JPH0810518B2 - Cassette automatic sending device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention automatically loads tape cassettes in a VTR in program order and continuously reproduces a plurality of commercials between programs at a broadcasting station, for example. The present invention relates to a cassette automatic delivery device that is suitable for use in the case of delivery in advance.

[Outline of Invention]

The present invention automatically takes out cassettes from a cassette shelf in which a large number of cassettes are individually stored, in program order,
In a device that loads this into a VTR and performs sequential playback, a weighting shelf for temporarily stocking the next cassette to be sent is provided near the VTR, which enables high-speed operation between the cassette shelf and the VTR. This is for easy access.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In a broadcasting station, when a plurality of different commercial messages (hereinafter abbreviated as CM) are transmitted at the time between programs, an apparatus for automatically performing this is used.

The conditions required for this CM automatic sending device are that one CM is recorded on one cassette tape, and that the number of CMs for one day, for example, 500 to 600 cassettes can be stored. It is possible to continuously send CMs of about a second in real time, to see the cassette label and to easily load the cassette, and to maintain the VTR easily.

As a device satisfying the above conditions, a device as shown in FIG. 4 has been conventionally proposed.

That is, as shown in the figure, a cassette shelf (2) having n cassettes in the vertical direction and m cassettes in the horizontal direction (1) is provided, and 500 to 600 rolls (= n × m) for one day are provided. The video tape cassette (hereinafter simply referred to as a cassette) (3) is separately stored in the cassette storage portion of the cassette shelf (2). A plurality of VTRs (4) (5) (6) (7) are placed next to the cassette shelf (2), in the example shown in the figure. In addition, behind the cassette shelf (2), the tape cassette is taken out from the storage section (1) and loaded into the VTR, and the cassette for which CM has been sent is taken out from the VTR and returned to the shelf (2) XY A handler is provided. This XY handler is configured to move in both the lateral direction (X direction) and the lateral direction (Y direction) of the cassette shelf in accordance with a command from the host computer, and the cassette storage section (1) of the cassette shelf (2). ), The cassette is taken in and out, and the cassette is taken in and out of the VTR (4) to (7). As the XY handler, the cassette feeding mechanism described in JP-A-60-107766 can be used.

When sending out commercials by the above system, the host computer is pre-programmed with commands in sequence,
CMs are sent out in the following program order.

That is, first, the cassettes of the first to the fourth CMs are preliminarily set by the XY handler to the four VTRs (4)-
It is loaded in (7). And between programs
When the CM time comes, the CMs are sequentially sent out from the VTRs (4) to (7), but the CMs in the next order are replaced in the VTR that has finished sending out the CMs, and the sending ends. The cassette is stored by the XY handler in the base storage section (1) of the cassette shelf (2) or in the empty storage section (1) after the barcode attached to the cassette is read, and the cassette is stored. When using again, register it in the memory so that the storage location can be found.

In this way, when four or more CMs are continuously sent during the CM time, the cassette is set for the VTR that has finished sending within the time when the CM is sent by any of the VTRs (4) to (7). I am trying to replace.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

For example, when 600 video cassettes are arranged as described above, the size of the cassette shelf is about 1.8 m in height (Y direction) and 3.6 m in width (X direction). When the cassette shelf becomes large in this way, the traveling distance of the XY handler becomes long. If the time length of one CM is about 10 seconds, the handler must be moved at a considerably high speed in order to continuously play this. Also, as the cassette shelf becomes larger, the XY handler itself becomes larger and heavier, but moving a heavy object at high speed requires power, which is a problem in terms of noise, life, and reliability.

[Means for solving problems]

In this invention, a plurality of VTRs (4) to (7)
A cassette rack (2) in which a large number of cassettes are individually stored, and a handler for loading and unloading cassettes between the VTRs (4) to (7) and the cassette rack (2). The cassettes in order according to the order
In a device for performing playback by inserting / removing into / from (4) to (7), at least V
A weighting shelf (10) having a larger number of storage units than the number of TRs is provided, and a cassette to be subsequently sent to the VTR is temporarily stocked in this weighting shelf (10).

[Action]

Considering, for example, a CM transmission form, generally, a plurality of CMs are transmitted as a block between programs. That is, the operation of playing back and sending out by the VTR does not continuously and gradually, but a certain time is usually interposed between the CM chunks and the CM chunks. Also, the content of the CM block is about 15 CMs at most in Japan, for example.
Is.

Therefore, during the time between the CM block and the C block, cassettes for the CM block to be sent next are stocked in the weighting shelf (10). Then, when sending out the CM, this waiting rack (10) and VTRs (4) to (7)
Transfer cassettes only during the period. Since this weighting shelf (10) is near the VTRs (4) to (7), the handler has a short moving distance and high-speed access is facilitated.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an example of the device of the present invention. In this example,
The storage racks in a row, which are closest to the VTRs (4) to (7) of the cassette rack (2) and are shaded in the figure, are used as the weighting rack (10). In this case, 20 for this line
Prepare a storage unit (1) for ~ 30 cassettes, and prepare a number of storage units that is slightly larger than the number of CMs to be sent as one block of CM.

As described above, the sending order and sending time of CMs are already determined and are generally registered in the host computer. Therefore, during the time when the CM is not transmitted (the program transmission time), the XY handler operates to arrange the cassettes to be transmitted subsequently from the cassette shelf (2) to the waiting shelf (10).

Next, when the time to send the CM arrives, the cassette of the weighting shelf (10) is sequentially put into and taken out from the VTR (4) to (7) that has finished sending by the XY handler.

At this time, if the XY handler does not need to move at all or hardly moves in the X direction, the movement in the Y direction becomes the main. Therefore, if the Y handler is structurally made light, high-speed support can be achieved without difficulty.

That is, FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the XY handler, which has an X handler (11) and a Y handler (12), and the X handler (11) is attached to the guide rod (13). The Y handler (12) moves in the X direction along the guide rod (14) fixed to the X handler (11).

Waiting shelves (10) for VTRs (4)-(7)
When sequentially loading and unloading cassettes, only the Y handler (12) moves in the XY handler, or the X handler (11) moves close to the weighting rack (10) and VTR.
The movement is only a short distance between the movements of (4) and (7), which facilitates high-speed operation.

In this case, it is also possible to use an XY handler having two cassette storage portions and allowing the cassettes to be taken in and out only once. In other words, it is also possible to take out a cassette that has been sent out from the VTR, load it into this handler, and immediately load the next cassette from this handler into this VTR.

 The operation procedure of the above system is shown in FIG.

That is, first, it is judged whether or not it is n seconds before the sending of the CM block (step [101]). This n seconds is, for example, the time for which the cassettes of the weighting rack (10) can be replaced with the four VTRs (4) to (7). Then, until n seconds before, that is, during the program transmission time, the process proceeds to step [102], and the waiting rack (1
It is determined whether or not there is a used cassette or a vacant storage unit in 0), and if there is, proceed to step [103] to perform cassette replacement work by the XY handler between the cassette shelf (2) and the weighting shelf (10). It If there are no used cassettes or empty storage units on the weighting shelf (10), the process returns to step [101] and waits until n seconds before the CM is sent. During this wait, the XY handler is waiting rack (1
It is convenient if it is set to position 0).

Then, n seconds before the CM is sent, the process proceeds from step [101] to step [104], and the waiting rack (10) and V
Cassettes are exchanged between TR (4) to (7). Next, the process proceeds to step [105], it is determined whether or not to continuously send out a commercial, and if there is a sending out commercial, step [104]
, And the VTR that has already been sent out when the CM is sent out
Cassettes are exchanged between any of (4) to (7) and the weighting rack (10).

When there are no more commercials to send continuously, go to step [10
Returning to step 1), the cassettes are replaced between the weighting rack (10) and the cassette rack (2) again by steps [102] and [103] until n seconds before the next CM transmission time.

Thus, the cassette shelving (2) and the weighting shelving (10) are replaced in the time between one lump of CM and the next one lump, so that the weighting shelves (10) should always be delivered. Will be stored.

Therefore, during the CM sending time, the cassette can be exchanged by the XY handler only between the VTR (4) to (7) and the weighting shelf (10). As mentioned above, the Y handler of the XY handler can be lightened to support high speed. You can do that.

Further, since the cassette to be sent should always be present on the weighting shelf, there is an advantage that the presence of the cassette to be sent can be visually confirmed before sending the CM.

The weighting shelf may be structurally the same as other cassette shelves, or the structure may be changed so that it cannot be manually accessed. That is, the weighting shelves (10) may be provided separately from the cassette shelves (2).

The XY handler also has a weighting rack (10) and VTR.
It is possible to separately provide a dedicated cassette for delivering the cassette between (4) and (7).

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, a weighting rack is provided near the VTR, and the cassette to be next output is always stocked on this weighting rack. Switching can be performed only with this weighting rack, and the handler needs to move little in the X direction, for example, and can handle high-speed operations without difficulty.

Further, since the cassettes to be sent out are stocked on the weighting rack, there is an advantage that the presence of the cassettes to be sent out can be visually confirmed on the weighting rack before sending out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an example of the invention device, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of the XY handler, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation procedure of the invention device.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of an example of a conventional device. (1) is a cassette storage part, (2) is a cassette shelf, (4)
~ (7) is a VTR and (10) is a weighting rack.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of VTRs, a cassette shelf in which a large number of video cassettes are individually housed, and a handler for loading and unloading video cassettes between the VTR and the cassette shelf, which are predetermined. In a device for sequentially loading and unloading video cassettes in the VTR according to the order, a weighting rack having at least a larger number of storage units than the number of VTRs is provided in the vicinity of the plurality of VTRs. An automatic cassette delivery device that temporarily stocks video cassettes to be sent to the waiting rack.