Granted Patent B2

US 7,358,519 · App. 11/015,908 · Granted Apr 15, 2008

Abstract

Claims (8)

1. A multicassette autoloader for vertically oriented storage phosphor cassettes, said autoloader having a front, back, and opposite sides, comprising:

an input bin for receiving multiple vertically oriented storage phosphor cassettes stacked together in face-to-face contact such that said cassette faces face front and back; wherein each of said cassettes contains a storage phosphor which is removable from said cassette;

an output bin located beside but spaced from said input bin; and

a storage phosphor read location at which a storage phosphor is removed from and replaced in a cassette positioned at said storage phosphor read location; wherein said storage phosphor read location is located at the back of said autoloader and located in a linear path in line with the backs of said input bin and said output bin, wherein said cassette is moved along a horizontally planar, U-shaped path in an ambient light environment from said input bin, to said storage phosphor read location, and to said output bin.

2. The autoloader of claim 1 including an assembly for transporting a storage phosphor cassette in a path from said input bin, to said storage phosphor read location, and then to said output bin for subsequent removal from said output bin.

3. The autoloader of claim 1 including a storage phosphor reader, wherein said autoloader is mounted on the top of said reader.

4. The autoloader of claim 3 wherein said autoloader is integral with said storage phosphor reader.

5. The autoloader of claim 3 wherein said storage phosphor reader includes a read module, an erase module, and a vertical assembly positioned at said read location below said read location for removing a storage phosphor from a cassette positioned at said read location, for transporting said removed storage phosphor past said read and erase modules, and for replacing said storage phosphor in said cassette.

Assignments (8)