A Disk Handling System And Optical Disk Jukebox Storage

Abstract

A flexible automatic disk handling system has been developed for a small size optical disk jukebox storage. Although an optical disk can store a large number of data, single disk capacity is becoming insufficient. Easy data accessible compact size mass storage system is being intensely required for office use. A solution to such requirement is small size optical disk jukebox storage, which provides large data capacity in small storage area and allows various applications, especially in office automation. The disk handling accessor was developed for use in a compact optical disk jukebox engineering model. It can access 200 optical disks, which are aligned in two disk containers, arranged on both sides of the accessor. The disks are carried and stored without a cartridges. The accessor is able to carry a disk from its stored position to two or more disk read/write stations selectively in less than 7 seconds. It can also rotate the disk to allow both sides read/write operation. All moving elements, such as disk pickup arm, disk rotation mechanism and disk clamping mechanism, are gathered on one carriage, allowing flexible disk handling and making the accessor smaller and simpler. Using this accessor, all optical jukebox mechanism, including two disk containers and several disk read/write stations, are packed into rather small area of 0.4m2. Some new techniques for the optical disk storage and system architecture concepts of the jukebox storage system are also described in this paper.