JPH0991930A - Library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately and rapidly register and process a recording medium collectively and inexpensively by scanning an arbitrary group of cells in a storage shelf by a carrying robot, and registering and processing the storage position and the medium identification information of a recording medium in the storage shelf in a control memory. SOLUTION: A library controlling device 8 instructs the confirmation of the presence or absence of a recording medium 5 of a storage shelf 1 and the reading of a bar code label 6 for a robot controlling device 9. The device 9 moves a carrying robot 2 horizontally and vertically, locates the robot 2 at an initial position, and allows a reflection-type photo sensor 3 to emit light. The robot 1 is scanned from lower to upper portions to obtain the output waveform of the sensor 3. A signal S1 is digitized by a recognizing device 12 and the output of an encoder 13 is counted and the length of the output waveform of the sensor 3 is obtained, thus judging whether the sensor 3 is normally detecting the position of the storage shelf from the position information of a controlling device 10. The presence or absence of the recording medium is judged from the sum of output waveforms detected between a cell 1a and the cell 1a located one shelf above and is stored as flag information in the medium control memory of the device 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a library device, and more particularly to a technique effectively applied to batch registration of a large number of recording media in the library device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as an external storage device of an information processing system, a storage rack provided with a large number of cells for individually storing portable recording media such as a large number of cartridge type magnetic tapes, and a medium for driving the medium are driven. There is known a library device that realizes an apparently large storage capacity by automatically performing a transfer operation of a recording medium with a drive device that performs a data recording / reproducing operation by a transfer robot.

In such a library device that handles a large number of recording media, the presence or absence (storage position information) of the recording media in each cell of the storage rack is recognized, and the bar code label attached to the outside of each recording medium, etc. It is required to realize a rapid registration process of a recording medium by speeding up the recognition of the medium identification information.

[0004] Conventionally, as means for fulfilling this requirement, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-78401, a specific bar code label different from the bar code label attached to the recording medium is stored in a storage shelf (cell). A technique is disclosed in which a recording medium is attached to a position that can be detected only when it is not stored. In this technology, when the barcode label is read for each storage shelf, it is determined that there is no recording medium if the read barcode label is a specific barcode label, and it is determined that there is a recording medium otherwise. By the method, the presence or absence of the recording medium in each cell of the storage shelf and the recognition of the bar code label attached to the recording medium are attempted to be collectively performed.

As another related technique, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-111804 discloses a technique in which a switch for detecting the presence / absence of a cartridge is provided inside a storage rack.

[0006]

However, in the former registration method in the prior art, although the bar code labels attached to both the recording medium and the cell can be read collectively, the registration processing can be speeded up. There is a technical problem that it is difficult to simplify the manufacturing process of the library device and reduce the manufacturing cost because it is necessary to attach a specific barcode label to all cells of the storage shelves in the library device. .

Similarly, even in the latter prior art, it is necessary to mount extra parts such as a switch for detecting the presence or absence of the medium on all cells of the storage rack, so that it is difficult to simplify the manufacturing process and reduce the manufacturing cost. There is no change.

An object of the present invention is to provide a library device which can perform a batch registration process of recording media accurately and quickly at low cost without requiring special equipment on the side of the storage rack. It is in.

Another object of the present invention is a library capable of collectively recognizing the accurate storage position of a recording medium and the medium identification information given to the recording medium by recognizing the shape of the storage rack at a low cost. To provide a device.

[0010]

The library device of the present invention is designed to convey a recording medium between cells of a storage rack,
Storage rack shape detecting means is provided in the vicinity of the medium identification information recognizing means provided in the transfer robot that performs a recording medium switching operation between each cell and the recording / reproducing device, and each storage cell shape is detected in each cell according to the detected storage rack shape. A configuration for continuously performing an operation of determining whether or not a recording medium is stored in the storage medium and an operation of reading the medium identification information provided to the recording medium when the recording medium is stored in the cell Is.

As the medium identification information given to the recording medium, for example, a bar code label attached to the outside of the recording medium can be used, and the medium identification information recognizing means reads the bar code label. A recognizer can be used.

As the storage rack shape detecting means, a reflection type optical sensor whose output level changes depending on the contour of each cell of the storage rack and the presence / absence of a recording medium is attached to the transfer robot, and the output level of the reflection type optical sensor is mounted. It is possible to use a technique of detecting the shape of the storage rack based on the position information of the transfer robot.

As the recording medium, for example, 1 /
2 inch cartridge magnetic tape, 8mm tape, DA
Various portable recording media such as T-tapes and optical disks and magnetic disks can be mixed or independently stored in the storage rack. When different types of recording media are mixed, a plurality of types of recording / reproducing devices corresponding to each recording medium are mixedly installed.

The storage-shelf shape detecting means mounted near the medium identification information recognizing means moves the transfer robot so as to scan a plurality of cells while irradiating the storage shelf with light from a reflection type optical sensor. By detecting the reflected light according to the shape of the storage shelf surface, the pitch of each cell of the storage shelf in the scanning direction and the cell based on the detection level of this reflected light and the position information of the moving transport robot. Recognize the dimensions and shape of the recording medium inside. As a result, by the simple operation of detecting the level change of the reflected light from the storage shelf, it is possible to accurately determine the presence or absence of the recording medium in each cell without causing an erroneous detection due to noise of the reflected light or the like. it can. When the recording medium is stored in the cell being recognized, the barcode label attached to the outside of the recording medium is read as it is. The presence or absence of the recording medium (that is, the storage position information of the recording medium) and the identification information of each recording medium in each cell thus obtained are registered in the medium management memory in a state of being associated with each other. In normal operation, processing such as searching or moving the recording medium is performed by referring to the individual information stored in the medium management memory.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the operation of a library device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an example of the relationship between the functional blocks constituting the library device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a storage rack and a transfer robot in the library apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 shows an example of a storage format of a medium management memory provided in the library apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the reflection type optical sensor provided in the library device of the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an example of batch registration processing of recording media in the library device of the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of the overall configuration of the library device according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a part of the library device according to the present embodiment in a cutaway manner. That.

First, an example of the overall configuration of the library device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 7 and 8. A plurality of recording media 5 are provided inside the closed casing 20.
The storage rack 1 is provided with a large number of cells 1a individually stored on the opposite surfaces. Some storage shelves 1
A medium loading port (not shown) is opened in the rear of the storage shelf 1 in a shape equivalent to the cell 1a, and the recording medium 5 loaded from the medium loading port is driven to record / reproduce information. A recording / reproducing device 15 for performing the above is arranged. A transport robot 2 that runs along the storage rack 1 is provided in the central space of the storage rack 1. In addition, outside the housing 20,
A control mechanism as described below is provided, and a control console 18 operated by an administrator of the library device is provided. The storage shelf 1 is configured in frame units including a predetermined number of cells 1a, and the storage capacity of the library device can be arbitrarily set by increasing or decreasing the number of storage shelves 1 in this frame unit. .

The transfer robot 2 has a horizontal rail 2 laid along the width direction at the bottom of the space in the center of the storage rack 1.
a and a truck 2b traveling along the horizontal rail 2a
A lift rail 2c mounted on the carriage 2b along the height direction of the storage rack 1, an accessor 2d that moves up and down along the lift rail 2c, and a carriage 2b for horizontal movement are not shown. The vertical movement motor 2e is composed of a horizontal movement motor, a pulse motor, etc., and moves the accessor 2d up and down. And trolley 2
It is possible to position the accessor 2d to an arbitrary cell 1a of the storage rack 1 by combining the horizontal movement of b with the lifting operation of the accessor 2d. The accessor 2d is configured to rotate within a range of 180 ° in the horizontal plane about the rotation axis 2f, and faces the cells 1a of the two facing storage surfaces of the storage shelf 1 to face the recording medium 5 It is possible to store and take out.

The accessor 2d is provided with a robot hand (not shown) for loading / unloading the recording medium 5 into / from the arbitrary cell 1a of the storage rack 1 and loading / unloading the recording medium 5 into / from the recording / reproducing apparatus 15. By performing the above, it is possible to automatically perform the reshuffling operation of the arbitrary recording medium 5 stored in the storage rack 1 with respect to the recording / reproducing device 15.

In a part of the housing 20, for example, the storage shelf 1
A recording medium loading / unloading mechanism 16 having a structure in which a part of the cells 1a at the array end of is rolled around a vertical axis so that the cells 1a can be exposed to the outside of the casing 20 is provided. It is possible to manually insert and remove a relatively small number of recording media 5 into and from a part of the cells 1a of the storage rack 1 of the library apparatus by hand. Further, a door 17 is provided on the end surface of the housing 20, so that an operator can bring in a large number of recording media 5 into the housing 20 and load them into the cells 1a of the storage shelf 1 at once. It is also possible to perform operations such as doing.

In the case of this embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the accessor 2d of the transfer robot 2 is attached to the outer end surface of the recording medium 5 at the bottom of the accessor 2d, and the individual identification information of the recording medium 5 is recorded. A bar code reader 4 for reading the bar code label 6 is installed, and a reflective optical sensor 3 is provided on the side surface.

The reflection type optical sensor 3 has a light emitting element 3 at a position facing the storage shelf 1 as shown in FIG.
In this configuration, a and the light receiving element 3b are arranged. The light emitting element 3a is composed of, for example, a red LED, emits the inspection light 3c having a specific wavelength to the storage shelf 1 side, and the light receiving element 3b emits the reflected light 3d of the specific wavelength from the storage shelf 1 by the inspection light 3c. Is detected, and the amount of detected light is converted into an analog electric signal and output. The inspection light 3c is subjected to a specific modulation, and the light receiving element 3b performs an operation of selectively detecting only the light having the modulation as the reflected light 3d, so that the influence of noise such as ambient illumination light is exerted. It is possible to perform a highly accurate detection operation without being affected. The reflection type optical sensor 3 having the above-mentioned configuration is generally commercially available and can be obtained at low cost.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, a main part of a control system of the library apparatus of the present embodiment for controlling each of the above-mentioned components will be described. The library control device 8 that controls the exchange of commands and data with a higher-level device 7 such as a host computer (not shown) and controls the overall operation of the control device stores information as illustrated in FIG. A medium management memory 19 is provided.

The medium management memory 19 is, for example, a storage rack position composed of a frame number, a horizontal cell coordinate X, a vertical cell coordinate Y, a Z coordinate indicating which of the two storage surfaces facing each other, and the like. Information 19a, presence information 19b indicating whether or not the recording medium 5 is accommodated, and medium identification information 19 such as the volume serial number of the recording medium 5 accommodated.
Each information entry of c is set in association with the number of cells, is initialized by a registration operation described later, and is sequentially updated by moving the recording medium 5, and is used for management of the recording medium 5 and the like.

A robot controller 9 is connected to the library controller 8. The robot controller 9 uses the vertical movement motor drive circuit 14 to drive the vertical movement motor 2e.
Drive the elevator rail 2 of the accessor 2d.
While controlling the vertical movement operation along c, the rotational displacement of the vertical movement motor 2e (vertical movement displacement of the accessor 2d) is converted into a digital pulse S3 via the digital encoder 13, and the position recognition control device 10 is operated. It is fed back to the robot control device 9 via the robot control device 9, and the raising / lowering operation and the positioning operation of the accessor 2d are controlled by the closed loop control. Although not particularly shown, movement and positioning operation of the carriage 2b in the direction along the horizontal rail 2a is also performed by a similar control system.

The bar code reader 4 provided in the accessor 2d is controlled in reading timing and the like via the bar code label recognizing device 11 connected to the robot controller 9, and the read result is the bar code label recognizing device 11. , Is input to the library control device 8 via the robot control device 9.

The analog output S1 from the reflection type optical sensor 3 provided in the accessor 2d is input to the recording medium presence / absence recognizing device 12. Further, the recording medium presence / absence recognizing device 12 is inputted with the digital pulse S3 indicating the rotational displacement of the vertical movement motor 2e from the digital encoder 13 and the position information output from the position recognizing control device 10. The recording medium presence / absence recognizing device 12 converts the analog output S1 from the reflection type optical sensor 3 into a digital waveform S2 at a predetermined slice level, and the digital pulse S3 input via the digital encoder 13 and the position recognizing control device 10. With reference to the output position information, the presence or absence of the recording medium 5 in the cell 1a of the storage rack 1 is determined as described below,
The input operation to the robot controller 9 is performed.

An example of the operation of the library device of this embodiment will be described below. First, the operation of the entire library apparatus will be described for the case where the recording medium 5 is registered.

The method of registering the recording medium 5 in the library device illustrated in FIG. 7 uses the recording medium loading / unloading mechanism 16 and the operator stores the recording medium 5 via the door 17 of the housing 20. There is a method of storing directly on the shelf 1. In the former method, the recording medium 5 is manually inserted into the recording medium loading / unloading mechanism 1
6 is stored in the movable cell 6 and the stored recording medium 5 is transferred to the cell 1a at a predetermined position of the storage rack 1 by the transport robot 2, so that the recording medium 5 can be registered in the library device. When registering in the device, the number of storages in the recording medium input / output mechanism 16 is limited, and the transfer robot 2
An enormous amount of time is required due to the transportation time and the like. On the other hand, in the latter method, a large amount of recording media 5 can be collectively stored directly in the storage rack 1 by hand, and the transfer robot 2 can recognize the state of the storage rack in the library device for registration. Become. In this method, after the recording medium 5 is stored in the storage rack 1, the registration process can be automatically executed, so that an operator or the like becomes unnecessary. In addition, the transfer robot 2
Since the recording medium 5 is not transported by the above method, the speed can be increased. Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, a technique of performing the batch registration processing of the recording medium 5 by the latter method quickly while maintaining high reliability will be described in detail.

First of all, the worker is the door 17 of the library device.
Then, a large amount of recording media 5 are collectively stored directly in each cell 1a of the storage shelf 1, and the door 17 is closed. In FIG. 2, the library control device 8 recognizes that the operator has access to the storage shelf 1 by opening and closing the door 17, the loading / unloading of the recording medium 5 is performed, and the storage information is changed, The robot controller 9 is instructed to confirm the presence / absence of the recording medium 5 on each storage rack 1 in the library apparatus and to read the barcode label 6 on the recording medium 5.

Based on this instruction, the robot controller 9 moves the transfer robot 2 (accessor 2d) in the horizontal and vertical directions, positions the transfer robot 2 at a predetermined initial position, and then causes the reflective optical sensor 3 to emit light. Let And
As illustrated in FIG. 1, by causing the transfer robot 2 to scan vertically from bottom to top along one vertical column of the cell 1a, the reflection-type optical sensor 3 according to the shape of the storage shelf surface. And the output waveform (digital pulse S3) of the digital encoder 13 are obtained. The analog signal S1 is digitized by the recording medium presence / absence recognizing device 12, and the length of the rectangular wave of the obtained digital waveform S2 (HIGH portion of digital output) is counted by the output (digital pulse S3) of the digital encoder 13. Thus, the physical length of the output waveform of the reflection type optical sensor 3 is obtained, and when the digital waveform S2 obtained from the reflection type optical sensor 3 changes, the position information of the position recognition control device 10 is confirmed. It is possible to judge whether the reflective optical sensor 3 normally detects the position of the storage shelf.

By determining the sum of the output waveforms detected between the target cell 1a and the cell 1a one step higher and determining the physical length, it is possible to recognize whether it is due to noise or due to the recording medium 5. The presence / absence of the recording medium 5 in the target cell 1a is temporarily stored in the memory or register of the robot controller 9 as flag information. That is, in the case of this embodiment,
Since the reflective optical sensor 3 is located higher than the bar code reader 4, the target cell 1a is first placed in the reflective optical sensor 3
And the bar code reader 4 passes after that, the presence / absence of the recording medium 5 in the cell 1a by the reflection type optical sensor 3 is temporarily stored, and the bar code reader 4 passes through the cell 1a with a certain delay. This is because the control is performed based on the information about the presence or absence of the control as described later.

The robot controller 9 operates the transfer robot 2 at a constant speed in the vertical direction regardless of the presence or absence of the recording medium 5 in the target cell 1a, and is attached to the lower part of the reflection type optical sensor 3 in the accessor 2d. At the timing when the reading target of the barcode reader 4 reaches the barcode label 6 attached to the outside of the recording medium 5, the information about the presence / absence of the recording medium 5 stored in the memory or the register of the robot controller 9 ( Flag), if the recording medium 5 is accommodated in the target cell 1a, a read command signal S4 is output to the barcode label recognition device 11,
At this occasion, the bar code reader 4 scans the bar code label 6 attached to the outside of the recording medium 5, the bar code label recognition device 11 recognizes the information of the bar code label 6, and the library control device 8 stores the recording medium. Information about the presence / absence of 5 and the medium identification information of the barcode label 6 are reported and stored in the medium management memory 19 shown in FIG. If the recording medium 5 is not stored in the target cell 1a, only the information about the presence / absence of the recording medium 5 is reported to the library control device 8 and stored in the medium management memory 19 shown in FIG. Further, the robot controller 9 performs the same operation on the cell 1a one step higher, so that the transfer robot 2 can be operated at a constant speed without stopping, and higher speed can be realized. The same operation is repeated for all the cells 1a designated in the predetermined registration range of the storage rack 1. An example of such a series of operations is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

Although the presence of the cell 1a was confirmed by the scanning by the reflection type optical sensor 3 as described above, the recording medium 5 in which the barcode label 6 failed to be read or the barcode label 6 was originally attached. For the recording medium 5 that has not been recorded, its position information is stored, and thereafter, the recording / reproducing device 15 is loaded to read the medium identification information from a specific area of the medium, or the recording medium 5 is loaded as an error as a recording medium. Processing such as discharging to the outside via the discharging mechanism 16 can be performed.

As described above, according to the library device of the present embodiment, the cells 1a in the registration range of the storage rack 1 are continuously scanned by the transfer robot 2 (accessor 2d), and the reflection mounted on the transfer robot 2 is performed. The presence or absence of the recording medium 5 in each cell 1a of the storage rack 1 is determined based on the output level of the mold optical sensor 3 and the position information of the transport robot 2, and if the recording medium 5 exists in the target cell 1a, By the operation of reading the bar code label 6 attached to the recording medium 5 with the code reader 4, the registration processing of the recording mediums 5 stored in the large number of cells 1a of the storage shelf 1 is continuously and collectively performed. No special equipment (for example, sticking of barcode label, recording medium detection switch, etc.) is required for the storage shelf 1 or each cell 1a, and the recording medium 5 is collectively registered at low cost. It is possible to perform physical accurately and quickly.

Further, the output of the reflection type photosensor 3 having a simple structure including a pair of the light emitting element 3a and the light receiving element 3b,
The shape of the cell 1a of the storage rack 1 and the recording medium 5 is determined based on the information from the digital encoder 13 and the position recognition control device 10 originally provided for the transfer robot 2 for position control. , The relevant CC
No expensive equipment such as complicated image recognition software for recognizing the image of the cell 1a or the recording medium 5 in real time from the image obtained from the D camera is required. A significant reduction in manufacturing costs can be realized. Further, when a CCD camera or the like is used, it is susceptible to noise such as intensity of surrounding illumination light, but in the case of the present embodiment, the modulated inspection light 3c and its reflected light 3d are selectively selected. Since the reflection type optical sensor 3 for detecting is used, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of the recording medium 5 with high accuracy without being affected by noise such as intensity of surrounding illumination light. Therefore, it is possible to collectively perform accurate recognition of the storage position of the recording medium 5 and the medium identification information given to the recording medium by recognizing the shape of the storage shelf 1 at low cost.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

For example, the configurations of the storage rack, the transfer robot, etc. are not limited to those exemplified in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0039]

According to the library apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to accurately and promptly perform a batch registration process of recording media at low cost without requiring special equipment on the storage shelf side. The effect is obtained.

Further, it is possible to collectively recognize the accurate storage position of the recording medium and the medium identification information given to the recording medium by recognizing the shape of the storage rack at low cost.
The effect is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of an operation of a library device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a relationship between respective functional blocks constituting the library device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a storage rack and a transfer robot in the library device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a storage format of a medium management memory provided in the library device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of a reflective photosensor included in the library device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of batch registration processing of recording media in the library device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view showing an example of the overall configuration of a library device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a part of the library device according to an embodiment of the present invention in a cutaway manner.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Storage rack, 1a ... Cell, 2 ... Transfer robot, 2a ... Horizontal rail, 2b ... Cart, 2c ... Lift rail, 2d ... Accessor, 2e ... Vertical movement motor, 2f ... Rotation axis, 3 ... Reflection type optical sensor 3a ... Light emitting element, 3b ... Light receiving element, 3c
… Inspection light, 3d… Reflected light, 4… Bar code reader, 5…
Recording medium, 6 ... Bar code label, 7 ... Host device, 8 ...
Library control device, 9 ... Robot control device, 10 ... Position recognition control device, 11 ... Bar code label recognition device, 1
2 ... Recording medium presence / absence recognizing device, 13 ... Digital encoder, 14 ... Vertical movement motor drive circuit, 15 ... Recording / reproducing device, 16 ... Recording medium loading / unloading mechanism, 17 ... Door, 18 ... Control console, 19 ... Medium management memory, 20 ... Housing.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage shelf having a plurality of cells in which a portable recording medium is individually stored, a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing data to / from the loaded recording medium, and the recording / reproducing device between the cells. A transport robot that performs a transport operation of the recording medium and a transport operation of the recording medium between the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device, a transport robot control device that controls the operation of the transport robot, and an instruction from a host device. A library control device for managing the recording medium by controlling the operations of the recording / reproducing device and the transfer robot control device, wherein the transfer robot recognizes the shape of the storage rack. And a first function of determining the presence or absence of the recording medium in each of the cells, and a medium from the recording medium located in each of the cells. A second function of reading separate information, the library control device includes a medium management memory in which the storage position of the recording medium in the storage shelf and the medium identification information are stored, and the storage robot stores the storage medium. By scanning the cell group in an arbitrary range on the shelf, the storage position of the recording medium on the storage shelf and the registration processing of the medium identification information in the medium management memory are collectively performed. .