Patent ID: 6476999
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
Apparatus for storing and reading and/or writing information on elongated magnetic tape of plural DAT cassettes, the magnetic tape of each cassette being longitudinally translatable between a pair of reels, each cassette having two substantially parallel flat rectangular faces and a thickness between the faces, the flat faces having lengths and widths substantially larger than the thickness, the faces being connected together by narrow side and end walls arranged so that the medium is accessible via one of the side walls, the apparatus comprising:a storage region for simultaneously storing six and no more than six of the cassettes, a read and/or write device for reading and/or writing the medium on only one cassette at a time, the device including a first drive for the reels, a transfer mechanism for transporting one cassette at a time between the region and the device, the transport mechanism transporting the cassettes along the same single path in both directions between the region and the device, a second drive for turning the plural cassettes at the storage region about an axis, the axis and the storage region being arranged so the flat faces of the cassettes stored in the storage region are in parallel planes substantially at right angles to the axis, the axis passing through the read and/or write device, the transfer mechanism and the device being arranged so the transfer mechanism causes the flat faces (a) to be inserted into and withdrawn from the storage region and the device in planes substantially at right angles to the axis, and (b) to be in planes substantially at right angles to the axis while the medium of the cassette in the device is being read and/or written, the device and the axis being arranged so the axis intersects a portion of the device, a 5Â¼â€³ form factor housing; the storage region, read and/or write device, the transfer mechanism, the first and second drives and the path being in the housing.