JPH1040616A - Mechanism for receiving and delivering cassette in cassette library system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely hold a recording medium cassette at the time of taking out the recording medium cassette. SOLUTION: The taking out and housing operations of the recording medium cassette are made against a housing rack, etc., by this receipt/delivery mechanism in the cassette library formed so that the required recording medium cassette is taken out at need for the use from the housing rack wherein many recording medium cassettes 2 are being housed. In this case, the mechanism is provided with two hand arms 24, 24', by which two side surfaces having engaging grooves 17 while positioning each other at the opposite sides of the recording medium cassette are held between them, and the hand arms are provided with rollers 31, 31' as the engaging parts for engaging with the engaging grooves 17, and also they are moved to this side after holding the backward parts from the positions of the engaging grooves 17 on the side surface, to make these rollers 31, 31' engage with the engaging grooves 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a cassette delivery mechanism in a novel cassette library system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for reliably holding a recording medium cassette when removing the recording medium cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a cassette library system in which a large number of recording medium cassettes are stored in a storage rack, and necessary recording medium cassettes are taken out from the storage rack and used as needed.

In such a cassette library system, a delivery mechanism for taking out a recording medium cassette from a storage rack or the like or transferring the recording medium cassette to the storage rack or the like is required.

[0004] The recording medium cassette is provided with engaging grooves on two side surfaces located on opposite sides of the recording medium cassette, and the delivery mechanism sandwiches the two side surfaces of the recording medium cassette and fits into the engaging groove. 2 having an engaging portion to be engaged
One hand arm is provided, and the recording medium cassette is held by the hand arm in a state where the engaging portion of the hand arm is engaged with the engaging groove of the recording medium cassette.

[0005]

By the way, as in the prior art, in order to directly grasp the position where the engaging groove of the recording medium cassette is located, it is necessary to accurately hold the hand arm at the position where the engaging groove is located. Strict position management is required, and the component accuracy of each component constituting the hand arm and the assembly accuracy of the hand arm are required. And such a thing raises a manufacturing cost.

In addition, even if the accuracy of parts and assembly of the hand arm is increased and the position management is performed with high accuracy, variations in the position of the hand arm between several storage racks with respect to the hand arm and the use of a recording medium cassette are required. Since there is a variation in the discharge amount for discharging the recording medium cassette of the drive, it is unavoidable to prevent the recording medium cassette from being gripped. Conventionally, in order to avoid such a loss of grasping of the recording medium cassette, conventionally, the recording medium cassette stored in the storage rack or the recording medium cassette discharged from the drive is gently pressed to align the positions thereof, and then grasped. I was going to go. Performing the operation of pressing the recording medium cassette lightly once and aligning its positions in this way requires a longer time for one cycle, and for example, there is a problem that the access time is increased. Was.

Conventionally, a drive unit for moving the hand arm toward and away from the storage rack and a drive unit for causing the hand arm to perform an operation of gripping the recording medium cassette are separately provided, and the number of parts is reduced. Increase, the mechanism becomes complicated,
And the reliability was low.

Accordingly, the present invention does not require strict position management, high accuracy of parts and assembly accuracy of the hand arm, and does not require an extra operation for aligning the recording medium cassette. Another object of the present invention is to ensure that a recording medium cassette can be grasped.

Further, according to the present invention, a drive source for moving the hand arm toward and away from the storage rack and a drive source for causing the hand arm to perform an operation of gripping the recording medium cassette are provided as a single unit. It is an object to reduce the number of points, simplify the mechanism and improve the reliability.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a cassette delivery mechanism in a cassette library system according to the present invention sandwiches two side surfaces of a recording medium cassette which are opposite to each other and have an engaging groove. The hand arm has an engagement portion that engages with the engagement groove, and moves toward the front by sandwiching a portion deeper than a portion where the engagement groove is located on the side surface, and The engaging portion is engaged with the engaging groove.

Therefore, in the cassette delivery mechanism in the cassette library system of the present invention, the position where the hand arm is first sandwiched may be any part deeper than the engagement groove.
There is no need to be highly accurate.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4,
The operation of moving the hand arm to and away from the storage rack and the operation of sandwiching the recording medium cassette are performed by using one motor as a drive source, so the number of parts is small, the mechanism is simple, and the reliability is high. It will be.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a cassette delivery mechanism in a cassette library system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to an illustrated embodiment.

First, an outline of the cassette library system will be described with reference to FIG.

The cassette library system 1 shown in FIG. 1 uses a tape cassette 2 using a magnetic tape having a tape width of 8 mm as a recording medium, and a plurality of tape cassettes 2, 2,... Are stored in storage racks 3, 3,...
By taking out a desired tape cassette 2 from the storage racks 3, 3,... By a transport mechanism 4 adapted to be transported left and right and back and forth, a plurality of tape streamer drives provided in the tape drive units 5, 5 are taken out. , Where the reproduction / recording of data to / from the tape cassette 2 is performed. Such a tape library system 1 is a system that handles a large amount of data, for example, a system that handles medical data,
It is suitable for use in an OD (Video On Demand) system and the like.

The cassette delivery mechanism in the cassette library system of the present invention is used as a part of the transport mechanism 4 in the cassette library system 1.

The transport mechanism 4 has a left-right direction (in this specification, a direction toward the lower left in FIG. 1 is defined as left, a direction toward the upper right is defined as right, and a direction toward the lower right is defined. Is defined as a front, a direction toward the upper left is defined as a rear, and an upward direction is defined as an upper direction, and a downward direction is defined as a lower direction.) A vertical movement mechanism 7 for vertically moving the movement mechanism 6 is provided. The cassette transfer mechanism 8 is supported by the left-right moving mechanism 6 so as to be movable in the left-right direction.

The cassette library system 1 is provided with an import 9 and an outport 10 in addition to the above-described components. In the import 9, the tape cassette 2 inserted from the front is sent backward, and a cassette delivery mechanism is provided at the rear. , And are stored in one of the storage racks 3, 3,... At a predetermined position.
The outport 10 includes a receiving portion 11, an unloading portion 12, and a chute 13 connecting the two portions 11 and 12. 3 and delivered to the receiving unit 11. The tape cassette 2 delivered to the receiving unit 11 reaches the extracting unit 12 via the chute 13 and is extracted outside.

As described above, the cassette transfer mechanism 8 transfers the tape cassette 2 not only to the storage racks 3, 3,... But also to the tape streamer drive, the import 9, the receiving section 11 of the out port 10, and the like. To do,
Hereinafter, a case where the tape cassette 2 is delivered to and from the storage rack 3 will be described as an example.

The external appearance of the tape cassette 2 is the case 14
The tape width is 8 on two reels (not shown)
mm magnetic tape is wound, and the normal 8mm VT
It has basically the same configuration as the tape cassette used for R. Engagement grooves 17, 17 extending in the width direction are formed at positions near the label surface 16 of both end surfaces 15, 15 in the longitudinal direction of the case body 14. Also,
A non-volatile memory (not shown) is provided in the case body 14, and a terminal 18 in which connection terminals connected to each terminal of the non-volatile memory are arranged is provided at one end of the label surface 16. I have.

The storage rack 3 has a box shape having an open rear end surface and being long in the left-right direction, and a large number of compartments 19, 19,... Also, the upper and lower side edges 20, 2 of the rear end opening surface
0 extends upward or downward, respectively. The tape cassettes 2, 2, ... are stored in the compartments 19, 19, ... of the storage rack 3 with the label surface 16 facing rearward. The engagement grooves 17, 17 located on the upper and lower end faces 15, 15 in the state of being stored in the storage rack 3 are located slightly behind the opening surface of the storage rack 3.

The cassette transfer mechanism 8 has a moving base 21 which is supported by the above-mentioned left-right moving mechanism 6 so as to be movable in the left-right direction, and is moved in the left-right direction by the left-right moving mechanism 6. It is supposed to be. A handling unit 22 is provided on one surface of the movable base 21, that is, on the right side surface, so as to be movable in the front-rear direction.

The handling section 22 includes an arm base 23 supported by the movable base 21 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, two hand arms 24 and 24 ', and a slide cam 25. The arm base 23 has a vertically long rectangular plate shape with a side surface, and the vertical width thereof is formed to be the same as the vertical width of the tape cassette 2 in a state of being stored in the storage rack 3.

Since the hand arms 24 and 24 'are the same except that the configuration is vertically symmetrical, the upper hand arm 24 will be described in detail, and the lower hand arm 24' will be described The same reference numerals as in the similar parts of the hand arm 24 of FIG.

The hand arm 24 includes an arm 26 having a substantially L shape, a sub arm 27, and a link shaft 28. The arm 26 is formed integrally so that the first piece 26a and the second piece 26b form a substantially right angle, and the second piece 26b
Is rotatably supported by a shaft 30 which is a front end of the arm base 23 and horizontally protrudes from an upper end thereof. Rollers 31, 31 are rotatably supported at the tip of the first piece 26a. The rollers 31, 31 are positioned so that a part thereof protrudes below the lower surface of the first piece 26a, and the outer peripheral portions 31a, 31 of the surfaces located on the respective outer sides.
a is cut in a tapered shape.

The sub arm 27 is rotatably supported at its end by the shaft 30. A coil spring 32 is provided between the rotary end of the sub arm 27 and the second piece 26b of the arm 26. As a result, the arm 26 pivots clockwise as viewed from the right, and the sub arm 27 pivots counterclockwise so that one side of the sub arm 27 is turned into the second piece 26b of the arm 26. In contact with the rear end.

The link shaft 28 is compressed between the cylinder 33 and the sliding rod 34, which is slidably inserted into the cylinder 33 in a state where most of the link shaft 28 is prevented from coming off, and between the cylinder 33 and the sliding rod 34. Coil spring 35. One end of the cylinder 33 is rotatably connected to the rotation end of the sub arm 27.

The slide cam 25 comprises a lower cam 36 and an upper cam 37. The lower cam 36 is a fan-shaped overlapping portion 3
A concave portion 39 is formed on one surface of the overlapping portion 38 except for both sides, and magnetic pieces 40 and 40 ′ are fixed to both side surfaces of the concave portion 39. And the overlapping portion 38
A connection piece 41 is projected from the main part of the connection piece 41 obliquely downward and forward.
The roller 43 is supported rotatably. A main portion of the overlapping portion 38 is rotatably supported by a shaft 44 provided so as to protrude horizontally at a substantially central portion of the right side surface of the arm base 23. 24 'is rotatably connected to an end of a sliding rod 34' of a link shaft 28 '.

The upper cam 37 is formed integrally so that the overlapping portion 45 and the connecting piece 46 substantially form a straight line. A magnet 47 is fixed to the overlapping portion 45, and a roller 4 is attached to a shaft 48 projecting leftward from a left side surface of the connecting piece 46.
9 is rotatably supported. The portion of the overlapping portion 45 on the side of the connecting piece 46 is rotatably supported by the shaft 44, and the overlapping portion 45 is superposed on the overlapping portion 38 of the lower cam 36 on the left and right while being positioned in the recess 39. You. The tip of the connecting piece 46 is rotatably connected to the end of the sliding rod 34 of the link shaft 28 of the hand arm 24. With the slide cam 25 thus supported by the arm base 23, the rollers 43 and 49 project to the left of the arm base 23 through the opening 50 formed in the center of the arm base 23.

The hand arms 24 and 24 'in the handling section 22 take the following two modes. That is, the magnet 47 of the upper cam 37 is
6 and the lower magnetic piece 4
Different modes are taken depending on the case of adsorption at 0 '. That is, the state in which the magnet 47 is attracted to the upper magnetic piece 40 is the release mode in which the tape cassette 2 that has been gripped is released. The state in which the magnet 47 is attracted to the lower magnetic piece 40 ′ is a capture mode in which the tape cassette 2 is gripped.

In the release mode, the link shaft 2
8, 28 'and the connecting points of the cams 36, 37 are closer to each other, so that the respective hand arms 24, 24' are connected to the arms 26, 26 '.
Are turned so that the leading ends of them are separated from each other. In the take-in mode, the connection points between the link shafts 28 and 28 'and the cams 36 and 37 are separated from each other.
Each of the hand arms 24, 24 'is turned in a direction in which the distal ends of the arms 26, 26' approach each other.

On the right side surface of the movable base 21, there is formed a concave portion 51 which is wide in the vertical direction and extends in the front-rear direction and is opened at both front and rear ends, and the vertical width of the concave portion 51 is stored in the storage rack 3. The vertical width of the tape cassette 2 in this state is equal to the vertical width of the arm base 23. The handling unit 22 is configured to be able to move in the front-rear direction with the arm base 23 being accommodated in the recess 51.

On the right side surface of the movable base 21, an arm control ridge 52 extending in the front-rear direction is located slightly above the upper edge of the recess 51 and slightly below the lower edge of the recess 51.
52 are protruded. And, the arm control protrusion 5
In the portion near the front end of 2, 52, cutouts 54, 54 which are slightly longer than the front end portions 53, 53 are formed.

An arm control groove 55 extending in the front-rear direction is formed at the center of the recess 51 in the vertical direction. The arm control groove 55 includes a middle portion 56 having the widest width, a rear end portion 57 having the narrowest width, and a front end portion 58 having a width slightly smaller than the width of the central portion 56. The width of the rear end portion 57 is equal to the width of the two slide cams 25 in the release mode.
Each of the rollers 43 and 49 is formed to have a width slightly larger than the vertical width, and a rear end portion 56 a of the intermediate portion 56 is formed in a tapered portion whose vertical width gradually decreases toward the rear end portion 57. Also, the front end 56b of the intermediate portion 56 is
It is formed in a tapered portion whose vertical width gradually decreases toward.

The width of the front end 58 of the arm control groove 55 is slightly larger than the vertical width of the two rollers 43, 49 separated from each other by the slide cam 25 in the above-described take-in mode, and is approximately the first half. A cam projection 59 extending in the front-rear direction protrudes from the portion. The vertical width of the cam projection 59 is slightly smaller than the interval between the opposing portions of the rollers 43 and 49 in the take-in mode. The rear end portion 59a of the cam projection 59 is a V-shaped tapered portion whose vertical width decreases toward the rear end.

An arrangement recess 60 deeper than the arm control groove 55 is formed from a portion of the arm control groove 55 near the front end of the intermediate portion 56 to a rear end of the front end 58 and positions above and below the rear end.

The oscillating cams 61, 6
1 'is arranged. The swing cams 61 and 61 ′ are rotatably supported at positions where the front ends thereof are close to the rear end of the tapered portion 59 a of the cam projection 59. The rear half portions 61a, 61'a of the swing cams 61, 61 'serve as control portions, and the right side surface thereof is located at the same or slightly to the left as the surface of the concave portion 51, and the front half portions 61b, 61'b Is a passage portion, the right side surface of which is the same as or slightly to the left of the arm control groove 55.

In the disposing recess 60, coil springs 62, 62 'are stretched between the swing cams 61, 61' and the moving base 21, so that the upper side can be seen from the right side. The swing cam 61 is biased in a counterclockwise direction, and the lower swing cam 61 'is biased in a clockwise direction. In the state of being turned in the direction biased at 62 ′, the turning end thereof is connected to the intermediate portion 56 of the arm control groove 55.
In this state, the interval between the front ends of the control portions 61a, 61'a of the swing cams 61, 61 'is set to the upper and lower positions of the two rollers 43, 49 in the release mode. It is slightly larger than the width.

A pulse motor 63 with an optical encoder is fixed to the rear end of the movable base 21 with its axial direction extending vertically, and a timing pulley 64 is fixed to its rotating shaft. . In addition, moving base 2
A timing pulley 65 is rotatably supported at the front end of the first pulley 1, and a timing belt 66 is stretched between the timing pulleys 64 and 65. The timing belt 66 and the arm base 23 are connected.

An origin sensor 67 is supported by the movable base 21. The origin sensor 67 detects that the handling unit 22 is located at the origin position, for example, a position near the rear end of the movement range, and non-contactly, for example, optically detects the position of the handling unit 22. It is to detect. A correction sensor 68 is supported on the moving base 21. The correction sensor 68 is provided in the handling unit 22.
Is detected at the correction reference position.
The correction sensor 68 also detects the position of the handling unit 22 in a non-contact manner, for example, optically. As the correction reference position, a position ahead of the origin position is selected, but one of several stop positions of the handling unit 22 is selected as described later.

As will be described later, the handling unit 22 has several stop positions. However, providing a sensor for each position and controlling the position simply increases the number of parts and increases the size of the apparatus. Also, the handling unit 2
Since the pulse motor 63 is used for the movement of 2,
The stop position may be controlled by counting the number of pulses from the home position and performing servo control based on the number. However, since the timing belt 66 is interposed between the pulse motor 63 and the handling unit 22, It is conceivable that the stop position is deviated due to temperature characteristics, looseness, and the like of the timing belt 66. Therefore, by providing the correction sensor 68 as described above, the servo correction can be performed based on the number of pulses actually required for movement from the origin position to the correction reference position, and the handling unit 22 can be accurately moved to a predetermined stop position. Can be controlled.

Next, delivery of the tape cassette 2 to and from the storage rack 3 by the cassette delivery mechanism 8 will be described.

First, the operation of taking out the tape cassette 2 stored in the storage rack 3 from the storage rack 3 will be described.

First, the handling section 22 is in the take-up mode in the position shown in FIG.
The fifth intermediate portion 56 is located just before the tapered portion 56a. In this state, the cassette delivery mechanism 8 is moved by the up-down movement mechanism 7 and the left-right movement mechanism 6 of the transport mechanism 4 to face a predetermined compartment 19 of the storage rack 3 in which a desired tape cassette 2 is stored. State. The position shown in FIG. 9 is the origin position described above.

From there, when the handling section 22 is moved forward, the rollers 43, 49 are moved by the swing cams 61, 61 '.
Contact the control units 61a, 61a. At this time, arm 2
The distal end portions of 6, 26 'are located at positions corresponding to the front end portions 53, 53 of the arm control projections 52, 52. When the handling unit 22 further moves forward from there, the rollers 43, 49 are pressed by the control units 61a, 61'a of the swing cams 61, 61 'so as to approach each other, and as a result, the separation mode is set. However, since the outer surfaces of the arms 26, 26 'abut against the front ends 53, 53 of the arm control ridges 52, 52, the opening angle is limited (see FIG. 10).

Then, when the handling portion 22 further advances, the rollers 43 and 49 are pressed by the tapered portion 59a at the rear end of the cam projection 59 so as to be separated from each other, and as a result, a take-in mode is set. However, since the storage rack 3 is located in front, the end of the arm 26, 26 'tends to move in the closing direction. 20
(See FIG. 11). here,
The forward movement of the handling unit 22 stops.

From there, the handling unit 22 moves backward. Thereby, the hand arm 2 in the capture mode
The ends of the arms 26, 26 'of the storage racks 3 and 4'
The tape slides on the rear surfaces of the upper and lower side edges 20 and 20 and eventually comes into contact with the end surfaces 15 and 15 of the tape cassette 2. At this time, as shown in an enlarged manner in FIG. 13, the rollers 31, 31, 31 ', 31' at the tips of the arms 26, 26 'abut slightly forward of the engaging grooves 17, 17 of the end faces 15, 15. Then, the handling unit 22 is slightly retracted, so that the roller 3
1, 31, 31 ', 31' engage with the engaging grooves 17, 17 (see FIG. 12).

When the rollers 31, 31, 31 ', 31' are engaged with the engaging grooves 17, 17, a strong force for separating the hand arms 24, 24 'and the tape cassette 2 in the left-right direction. May damage one or both of the tape cassette 2 and the hand arms 24, 24 ', but as described above, the rollers 31, 31,
31 ', 31', outer peripheral portions 31a, 3
Since 1a, 31'a, 31'a are cut in a tapered shape, the tapered portions 31a, 31a, 31'a,
31'a slides on the edges of the engaging grooves 17, 17 and the coil springs 35, 35 'of the link shafts 28, 28' of the hand arms 24, 24 'are compressed, so that the rollers 31, 31, 31 are compressed. , 31 'come out of the engagement grooves 17, 17, and the tape cassette 2 and the hand arms 24, 2
4 ', both damages can be avoided.

Further, when the handling unit 22 moves rearward, the tape cassette 2 is pulled out of the storage rack 3 while being gripped by the hand arms 24, 24 ', and moves backward with the movement of the handling unit 22 rearward. Is done. The rollers 43 and 49 which are separated from each other come into contact with and press the surfaces of the swing cams 61 and 61 'on the outer sides of the controllers 61a and 61'a. Therefore, the swing cam 6
1, 61 'rotate against the force of the coil springs 62, 62' so that the rear ends thereof are close to each other.
The rollers 43, 49 can pass backward through the positions of the swing cams 61, 61 '(see FIG. 14).

Then, the handling section 22 is further moved rearward, and the tape cassette 2 is moved to the hand arms 24 and 2.
The robot is moved rearward together with the handling unit 22 while being gripped by 4 '. When the rollers 43 and 49 pass through the tapered portion 56a of the intermediate portion 56 of the arm control groove 55, the rollers 43 and 49 are pressed by upper and lower surfaces so as to approach each other. (See FIG. 15). In the release mode, the hand arms 24, 24 '
26 ', the arms 26 and 26' are connected to the tape cassette 2 in the state shown in FIG.
Is in contact with the arm control ridges 52, 52 while holding the tape cassette 2, so that the arms 26, 26 'are kept in the state of holding the tape cassette 2.

The handling section 22 is further retracted from the position shown in FIG. 15, and the rollers 43, 49 enter the rear end 57 of the arm control groove 55, and stop at the position shown in FIG. With the handling unit 22 at the rear end of this movement range, the cassette delivery mechanism 8 is transported by the up-down movement mechanism 7 and the left-right movement mechanism 6 of the transport mechanism 4, and delivers the tape cassette 2 to the tape streamer drive described above. Or, the tape cassette 2 is delivered to the receiving portion 11 of the outport 10.

Next, the operation of storing the tape cassette 2 received from the tape streamer drive or the tape cassette 2 received via the import 9 in the storage rack 3 will be described.

The reception of the tape cassette 2 from the tape streamer drive or the import 9 is described above with reference to FIGS.
6 is performed in the same procedure as described above.

With the handling section 22 gripping the tape cassette 2 and located at the rear end of the movement range, the cassette delivery mechanism 8 operates the target compartment 19 of the target storage rack 3.
The vertical moving mechanism 7 of the transport mechanism 4 is located at a position facing the
And carried by the left-right moving mechanism 6.

When the handling unit 22 is in a state facing the target compartment 19, the handling unit 22 moves forward in the detachment mode. In this case, since the mode is the separation mode, the roller 4
The swing cams 61 and 6 are located close to each other.
It is possible to pass between the control units 61a and 61'a of 1 'to the front side. In addition, the arm 2
6, 26 'are notches 54, 5
At the position 4, since there is no longer anything to press the arms 26, 26 'from above and below, the ends are opened so as to be separated from each other, and the ends are located in the notches 54, 54. The ends of the arms 26 and 26 'are notched 5
4 and 54 (see FIG. 17). And
At this time, almost the first half of the tape cassette 2 is inserted into the compartment 19 of the storage rack 3.

When the handling portion 22 further advances, the front end of the arm base 23 pushes the label surface 16 of the tape cassette 2 forward, and the tape cassette 2 is completely stored in the compartment 19 (FIG. 1).
8). At the front end of the arm base 23, a limiter 23a urged forward by a resilient means is provided. By pressing the tape cassette 2 via the limiter 23a, the tape cassette 2 is moved into the compartment 19. Can be securely stored. Also,
During this time, the rollers 43 and 49 are pressed by the tapered portion 59a of the cam projection 59 so as to be separated from each other, and the hand arms 24 and 24 'are in the take-in mode. However, since the tips of the arms 26, 26 'are in contact with the front end faces of the notches 54, 54, the respective ends of the arms 26, 26' are relatively rearward with respect to the rotating shafts 30, 30 '. To move to the link shaft 2
The arms 26, 26 'have their first pieces 26a,
26'a is made substantially vertical (see FIG. 18).

Thereafter, the handling unit 22 returns to the origin position shown in FIG. 9 and is in a state of waiting for taking in the next tape cassette 2.

In the cassette delivery mechanism 8 described above,
When grasping the tape cassette 2, the distal ends of the arms 26 and 26 ′ are not suddenly located at the positions of the engaging grooves 17 and 17 of the tape cassette 2, but are once located deeper than the positions of the engaging grooves 17 and 17 (tape cassette 2). Not only the end faces 15, 15 of
The rear surfaces of the upper and lower side edges 20, 20 of the storage rack 3 also function substantially as such deep positions. )
Then, by returning to the front, the engagement grooves 17, 1
7. Therefore, arm 2
There is no need to strictly manage the location of 6, 26 '.
It is not necessary to request that the parts constituting the hand arms 24 and 24 'have high precision in the parts and the precision in assembling the hand arms 24 and 24'. Is also guaranteed.

Further, there is no need to perform an extra operation such as lightly pushing the tape cassette 2 once to align its positions, which contributes to shortening the operation time.

Further, since the movement of the handling section 22 in the front-rear direction and the control of the hand arms 24 and 24 'can be performed by using one motor 63 as a drive source, the number of parts is reduced and the mechanism is simplified. , These provide operational reliability.

In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a cassette delivery mechanism in a cassette library system using the tape cassette 2 as a recording medium cassette. However, the recording medium cassette in the present invention is limited to a tape cassette. Of course, the present invention can be applied as a cassette delivery mechanism for other recording medium cassettes, for example, a recording medium cassette using an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like as a recording medium.

[0062]

As is apparent from the above description, the cassette delivery mechanism in the cassette library system of the present invention stores a large number of recording medium cassettes in a storage rack and stores necessary recording medium cassettes as necessary. A cassette delivery mechanism for taking out and delivering a recording medium cassette to a storage rack or the like in a cassette library to be used by taking it out of a storage rack, and sandwiching two side surfaces having engagement grooves located on opposite sides of the recording medium cassette. It has two hand arms, and the hand arm has an engagement portion that engages with the engagement groove, and moves toward the front after sandwiching a portion deeper than a portion where the engagement groove on the side surface is located. The engaging portion is engaged with the engaging groove.

Therefore, in the cassette delivery mechanism in the cassette library system of the present invention, the position where the hand arm is first sandwiched only needs to be a part deeper than the engagement groove.
There is no need to be highly accurate. Therefore, there is no need to make the position management of the hand arm highly accurate, and it is not necessary to make the component accuracy of the components constituting the hand arm, the assembly accuracy of the hand arm, etc. highly accurate.

Further, it is not necessary to incorporate an operation of aligning the positions of the recording medium cassettes in the operation of sandwiching the recording medium cassettes, and the operation of taking in the recording medium cassettes can be sped up.

In the invention according to claim 3,
The engaging portion of the hand arm is a rotatable roller, and
Since the outer peripheral portion of the end face located outside in the axial direction of the roller is tapered, when an excessive force such as separating the hand arm and the recording medium cassette is applied, the roller is engaged by the tapered portion. The recording medium cassette and the hand arm can be prevented from being damaged.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4,
The operation of moving the hand arm to and away from the storage rack and the operation of sandwiching the recording medium cassette are performed by using one motor as a drive source, so the number of parts is small, the mechanism is simple, and the reliability is high. It will be.

Further, in the invention according to claim 5, a pulse motor is used as the motor, and an origin sensor for detecting the origin position of the hand arm and a correction reference which is separated by a predetermined distance from the origin position of the hand arm. A correction sensor for detecting the position is provided, and the number of pulses for moving the hand arm to another position where the hand arm should be located is calculated based on the number of pulses required for movement from the origin position to the correction reference position. Therefore, even if the position where the hand arm should be controlled is three or more, only two sensors are required for position control, and the number of parts can be reduced and the reliability of operation can be increased. it can.

It should be noted that the shapes and structures of the respective parts shown in the above-described embodiments are merely examples of the embodiment of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is thereby reduced. It should not be interpreted restrictively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a cassette delivery mechanism in a cassette library system of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a cassette library system in which a cassette delivery mechanism according to the present invention is used.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a storage rack and a tape cassette.

FIG. 3 is a schematic right side view of the cassette delivery mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a schematic bottom view of the cassette delivery mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged right side view of the moving base.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged right side view of a handling unit in a capture mode.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged right side view of the handling unit in a detachment mode.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing an engagement groove of the tape cassette and a roller of the hand arm.

FIG. 9 is a schematic right side view showing the operation of the handling unit together with FIGS. 10 to 18, and shows a state where the handling unit is in the capture mode and at the origin position.

FIG. 10 shows a state in which the handling unit has moved forward and has once been in the separation mode.

FIG. 11 illustrates a state in which the hand arm is further advanced, and the hand arm is set in the take-in mode and before the tape cassette is gripped.

12 shows a state in which the tape cassette is slightly retracted from the position shown in FIG. 11 and the tape cassette is grasped.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged view showing a state immediately before a tape cassette is gripped.

FIG. 14 shows a state in which the apparatus is slightly retracted from the state in FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 shows a state in which the vehicle further retreats to be in the separation mode.

FIG. 16 shows a state in which the user has moved to the rear end of the movement range.

FIG. 17 illustrates a state where the tape cassette is advanced from the state of FIG. 16 and a part of the tape cassette is inserted into the storage rack.

FIG. 18 shows a state where the tape cassette is completely stored in the storage rack.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... cassette library system, 2 ... tape cassette (recording medium cassette), 3 ... storage rack, 8 ... cassette delivery mechanism, 15 ... side surface, 17 ... engagement groove, 24, 24 '...
Hand arm, 31, 31 '... roller, 31a, 31'
a: outer peripheral portion, 63: pulse motor, 67: origin sensor,
68 ... Correction sensor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Taketoshi Yamagishi 6-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Kyoichi Isomura 6-35, Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo No. 72 within Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Makoto Kimura Inside Sony Corporation 6-35 Kita Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A cassette library in which a large number of recording medium cassettes are stored in a storage rack and necessary recording medium cassettes are taken out of the storage rack and used as needed. A two hand arm that is located on opposite sides of the recording medium cassette and sandwiches two side surfaces having an engagement groove, wherein the hand arm engages with the engagement groove. A cassette library having a portion, and a portion deeper than a portion of the side surface where the engaging groove is located, and then moving forward to engage the engaging portion with the engaging groove. Cassette delivery mechanism in the system. 2. The cassette delivery mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion is a roller rotatably provided at a tip of a hand arm. 3. A cassette delivery mechanism in a cassette library system according to claim 2, wherein the outer peripheral portion of the end face located outside in the axial direction of the roller is cut in a tapered shape. 4. The cassette according to claim 1, wherein the operation of moving the hand arm toward and away from the storage rack and the operation of sandwiching the recording medium cassette are performed by using one motor as a driving source. Cassette delivery mechanism in the library system. 5. A pulse motor is used as the motor, and an origin sensor for detecting an origin position of the hand arm and a correction sensor for detecting a correction reference position separated from the origin position of the hand arm by a predetermined distance are provided. 5. The cassette according to claim 4, wherein the number of pulses for moving the hand arm to another position where the hand arm is to be positioned is calculated based on the number of pulses required for moving from the position to the correction reference position. Cassette delivery mechanism in the library system.