JPH0392921A - Medium management information preparing system for library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prepare management information in a short time and to shorten time from a power-on state to a ready state by providing a detecting means to detect the presence and absence of each disk in a disk housing part and preparing the disk management information according to the detecting signal of this detecting means. CONSTITUTION:A disk device 13, disk housing part 16 to house plural disks 14, and disk moving mechanism 15 to take out the disk 14 from the disk housing part 16 and to put in/out it to the disk device 13, are provided and in the disk housing part 16, a detecting means 21 is provided to detect the presence and absence of each disk 14. It is detected by the detecting means 21 whether the disk 14 is housed in the disk housing part 16 or not, and according to the detection signal, the disk management information are prepared. Thus, in comparison with a case that the presence and absence of the disk is detected by the operation of the disk moving mechanism to hold the disk, the management information can be prepared in a short time and the time can be shortened for a device to turn from the power-on state to the ready state.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a medium management information creation method in a library device such as an optical disk library device, a medium for a library device that does not take time to create management information and does not take time to go from power-on to ready state. The present invention aims to provide a management information creation method, in a library device having a disk device, a disk storage section for storing a plurality of disks, and a disk moving mechanism for taking out the disks from the disk storage section and putting them in and out of the disk device. , providing a detection means for detecting the presence or absence of each of the disks in the disk storage section,
The disk management information is configured to be created based on the detection signal of the detection means.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a medium management information creation method in a library device such as an optical disk library device.

When an optical disk library device operates as a library device, not only the host device but also the optical library device itself uses optical disk management information to know where optical disks are stored and where optical disks are not stored. There is a need. Normally, optical disc management information is held in a memory such as a RAM and referenced when necessary.

However, if the optical disc management information is not retained in memory after the optical disc library device is powered on, the management information must be created. In this case, it is necessary to create the management information in a short time. be.

[Prior Art] Examples of methods for creating management information in conventional optical disk library devices include those shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example.

In FIG. 6, 1 reads data to the optical disk 2,
A plurality of optical disk devices perform writing; 3 is an optical disk storage section that stores a plurality of optical disks 2; 4 is an optical disk moving device that takes out the optical disk 2 from the optical disk storage section 3 and puts it in and out of the optical disk device 1; 5 is an optical disk moving device 4; an optical disk moving device control unit that controls the 6
7 is a read/write control section that controls the optical disk device 1; 8 is an optical disk library control device that controls the read/write control section 7, the optical disk movement mechanism control section 5, and the memory 6; 9;
is a host device connected to the optical disc library control device 7.

In FIG. 6, first, when the disk library device is powered on in step S1, the optical disk moving mechanism 4 is moved to the storage location 1a of the optical disk storage section 3 in step S2, and the operation of grabbing the optical disk 2 is performed in step S3. Let them do it.

Next, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the optical disc moving mechanism 4 can grasp the optical disc 2. If the optical disc moving mechanism 4 cannot grasp the optical disc 2, it is determined in step S5 that the memory 6 indicates that the optical disc 2 is not stored in the storage location 1a of the optical disc storage section 3. memorize it,
If the optical disc 2 can be grabbed, the fact that the optical disc 2 is stored in the storage location 1a of the optical disc storage unit 3 is stored in the memory 6 in step S6.

Next, in step S7, the optical disc moving mechanism 4 is moved to the storage location 2a of the optical disc storage section 3, and in step S8, the same operation is performed for all the storage locations of the optical disc storage section 3.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional method of creating management information, it is necessary to operate the optical disk moving mechanism after powering on the device and grab the optical disks one by one in the storage location. As a result, the optical disk library device was able to process commands from the host device (ready state) only after the management information was created, and the optical disk storage When the number of storage locations (maximum storage number) for a part is small, the creation of management information is completed in a short time, but as the number of storage locations increases, the number of locations to check increases. There were problems in that it took a long time to create and it took a long time to go from power-on to ready state.

The present invention has been made in view of these conventional problems, and provides media management information for a library device that does not take much time to create management information and does not take time from power-on to ready state. The purpose is to provide a method of production.

C. Means for Solving Problems FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention. In Figure l,
13 is a disk device; 16 is a disk storage section that stores a plurality of disks 14; 15 is a disk moving mechanism that takes out the disks 14 from the disk storage section 16 and puts them in and out of the disk device 13; 21 is a disk storage section that stores a plurality of disks 14; This is a detection means for detecting the presence or absence of each of the provided disks 14.

[Function] In the present invention, whether or not a disc is stored in the disc storage unit is detected by a detection means provided in the disc storage unit, and disc management information is created based on the detection signal. In this manner, management information can be created in a shorter time in proportion to the case where the disk moving mechanism detects the presence or absence of a disk by the movement of grasping the disk.

As a result, it was possible to shorten the time from when the device was powered on until it became ready.

In particular, in the case of a large-capacity library device that can store a large maximum number of disks, the time-saving effect is significant.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIGS. 2 to 4 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes an optical disc library device, and a host device 12 is connected to the optical disc library device 11, and the host device 12 includes a plurality of optical disc devices (
a specific optical disk device 13 among the disk devices) 13;
You can now choose. The optical disc device 13 is composed of a head, a format control section, a servo control section, a drive motor, a motor drive control section, etc.
Reading data from the optical disk (disk) 14,
Do a light.

Reference numeral 15 denotes an optical disk moving mechanism (disk moving mechanism), and the optical disk moving mechanism 15 moves the optical disk 14 to the optical disk device 13 without the intervention of the operator or the host device 12.
can be taken in and out automatically.

Reference numeral 16 denotes an optical disk storage section (disc storage section), and the optical disk storage section 16 stores the optical disk 14 that is taken in and taken out by the optical disk moving mechanism 15.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the optical disc storage unit 16 has a plurality of optical disc storage locations 17, and each storage location 17
is provided with a pair of light emitting section 18 and a light receiving section 19, respectively. In addition, the storage locations 17 are 1 a, 2 a,
3a, 4a, 5a,... When the optical disc 14 is stored in the storage location 17, the light 20 from the light emitting part 18 is blocked and the light receiving part 19
However, if the optical disc 14 is not stored in the storage location 17, the light 20 from the light emitting section 18 is not blocked and is received by the light receiving section 19. Therefore, the presence or absence of the optical disc 14 can be detected by the pair of light emitting section 18 and light receiving section 19. Therefore, the light emitting section 18 and the light receiving section 19 collectively constitute an optical sensor 21 as a detection means for detecting whether or not the optical disc 14 is stored in the storage location 17.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a read/write control section, and the read/write control section 22 controls read/write operations of the plurality of optical disk devices 13. 23 is an optical disk moving mechanism control section, and the optical disk moving mechanism control section 23 controls the movement of the optical disk moving mechanism 15.

Reference numeral 24 denotes an optical sensor control section, the optical sensor control section 24 controls the optical sensor 21, and management information regarding the presence or absence of the optical disk 14 is stored in the memory 25 via the optical sensor control section 24.

26 is an optical disc library control unit, and the optical disc library control unit 26 includes the memory 25 and the optical sensor control unit 2.
4. Controls the optical disk moving mechanism control section 23 and read/write control section 22. Optical disc library control unit 2
6 is connected to the host device 12.

Next, the operation will be explained.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, first, when the optical disk library device is powered on in step 811, the optical sensor 21a of the optical sensors 21 is operated via the optical sensor control unit 24 in step S12.

That is, the light 20 is projected from the light emitting section 18 onto the light receiving section 19 .

Next, in step S13, it is determined whether the light 20 does not reach the light receiving section 19. When the light 20 reaches the light receiving section 19, that is, when the light 20 is received by the light receiving section 19,
Assuming that the optical disc 14 is not stored in the storage location 1a of the optical disc storage locations 17 in step S14,
This is stored in the memory 25. In addition, the light 20 is
9, that is, when the light receiving section 19 does not receive the light, the optical disc 14 is stored in the storage location 17 and stored in the memory 25 in step 315.

Next, in step S16, the optical sensor 2lb of the optical sensors 21 is operated, and in step S17, the same operation is performed for all the optical disc storage locations 1a, 2a, 3a, . . . .

Management information of the optical disc 14 indicating whether or not the optical disc 14 is stored in the optical disc storage location 16 is stored in the memory 25 via the optical sensor control unit 24, and the stored management information is notified to the optical disc library control unit 26. Ru.

Conventionally, in order to check the presence or absence of the optical disc 14 and create management information, it is necessary for the optical disc moving mechanism 15 to perform a mechanical operation such as grabbing the optical disc 14 one by one. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the optical sensor 21 is used to detect the presence or absence of the optical disc {4, so it does not take much time to create the management information. As a result, the time from power-on to ready state can be shortened.

In this embodiment, the presence or absence of the optical disc 14 is detected using the optical sensor 21, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any other device can be used as long as it can detect the presence or absence of the optical disc 14. The sensor may also be used.

Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to optical disk library devices but also to magnetic tape library devices and the like.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the presence or absence of an optical disc is detected by an optical sensor and management information for the optical disc is created, so that the time for creating management information can be shortened. I can do it.

As a result, the time from power-on to ready state can be shortened. In particular, in the case of a large-capacity library device that has a large number of storage mechanisms for optical disks, the time-saving effect is significant.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating main parts, Fig. 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the present invention, Fig. 5 6 is a diagram showing a conventional example, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining the conventional operation. In the figure, 11... Optical disk library device, l2... Upper device, 13... Optical disk device (disk device), 14...
・Optical disc (disc), 15... Optical disc moving mechanism (disc moving mechanism) 1
6... Optical disc storage section (disc storage section), 17.
...Optical disc storage section (disk storage section), 8... Light emitting section, 9... Light receiving section, 0... Light, 1.21a, 2lb... Optical sensor (detection means) 2...
- Read/write control unit, 3... Optical disk moving mechanism control unit, 4... Optical sensor control unit, 5... Memory, 6... Optical disc library control unit, a, 2a, 3a
...Each storage location.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A disk device (13), a disk storage section (16) that stores a plurality of disks (14), and a disk storage section (16) that stores a plurality of disks (14).
a disk moving mechanism (15) that takes out the disk (14) from the disk device (16) and takes it out and puts it in and out of the disk device (13);
), the disk storage section (16) is provided with a detection means (21) for detecting the presence or absence of each of the disks (14), and the detection signal of the detection means (21) is used to read disk management information. A method for creating media management information in a library device, characterized in that: