JPH08329583A - Recording medium changing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To shorten the changing time of recording media by simple control without raising the cost for a recording medium driving system. CONSTITUTION: A disk A loaded in a disk driving device 33 is changed for a disk B housed in a stacker 17. A 1st disk carrier mechanism 21 and a 2nd disk carrier mechanism 22 are integrally lifted and lowered along shafts 12 and 13. The disk B housed in the stacker 17 is taken out and carried, and is then loaded into the disk driving device 33 by the 1st carrier mechanism 21. The disk A loaded in the disk driving device 33 is taken out and carried, and is then housed in the stacker 17 by the 2nd disk carrier mechanism 22. The disk B is loaded into the disk driving device 33 by the 1st disk carrier mechanism 21 before housing the disk A taken out of the disk driving device into the stacker 17 by the 2nd disk carrier mechanism 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for exchanging a recording medium (for example, a magneto-optical disk) loaded in a recording medium driving device with another recording medium accommodated in a stacker.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for exchanging a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disc or a CD, a disc loaded in a disc drive device is taken out and stored in a stacker, and then the next disc is taken out from the stacker to make a disc device. It is known that a disc is exchanged by loading the disc into the disc. In a system including such a recording medium exchanging device, the disc driving device is not loaded with a disc during the disc exchanging operation, so that the disc reproducing operation or the like becomes impossible. Therefore, in order to reduce the time required for the disk replacement operation, it is conceivable to provide two disk drive devices and drive the other disk drive device during the disk replacement operation of one disk drive device.

[0003]

However, such a problem
According to the configuration including the one recording medium driving device, it is necessary to control each recording medium driving device, which causes a problem that the recording medium driving system becomes expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium exchanging device which can shorten the exchanging time of a recording medium by simple control and which does not increase the cost of the recording medium driving system.

[0005]

A recording medium exchanging device according to the present invention includes a recording medium loaded in a recording medium driving device,
An apparatus for exchanging a recording medium stored in a stacker, the recording medium stored in the stacker being taken out, conveyed, and loaded into a recording medium driving device, and the first recording medium. It moves integrally with the transportation means,
The present invention is characterized by further comprising a second recording medium conveying unit that takes out the recording medium loaded in the recording medium driving device, conveys the recording medium, and stores the recording medium in a stacker.

[0006]

The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. 1 to 3 show a schematic configuration of a magneto-optical disk (recording medium) exchanging device which is an embodiment of the present invention.

In the housing 11, for example, a pair of shafts 12 and 13 extending in the vertical direction are provided, and the shafts 12 and 13 support the first and second disk transfer mechanisms 21 and 22 so as to be vertically movable. Has been done. The endless belt 14 provided between the shafts 12 and 13 is wound around rollers 15 and 16 provided near the upper and lower ends of the shafts 12 and 13, and one roller 15 is attached to an output shaft of a motor (not shown). It is connected. Endless belt 14
Are connected to the first and second disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22, and therefore, by driving the motor, the first and second disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22 cause the shaft 1 to move.
It goes up and down along 2 and 13.

A stacker 17 is provided in the housing 11 on the side opposite to the shafts 12 and 13. Stacker 17
Has a large number of disc storage portions 18 arranged in the vertical direction. One disk (disk cartridge) D can be stored in each storage section 18, and the tip of the disk D projects from the storage section 18 toward the disk transport mechanisms 21 and 22. A light emitting element 31 and a light receiving element 32 are provided at the upper and lower ends of the stacker 17 on the disk transport mechanisms 21, 22 side. The light beam P1 emitted from the light emitting element 31 is blocked by the disk D during the storage operation of the disk D, and the light emitting element 31 and the light receiving element 32 are included.
Serves as a disk storage sensor that detects that the storage operation of the disk D in the stacker 17 of the second disk transport mechanism 22 is completed.

The disk drive device 33 includes a housing 11
It is arranged below the stacker 17 inside. In this embodiment, only one disk drive device 33 is provided,
Only one disc D can be loaded in the disc drive device 33.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first disc transport mechanism 21 has a main body 23 supported by shafts 12 and 13.
And attached to the body 23 and the shaft 12,
A pair of disc holding members 24 rotatable around 13
25 and. The disk holding members 24 and 25 are
It is rotatable in a horizontal plane as indicated by an arrow C, holds the closed disc D in a state parallel to each other, and opens the disc D when expanded from the parallel state.
Endless belts 28, 28 wound around a pair of rollers 26, 27 are provided inside the disk holding members 24, 25, respectively. These endless belts 28, 28 are
The disk holding members 24 and 25 are driven in a state of being parallel to each other, whereby the disk D is displaced between the disk holding members 24 and 25 along the arrow E.

Inside the disk holding members 24 and 25,
A light emitting element 34 and a light receiving element 35 are provided respectively. The light emitting element 34 and the light receiving element 35 are arranged in the portions of the disk holding members 24 and 25 in the vicinity of the main body 23. The light beam P2 emitted from the light emitting element 34 is blocked by the disk D when the disk D is held, and the light emitting element 34 and the light receiving element 35 are held by the first disk transport mechanism 21 holding the disk D. It functions as a disk loading sensor that detects that the

After the operation of taking in the disc D, in order to prevent the disc from falling even if the disc holding members 24 and 25 are opened, the disc holding members 24 and 25 interfere with the light beam P1 of the disc storage sensor. In the position not to
A bottom plate 29 that supports the lower surface of the disk D is provided. Further, when the disk holding members 24 and 25 are expanded, the disk holding members 24 and 25 do not interfere with the disks stored in the other disk housing portions 18, and the disk transport mechanism 21 moves up and down along the shafts 12 and 13. It will be possible.

The second disc carrying mechanism 22 also has the same structure as the first disc carrying mechanism 21, and is provided with a disc take-in sensor. As shown in FIG. 2, the light beam P1 emitted from the light emitting element 31, which is a disk storage sensor, passes between the tips of the disk holding members 24 and 25.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control system of this disk exchange apparatus. The system control device 41 includes, for example, a microcomputer, and is provided inside the housing 11 (see FIG. 1). The system controller 41 has
In addition to the disk drive device 33, an operation unit 42, a memory (RA
M) 43, first to third motor drive circuits 44, 45, 4
6, a disk storage sensor 47, first and second disk loading sensors 48, 49 are connected.

The operation section 42 is provided for on / off control of the disk drive device 33 and the like, and for designating the disk D to be loaded in the disk drive device 33 and the like. The memory 43 stores, for example, setting data indicating the order of the disks D loaded in the disk drive device 33 set by the operation unit 42, the identification number of the disks D, the address of the disk storage unit 18, and the like. The system controller 41 grasps the positions of the disk transport mechanisms 21 and 22 based on the motor drive amount by the first motor drive circuit 44 from the initial positions of the first and second disk transport mechanisms 21 and 22, and The discs in the disc drive device 33 and the first and second disc transporting mechanisms 21 and 22 hold the discs based on changes in the states of the disc take-in sensor and the disc storage sensor provided in the disc transporting mechanisms 21 and 22 of FIG. The identification number of the disc to be recorded is grasped and appropriately stored in the memory 43. It should be noted that the first and second disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22 are arranged at the same spacing as the spacing between the discs stored in the disc storage portion 18, and, for example, the first disc transport mechanism 21 is the uppermost disc. When in the storage position, the second disk transport mechanism 22 is located in the lower disk storage position, and the system controller 41
Is based on the position of the first disc transport mechanism 21.
The position of the second disk carrying mechanism 22 is recognized as a position one step below the position of the first disk carrying mechanism 21.

The first motor drive circuit 44 elevates and lowers the disk transport mechanisms 21 and 22, that is, the endless belt 14.
It is provided to drive a motor that rotates. Second
And the third motor drive circuits 45 and 46 are respectively the first
It is also provided for driving a motor that opens and closes the disk holding members 24 and 25 of the second disk transport mechanisms 21 and 22 and rotates the endless belt 28. The disk storage sensor 47 includes a light emitting element 31 and a light receiving element 32. The first disk take-in sensor 48 includes a light emitting element 34 and a light receiving element 35 attached to the first disk carrying mechanism 21, and the second disk take-in sensor 49 is
A light emitting element 34 and a light receiving element 35 attached to the second disk transport mechanism 22 are provided.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10 show the movement of the disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22 in the disc exchange operation. 11 to 16 show a disk drive device 3
After loading it in 3 and searching for data,
9 shows a flowchart of a routine for exchanging with another disc stored in the stacker 17.

A search command routine shown in FIG. 11 is executed in accordance with a disk search operation start command signal input from the operation unit 42. In step 101, a disk loading routine is executed, a predetermined disk A stored in the stacker 17 is selected, and the first disk transport mechanism 2 is selected.
Taken out by 1.

In the disk take-in routine, as shown in FIG. 12, first, at step 121, the disk holding member 2 of the first and second disk carrying mechanisms 21 and 22.
4, 25 are opened. In step 122, the first and second disc transfer mechanisms 21 and 22 are moved up and down, and the first disc transfer mechanism 21 moves toward the disc A as shown in FIG.
Is set at a position opposed to the disk storage portion 18 in which is stored. In step 123, the disc holding members 24 and 25 of the first disc carrying mechanism 21 are closed, and the disc A is held by the disc holding members 24 and 25 as shown in FIG.

In step 124, the rollers 26 and 27 of the first disk transport mechanism 21 rotate in the reverse direction, and the disk A is taken into the main body 23 side. In step 125, it is detected whether or not the first disk loading sensor 48 including the light emitting element 34 and the light receiving element 35 is turned off. When the disk A moves to the main body 23 side and the light beam P2 emitted from the light emitting element 34 is no longer detected by the light receiving element 35, the first disk loading sensor 48 is turned off, and step 126 is executed. That is, the rollers 26 and 27 stop and the loading of the disk A is completed. Then, in step 127, the disc holding member 2
4, 4 and 25 are opened and the disk holding members 24 and 25 can be moved up and down, and the process returns to the search command routine of FIG. In this state, the disk A is located closer to the main body 23 than the light beam P1 of the disk storage sensor 47 and is mounted on the bottom plate 29.

In step 102 of the search command routine,
It is determined whether another disk is already loaded in the disk drive device 33. Here, it is assumed that the disk drive device 33 is not loaded with a disk. Therefore, in step 103, the disk loading routine shown in FIG. 13 is executed next, and the disk A is loaded into the disk drive device 33 by the first disk transport mechanism 21.

As shown in FIG. 13, in step 130 of the disc loading routine, the first disc transport mechanism 21 is operated.
Is lowered and set at a position facing the disk drive device 33 as shown in FIG. Next, in step 131, the disk holding members 24 and 25 are closed, and then in step 132, the rollers 26 and 27 of the first disk transport mechanism 21 are normally rotated and the disk A drives the disk drive device 3
3 is transferred. In step 133, it is determined whether or not the insertion of the disk A into the disk drive device 33 is completed according to a signal from a sensor (not shown) provided in the disk drive device 33. When the disk A is loaded into the disk drive device 33, in step 134,
The rollers 26 and 27 stop, and the loading operation of the disk A is completed. Next, at step 135, the disc holding members 24 and 25 of the first disc transport mechanism 21 are opened,
Returning to the search command routine of FIG.

In step 104 of the search command routine,
The system control device 41 outputs a search start command signal to the disk drive device 33. As a result, the disk drive device starts the search execution operation, and this search command routine ends. On the other hand, in the disk drive device, the spindle motor of the disk drive device 33 is first started and the rotation of the disk A is started in a search execution routine (not shown). When the rotation of the spindle motor becomes constant,
A head mechanism (not shown) is actuated, reproduction of the disk A is started, and data retrieval is performed.

While the search for disk A is being performed,
When the disk B is selected through the operation unit 42 as the next search target, the search command routine of FIG. 11 is executed again.

At step 101, the disk loading routine of FIG. 12 is executed. First, in step 121, a command signal for opening the disc holding members 24 and 25 is output. Although the disk holding members 24 and 25 have already been normally opened by executing step 135 in FIG. 13,
Even if it is not opened, it is opened by executing step 121. Next, the first and second disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22 are raised, and the first disc transport mechanism 21 is set at a position facing the disc storage portion 18 in which the disc B is stored, as shown in FIG. At this position, the first and second disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22 are stopped. Then, as in the case of the disk A, the disk holding members 24 and 25 of the first disk transport mechanism 21 are closed and the disk B is held. The rollers 26 and 27 of the first disk transport mechanism 21 rotate in the reverse direction, and the disk B is taken into the main body 23 side. First disk loading sensor 48
When the take-in operation of the disc B is detected by turning off, the rollers 26 and 27 are stopped, and the disc B is fixed in the first disc transport mechanism 21.

Next, returning to the search command routine of FIG. 11,
In step 102, it is determined that the disk A is already loaded in the disk drive device 33. Therefore, step 105 is executed to determine whether or not the search for the disk A is completed. When the search for the disk A is completed, the routine proceeds to step 106, where the disk discharge routine shown in FIG. 14 is executed, and the disk A is discharged from the disk drive device 33 by the second disk transport mechanism 22.

In step 141, the disk drive device 3
A command signal indicating that the disc A is to be ejected is transmitted from the system control device 41 to the disc No. 3. Step 142
Then, a command signal for opening the disk holding members 24 and 25 of the second disk transport mechanism 22 is output. Although the disk holding members 24 and 25 are normally opened already by executing step 135 of FIG. 13, even if they are not opened, they are opened by executing step 142. In step 143, the first and second disc transport mechanisms 21,
22 descends, and as shown in FIG. 8, the second disk transport mechanism 22 stops at a position facing the disk drive device 33.

Next, at step 144, when it is detected by the output signal from the disk drive device 33 that the disk A has been ejected, at step 145 the disk holding members 24, 2 of the second disk drive mechanism 22.
5 is closed, and the disk A loaded in the disk drive device 33 is pinched. In step 146, the rollers 26 and 27 of the second disk drive mechanism 22 rotate in the reverse direction, and the disk A is taken into the main body 23 side. In step 147, it is detected whether or not the second disk take-in sensor 49 has been turned off. When the disk A moves to the main body 23 side and the second disk take-in sensor 49 is turned off, the rollers 26 and 27 are stopped and the disk A is fixed in step 148, and the disk holding members 24 and 25 are opened in step 149. Then, the process returns to the search command routine of FIG.

In step 107 of the search command routine,
The disk loading routine shown in FIG. 13 is executed, and the next disk B is loaded into the disk drive device 33 by the first disk transport mechanism 21. First, the first and second disk transfer mechanisms 21 and 22 are lowered, and the first disk transfer mechanism 21 is moved to the disk drive device 33 as shown in FIG.
Is set at a position opposite to. When the rollers B and 26 are rotated in the forward direction and the disk B is transferred into the disk drive unit 33 and loaded in a predetermined position, the rollers 26 and 27 stop, and the loading operation of the disk B is completed. Then the first
Disc holding members 24, 25 of the disc transport mechanism 21
Is released and the process returns to the search command routine of FIG.

In step 108 of the search command routine,
Similar to step 104, a search start command signal is output to the disk drive device 33, and the search command routine ends. That is, the search execution routine is executed and the data search on the disk B is performed.

Next, step 109 of the search command routine.
Then, the disk storing routine shown in FIG. 15 is executed,
The disk A is stored in the stacker 17 by the second disk transport mechanism 22. First, in step 151, the first
Then, the second disc transport mechanisms 21 and 22 rise, and as shown in FIG. 10, the second disc transport mechanism 22 stops at a position facing the predetermined disc storage portion 18 of the stacker 17. In step 152, the disk holding members 24 and 25 are closed.

In step 153, the rollers 26 and 27 of the second disk drive mechanism 22 are rotated in the forward direction, and the disk A is inserted into the predetermined disk storage portion 18. Step 15
In 4, it is detected whether the disk storage sensor 47 has changed from the off state to the on state. When the disk A is stored in the stacker 17 and the disk storage sensor 47 is changed from the OFF state to the ON state, the rollers 26 and 27 are stopped in step 155, and the disk holding members 24 and 25 are opened in step 156. Return to the search command routine of. In the search command routine, step 1
Since 09 is substantially the last process, the search command routine is ended by this, but the search execution routine (not shown) searches the data of the disk B.

Next, when a search operation start command signal is input from the operation unit 42 in order to search for another disk, the search command routine of FIG. 11 is executed again, and the above-described operation, that is, FIG. The operation shown in FIG. 10 is executed again.

When a command signal for ending the disk search operation is input from the operation unit 42, the search end routine shown in FIG. 16 is executed. In step 161, FIG.
The disc ejection routine shown in FIG. 4 is executed, and the disc is ejected from the disc drive device 33 by the second disc carrying mechanism 22. Then, in step 162, as shown in FIG.
The disk storage routine shown in FIG. 5 is executed, and the disks are stored in the stacker 17 by the second disk transport mechanism 22. As a result, the search end routine ends.

As described above, the present embodiment is constructed so that the data of the two disks A and B can be searched by only one disk drive device 33. Therefore, the control of the disk drive device 33 is simple and the disk drive system is inexpensive.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, in particular, before the disk A loaded in the disk drive device 33 is taken out by the second disk transport mechanism 22 and stored in the stacker 17, 1 disk transport mechanism 21
Is configured to load the next disk B into the disk drive device 33. That is, the disk drive device 33
In the operation of exchanging the disks A and B, the first and second disk transport mechanisms 21 and 22 are moved from the position where the second disk transport mechanism 22 faces the disk drive device 33 to the first disk transport mechanism 21. Only the distance to the position facing the disk drive device 33 moves. Therefore, the time from the completion of the reproducing operation of the disc A to the start of the reproducing operation of the disc B is shortened to the minimum.

The effect of this time reduction will be described in more detail. In the disk drive device 33, the time from the start of rotation of the spindle motor to steady rotation (spindle up time) is a second, and the time from the steady rotation of the spindle motor to stop (spindle up / down). B seconds, the time required to complete the data search by playing the disc (search time) c seconds, the time required for the disc to be inserted into the slot of the disc drive device 33 and set at a predetermined position (loading time) For d seconds, load the loaded disc into the disc drive 33
The time from unloading to unloading (unloading time) is e seconds. If the time for taking out the disk from the stacker 17 or the disk drive device 33 or the time for taking in the disk is g seconds and the time for raising and lowering the disk transport mechanisms 21, 22 is h seconds, the disk is taken out from the stacker 17 and the disk drive device is taken. The average time f of inserting into 33 is (g + h + g) seconds.

In the conventional apparatus provided with only one disk transport mechanism, it takes time T1 = f + d + a + c + b + e + f to search the first disk A, and to search the next disk B, T2 = F + d + a + c. That is, the total time required to search the two disks A and B is T1 + T2 = (a + b + c + d + e + f) + (a + c + d) + 2f (1).

On the other hand, in this embodiment, in order to search the first disk A, it takes time S1 = f + d + a + c + b + e + g. During this time, the next disk B can be transported to the disk drive device 33, and the transportation time of this disk B is S2 = h + g + h. That is, the time S2 is included in the time S1.
On the other hand, the time required to search the disk B is S3 = g + d + a + c. Therefore, the total time required to search the two disks A and B is S1 + S3 = (a + b + c + d + e + f) + (a + c + d) + 2g (2).

As can be understood from the comparison between the equations (1) and (2), this embodiment is (T1 + T2)-(S1 + S3) = 2f-2g = 2 (g + h + g) as compared with the conventional device. The two disks A and B can be searched in a short time of -2g = 2g + 2h.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, the exchange time of the recording medium can be shortened by the simple control,
Moreover, there is an effect that the cost of the recording medium drive system is not increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a disk exchanging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a disc transport mechanism.

3A and 3B show a schematic configuration of a disc transport mechanism, FIG. 3A being a side view and FIG. 3B being a front view.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the disk exchange apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation in which the disk A is taken out from the stacker by the first disk transport mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation in which the disk A is loaded into the disk drive device by the first disk transport mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation of taking out a disc B from a stacker by a first disc carrying mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation of ejecting a disc A from a disc drive device by a second disc carrying mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an operation in which the disk B is loaded into the disk drive device by the first disk transport mechanism.

FIG. 10 shows the disk A by the second disk transport mechanism.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation of storing the sheets in a stacker.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a main routine for instructing a search for data recorded on a disc.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a subroutine for loading a disc from the stacker by the first disc transport mechanism.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a subroutine for loading a disk into the disk drive by the first disk transport mechanism.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a subroutine for ejecting a disc from the disc drive device by the second disc transport mechanism.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a subroutine for storing a disk in the stacker by the second disk transport mechanism.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a main routine for ending the search for the data recorded on the disc and storing the disc in the stacker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 17 Stacker 18 Disc Storage Section 21 First Disc Conveying Means 22 Second Disc Conveying Means 31, 34 Light-Emitting Element 32, 35 Light-Receiving Element 33 Disc Drive Device A, B, D Disc

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A device for exchanging a recording medium loaded in a recording medium driving device with a recording medium accommodated in a stacker, wherein the recording medium accommodated in the stacker is taken out and conveyed to drive the recording medium drive. A first transport unit that is loaded in the apparatus, and a second transport unit that moves integrally with the first transport unit to take out and transport the recording medium loaded in the recording medium driving device and store it in the stacker. And a recording medium exchange device. 2. The first transport means loads the recording medium into the recording medium drive device before the second transport means stores the recording medium taken out from the recording medium drive device in the stacker. The recording medium exchange device according to claim 1. 3. The recording medium exchange device according to claim 1, further comprising a recording medium take-in sensor that detects that the first and second conveying units hold a recording medium. 4. The recording medium exchanging device according to claim 1, further comprising a recording medium accommodating sensor that detects that a recording medium accommodating operation for the stacker of the second conveying unit is completed.