JPH0451907B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an information medium holding and retrieval device or an autochanger, and more specifically, it relates to an information medium holding and retrieval device or an autochanger. The present invention relates to an information medium holding and retrieval device or autochanger that selects a desired information medium from among them, and returns the information medium to its original position after reproducing and recording the information medium.

(Prior art) As for the conventional position of this type, for example,
There is one disclosed in Publication No. 59-30263. In other words, in conventional devices, a plurality of cassettes are arranged vertically within the stocker, and after the stocker moves up and down, one cassette is pulled out horizontally and loaded into the regenerator. ing. Only the top surfaces of the disks in the cassette come into contact with the playback pickup.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, with conventional devices, only disks that can be played on one side can be loaded in the cassette.
In other words, it was not possible to mount a disc capable of double-sided playback on the cassette.

Therefore, the technical object of the present invention is to enable a disc that can be played on both sides to be mounted in a cassette.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical means taken in the present invention are as follows:
A reflective mark is affixed to either one of the position and the second position, and a first sensor and a first sensor are attached to the grip of the carrier from which the cassette is taken out, so as to face or aim at the first position and the second position. Second
This is because a sensor was installed.

(Operation) The above technical means operates as follows. In other words, when the carrier's gripping section grips a cassette, one of the sensors detects the reflective mark, so the carrier's gripping section is rotated according to the sensor so that the disk surface to be played is facing upward. Transfer the cassette to the regenerator, and then load the cassette into the regenerator. Therefore, if the A side of the disk corresponds to the reflective mark affixed to the first position on the front of the cassette, the carrier will be able to distinguish between the A side and B side of the disk, and This aspect can be regenerated, and the above-mentioned problems can be solved.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

1 to 16, a storage section 12 is disposed on a base 11 of an information medium holding and retrieval device or autochanger 10. As shown in FIGS. Therefore, the storage section 12 has a three-layer structure of an upper tier 13, a middle tier 14, and a lower tier 15, and although the right end of each tier is flush, the left end 13b of the upper tier 13
1, protrudes from the left end 14b of the middle tier 14 and the left end 15b of the lower tier 15. And upper row 1
At the bottom of the left end 13b of 3, there is a playback device (or a recorder or recorder) 17 equipped with an insertion slot 16.
are arranged adjacent to the middle tier 14 and lower tier 15 of the storage section 12. Upper stage 13 of storage section 12
(The same applies to the middle row 14 and the lower row 15)
Inside, spaces are defined radially by partitions (not shown), and a cassette 18 is housed in each space. Thus,
The cassettes 18 are arranged radially and stacked in three stages. However, cassette 18
A double-sided playable optical disc (not shown) is housed inside, and as will be described in detail later, when the cassette 18 is loaded into the insertion slot 16 of the player 17, the optical disc starts to be played. There is.
Note that space is expressed in coordinates (V, M),
The numbers correspond to the serial numbers assigned to each cassette 18. Additionally, V is an integer from 1 to 3, and V=1 places the desired cassette 18 in the upper tier 13, V=2 in the middle tier 14, and V=3 in the lower tier 15, respectively.
M is an integer indicating the position of the cassette 18 clockwise from the left end of each stage.

The inner surface 12c of the storage portion 12 has an arc shape when viewed from above, and a shaft 20 is fixedly erected at a point on the base 11 that is the center of the arc. A lower stand 22 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 20 via a bearing 21 (FIG. 8).
A gear 22a is formed on the lower outer periphery of the lower stand 22, and this gear 22a is connected to the timing belt 23.
is operatively connected to a gear (not shown) fixed to the shaft (not shown) of the motor 24. The lower stand 22 has a pair of guide shafts 25, 25.
and a balancer guide 26 are installed upright,
The tips of these three shafts are provided with a common upper stand 27, so that the parallelism between the respective shafts or the pitch between the respective shafts is kept constant. From the upper platform 27,
An arm 28 protrudes, and the tip of this arm 28 forms an arc that is always concentric with the inner circumferential surface 12c of the storage portion 12 when the upper stand 27 rotates integrally with the lower stand 22 as the motor 24 is driven. I'm starting to draw. A sensor 29 is attached to the arm 28, and a bifurcated detection portion 29 of the sensor 29
The inner circumferential portion of the arc-shaped plate 30 is loosely fitted into the hole a. Therefore, M slits 30a are radially carved in the inner peripheral part of the plate 30 to correspond to the space of the upper stage 13, and the sensor 2
9, the detection part 29 of the sensor 29
It is now possible to know which space in the circumferential direction is detected by a. Further, the outer peripheral portion of the plate 30 is fixed to the top portion 12d of the storage portion 12 at a proper location.

A pair of guide shafts 25, 2 erected on the lower stand 22
5, ears 31a, 31a formed on both sides of the carrier 31 are slidably mounted on the carrier 31.
The carrier 31 can move up and down along the guide shaft 25. The lower stand 22 also has a pulley 32.
is rotatably mounted, and a pulley 34 is rotatably mounted on a bracket 33 fixed to the upper stand 27. One ear 3 of carrier 31
A retainer 35 is fixed to 1a, and a wire 37 is installed between the lower end 35b of the retainer 25 and the wire wheel 32.
Further, a wire 38 is installed between the upper end 35a of the retainer 35 and the wire wheel 32 via the pulley 34. Note that the wires 37 and 38 are wound multiple times in opposite directions on the wire wheel 32, respectively.

A slider 36 mounted on the balancer guide 26 so as to be vertically movable is fixed to a wire 38. A gear 40 is integrally attached to the wire wheel 32, and this gear 40 is
Worm gear 4 rotatably mounted on shaft 41
It is engaged with 2. A gear 43 is integrally formed at the bottom of the worm gear 42 (FIG. 6), and this gear 43 and a gear 45 fixed to the shaft of a motor 44 mounted on the lower base 22 are connected to each other in order to control the timing. They are operatively connected by a belt. Further, a plate 46 having radial slits (not shown) carved on the outer periphery is fixed to the upper side of the gear 45, and the outer periphery of the plate 46 is inserted into the bifurcated detection portion 47s of the sensor 47. It is fitted. Thus, as the shaft of the motor 44 rotates, the carrier 31 moves up and down, and the number of rotations of the shaft is stored in the computer 50 moment by moment via the sensor 47.

The carrier 31 is composed of a main body 51 and a gripping part 52. A base end 52a of the gripping part 52 is received in the main body 51 and is rotatably held relative to the main body 51 via a bearing 53. has been done. Therefore, before starting the device, the carrier 31 is always located at the home position, that is, at a location corresponding to the lower stage 15 of the storage section 12, and upon receiving an instruction from the computer 50, the motor 44 is driven to raise the carrier 31. Then, the number of revolutions of the motor 44 counted through the sensor 47 is sent to the computer 50.
By checking the upper row 1 of the storage section 12,
3. It is designed to stop at a position corresponding to any one of the middle stages 14. In order to accurately move the carrier 31 from the home position to the relevant position (or vice versa), the protruding piece 54 protruding from the main body 51 of the carrier 31 has a bifurcated detection portion 55a of the photo sensor 55 and a photo sensor 55. A bifurcated detection portion 56a of the sensor 56 is attached. Therefore, between the upper stand 22 and the lower stand 27,
A plate 57 is installed, and a plate 58 attached at right angles to the plate 57 is the sensor 5.
It is loosely fitted into the bifurcated detection portion 55a of No. 5. Slits 59, 60, and 61 are cut in the plate 58 at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction, and these three slits correspond to the upper tier 13, middle tier 14, and lower tier 15 of the storage section 12. It's getting old. Further, a protruding piece 62 protrudes below the plate 58, and this protruding piece 62
is loosely fitted into the detection portion 56a of the sensor 56 when the carrier 31 is in the home position. The computer 50 is configured to understand that the carrier 31 is located at the home position when the sensor 55 detects the slit and the sensor 56 detects the protrusion 62.

A stepping motor 71 is fixed to a bracket 70 that is integrally provided within the base end 52a of the gripping portion 52 of the carrier 31, and a gear 72 and an annular motor are mounted on the shaft of the bracket 70. A plate 73 is fixed. The gear 72 is
It engages with both a gear 76 fixed to a left end 75 of a shaft 75 on which a spiral groove 74 is carved and a gear 79 fixed on a left end 78a of a shaft 78 on which a spiral 77 is carved. Each left end 7 of shafts 75 and 78
5a and 78a are rotatably supported by the bracket 70, and the right end 75b of the shaft 75 and the right end 78b of the shaft 78 are rotatably supported by the bracket 70, and the right end 75b of the shaft 75 and the shaft 78 are rotatably supported. The right end 78b of 78 protrudes into the holes 81a, 81a' of the main body 81 of the holder 80, and the spiral groove 7
4 and 77 are engaged with pins (not shown) integral with the main body 81 within the holes 81a and 81a', respectively.
Thus, the holder 80 is movable within the grip portion 52, and the movement is performed by rotation of the shafts 75 and 78 as the pulse motor 71 is driven. The amount of movement is determined by a signal supplied to the pulse motor 71. To check whether the shaft of the pulse motor 7 has rotated by a predetermined amount and the holder 80 has stroked by a predetermined amount, use a slit 73a carved in a plate 73 that rotates integrally with the shaft of the pulse motor 71. ,
This is done by counting the number of times the photo sensor 82 passes through the bifurcated detection portion 82a.

The holder 80 consists of a main body 81 and a cover 83 that covers the side surface of the main body 81.
A space 84 is defined between the two, and a pair of engaging members 85, 8 are provided above and below the space 84.
5' is arranged. The engaging members 85, 85' are
horizontal portion 85b with claws 85a, 85'a at the tip;
85'b and horizontal parts 85b, vertical parts 85c, 85'c extending inward from the rear ends of the horizontal parts 85b, 85'b.
and the main body 81 are pivotally supported by pins 86 and 86'. The vertical portions 85c, 85'c of the two engaging members 85, 85' are connected to one end 8 of the lever 87.
7a and the other end 87b by pins 88 and 89, respectively, and the lever 87 is
The pin 9 is loosely fitted into the split groove 90b of the movable iron core 90a of the solenoid 90 disposed in the space 84.
4 is fixed to the movable iron core 90a. The upper end 87a and lower end 87b of the lever 87 are
The first
As seen in Figure 4, the solenoid 90 is biased toward the left.
is urged away from the Movable iron core 90
A is drawn in the direction of the solenoid 90 when the solenoid 90 is excited, but the lever 8
Even if the movable iron core 90a is pressed against the springs 91 and 91', the movable iron core 90a can be moved in the direction of the solenoid 90. Furthermore, spring 9
Excessive rotation of the engaging members 85a, 85'a in the clockwise (counterclockwise) direction due to pressing of the lever 87 of 1,91' is prevented by the locking parts 85d, 85'd. ing. Further, the claw portions 85a, 85'a of the locking members 85, 85' are rotated counterclockwise (clockwise).
When rotating, the groove 52 on the upper surface 52a side of the inner surface of the gripping portion 52
b (inside the groove 52d on the lower surface 52c side).

Inside the holder 80, sensors 92 and 93 are also arranged at a predetermined interval in the vertical direction. 18a and 18c are respectively aimed at. Portion 18b of front surface 18a of cassette 18
Although reflective tape 94 is attached to the area 1,
Nothing is attached to 8c. When the holder 80 approaches the cassette 18 direction and the claws 85a, 85'a of the holder 80 ride on the upper (lower) slopes 18d, 18e of the cassette 18, and then engage with the recesses 18f, 18g, A sensor 92 senses the reflective tape 94, and this fact is transmitted to the computer 50. In addition, the claw portion 85 of the holder 80
When a, 85'a climbs over the slopes 18d, 18e, the straight parts 85c, 8 of the engaging members 85, 85'
5'a displaces the lever 87 toward the solenoid 90 against the springs 91, 91', and the claw portion 85
When the levers a and 85'a engage with the recesses 18f and 18g, the lever 87 is returned to its original position by the elastic force of the springs 91 and 91'. Thus, the lever 87 protrudes in the radial direction of the movable iron core 90a, and the recesses 18f of the cassette 18 of the claws 85a, 85' of the engaging members 85, 85'.
18g, the bifurcated detection portion 95a of the photo sensor 95 is shielded from light only once as the lever 87 reciprocates. Thus,
When the detection part 95a of the sensor 95 is blocked once,
This information is transmitted to the computer 50, and it is confirmed that the holder 80 has completely gripped the cassette 18.

A gear 96 and a plate 97 are fixed to the outer periphery of the base 52a of the grip portion 52 of the carrier 31.
Shaft of motor 97 fixed to (not shown)
It is designed to engage with a gear (not shown) that rotates integrally with the gear. The motor 97 is connected to the computer 50
The gripping portion 52 of the carrier 31
After the cassette 18 is completely housed inside, while the carrier 31 is descending toward the home position, the grip portion 52 of the carrier 31 is rotated in one direction.
It is designed to rotate 90 degrees or 90 degrees in the other direction. The grip part 52 of the carrier 31 is the motor 97
What can be rotated 90° in one direction by the drive of
If the computer 50 has received a command to play side A of the selected cassette 18 and the sensor 92 has detected the reflective mark 94,
This is a case where the computer 50 has received a command to reproduce the B side and the sensor 93 has not detected the reflective mark. Therefore, a check as to whether the carrier 31 has been rotated by 90 degrees in one direction (the other direction) is carried out by the detection section 98a of the sensor 98 sensing the slits 99a and 99b carved in the plate 99. be exposed. Further, the grip portion 52 of the carrier 31 is connected to the insertion opening 16 of the regenerator 17.
When grasping the ejected cassette 18 and storing it in its original position, the cassette is rotated 90 degrees in one direction or the other. This is done by detecting a slit 99c cut into the plate 99. Note that the slit 99c is located between the slit 99a and the slit 99b,
The mutually connected slits are 90° out of phase.

In order to move the carrier 31 to the home position, the motor 44 is driven to lower the carrier 31 to a predetermined height, and the motor 24 is also driven to move the carrier 31 to the home position as shown in FIG. This is done by rotating counterclockwise until 52 is aimed at the leftmost cassette. Sensors 55, 56 and 100 indicate that the carrier 31 has shifted to its home position.
This is done by detecting the slit 61, protrusions 62 and 101.

Autochanger 1 explains the function of the computer 50 that controls the autochanger 10 on the board.
In order to provide an overall explanation of the operation of the 0, we will summarize the operation in relation to each sensor and each motor. The computer 50 is connected to the main computer 102, and the main computer 102 is
The autochanger 10, a cathode ray tube (not shown), and other devices are controlled in a unified manner. The main computer 102 is
By connecting to a terminal device equipped with a button or key 103 and pressing the key 103,
The number of the cassette to be selected and the information on the A side or F side of the disc in the cassette to be played are sent as a signal to the computer 50,
The cassette number N is in register R1, and the playback side is A.
If it is a side (B side), 1 (0) is stored in the register R2. A table T is generated in advance in the computer 50, and cassette numbers N and coordinates (V, M) indicating their storage positions are stored in the form of a comparison table, and are stored in registers R1 and R2. When the information is applied, the contents of registers R1 and R2 are compared with the contents of table T, and the value of V is stored in register R3.
The value of M is loaded into the register R4. When data is applied to the registers R3 and R4, the shaft of the motor 44 and the shaft of the motor 24 are rotated according to the values, and the carrier 31 is raised to a predetermined height and rotated by a predetermined amount at the same time. It is becoming more and more popular. Thus, when the carrier 31 is at rest, its gripping portion 52 is attached to the front surface 18 of the cassette 18.
It will now aim at a. The sensor 29 determines whether the carrier 31 is in the correct position.
The CPU compares and determines whether the sensor 55 detects the M-th slit in the plate 30 and the V-th slit in the projection 58, respectively. If the resting position of the carrier 31 is not correct, the computer 50 will turn on a warning light or a warning buzzer 104.
Inform the operator of this fact.

The carrier 31 is stationary in the correct position and its grip 52 is located on the front side 1 of the cassette 18 to be selected.
When the computer 50 confirms that the target 8a is being aimed, the computer 50 drives the pulse motor 71. pulse motor 71
, the pair of shafts 75 and 78 rotate,
Due to this rotation, the holder 80 is pushed out toward the cassette 18 by a predetermined amount of stroke, and comes into approximate contact with the front surface 18a of the cassette 18, and the holder 80, which grips the cassette 18,
0 to the pulse motor 71 (specifically, it is set in the register R5), the sensor 84 determines whether the stroke has been made as long as the preset value. This is done by counting how many times the slit 73a cut in the plate 73 is detected. That is, the counted number of times is stored in register R6, while register R7 stores the number of revolutions of the shaft that must be counted when a pulse signal is supplied to pulse motor 71, and register R6
The contents of the register R7 and the register R7 are compared, and if the two do not match, the computer 50 turns on a warning light or a warning buzzer 104 to inform the operator that the holder 80 has not stroked by a predetermined amount. .

When the computer 50 confirms that the holder 80 has been stroked until it substantially contacts the cassette 18, it is checked whether the holder 80 has held the cassette 18. That is, the fact that the holder 80 grips the cassette 18 means that the claws 8 of the locking pieces 85, 85' of the holder 80 hold the cassette 18.
5a, 85'a are the recesses 18f, 1 of the cassette 18.
8g, but before this engagement, the lever 87 is moved as the claws 85a, 85'a of the locking pieces 85, 85' climb over the slopes 18d, 18e of the cassette 18. Since there is reciprocating movement, lever 8
The sensor 95 detects the reciprocating movement of the lever 87 (specifically, the reciprocating movement of the lever 87 temporarily blocks light from the detection part 95a of the sensor 95), this is transmitted to the computer 50, and the register R7 is '
1' is loaded. If the holder 80 is unable to grip the cassette 18 due to some trouble, the rotation of the shaft of the pulse motor 71 stops and at the same time '0' is loaded into the registers R8 and R9, and the computer 50 outputs the alarm light or alarm buzzer 104. The operator is informed through the button that the cassette 18 has not been gripped.

When it is confirmed that the holder 80 has gripped the cassette 18, the sensors 92 and 93 start detection activities, and when the sensors 92 and 93 sense the reflective mark, '1' is loaded into the registers R8 and R9. If not sensed, registers R9 and R8'
0' is loaded. (In the embodiment, the sensor 92 detects the reflective mark 94 and the sensor 93 does not detect anything, so the registers R8 and R9
are loaded with '1' and '0', respectively. ) Here, if the value of only one of the registers R8 and R9 is '1', the computer 50 reverses the shaft of the pulse motor 71 to house the cassette 18 in the grip part 51 of the carrier 31, Otherwise, an alarm or alarm buzzer 104
This will notify the operator of the abnormality of the sensors 92 and 93 or the absence of the reflective mark 83. Return of the pulse motor 80 to its original position and the accompanying gripping portion 51 of the cassette 18
Once it is determined that the main inward direction is correct, computer 50 drives motor 44 and motor 24 to return carrier 31 to its home position. Whether the carrier 31 has been reliably returned to its home position is determined by the same method as checking whether the carrier 31 has been reliably moved from its home position to the cassette removal position.

During the transition process of the carrier 31 to the home position, the computer 50 is moved so that the surface to be reproduced is on the upper side as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The motor 97 is driven and the carrier 3
The first gripping part 32 is rotated by 90 degrees or -90 degrees.
That is, when the contents of register R2 are '1' (A-side reproduction information) and the contents of register R8 are '1', and the contents of register R2 are '0' (B-side reproduction information).
If the content of register R8 is '0', the rotation is performed by 90°. Then, the detection part 9 of the sensor 98 determines whether or not the 90° rotation has been reliably performed.
8a is a slit 99a carved in the plate 99.
This is done by checking whether the user has sensed or not.

After carrier 31 returns to the home position with cassette 18 accommodated, cassette 1
8 is loaded into the insertion slot 16 of the player 17, the disc in the cassette 18 is used for playback, and after the playback is finished, the cassette 18 is automatically ejected from the insertion slot 16 of the player 17, and the carrier 31 is opened. The cassette 18 is grasped and re-stored in the original space. After returning the cassette 18 to its original space, the carrier 31 returns to its home position and waits for the next selection command.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, a reflective mark is affixed to either the first position or the second position on the front surface of the cassette, and the first Since the first sensor and the second sensor facing each other are provided at the position and the second position, the reflective mark and
By creating a correspondence with one side of the disk in the cassette, when the carrier grip section holds the cassette, the disk to be played will be determined by which sensor detects the reflective mark. The carrier can be loaded into the player (recorder) by rotating the carrier handle accordingly and pointing upwards at whichever side is to be played (recorded). In this way, both sides of the disc in the cassette can be played back (recorded).

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problem, two sets of pickup means are provided in the player (recorder), one on one side of the disk and the other on the other side of the disk. , may be made to correspond, but the configuration becomes complicated. On the other hand, in the present invention, since the disk to be played back (recorded) can be loaded into the playback (recording) device with the surface of the disk always facing upward (lower), two sets of pickup means are provided. There's no need.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an autochanger or information medium holding and retrieval device according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the first illustrated device (however, the carrier and its related members are not shown), FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the carrier and means for guiding the carrier, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the illustrated device. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the lower part of the means for guiding the carrier; Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the gear integrated with the wire wheel that moves the carrier up and down; Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the installation state of the sensor that checks the amount of rotation of the carrier. , Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the connection state between the lower stand and the plate, Fig. 9 is a plan view of the carrier, Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the carrier, and Fig. 11 is a sensor for checking the amount of rotation of the carrier gripping part. 12 is a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 11, FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the holder of the carrier grip facing the cassette, and FIG. 14 is a sectional view of the holder. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the relationship between the computer that controls the first illustrated device, each sensor, each motor, and the main computer, and FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the relationship between the computer that controls the first illustrated device, each sensor, each motor, and the main computer, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure performed by a computer during the process. 18...Cassette, 18a...Cassette front, 18
b...First position, 18c...Second position, 31...Carrier, 92, 93...Sensor, 94...Reflective mark.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A carrier having a plurality of cassettes in which double-sided recording/playback discs are mounted, and a carrier having a grip portion for gripping one of the cassettes, the carrier having a first position and a first position on the front surface of each cassette. a reflective mark is affixed to one of the second positions, and the gripping part is provided with a first sensor and a second sensor to aim at the first position and the second position, respectively. , information medium holding and retrieval device.