 1
6. A tray transfer section for transferring to the drive 3, guided by the guide shaft 4, and driven by the belt 5 through the pulley 6 by the drive motor 7. Fig. 2
As can be seen from FIG. 2, the medium accommodating recess 9 is formed and the pickup 14 of the drive 3 and the turntable 1
An opening 10 through which the drive 3 can enter, a positioning hole 11 for positioning the drive 3, and the tray transfer unit 1
A notch 12 is provided for taking out / inserting from the device. The drive 3 mounted on the autochanger has a turntable 13 which rotates with a medium mounted thereon.
And a positioning pin 15 corresponding to the positioning hole 11 of the tray 8 for reading a signal from the medium. Reference numerals 17a and 17b denote sensors provided at positions corresponding to the positions of the medium type determination hole 20 and the medium presence / absence determination hole 21 provided on the tray 8. FIG.
In (a), a tray for a recordable / reproducible medium, (b) is a tray for a read-only medium, and in the case of (b), the hole 20 for discriminating the medium type is closed. Reference numeral 19 denotes a control unit that controls and manages the operation of the autochanger and information on the medium based on inputs from a host (not shown) and operation buttons (not shown).

Next, the operation will be described. A case where a command to load a predetermined medium into the drive is input to the control unit 19 from outside will be described. First, based on the output signal of the control unit 19, the tray transfer unit 1 is driven by the drive motor 7 via the belt 5 in the directions of arrows a and b, and moves to the position corresponding to the designated tray 8. The tray transfer section 1 is cut out from the magazine 2
The tray 8 is taken out using 2. Next, the tray transfer unit 1 containing the tray 8 moves in the direction of arrow a and inserts the tray into the loading mechanism 16. The loading mechanism 16 engages the positioning holes 11 of the tray 8 with the positioning pins 15 of the drive 3 to position the tray 8 with respect to the drive 3. At this stage, the control unit 19 sets the drive 3
To the turntable 13 of the drive 3
The pickup 14 enters the opening 10 and simultaneously centers the medium placed on the tray 8 on the turntable 13, and fixes the medium to the turntable 13 by a clamp unit (not shown) configured in the tray transfer unit 1. Thereafter, the turntable 13 rotates and the pickup 14 reads out a signal. In this state, the tray 8 is positioned in the drive 3 and held in the loading mechanism 16 in a height relationship such that the tray 8 does not contact the medium.

The operation of returning the tray 8 after the reproduction is performed as follows. Similarly, when the turntable 13 is stopped based on a command signal from the control unit 19, the clamp of the medium on the turntable 13 is released, and the tray transfer unit 1 pulls out the tray and the medium from the loading mechanism 16. Then, the medium is transferred to a predetermined position of the magazine 2 while being placed on the tray 8, and is returned to the magazine 2 using the notch 12.

Next, the management of a medium (information on the presence or absence of a medium, information on the type of a medium, etc.) performed by the autochanger will be described with reference to FIGS. When power is turned on, when a magazine is replaced, or when initialization is performed by a command from the host or the like, the control unit 19 controls the tray transfer unit 1.
And pull out all the trays 8 in the direction of arrow c from the magazine 2 in order. At this time, the sensors 17a and 17b
Are light emitting elements and light receiving elements, respectively. As shown in FIG.
0, since it is provided at a position corresponding to the medium presence / absence determination hole 21, the opening state of the holes 20 and 21 on the tray 8 can be detected. The tray transfer section 1 is provided with an intermediate switch 22 at a position where the medium presence / absence determination hole 21 of the tray 8 is activated when passing through the sensor 17b. Here, a mechanical micro switch is used as the intermediate switch, but a switch using magnetism or an optical switch may be used. FIG. 3A shows a state in which the tray 8 is stored, and FIG. 3B shows a state in which the tray 8 is pulled out and the intermediate switch 22 is operated.

FIGS. 4 (0) to 4 (5) show changes in the outputs of the intermediate switch 22 and the sensor 17b when the tray 8 is pulled out. Where (0) is the output signal of the intermediate switch, (1) to
(5) is an output signal of the sensor 17b in each case where the medium type, the medium presence / absence, the tray presence / absence, and the like are combined. The intermediate switch is H when activated, L otherwise, the output of sensor 17b is H when light is received.
When no light is received, it is represented as L, respectively. When the control unit 19 instructs the tray transfer unit 1 to draw the tray, the control unit 19 monitors the outputs of the intermediate switch 22 and the sensor 17b. Point A in the figure is shown in FIG.
Point C corresponds to the position in FIG. 3B, and point B corresponds to the time when the medium presence / absence determination hole 21 passes over the sensor 17b. In addition, the medium type discriminating hole generally associates the open / closed state with a recordable / reproducible medium and a read-only medium in any manner. Is a read-only medium. Table 1
FIG. 4 shows a reference table for the control unit 19 to determine the presence / absence of a tray, the type of medium, the presence / absence of a medium, etc. in each case when the outputs (1) to (5) of FIG. 4 are obtained.

[0017]

[Table 1]

The control unit 19 monitors the output of the sensor 17b and the intermediate switch 22 and monitors the output of the sensor 17b.
The number of times when the output of the intermediate switch 22 changes from H to L is stored, and the level of the output of the sensor 17b when the output of the intermediate switch 22 changes to H is detected. The type of the dedicated medium and the presence / absence of the medium can be determined. Specifically, when the number of times that the sensor 17b has changed from H to L before the intermediate switch 22 is operated is other than 0, it is determined that there is a tray. The medium is determined to be a read-only medium if it is a possible medium or once. When the number of times is 0, it is determined that there is no tray, and therefore, the medium type and the presence / absence information are not particularly determined. As for the presence / absence information of the medium, it is determined that the medium is present when the output of the sensor 17b is L when the intermediate switch 22 is H, and that there is no medium when the output is H. Although not shown in Table 1, when the tray or medium is ejected from the magazine 2, the signal of the sensor 17b is L in the initial state (before the point A). In this case, it can be processed as a tray / medium pop-out error. By repeating the processing described above for all trays, one sensor pair (17
The initialization process can be performed by detecting the tray presence / absence, medium type, and medium presence / absence in (a, 17b) and storing them in the control unit. At the same time, it is possible to detect a tray / medium jumping abnormality. Therefore, the initialization operation can be performed with a simple configuration in a short time.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 differs from the first embodiment in that there are two magazines 2 and two drives 3 each, and the tray transfer unit 1 has a structure capable of holding a plurality of media at the same time. The tray transfer section 1 comprises tray transfer sections 1a and 1b,
It is configured to be able to hold one medium.

Next, this operation will be described. Drive 3, which is the operation that the media exchange device typically performs most frequently
The operation of exchanging the medium processed in step 2 with another medium stored in the magazine 2 will be described. First, when the control unit 19 issues an exchange command for a medium to be processed next, the tray transfer unit 1 first moves to the storage position of the tray on which the next medium to be processed is loaded, and the tray transfer unit 1a moves to a predetermined position. The tray is taken out and transported in the direction of arrow b. At this time, the tray transfer section 1b remains empty. Next, the tray transfer section 1b is positioned with respect to the loading mechanism 16. Here, the tray on which the medium that has been processed by the drive 3 by the loading mechanism 16 is placed is moved to the tray transfer unit 1b.
Take out inside. Then, the tray transfer section 1a is positioned with respect to the flag opening 19 corresponding to the position of the loading mechanism 16, and the tray on which the medium to be processed next is placed is inserted into the loading mechanism 16. Loading mechanism 1
Numeral 6 clamps the medium on the turntable 13, the turntable 13 rotates, and the pickup 14 reads out a signal.

In the returning operation for returning the trays stored in the tray transfer section 1b, first, the tray transfer section 1b is positioned at a predetermined tray storage position where the tray is to be returned.
It is done by returning using 2.

In the automatic changer of the present system, the medium is not exchanged sequentially, and can be exchanged for the next medium without returning the previously processed medium to a predetermined storage position, so that the medium exchange time is significantly reduced. There is an effect that can be. Also, since two drives 3 are mounted, two media can be processed at the same time, and more information can be supplied simultaneously.

The method of managing the medium information in the autochanger of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, so that the detailed description is omitted. However, when pulling out all the trays from the magazine 2 for managing the medium information, it is necessary to use one of the tray transfer units 1a and 1b and not to use both at the same time. 1
a is used. Also in the present embodiment, one sensor pair (17a, 17b) detects the presence / absence of a tray, the type of medium, and the presence / absence of a medium, and stores them in the control unit, so that the initialization process can be performed. It is clear that an auto-changer that can perform an initializing operation with a simple configuration in a short time can be provided because a pop-out abnormality can be detected.

In the first and second embodiments, a drive capable of processing both a recordable / reproducible medium and a read-only medium or a drive capable of processing either of them can be mounted. . Even when only a dedicated drive for recording / reproducing media or a dedicated drive for read-only medium is mounted and used, media information can be managed by similar processing by using dedicated trays. In this manner, even when a drive is added later, the type of medium can be determined based on the tray to be used, thereby facilitating expansion of the apparatus.

In this embodiment, the medium type information is managed by the tray. However, when a drive capable of processing both a recordable / reproducible medium and a read-only medium is used, the drive is also provided with a medium type discriminating means. You may. Thus, even if the medium type information of the control unit is incorrect for some reason, it can be finally determined by the drive and the reliability can be further improved. The medium type discriminating means of this drive may use the medium type discriminating hole 20 of the tray, or may have a configuration in which a discriminating hole or the like is separately provided in the tray and used.

[0026]

According to the present invention as described above, according to the present invention, a recording and reproducing apparatus capable of mounting the playback-only medium or a recordable and reproducible medium processing, it can be installed in the recording and reproducing apparatus, the re
Either raw media or recordable / reproducible media
A possible placing of media, said any medium置判specific means and mounting enables determine the placement information, the one in which one of the medium with a read only memory medium and the recording medium
A tray having a medium type determining means capable of determining type information , a storage unit for storing the tray, and the tray stored in the storage unit can be taken out and inserted,
A tray transfer unit for transferring the tray to the recording / reproducing device
And a medium for detecting the placement information and the medium type information
Information detecting means, and the medium provided in the tray transfer means.
The position of the tray where the information is detected by the information detecting means.
Tray middle position to detect the presence or absence of tray
Location detection means, the medium type information, the location information and the
A controller that controls and manages information on the presence or absence of
Are those having the structure described and a pole tip, it is possible to perform initialization in a a short time a simple construction, is to allow to increase the operating efficiency of the entire system including a device or apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an autochanger according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tray according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the autochanger according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of sensor / switch signals of the autochanger in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an autochanger according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a conventional autochanger of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a conventional tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 tray transfer section 2 magazine 3 drive 4 guide shaft 5 belt 6 pulley 7 drive motor 8 tray 16 loading mechanism 17a, 17b sensor 19 control section

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Yoshio Umeda, Inventor 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. In-house (56) References JP-A-2-137163 (JP, A) JP-A-6-68582 (JP, A) JP-A-58-140561 (JP, U) JP-A-2-84160 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 17/26 G11B 19/02

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording / reproducing apparatus capable of mounting and processing a read-only medium or a recordable / reproducible medium, and a read-only medium which can be mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus.
There is a possible placing any medium of the recordable and reproducible medium, wherein either置判by means mounting allows determining the placement information of the medium and the recording and the reproduction-only medium A tray having a medium type discriminating means capable of discriminating medium type information as to which of the possible media, a storage portion for storing the tray, and the tray stored in the storage portion can be taken out and inserted in the medium information to detect a tray transferring unit for transferring the trays to the recording and reproducing apparatus, a and the placement information and the medium type information
Detecting means , provided in the tray transfer means, and provided in the medium information detecting means.
Engage at the position of the tray where the
Tray middle position detecting means for detecting the presence / absence information of the medium , the medium type information, the above-mentioned placement information and the presence / absence information of the tray
And a control unit that controls and manages at least the media. 2. The automatic medium exchange device according to claim 1, wherein the storage section is a magazine that accommodates a plurality of trays and is detachable from the automatic medium exchange device. 3. A medium information detecting means, the tray is a tray transfer
Feeding portion Moshiku the media autochanger according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that installed in a position capable of detecting from jumping out of the retract and unit. 4. A medium automatic exchange according to claim 1,
A tray for use in conversion device, 置判by hand placing the tray transferring unit is constituted by lack permeable holes or cut Ru is detected by the media object information detecting means when pulling out the tray from the retract and unit
A medium tray comprising a stage or medium type determining means and a placement determining means . 5. The recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with a medium type discriminating means.
The automatic medium exchange device according to claim 1, further comprising: