The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 16, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 28, 1998
Thomas W. Holmquist, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Gregg S. Schmidtke, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Kelly J. Reasoner, Fort Collins, CO (US);
David W. Boyd, Greeley, CO (US);
Bruce G. Williams, Loveland, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A cartridge access device in a cartridge storage system is designed to retrieve a cartridge from a storage device and to transfer the cartridge to another location within the system. Once the cartridge is no longer needed in the new location, the cartridge access device retrieves the cartridge and returns the cartridge to the storage device. A computer system preferably communicates wireless control signals with a control system on the cartridge access device. The control system utilizes these control signals to determine which cartridges should be manipulated by the cartridge access device. Control signals transmitted to the cartridge access device are reflected off of a conical device and received by a communications device associated with the cartridge access device. Likewise, signals transmitted from the cartridge access device are reflected off of the conical device and into the other communications device. By reflecting the wireless signals off of the conical device, communication can be maintained between the communications devices regardless of the cartridge access device's location in the cartridge storage system.