JP2002133751A - Cluster magnetic tape device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cluster magnetic tape device capable of sharply reducing man-hours without requiring the resetting of device management information and the measurement of dislocation error information when nonvolatile memories are replaced. SOLUTION: The device management information of the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61 is stored on a floppy (R) disk(FD) medium. When the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61 are replaced, the device management information is deployed to replaced new nonvolatile memories 51 and 61 from the FD medium by taking-over the device management information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collective magnetic tape drive, and more particularly, to a nonvolatile memory provided in a device control unit and an accessor control unit by storing device management information in an external storage device. When a device is replaced due to a failure or a durable life, the device management information stored in the external storage device can be recorded in the new non-volatile memory after the replacement, greatly reducing the number of steps for resetting the device management information in the non-volatile memory. The present invention relates to a collective magnetic tape device that can be shortened.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional collective magnetic tape device of this type will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional collective magnetic tape device 20.
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the configuration of the first embodiment;

Referring to FIG. 5, a collective magnetic tape device 200 includes a housing (1) 101a, a housing (2) 101b,
Case (3) 101c, Case (4) 101d, Case (5)
A connection housing 101 to which the first housing 101e is connected; and a housing (3).
Magnetic tape medium (not shown) arranged outside 101c
Tape drive 108 for recording / reproducing information to / from
A storage 102 arranged on the inner wall of the housing (1) 101a to the housing (5) 101e for storing a magnetic tape medium; a rail 111 fixed in the connection housing 101;
An accessor (L) 140 and an accessor (R) 141 supported on the rail 11 and moving on the rail 111; and a magnetic tape drive 108 provided on each of the accessor (L) 140 and the accessor (R) 141 for gripping a magnetic tape medium and Picker hand (L) 130 and picker hand (R) 13 for inserting and removing a magnetic tape medium into and from the storage 102
1 and the magnetic tape drives 108 provided in the picker hand section (L) 130 and the picker hand section (R) 131, respectively.
Mounting position on the housing (3) 101c and the storage 102
Position detectors 113 and 114 for detecting mounting positions of the housing (1) 101a to the housing (5) 101e, and the housing (2)
Accessor (L) 140, accessor (R) 141 and picker hand (L) 13 arranged outside 101b
0, an accessor control unit 105 for controlling the picker hand unit (R) 131, a device control unit 106 for controlling the accessor control unit 105, a maintenance panel 109 operated during maintenance work, and a floppy disk provided near the maintenance panel 109 The device control unit 106 includes a non-volatile memory 161, the accessor control unit 105 includes a non-volatile memory 151, and the non-volatile memory 161 includes, as device management information, (1) 101a, housing (2) 101b, housing (3) 10
1c, the case (4) 101d, the type of the connection case 101, the type and number of the magnetic tape drives 108, and the validity / invalidity of the functions provided for the user in a combination pattern in which the cases (5) and 101e are connected. Information is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 151, and the magnetic tape drive 108 and the storage 1
02 is configured to record positional deviation error information with respect to the theoretical value of the mounting position.

[0005] Next, the operation when the nonvolatile memories 151 and 161 storing the device management information of the collective magnetic tape device 200 configured as described above are replaced after the failure or the endurance life has expired. explain.

First, when the non-volatile memory 161 of the device control unit 106 is replaced with a new one and mounted, the lost device management information includes the case (1) 101a to the case (5) 10
Device management information lost from the maintenance panel 9 in order to set the type of the connection housing 101, the type and number of the magnetic tape drives 108, and the valid / invalid information of the function provided for the user according to the combination pattern 1e. Is entered manually by maintenance personnel.

When the nonvolatile memory 151 of the accessor control unit 105 is replaced with a new one and mounted, the lost device management information is based on the theory of the mounting position of the magnetic tape drive 108 and the storage 102 in the connection housing 101. In order to measure the positional deviation error with respect to the value, the apparatus control unit 106 instructs the accessor control unit 105 to read the positional deviation error with respect to the theoretical value of the mounting position of the magnetic tape drive 108 and the storage 102 in the connection housing 101. Command.

The accessor control unit 105 includes an accessor (L) 140 and a picker hand unit (L) 130 or
Accessor (R) 141 and Picker Hand (R) 131
(Hereinafter, for convenience, the mounting position shift between the storage 102 and the magnetic tape drive 108 by the accessor (L) 140 and the picker hand unit (L) 130). A description will be given of a case where measurement is performed.)

The accessor control section 105 moves the accessor (L) 140 and the picker hand section (L) 130 to move the accessor (L) 140 to the reference position of the first storage 102 of the connecting casing 101 (the reference position is Theoretically, the accessor (L) 140 and the picker hand (L) 130 are stopped with respect to each storage 102 or the magnetic tape drive 108 in order to insert and remove the magnetic tape medium from the storage 102 or the magnetic tape drive 108. Position, which the accessor control unit 105 holds as a default value).

After moving to the reference position, all the storages 102 and the magnetic tape drive 1 are detected by the position detector 113.
08, the mounting displacement error from each reference position is measured, and the accessor control unit 105 records the measured displacement error information in the nonvolatile memory 151 (in addition,
The details of the operation of measuring the mounting position deviation error from the respective reference positions for all the storages 102 and the magnetic tape drives 108 by the position detector 113 will be omitted here.)

That is, the nonvolatile memories 161 and 1 mounted on the device control unit 106 and the accessor control unit 105
When 51 is replaced after its failure or endurance,
Since the device management information recorded in the non-volatile memories 161 and 151 has not been transferred to the new non-volatile memories 161 and 151, when the non-volatile memories 161 and 151 are replaced, There is a disadvantage that it takes a lot of man-hours to transfer the management information to the new non-volatile memories 161 and 151.

[0012]

As described above,
In the conventional collective magnetic tape device, when the nonvolatile memory in which the device management information is recorded is replaced due to a failure or a durable life, the device management information recorded in the nonvolatile memory is transferred to a new nonvolatile memory. , Maintenance personnel,
All information settings are manually input from the maintenance panel, and all the magnetic tape drives and storage units mounted on the connected chassis are measured for positional error with respect to the theoretical value of the mounting position, and the measured positional error information is nonvolatile. To record in memory,
There is a problem that a large number of steps are required.

An object of the present invention is to store device management information of a nonvolatile memory in a floppy disk medium and take over the device management information so that when the nonvolatile memory is replaced, the replaced new nonvolatile memory is used. An object of the present invention is to provide a collective magnetic tape device in which the device management information is expanded from a floppy disk medium, thereby eliminating the need for resetting the device management information and measuring the displacement error information, thereby greatly reducing the number of steps. .

[0014]

According to the present invention, there is provided a collective magnetic tape apparatus comprising: a connecting housing in which a plurality of kinds of housings are connected; and recording / reproducing of information on / from a magnetic tape medium arranged outside the housing. A magnetic tape drive, a storage box arranged on the inner wall of the housing for storing the magnetic tape medium, a rail fixed in the connecting housing, an accessor supported on the rail and moving on the rail, and a magnetic tape medium. A picker hand section provided on an accessor that grips and inserts and removes a magnetic tape medium with respect to a magnetic tape drive and a storage box, and a position detection that is provided on the picker hand section and detects a mounting position of the magnetic tape drive and the storage box on a housing. , An accessor control unit arranged outside the housing to control the accessor and hand unit, a device control unit to control the accessor control unit, and A control panel and an external storage device provided in the vicinity of the maintenance panel. The device control unit and the accessor control unit each have a nonvolatile memory for recording device management information. And storing the device management information recorded in the volatile memory.

[0015] The device management information includes the type of connected housing, the type and number of magnetic tape drives, the valid / invalid information of functions provided for the user, and the connected housing, in a combination pattern in which a plurality of types of housing are connected. And a displacement error information with respect to a theoretical value of a mounting position of the magnetic tape drive and the storage case.

The non-volatile memory of the device control unit stores information on the type of connected chassis, the type and number of magnetic tape drives, and the valid / invalid information of the functions provided for the user in a combination pattern in which a plurality of types of chassis are connected. Is recorded.

[0017] The nonvolatile memory of the accessor control unit is characterized in that positional deviation error information with respect to a theoretical value of a mounting position of the magnetic tape drive and the storage in the connection housing is recorded.

The position detector has a light emitting device and a light receiving device.

The light emitting device comprises a light emitting diode or a laser diode, and the light receiving device comprises a phototransistor.

The picker hand has a vertical movement mechanism and a rotation mechanism.

Two accessors are arranged on the rail.

A plurality of magnetic tape drives are provided.

The maintenance panel has a service menu display section for maintenance personnel, and is characterized by having a device management information setting means and a display means.

The connection housing includes a housing in which an accessor control unit, a device control unit, a maintenance panel, and an external storage device are mounted;
It is characterized by comprising a housing in which a magnetic tape drive is mounted and a housing in which only a storage is mounted.

The device control section reproduces the device management information from the external storage device when the nonvolatile memory is replaced, and records the device management information in the replaced nonvolatile memory.

The external storage device is a floppy disk device or an optical disk device.

The position detector detects the positions of the outer frames provided in the storage and the magnetic tape drive, respectively.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the collective magnetic tape device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a collective magnetic tape apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2A is an enlarged detailed view of a portion A in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 3A is a block diagram showing the relationship between the components. FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the collective magnetic tape device 100 includes a casing (1) 1a, a casing (2) 1b, a casing (3) 1c, and a casing (4) 1d. , The housing (5) 1e and the connecting housing 1 coupled to the housing (5) 1e, and the housing (3) 1
c to record information on the magnetic tape medium 12
A magnetic tape drive 8 for performing reproduction, and a housing (1) 1a to
A storage 2 disposed on the inner wall of the housing 1e to store the magnetic tape medium 12, a rail 11 fixed in the connecting housing 1, and an accessor supported on the rail 11 and moving on the rail 11 ( L) 40, an accessor (R) 41, and a magnetic tape drive 8 provided on each of the accessor (L) 40 and the accessor (R) 41 to hold the magnetic tape medium 12 and
And a picker hand (L) 30 and a picker hand (R) 3 for inserting and removing the magnetic tape medium 12 into and from the storage 2.
1, the picker hand section (L) 30 and the picker hand section (R) 31, each of which is provided in the housing (3) 1 c of the magnetic tape drive 8 and the housing (1) 1 of the storage 2.
a to position detectors 13 and 14 for detecting a mounting position on the housing (5) 1e, an accessor (L) 40, an accessor (R) 41, and a picker hand unit (L) disposed outside the housing (2) 1b. ) 30, an accessor control section 5 for controlling the picker hand section (R) 31, an apparatus control section 6 for controlling the accessor control section 5, a maintenance panel 9 operated during maintenance work, and a floppy provided near the maintenance panel 9. A disk controller (FDD) 10 and a device controller 6
Includes a nonvolatile memory 61 and the accessor control unit 5
Includes a non-volatile memory 51, and a non-volatile memory 61 stores, as device management information, a housing (1) 1a and a housing (2).
1b, housing (3) 1c, housing (4) 1d, housing (5) 1
e in a connection case 1 by a combination pattern in which
, The type and number of magnetic tape drives 8, and valid / invalid information of the functions provided for the user are recorded in the nonvolatile memory 51. 8 and the positional deviation error information with respect to the theoretical value of the mounting position of the storage 2 are recorded, and the floppy disk device 10 is configured to store the device management information recorded in the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61.

The connection housing 1 includes an accessor control unit 5, a device control unit 6, a maintenance panel 9, and a floppy disk drive 10.
(2) 1b, on which a plurality of magnetic tape drives 8 are mounted, a housing (1) 1a, on which only the storage 2 is mounted, and a housing (4). 1) and a housing (5) 1e.

The position detectors 13 and 14 are composed of a light emitting device 13a composed of a light emitting diode and a light receiving device 13b composed of a phototransistor. 2, the position error of the mounting position of the magnetic tape drive 8 with respect to the theoretical value is measured, and the position of the outer frame (not shown) provided in the magnetic tape drive 8 is detected. It is configured to measure a deviation error.

The maintenance panel has a service menu display section (not shown) for maintenance personnel, and is configured so that during maintenance work, setting and display of device management information can be performed by selecting and inputting the display section. I have.

Next, the operation of the collective magnetic tape device 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

After the collective magnetic tape device 100 is installed in the user's machine room, the power is turned on, and the maintenance staff uses the maintenance panel 9 to change the type of the coupling housing 1 and the magnetic tape drive 8.
Set the type and number of, and enable / disable information of the function provided for the user.

The maintenance panel 9 sends the set information to the device control unit 6, and the device control unit 6 records the information in the nonvolatile memory 61.

Next, the maintenance staff selects from the service menu display section of the maintenance panel 9 to execute the mounting position deviation measurement of the storage 2 and the magnetic tape drive 8.

The maintenance panel 9 transmits a command to the device control unit 6, and the device control unit 6, which has received the command, instructs the accessor control unit 5 to perform an operation for measuring a mounting position shift.

The accessor control unit 5 determines the type of the device from the set device management information and sets the accessor (L) 40
And the picker hand (L) 30 or the accessor (R) 41 and the picker hand (R) 31
And the mounting position of the magnetic tape drive 8 are measured. However, for convenience, the mounting position of the storage 2 and the magnetic tape drive 8 are measured by the accessor (L) 40 and the picker hand (L) 30 for convenience. Will be described.

The accessor control unit 5 includes an accessor (L)
40 and the picker hand (L) 30 are moved and moved to the reference position of the first storage 2 of the connecting housing 1 (the reference position is the storage 2 or the magnetic tape drive 8).
Is a theoretical position where the accessor (L) 40 and the picker hand unit (L) 30 are stopped with respect to each storage 2 or the magnetic tape drive 8 in order to insert or remove the magnetic tape medium 12 from the accessor control unit. 5 is retained as a default value).

In the movement operation, the accessor (L) 40 is moved in the X direction, and the picker hand (L) 30 is moved in the Z direction on the accessor (L) 40 for positioning.
In order to make it possible to insert and remove the magnetic tape medium 12 with respect to all of the plurality of storages 2 arranged before and after the coupling housing 1 and the plurality of magnetic tape drives 8 arranged on the front side,
The picker hand (L) 30 is provided with a rotation mechanism (not shown) that rotates 180 degrees on the accessor (L) 40.

After moving to the reference position, the accessor (L) 40 and the picker hand are moved by the position detector 13 so that the projected light from the light emitter 13a is reflected by the light receiver 13b from the outer frame 2a of the storage 2. Part (L) 30 and
The mounting position error of the storage 2 is measured.

Accordingly, the accessor (L) 4 from the reference position until the position detector 13 detects the outer frame 2 a of the storage 2.
0 and the amount of movement between the picker hand unit (L) 30 and the storage 2
Of the mounting position.

In the same manner as described above, the mounting position deviation error from each of the reference positions is measured for all the storages 2 and the magnetic tape drives 8, and the accessor control unit 5 transmits the measured position deviation error information. The data is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 51.

After confirming that the above processing has been completed normally, the maintenance person inserts a floppy disk medium (not shown) into the floppy disk device 10 and, from the maintenance panel 9, transmits the device management information of the nonvolatile memory 61. Order a dump.

The device control section 6 having received the command from the maintenance panel 9 reads out the device management information from the non-volatile memory 61, activates the floppy disk device 10 and saves it on the floppy disk medium.

The process of storing the device management information on the floppy disk medium is executed every time the device management information input from the maintenance panel 9 is updated.

Next, the maintenance staff instructs the maintenance panel 9 to extract position error information.

The device control unit 6 having received the command from the maintenance panel 9 instructs the accessor control unit 5 to read out the displacement error information, and the accessor control unit 5 reads out the displacement error information from the nonvolatile memory 51. , To the device control unit 6.

The apparatus controller 6 saves the received positional error information on the floppy disk medium by activating the floppy disk device 10. The storage processing of the positional error information is performed by the storage 2 or the magnetic tape. After the mounting / dismounting of the drive 8 and the measurement of the mounting position deviation error are performed, the process is executed each time.

Next, a description will be given, with reference to the drawings, of a processing operation in the case where the collective magnetic tape device 100 is continuously operated and the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61 are out of order or have expired. .

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation when the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61 are replaced.

Referring to FIG. 4, the maintenance person first turns off the power supply of the collective magnetic tape device 100, removes the old nonvolatile memories 61 and 51 from the device control unit 6 or the accessor control unit 5, and replaces the new nonvolatile memory with the new nonvolatile memory. After installing the memories 61 and 51 and turning on the power again, the floppy disk medium storing the device management information previously is inserted into the floppy disk device 10 and the maintenance panel 9 is instructed to download the device management information ( S41).

The device control section 6 having received the command from the maintenance panel 9 starts the floppy disk device 10 and reads out the device management information from the floppy disk medium (S4).
2).

The apparatus control section 6 determines whether or not the read data is positional error information of the apparatus management information (S43).

If the information is positional error information, the positional error information is transmitted to the accessor control unit 5 (S4).
4), the accessor control unit 5 expands the received positional error information in the nonvolatile memory 51 (S45).

If the read data is not the displacement error information, the device control section 6 expands the device management information in the nonvolatile memory 61 (S46).

The device control unit 6 operates the collective magnetic tape device 100 using the developed device management information and the accessor control unit 5 using the developed positional deviation error information (S47).

As described above, the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61
By storing the device management information in the floppy disk medium used in the floppy disk device 10, the device management information is taken over, and the nonvolatile memories 51 and 61 are stored.
When replacing the new nonvolatile memory 51,
It is only necessary to expand the apparatus management information in the area 61, and it is not necessary to reset the apparatus management information and to measure the positional deviation error information.

[0060]

As described above, in the collective magnetic tape device of the present invention, the non-volatile memory is stored by storing the device management information of the non-volatile memory on the floppy disk medium and taking over the device management information. At the time of replacement, it is only necessary to expand the device management information from the floppy disk medium to the replaced new non-volatile memory, and it is not necessary to reset the device management information and measure the position error information,
This has the effect of significantly reducing man-hours.

Further, the capacity of the collective magnetic tape device can be increased,
If the number of storages of magnetic tape media and the number of magnetic tape drives increase with the increase in performance, when the nonvolatile memory is replaced, it is only necessary to expand the device management information from the floppy disk medium, Further, there is an effect that the number of man-hours can be significantly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a collective magnetic tape device of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is an enlarged detailed view of a portion A in FIG. 1, FIG.
FIG. 2B is a view showing an arrow B in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the relationship between components.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when a nonvolatile memory is replaced.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional collective magnetic tape device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 101 Connection case 1a, 101a Case (1) 1b, 101b Case (2) 1c, 101c Case (3) 1d, 101d Case (4) 1e, 101e Case (5) 2, 102 Storage Storage 2a Outer frame 5, 105 Accessor control unit 6, 106 Device control unit 8, 108 Magnetic tape drive 9, 109 Maintenance panel 10, 110 Floppy disk drive (FDD) 11, 111 Rail 12 Magnetic tape medium 13, 113 Position detector 13a Light emitting device 13b Light receiving device 14, 114 Position detector 30, 130 Picker hand unit (L) 31, 131 Picker hand unit (R) 40, 140 Accessor (L) 41, 141 Accessor (R) 51, 151 Non-volatile memory 61, 161 Non-volatile memory 100, 200 Collective magnetic tape device

Claims (14)

[Claims] A connection housing in which a plurality of types of housings are combined;
A magnetic tape drive arranged outside the housing for recording / reproducing information on a magnetic tape medium, a storage room arranged on the inner wall of the housing for storing the magnetic tape medium, and fixed inside the coupling housing; Rails, an accessor supported on the rails and moving on the rails, and an accessor for gripping the magnetic tape medium and inserting and removing the magnetic tape medium with respect to the magnetic tape drive and the storage. A picker hand unit, a position detector provided in the picker hand unit for detecting a mounting position of the magnetic tape drive and the storage to the housing, and the accessor and the hand unit disposed outside the housing. An accessor control unit for controlling, an apparatus control unit for controlling the accessor control unit, a maintenance panel operated during maintenance work, An external storage device provided near a maintenance panel, wherein the device control unit and the accessor control unit each have a non-volatile memory for recording device management information, and the external storage device is A collective magnetic tape device storing the device management information recorded in a memory. 2. The device management information includes: a type of the connection case, a type and number of the magnetic tape drives, and a validity / availability of a function provided for a user in a combination pattern in which a plurality of types of the cases are combined. 2. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, further comprising: invalid information; and positional deviation error information with respect to a theoretical value of a mounting position of the magnetic tape drive and the storage in the connection housing. 3. The non-volatile memory of the device control unit is provided for a type of the connection case, a type and number of the magnetic tape drives, and a user according to a combination pattern in which a plurality of types of the cases are connected. 2. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein valid / invalid information of the function is recorded. 4. The non-volatile memory of the accessor control unit is configured to record positional deviation error information with respect to a theoretical value of a mounting position of the magnetic tape drive and the storage to the connection housing. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1. 5. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein the position detector has a light emitting device and a light receiving device. 6. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 5, wherein said light emitting device comprises a light emitting diode or a laser diode, and said light receiving device comprises a phototransistor. 7. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein the picker hand unit has a vertical movement mechanism and a rotation mechanism. 8. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein two accessors are arranged on the rail. 9. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said magnetic tape drives are provided. 10. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance panel has a service menu display unit for maintenance personnel, and has a device management information setting unit and a display unit. . 11. The connection housing, wherein the accessor control unit, the device control unit, the maintenance panel, and the external storage device are mounted on the housing, and the magnetic tape drive is mounted on the housing. 5. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, further comprising: the housing in which only the storage is mounted. 6. 12. The device control unit, when replacing the nonvolatile memory, reproduces the device management information from the external storage device, and records the device management information in the nonvolatile memory after the replacement. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein 13. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein the external storage device is a floppy disk device or an optical disk device. 14. The collective magnetic tape device according to claim 1, wherein the position detector detects a position of an outer frame provided in each of the storage and the magnetic tape drive.