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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsFrancisco Antonio Baca, Kamal Emile Dimitri, Jerry Walter Hammar
Estimating the term…
Disclosed is an automated data storage library for storage and retrieval and selective export and import of portable data storage media stored in storage cells of portable magazines. Each portable magazine has a detent, and has registration surfaces, such as a sleeve at each of two corners. A columnar elevator supports a columnar stack of the portable magazines, and has an opening at its top level external to the library, and pushes the stack toward the top level. Fixed registration shafts in the library mate with the magazine sleeves to prevent lateral movement while allowing columnar movement of the magazines. The media may be accessed by a picker at the storage cells of the magazines at all levels in the stack internal to the library. A releasable latch engages the detent of the magazine at the penultimate level of the stack (e.g., the top position within the library), holding the stack against the upward pushing of the elevator, and external latches each engage a magazine in the stack at the top level. Selected ones of the latches are released by a library manager or operator to allow the elevator to push a selected magazine in the column to the top level, where it may be exported. The magazines held at the penultimate level or lower may still be accessed by the picker.
An automated data storage library for storage, retrieval and selective export of portable data storage media, at least some of which media may be stored in portable magazines, said portable magazines each having a plurality of storage cells for storing ones of said data storage media, each storage cell having an opening for insertion and removal of a portable data storage medium, each said portable magazine having a detent, each said portable magazine having at least one registration surface, said library comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.