JPH11238287A - Recording media cartridge library device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] A recording for determining whether a flag detecting means or a detected flag is physically correctly configured when a carrier does not accurately stop at a position corresponding to each storage cell. Media cartridge library device. A control unit moves a carrier in a predetermined direction with respect to a reference flag, and causes a flag detection unit to detect the reference flag, thereby checking whether the flag detection unit is correctly configured. . Next, if the flag detection means is correctly configured, the control means
By detecting the detected flag and comparing it with the reference flag, it is determined whether or not the detected flag is correctly configured. By doing so, the cause that the transport body does not stop accurately is due to the flag detecting means, or
It is possible to specify whether the detected flag exists.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium cartridge library apparatus, in which a carrier is stopped at a position corresponding to each storage cell in order to transfer a recording medium cartridge between the storage cells and the carrier. In particular, the present invention relates to being able to specify the cause of the inability to stop the carrier when the carrier cannot be accurately stopped at a position corresponding to each storage cell.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording medium cartridge library device (hereinafter simply referred to as a library device) is a recording medium cartridge such as a magnetic tape (hereinafter simply referred to as a medium).
And automatically drives (reads or writes) the medium. Generally, a library device includes a storage body including a plurality of storage cells for storing a medium,
A drive for reading or writing the medium, a carrier for carrying the medium by detachably holding the desired medium and moving along a predetermined conveyance path, and for moving the carrier A driving means, a detected flag comprising a projection having a predetermined width attached to a predetermined position of each of the storage cells, and a predetermined position of the carrier for detecting the detected flag. And a flag detecting means provided in.

In this type of library apparatus, in order to read or write a medium, it is necessary to move the medium between a storage cell and a drive. In order to move the medium, it is necessary to accurately stop the carrier at a position corresponding to the storage cell. This is because unless the carrier is accurately stopped at the position corresponding to the storage cell, the delivery ports of the media provided in the carrier and the storage cell cannot be aligned with each other, and the medium between the two cannot be aligned. This is because the delivery is not performed well. As means for accurately stopping the carrier at a position corresponding to the storage cell, for example, a conventionally used example is a detected flag including a projection having a predetermined width at a predetermined position for each storage cell, In some cases, two photointerrupter-type optical sensors are provided in the vertical direction (that is, vertically) of the carrier to detect the detection flag. In this case, the carrier is moved in a predetermined direction (for example, vertically, that is, from top to bottom or from bottom to top) with respect to the storage cell, and the upper and lower optical sensors simultaneously By detecting the width, the carrier is accurately stopped at a position corresponding to the storage cell. However, in order for the upper and lower optical sensors to detect the detected flag at the same time, the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors must not be larger than the width of the detected flag. Therefore, the conventional upper and lower optical sensors are integrally formed, and the interval between them is equal to the width of the detected flag.

[0004]

As described above, when the carrier is accurately stopped at a position corresponding to each storage cell by causing the upper and lower optical sensors to simultaneously detect the detection target flag. In the case where the upper and lower optical sensors are configured not vertically and integrally but vertically separately, an error is likely to occur in the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors, which may be larger than the width of the detected flag. high. Further, it is possible that an error has occurred in the width of the detected flag from the beginning. Therefore, when the carrier does not accurately stop at the position corresponding to the storage cell, it is not possible to determine whether an error has occurred in the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors or the width of the detected flag, There was a problem.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when a carrier does not stop accurately at a position corresponding to a storage cell, whether the flag detection unit or the detected flag is physically correctly configured or not is determined. (In the above case, whether an error has occurred in the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors or whether an error has occurred in the width of the detected flag)
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium cartridge library device provided with a control means for making a judgment.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a storage unit including a plurality of storage cells for storing a recording medium cartridge, and a drive for reading or writing the recording medium cartridge. A transport body for transporting the recording medium cartridge by holding the recording medium cartridge in a detachable manner and moving along a predetermined transport path; a driving unit for moving the transport body; A detected flag formed of a projection having a predetermined width attached to a predetermined position, and a flag detecting means for detecting the detected flag and provided at a predetermined position of the carrier. A recording medium cartridge library device comprising: a reference flag comprising a protrusion having a reference width with respect to the predetermined width; By moving the lag and the detected flag respectively, and detecting and comparing the width of the reference flag and the width of the detected flag with the flag detecting means, both the flag detecting means and the detected flag are physically And control means for performing processing for determining whether or not the configuration is correct.

If the carrier does not stop accurately at the position corresponding to each storage cell, the control means can check whether the flag detection means is correctly configured. That is, by moving the carrier in a predetermined direction with respect to the reference flag and causing the flag detection means to detect the reference flag, it is determined whether or not the flag detection means is correctly configured. Next, if the flag detection means is correctly configured, the control means can check whether the detected flag is physically correctly configured. That is, by detecting the detected flag and comparing it with the reference flag, it is determined whether the detected flag is correctly configured. As described above, according to the present invention, by checking whether or not the flag detection means and the detected flag are physically correctly configured, the cause that the transport body does not stop accurately is caused by the flag detection means. Or
It becomes possible to specify whether the detected flag is present.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an overall configuration example of a recording medium cartridge library device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and an arrow X indicates a direction in which a transport body 2 moves. The recording medium cartridge library device includes:
A storage body 4 including a plurality of storage cells 4a for storing the medium C, a drive 12 for reading or writing the medium C, and a predetermined transport path 3 for detachably holding the medium C
A transport unit 2 that transports the medium C by moving along the transport path, and a driving unit 10 for moving the transport unit 2
A detection flag 1a formed of a projection having a predetermined width attached to a predetermined position of each of the storage cells 4a; and a detection flag 1a for detecting the detection flag 1a, provided on the transport body 2. And a reference flag 5 comprising a projection having a reference width for the predetermined width. The overall operation of the recording medium cartridge library device is controlled by the control unit 11. The control unit 11 includes an MPU (micro processing unit), a ROM (read only memory), a RAM (random access memory) not shown.
And the like. The control unit 11 executes a control function of determining whether or not the flag detection means 7, 8 and the detected flag 1a are both physically correct.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing, on an enlarged scale, a part of the storage body 4 and the carrier 2 in the entire configuration example shown in FIG. On the side surface of the housing 4, a detection flag 1a is provided which is formed of a projection having a predetermined width for each storage cell 4a, and the upper surface of the housing 4 is provided with a projection having a reference width for the predetermined width. Is provided. Two photointerrupter-type optical sensors 7 and 8 are provided in the vertical direction (that is, vertically) on the side surface of the carrier 2 to detect the detection flag 1a. The position where the reference flag 5 is provided may not be on the upper surface of the storage body 4 as shown in FIG.
By moving the carrier 2, the light transmitting elements 7a of the upper and lower optical sensors 7, 8 can be detected.
In order to prevent the light emitted from 8a from reaching the light receiving elements 7b and 8b, the light may be provided anywhere as long as the reference flag 5 can block the light. Further, instead of providing only one reference flag 5, a plurality of reference flags 5 may be provided, for example, one reference flag 5 is provided for each storage body 4. In FIG. 2, the portion indicated by L is the width of the detected flag 1a, and the portion indicated by M is the width of the reference flag 5. Here, M and L are ideally equal, but M and L may not be equal due to respective processing errors.

In order to accurately stop the carrier 2 at a position corresponding to a desired storage cell 4a during the reading or writing of the medium, the carrier 2 is moved in the direction of the arrow X and the storage cell 4a is moved. The detection of the width of the detection target flag 1a is performed. More specifically, when the carrier 2 moves from above to below (in the direction of arrow X) with respect to the detection flag 1a, the light transmitting elements 7a of the optical sensors 7, 8 provided above and below the carrier 2 , 8a and the light receiving elements 7b, 8b are sequentially blocked by the detection flag 1a. for that reason,
Light emitted from the light transmitting elements 7a and 8a is
8b. The period during which the light has not reached is detected as the width of the detected flag 1a. Thereafter, the carrier 2 is moved to a position at the center of the width of the detected flag 1a, and at this position, the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 simultaneously detect the detected flag 1a. Stop 2 By doing so, the transport body 2 can be stopped at an accurate position. However, if the width of the detected flag 1a is smaller than the distance between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8, the detected flag 1a cannot be detected at the same time. 2 cannot be stopped accurately. In that case, to find out why it did not stop correctly,
The control unit 11 can perform the interval check processing function of the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 and the width check processing function of the detected flag 1a.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the above-described interval check processing of the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8. FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying a waveform diagram when the reference flag 5 is detected by the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8. FIG. 4A is a waveform chart when the optical sensor 8 provided on the lower side of the carrier 2 detects the waveform.
FIG. 6B is a waveform diagram when (B) is detected by the optical sensor 7 provided on the upper side of the carrier 2. In FIG. 4, the vertical axis indicates the light receiving level detected by the light receiving elements 7b, 8b of the optical sensors 7, 8, and the lower the light receiving level, the larger the light receiving level. The reference flag 5 is provided between the optical elements 7a and 8a and the light receiving elements 7b and 8b.
It is shown as if it were obstructed by a large area. The horizontal axis indicates the moving distance of each of the optical sensors 7 and 8 with respect to the reference flag 5. However, FIG. 4 is an exemplary waveform diagram in the case where the interval between the optical sensors 7 and 8 above and below the width of the reference flag 5 is narrow. If the width of the reference flag 5 and the distance between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 are the same, the points e and c and the points d and f in FIG. The entire waveform of B) is shown shifted to the right.

In the first step ST1 of FIG. 3, the carrier 2 is moved to the position of the reference flag 5, and the detection of the width of the reference flag 5 by the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 is started. More specifically, with reference to FIG. 4, when the transport body 2 moves from above to below (in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 2) with respect to the reference flag 5, the optical element initially provided below the transport body 2 The reference flag 5 blocks between the light transmitting element 8a and the light receiving element 8b of the objective sensor 8. Therefore, the light transmitting element 8a
Light emitted from the carrier 2 does not reach the light receiving element 8b,
FIG. 4 (A) shows a waveform diagram output from the optical sensor 8 provided below the optical sensor 8. Further, by moving the carrier 2 downward, the reference flag 5 blocks the space between the light transmitting element 7a and the light receiving element 7b of the optical sensor 7 provided next to the upper side of the carrier 2. Similarly to the optical sensor 8 provided on the lower side of the transport body 2, the waveform diagram output from the optical sensor 7 provided on the upper side of the transport pair 2 is shown in FIG. In this case, the width of the reference flag 5 is indicated by points b to e (or points d to g), and the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors 7, 8 is determined by points b to d (or points e to g). Is shown.

Next, it is determined whether or not the upper and lower optical sensors 7, 8 have simultaneously detected the reference flag 5 (step ST2). When the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 detect simultaneously, points d to g are overlapped between points b to e in FIG. In step ST2, when the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 cannot detect the reference flag 5 at the same time (NO), the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 is larger than the width of the reference flag 5, It is determined that the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 is an error (step ST5).
The check processing ends. Upper and lower optical sensors 7,
If the reference flag 8 simultaneously detects the reference flag 5 (YES), the next process (step ST3) is performed. In step ST3, the width (points b to e) of the reference flag 5 detected in the processing of step ST1 and the interval (b to b) between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 are determined.
d)). When the distance between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 (points b to d) is not equal to the width of the reference flag 5 (points b to e) (NO), the distance between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 (b to d) Is determined as an error (step ST5),
The check processing ends. Upper and lower optical sensors 7,
The interval of 8 (points b to d) is the width of the reference flag 5 (points b to e)
If equal to (YES), the upper and lower optical sensors 7,
8 (points b to d) are determined to be normal, and the width (b to e) of the reference flag 5 detected in the process of step ST1.
(Step ST4), and the check processing ends. In this way, it is determined whether or not the distance between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 is physically correct.

By the above-described interval checking process between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8, it is confirmed that the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 is equal to the width of the reference flag 5. Then, the width of the detection flag 1a is detected by the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 and compared with the width of the reference flag 5 to determine whether the width of the detection flag 1a is physically correct. A process is performed to determine whether FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the check processing of the width of the detected flag 1a. In the first step ST11 in FIG. 5, the carrier 2 is moved to the position of the detected flag 1a, and the detection of the detected flag 1a is started by the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8. Next, it is determined whether the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 have simultaneously detected the detection target flag 1a (step ST12). If the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 cannot detect the detection flag 1a at the same time (NO), the interval between the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 is larger than the width of the flag 1a. Is determined to be an error (step ST15), and the check processing ends. The upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 simultaneously detect the detected flag 1
a is detected (YES), the next processing (step ST
Perform 13). In step ST13, in step ST1
The width of the detected flag 1a detected in the process 1 is compared with the width of the reference flag 5 (see step ST4) stored at the time of the above-described interval check process of the optical sensors 7 and 8. If the width of the detection flag 1a is not equal to the width of the reference flag 5 (NO), the width of the detection flag 1a is determined to be an error (step ST15), and the check processing ends.
If the width of the detection flag 1a is equal to the width of the reference flag 5 (YES), it is determined that the width of the detection flag 1a is correctly configured, and the width of the detection flag 1a detected in the process of step ST11 is changed. It is stored (step ST14), and the check processing ends. By doing so, it is possible to check whether or not the detected flag 1a is physically correctly configured.

Here, the reason why the width of the detected flag 1a is stored as described above will be described. When moving the carrier 2, the controller 11 moves the carrier 2 while counting the number of encoders generated by, for example, encoders provided in the driving unit 10. When actually removing or storing the medium from the storage cell 4a, the control unit 11 stops the transport body 2 accurately based on the stored number of encoders corresponding to the width of the detection target flag 1a. . That is, the controller 11 counts the number of encoders from when the upper and lower optical sensors 7 and 8 start detecting the detection flag 1a, and reduces the counted number of encoders to half the number of stored encoders. When this happens, the carrier 2 is stopped. By doing so, the carrier 2 can be quickly stopped at a position corresponding to each storage cell 4a.

However, if the transporter 2 is stopped by storing the number of encoders and referring to the stored number of encoders, it is necessary to move the transporter 2 by using the library device for a long period of time. Drive means 10
May not be accurately transmitted to the carrier 2, and the number of encoders generated by the encoder of the driving means 10 and the number of encoders transmitted to the carrier 2 may not correspond. In this case, even if the width of the detected flag 1a is stored as the number of encoders as described above, if the number of encoders generated by the encoder of the driving unit 10 is not accurately transmitted to the carrier 2, The transport 2 cannot be stopped at an accurate position. Therefore, according to the present invention, the control unit 11 causes the width of the reference flag 5 to be detected again, and compares the stored initial width of the reference flag 5 with the width of the reference flag 5 that has been detected again. Is performed, and the drive unit 10 can be checked based on whether or not the two values match. When the width of the reference flag 5 detected again at the initial stage, that is, the number of encoders does not match, the current state of the driving means 10 and the like is different from the initial stage (that is, a rounding has occurred). ), It is necessary to check or replace the driving means 10 or the like, or to detect the width of all the detected flags 1a and rewrite the stored number of encoders. It is needless to say that it is necessary to rewrite the number of encoders even when the upper and lower optical sensors 7, 8 and the detection flag 1a are exchanged. However, without storing the number of encoders of the detected flag 1a,
When the medium is delivered, the detection flag 1a is detected twice, that is, the width (that is, the number of encoders) of the detection flag 1a is detected at the first detection, and the second detection is performed. In the case where the transporting body 2 is accurately stopped by referring to the first detection result at the time of, there is no need to perform the above-described rewriting.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a recording medium cartridge library device having a storage cell for storing a recording medium cartridge and a transporting body for transporting the recording medium cartridge, the storage cell In order to transfer the recording medium cartridge to and from the transporting body, to stop the transporting body at a position corresponding to each storage cell, particularly when the transporting body does not accurately stop at a position corresponding to each storage cell. The effect of being able to specify the cause of not stopping is obtained. In the present invention, the physical check of each flag width is performed by comparing the width of the reference flag with the width of the flag provided for each storage cell. By comparing the width with the width, it is possible to easily perform a physical check of the entire driving means for moving the transport body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an overall configuration example of a recording medium cartridge library device provided with a reference flag according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a case where a part of a storage body and a conveyance body of the recording medium cartridge library device in FIG. 1 is enlarged.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an upper and lower optical sensor interval check process executed by a control unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram illustrating a waveform output when a flag is detected by upper and lower optical sensors.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flag width check process executed by the control unit in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a: detected flag, 2: transport body, 3: transport path, 4: storage body, 4a: storage cell, 5 ...
Reference flag, 7 (8): Optical sensor upper side (lower side), 7a (8a): Light transmitting element upper side (lower side), 7b
(8b) ... upper side (lower side) of the light receiving element, 10 ... driving means, 11 ... controller, 12 ... drive, C ...
· Medium, L: width of detected flag, M: width of reference flag

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit comprising a plurality of storage cells for storing a recording medium cartridge, a drive for reading or writing the recording medium cartridge, and a detachably holding the recording medium cartridge to a predetermined transport path. A transport unit that transports the recording medium cartridge by moving the transport unit, a driving unit for moving the transport unit, and a protrusion having a predetermined width provided at a predetermined position for each of the storage cells. A recording medium cartridge library device comprising: a detection flag; and a flag detection means for detecting the detection target flag and provided at a predetermined position of the conveyance body. A reference flag comprising a protrusion having a width, and moving the carrier to the reference flag and the detected flag, respectively, Control means for performing a process of determining whether or not both the flag detection means and the detected flag are physically correctly configured by causing the flag detection means to detect and compare the width of the detected flag with the flag detection means And a recording medium cartridge library device.