JP2001126367A - Library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a library device which can increase the picking speed of an accessor when the cartridge media are picked out of plural insertion/ ejection ports via the accessor. SOLUTION: A shutter 9 is provided with an image sensor 13. When a cartridge medium 12 is taken out of an insertion/ejection port 11, the port 11 that prepared inside a casing 1 is exposed by a sliding operation of the shutter 9. At the same time, the sensor 13 detects both information on the presence/ absence and the position of the medium 12 existing at the port 11. Then an accessor 2 is directly positioned at the port 11 including the medium 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a library apparatus such as a magnetic tape or an optical disk, and more particularly to a method of loading a cartridge medium into a loading / unloading mechanism and picking up a cartridge medium from the loading / unloading mechanism by an accessor. The present invention relates to a library device that detects the presence or absence of a cartridge medium at an outlet and enables a picking operation of an accessor at a high speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional library apparatus of this type will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional library apparatus 40, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing details of a charging / discharging mechanism 42 in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a library device 40 includes a housing 1 and a cartridge medium 1 in the housing 1.
2, a loading / discharging mechanism 42 for discharging the cartridge medium 12 out of the housing 1, a plurality of cells 14 arranged on the inner wall of the housing 1 for storing the cartridge medium 12, and a rail 3 fixed in the housing 1. And the rail 3
An accessor 2 that moves upward, and a cartridge medium 12 provided in the accessor 2
A picker mechanism 45 for performing a picking operation for taking out and storing and holding the cartridge medium 12 and a putting operation for storing the cartridge medium 12 in the cell 14 or the input / output mechanism 42. The input / output mechanism 42 mounts and stores the cartridge medium 12. A plurality of loading / unloading ports 11, a door 7 covering the loading / unloading port 11 on the outside of the housing 1, an opening / closing button 8 for opening / closing the door 7, and a loading / unloading port 11 on the inside of the housing 1. And a shutter 43 that can slide.

The shutter 43 is located at a position covering the inside of the housing 1 of the insertion / ejection opening 11 when the cartridge medium 12 is inserted into the insertion / ejection mechanism 42 from the outside of the housing 1. When the accessor 2 removes the cartridge medium 12 from the charging / discharging mechanism 42 to prevent the cartridge medium 12 from being dropped into the inside, the slide operation is performed to expose the charging / discharging port 11 inside the housing 1 (the state shown in FIG. 4). The picked up cartridge medium 12 is picked up by the picker mechanism 45.

Further, the picker mechanism 45 includes the accessor 2
The picker hand 5 moves upward and vertically (Z direction in FIG. 3) and performs picking and putting operations of the cartridge medium 12, a finger 6 for sandwiching and holding the cartridge medium 12, and a cartridge medium of the loading / unloading port 11. And an optical sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the twelve.

Next, the operation of the library device 40 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

The operation of storing the cartridge medium 12 from the outside of the housing 1 into the cell 14 in the housing 1 will be described.

First, when the user (operator) presses the open / close button 8 of the door 7, the loading / discharging mechanism 42, which detects that the open / close button 8 is pressed, sets the shutter 43 to the loading / unloading port inside the housing 1. 11 is slid in the closing direction to close the charging / discharging port 11, and then the door 7 is opened.

When the door 7 is opened, the user inserts an arbitrary number of cartridge media 12 into an arbitrary position of the loading / unloading port 11. Shutter 4 to prevent falling
It stops in the state where it is pushed to the position of 3.

When the loading of the cartridge medium 12 is completed,
The user closes the door 7. The input / output mechanism 42 that detects that the door 7 has been closed moves the shutter 43 to the input / output port 1.
1 is slid in the opening direction.

Next, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 45
Under the control of an accessor control unit (not shown), the cartridge is positioned at a position corresponding to a certain input / output port 11, and the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected by the optical sensor 41. The picker hand 5 performs a picking operation by sandwiching and holding the cartridge medium 12 with the fingers 6 of the above, and then the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 45 move to a position corresponding to the predetermined cell 14 provided in the housing 1. After the positioning, the picker hand 5 of the picker mechanism 45 is operated in the cell direction, and the fingers 6 holding and holding the cartridge medium 12 are released to release the cartridge medium 1.
A put operation is performed to store 2 in a cell.

The accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 45 are positioned, and the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected by the optical sensor 41. If the cartridge medium 12 is not present, the presence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected until the optical sensor 41 detects the presence of the cartridge medium 12. Accessor 2 and picker mechanism 4 to another inlet / outlet 11
The operation of positioning by moving 5 is repeated.

Therefore, in the picking operation for taking out the cartridge medium 12 from the loading / unloading port 11, a plurality of loading / unloading ports 1 are detected until the cartridge medium 12 is detected.
Accessor 2 and picker mechanism 45 for sequentially searching 1
There is a disadvantage that it takes time to move and position the camera, and the larger the loading / discharging mechanism 42, the longer the search time.

[0015]

As described above,
In the conventional library device, after positioning the accessor and picker mechanism at the position corresponding to the input / output port, the optical sensor detects the presence or absence of the cartridge medium, and sequentially searches the input / output port until the presence of the cartridge medium is detected. In addition, there is a problem that it takes time for the pick operation to take out the cartridge medium from the charging / discharging port, and the total operation time from when the cartridge medium is stored in the cell in the housing from outside the housing becomes long.

An object of the present invention is to supply a cartridge medium to an insertion / ejection mechanism and, when picking up the cartridge medium from the insertion / ejection mechanism by a picker mechanism of an accessor, determine in advance whether or not there is a cartridge medium at a plurality of insertion / ejection ports. An object of the present invention is to provide a library device that has been detected and that can speed up the picking operation of an accessor.

[0017]

According to the present invention, there is provided a library apparatus comprising: a housing; a loading / unloading mechanism for loading a cartridge medium into or out of the housing; and a cartridge medium disposed on an inner wall of the housing. A plurality of cells to be stored, a rail fixed in the housing, an accessor supported on the rail to move on the rail, and a pick operation provided on the accessor for taking out a cartridge medium from the cell or the input / output mechanism and storing / holding the cartridge medium. A picker mechanism for performing a put operation for storing the cartridge medium in the cell or the loading / unloading mechanism. The loading / unloading mechanism includes a plurality of loading / unloading ports for loading and storing the cartridge medium, and a loading / unloading port on the outside of the housing. A door for covering the door, an open / close button for opening / closing the door, a shutter slidably covering the input / output port on the inner side of the housing, and a shutter And having a sensor provided.

The sensor is characterized by detecting the presence or absence of a cartridge medium at the loading / unloading port.

The sensor detects the presence or absence of a cartridge medium in all of the input / output ports when the shutter slides.

[0020] The sensor is characterized in that it is arranged in a vertical direction corresponding to the charging / discharging port.

The sensor is an image sensor or a light reflection type sensor.

The light reflection type sensor is characterized by being a laser sensor or a combination sensor of a light emitting diode and a phototransistor.

The shutter covers the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading opening when the cartridge medium is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism from the outside of the housing, prevents the cartridge medium being loaded from dropping into the inside of the housing, and the accessor allows the loading and discharging of the cartridge medium. When the cartridge medium is taken out from the mechanism, a sliding operation is performed to expose the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port, and the loaded cartridge medium is picked up by the accessor.

The shutter is characterized in that it can slide horizontally.

The picker mechanism has a picker hand for picking and putting a cartridge medium, and a finger for holding and holding the cartridge medium.

The charging and discharging ports are characterized by being arranged in a square.

[0027] The cartridge medium is a magnetic tape cartridge medium or an optical disk cartridge medium.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a library device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a library device 20 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of the loading / discharging mechanism 10 in FIG. The conventional library device 4
The same components as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 showing 0 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the library device 20 includes a housing 1 and a cartridge medium 1 in the housing 1.
2, a loading / discharging mechanism 10 for discharging the cartridge medium 12 out of the housing 1, a plurality of cells 14 arranged on the inner wall of the housing 1 for storing the cartridge medium 12, and a rail 3 fixed in the housing 1. And the rail 3
An accessor 2 that moves upward, and a cartridge medium 12 provided in the accessor 2
A picker mechanism 15 for performing a picking operation for taking out and storing the cartridge medium 12 from the storage medium 0 and a putting operation for storing the cartridge medium 12 in the cell 14 or the loading / unloading mechanism 10. A plurality of input / output ports 11 arranged in a rectangular shape, a door 7 covering the input / output port 11 on the outside of the housing 1, an open / close button 8 for opening / closing the door 7, and an input / output on the inside of the housing 1. The shutter 9 covers the discharge port 11 and is slidable. The image sensor 13 is provided in the shutter and detects the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 in the input / output port 11. The image sensor 13 corresponds to the input / output port 11. Are arranged vertically,
The shutter 9 is configured to be able to detect the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 in all of the input / output ports 11 in accordance with the sliding movement of the shutter 9 in the horizontal direction (XX direction in FIG. 2).

When the cartridge medium 12 is loaded into the loading / discharging mechanism 10 from the outside of the casing 1, the shutter is located at a position covering the inside of the casing 1 of the loading / discharging port 11, and the casing 1 of the cartridge medium 12 being loaded. The accessor 2 prevents the cartridge medium 1 from the loading / discharging mechanism 10 from falling into the inside.
When taking out 2, slide operation is performed, and
1 is in a position (in a state shown in FIG. 2) where the inside of the housing 1 is exposed, and the inserted cartridge medium 12 is
5 is picked up.

Further, the picker mechanism 15 includes the accessor 2
The picker hand 5 is moved up and down (Z direction in FIG. 1) and positioned to perform picking and putting operations of the cartridge medium 12, and fingers 6 for sandwiching and holding the cartridge medium 12.

Next, the operation of the library device 20 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

The operation of storing the cartridge medium 12 from the outside of the housing 1 into the cell 14 in the housing 1 will be described.

First, when the user (operator) presses the open / close button 8 of the door 7, the loading / discharging mechanism 10, which detects that the open / close button 8 is pressed, sets the shutter 9 to the loading / discharging port inside the housing 1. Slide 11 in the closing direction,
After closing the charging / discharging port 11, the door 7 is opened.

When the door 7 is opened, the user inserts an arbitrary number of the cartridge media 12 into an arbitrary position of the loading / unloading opening 11. Shutter 9 to prevent falling
Stops when pushed to the position.

When the loading of the cartridge medium 12 is completed,
The user closes the door 7. Upon detecting that the door 7 has been closed, the loading / discharging mechanism 10 causes the image sensor 13 to scan the loading / unloading ports 11 for the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 and slide the shutter 9 in the opening direction of the loading / discharging ports 11. .

By this sliding operation, the charging / discharging port 11 inside the housing 1 is exposed, and the image sensor 13 can read the information on the presence or absence of the cartridge medium in the charging / discharging port 11 and the position information.

Next, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 15
Under the control of an accessor control unit (not shown), the cartridge medium 12 is positioned at a position corresponding to the charging / discharging port 11 in which the cartridge medium 12 is present, and the fingers 6 of the picker mechanism 15 pinch and grip the cartridge medium 12 and take it out with the picker hand 5. After performing a pick operation, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 15 are moved to a position corresponding to a predetermined cell 14 provided in the housing 1 and positioned.
By operating the picker hand 5 of the picker mechanism 15 in the cell direction and releasing the fingers 6 that sandwich and hold the cartridge medium 12, a put operation for storing the cartridge medium 12 in the cell is performed.

In the above embodiment, the charging / discharging port 1
Although the image sensor 13 is used as a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12, a laser sensor or a light reflection type sensor of a combination sensor of a light emitting diode and a phototransistor is used as the sensor, and a vertical The same effect as in the present embodiment can be obtained even in the case where the number of the input / output ports 11 in the vertical direction is arranged in a line, and it goes without saying that the present invention is included in the present invention.

As described above, when the cartridge medium 12 is taken out from the input / output port 11 of the input / output mechanism 10, the input / output port 11 inside the housing 1 is exposed by the sliding operation of the shutter 9, and the image sensor 13 is removed. By detecting the information on the presence or absence of the cartridge medium in the input / output port 11 and the position information, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 15 are positioned directly to the input / output port 11 in which the cartridge medium 12 is present, whereby the cartridge medium 12 is There is an effect that the operation time for housing the cell 14 in the housing 1 from the outside of the housing 1 can be reduced.

[0042]

As described above, according to the library apparatus of the present invention, the shutter for preventing the cartridge medium being loaded from dropping into the housing is provided with information on the presence or absence of the cartridge medium at the loading / unloading port and the position of the cartridge medium. A simple configuration with an image sensor that detects information and speeds up the picking operation to take out the cartridge medium from the loading / unloading port and shortens the total operation time from when the cartridge medium is stored in the cell inside the housing from outside the housing. There is an effect that can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a library device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of a charging / discharging mechanism in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional library device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing details of a charging / discharging mechanism in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 housing 2 accessor 3 rail 5 picker hand 6 finger 7 door 8 open / close button 9, 43 shutter 10, 42 input / output mechanism 11 input / output port 12 cartridge medium 13 image sensor 14 cell 15, 45 picker mechanism 20, 40 library device 41 light Sensor

Claims (11)

[Claims] A housing, a charging / discharging mechanism for charging a cartridge medium into the housing or discharging a cartridge medium outside the housing, and a plurality of cells arranged on the inner wall of the housing for storing the cartridge medium; A rail fixed in the housing, an accessor supported on the rail and moving on the rail, and a pick operation provided on the accessor for taking out the cartridge medium from the cell or the loading / unloading mechanism and storing / holding the cartridge medium. A picker mechanism for performing a put operation for storing the cartridge medium in the cell or the input / output mechanism, wherein the input / output mechanism includes a plurality of input / output ports for mounting and storing the cartridge medium; A door covering the input / output port on the outside, an open / close button for opening / closing the door, and the input / output port on the internal side of the housing. A library device, comprising: a shutter capable of a cover sliding operation; and a sensor provided on the shutter. 2. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor detects the presence or absence of the cartridge medium at the input / output port. 3. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor detects the presence or absence of the cartridge medium in all of the input / output ports when the shutter slides. 4. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is arranged in a vertical direction corresponding to the charging / discharging port.
The library device according to any one of the above items. 5. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is an image sensor or a light reflection type sensor. 6. The library apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the light reflection type sensor is a laser sensor or a combination sensor of a light emitting diode and a phototransistor. 7. The shutter covers the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port when the cartridge medium is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism from outside of the housing, and the shutter moves the cartridge medium during loading into the housing. When the accessor removes the cartridge medium from the loading / unloading mechanism, the accessor performs a sliding operation to expose the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port, and the loaded cartridge medium is picked up by the accessor. 2. The library device according to claim 1, wherein said library device is executed. 8. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the shutter is slidable in a horizontal direction. 9. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the picker mechanism includes a picker hand for picking and putting the cartridge medium, and a finger for sandwiching and holding the cartridge medium. 10. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input / output ports are arranged in a rectangular shape. 11. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge medium is a magnetic tape cartridge medium or an optical disk cartridge medium.