JPH0973700A - Disk auto-changer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To instantly stop a delivery operation of a disk if a specified disk is not in existence on a disk disposition base. SOLUTION: The disk disposition base 6 for disposing a large number of disks D at prescribed intervals and a carriage 7 capable of reciprocating movement along the disk disposition base 6 are provided in a casing 1, and the carriage 7 is provided with a loading mechanism 8 for pinching a prescribed disk D on the disk disposition base 6 and withdrawing the disk onto the carriage 7. Then, the loading mechanism 8 possesses one pair of disk pinching arms 47a and 48a whose base end parts at a prescribed opposite angle to each other are pivotally and rotatably supported via a pivot 49 on the carriage 7, and is provided with a disk presence/absence detecting means 55 for operating at the time when the opposite angle of both arms 47a and 48a becomes smaller than that of pinching the disk by the arms 47a and 48a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention takes out a desired disc from an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc (hereinafter referred to as a disc), which is abbreviated as CD, MD, and the like arranged in a large number at predetermined intervals, and reproduces or records the data. Disc auto changer for erasing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an example of this type of disc autochanger is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-156563. This is provided with a disk arranging table for arranging a large number of disks at a predetermined interval in a casing, and a carriage that can reciprocate along the disk arranging table. A disc push-up mechanism for slightly pushing up the specified disc, a loading mechanism for rolling the pushed disc up and pulling it onto the dolly, and a disc pulling on the dolly for attaching to the player body on the dolly And a disk loading mechanism.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional configuration,
When the designated discs are transferred from the disc arranging table to the disc mounting mechanism by the disc lifting mechanism and the loading mechanism, even if the designated disc does not exist on the disc arranging table, both the mechanisms continue the disc transferring work, There is a drawback that loss time is long.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disc autochanger which immediately stops the disc transfer work when a designated disc is not present on the disc array table.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a disk array table for arranging a large number of disks at a predetermined interval in a casing, and the disk array table. A carriage that can reciprocate along the carriage is provided on the carriage, and the carriage has a loading mechanism for holding a predetermined disk on the disk array base and pulling the disk onto the carriage. A disc mounting mechanism for mounting on the upper player body is provided, and the loading mechanisms are pivotally supported by a carriage via pivot shafts with their base ends at a predetermined opposing angle. Disc presence / absence detection means is provided which has a pair of disc clamping arms and is activated when the opposing angles of the two arms are smaller than when the discs are clamped by the two arms. It is characterized by a door.

In the above structure, for example, when reproducing information recorded on a disc, a desired disc is designated from among a large number of discs arranged on the disc arrangement stand, and a truck is provided up to the designated disc. After stopping the vehicle, the specified disc is clamped by the pair of disc clamping arms of the loading mechanism and the disc is pulled onto the trolley, and then the disc loaded mechanism pulls the disc onto the trolley. Then, the disc information is read and reproduced by the optical pickup of the player body. After the end of the reproduction, the disc is returned to the original position on the disc array table in the reverse procedure.

In the above arrangement, when the designated disk does not exist on the disk array table, the opposing angle of both arms is smaller than that when the arms are clamped by the both arms, so that it is detected by the disk presence detecting means. The disc transfer operation is immediately stopped by the detection signal.

In this case, when the specified disk is not present on the disk arrangement table when the specified disk is transferred from the disk arrangement table to the disk mounting mechanism by the loading mechanism, it is detected by the disk presence / absence detecting means. The disc transfer operation can be immediately stopped, and the loss time can be extremely shortened.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the disc presence / absence detecting means includes a pair of connecting rods for connecting the both arms and a cam for rotationally driving the both arms. Among them, when the disc detector provided on one of the connecting rods and the projection piece provided on the other connecting rod, the opposing angle of the both arms becomes smaller than when the disc is clamped by the both arms. It is characterized in that the projection piece and the disk detector are brought into contact with each other through the both connecting rods interlocked with the projection, and the disk detector is operated.

According to the above construction, the disk presence / absence detecting means is composed of the disk detector and the protruding piece, and both need only be provided on the pair of connecting rods connecting the both disk holding arms and the cam. The structure is simple and the production cost can be reduced.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 19 shows an automatic disc changer which is an embodiment of the present invention.
An opening 3 with an opening / closing lid 2 for inserting and removing the disc D is formed in the upper front portion of the casing 1, and a display unit 4 and various operation switches such as a power switch 5a and a disc designation switch 5b are arranged in the lower front portion thereof. It is set up.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the casing 1, a disk array base 6 for arranging a large number of disks D at predetermined intervals, and a left-right direction along the disk array base 6. A carriage 7 that can reciprocate is provided on a and b, and a loading mechanism 8 for sandwiching a predetermined disk D on the disk array table 6 and pulling it onto the carriage 7, and a carriage for the carriage 7. Disc D pulled over 7.
And a disc mounting mechanism 10 for mounting the player body 9 on the dolly 7, and a cam 11 for driving both the mechanisms 8 and 10 is rotatably arranged on the dolly 7. A lock pin 12 is provided which locks the carriage 7 at a predetermined position by being releasably engaged with the array base (engaged member) 6 by being driven by the cam 11.
Further, a cam stop switch 13 is provided between the carriage 7 and the cam 11 to detect that the cam 11 has rotated a predetermined angle in both forward and reverse directions and has reached a stop position.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the disk arranging table 6 comprises a pair of front row portions 6a and rear row portions 6b which are arranged in parallel with each other at a predetermined interval.
A large number of grooves 15 are formed on the a and 6b at predetermined intervals along the left and right directions a and b.
Is designed to be inserted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the carriage 7 has upper and lower substrates 17a and 17b fixed to the casing 1.
The lower substrate 17 is disposed between the lower substrate 17 and the wheels 18
The horizontal shake prevention rollers 19 and 19 placed on b and projecting vertically from the carriage 7 are rollably contacted with the side edge portions of the long holes 20 and 20 formed in the upper and lower substrates 17a and 17b, respectively. Pinions 22 and 22 fixed to both ends of a support shaft 21 penetrating the dolly 7 in the vertical direction are meshed with racks 23 and 23 of both upper and lower substrates 17a and 17b, and are transmitted to the lower pinion 22 via a transmission belt 24. The interlocking pinion 25 is meshed with the rack 26 of the lower board 17b, and by driving a dolly motor 27 provided on the upper part of the dolly 7, the pinions 22, 22, 25 are normally and reversely rotated via a gear mechanism 28. The carriage 7 can be rotated to reciprocate in the left and right directions a and b.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cam 11 is rotatably supported on the carriage 7 so as to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions c and d about a support shaft 21, and is provided at a lower portion of the carriage 7. By driving the cam motor 30, the forward / reverse rotation is performed via the gear mechanism 31, the worm 32, and the gear portion 33 formed on the outer circumference of the cam 11.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rear row portion 6
In the left and right direction a, b on the intermediate plate 35 hung vertically in the center of the lower surface of b.
Slits 36 are formed at regular intervals along the optical axis, and a photodetector 37 including a light projecting section and a light receiving section facing each other with the intermediate plate 35 sandwiched therebetween is provided on the dolly 7. By reciprocating along the directions of arrows a and b, the light projected from the light projecting unit to the light receiving unit is blocked by the uncut portion 35a between the slits 36, and by counting the pulse signals generated thereby, The position of the carriage 7 can be detected.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lock pin 12 is mounted on the carriage 7 so as to be movable in the front-rear directions e and f. Cam pins 40 projecting along e and f and projecting at the rear end of the upper surface of the moving plate 39 are engaged with the lock pin cam grooves 41 formed on the lower surface of the cam 11, and the rear row portion 6b Each groove 1 is provided along the left-right direction a, b on the rear plate 42 that is vertically installed at the end.
A large number of lock holes (engaged portions) 43 are provided so as to match the intervals of 5, and a spring 44 for pulling the moving plate 39 rearward is provided.

In the above structure, when the carriage 7 is stopped in front of the designated disk D and then the cam 11 is rotated in the normal direction c, as shown in FIGS. 16 (b) and 17, the cam 11 is rotated.
From the 0 ° position to the a position (21 °), the cam pin 40 advances the cam pin 40 by the cam groove 41, and the
The advance e of the cam pin 40 is stopped at (°), which causes
The lock pin 12 is fitted into the lock hole 43 (state of phantom lines in FIGS. 5 and 6), and the carriage 7 can be locked at a predetermined position. Further, by rotating the cam 11 in the reverse direction d, the cam pin 40 is retracted f in the reverse order of the above procedure, whereby the lock pin 12 is pulled out from the lock hole 43 (solid line state in FIGS. 5 and 6), and the carriage 7 Can be moved in the left and right directions a and b.

The loading mechanism 8 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 4, the lower loading portion 47 faces the lower edge portion of the disc D and the lateral loading portion 48 faces the lateral edge portion of the disc D.
Reference numerals 7 and 48 denote a pair of disk holding arms 47a and 48a whose base end portions are rotatably supported by the carriage 7 via a support shaft 49 at mutually opposing angles of about 90 °, and the respective disk holding arms 47a and 48a. Arc-shaped disc holding pieces 47b and 48b swingably connected to the tip ends of the arms 47a and 48a, and a vertical direction formed at the tip end supported by the carriage 7 so as to be movable along the front-rear directions e and f. Of the long holes 50 of the connecting rods 47c engaged with the engaging pins 51 projecting from the base ends of the arms 47a, 48a,
Cam pins 52a and 52b projecting from the rear end of the upper surface of each of the connecting rods 47c and 48c are engaged with the loading cam groove 53 formed on the lower surface of the cam 11, and the horizontal loading portion 48 of The connecting rod 48c is provided with a spring 54 for biasing the connecting rod 48c rearward and a disc detector (disc presence / absence detecting means) 55 including a limit switch, and the connecting rod 47c of the lower loading section 47 is connected to the connecting rod 47c. A spring 56 for urging 47c forward and a protruding piece 57 opposed to the detection portions 55a and 55b of the disk detector 55.
Are provided.

7 and 8 in the state before the disk D is held by the loading mechanism 8 in the above-mentioned structure.
As shown in FIG. 2, both disc holding pieces 47b and 48b are held in a state of being separated from the disc D, and when the carriage 7 is moved in the left and right directions a and b, the disc holding pieces 47b and 48b are held.
There is no risk of b and 48b colliding with the disk D.

Next, when the carriage 7 is stopped in front of the designated disk D and the cam 11 is rotated in the normal direction c, as shown in FIGS. 16 (c) and 17, the cam 11 moves from the 0 ° position. Until the position (95 °) is reached, the disc holding arm 4
7a and 48a are separated from the disk D (see FIGS. 7 and 8).
State), the cam groove 53 causes the cam pins 52a, 5 to reach the two positions (105 °) to the e position (115 °).
2b is pushed, whereby the connecting rod 47c of the lower loading portion 47 is advanced e and the connecting rod 48 of the lateral loading portion 48 is advanced, as shown in the solid line in FIG. 9 and FIG.
c is retracted f, and both disc holding arms 47a, 48
The disk D is clamped by a.

Subsequently, the recess 53 is formed on the outer wall surface of the cam groove 53 before the cam 11 reaches the position (250 °).
Since a is formed, both disk holding arms 47
When the disk D is sandwiched by a and 48a,
The cam pin 52b moves along the imaginary line 59 regardless of the recess 53a, but when the specified disk D does not exist and the disk D cannot be held by both the disk holding arms 47a and 48a. As shown by the phantom line in FIG. 9, the disc holding arm 48a of the lateral loading portion 48 pivots to the front side, and both arms 47a, 48
The facing angle between a changes from θ1 to θ2, the connecting rod 48c is retracted f in conjunction with it, and the cam pin 52b moves along the recess 53a. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The detectors 55a and 55b of the container 55 are brought into contact with the protruding piece 57, the disk detector 55 is operated, and it is detected that the disk D does not exist.

After that, both disc holding arms 47a,
With the disc D held by 48a, both cam pins 52a and 52b are pushed by the cam groove 53 until the cam 11 reaches the G position (290 °), so that both connecting rods 47c,
48c is advanced e, both arms 47a, 48a are integrally rotated backward about the pivot shaft 49, and the disc D is inserted into the disc mounting mechanism 10 as shown in FIG.

Next, the cam 11 reaches the C position (320 °), the cam grooves 53 push both cam pins 52a and 52b, and the disc holding arms 47a and 48a are separated from each other, so that the disc D is held. It will be canceled.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the disk mounting mechanism 10 has a pair of rotating frames 61 and 62 arranged so as to be openable and closable around the support shaft 21, and one of the rotating frames is rotated. The player body 9 including a turntable 9a and an optical pickup is disposed in the frame 61, and the other rotating frame 6 is provided.
2, a disc pressing member 63 that can be inserted into and removed from the turntable 9a is attached, and the disc pressing member 63 penetrates a central portion of an operation plate 64 that is movably arranged below the rotary frames 61 and 62 along the front-rear directions e and f. The elongated hole 65 provided is fitted to the support shaft 21, and two-stage bent holes 66, 66 penetrating the bifurcated distal ends of the operation plate 64 are provided on the rotary frames 61, 62, respectively. The operation plate 64 engaged with the engagement pins 67, 67 and
A cam pin 68 projecting from the base end of the cam is fitted into a cam groove 69 formed on the upper surface of the cam 11, and the two-stage bent holes 66, 6 are formed.
The spacing α between the front end portions of 6 is set to be narrower than the spacing β between the rear end portions (α <β).

In the above structure, the disk mounting mechanism 10
In the state before the operation, the both rotary frames 61 and 62 are closed to each other (see FIG. 2).
1 is rotated in the normal direction c, so that FIG.
As shown in, the cam 11 moves from the 0 ° position to the repositioned position (55
(°) is reached, the cam pin 68 is advanced by the cam groove 69, and the rear ends of the two-stage bent holes 66, 66 are engaged with the engagement pin 6.
7, 67 are engaged with each other so that both pivot frames 61, 62 are attached to the support shaft 21.
13 and the opened state is maintained from the Nu position (85 °) to the Le position (260 °), and in the meantime, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the loading mechanism 8 inserts the disc D between the rotating frames 61 and 62. Subsequently, the cam pin 68 is retracted by the cam groove 69 until the position (e) (285 °) is reached, and the tip ends of the two-stage bent holes 66, 66 are engaged with the engagement pins 67, 67, so that both Rotating frames 61, 62
Is closed around the support shaft 21, and as shown in FIG. 15, the disc D is clamped by the turntable 9a and the disc pressing member 63, and the disc D is mounted on the player main body 9.

In this embodiment, the cam stop switch 13 is a tumbler switch, and its detection lever 13a has an engaging portion 71 of the cam 11 as shown in FIG.
[See FIG. 16 (a)].

In the above structure, when the cam 11 is rotated in the normal direction c, as shown in FIGS. 16 (a) and 17, the cam 1 is rotated.
When 1 reaches the position (335 °) from the 0 ° position, the detection lever 13a engages with the one side edge 71a of the engaging portion 71 and the cam stop switch 13 is actuated. The rotation is stopped, and conversely, when the cam 11 is reversely rotated d from the wheel position to reach the end position (25 °), the detection lever 13a engages with the other side edge 71b of the engaging portion 71. The cam stop switch 13 is operated, and the rotation of the cam 11 is stopped by the detection signal thereof.

According to the above construction, the loading mechanism 8, the disc mounting mechanism 10, the lock pin 12 and the cam stop switch 13 can be operated by only one cam 11, and the structure is simple and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. it can.

The loading mechanism 8, the disc mounting mechanism 10, the lock pin 12 and the like are controlled by a control device (not shown) composed of a microcomputer. The function of the control device will be described with reference to FIG. When the power switch 5a is pressed, the player main body 9 is activated, and it is determined whether or not the optical pickup of the player main body 9 is at the TOC information reading position of the disc D (S1). , The feed motor of the player body 9 is driven to eliminate the positional deviation (S2). Next, it is determined whether or not the cam 11 is at the zero (0 °) position (S3). If the cam 11 is misaligned, the cam motor 30 is driven to eliminate the misalignment (S3).
4). Then, it is determined whether or not the carriage 7 is at the start position (S5). If the carriage is displaced, the carriage motor 27 is driven to eliminate the displacement (S6). After that, a desired disk D is selected from the large number of disks D on the disk array table 6, and the disk designating switch 5b is operated based on the selection to specify the disk number (S7). The trolley motor 27 is driven by the control device based on the designation signal, and the trolley 7 is caused to travel to the front of the designated disk D (S8). As a result, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the disc holding arms 47a and 48a of the loading mechanism 8 face each other with the designated disc D sandwiched therebetween.

Subsequently, the cam 11 is rotated in the normal direction c (S9),
Based on the timing chart shown in FIG. 16, the lock pin 12, the disc mounting mechanism 10, the loading mechanism 8 and the cam stop switch 13 are sequentially operated. More specifically, first, the lock pin 12 is advanced e by the cam pin 40 and the cam groove 41 and fitted into the lock hole 43 (see FIGS. 5 and 6), and the carriage 7 is fixed (S10).

Next, the disk D is loaded (S
11). That is, after both the rotating frames 61 and 62 are opened by the cam pin 68 and the cam groove 69 of the disc mounting mechanism 10 (see FIG. 13), the cam pins 52a. The connecting rod 47c of the lower loading portion 47 is advanced by the 52b and the cam groove 53, and the connecting rod 48c of the lateral loading portion 48 is retracted f, so that the disc D is clamped by both disc clamping arms 47a, 48a. After being sewn (FIG. 9 solid line and FIG. 10), both connecting rods 47c, 4
8c is moved forward to move both disc holding arms 47a, 4
The disk D sandwiched by 8a is drawn onto the carriage 7 (FIG. 12), and both rotating frames 61 of the disk mounting mechanism 10 are
It is inserted between 62 (FIG. 13).

It is judged whether or not the disk D is present during the loading (S12). That is, when the specified disk D does not exist and the disk D cannot be held by the two disk holding arms 47a and 48a, the horizontal loading unit 48 holds the disk D as shown by the phantom line in FIG. The arm 48a rotates to the front side, and in conjunction with this, the connecting rod 48c is retracted f, the detecting portions 55a and 55b of the disc detector 55 come into contact with the protruding piece 57, and the disc detector 55 operates, The operation described above is canceled by the detection signal, and the carriage 7 is returned to the original standby position.

As described above, when the disc D is inserted between the rotary frames 61 and 62 of the disc mounting mechanism 10 (FIG. 13), both rotary frames 61 and 62 are closed and the disc holding member 63 and The disc D is sandwiched by the turntable 9a, and the disc D can be mounted on the player body 9 (S13). Next, the detection lever 13a of the cam stop switch 13 is engaged with the one side edge 71a of the engaging portion 71 to activate the cam stop switch 13, and the rotation of the cam 11 is stopped by the detection signal (S14).

After that, the player main body 9 is operated, the information of the disc D is reproduced, and after the reproduction is finished, the disc D is returned to the original position of the disc array base 6 by the procedure reverse to the above, and the carriage 7 is set. It is returned to the standby position.

[0036]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the designated disc is transferred from the disc arranging table to the disc mounting mechanism by the loading mechanism, if the designated disc does not exist on the disc arranging table, Can be stopped by the disc presence / absence detecting means and the disc transfer operation can be immediately stopped, and the loss time can be extremely shortened.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the disk presence / absence detecting means is composed of the disk detector and the protruding piece, both of which are respectively provided on the pair of connecting rods connecting the both disk holding arms and the cam. Since it is good, the configuration is simple and the production cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a disk autochanger according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a rear row portion of the disk array table.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross section of the rear row portion.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the lock pin.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the vicinity of the lock pin.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the loading mechanism before loading.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the loading mechanism before loading.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the loading mechanism in a state of holding a disk.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the loading mechanism in a state of holding a disk.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the loading mechanism in the absence of a disc.

FIG. 12 is a side view of the loading mechanism during loading.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the disc mounting device before mounting.

FIG. 14 is a side view of the disc mounting device before mounting.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of the disc mounting apparatus during mounting.

16 (a) to 16 (c) are schematic plan views of the same cam.

FIG. 17 is a timing chart of the same.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of the same.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the disc auto changer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 casing 6 disc array stand 7 truck 8 loading mechanism 9 player body 10 disc mounting device 11 cam 47a disc holding arm 47c connecting rod 48a disc holding arm 48c connecting rod 49 pivot shaft 55 disc detector (disc presence / absence detecting means) 57 Projection piece D disk θ1 Both arms facing angle when the disk is clamped θ2 Both arms facing angle when the disk is absent

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A disk arranging base for arranging a large number of disks at predetermined intervals in a casing, and a carriage capable of reciprocating along the disk arranging base,
A loading mechanism for holding a predetermined disk on the disk array table and pulling the disk onto the trolley;
A disc mounting mechanism for mounting the disc drawn on the dolly to the player body on the dolly is provided,
The loading mechanism has a pair of disc-holding arms whose base end portions are pivotally supported by a carriage via a pivot shaft at predetermined opposing angles, and the opposing angles of the both arms are An automatic disc changer, which is provided with a disc presence / absence detecting means that is activated when the disc becomes smaller than when it is clamped by both arms. 2. The disc presence / absence detecting means, of a pair of connecting rods connecting the both arms and a cam for rotationally driving the both arms, a disc detector provided on one of the connecting rods. A projection piece provided on the other connecting rod, and when the opposing angle of the both arms becomes smaller than when the disc is clamped by the both arms, the protruding piece is interlocked with the connecting rod. The disc autochanger according to claim 1, wherein the disc detector and the disc detector are brought into contact with each other to operate the disc detector.