JPH03256114A - Large capacity storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the carrying time of a recording medium by arranging plural cells each of which stores plural recording media on the inner and outer periphery sides a cylindrical cell drum, and inserting/ejecting the recording media both the inner and outer periphery sides of the cell drum. CONSTITUTION:The cell drum 10 is fixed or rotatably fitted to the frame of a large capacity storage device through a base 20 and plural cells are mounted so that respective recording media can be drawn in the center direction. The cylindrical cell drum 11 is fixed so as to optional rotate around the drum 10 and plural cells are mounted so that respective recording media can be drawn to the outside. When a cell having a specified address is included in the drum 10, the mechanical handle 18 of an accessor 12 is positioned on the cell of the specified address, or when the cell concerned is included in the drum 11, the mechanical handle 19 of an accessor 13 is positioned on the cell. A recording medium corresponding to the cell is ejected by driving the handle 18 or 19 and set up on a position opposed to a driving device 14 or 16.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Table of contents] Overview Industrial field of application Conventional technology Problems to be solved by the invention Means for solving the problems Effects of the invention [Summary] Shortening the transportation time of recording media With regard to large-capacity storage devices that increase the processing efficiency of computer systems, we have developed a large-capacity storage device that stores multiple recording media on the inner and outer sides of a cylindrical cell drum, respectively, with the aim of increasing the processing efficiency of computer systems. A cell is provided, and an accessor for loading and unloading and transporting the recording medium and a drive device for recording/reproducing data on the recording medium transported by the accessor are provided on the inner and outer peripheral sides of the cell drum. The recording medium is inserted into and taken out from the inner circumferential side and the outer circumferential side of the cell drum.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a large-capacity storage device used as an external storage device of a computer system, and particularly to a large-capacity storage device that makes it possible to improve the processing efficiency of a computer system by shortening the transportation time of a recording medium.

In recent years, with the demand for increased storage capacity of computer systems, there has been a demand for high-density, large-capacity external storage devices. For this reason, large-capacity storage devices using optical disks, which are capable of higher density recording than magnetic disks and the like, have been provided.

A mass storage device using such an optical disk, that is,
An optical disk library device includes a storage shelf that accommodates a large number of optical disks, stores the optical disks in a plurality of cells provided on the storage shelf, and uses an accessor equipped with a mechanical hand to take out the necessary optical disks from the cells.
Carry it to the drive device, set it, and write/write data.
When the data is read and written/read, the accessor takes out the optical disc from the drive device again, carries it to the cell of the storage shelf, and stores it, as well as ejects the optical disc that is no longer needed according to instructions from the host device. It consists of a type of automatic warehouse in which the optical disks are carried to the exit and taken out by the operator, and the optical disks that the operator puts into the input slot are transported to the cell and stored.

By the way, in such an optical disk library device,
Because the accessor moves between the drive device and the cell of the storage shelf to transport the optical disk, the transportation time increases in proportion to the distance between the drive device and the cell, but this transportation time is Less is needed as it reduces efficiency.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the prior art.

As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional optical disc library device includes a control rack 1 that stores a control unit, a plurality of cells that store optical disc cartridges, and a drive device that writes/reads data to/from the optical disc cartridges. There is a type of optical disc storage system which is composed of a basic cell rack 2 equipped with an optical disc cartridge, and an expansion cell rack 3 equipped only with a plurality of cells for storing optical disk cartridges. The number of expansion cell racks 3 can be increased as necessary.

The basic cell rack 2 is provided with a plurality of drive devices 8. A plurality of cells are provided in the cell area 9, and each cell is assigned an address so as to select a stored optical disk cartridge.

Further, the expansion cell rack 3 is provided with only cells, and each cell is assigned an address so that a stored optical disk cartridge can be selected.

Therefore, the basic cell rack 2 and the expansion cell rack 3 are provided with rails 6 and 7 that pass through the basic cell rack 2 and the expansion cell rack 3.
Furthermore, guided by these rails 6 and 7, it travels in the direction of arrow A-B, moves the mechanical hand 5 in the direction of arrow C-D, and positions the mechanical hand 5 in the cell of the designated address. , move the mechanical hand 5 in the direction of arrow F to grip the optical disk cartridge, pull it out in the direction of arrow E, hold and transport the optical disk cartridge, and place it in the designated drive device in the drive device 8. , an accessor 4 is provided for positioning the mechanical hand 5, moving the mechanical hand 5 in the direction of arrow F, and setting the optical disk cartridge.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the conventional optical disk library device, cells for storing optical disk cartridges are provided on storage shelves and are arranged in a flat manner, so that the accessor 4 moves while being guided by the rails 6 and 7, and Transporting disk cartridges. Therefore, the moving distance of the accessor 4 becomes long, the time required to transport the optical disk cartridge is long, and data cannot be written/read during this time.
There is a problem in that the processing efficiency of the computer system is reduced.

In view of these problems, it is an object of the present invention to reduce the amount of movement of the accessor, thereby shortening the time for transporting the optical disk cartridge and increasing the processing efficiency of the computer system.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the present invention in detail.

The cell drum 10 has a cylindrical shape and is fixedly or rotatably attached to the housing of the mass storage device via a base 20, and is equipped with a plurality of cells so that recording media can be pulled out toward the center.The cell drum 11 is cylindrical. It is rotatably attached to the outer periphery of the cell drum 10 using a mold, and a plurality of cells are mounted so that the recording medium can be pulled out to the outside.

Further, the drive devices 14.15 are attached to the base 20 and are provided at positions opposite to the accessor 12, and the drive devices 16.17 are attached to the base 20 and provided at positions opposite to the accessor 13. There is.

When a host device records/reproduces data on a recording medium, it sends the address of the cell in which the desired recording medium is stored to the mass storage device to instruct data writing/reading.

When a cell with a designated address exists in the cell drum 10, the mass storage device positions the mechanical hand 18 of the accessor 12 at the cell with the designated address.

At this time, the large-capacity storage device rotates the accessor 12 in the direction of arrow J or in the direction of arrow G or H depending on the direction of mechanical hand 18, and moves the mechanical hand 18 in the direction of arrow G or H, thereby moving the accessor 12 to the specified cell position. position.

Furthermore, when a cell with a designated address exists in the cell drum 11, the mass storage device positions the mechanical hand 19 of the accessor 13 at the cell with the designated address. At this time, if the designated cell of the cell drum 11 is not in a position facing the accessor 13, the cell drum 11 is rotated by a predetermined amount in the direction of arrow J or K so that the designated cell is located opposite the accessor 13. stop at the desired position. Then, by moving the mechanical hand 19 in the direction of arrow G or H, it is positioned at the designated cell position.

Here, the mass storage device is the mechanical hand 18 or 1.
9 to take out the recording medium stored in the cell, the mechanical hand 18 or 19 is moved in the direction of arrow G or H, and the drive device W14 or 16 is moved, for example.
, and set the recording medium.

Then, data is recorded/recorded on the set recording medium.
Let playback occur.

When the writing/reading of data to/from the recording medium set by the mechanical hand 18 is completed, the mass storage device
Similarly to the above, the mechanical hand 18 is driven to pull out the recording medium from the drive device 14, rotate and move up and down as described above as necessary, position it at the cell of the address specified by the host device, and remove the recording medium. to be stored.

Further, when writing/reading of data to/from the recording medium set by the mechanical hand 19 is completed, the mechanical hand 19 is driven in the same manner as described above to pull out the recording medium from the drive device 16, rotate the cell drum 11 as necessary, and , Mechanism 0 Moves the mechanical hand 19 up and down to position it at the cell at the address designated by the host device, and stores the recording medium.

When the mechanical hand 18 returns the recording medium from the drive device 14 to the cell, the large-capacity storage device receives an instruction from the host device to store a less frequently used recording medium in the cell drum 11. The recording medium is pulled out, and, for example, the mechanical hand 18 is moved to the top, and the mechanical hand 19 is also moved to the top.

Then, the mechanical hands 18 and 19 are made to face each other, the recording medium held by the mechanical hand 18 is transferred to the mechanical hand 19, and the recording medium held by the mechanical hand 19 is stored in a designated cell of the cell drum 11.

The same applies when the mechanical hand 19 is instructed to store a frequently used recording medium in the cell drum 10 when the mechanical hand 19 returns the recording medium from the drive device 16 to the cell.

[Effect]

With the above configuration, the recording medium stored in the cell of the cell drum 10 can be stored in the cell drum 10 by rotating the accessor 12, which does not require the accessor 12 to move, and can operate quickly, and by the mechanical hand 18. Since transportation of the recording medium between the cell and the drive device 14 or 15 is completed by only the vertical movement of the , the time for conveying the recording medium can be shortened.

In addition, recording media stored in the cells of the cell drum 11 require more time to rotate the cell drum 11, so it takes more time to transport than recording media stored in the cells of the cell drum 10. By storing the medium, as a mass storage device, it is possible to shorten the transportation time of the recording medium.

Therefore, the processing efficiency of the computer system can be improved.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the optical disk library device of the present invention.

The central processing unit 22 is O3 (operating system)
It operates in response to instructions from O3 and instructs the processor 28 to write/read data by specifying the address of the cell managed by O3 via the channel 23 and the channel interface circuit 25 of the optical disk library device 24.

The optical disk library device 24 has a configuration as shown in FIG. 3, with FIG. 3(a) showing a top view and FIG. 3(b) showing a side view.

A plurality of cells 45 storing optical disk cartridges 46
A cylindrical cell drum 10 that houses the cell drum 10, a base 20 that houses the drive devices 14 to 17, and a motor 3 that connects the outer periphery of the cell drum 10 to the base 20 that houses the drive devices 14 to 17.
There is a cell drum 11 that accommodates a plurality of cells 45, and an accessor 12 in the center of the cell drum 10.
However, an accessor 13 is provided outside the cell drum 11.

The drive devices 14 to 15 face the accessor 12, and the drive devices 16 to 17 face the accessor 13.
is facing.

When the motor 36 is driven, the accessor 12
The mechanical hand 18 is rotatable in the direction of arrow J-, and when the motor 37 is driven, the mechanical hand 18 rotates between the pulleys 38 and 3.
9, the belt 40 moves along a guide 50 in the direction of the arrow GH. Therefore, the mechanical hand 18 is positioned facing the cell 45 at the address specified by the central processing unit 22 of the cell drum 10.

When the motor (not shown) in the mechanical hand 18 is driven, the arm 47 is driven as shown by the dotted line.
is inserted into the cell 45 and the optical disk cartridge 46 is grasped, then pulled out and taken into the mechanical hand 18. Then, the gripped optical disk cart 3 4 ridge 46 is transported in the direction of the drive device 14 or 15 by the movement of the belt 40 . Then, when the accessor 12 is rotated by driving the motor 36 and the mechanical hand 18 is positioned facing the drive device 14 or 15, the mechanical hand 18 extends the arm 47 in the same manner as described above. The gripped optical disk cartridge 46 is set in the positioned drive device 14 or 15.

In addition, the mechanical hand 19 of the accessor 13 is connected to the motor 4.
1 is driven, the belt 44 moving between the pulleys 42 and 43 moves the arrow G-H along the guide 49.
When the cell drum 11, which rotates in the direction of the arrow J- due to the rotation of the motor 34, stops the cell 45 at the address specified by the central processing unit 22 facing the accessor 13, the mechanical hand 19 moves to the specified direction. The cell 45 is positioned opposite to the cell 45.

Then, by driving a motor (not shown) in the mechanical hand 19, the arm 48 is driven as shown by the dotted line.
is inserted into the cell 45 and the optical disk cartridge 46 is gripped, then pulled out and taken into the mechanical hand 19. Then, by the movement of the belt 44, the gripped optical disk cartridge 46 is transported to the position of the drive device 16 or 17, and the mechanical hand 19 is moved to the drive device (
6 or 17, the mechanical hand 19 extends the arm 48 in the same manner as described above, and sets the gripped optical disk cartridge 46 in the positioned drive device 16 or 17.

The processor 28 operates by reading a program stored in the control memory 29, and based on the address of the cell 45 specified from the central processing bag N22, if this cell 45 exists in the cell drum 10, the program is read out via the accessor interface circuit 32. Controls the accessor control circuit 35, rotates the accessor 12 in the direction of arrow J or H as necessary, moves the mechanical hand 18 in the direction of arrow G or H, and moves the mechanical hand 18 to the cell at the specified address. Position it at 45.

Then, the mechanical hand 18 is controlled to pull out the optical disk cartridge 46 from the cell 45, rotate the accessor 12 as necessary, and move the mechanical hand 18 in the direction of the arrow H to move the drive device 14 with a small amount of movement. If the drive device 14 is in use, the drive device 15 is positioned and the optical disk cartridge 46 is set.

Further, based on the address of the cell 45 specified by the central processing unit 22, the processor 28 determines that if this cell 45 exists in the cell drum 11, the cell 45 is assigned to the accessor 13.
If the motor 3 is not facing the motor 3, the cell drum drive circuit 33 is controlled via the accessor interface circuit 32.
4 to rotate the cell drum 11 in the direction of arrow J or K, and stop the rotation of the cell drum 11 at a position where the designated cell 45 faces the accessor 13.

Further, the processor 2B simultaneously controls the accessor control circuit 35 to move the mechanical hand 19 of the accessor 13 in the direction of arrow G or H, and positions the mechanical hand 19 at the cell 45 of the designated address.

Then, the mechanical hand 19 is controlled to pull out the optical disk cartridge 46 from the cell 45, move it in the direction of the arrow H, and select and position the drive device 16 with the least amount of movement, even if the drive device 16 is in use. For example, the drive device 17 is positioned and the optical disk cartridge 46 is set.

When the central processing unit 22 instructs to write data, it sends the data to the buffer memory 26 via the channel 23 and the channel interface circuit 25. processor 28
controls the buffer control circuit 27 to control the buffer memory 26
The optical disk cartridge 46 stores data in the
For example, when set in the drive device 14, the buffer control circuit 27 is controlled to send data from the buffer memory 26 to the drive control circuit 31 via the drive interface circuit 30, and the optical disk cartridge 46 set in the drive device 14 is write data 7.

Further, when the central processing unit 22 instructs to read data, the data read from the drive device 14 is stored in the buffer memory 26 via the drive control circuit 31 and the drive interface circuit 30, and the data is stored in the buffer memory 26 via the drive control circuit 31 and the drive interface circuit 30. The data is sent to the central processing unit 22 via the .

When the central processing unit 22 completes writing/reading data to/from the optical disk cartridge 46, the central processing unit 22 controls the cell drum I according to the usage frequency of the optical disk cartridge 46.
It is determined whether to store it in O or cell drum ■1.

The optical disk cartridge 46 set in the drive devices 14 to 15 is frequently used, and the cell drum 1
0, the central processing unit 22 is stored in the processor 28
On the other hand, normally the address of the storage cell 45 is not sent.

Further, when the optical disk cartridge 46 set in the drive devices 16 to 17 is used infrequently and is stored in the cell drum 11 as it is, the central processing unit 22 does not normally send the address of the storage cell 45 to the processor 28. Therefore, the processor 28 performs a process of returning the optical disk cartridge 46 to the cell 45 from which it was taken out.

However, when the frequency of use of the optical disk cartridges 46 set in the drive devices 14 to 5 decreases, the central processing unit 22 causes the processor 28 to, for example,
Instructs to store the optical disk cartridge 46 set in No. 4 into the cell drum 11.

When the processor 28 causes the mechanical hand 18 to take out the optical disk cartridge 46 set in the drive device 14, the mechanical hand 18 is moved in the direction of arrow G and stopped at a position beyond the tops of the cell drums 10 and 11. , rotate the accessor 12 in the direction of the arrow, and move the mechanical hand 18 to the accessor 13.
to face.

At the same time, when the mechanical hand 19 is moved in the direction of arrow G and stopped at a position facing the mechanical hand 18, the mechanical hand 19 receives the optical disk cartridge 46 held by the mechanical hand 18, and the central processing unit 22 Rotate the cell drum 11 so that the cell 45 with the address specified by is facing the accessor 13,
After the mechanical hand 19 is positioned in a designated cell 45, the optical disk cartridge 46 is stored in the cell 45.

Even when the central processing unit 22 instructs that the optical disk cartridge 46 set in the drive devices 16 to 17 is used more frequently and is stored in the cell drum 10,
Same as above.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of FIG. 2.

In step, the processor 28 confirms the cell position of the designated optical disk cartridge from the address received from the host device. Then, it is checked whether the cell confirmed in step (2) is present in the cell drum 10.

If the confirmed cell is in the cell drum 10, in step (2) the accessor 12 is rotated as necessary and the mechanical hand 18 is moved up and down to position it at the designated cell.

Then, in step (3), the optical disk cartridge is taken out, positioned and set in a drive device with a small amount of movement.

If the confirmed cell is on the cell drum 11, the cell drum 11 is rotated according to the position of the cell confirmed in step (2). Then, in step (2), the mechanical hand 19 of the accessor 13 is moved up and down to position it in the designated cell.

Then, in step (3), the optical disk cartridge is taken out, positioned and set in a drive device with a small amount of movement.

When writing/reading to/from the optical disk cartridge is completed, the processor 28 confirms the storage cell position of the optical disk cartridge in step (3).

Then, in step (2), it is checked whether the storage cell position is in the cell drum 10 or not.

1 2 If the storage cell position is in the cell drum 10, step ■
The optical disc cartridge 1 is taken out from the drive device and stored in a designated cell of the cell drum 10, but the optical disc cartridge is exchanged between the accessors 12 and 13 as required.

If the storage cell position is in the cell drum 11, the optical disk cartridge is taken out from the drive device in step [phase] and stored in the designated cell of the cell drum 11. to exchange optical disk cartridges.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention enables the accessor to reduce the time required to transport the optical disk cartridge, thereby improving the data processing capacity of the optical disk library device and increasing the processing efficiency of the computer system.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram explaining the present invention in detail, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining an example of the configuration of an optical disk library device of the present invention. Figure 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of Figure 2;
The figure is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional technique. In the figure, 1 is the control rack, 2 is the basic cell rack, 3 is the expansion cell rack, 4.12.13 is the accessor, 5.18.19
is a mechanical hand, 6.7 is a rail, 8.14 to 17 are drive devices, 9 is a cell area, 10.11 is a cell drum, 20 is a board, 22 is a central processing unit, 23 is a channel, 24 is an optical disk library device , 25 is a channel interface circuit, 26 is a buffer memory, 27 is a buffer control circuit, 28
29 is a processor, 29 is a control memory, 30 is a drive interface circuit, 31 is a drive control circuit, 32 is an accessor interface circuit, 33 is a cell drum drive circuit, 34.36, 37.41 are motors, 35 is an accessor control circuit, 38. 39, 42, 43 are pulleys, 40, 44 is a belt, 45 is a cell, 5 Figure 08-

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A plurality of cells each storing a plurality of recording media are provided on the inner circumference side and the outer circumference side of a cylindrical cell drum (10) (11), A mass storage device characterized in that the recording medium is inserted into and removed from the cell from the inner circumferential side and the outer circumferential side. 2) Accessors (12) (13) for loading and unloading and transporting the recording medium on the inner and outer circumferential sides of the cell drums (10) (11), and the accessors (12) (13).
2. The mass storage device according to claim 1, further comprising drive devices (14) to (17) for recording/reproducing data on the recording medium carried by the storage medium. 3) The cell drums (10) and (11) are divided into an inner circumferential side and an outer circumferential side and provided separately, and the inner circumferential side and outer circumferential side cell drums (10) and (11) are rotatable independently. The mass storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that: 4) In the mass storage device, the cell drum (1
0) an accessor (12) provided on the inner peripheral side of (11);
By transferring the recording medium to and from the accessor (13) provided on the outer circumference side of the cell drum (10) (11), the cell drum (10) on the inner circumference side 4. A large-capacity storage device according to claim 1, wherein a recording medium is stored in the cell drum (11) on the outer peripheral side, and a recording medium that is used less frequently is stored in the cell drum (11) on the outer peripheral side.