Sony Corporation

Kanji Mita

Akihisa Inatani

Shuichi Nagano

Tsutomu Watanabe

Akira Katsuyama

Taiji Noshitani

Masami Ishikawa

Haruyuki Tamura

Shuji Minami

Kenichi Saito

Hajime Kanno

A multiple disc changer apparatus has an elastic support mechanism for supporting the recording/reproducing unit on a main body of the apparatus and includes a locking mechanism for controlling the elastic support of the elastic support mechanism when a disc is loaded on the recording/reproducing unit by a chucking mechanism.

Disc recording/reproducing unit elastically supported on a main body of

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus has a rotatable housing unit containing a large number of discs arranged in the erect or upright position. The housing unit is arranged on a pivot and the discs are held in the upright or erected positions in the housing unit radially around the pivot. A rotational drive unit rotates the housing unit in response to a signal from an input unit and a detector detects the amount of housing unit rotation. A disc reproducing and/or recording unit is arranged in the plane perpendicular to a plane formed by connecting apices of the number of discs in the housing unit, so that a desired one of the discs arranged as a horizontal toroid can be taken out in a direction perpendicular to the flat surfaces of the disc, that is, perpendicular to the disc in-plane direction.

Recording and/or reproducing apparatus for disc-shaped recording medium

Disc recording and/or reproducing changer with disc transporting

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus for discs including a housing unit housing a large number of discs, a recording and/or reproducing unit on which one of the discs held within a large number of disc holders provided in the housing unit is selectively loaded and a transporting mechanism for transporting the disc held within a pre-set one of the holders of the housing unit to the recording and/or reproducing unit. In the course of transporting the disc, the disc transporting mechanism detects whether or not the disc is held in the holder. The housing unit include a plurality of the holders for radially holding the discs with the disc surfaces being erected upright. The disc held in the holder is transported by the transporting mechanism in the upstanding position as far as the disc reproducing unit and there loaded. The recording and/or reproducing apparatus for disc-shaped recording media has a group designating unit for designating the information of a desired one of the recording media housed within the housing unit and the air information recorded on such desired disc-shaped recording medium and grouping the designated information for classing the large number of the recording media into several groups.

A loading apparatus for a recording medium such as a disc-like recording medium includes a transfer member, a drive unit, a detector and a controller. The transfer member moves between a recording medium changing position and a disc-like recording medium recording and/or reproducing position. The drive unit drives the transfer member. The detector continuously detects a position of the transfer member moved on the basis of a drive force from the drive unit in accordance with a movement of a movable part of the drive unit. The controller controls the drive unit so that a moving speed of the transfer member is slowed under the condition prior to arriving at the changing position and the recording/reproducing position of the transfer member on the basis of a detection signal from the detector.

Loading apparatus for recording medium and method for controlling the

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kanji Mita