Patent ID: 7057848

Claim:
A storage library for recording and retrieving information from a plurality of storage media cartridges, the storage library comprising: a housing having a left side, a right side, a front side, and a back side; a left plurality of slots disposed proximate the left side of the housing for holding some of the plurality of storage media cartridges; a right plurality of slots disposed proximate the right side of the housing for holding some of the plurality of storage media cartridges; at least one media drive disposed proximate the back side of the housing; and a robotic mechanism disposed between the left multitude of slots and the right multitude of slots, the robotic mechanism being operative to move the plurality of cartridges between the plurality of slots and the at least one media drive, wherein the robotic mechanism comprises: a picker assembly operative to insert and remove at least one storage media cartridge of the plurality of storage media cartridges from the left plurality of slots, the right plurality of slots, and the at least one media drive; a first linear carriage operative to move the picker assembly along a first path approximately perpendicular to the back side of the housing; and a second linear carriage operative to move the picker assembly from a position which allows access to at least one of the left multitude of slots to a position which allows access to at least one of the right multitude of slots, wherein the left plurality of slots, the right plurality of slots, the at least one media drive and the robotic mechanism are all coplanar with each other and wherein the front side of the housing has an opening, wherein each storage media cartridge has a label side, wherein the left and right plurality of slots and the plurality of storage media cartridges are oriented so that each label side of the plurality of storage media cartridges is visible to an operator through the opening, and wherein each of the left and right plurality of slots are accessible to the operator via the opening for the operator to access the storage media cartridges being held by the left and right plurality of slots without complete entry of the operator into the storage library.