JP2001076409A - Automatic changer and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic changer capable of moving a recording medium having the high utilizing frequency to a housing room positioned near from a drive device and also capable of always making to coincide the recording medium and a discriminator (adress) of the housing room paired therewith, and the recording medium readable by the automatic changer. SOLUTION: Whenever the recording media M being housed in each housing room 121 are loaded into the drive device 13, the utilizing frequencies of the recording media M are counted by a counter, and the recording medium M having the high utilizing frequency is housed in the housing room 121 nearer to the drive device 13, and also the address (virtual address) being assigned for the housing room 121 is exchanged with the address (virtual address) assigned for the changed housing room 121 in accordance with the change of this housing room 121.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an autochanger capable of accommodating a plurality of recording media and being interchangeably loaded into a built-in drive, and a recording medium readable by the autochanger.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An autochanger has, for example, a loading / unloading opening which is opened in a part of a casing thereof, and a loading / unloading section for loading / unloading a recording medium from the outside, and a recording medium and a cartridge are housed inside the casing. A storage shelf (storage section) provided with a plurality of storage rooms, a drive device for reading and writing (only reading in the case of read-only) data on a recording medium in the cartridge, and a storage room and a drive device for storing the recording medium together with the cartridge It has a transport unit that performs operations such as transport between devices, and a control unit that controls each of these units by executing a computer program called a firmware program provided therein.

Therefore, even if only one drive device is provided, there is an advantage that reading and writing can be performed on many recording media without removing the recording medium from the housing.

Some of such autochangers handle various recording media such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, and a magnetic tape housed in a cartridge. Particularly, recently, an MO (Magneto-Optical Disc) having a large storage capacity is used. And DVD (Digital Versatile Disc / Digital Video Disc)
By using such a recording medium, there is an increasing demand for configuring the autochanger as a large-capacity storage device in an in-house LAN or as a so-called karaoke box and a juke box in a restaurant or the like.

[0005] By the way, an identifier (generally an address) is assigned to each storage room provided in the autochanger.
The type and presence / absence of the recording medium in the storage room are stored in the RAM in the control unit in association with the identifier. Accordingly, an identifier (or an identifier associated with the identifier) is designated from the outside, and the recording medium is conveyed by the conveyance unit so that the medium in the storage room corresponding to the specified identifier is loaded into the drive device. Prior to this, the recording medium previously loaded in the drive device is returned to the original storage room.

[0006]

However, in the conventional autochanger as described above, for example, when a recording medium which is frequently read / written is stored in a storage room located far from the drive unit, the transfer is performed. It takes time for the transport operation by the unit. Conversely, the fact that the recording medium that is read and written at a low frequency is stored in the storage room that is close to the drive device means that the time loss is relatively large.

In other words, the arrangement of the recording medium in the storage chamber without considering the frequency of reading and writing increases the time required for the entire reading and writing including the transport time between the storage chamber for the recording medium and the drive unit by the transport unit, and increases the apparatus. This not only lowers the overall throughput but also shortens the life of operating parts such as the transport unit.

[0008] In particular, the autochanger is a SCSI (Sm
It is often connected to a host computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a host) via a communication interface such as an all computer systems interface, and is operated based on a control instruction (command) given from the host in many cases. At this time, the host obtains data indicating what kind of recording medium is stored in which storage room in the autochanger, but does not obtain data such as the distance of the corresponding storage room from the drive device. .

More specifically, although it is theoretically possible to include the above-described distance information in a command conforming to the SCSI standard, a so-called SCSI command, a new command is added to the SCSI command. It becomes necessary to add a command, and accompanying this, it is necessary to change both the firmware program on the autochanger side and the device driver program on the host side that generates SCSI commands to be given to the firmware program.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and appropriately changes a storage room for storing a recording medium, and changes an identifier (address) assigned to the storage room in accordance with the change. By replacing the identifier assigned to the new storage room, for example, a frequently used recording medium can be moved not only to the storage room located closer to the drive device, but also to the storage medium in response to this. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic changer capable of always keeping the identifiers of the storage chambers, and a recording medium readable by the automatic changer.

Another object of the present invention is to change the configuration of the host such as rewriting a device driver program provided in the host which is connected to the autochanger through a communication line and gives a control instruction to the autochanger. An object of the present invention is to provide an autochanger that can realize the above-described configuration by only rewriting a firmware program on the autochanger side without requiring the same, and a recording medium that can be read by the autochanger.

[0012]

An autochanger according to a first aspect of the present invention stores a plurality of storage media (M), each of which stores a recording medium (M), and a plurality of storage rooms (121) to which identifiers are individually assigned. And / or a drive device for playback (1
3) and the recording medium (M) stored in the storage room (121) corresponding to the designated identifier is transferred to the drive device (13).
And a transfer means (14) for transferring the recording medium (M) carried out from the drive device (13) to a place other than the original storage chamber (121) in which the storage medium is stored. Control means (1) for controlling the transport means (14) to be stored in another storage chamber (121).
0) and the transport means (1) by the control means (10).
4) a storage chamber (121) for storing the recording medium (M)
And an exchanging means (10) for exchanging the identifier of (1) with the identifier of the original storage room (121).

The autochanger according to the second invention has a first
In the automatic changer of the invention, the replacement means (1)
Prior to the replacement by (0), each storage room (12
It is characterized by further comprising a first storage means (10b) for storing the identifier assigned to 1) and a second storage means (10b) for storing the replaced identifier.

An autochanger according to a third aspect of the present invention has a first
Alternatively, in the automatic changer according to the second aspect of the invention, a counter (10, 10b,
K), wherein the control means (10) is adapted to determine a storage chamber (121) for storing the recording medium (M) based on the counting result of the counters (10, 10b, K). It is characterized by.

[0015] The autochanger according to a fourth aspect of the present invention includes a third aspect.
In the automatic changer of the present invention, the control means (1)
0) stores the recording medium (M) having a larger count value of the counter (10, 10b, K) in the drive device (13).
The transport means (14) is controlled so as to be stored in the storage chamber (121) closer to the storage means (121).

A recording medium according to a fifth aspect of the present invention stores a plurality of recording media (M), and stores a plurality of storage chambers (121) to which identifiers are individually assigned.
Or a drive device (13) for reproducing, and a transport means (14) for transporting the recording medium (M) stored in the storage chamber (121) corresponding to the designated identifier to and from the drive device (13). (10p) for controlling the transfer means (14) by the autochanger (1) having
In the recording medium (10a) which can be read by the autochanger (1) in which the recording medium (M) is stored, the recording medium (M) carried out from the drive device (13) is stored in the autochanger (1). The first program code means (S234) for controlling the transfer means (14) to be stored in another storage chamber (121) other than the original storage chamber (121), and the transfer means (14) are provided in the autochanger (1). ) Identifies the identifier of the storage room (121) in which the recording medium (M) is stored, with the original storage room (121).
The program (10p) including the second program code means (S235) to be replaced with the identifier of (1) is recorded.

The recording medium according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the recording medium according to the fifth aspect, wherein the autochanger (1) stores an identifier previously assigned to each storage chamber (121) prior to replacement of the identifier. Program code means (S235) and fourth program code means (S) for storing the replaced identifier in the autochanger (1).
235).

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a recording medium according to the fifth or sixth aspect is provided.
In the recording medium of the invention, the autochanger (1)
Fifth program code means (S25) for counting the frequency of use of each recording medium (M) is further provided, and the second program code means (S235) is provided with the counter (10, 1).
0b, K), the storage chamber (121) for storing the recording medium (M) is determined based on the counting result.

The recording medium according to an eighth invention is the recording medium according to the seventh invention, wherein the second program code means (S2
35) transfers the recording medium (M) having a larger count value of the counter (10, 10b, K) to the drive device (1).
3) The transport means (14) is controlled so as to be stored in the storage chamber (121) closer to the storage chamber (121).

The autochanger according to the first invention and the fifth embodiment
In a recording medium readable by an autochanger according to the present invention, a plurality of storage chambers each storing a recording medium and each being assigned an identifier (generally indicated as an address), recording and / or recording a recording medium. Or, in an autochanger including a drive device for reproducing and a transport means for transporting a recording medium stored in a storage chamber corresponding to the designated identifier to and from the drive device, the recording medium discharged from the drive device is A configuration in which the transport unit is controlled to store the recording medium in another storage room other than the original storage room, and the transport unit replaces the identifier of the storage room storing the recording medium with the identifier of the original storage room. As a result, the storage room for storing the recording medium can be freely changed, and the original storage medium in which the recording medium was stored at the time of this change. The identifier of the storage room can be replaced with the identifier of the storage room to be changed, which allows the storage space to be virtually stored in the same storage room despite the fact that the storage position of the recording medium has been changed. You can get the state as it is.

In particular, in an autochanger configured to be controlled by the host via a communication line as described above, the host does not recognize the arrangement of the storage chamber and the recording medium in the autochanger. It is possible to change the arrangement of the storage chamber and the recording medium while maintaining the same control mode as before. Therefore, such a configuration can be realized only by rewriting the firmware program on the autochanger side without having to rewrite the device driver program on the host side with the addition of the SCSI command.

The autochanger according to the second invention and the sixth embodiment
In the recording medium that can be read by the autochanger according to the present invention, prior to the above-described replacement of the identifier, both the identifier previously assigned to each storage room and the identifier after the replacement are stored. Therefore, for example, even in the case of returning to the initial state in which an identifier is assigned to each storage room in advance, it is possible to respond immediately.

An autochanger according to a third invention and a seventh changer.
In the recording medium readable by the autochanger according to the present invention, in any of the above-described inventions, the use frequency of each recording medium is counted, and a storage room for storing the recording medium is determined based on the counting result. With the configuration, the entire storage unit can be reconfigured so that the recording medium is stored in the storage chamber according to the frequency of use of the recording medium.

The autochanger according to the fourth invention and the eighth changer
In the recording medium that can be read by the autochanger according to the present invention, in the above-described invention, since the recording medium is controlled so as to store the recording medium having a larger count value in the storage room closer to the drive device, Since the recording medium that is more frequently used can be relocated to the storage room located closer to the drive device, the operating distance of the transport means can be reduced. That is, since the time required for the transfer operation can be reduced, the throughput of the entire apparatus can be improved, and the life of the operating portion such as the transfer means can be extended.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an autochanger according to the present invention and a network to which the autochanger is connected, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a mechanical structure of the autochanger according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an autochanger according to the present invention.
It comprises a loading / unloading section 11, a storage section 12, a drive device 13, a transport section 14, a SCSI 15 and the like.

The control section 10 controls each section of the autochanger 1 connected thereto, and stores a firmware program 10p in a rewritable EPROM 10a built therein. The control unit 10
Has a RAM 10b for temporary storage, and can temporarily store data generated when the control unit 10 operates, such as storing data acquired from the host 2 via the SCSI 15 as described later. ing.

The loading / unloading section 11 transfers the recording medium M inserted from outside the housing of the autochanger 1 to the autochanger 1.
In addition, the recording medium M stored in the autochanger 1 is discharged to the outside of the housing.

The storage unit 12 has a storage shelf provided with a plurality of storage rooms for storing the recording medium M taken into the autochanger 1 via the carry-in / out unit 11.

The drive device 13 includes one or more drive units for recording and / or reproducing the recording medium M.

The transport section 14 includes a box-shaped unit having a claw-shaped gripping section called a picker unit, and a drive section for moving the picker unit inside the housing of the autochanger 1. The recording medium M can be transported between the storage section 12 and the drive device 13.

The SCSI 15 is a communication interface conforming to the SCSI standard.
It is connected to the host 2 via the I bus 4.

The recording medium M according to the present embodiment is a cartridge such as an MO or a DVD.
In this embodiment, the entire portion including the cartridge is described as the recording medium M. In the present invention,
If each part of the autochanger 1 as described above can cope with its structure, C which is not stored in the cartridge
It is also possible to apply to a recording medium such as a D-ROM. Further, in the present invention, it is also possible to apply a read-only or read-write type recording medium.

Next, the mechanical structure and operation of the autochanger 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown by a dashed line in FIG. 2, reference numeral 1a denotes a box-shaped housing, and a front panel 1b is provided on a front surface (left side in FIG. 2) of the housing 1a. A loading / unloading port 111 is provided at the top of the front panel 1b so as to open, and the recording medium M is loaded / unloaded through the loading / unloading port 111.

Further, the housing 1a
, A loader 112 is provided so as to be freely accessible to the loading / unloading port 111.
The recording medium M pushed by the operator from the
Temporarily housed.

In the vicinity of the front panel 1b, a guide rod 141 is vertically provided between the upper and lower surfaces of the housing 1a. The picker unit 143 is supported on the guide rod 141 via a support member 142 provided to be vertically movable along the guide rod 141.

On the upper side of the picker unit 143, there is provided an engaging portion 144 which engages with the lower surface of the loader 112 so as to be able to advance and retreat in the front-rear direction.
As a result, the recording medium M is transferred between the loader 112 and the picker unit 143.

The guide rod 141 is provided with a screw shaft 146 to which the support member 142 is screwed. The screw shaft 146 is driven to rotate by an electric motor (not shown), whereby the support member 142 and the picker unit 143 are moved up and down.

A plurality of storage chambers 121, 1 for storing the recording medium M are provided facing the vertical movement area of the picker unit 143.
.. Are provided between the storage shelves 120 and the bottom surface of the housing 1a. Two drive units 131, 131 for reading and writing data to and from the recording medium M are provided between the storage shelves 120 and the bottom surface of the housing 1a. Laminated.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the loading / unloading section 1 described above is connected to the loading / unloading section 111 and the loader 112.
1, a storage unit 12 from the storage shelf 120, a drive unit 13 from the drive units 131, 131, a guide rod 141, a support member 142, and the picker unit 1.
43, engaging portion 144, driving portion 145, and screw shaft 146
And the transport unit 14 are respectively configured.

It should be noted that in FIG.
Although only two drive units 131, 131 provided in the drive unit 13 are shown, in the present invention, the drive unit 13
It does not limit the number of units. The storage unit 12
The storage chambers 121, 121,... Provided in the (storage shelf 120) are arranged in a line in the vertical direction, but this is for simplifying the explanation of the principle of the present invention as described later in detail. It is not limited to such an arrangement. Further, in FIG. 2, the control unit 10 is not shown to show the mechanical configuration of the autochanger 1, but it is needless to say that the control of each operation part of the autochanger 1 is performed as described in FIG. Nor.

The autochanger 1 configured as described above
When a new recording medium M is fetched from the outside and stored in the storage chamber 121, the control unit 10 first operates the loader 112 to fetch the recording medium M inserted from the loading / unloading port 111 into the inside. , Drive unit 14
5, the engaging portion 144 is moved forward and backward to transfer the recording medium M into the picker unit 143.

Next, the control unit 10 rotates the screw shaft 146 to remove the picker unit 143 from the “empty” storage chamber 12.
Then, the recording medium M is discharged to the storage chamber 121 by operating the picker unit 143.

When loading the recording medium M stored in the storage chamber 121 into the drive unit 131,
The control unit 10 rotates the screw shaft 146 and sets the picker unit 143 to the storage room 12 of the designated identifier (address).
1 and then the picker unit 143
Is operated to take out the recording medium M from the storage chamber 121.

Then, after rotating the screw shaft 146 and lowering the picker unit 143 to the position of the designated drive unit 131, the controller 10 operates the picker unit 143 to transfer the recording medium M to the drive unit 131. Discharge to load.

In many cases, the drive unit 13
1 is loaded with another recording medium M loaded last time, the control unit 10 causes the picker unit 143 to perform an operation reverse to the above-described operation of storing in the storage chamber 121 in advance. Keep it.

Then, the control unit 10 operates the designated drive unit 131 to perform reading and writing on the recording medium M loaded therein.

The autochanger 1 configured as described above
As shown in FIG. 1, an example of the network configuration is such that the operation of the control unit 10 is performed by a host 2 connected via a SCSI bus 4 or by a client 3, 3,. Is performed based on the control instruction given by

The host 2 is composed of a general server computer or the like provided with a SCSI 23. In addition, a CPU 20 for controlling each part of the host 2, an input unit 21 composed of a keyboard and a mouse, etc. An output unit 22 including a display and a printer, a LAN interface (I / F) 24 for connecting the above-mentioned clients 3, 3,.
A RAM 25 for temporarily storing data generated during the processing operation by the U20, and a hard disk device (H) for storing various computer programs necessary for the operation of the CPU 20
DD) 26.

In the computer programs stored in the hard disk device 26, the autochanger 1
Device driver program 2 for issuing a control instruction (SCSI command) for controlling via CSI bus 4
6p is included.

The configuration and operation of the autochanger 1 of the present embodiment described above are basically the same as those of the autochanger of the conventional configuration. One of the features of the autochanger 1 of the present invention is that its The firmware program 10p provided in the storage rooms 121 and 12
Are arranged so as to be rearranged in a position closer to the drive device 13 in the order of higher use frequency, and the operation thereof is performed by the control unit 10.
Is performed as described below.

FIGS. 3 to 5 are flowcharts showing the processing contents of the control unit 10 of the autochanger 1 according to the present invention when the firmware program 10p is executed. First, as shown in FIG.
Perform negotiation to connect. First, the control unit 10 of the autochanger 1 reads out the number of storage chambers 121, 121,... And the number of drive units 131, 131 stored in the RAM 10b in advance, and transmits the readout result to the host 2 via the SCSI 15 ( Step 11).

Next, the first addresses (identifiers) of the storage rooms 121, 121,... Stored in the RAM 10b in advance.
And the first address of the drive units 131, 131, and transmits the read result to the host 2 via the SCSI 15 (step 12). The address referred to here is an address in which each of the storage chambers 121 and each of the drive units 131 have one slot, and is set, for example, by being input by an operator from an operation panel (not shown) provided in the autochanger 1. Or is reset as a virtual address as described below.

Subsequently, sensors (not shown) installed in each storage room 121 and each drive unit 131 use
The presence or absence of these internal recording media M is confirmed, and the confirmation result is transmitted to the host 2 via the SCSI 15 (step 1).
3). Then, a media name is given to both sides of the recording medium M inside the storage room 121 and the drive unit 131 which are recognized as “present”, and the result of the assignment is given to the SCSI 15.
(Step 14).

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a database created by the host 2 by negotiation with the autochanger 1.
Only the data related to No. 1 is shown. The host 2 converts the configuration of the autochanger 1 into a database by negotiation with the above-described autochanger 1, and stores this in the RAM 25. In the stored database, for example, if the first address obtained in step 12 is “001”, a serial number is assigned to all storage rooms 121, 121,. It is going to go. The database stores the presence or absence of the recording medium M acquired in step 13 and the media name corresponding to each address.

The presence or absence of the recording medium M is indicated by, for example, setting a flag such that "Yes" is "1" and "No" is "0". The media name is SCSI
Using one of the commands (SEND VOLUME TAG COMMAND), for example, the orientation of the recording surface of each recording medium M (here, A
Surface and B surface). For example, in the illustrated example, “KUBOTA001
SIDEA ", which is" KUBOTA00
This indicates that the recording medium M titled "1" is stored with the "A side" facing upward.

When the negotiation with the host 2 is completed as described above, as shown in FIG.
First checks whether a media exchange command (MOVE MEDIUM COMMAND), which is one of the SCSI commands, has been received from the host 2 (step 21). The media exchange command includes, in addition to the address of the recording medium M stored in the database by the host 2, the drive unit 13
1 is included. As a matter of course, as the address of the recording medium M, an address whose flag of “presence or absence of recording medium” is “1” is selected. Also, in the negotiation shown in FIG.
The description of the acquisition of the address 31 is omitted for the sake of clarifying the purpose of the present invention, but the acquisition may be actually performed.

If no media exchange command has been received in step 21, step 21 is repeated at a predetermined time period. On the other hand, when the medium exchange command is received, it is subsequently confirmed whether another recording medium M is not loaded in the drive unit 131 of the designated address included in the command, that is, whether or not the recording medium M is “free”. (Step 22).

If the drive unit 131 at the designated address is not “empty”, the recording medium M is stored in the storage room 12.
1 (step 23). After that, or when it is “empty” in step 22, the recording medium M stored in the storage room 121 of the designated address included in the medium exchange command is transferred to the drive unit 1.
31 (step 24), and increments a counter K indicating the frequency of use of the loaded recording medium M by one (step 25).

In the present embodiment, the counter K indicating the frequency of use of each recording medium M is detected each time it is loaded into the drive unit 131, for example, by using a sensor provided in the drive unit 131. Thus, the counting can be performed, but the present invention does not limit the form of such counting or the detection position.

FIG. 7 shows the RAM 10 of the autochanger 1.
4B is a schematic diagram showing an example of a database created in FIG. 4B, and shows only data related to the storage room 121 for the purpose of the present invention. When the autochanger 1 negotiates with the host 2 described above, the autochanger 1
Is made into a database, and this is stored in the RAM 10b. In the created database, for example, in addition to the same address (physical address) as the database of the host 2, the presence or absence of the recording medium, and the media name,
The above-mentioned counter K and a virtual address to be described later are stored.

Next, step 23 (FIG. 4) will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a positional relationship between the storage devices 1, 121,... And the drive device 13 and a physical address and a virtual address assigned to each storage room 121. In FIG. 8, for simplicity of description, not the individual drive units 131 but the drive device 13 as a whole.
Is shown.

In the present process, first, the control unit 10 sets the R corresponding to the address included in the media exchange command.
With reference to the virtual address stored in the database of the AM 10b, a record corresponding to the virtual address is read (step 231).

The virtual address indicates the storage room 121 in which the recording medium M is actually stored with reference to the physical address which is the initial address of the address exchange described later. Therefore, the physical address and the virtual address must be the same address before the address replacement. In other words, except for the counter K and the attribute of the virtual address, the database of the host 2 shown in FIG. It has the same configuration as. In other words, the autochanger 1 having a database having the same configuration as that of FIG.
Is actually as shown in FIG. 8A.

Next, referring to the count value of the counter K of the read record, the count value is a multiple of 100 (K =
100 · n) is checked (step 232). Note that n represents a natural number. If it is not a multiple of 100, the recording medium M loaded in the drive device 13
Is returned to the original storage room 121 (step 233).

On the other hand, when it is a multiple of 100, R
With reference to the database of the AM 10b, the storage room 121 closest to the drive device 13 is selected from the storage rooms 121, 121,. (Step 2
34). Then, the database of the RAM 10b is rewritten so as to exchange the storage destination virtual address with the storage source virtual address (step 235).

After a series of virtual address exchange processing described above is performed once, the autochanger 1 transmits a virtual address instead of a physical address at the time of the next negotiation with the host 2, for example. It is also possible to configure.

In the present embodiment, the rearrangement processing of the recording medium M is not executed for each medium exchange command, but is performed every time the counter K reaches a multiple of 100, so that the processing can be simplified. . It should be noted that setting the cycle of such rearrangement processing to a multiple of 100 is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

As described above, as the operation of the autochanger 1 is continued, the recording mediums M,
M,... Are drive units 13 (or drive units 13).
Gather in storage rooms 121, 121,... Close to 1), and as a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. In FIG. 7, the database of the RAM 10b is shown as being sorted on the basis of the physical address. However, the present invention is not limited to this as long as the relationship in each record is maintained.

Further, in the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which a virtual address is set in addition to the physical address which is the original address before the replacement process, but the physical address itself may be replaced.

Furthermore, in the claims, reference numerals are added for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the accompanying drawings.

[0072]

As described above in detail, in the autochanger according to the present invention and the recording medium readable by the autochanger, each of the recording media is stored, and an identifier (generally indicated as an address) is assigned to each. An autochanger including a plurality of storage chambers, a drive device that records and / or reproduces a recording medium, and a transport unit that transports a recording medium stored in a storage room corresponding to a designated identifier to and from the drive device. Controlling the transport means to store the recording medium carried out of the drive device in another storage room other than the original storage room in which the recording medium is stored, whereby the transport unit controls the storage room in which the recording medium is stored. Since the identifier is replaced with the identifier of the original storage room, the storage room for storing the recording medium can be freely changed. At the same time, the identifier of the original storage room in which the recording medium was stored at the time of this change can be replaced with the identifier of the storage room of the change destination, thereby physically changing the storage position of the storage medium. In spite of this, it is possible to obtain a state virtually stored in the same storage room.

Particularly, in an autochanger configured to be controlled by a host via a communication line, the host does not recognize the storage chamber in the autochanger and the arrangement of the recording medium, so that the host is not different from the conventional one. It is possible to change the arrangement of the storage room and the recording medium while maintaining the control mode. Therefore, such a configuration can be realized only by rewriting the firmware program on the autochanger side without having to rewrite the device driver program on the host side with the addition of the SCSI command.

In addition, prior to the above-described replacement of the identifier, both the identifier previously assigned to each storage room and the identifier after the replacement are stored. For example, the identifier is stored in each storage room in advance. Even in the case of returning to the assigned initial state, it is possible to respond immediately.

In any of the above-described inventions, the frequency of use of each recording medium is counted, and the storage room for storing the recording medium is determined based on the counting result. The entire storage unit can be reconfigured so as to store the recording medium in the storage room.

Further, in the above-mentioned invention, since the transport means is controlled so as to store the recording medium having a larger count value in the storage room closer to the drive device, the recording medium which is more frequently used can be transferred from the drive device. Since it can be relocated to a storage room at a closer position, the operating distance of the transport means can be reduced. That is, since the time required for the transport operation can be reduced, it is possible to improve the throughput of the entire apparatus and to prolong the life of the operating part such as the transport means, and thus to obtain excellent effects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an autochanger according to the present invention and a network to which the autochanger is connected.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a mechanical structure of the autochanger according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of a control unit of the autochanger according to the present invention when executing a firmware program.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing contents of a control unit of the autochanger according to the present invention when executing a firmware program.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing contents of a control unit of the autochanger according to the present invention when executing a firmware program.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a database created by a host through negotiation with an autochanger.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a database created in a RAM of an autochanger.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a positional relationship between a storage room and a drive device, and a relationship between a physical address and a virtual address assigned to each storage room.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Autochanger 2 Host computer (host) 10 Control part 10a EPROM 10b RAM 11 Carry-in / out part 12 Storage part 13 Drive device 14 Transport part 10p Firmware program 26p Device driver program 120 Storage shelf 121 Storage room 131 Drive unit M Recording medium

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of storage chambers (121) each storing a recording medium (M) and each being assigned an identifier, and a drive device (1) for recording and / or reproducing the recording medium (M).
3) and the recording medium (M) stored in the storage room (121) corresponding to the designated identifier is transferred to the drive device (13).
An autochanger (1) having a conveying means (14) for conveying the recording medium (M) from the drive device (13) to the original storage chamber (121) in which the recording medium (M) was stored.
A control means (10) for controlling the transport means (14) to be stored in a storage chamber (121) other than the storage chamber (121), and the transport means (14) controls the recording medium (M) by the control means (10). A replacement means (1) for replacing the identifier of the stored storage room (121) with the identifier of the original storage room (121).
(0). 2. Prior to the replacement by the replacement means (10), a first storage means (10b) for storing an identifier previously assigned to each storage room (121), and a second storage means for storing the identifier after the replacement. The autochanger (1) according to claim 1, further comprising a storage means (10b). And a counter (10, 10b, K) for counting the frequency of use of each recording medium (M), wherein said control means (10) controls the counting result by said counter (10, 10b, K). The autochanger (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a storage chamber (121) for storing the recording medium (M) is determined based on the determination. 4. The control means (10) stores a recording medium (M) having a larger count value of the counters (10, 10b, K) in a storage room (121) closer to the drive device (13). 4. An automatic changer (1) according to claim 3, wherein said transport means (14) is controlled to control said transport means. 5. A plurality of storage chambers (121) each storing a recording medium (M) and each being assigned an identifier, and a drive device (1) for recording and / or reproducing the recording medium (M).
3) and the recording medium (M) stored in the storage chamber (121) corresponding to the designated identifier is transferred to the drive device (13).
A recording medium readable by the autochanger (1) in which a program (10p) for controlling the conveying means (14) is recorded in an autochanger (1) having a conveying means (14) for conveying the medium (14). 10a) In the autochanger (1), the drive device (13)
Program code means for controlling the transport means (14) to store the recording medium (M) carried out from the storage chamber (121) other than the original storage chamber (121) in which the recording medium (M) was stored. (S234), the conveying means (14) is connected to the autochanger (1) by the recording medium (M).
A second program code means (S235) for exchanging the identifier of the storage room (121) storing the original storage room with the identifier of the original storage room (121).
p) is recorded on the recording medium (10).
a). 6. A third program code means (S235) for storing an identifier previously assigned to each storage room (121) in the autochanger (1) prior to the replacement of the identifier, and switching to the autochanger (1). The fourth program code means (S
235). The recording medium according to claim 5, further comprising:
a). 7. The automatic changer (1) further includes a fifth program code means (S25) for counting the frequency of use of each recording medium (M), and the second program code means (S235) includes a counter (10). , 10b, K)
The storage chamber (121) for storing the recording medium (M) is determined based on the counting result of (5).
Recording medium (10a) as described above. 8. The second program code means (S23)
5) The recording medium (M) having a larger count value of the counter (10, 10b, K) is transferred to the drive device (13).
The recording medium (10a) according to claim 7, wherein the recording medium (10a) is adapted to control the transporting means (14) so as to be stored in a storage chamber (121) closer to the storage medium.