Disc processing apparatus having rotatable stocker and moving drive unit

An apparatus for processing discs enclosed in respective cartridges and which each have top and bottom playing surfaces, comprising:

• a housing having an access opening for receiving and discharging said cartridges one at a time therethrough;
• a stocker having means defining a plurality of storage locations for removably storing respective cartridges therein in a predetermined order, said storage locations being arranged one after the other in a row with cartridges stored at said locations being aligned substantially in parallel to each other;
• means mounting said stocker within said housing for movement only in rotation about a fixed axis which extends perpendicular to said row and is substantially centered along said row in respect to said plurality of storage locations;
• means for rotating said stocker by 180 degrees about said fixed axis between a first position and a second position in which said order in which the cartridges are stored and said top and bottom playing surfaces of the disc in each cartridge are reversed, with said row of storage locations in each of said first and second positions of said stocker being in alignment with said access opening;
• drive means having an input/output port for loading and/or unloading a cartridge therethrough in directions parallel to said axis, and means for reading and/or writing information on one of said surfaces of a disc in a cartridge loaded in said drive means;
• means for rectilinearly transporting said drive means only in a first direction parallel to said row of storage locations with said stocker in either said first position or said second position thereof so that said input/output port of said drive means can be confronted with a selected one of said plurality of storage locations of the stocker or with said access opening of the housing;
• and
• carrier means mounted on said drive means and movable therewith for transporting a cartridge in a second direction which is parallel to said fixed axis and perpendicular to said first direction so as to transport a cartridge between said access opening and said input/output port of the drive means or between a selected storage location of the stocker and said input/output port.