Patent ID: 7505259

Claim:
A storage device for a programmable or programmed medium, said device including; a housing; a storage member in the housing and having a plurality of storage compartments each for receiving a said medium; an outlet opening in the housing through which the medium can pass for location in one of the storage compartments; drive means for driving the storage member relative to the housing to present one of the storage compartments and therefore a medium stored in that storage compartment in registry with the opening; control means including coupling means for coupling the control means with a computer so that data can be supplied from the coupling means to the computer and received from the computer to operate the control means; and wherein a storage medium can be stored in the device by inserting a medium through the opening into one of the storage compartments, the control means determining or providing information as to the compartment in which the medium is stored, so that when the medium is required for operation, an operator can select the medium by input into the computer whereupon information is transmitted to the control means to control the control means to move the storage member relative to the housing to present the required medium to the outlet opening; and wherein the device includes a first electrical connector in a base portion of the housing and a second electrical connector in a top portion of the housing, so that a plurality of the devices can be stacked one upon the other with the first electrical connector of one device making electrical connection with the second electrical connector of another of the devices so that data from the computer can be supplied to any one of the devices for controlling the storage member in any one of the devices to present a required storage compartment having the required medium to the outlet opening of the respective device regardless of which of the stacked devices stores the required medium.