JP2922095B2 - Library device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a library apparatus using a magnetic tape cartridge or the like as a storage medium, and more particularly to a library apparatus which receives a plurality of pieces of medium transport information and simultaneously drives two medium transport apparatuses. About. In recent computer systems, as the number of media such as an MTU device and an optical disk device, which are external storage devices, increases, there is a demand for more efficient operation, easier maintenance, reliability of the device, and the like. For this reason, a library device for automatically storing and transporting media to the device has been provided.However, as the number of running jobs and the number of connections to the host computer increase, media transport information increases. Need to do it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 35 schematically shows a conventional library apparatus. The library device 400 is used as an information storage for higher-level host computers 20-1 to 20-4.
In this case, channels a and b and channels E and F are used. Library device 400
Inside, is provided a cell block 410 as a medium storage for storing a medium such as a magnetic tape cartridge,
The two accessors 408-1 and 408-40 serve as a medium transport mechanism that runs on a rail 414 along the cell block 410.
8-2 are provided.

The accessors 408-1 and 408-2 are directly controlled by a machine controller 406-1, and the accessor 408-2 is directly controlled by a machine controller 406-2. Machine controller 406-
An accessor controller 404 is provided above 1,406-2. Normally, the accessor 408-1 operates to execute transport control, and the accessor 408-
2 is not working.

[0004] Since two accessors 408-1 and 408-2 operate on one rail 414, they cannot operate at the same time and operate separately by an exclusive control method.
This is because one control unit performs centralized management. For this reason, the accessor controller 404
8-1 exists as a substitute spare machine when a failure or the like occurs and execution becomes impossible.

FIG. 36 shows the operation of the conventional apparatus when receiving a medium transport command. Here, the directors 402-1 and 40-1
The physical machine number addresses of 2-2 are defined as D0 and D1, and the physical machine address of the accessors 408-1 and 408-2 are defined as AS0 and AS1. Now, it is assumed that the host computer 20-2 issues a medium transport instruction to the logical machine number address (logical input / output device address; logical IOD address) # 0 from channel B. Incidentally, the logical device number address # 8 is used in the actual device.

[0006] When the director 402-1 receives the medium transport command from the channel B, the accessor controller 4
04 is instructed to transport the medium. The accessor controller 404 receives the transport instruction from the director 402-1, refers to the execution state management table 422, and determines that the execution flag has not been set.
Confirm that 8-1 and 408-2 are available, and respond to the director 402 with the receipt of the transport instruction.

[0007] Next, the director 402-1 has an accessor
After confirming the reception response from the controller 404, the execution flag of the position of the channel B in the device number table 418-1 is set, and the initial status is reported to the channel B. Subsequently, the director 402-1 receives the medium transport information “XXXX” from the channel B and transfers it to the accessor controller 404. Here, the media transport information is usually
This is known as a move command, and the medium transport information has a source address (From Address) and a destination address (To Address) as parameters.

[0008] The accessor controller 404 transmits the medium transport information “XXX” transferred from the director 402-1.
X ”is stored in the transport information table 420 and the accessor 4
After instructing the transport operation to 08-1, a response is received to the director 402-1. At this time, the execution state management table 4
The execution flag is set to the slot of the accessor model number AS0 in 22. After confirming the response from the accessor controller 404, the director 402-1 reports the channel end status to the channel B.

FIG. 37 shows an operation in the case where a medium transport command of the logical device number address # 0 is received from the channel A, following FIG. At this time, accessor 408-1 is set to channel B
Since the medium is being conveyed according to the instruction from, when the medium conveyance instruction is issued from the channel A, the device reports that the device is busy. That is, when the director 402-1 receives the medium transport instruction of the logical machine number address # 0 from the channel A, the director 402-1 instructs the accessor controller 404 to receive the instruction. The accessor controller 404 refers to the execution state management table 422, and since the execution flag of the accessor model number AS0 has been set, the busy management table 42
4 sets a busy flag at the position of the director machine number address D0, and returns a busy response to the director 402-1.

The director 402 confirms the busy response from the accessor controller 404 and checks the machine number table 4
A busy report flag is set at the position of channel A in 18-1 and a device busy status is reported to channel A. FIG. 38 shows the operation in the case where a medium transport instruction of the logical device number address # 1 is received from the channel E following FIG. Also in this case, since the accessor 408-1 is carrying the medium, the busy state is finally reported to the channel E.

FIG. 39 shows the operation when the medium transport of the accessor 408-1 is completed. After confirming that the medium transport by the accessor 408-1 has been completed, the accessor controller 404 reports the completion to the director 402-1 and clears the execution flag in the execution state management table 422. After receiving the transport end report from the accessor controller 404, the director 402-1 refers to the machine number table 418-1, reports the transport end status for the channel B for which the medium transport instruction has been issued, and indicates the position of the channel B. Clear the execution flag.

FIG. 40 shows the operation of reporting the busy release after the completion of the conveyance of the medium in FIG. Accessor controller 40
4 confirms that the execution flag in the execution state management table 422 has been turned off, reports the busy release to the director 402-1, and clears the busy flag of the director machine number address D0 in the busy management table 424. The director 402-1 includes the accessor controller 40
After confirming the busy release report from No. 4, the busy release status is reported to the channel A for which the busy report flag is set, and the busy report flag in the device number table 418-1 is cleared. Channel A is the director 402
After receiving the busy release status from -1, the medium transport instruction is reissued by designating the logical machine number address # 0.

FIG. 41 shows a conventional apparatus shown in FIGS.
Are shown together. The media transport instruction 500 from channel B is received by the director 402-1 and the media transport instruction 502 is sent to the accessor controller 404.
Will be forwarded as The accessor controller 404 returns an acknowledgment 504 and sends a zero status 5 to channel B.
Report 06. Next, the director 402-1 receives the medium transport information 508 from the channel B, transfers it as transport information 510 to the accessor controller 404, and issues a transport instruction 516 to the accessor 208-1.

At the same time, accessor controller 404 returns an acknowledgment 512, and director 402-1 reports channel end status 514 to channel B. Next, the media transport instruction 518 from the channel A is sent to the director 4.
Accessor controller 404 received at 02-1
Is transferred as a medium transport instruction 520. Accessor
The controller 404 returns a busy response 522, and the director 402-1 reports the device busy status 524 to channel A.

Next, a media transport instruction 526 from channel E
Is received by the director 402-2 and transferred to the accessor controller 404 as the media transport instruction 528. Accessor controller 404 is busy response 53
Returning 0, the director 402-2 reports the device busy status 532 to channel E. Here, assuming that the medium conveyance by the accessor 408-1 has been completed and the conveyance end 534 has been performed to the accessor controller 404, a conveyance end report 536 is sent to the director 402-2, and the director 402-2 displays the device end status 538. Report to channel B. Then busy release 5
Upon receiving the command 40, the director 402-1 reports the busy release status 542 to the channel A. In response to this, the medium transport instruction 544 is reissued from the channel A.

[0016]

According to such a conventional apparatus, directors 402-1 and 402-2 have machine number tables 418-1 and 418-2 for only one address, and accessor controller 404 does not. Only one media transport information is retained. For this reason, the library device can only assign one logical machine number address,
Further, in response to a medium transport instruction from a channel, only one sequential processing can be performed such that one medium transport instruction must be completely completed before the next medium transport instruction can be executed.

For this reason, when the library apparatus is already executing one medium transport instruction, the next medium transport instruction can be executed because a device end status indicating the end of the currently executed instruction is reported. Later. Therefore, the conventional library device has the following problems. First, since the library device cannot specify a plurality of device numbers, it cannot execute a plurality of media transport instructions for different device numbers from the same channel.

Second, the library device can accept only one of the media transport instructions issued simultaneously from a plurality of channels. Third, while the library device is executing a transport command in one director, the library device cannot accept the transport command in another director. Fourth, despite the fact that the library apparatus has a plurality of accessors as a medium transport mechanism, only one transport apparatus always performs a transport operation, resulting in poor utilization efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and it has been made possible to simultaneously issue instructions of different machine numbers and different channels from the same channel to receive a plurality of instructions, and to provide a plurality of transport mechanisms. And a library device for improving the processing performance by simultaneously performing the above operations in parallel.

[0020]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. First, a library device of the present invention includes a storage / reproduction device (MTU) for reading / writing a storage medium such as a magnetic tape cartridge, a loading / unloading device for loading / unloading a storage medium, and a media storage for storing a plurality of storage media. And an accessor 12-1 or 12-2 as a medium transport mechanism for transporting a storage medium between the cell block and the storage / reproducing device or between the cell block and the input / output device, and receives a command from a higher-level device. And a two-accessor 12-based on a command from a higher-level device via the director 26.
Accessor controller 28 as a second control unit for issuing and controlling a transport command to one of the first and the second.
And Although two accessors 12-1 and 12-2 are shown here, it is sufficient for the present invention that at least one accessor is provided.

According to the present invention for such a library device, the director 26 as a first control unit is provided with a device number control table 100, a first activation processing unit 92, and a first idle processing unit 94. The device number control table 100 includes a logical device number address (#n) as a logical input / output device address (IOD address) specified by a medium transport command (move command) from a higher-level device, and a channel system indicated by an input / output start command. Register the relationship. First activation processing unit 92
Receives the media transport command from the host device, registers the machine number control table 100, and notifies the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit of the received command to determine whether the next media transport command can be received. Returns a response to decide. The first idle processing unit 94 includes an accessor
Upon receiving the notification of the completion of the medium conveyance from the controller 28, the controller 28 clears the machine number control table 100 and sends an end response to the host device.

The accessor controller 28 as a second control unit includes a queuing table 122, an execution state management table 124, a queue counter 125, a second
An activation processing unit 114 and a second idle processing unit 116 are provided. The queuing table 122 stores a plurality of medium transport instructions (source address and destination address) issued by the host device following the medium transport instruction. The execution state management table 124 manages flags indicating the operation states of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2. The queue counter 125 stores 1 in the storage of the medium transport information in the queuing table 122.
Is incremented by one and decremented by one each time the instruction execution is completed on the accessor side.

Each time the second start-up processing unit 114 receives the notification of receiving the medium transport instruction, the second activation processing unit 114 determines whether or not there is an empty space in the queuing table 122 from the count value N of the queue counter 125, and if there is an empty space, the instruction can be stored. A response is returned, and the medium transport information transferred from the host device is stored in the queuing table 1.
22. If there is no free space, a busy response is returned. The second idle processing unit 116 controls the queuing table 12
In the state where at least one medium transport instruction is stored in 2, the execution state management table 124 is referred to, and the 2
A medium transport instruction is issued to one of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 and executed.

Here, an accessor as a second control unit
Second idle processing unit 116 provided in controller 28
When one of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 is executing an operation based on the medium transport information, the medium transport information in a movement range that does not overlap the medium transport information being executed is extracted from the queuing table 122. , Operate in parallel at the same time.

In the library device of the present invention, when the number of slots (the number of storages) in the device number control table 100 is n, the director 26 as the first control device has n logical device number addresses (# 0 to # 0). # N-1) is assigned as an address receivable from the same channel system. The number n of slots in the machine number control table 100 can be appropriately determined as needed.

When the number of instruction channels from the higher-level device to the director 26 as the first control unit is m, the queuing table 122 of the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit stores the number of logical machine number addresses. (N) multiplied by the number of channel systems (m) (n
Xm) is obtained for each director 26, and it is desirable to provide the total number of stored instructions (the number of slots or the number of entries). With this number of stored instructions, the queuing table 122 does not become busy.

Specifically, when the number n of slots in the machine number control table 100 is n = 4, the director 26
The logical machine number addresses (# 0 to # 3) are allocated as addresses that can be received from the same channel system. In this case, the number of instructions stored in the queuing table 122 (the number of slots or the number of entries) in the queuing table 122 that does not cause a busy becomes the number of stored instructions of 16 when the number of channels m = 4.

For example, two directors 26-1 and 26-26
2 is provided for the accessor controller 28,
The number of stored instructions (the number of entries) in the queuing table 122 that does not cause a busy is the number of stored instructions 32, which is obtained by multiplying the number of channels of the director by the number of logical machine number addresses and calculating the sum of the directors. Queuing table 122
Has a table structure for registering the physical machine number addresses D0 and D1 of the director 26 as the first control unit indicating the medium transport command and the command receiving system, using the ID number indicating the storage position as an index. The execution state management table 124 stores the physical machine number address AS of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2.
The queuing table 122 uses 0, AS1 as an index.
And an execution flag indicating whether the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 are operating, and a physical machine number address D0, D1 of the director 26 indicating an instruction receiving system.

Further, each time a medium transport instruction is stored in the queuing table 122, the storage pointer 126 is incremented by one and indicates the ID number of the table position. -1 and 12-2, an execution pointer 128 indicating the ID number of the first table to be executed.

The second activation processing unit 114 of the accessor controller 28 refers to the queue counter 125 when the command reception notification is received from the director 26 as the first control unit and determines that there is free space in the queuing table 122. If it is determined, a response that allows the command to be received is made, and if there is no free space, a busy response is made. The second idle processing unit 116 of the accessor controller 28
When the execution flag is turned off and any one of the vacant accessors 12-1 and 12-2 is searched, the ID of the next queuing table 122 waiting for execution indicated by the execution pointer 128 is retrieved. The medium transport information of the number is taken out, and the accessor in an empty state is instructed to execute an instruction.

The accessor controller 28 as the second control unit is provided with a busy management table 130 for registering a busy flag indicating the physical machine number address Di of the director 26 that has received the medium transport command that has sent a busy response. When there is no busy response in the queuing table 122, the second activation processing unit 114 registers a busy flag in the busy management table 130 at a position corresponding to the physical device number address Di of the director 26 that has made the busy response.

The director 26 as a first control unit includes:
Further, an ID management table 102 is provided. in this case,
When the first activation processing unit 92 receives a notification of the end of storage of the medium transport information in the queuing table 122 from the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit, the first activation processing unit 92 uses the ID number indicating the table storage position as an index, and The address #i and the channel system are stored in the ID management table 102.
Register with.

When the medium transport end notification is received from the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit, the first
The idle processing unit 94 recognizes, from the ID number management table 102, the logical machine number address #i and the channel system for which the medium has been transported, and clears the registration in the machine number control table 100. The first activation processing unit 92 of the director 26 serving as the first control unit further includes a busy report flag indicating that the busy report has been performed in response to the medium transport instruction of the logical machine number address #i in the machine number control table 100. Register for each channel system. In this case, when the first idle processing unit 94 receives the busy release report based on the completion of the medium transport from the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit, the first idle processing unit 94 searches the device number control table 100 and sets the channel in which the busy report flag is set. Responds to the system to release busy, and clears the busy report flag.

[0034]

According to the library apparatus of the present invention,
By providing the device number control table in the director as the first control unit, a plurality of logical device number addresses (logical IOD addresses) depending on the number of slots in the arbitrarily set device number control table can be provided to the channel. it can. In addition, by providing a queuing table in the accessor controller as the second control unit, a plurality of media transport information issued from the channel is temporarily stored, and a transport instruction is issued so that the plurality of media transport mechanisms operate in parallel. It can be carried out.

[0035]

【Example】

<Table of contents> 1. System configuration and mechanism structure 2. Hardware and functions of library device 3. Instruction issuing function of host computer 4. Configuration and functions of director and accessor controller Media transport operation of library device (1) Receipt of media transport command from channel (2) Operation when empty space in queuing table (3) Media transport operation by accessor controller (4) Operation at end of media transport (5) Overall operation sequence (6) Processing operation of startup processing section of director (7) Processing operation of idle processing section of director (8) Processing operation of startup processing section of accessor controller (9) Processing of accessor controller Processing operation of idle processing section System Configuration and Mechanism Structure FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the library device of the present invention. The library device is divided into a plurality of frames, and the device can be configured by combining these frames. The library device is provided with a cell block 10 as a medium storage, and the cell block 10 contains a large number of medium cartridges containing recording media such as magnetic tapes and magnetic disks.

The cartridge storage position of the cell block 10 is defined as a cell address. Also, the library device has rails 14 laid on the left and right sides of the frame.
Accessors 12-1 and 12-2, which are robot devices that operate as a medium transport mechanism that moves the robot, are provided. On the opposite side of the cell block 10 across the rail 12, deck units 16-1, 16-2 and control units 18-1, 18-2 are installed.

The deck units 16-1 and 16-2 are provided with a plurality of recording / reproducing devices (MTUs).
According to 2-1 and 12-2, the cartridge carried from the cell block 10 is loaded to read and write data. Further, a medium loading / unloading port 15 is provided on the front surface of the frame of the library apparatus so that a cartridge can be taken in and out.

FIG. 3 shows the accessor of FIG. 2 taken out. The accessors 12-1 and 12-2 have two rails 14
It is installed so as to be able to travel freely by a traveling section 40 having a traveling motor 44 thereon. A pillar 42 is erected on the running part 40, and can be moved up and down along the pillar 42.
6, a robot hand 48 is provided. Details of the robot hand 48 are shown in FIGS.

The robot hand 48 is mounted on the lift unit 46, and the lifting operation of the lift unit 46 with respect to the column 42 is performed by rotation of a screw shaft 50. A swing pulley 56 is provided in the lift section 46, and transmits the rotation of the swing motor 52 by a wire belt 54 to rotate the robot hand 48 horizontally. FIG. 5 shows the turning part of the robot hand 48.
There is provided a medium holding portion 62 provided with a fixing plate 64 that can be seen with the upper lid removed.

The medium holding unit 62 can be moved horizontally from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the front position shown in FIG. 5 by driving the wire belt 60 by the slide motor 58. In the state where the medium holding unit 62 is sent out in the horizontal direction, the cartridge accommodated in the cell block or the like can be sandwiched between the fixed plate 64 and the lower movable plate (not shown). 2. Hardware and Functions of Library Apparatus FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the library apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, four host computers 20-1 to 20-4 are provided as a higher-level device for the library device 24 of the present invention. Each of the host computers 20-1 to 20-4 is connected to the library device 24 by a channel interface bus 22-1 to 22-4. As the channel interface buses 22-1 to 22-4, for example, a block multiplexer channel interface (B
MC interface) is provided.

In the library device 24, for example, four directors 26-1 to 26-4 are installed as a first control unit. The directors 26-1 to 26-4 have the same four channels E, F, G, and H. The director 26-
The number of channels 1 to 26-4 can be set to a maximum of 6 in an actual device. Directors 26-1, 26-
The third channel A is connected to a channel interface bus 22-1 from the host computer 20-1, and the second channel B is connected to a channel interface bus 22-2 from the host computer 20-2. Also,
The channel E of the directors 26-2 and 26-4 is connected to the channel interface bus 22-3 from the host computer 20-3, and the channel F is connected to the channel interface bus 2 from the host computer 20-4.
2-4 are connected. The directors 26-1, 26-
3 and the channels C and D and the directors 26-2 and 26-4
Are not used in this embodiment.

Two channels a and b are provided on the terminal side of the directors 26-1 to 26-4. Channel a is for a recording / reproducing device, and channel b is for accessor control. The directors 26-1 and 26-2 are provided with six recording / reproducing units (MTUs) 34-1 to 34-6 provided on the left side.
And the device bus 36 from the channel a.
-1 and 36-2 are connected. Therefore director 26
-1, 26-2 are the recording / reproducing devices 3 on the left side of the channel a
Write access or read access can be executed for 4-1 to 34-6.

The directors 26-3 and 26-4 are also provided with six recording / reproducing devices 36-7 to 36- provided on the right side.
12 and the device bus 36-
3, 36-4 are connected. Therefore director 26-
Reference numerals 3, 26-4 denote recording / reproducing devices 34-1 to 34-1 on the right side.
2 can perform write access or read access. In the actual device, a maximum of 16 recording / reproducing devices can be mounted on one side.

Device interface bus 3 drawn from channel b of directors 26-1 and 26-2
8-1 is connected to the channel a of the accessor controller 28 as a second control unit. Director 26
The device interface bus 38-2 drawn from the channel b of -3, 26-4 is connected to the channel b of the accessor controller 28 as a second control unit. The accessor controller 30 is a spare unit, and connects the device interface bus 38-1 from the channel b of the directors 26-1 and 26-2 to the channel a, and from the channel b of the directors 26-3 and 26-4. Device interface bus 38-2 to channel b
Connected to Therefore, accessor controller 2
8, 30 receive a command from any of directors 26-1 to 26-4 and execute processing.

The machine controller 3 that controls the accessor 12-1 is subordinate to the accessor controller 28.
A machine controller 32-2 for controlling the 2-1 and the accessor 12-2 is provided. Machine controller 3
2-1 and 32-2 are also connected to a spare accessor controller 30. Normally accessor
Upon receiving an instruction from the controller 28, the accessor 12-
1 and 12-2.

Here, in the following embodiment, for the sake of easy understanding, the left two
Directors 26-1 and 26-2, accessor controller 28, machine controllers 32-1 and 32-
2 and accessors 12-1 and 12-2,
Exclude the right side. Each of the host computers 20-1 to 20-4 provided as upper devices of the library device 24 receives a logical device number address (hereinafter simply referred to as a "device number )), And issues a medium transport command that functions as an input / output start command to the directors 26-1 and 26-2 from their assigned channels.

When a normal reception response is obtained from the director in response to the medium transport command, the host computer transfers a data byte (parameter) as medium transport information, and the data byte is transferred to the accessor controller 2.
8 to the machine controller 32-1 or 32-2, and the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 control the transport of the cartridge.

Here, the machine number address #i as a logical address assigned to the directors 26-1 and 26-2
In this embodiment, four addresses # 0 to # 3 are set as the maximum. The logical address actually used is determined by the number of slots in the device number control table 100. In this embodiment, since four slots are used each time, the machine number address used for issuing the instruction to the director 26-1 is #
0 to # 3, and the machine number addresses to be issued to the director 26-2 are also # 0 to # 3. 3. Command Issuing Function of Host Computer FIG. 7 shows a processing function of an input / output command to the library device on the host computer side in FIG. When an arbitrary job 66 is executed by the host computer 20, the job 66
As a result, a job control program 70 of an operating system (hereinafter referred to as “OS”) is started. When an input / output request to the library device 24 occurs in this state, a read command or a write command is created by the data management program 72, and
The library support program 76 is accessed via the data conversion program 74.

Since the data conversion program 74 is originally constructed on the premise that the library device 24 is operated by an operator, the data conversion program 74 converts the data into a data format for displaying data on a CRT provided on the console panel 80. The library support program 76 can accept the data as it is. A request command from the OS 68 to the library support program 76 specifies at least a read or write command type, a medium number such as a volume number, a sector address, and a data length. A control disk device 78 is provided for the library support program 76, a conversion table is read from the control disk device 78, and an I / O activation command (IO start command) is issued to the library device 24 using the conversion table. Issue a media transport command and media transport information. At the time of issuing the medium transport instruction for starting the input / output, the host computer 2
The device number #i of the library device assigned in advance to 0 is used. For example, the host computer 2 shown in FIG.
In 0-1, machine number addresses # 0 to # 3 handled by the director 26-1 are allocated, and a medium transport instruction for input / output activation is issued using the free machine number address. I do.

Machine number address # as this logical address
When a response that a media transport command (move command) using i has been normally received is obtained, the host computer issues a data byte as media transport information. Issuance of the medium transport information by the library support program 76 is performed using the MTU table 86 and the cell table 88 as shown in FIG.

Here, the library device 24 shown in FIG.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a cell address is assigned in advance to the position where the medium moves. Here, the cell address is shown in hexadecimal. That is, the accessor 12-
Cell address A00 is assigned to robot hands 1 and 12-2.
0 and A001 are assigned, and the cell address B000 is assigned to the medium insertion / ejection port 15 shown in FIG.
Each cell of the cell block 10 has a cell address C000-
CFFF is assigned. Further, the recording / reproducing device 34-
Cell addresses D000 to D00D are assigned to 1 to 34 to 12, respectively.

When the library support program 76 is O
When the mount command 85 is received from S68, the cell table 88 is referred to, and if the medium number is 1, for example, the cell address C000 is extracted. Further, with reference to the MTU table 86, the empty flag is set to 1, for example, D000 is extracted as the MTU address.
It is issued to the library device 24 as medium transport information in which the source address is the cell address C000 and the destination address is the MTU address D000. 4. Configuration and Function of Director and Accessor Controller FIG. 10 shows the director 2 as the first control unit shown in FIG.
6-1 shows an embodiment, and the director 26-2 has the same configuration. The CPU as the director as the first control unit
0 is provided, and the functions of the activation processing unit 92 and the idle processing unit 94 are realized by program control. The ROM 108, the DRAM 98, the channel interface control unit 104, and the device interface control unit 110 are connected to the bus 108 from the CPU 90.

Channel adapters 106-1 to 106-3 are connected to the channel interface control unit 104 and exchange data with a higher-level device. The device interface control unit 110 exchanges data with the lower accessor controller 28. The DRAM 98 has a CP
A machine number control table 100 and an ID management table 102 used for processing by the activation processing unit 92 and the idle processing unit 94 of the U90 are stored.

FIG. 11 shows details of the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit shown in FIG. This accessor controller has a CPU 112 and a CPU 1
A start processing unit 114 and an idle processing unit 116 that are realized by program control are provided in 12. CPU1
ROM 118, DRAM 120,
An upper interface controller 132 and a lower interface controller 136 are provided.

The upper interface control unit 132 communicates with the upper two directors 26-1 and 26-2 through the channels a and b of the adapters 134-1 and 134-2. The lower interface control unit 136
An exchange is performed with the controller 32-1 or 32-2. A queuing table 122 and an execution state management table 12 used for processing by the activation processing unit 114 and the idle processing unit 116 of the CPU 112 are stored in the DRAM 120.
4, a queue counter 125, a storage pointer 126, an execution pointer 128, and a busy management table 130 are provided.

FIG. 12 shows a director 26-1 as a first control unit realized by the hardware of FIGS. 10 and 11,
26-2 and details of tables and pointers of the accessor controller 28 as the second control unit. Here, as shown in FIG. 13, the machine numbers of the directors 26-1 and 26-2 from the upper level are assigned to the directors 26-1 and 26-2.
Are assigned addresses # 0 to # 3, and addresses # 0 to # 3 are also assigned to director 26-2.

The director 26- which is handled in the following processing
As shown in FIG. 14, the physical machine number addresses of 1, 26-2 are defined as D0 for the director 26-1 and D1 for the director 26-2. Furthermore, accessors 12-1 and 12-
As for the physical machine number address of No. 2 as shown in FIG.
Becomes AS1. In addition, when the number of each machine number address is represented by a general system, it becomes ASi, and i indicates a value of i = 0 to n-1.

In FIG. 12, a director 26-1 as a first control unit is provided with a device number control table 100-1. Here, the director 26-1 has four channels A to D. However, in this embodiment, only two channels A and B are used. Machine number control table 10
0-1 has four slots (4 entries) indexed by machine number addresses # 0 to # 3 as IOD addresses handled by the director 26-1, and stores a command execution flag and a busy report flag for each of the channels A to D. You can register.

The same applies to the machine number control table 100-2 of the other director 26-2.
That is, since four machine number addresses # 0 to # 3 are similarly assigned to the director 26-2, the machine number control table 100-2 has four slots (4 Entry), and it is possible to register a command execution flag and a busy report flag for each of the other four channels E to H for each entry.

The directors 26-1 and 26-2 are provided with ID management tables 102-1 and 102-2. The ID management tables 102-1 and 102-2 are machine number addresses # for four slots that are indexed by ID numbers of the queuing table 122 provided in the accessor controller 28, which will be described later.
Channel routes receiving instructions of 0 to # 3 can be registered.

That is, the ID of the queuing table 122
By referring to the ID management tables 102-1 and 102-2 by numbers, the machine number control tables 100-1 and 100-2
The command execution flag or the busy report flag can be specified by knowing the machine number address #i as an index of, and further knowing the channel route. Next, the accessor controller 28 will be described. Accessor
The controller 28 is provided with a queuing table 122. The queuing table 122 has ID numbers 0 to
It has 4 slots (4 entries) with 3 as an index, and stores, in each slot, medium transport information issued from a channel and a director machine number D0 or D1 indicating an execution route which is a system that has received the medium transport information. I have to.

An execution state management table 124 is provided. The execution state management table 124 stores the accessor 12
It has two slots (two entries) using the machine numbers AS0 and AS1 of -1 and 12-2 as indexes. In each area indexed by accessor model numbers AS0 and AS1,
An ID number indicating the position of the executed instruction in the queuing table 122, an execution flag indicating whether or not the instruction is being executed, and a director machine number D0 or D1 are stored as an execution route.

A storage pointer 126 and an execution pointer 128 are provided. The storage pointer 126 indicates the storage position of the medium transport information in the queuing table 122. The execution pointer 128 is stored in the queuing table 122.
Indicates the position of the table to be executed in the medium transport information stored in the table. Here, in the initial state where no transport information is stored in the queuing table 122,
The pointer values P1 and P2 of the storage pointer 126 and the execution pointer 128 are both 0. That is, by setting the storage pointer 126 to P1 = 0, the storage position of the transport information associated with the next medium transport instruction is stored in the queuing table 122.
ID = 0.

Further, there is provided a queue counter 125 for counting the number of media transport information stored in the queuing table 122. Count value N of queue counter 125
Has been reset to N = 0 at the time of initialization.
Is incremented by one. It is decremented by one when a transport command is issued to the accessor 12-1 or 12-2. Therefore, the count value N of the queue counter 125 indicates the number of pieces of medium transport information currently waiting to be executed. The maximum storage number N _max determined by the number of slots in the queuing table 122 is N _max = 4 in this embodiment. It can be seen that if the count value N = 4, it is full and there is no space.

When a command reception notification is received from one of the directors 26-1 and 26-2 based on the medium transport command from the channel, the count value N of the queue counter 125 is referred to, and the maximum storage number N _{max is} less than 4. If so, it is determined that there is a free space in the queuing table 122, and the subsequently received medium transport information is stored in the slot of the ID number of the queuing table 122 specified by the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer 126.

When at least one piece of medium transport information is stored in the queuing table 122, the accessor 12-
A transport operation based on the command stored in the queuing table 122 is instructed to 1 or 12-2. The medium transport information to be executed in the queuing table 122 is specified by the pointer value P2 of the execution pointer 128.

When a transport instruction is issued to the accessors 12-1 and 12-2, the medium transport in the queuing table 122 instructing transport of the corresponding accessor model number in the execution state management table 124, for example, the slot of the accessor model number AS 0. Storing an ID number indicating the position of the information;
Further, the execution flag is set, and the director machine number D0 or D1 is stored as the execution route.

Here, the pointer values P1 and P2 of the storage pointer 126 and the execution pointer 128 are 0, 1, 2, 3,
And the count is returned to 0 again. Further, the accessor controller 28 has a busy management table 1
30 are provided. The busy management table 130 can set a busy flag for each of the four director machine number addresses D0 to D3. The busy flag is set when it is determined that there is no free space in the queuing table 122 in response to the notification of receipt of the transport instruction. When the medium transportation information stored in the queuing table 122 is completed and a free space is created, the busy flag is cleared.

When the busy management table 130 is set, a busy response is sent to the directors 26-1 and 26-2.
Based on this, the directors 26-1 and 26-2 perform a busy report on the corresponding channel, and at this time, a flag is set at the channel position corresponding to the busy report flag in the unit number control tables 100-1 and 100-2. . Here, C shown in FIG. 10 provided in the directors 26-1 and 26-2.
The functions of the activation processing unit 92 and the idle processing unit 94 shown in the PU 90 will be described. The activation processing unit 92 provided in each of the directors 26-1 and 26-2 mainly receives a command from the channel when there is an activation request (command issuance) from the channel, and sends the medium to the accessor controller 28 for transporting the medium. Give instructions.

The idle processing section 94 mainly monitors the end of medium transport from the accessor controller 28 and reports the end to the channel. The processing functions of the activation processing unit 92 and the idle processing unit 94 will be further clarified in a later description. The activation processing unit 114 provided in the accessor controller 28 shown in FIG.
When a start request (command issuance) from 6-1 or 26-2 is received, in the case of a medium transfer instruction for input / output start, processing for storing medium transfer information as a move command in the queuing table 122 is performed. .

Further, the idle processing section 116 mainly issues a transport instruction to the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 based on the media transport information of the queuing table 122, and furthermore, the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 carry out media transfer. The transport completion is monitored, and a transport completion report is made to the directors 26-1 and 26-2. Details of the activation processing unit 114 and the idle processing unit 116 of the accessor controller 28 will be clarified later.

FIG. 16 lists the response statuses for the channels from the directors 26-1 and 26-2 used in the medium transport process. First, the initial status is code "00", indicating that the medium transport command from the channel has been normally received, and prompting the transfer of the next media transport information in response to the initial status. The channel end status is code "08", indicating that the medium transport information has been normally received.

The device busy is code “10”,
This indicates that there is no free space in the queuing table 122.
The device end status is code "04", indicating that the medium has been conveyed by the accessor. Further, the busy release status is code "04", which indicates that the queuing table 122 has become empty and a new medium transport command can be received. 5. Media Transport Operation of Library Apparatus Next, the operation of the library apparatus at the time of receiving a transport command will be described with reference to FIGS. (1) Receiving a medium transport command from the channel Assuming that the director 26-1 has received a media transport command specifying the machine number address # 1 from the channel B, the director 26-1 issues a transport instruction to the accessor controller 28. Upon receiving the transport instruction from the director 26-1, the accessor controller 28 checks whether there is a free space in the queuing table 122. Specifically, referring to the count value N of the queue counter 125, if it is less than the maximum storage number _Nmax , it is confirmed that there is a free space. Here, assuming that the count value N of the queue counter 125 is 0, it is understood that there is a space in the queuing table 122. Upon confirming the availability of the queuing table 122, the accessor controller 28 responds to the director 26 with an acknowledgment.

Upon receiving the acknowledgment from the accessor controller 28, the director 26 issues a command corresponding to channel B on the slot of the machine number address # 1 designated by the medium transport command in the machine number control table 100-1. Set the execution flag. In the following description, the flag set of the table is indicated by a black circle, and when the flag is cleared, it is indicated by a white circle. When the command execution flag is set, the director 26-1 reports the initial status of the code number "00" to the channel B that has issued the medium transport instruction.

Channel B, which has received the initial status from the director 26-1, continues with the medium transport information “XXX” having the source address, the cell address, and the destination cell address.
X "to the director 26-1. Director 26
-1 transfers the media transport information "XXXX" from channel B to the accessor controller 28. Accessor
When the controller 28 receives the medium transport information “XXXX” from the director 26-1, the queuing table 122 indicated by the pointer value P1 = 1 of the storage pointer 126
In the slot with the ID number of “XX”
XX ”is stored.

To identify the instruction from either of the directors 26-1 and 26-2, the machine number D0 of the director 26-1 is stored in the execution route. After the storage of the medium transport information, the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer 126 is incremented by one to P1 = 2, and the table position of the queuing table 122 for storing the next received medium transport information is generated. The queue counter 125 is incremented by one, and N = 1. In addition, Director 2
The ID = 1 of the queuing table 122 storing the medium transport information “XXXX” is transferred to 6-1.

The director 26-1 uses the ID = 1 sent from the accessor controller 28 as a pointer and
The machine number address # is assigned to the slot in the management table 102-1.
1 and a channel number B indicating the channel route that has received the instruction are stored. Finally, the channel end status of the code number (08) is reported to the channel B which has issued the medium transport instruction. Thus, channel B to director 26
The transfer process of a series of media transport instructions corresponding to -1 ends.

FIG. 18 shows the operation in the case where a medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 2 is issued from the channel E to the director 26-2, following FIG. Also in this case, the queuing table 122 of the accessor controller 28
Is empty, the code (0
0) is reported, the medium transport information “YYYY” is transferred, and the queuing table 122
Is stored in the slot of ID = 2, and the machine number D1 of the director 26-2 is stored as the execution route.

A command execution flag is set in a position determined by the device number address # 2 and the channel E in the device number control table 100-2. Further, the ID management table 10
2-2 stores the device number address # 2 and the value of the channel E indicating the channel route using the ID = 2 sent from the accessor controller 28 as a pointer. This FIG.
As is clear from the description of the operation, even if the medium transport instruction is already being executed by the director 26-1, the transport instruction can be executed in parallel by another director 26-2.

FIG. 19 shows the operation in the case where the medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 1 is further issued from the channel A to the director 26-1 following FIG. In this case, since the queue counter 125 has N = 2 and there is a free space in the queuing table 122, the initial status of the code (00) is reported to the channel A, and the medium transport information “ZZZZ” is transferred. . The received medium transport information “ZZZZ” is stored in the slot of ID = 3 designated by the pointer value P1 = 3 of the storage pointer 126 at that time in the queuing table 122, and the director 26-1 indicating the execution route Is stored.

A command execution flag is set at a position determined by the device number address # 1 and the channel A in the device number control table 100-1, and sent from the accessor controller 28 in the ID management table 102-1. Using ID = 3 indicating the storage position of the queuing table 122 as a pointer, the value of the channel number indicating the machine number address # 1 and the channel route is stored.

As is apparent from the operation of FIG. 19, the library apparatus of the present invention issues a medium transport instruction issued from the different channels A and B to the same director 26-1 by designating the same machine number address # 1. Can be performed. FIG. 20 shows an operation in the case where a medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 3 is further issued from the channel E to the director 26-2 following FIG. In this case, since the queue counter 125 becomes N = 3 and the queuing table 122 of the accessor controller 28 has a free space, the initial status of the code “00” is reported, and the medium transport information “VVVV” is transmitted from the channel E. Is transferred, the transport information “VVVV” is stored in the slot of ID = 0 in the queuing table 122 specified by the pointer value P1 = 0 of the storage pointer 126, and the machine number D1 of the director 26-2 is also set as the execution route. Is stored.

A command execution flag is set in a position determined by the device number address # 3 and the channel E in the device number control table 102. Further, the ID management table 102-
With respect to 2, the value of the channel number E indicating the device number address # 3 and the channel route is stored using the ID = 0 reported from the accessor controller 28 as a pointer.

As is apparent from the operation shown in FIG. 20, in the library device of the present invention, two different device numbers # 2 and # 3 issued from the same channel E are designated.
It shows that one media transport instruction can be executed. (2) Operation when there is no more space in the queuing table FIG.
-1 indicates an operation when a medium transport instruction designating the machine number address # 0 is issued. At this time, since the queuing table 122 is in a full state, the library device recognizes this, and B will report a device busy.

More specifically, when the director 26-1 receives the medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 0 from the channel B, the director 26-1 issues a transport instruction to the accessor controller 28. Accessor controller 28 is director 2
Upon receiving the transport instruction from 6-1, the queue counter 1
The queuing table 122 refers to the count value N of 25.
Check if there is a free space. At this time, the count value N of the queue counter 125 is equal to the maximum stored number _Nmax.
4 to confirm that there is no free space in the queuing table 122.

When it is confirmed that there is no free space in the queuing table 122, a busy response is returned to the director 26-1. Further, a busy flag is set at a bit position corresponding to the director machine number address D0 in the busy management table 130. When the director 26-1 receives the busy response from the accessor controller 28, the director 26-1 sets the busy report flag to the bit corresponding to the channel B of the busy report flag on the slot of the machine number address # 0 in the machine number control table 100-1. set. And channel B
To the device busy of code (10).

Here, the occurrence of device busy in the library apparatus of the present invention depends on the number of slots (the number of entries) in the queuing table 122. Therefore, the number of slots in the queuing table 122 is
When the sum of (m × n) obtained by multiplying the number of channels in each of −1 and 26-2 by the total number n of the machine number addresses, the device busy due to the fullness of the queuing table 122 does not occur.

More specifically, in the library device of the present invention, when the number m of channels of the two directors 26-1 and 26-2 is m = 4 and the number of machine number addresses n = 4, (4 × 4) + ( If 4 × 4) = 32 slots, no device busy occurs due to the full queuing table 122.

In the description of the operation in FIGS. 17 to 21, the number m of channels used by directors 26-1 and 26-2 is m.
= 2 and the number of used machine number addresses n = 2,
In this case, if (2 × 2) + (2 × 2) = 8 slots, no device busy occurs due to the full queuing table 122. The reason for this is that if each channel issues a medium transport command to the directors 26-1 and 26-2 using all available machine number addresses,
This is because the medium transport command cannot be issued any more, and the next media transport command is issued after the currently used machine number address is released in response to the media transport end response from the library device. (3) Medium Transport Operation by Accessor Controller FIG. 22 shows that the accessor controller 28 instructs the accessor 12-1 of the accessor model number AS0 to transport a medium when the queuing table 122 shown in FIG. 20 is full. The operation in the case of performing is shown. First, accessor
The controller 28 is an accessor 12-1 in an empty state.
Alternatively, the execution state management table 124 is referred to in order to select 12-2.

At this time, the accessors 12-1 and 12-2
Are both empty, so accessor machine number AS
The accessor 12-1 of 0 is selected, the pointer value P2 = 1 indicated by the execution pointer 128 at this time is stored in the ID number, the execution flag is set, and the director machine number D0 is stored as the execution route. Then execution pointer 1
With reference to the slot of the ID number corresponding to the pointer value P2 = 1 of 28, the medium transport information “XXXX” is extracted as the medium transport instruction, and the selected accessor 12-1, specifically, the machine accessor shown in FIG. Issue to controller 32-1.

The medium transport information “XXXX” has a source cell address and a destination cell address. For this reason, the accessor 12-1 that has received the medium transport information “XXXX” as the transport command takes out the cartridge from, for example, the specified cell of the cell block specified as the source cell address, and performs recording / reproduction specified as the destination cell address. Carry to the device and load the cartridge.
In addition, the accessor controller 28
-1 in response to issuance of the transport instruction for
Increment the pointer value P2 of P8 by 1 to P2 = 2
And Further, the value of the queue counter 125 is decremented by one, and the count value N is reduced by one to N = 3.

FIG. 23 shows the operation following the case of FIG. 22 when the accessor controller 28 instructs another accessor 12-2 to perform a transport operation. That is, the accessor controller 28 refers to the execution state management table 124,
At this time, since the accessor 12-2 of the accessor model number AS1 is vacant, it is selected and the execution pointer 12 is selected.
8 is stored, an execution flag is set, and a director machine number D1 is stored as an execution route.

The I of the queuing table 122 specified by the pointer value P2 = 2 of the execution pointer 128
The medium transport information “YYYY” is extracted from the slot of D = 2, and the transport is instructed to the accessor 12-2 as the transport command. At the same time as instructing the medium transport to the accessor 12-2, the pointer value P2 of the execution pointer 128 is incremented by one to P2 = 3. Further, the value of the queue counter 125 is decremented by one, and N = 2.

As is clear from the description of the operation shown in FIG. 23, in the library apparatus of the present invention, simultaneous operation is performed by issuing a medium transport instruction to the two accessors 12-1 and 12-2. Can be done. Here, when performing simultaneous operations of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2, the medium transport information is selected from the queuing table 122 so that the movement ranges of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 do not overlap, and the transport operation is performed. Need to tell. FIG.
Reference numeral 4 indicates the basic concept of the process of allocating the medium transport command when the two accessors 12-1 and 12-2 operate simultaneously.

As shown in FIG. 2, deck units 16-1 and 16-2 are provided opposite to the center of the cell block 10 with the rail 14 interposed therebetween. in this case,
The accessible area S1 of the accessor 12-1 is the left half area including the deck unit 16-1, and the accessible area S2 of the accessor 12-2 is the cell block 1.
It is the right half area including 6-2.

Accordingly, regarding the simultaneous operation of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2, the accessor 12-1 issues a command based on the medium transport information having, for example, the source cell address in the cell block of the accessible area S1. Accessible area S for accessor 12-2
2 may be issued based on the medium transport information having the source cell address, for example.

The assignment of the cell address of the medium transport command to the cell block 10 is random, and does not occur evenly for the accessible areas S1 and S2. For this reason, among the medium transport information stored in the queuing table, an instruction whose execution is postponed is generated in some cases. In such a case, the time until the medium transport information stored in the queuing table 122 is executed is monitored. Executing in a specific manner prevents a specific medium transport instruction from being left in the queuing table.

FIG. 24 shows an example in which the deck units 16-1 and 16-2 are provided opposite to the center of the cell block 10, but the deck units 16-1 and 16-2 are provided.
When -2 is separately set on both sides of the cell block 10, dynamic setting of the accessible areas S1 and S2 is performed. For example, when the accessor 12-1 is carrying a medium having the source cell address, the area to the right of the cell address is set as the accessible area S2 of the accessor 12-2. Thus, the deck unit 16-
If the control units 1 and 16-2 are installed separately on both sides of the cell block 10, the processing efficiency due to the simultaneous operation of the accessors 12-1 and 12-2 is improved although control becomes complicated. (4) Operation at the time of media conveyance end FIG. 25 shows the operation at the time of media conveyance end by the accessor 12-1 following FIG. When the accessor controller 28 receives the media transport completion report from the accessor 12-1, that is, the machine controller 32-1, the accessor controller 28 refers to the execution state management table 124 to accessor machine number AS0.
Is reset, and the director 26-1 reads the I read from the slot of the accessor model number AS0.
Transfer D = 1.

The director 26-1 uses the ID = 1 transferred from the accessor controller 28 as a pointer and
With reference to the D management table 102-1, the device number address # 1 stored in the slot with ID = 1 and the channel B indicating the channel route are read. Then director 26-
1 searches the device number control table 100-1 for the command execution flag of the ID management table using the device number address # 1 and the channel B read from the ID management table 102-1 and clears the corresponding command execution flag. Finally, the director 26-1 reports the device end status of the code "04" indicating the end of the transport of the medium to the searched channel B.

FIG. 26 shows the accessor 12-
2 shows the operation when the transport of the medium is completed by the second method.
Also in this case, the accessor 12-2, specifically, the machine
Upon receiving the transport completion report from the controller 32-2, the accessor controller 28 sets the execution state management table 12
4 clears the execution flag of the accessor model number AS1, and transfers ID = 2 to the director 26-1.

The director 26-1 receives the transferred ID = 2
With reference to the ID management table 102-2, the device number address # 2 and the channel E are read out, and the command execution flag specified by the device number address # 2 and the channel E of the device number control Search and clear, report device end status for searched channel E.

FIG. 27 shows the operation at the time of the busy release report performed subsequent to FIG. When the queue counter 125 refers to the queue counter 125 and confirms that the queuing table 122 has a free space due to the count value N being less than the maximum storage number _Nmax , the busy release is reported to the director 26-1.
At this time, the director machine number D in the busy management table 130
Clear the busy flag set for 0.
Upon receiving the busy release report from the accessor controller 28, the director 26-1 receives the busy release report from the accessor controller 28.
The busy report flag of code "04" is reported to the channel B that has reported the device busy by referring to the busy report flag of 0-1 and the busy report flag is also cleared. The channel B receiving the busy release status from the director 26 recognizes that the machine number address # 0 is vacant, designates the machine number address # 0, and reissues the previously busy medium transport command. become. (5) Overall Operation Sequence FIGS. 28 and 29 collectively show the operations of FIGS. 17 to 27 as a series of operations. In FIG. 28, first, when the medium transport instruction 200 is issued from the channel B by designating the machine number address # 1 of the director 26-1, this is transmitted to the accessor controller 28 as the medium transport instruction 202, and the reception response 204 is transmitted. Return, director 26-1
Returns a zero status 206 to channel B.

In response to the zero status 206, the channel B issues medium transport information 208, and the director 26-1
Is sent to the accessor controller 28 as a transport information transfer 210, is stored in the queuing table, and returns an ID report 212. Director 2 receiving this
6-1 indicates the channel B channel end status 214
Report.

When the medium transport information is stored in the queuing table of the accessor controller 28, the medium transport is instructed to the accessor 12-1. Next, the medium transport instruction 218 is issued from the channel E by designating the machine number address # 3 of the director 26-2, transmitted to the accessor controller 28 as the media transport instruction 220, and received because there is a space in the queuing table. A response 222 is returned.

In response, the director 26-2 returns a zero status 224 to the channel E, and the channel E issues the medium transport information 226. The media transport information 226 from the director 26-2 is sent to the accessor controller 28 as a transport information transfer 228, stored in a queuing table, returning an ID report 230,
-2 returns the channel end status 232 to the channel E.

When the medium transport information 226 is stored in the accessor controller 28 by the transport information transfer 228,
The medium transfer is instructed to the accessor 12-2, and the accessor 12-2 also becomes 234 during the medium conveyance. Next, the medium transport instruction 236 is issued from the channel A by designating the machine number address # 1 of the director 26-1, and is transmitted to the accessor controller 28 as the medium transport instruction 238. Since there is a space in the queuing table, Acknowledgment 240
And reports a zero status 242 to channel A.

In response to this, the medium transport information 244 is issued from the channel A, transmitted from the director 26-1 as the transport information transfer 246 to the accessor controller 28 and stored in the queuing table, and the ID report 248 is transmitted.
Is returned, and the director 26-1 reports the channel end status 250 to the channel A. Next, in FIG. 29, the medium transport instruction 252 is issued from the channel E by designating the machine number address # 3 of the director 26-2, and the medium transport instruction 2 is issued.
It is transmitted to the accessor controller as 54, and the acknowledgment 256
And report to channel E as zero status 258. In response to this, the medium transport information 26 is transmitted from the channel E.
0 is issued, sent as a transport information transfer 262 to the accessor controller 28 via the director 26-2, stored in the queuing table, and sent to the ID report 264.
And returns the channel end status 266 to the channel E.
Is reported.

Further, from channel B to director 26-1
A medium transport instruction 268 is issued by designating the machine number address # 0, and the accessor controller 28 is notified as a medium transport instruction 270. However, since the queuing table is full upon the previous receipt of the media transport command 252, a busy response 272 is returned and a busy status 274 is reported to channel B.

Thereafter, the accessor 12 being executed is
When the transport end 276 is notified to the accessor controller 28 after the transport of the medium by -1 is completed, the director 2
At 6-1, the transportation is completed, an ID report 278 is made, and channel B is sent.
To the device end status 280. Subsequently, assuming that the accessor controller 28 receives a report of the transport end 282 by the accessor 12-2, the transport end and ID report 284 are made to the director 26-2, and the device end status 286 is sent to the channel E.
Report.

Subsequently, the accessor controller 28 confirms the availability of the queuing table, and
1 is notified of busy release 288, and director 26-1 reports busy release status 290 to channel B.
In response to this, channel B issued the previously issued medium transport instruction 2
Reissue the same media transport instruction 292 as 68. (6) Processing Operation of Director's Activation Processing Unit FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the activation processing unit 92 provided in the director shown in FIG. Upon receipt, the accessor / controller is instructed to transport the medium.

When a channel activation request is issued from the channel by issuing a command, the address of the channel route for which activation has been requested is fetched in step S1, and furthermore, in step S3.
To receive the command. In step S4, step S3
Decrypts the received command and checks whether it is a medium transport command. If the command is not a medium transport command, the process proceeds to step S5 to execute processing of another command.

If the command is a medium transport command, step S
The program proceeds to step S6, where a medium transport instruction is issued to the accessor controller, and a reception response is confirmed in step S7. Step S
8 checks whether the reception response from the accessor controller is a busy response. If the response is a busy response because there is no free space in the queuing table, a busy report is made to the channel in step S9, and a busy report flag is set in the device number control table.

If the response is not busy in step S8, the process proceeds to step S11, where the device number control table is searched by the device number address #i fetched in step S2, and the command execution flag is set in the slot position of the corresponding channel. Is set. Subsequently, a zero status is reported to the channel in step S3. Since the medium transport information is issued from the channel side in response to the zero status report, the medium transport information is fetched in step S14, and is transferred to the accessor controller in step S15.

When the medium transport information is stored in the queuing table on the accessor / controller side, the ID
Since the number is sent back, in step S16
Upon receiving the D number, the ID management table is searched using the ID number acquired in step S17 as a pointer, and the
At 18, the machine root address #i and the channel route address taken in step S1 indicating the channel route are stored. Finally, the channel end status is reported to the channel in step S19. (7) Processing Operation of Idle Processing Unit of Director FIG. 31 shows the idle processing unit 9 provided in the director of FIG.
4 shows the processing operation. The idle processing unit of the director mainly monitors the end of the medium transport from the accessor controller and reports the end to the channel. First, in step S1, a transportation end instruction from the accessor controller is confirmed. When the transportation end instruction is received, the process proceeds to step S2, and the ID number sent from the accessor controller is obtained.

In step S3, the ID management table is searched by the acquired ID number, and the corresponding device number address #i and channel route address are extracted in step S4. Subsequently, in step S5, the device number management table is searched by using the device number address #i and the channel route address. In step S6, the transport end status is reported for the channel having the corresponding channel address. Clear the receipt flag.

On the other hand, if there is no transportation end report from the accessor controller in step S1, step S8.
To check if there is a busy release report. If a busy release report is received, a busy release status is reported to the channel route that has reported the busy in step 9, and a busy report flag in the machine number control table is cleared in step S10. (8) Processing Operation of Activation Processing Unit of Accessor Controller FIG. 32 shows processing operation of the activation processing unit 114 of the accessor controller shown in FIG. This activation processing unit 11
Reference numeral 4 mainly receives the start request when there is a start request accompanying the command issuance from the director, and stores the medium transfer information in the queuing table when the start request is a medium transfer instruction.

That is, when a command is received from the director in step S1, it is checked in step S2 whether the command is a medium transport instruction. If the instruction is not a medium transport instruction, the process proceeds to step S3, and another command processing is performed. If the instruction is a medium transport instruction, the process proceeds to step S4 to check whether the queuing table is empty, that is, whether the queuing table is full.

Specifically, referring to the count value N of the queue counter 125 shown in FIG. 12, if it matches the maximum storage number _Nmax of the queuing table, it is determined that the queuing table is full, and Steps S5 and S6 are performed. That is, a busy report is made to the director, and a busy flag is set in the busy management table. On the other hand, if the count value N of the queue counter is less than the maximum storage number _Nmax , and there is a vacancy in the queuing table, the process proceeds to step S7, where the transport information from the director is fetched, and
At step 8, the ID number of the queuing table is searched by the storage pointer, and at step S9, the transport information taken into the slot of the searched ID number is stored.

Further, the director number indicating the director's route is stored at the position of the execution route of the same slot corresponding to the queuing table. When the storage in the queuing table is completed, the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer 126 is set as the ID number of the stored queuing table in step S11, and the ID number is transmitted to the director in step S12. Then step S
In step 13, the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer is incremented by one to specify the next storage position.

Subsequently, in step S14, it is determined whether or not the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer has exceeded the maximum value MAX = 3. If MAX = 3, go to step S15,
The pointer value P1 of the storage pointer is cleared to P1 = 0. That is, the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer is MAX = 3.
, P1 = 0, 1, 2, and 3 are repeated in order. In step S16, the value of the queue counter is incremented by one. (9) Processing Operation of Idle Processing Unit of Accessor Controller FIGS. 33 and 34 show processing operation of the idle processing unit 116 of the accessor controller shown in FIG. The idle processing section 116 mainly issues a transport instruction to the accessor, monitors the end of the media transport, and reports the transport end to the director. First, steps S1 and S2 are initialization processing at power-on or reset, that is, step S1.
At 1 the pointer value P2 of the execution pointer is cleared to 0, at step S2 the pointer value P1 of the storage pointer is cleared to 0, and at step S2 'the queue counter is set to N =
Clear to 0.

In step S3, the queue counter N is referred to. If N = 0, there is no empty medium transport information to be executed in the queuing table. The processing after S16 is performed. If the queue counter N is 1 or more, since at least one piece of medium transport information is stored in the queuing table, the processing of the transport instruction to the accessor shown in steps S4 to S15 is performed.

First, in step S4, the work pointer X is set to X =
0, and in step S5, the accessor model number ASi designated by the work pointer X = 0 in the execution state management table.
Refer to the slot. By referring to the execution state management table, it is confirmed from the operation flag whether or not the medium transport mechanism designated as X = ASi, that is, the accessor is operating.
If the operation is in progress, the work pointer X is incremented by one in step S7 to set X = 1, and if the total number of accessors MAX is not exceeded in step S8, step S8 is performed again.
5, the execution state management table is referenced using the updated channel pointer X.

If the accessor in the execution state management table referred to as the work pointer X = ASi in step S6 is not operating, the flow advances to step S9. Step S
9, the pointer value P of the execution pointer at that time
2 = Search the queuing table as ID and instruct the transporter ASi as the transport mechanism selected by the work pointer X in step S10 based on the media transport information read from the queuing table.

When the transportation instruction to the accessor is completed, the execution flag in the execution state management table is turned on in which the accessor machine number ASi designated by the work pointer X to which the transportation instruction was issued in step S11 is used as a pointer. Step S
At 12, the director machine number Di indicating the execution route of the same slot is stored. In step S13, the pointer value P2 of the execution pointer is incremented by one, and the position of the queuing table to be executed next is designated.

Subsequently, in step S14, it is checked whether or not the pointer value P2 of the execution pointer has exceeded the total number of slots (total number of entries) MAX in the queuing table.
If so, the process proceeds to step S15, where the pointer value P2 of the execution pointer is cleared to P2 = 0. Further, in step S15 ', the value of the queue counter is decremented by one. For this reason, 0, 1, and 0 in the range up to the slot number MAX of the queuing table of the execution pointer P2.
2,... MAX will be repeated.

Steps S16 to S22 in FIG. 34 show the processing at the time when the medium conveyance is completed. First, the work pointer X is cleared to X = 0 in step S16. Subsequently, step S17
Refers to the slot of the accessor unit number ASi designated by the work pointer X in the execution state management table, and determines whether the accessor unit number X
Check whether the accessor with = ASi is operating.

If the operation is in progress, the flow advances to step S19 to confirm the report of the completion of the transportation. After confirming the report of the end of transportation, in step S20, X =
The ID number of the slot specified by the ASi accessor number is transmitted to the director, the execution flag indicating that the same slot is being executed is cleared in step S12, and the queue counter N is decremented by one. Step S18
If the accessor is not operating in step S19 or the end of transportation is not confirmed in step S19, step S22
Proceed to the subsequent processing. In step S22, the operation pointer X is incremented by one, and if it is confirmed in step S23 that the transportation of all the accessors has been completed, the process proceeds to step S24.

In step S24, it is checked whether the busy flag in the busy management table is on. If the busy flag is on, the process proceeds to step S25, and if the queue counter N is less than the maximum storage number _Nmax , it is determined that there is a free space in the queuing table, and a busy release report is made to the director in step S26. . Then, in step S26, the busy flag in the busy management table is cleared. If the busy flag is not set in step S25 or if there is no free space in the queuing table in step S25, the process proceeds to step S3 in FIG.
Return to the processing of.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited by the numbers shown in the above embodiments, but includes the number of directors, the number of channels for the directors, the number of simultaneously accessible accessors, and the input / output logical addresses depending on the number of simultaneously accessible accessors. The number of machine numbers and the number of slots (the number of entries) in the queuing table can be determined as needed.

[0130]

As described above, according to the present invention, the library apparatus provides a plurality of logical device number addresses (IOD addresses) to the higher-order channel, so that the medium transport information from the higher-order channel is continuously output. And can be stored in the queuing table, so that the exchange of instructions with the host device can be performed efficiently. Also, a plurality of media transport information can be stored in the queuing table, and a plurality of media transport mechanisms can be operated at the same time, so that the media transport capability is improved and the performance of the library device can be greatly improved. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the accessor of FIG. 2 taken out therefrom;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing details of the robot hand of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing details of a robot hand with an upper lid removed in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an embodiment configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing functions of the host computer of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of generating a move command by a library support program.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a cell address assigned to a library device.

FIG. 10 is an embodiment configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the director of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an accessor controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing details of tables and pointers used in the director and the accessor controller of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing assignment of logical machine number addresses to directors.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of assignment of director machine numbers

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of assignment of accessor machine numbers

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a director response status.

FIG. 17 is an operation explanatory diagram in the case where a medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 1 is issued from the channel B to the director 26-1.

FIG. 18 is an operation explanatory diagram in the case where a medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 2 is issued from the channel E to the director 26-2.

FIG. 19 is an operation explanatory diagram in the case where a medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 1 is issued from the channel A to the director 26-1.

FIG. 20 is an operation explanatory diagram in the case where a medium transport instruction of the machine number address # 3 is issued from the channel F to the director 26-2.

FIG. 21 is an operation explanatory diagram at the time of a busy response due to the full state of the queuing table.

FIG. 22 is an operation explanatory diagram when a transport operation is instructed to the accessor 12-1.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when a transport operation is instructed to the accessor 12-2.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram of allocation of accessible areas when two accessors operate simultaneously.

FIG. 25 is an operation explanatory diagram when a transportation end report is received from the accessor 12-1.

FIG. 26 is an operation explanatory diagram when a transportation end report is received from the accessor 12-2.

FIG. 27 is an operation explanatory view showing a busy release reporting operation;

FIG. 28 is a sequence explanatory view collectively showing a series of operations in FIGS. 17 to 27;

FIG. 29 is a sequence explanatory view collectively showing a series of operations in FIGS. 17 to 27 (continued)

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of a startup processing unit provided in the director of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of an idle processing unit provided in the director of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of a startup processing unit provided in the accessor controller of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of an idle processing unit provided in the accessor controller of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the idle processing unit provided in the accessor controller of the present invention (continued)

FIG. 35 is an explanatory view of a conventional apparatus.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when a medium transport instruction from the conventional channel B to the director is issued.

FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a conventional busy response to a medium transport command issued to the same director from channel A;

FIG. 38 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of a conventional busy response to a medium transport command issued from the channel E to another director.

FIG. 39 is a view for explaining a conventional operation of releasing a busy at the end of transporting a medium.

FIG. 40 is an operation explanatory diagram showing a conventional method of reporting a busy release to a channel and reissuing a medium transport instruction.

FIG. 41 is a sequence explanatory view collectively showing the operations of FIGS. 36 to 40 of the conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Cell block (medium storage) 12-1, 12-2: Accessor (medium transport mechanism) 14: Rail 15: Medium inlet / outlet 16-1, 16-2: Deck unit 18-1, 18-2: Control unit 20-1 to 20-4: Host computer (upper device) 22-1 to 22-4: Channel interface bus 24: Library device 26, 26-1 to 26-4: Director (first control unit) 28 : Accessor controller (second control unit) 30: Accessor controller (spare) 32-1, 32-2: Machine controller 34-1 to 34-12: Recording / reproducing device (MTU) 36-1, 36-2 , 38-1, 38-2: Device
Interface bus 40: Traveling part 42: Strut 44: Traveling motor 46: Lifting part 48: Robot hand 50: Screw shaft 52: Turning motor 54, 60: Pulley belt 56: Pulley 58: Motor 62: Medium holding part 64 : Fixed plate 66: job 68: OS 70: job control program 72: data management program 74: data conversion program 76: library support program 78: control disk unit 80: console panel 82: input / output subsystem processing unit 85: Mount command 86: MTU table 88: Cell table 90, 112: CPU 92, 114: Start-up processing unit 94, 116: Idle processing unit 96, 118: ROM 98, 120: DRAM 100, 100-1, 100 2: machine number control table 102, 102-1, 102-2: ID management table 104: channel interface control section 106-1 to 106-4: channel adapter 108, 134: bus 122: queuing table 124: execution state management Table 125: Queue counter 126: Storage pointer (P1) 128: Execution pointer (P2) 130: Busy management table 132: Upper interface control units 134-1 and 134-2: Adapter

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiko Hanaoka 1015 Uedanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Ochi 1015 Kamikodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fujitsu Limited ( 56) References JP-A-4-125724 (JP, A) JP-A-4-125844 (JP, A) JP-A-4-153106 (JP, A) JP-A-5-325358 (JP, A) (58) ) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 3/06 301 G06F 3/06 550 G11B 15/68

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] A storage device that reads and writes a storage medium such as a magnetic tape cartridge; a loading and unloading device that loads and unloads the storage medium; a medium storage that stores a plurality of the storage media; At least one medium transport device (12-1, 12-) for transporting the media between the media storage and the storage / reproducing device or the media storage (10) and the loading / unloading device.
2), a first control unit (26) that receives a command from a higher-level device and returns a response, and the transport control device (12) based on a command from the higher-level device via the first control unit (26). And a second control unit (28) for issuing and controlling an operation command to the first control unit (26). A machine number control table (100) for registering the relationship between the logical machine number address (#n) designated by the above and the designated channel system of the input / output start command; A first activation processing unit (92) for registering the control table (100) and notifying the second control unit (28) of the reception of the command and returning a response for determining whether or not to receive the next medium transport information;
A first idle processing unit (9) for clearing the machine number control table (100) and receiving an end response to the higher-level device when the medium transport execution completion notification is received from the second control unit (28).
And a queuing table (122) for storing, in the second control unit (28), a plurality of pieces of medium transport information indicating a medium source and a destination issued by a higher-level device following the medium transport information. An execution state management table (124) indicating an operation state of the transport mechanism (12-1, 12-2); and each time a reception notification of the medium transport information is received from the first control unit (26), Queuing table (122)
Judge whether there is a free space, and if there is a free space, return a storable response and store the medium transport information transferred from the higher-level device in the queuing table (122). If there is no free space, return a busy response. (2) a start-up processing unit (114) and the transport mechanism (12) in an empty state with reference to the execution state management table (124) in a state where at least one medium transport information is stored in the queuing table (122). -1, 12-2), and a second idle processing unit (116) for issuing and executing the medium transport information. 2. The library device according to claim 1, wherein:
The second idle processing unit (11) of the second control unit (28)
6), if there is a medium carrying mechanism that is already being executed among the plurality of medium carrying mechanisms (12-1 to 12-n), the medium carrying information in the movement range that does not overlap the medium carrying information that is being executed. A library device which is taken out of the queuing table (122) and executed. 3. The library device according to claim 1, wherein
The first control device (26) is capable of receiving, from the same channel system, logical device number addresses (# 0 to # n-1) corresponding to the storage number n of the device number control table (100) arbitrarily set. A library device. 4. The library device according to claim 3, wherein
The queuing table (12) of the second control unit (28)
2) The number of instructions to be stored is the sum of the number (n × m) obtained by multiplying the number of logical machine number addresses (n) provided for each of the first control units (26) by the number of channel systems (m). A library device, characterized in that: 5. The library device according to claim 4, wherein:
When the number of instruction channel systems of the first control unit (26) is four and the number of logical machine number addresses of the board control table (100) is four, the second control unit (2)
8) The library device wherein the queuing table (122) has a storage number of 16 instructions. 6. The queuing table (12) of the second control unit (28) according to claim 1, wherein:
The second control unit (2) uses the ID number indicating the storage position as an index to indicate the medium transport information and the command receiving system.
6) a table structure for registering the physical machine number address (Di), wherein the execution status management table (124) stores the physical machine number address (AS) of the medium transport device (12-1, 12-2).
i), the queuing table (12)
2) The ID number of the medium transport mechanism (12-1, 12-
2) a table structure for registering an execution flag indicating the presence or absence of an operation, and a physical machine number address (Di) of the first control unit (26) indicating an instruction receiving system; and a queuing table (122). Is incremented by one each time the medium transport information is stored in the storage pointer (126) indicating the ID number of the table position. An execution pointer (128) indicating the ID number of the table position of the medium transport information stored in the queuing table (122) to be executed;
22) When the medium transport information is stored in the queuing table (122), one is added when the instruction is executed by the medium transport mechanism (12-1, 12-2). Queue counter (12
5), wherein the second activation processing unit (114) includes the first control unit (2).
If the count value (N) of the queue counter (125) is less than the maximum number ( _Nmax ) stored in the queuing table (122) upon receiving the instruction receipt notification from (6), the queuing table (125) 122) to be determined that there is a free space performs a responsive instruction reception, storage maximum number (N _max)
If so, a busy response is performed. Further, the second idle processing unit (116) sets the execution flag off from the execution state management table (124) and turns the medium transport mechanism (12-1, 12) −
If any of 2) is searched, the medium carrying information of the ID number of the queuing table (122) which is waiting for the next execution indicated by the execution pointer (128) is taken out and is in an empty state. A library device for instructing a medium transport mechanism to execute an instruction. 7. The library device according to claim 6, wherein:
The second control unit (28) further includes a busy management table (130) for registering a busy flag indicating a physical machine number address (Di) of the first control unit (26) according to the medium transport command that has sent a busy response. , The second activation processing unit (1
14) a physical machine number address of the first control unit (26) according to a medium transport command that has made a busy response of the busy management table (130) when a busy response in which there is no free space in the queuing table (122). A library device, wherein a busy flag is registered at a position corresponding to (Di). 8. The library device according to claim 6, wherein:
The first control unit (26) further provides an ID management table (102), and the first activation processing unit (92) sends a queuing table (12) from the second control unit (28).
When the storage completion notification of the medium transport information for 2) is received, the logical machine number address (#i) and the channel system are registered using the ID number indicating the table storage position as an index, and the first idle processing unit (94) Is the second control unit (2
8) When the media transport end notification is received from the ID number management table (102), the logical machine number address (#i) and the channel system where the media transport is completed are recognized from the ID number management table (102), and A library device that clears registration. 9. The library device according to claim 1, wherein
The first activation processing unit (92) of the first control unit (26) includes:
A library, wherein a busy report flag indicating that a busy report has been made for the medium transport information of the logical machine number address (#i) is registered in the machine number control table (100) for each channel system. apparatus. 10. The library apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first idle processing section (9) of the first control section (26).
4) When receiving the busy release report based on the end of the medium transport from the second control unit (28), the device number control table (100) is searched and the busy channel is set to the channel system in which the busy report flag is set. A library apparatus which responds to a busy release and clears the busy report flag. 11. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least two first control units (26-1, 26-2) are provided for said second control unit (28). Library device to do.