1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automated library system.
2. Background Art
The traditional approach in an environment that employs automated library systems is to have supersets of media (e.g., canisters of DVD's, boxes of tapes, cases of media, magazines filled with media, etc.) being handled by the user (i.e., people perhaps also employing or driving moving equipment like a cart or forklift) outside of the automation system. Within the library system, individual pieces of media are being handled by the automation (e.g., pick a tape cartridge out of an input port and insert it into a storage slot, or pick a DVD out of a storage slot and insert it into a DVD player).
There are a number of important concerns related to the total storage environment (i.e., the automated library systems as well as associated external storage areas). These include storage density (a key aspect), media handling costs, and media storing costs (i.e., the cost of storing each individual media in trays, cells, etc.). Another key aspect is the speed to access each individual piece of media and get it mounted on a read/write mechanism.
In the current industry standard, automated library systems are dedicated to either random access of individual media (such as tape libraries or CD juke boxes) or serial access of individual media presented in supersets of media such as stacks of CD's presented to CD replicators or stacker loaders mounted on tape drives. In the CD example, the superset of media (e.g., a box of 100 CD's) is placed in the receiver of the CD replicator and then each piece of media of the superset is presented to the replication system. Each piece of media does not receive unique content. Instead, all the media from the same superset are reproduced with the same data.
In the case of a stacker loader the media are extracted by hand from one superset (e.g., the case of tape cartridges purchased from the vendor) and placed arbitrarily in the stacker loader attached to the drive. Each piece of media can then be written with data under application control (i.e., it can be replication data as with the CD example or it can be customized for each piece of media.
In the case of automated libraries, the media is removed from the superset representing the vendor packaging and placed by hand into the entry port(s) of the library. In some cases the media may be first placed in a superset such as a tape magazine (a container that will hold ten tape cartridges for example) and then the magazine is placed in the access port of the library. In either case, the individual pieces of media are then moved one at a time from the library input port and placed in individual media storage locations in the library.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved automated storage system for individual and supersets of media.