JPH04153106A - Discharge control system of library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve processing performance without need of the waiting time of a transporting mechanism in the discharge processing of medium through a discharge mechanism by informing command finishing to an host device after the transporting mechanism throws the medium into the discharging port of the discharge mechanism by the movement command from the host device. CONSTITUTION:A controller 22-1 which receives a movement command from a host CPU 20-1 controls and accesser 18-1 and takes out a cartridge from the position of a designated storage part 10 to move it to the discharge mechanism of a charging/discharging mechanism 32 and throws it into a discharging port. After completion of discharge, the controller 22-1 of the accesser 18-1 reports the completion of movement processing to CPU 20-1. At the same time, the controller 22-1 makes the discharging processing of the discharge mechanism run. Then the controller 22-1 informs that discharging is under a running condition in the discharging mechanism for the state notification command from the host CPU 20-1. After receiving the notification, the host CPU 20-1 gives a movement command to the parts other than the above discharge mechanism.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention relates to a discharge control method for a library device in which a medium stored in a storage is moved by a transport mechanism to a discharge mechanism and discharged to the outside based on a movement command from a host device. The purpose of this system is to improve processing performance by eliminating the waiting time of the transport mechanism until the mechanism completes the media ejection process.When the transport mechanism puts the medium into the ejection mechanism, the higher-level device is given an instruction to finish the move. It is configured to notify that the ejection process is being executed and to enable the transport mechanism section to execute a movement command to a portion other than the ejection mechanism section.

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a library device that transports magnetic tape cartridges stored in a storage to a deck for recording or reproduction based on a movement command from a host device, and particularly relates to a library device that transports magnetic tape cartridges stored in a storage to a deck for recording or playing back. The present invention relates to an ejection control method for a library apparatus in which a used cartridge is moved by a transport mechanism to an ejection mechanism and ejected to the outside.

In a library device known as a type of large-capacity recording/playback device, when a host device receives a move command from the storage to the ejection mechanism, the controller activates the accessor as the medium transport mechanism. Then, a medium such as a magnetic tape cartridge stored in the storage is taken out, conveyed to the ejection mechanism section, and ejected to the outside.

In this type of media ejection control, the accessor cannot execute the next movement command until it ejects the cartridge from the ejection port of the ejection mechanism section to the ejection port for the operator. Wait for completion and move on to executing the next instruction. The waiting time of the accessor during such discharge control is long, such as several seconds or more, and is a factor that reduces the processing performance of the device. Therefore, control that minimizes the waiting time of the accessor during discharge control is desired.

"Conventional technology" FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a conventional library device.

In FIG. 10, the library device includes a storage (CELL) 10 that stores a plurality of media such as magnetic tape cartridges.
, two deck units 16-1 and 16-2 that house a plurality of decks for reproducing and recording media, and a medium transport mechanism unit that transports the media between the storage 10 and the deck units 16-1 and 16-2. Two accessors as 18-1.18
-2, a controller 22-1.22-2 for controlling the accessor 18-1.18-2, and a medium input/output port 30.

In this library device, when receiving a movement command from the storage 10 to the deck from the host CPU as a higher-level device, the controller 221, for example,
is started, the specified medium is taken out from the storage 10, conveyed to the decking unit 16-1, and the designated medium is transported to the decking unit 16-1.
The data is loaded from the host CPU in -1 to the specified deck and played back or recorded.

For example, when the controller 22-1 receives a movement command from the host CPU to eject a used medium, it activates the accessor 18-1, takes out the medium from the storage 10, and moves the accessor 18-1 to take out the medium from the storage 10. It is transported to the discharge mechanism section and discharged outside.

This emission control is performed according to the following procedure.

(2) The host CPU issues a command to the controller 22-1 to move the cartridge from the storage 10, specifically the cartridge storage cell or storage boat, to the discharge port.

(2) The accessor 18-1 carries out a cartridge transport operation and inserts the cartridge into the ejection port of the ejection mechanism.

■After inserting the cartridge into the ejection port, controller 2
2-1 issues a discharge processing command to the control circuit of the discharge mechanism section.

(2) When the control circuit of the ejection mechanism section receives an ejection processing command from the controller 22-1 of the accessor 18-1, it executes a cartridge movement process and ejects the cartridge to the operator's ejection port.

(2) When the ejection process is completed, the process control circuit of the ejection mechanism section reports completion notification to the controller 221 of the accessor 18-1.

(2) When the controller 22-1 of the accessor 18-1 receives the completion notification, it reports the completion notification for the cartridge transport command to the host CPU.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional ejection control method for a library device, the ejection mechanism section is controlled by the controller of the accessor, and the host independently controls the accessor and the ejection mechanism. The controller of the accessor must be busy with the host for about 5 to 7 seconds after the accessor inserts the cartridge into the ejection port until the ejection mechanism completes the ejection process. The accessor is unable to execute the next transport command and continues to wait for the ejection process to finish. Normally, the average execution time for the accessor to transport the medium from the storage to the ejection port is about 10 seconds, and if you add the waiting time for ejection processing to this execution time, it will take more than a few seconds during ejection control. During this time, a situation occurs in which the accessor cannot execute other transfer commands by the host CPU, resulting in a problem of lowering the processing performance of the entire apparatus.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and provides a library device that improves processing performance by eliminating the waiting time of the transport mechanism while the ejection mechanism is performing the process of ejecting a medium. The purpose is to provide a fixed emission control method.

[Means to solve the problem] FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention.

First, the present invention includes a storage 10 that stores a plurality of media, an input mechanism section 12 that inputs media into the device from the outside, an ejection mechanism section 14 that discharges the media from inside the device to the outside, and a storage unit 10 that stores a plurality of media. A recording/reproducing device (deck) 16 that transports the medium, a transport mechanism section (accessor) 18 that transports the medium within the device, and a transport mechanism section 18 that is controlled in accordance with a movement command from the host device 20 to move the medium from the loading mechanism section 12 to storage. The object is a library device equipped with a controller 22 that transports a medium to a storage 10, transports the medium between the storage 10 and the recording/reproducing device 16, and further transports the medium from the storage 10 to the ejection mechanism section 14. do.

In the present invention, as an ejection control method for such a library device, when the controller 22 controls the transport mechanism section 18 in response to a movement command from the host device [20 to transport the medium to the ejection mechanism section 14 and input it. The discharge control means 24 notifies the host device 20 of the end of the movement command and at the same time starts the discharge operation of the discharge mechanism section 14, and notifies the host device 20 that the discharge process of the discharge mechanism section 14 is in progress. A state notification means 26 is provided, and the controller 22 can execute movement commands other than movement commands for the ejection mechanism section 14 until the ejection process of the ejection mechanism section 14 is completed.

In addition, when the ejection processing of the ejection mechanism section 14 is normally completed, the status notification means 26 of the controller 22 issues an interrupt notification to the host device 20 to report the end of ejection, and also sends a status notification from the host device 20. In response to the command, the ejection mechanism section 1
On the other hand, if the ejection processing of the ejecting mechanism section 14 does not end normally, the abnormal termination of the ejecting mechanism section 14 is notified when the completion of other movement commands is reported to the host device 20. It is characterized by reporting.

[Operation] According to the ejection control method of the library device according to the present invention having such a configuration, when the transport mechanism unit throws a medium into the ejection port of the ejection mechanism unit in response to a movement command from a higher-level device, the higher-level device is instructed to terminate the command. In order to notify, the host device can issue the next movement command to the transport mechanism and execute other movement commands even if the discharge mechanism is in the process of executing the discharge process.

At this time, the fact that the ejecting mechanism is in progress is reported as a response to the status notification command from the higher-level device, so the higher-level device knows that the ejecting mechanism is in the process of ejecting, and This means that a transport command other than the transport command for the unit will be issued, and there will be no duplication of discharge control.

When the discharge process is completed normally, an interrupt notification is sent to the higher-level device, and when the higher-level device receives a report that the discharge process has been canceled by issuing a status notification command, it becomes ready to issue a transport command to the discharge mechanism. .

Furthermore, when the ejection process ends abnormally, sense information of the abnormal end is reported to the host device as a response to the status notification command in response to the normal end of another transport command.

[Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a library apparatus in which discharge control of the present invention is performed.

In FIG. 2, numeral 10 is a storage, which stores a large number of media, such as magnetic tape cartridges. Storage 1
0, in this embodiment, accessors 18-1 and 18-2 as the medium transport mechanism are provided as in the conventional example shown in FIG.
Similarly, two controllers 22-1.22 correspond to 2.
-2 is provided. 32 is the charging/discharging mechanism section (CAS)
This device inserts and ejects media between the library device and the outside, and includes an inserting mechanism section 12 and an ejecting mechanism section 14, as will be explained later.

For the controller 22-1.22-2, the host C as a host device is connected via the director 28-1.28-2.
PU20-1.20-2 is connected, host 20-1.
20-2 is one of the vacant directors 2
The controller 22-1 or 22-2 is accessed via 8-1.28-2. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the recording and reproducing device 16 that loads and records or reproduces media stored in the storage 10 is omitted.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the charging/discharging mechanism section 32 in the embodiment shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, the loading/discharging mechanism section 32 includes the loading mechanism section 1
2 and a discharge mechanism section 14 are provided. A stacker 36 and a barcode reader 38 are provided on the input port side of the input mechanism section 12, and the stacker 36 receives a cartridge input from the outside by the operator 34, and the barcode reader 38 affixes the cartridge to the surface of the cartridge. Read the barcode.

Upon receiving a loading request from the transport mechanism section 18 via the accessor 18-1 or 18-2, the loading mechanism section 12 takes out the cartridge stored in the stacker 36, hands it over to the transport mechanism section 18, and transports it to the medium storage 10. let

On the other hand, a tray 40 is provided on the side of the ejection mechanism section 14, and the ejection mechanism section 14 executes an ejection process to put the cartridges inserted into the ejection port from the transport mechanism section 18 into the tray 40.
The operator 34 removes the cartridge ejected onto the tray 40.
can be taken out from the outside.

Further, the loading/unloading mechanism section 32 is provided with an operation panel 42 that indicates the operating status of the library device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the front panel side of the loading/unloading mechanism section 32 shown in FIG. If the cartridges are inserted into the internal stacker 36 in order from the bottom with the input port 44 open, and the input port 44 is closed after loading, the input mechanism section 12 can be operated by the transport mechanism section 18 in the device. The cartridge is taken in and transported to the storage 1o. A take-out port 48 is provided at the bottom of the panel of the loading/unloading mechanism section 32, and by opening the door at the top of the take-out port 48, cartridges can be taken out one roll at a time. When one roll of the cartridge is taken out, the cartridge located at the bottom automatically rises to the ejection opening.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged view of the operation panel 42 provided in the charging/discharging mechanism section 32 of FIG. 4. FIG.

In FIG. 5, the status of the left and right controllers 22-1, 22-2 is displayed at the top of the operation panel 42.
Two display lamps, rRE A DYJ and rCHECKJ, indicating the accessor 18-1.18-2.
rRE A D YJ and r indicating status for AccJ
Two racks of CHECKJ are provided.

Furthermore, a status display section for the input/discharge mechanism section, that is, CAS, is provided at the bottom, a check clamp for rcHEcKJ, an indicator lamp for rEXIT FULLJ indicating that the discharge section is full, a display section for the status rSTATUSJ, and a start switch. rsTARTJ and stop/reset switch rsT.

P/RESETJ is provided.

FIG. 6 shows the internal structure of the loading/unloading mechanism section 32 shown in FIG.
2, and a barcode reader 38 is installed on the left side of the stacker 36.

The loading mechanism section 12 has a turntable 50, and by placing the cartridge on the turntable 50 and rotating it 180 degrees, it can be grasped by a robot arm of an accessor coming from the back side.

A discharge mechanism section 14 is provided below the input mechanism section 12 . The ejection mechanism section 14 also includes a turntable 52 like the input mechanism section 12, and rotates the cartridges inserted into the ejection mechanism section 14 by the accessor 18-1 or 18-2 by 180 degrees.
After being rotated, it is discharged onto a tray 40.

FIG. 7 shows the accessor 18-1 in the embodiment of FIG.
18-2 and an explanatory diagram schematically showing the storage 10. FIG.

In FIG. 7, in this embodiment, two accessors 18-1 and 18-2 are provided so as to be movable in the left and right directions along rails installed above and below the unit housing of the library device. A robot arm 54 is provided on the post of the accessor so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and the robot arm 54 holds the cartridge 56 and stores and takes out the cartridge 56 in each cell of the storage 10.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the accessor 18-1゜18-
Controller 22-1.22- provided corresponding to 2
Regarding 2, in the emission control system of the present invention, the control functions of the emission control means 24 and the status notification means 26 are incorporated as shown in the principle diagram of FIG. That is, taking the controller 22-1 as an example, the ejection control means 24 controls the accessor 18-1 in response to a movement command from the host CPU 20-1 to input the medium into the ejection mechanism section 14 (of the ejection mechanism section 32). (see Figure 3).
At the same time as notifying the end of the movement command to the host CPU 20-1, the control circuit of the ejecting mechanism section 14 is controlled to start the ejecting operation.

Further, the status notification means 26 notifies the host CP that the ejection processing of the ejection mechanism section 14 is being executed by the ejection control means 24.
Performs control to notify U20-1.

Furthermore, when the ejection process of the ejecting mechanism section 14 is normally completed, the status notification means 26 provided in the controller 22-1 issues an interrupt notification to the host CPU 20-1 to report the completion of ejection. Based on this interrupt notification, the host CPU 20-1 issues a status notification command to notify that the ejecting mechanism section 14 has been canceled. On the other hand, when the ejecting process of the ejecting mechanism section 14 is abnormally terminated, the abnormal termination of the ejecting mechanism section 14 is reported as sense information when reporting the completion of other movement commands issued by the host CPU 20-1. Become.

Next, the control process for the cartridge ejection operation of the present invention in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be explained with reference to the process flow diagram shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, first step Sl (hereinafter referred to as "step")
For example, assume that the host CPU 20-1 issues a command to move the cartridge to the ejection mechanism section 14 of the input/ejection mechanism section 32 from the host CPU 20-1 to the controller 22-1 of the accessor 18-1.

The controller 22-1, which has received the movement command from the host CPU 20-1, controls the accessor 18-1 in S2 to take out the cartridge from the specified positional force of the storage 10, and removes the cartridge from the ejecting mechanism of the loading/unloading mechanism section 32. The sample is moved to section 14 and put into the discharge port.

When the discharge by the accessor 18-1 of S2 is completed, the controller 221 of the accessor 18-1
20-1 is notified of the completion of the movement process, that is, the normal completion. At the same time, the controller 22-1 causes the ejection mechanism section 14 to execute the ejection processing operation.

Through the process of S3, the accessor 18-1 is released from the exit control and placed in a state where it can execute the next movement command from the host CPU 20-1.

Next, in S4, the controller 22-1 informs the CPU 20 that the ejection operation is being executed in the ejection mechanism section 14.
In response to the status notification command from -1, 8 is notified that the mechanism unit 14 is in a busy state. Controller 2 in this C84
In response to the notification from the 2-1 side that the discharge mechanism section 14 is in a busy state, the host CPU 20-1 issues a command to the controller 22-1 of the accessor 18-1 to move to a location other than the discharge mechanism section 14 that is in the process of discharging. will be issued.

Subsequently, in S5, when the ejection operation of the cartridge to the external ejection port in the ejection mechanism section 14 is completed, upon receiving this ejection completion, the controller 22-1 reports a completion interrupt to the host CPU 20-1, and receives the completion interrupt. Host C
The PU 20-1 issues a status notification command, and in response to the status notification command, reports that the busy state of the ejection mechanism section 14 has been released, and ends the series of ejection processing.

Figure 9 shows 83 of Figure 8. Axela 18-1 in S4 condition
The processing flow when the controller 22-1 receives the next movement command from the host CPU 20-1 is shown.

In FIG. 9, first, in step 310, the host CPU 20-1 issues a command to move the next cartridge to the controller 22-1 of the accessor 18-1. This host CP
In response to the movement command from U20-1, the controller 22-1 checks in step 311 whether or not the movement destination is the ejection mechanism section 14 in which ejection processing is being executed. Move destination is ejection mechanism section 1
If it is not 4, the process proceeds to S12, and the controller 22-1 executes the designated movement process based on the movement command issued by the accessor 18-1. Next, in S13, the ejection mechanism section 1
Check whether the discharge process in Step 4 has ended normally or not, and if it has ended normally, proceed to S14 and report to the host CPL 120-1 the end of the specified movement process based on another movement command issued in S10. Then, the process returns to 85 in FIG.

On the other hand, if the ejecting process in the ejecting mechanism section 14 has not ended normally in S13, the process advances to S15, and at the same time, a report indicating the completion of the designated movement process, that is, a normal end, is sent in response to the movement command issued in S10. , reports that the ejection process of the ejection mechanism section 14 is abnormal as sense information.

Furthermore, if it is determined in S11 that the destination of the new movement command issued from the host CPU 20-1 is the ejection mechanism unit 14 that is currently executing the ejection process in S10, the process proceeds to S16 and the controller 22-1 does not execute the movement process specified by the accessor 18-1, and the host C
The error will be reported to the PU20-1.

The processing flow diagram in Figure 8.9 is based on the host CPU in Figure 2.
20-1 controls the accessor 18-1 by commands to the controller 22-1, but the controller 22-2 and accessor 18-2 may also be controlled, or the host CPU 20 -2 may issue a movement command to controller 22-1 or controller 22-2.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, in order to notify the host device of the end of the command while the medium is transported from the storage to the ejection mechanism section and placed therein, the ejection processing of the ejection mechanism section is performed. A transfer command from the next host device can be executed by the transfer mechanism without waiting for the execution to finish, and the processing performance of the library device can be greatly improved by eliminating the waiting time during the ejection process in the transfer mechanism. can.

Furthermore, by notifying the higher-level device that the discharge is in progress, the higher-level device issues a command to move to a location other than the discharge mechanism section, thereby reliably preventing duplication of discharge control.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the charging/discharging mechanism section of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation panel of the input/discharge mechanism of the present invention; FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the internal structure of the input/discharge mechanism of the present invention; FIG. 7 The figure is an explanatory diagram of the accessor and storage of the present invention; No. 8
The figure is a process flow diagram of the cartridge ejection operation according to the present invention; FIG. A process flow diagram when a cartridge movement command is received from the host CPU in the state of S4; FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a conventional library apparatus. In the figure, 10: storage 12: loading mechanism section 14: ejecting mechanism section (CAS EXIST) 16/recording/playback device 18: transport mechanism section 18-1.18-2: accessor (ACC) 20: host device 20-1 .20-2+Host CPU 22.22-1.22-2・Controller 24: Discharge control means 26: Status notification means 28-1.28-2+Director 32: Input/discharge unit 34: Operator 36: Stacker 38: Bar code Reader 40/Tray 42: Operation panel 44: Input port 46: Input port release switch 48 Output port, 50.52: Turntable 54/Robot arm 56: Cartridge

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A storage (10) that stores a plurality of media, an input mechanism section (12) that inputs media into the device from the outside, and an ejection mechanism section (14) that discharges the media from inside the device to the outside; A recording and reproducing device (16) for recording and reproducing a medium, a transport mechanism section (18) for transporting the medium within the device, and a host device (20)
The medium is transported from the loading mechanism section (12) to the storage (10) by controlling the transport mechanism section (18) in accordance with the movement command from the storage system (10) and the recording/reproducing device (16). ), and further transport the medium between the storage warehouses (1
0) to the ejection mechanism section (14), the controller (22) receives a movement command from the host device (20) to transfer the medium from the transfer mechanism section (14) to the ejection mechanism section (14). (18) to transport and input the medium to the ejection mechanism section (14), the ejection mechanism section (14) notifies the host device (20) of the end of the movement command and simultaneously sends the medium to the ejection mechanism section (14).
a discharge control means (24) for starting the discharge operation of the discharge mechanism section (14); and a status notification means (26) for notifying the host device (20) that the discharge process of the discharge mechanism section (14) is being executed.
) and ; are provided, and the controller (22) can execute movement commands other than movement commands for the ejection mechanism section (14) until the ejection process of the ejection mechanism section (14) is completed. Transport control method for library equipment. (2) In the transport control method for a library apparatus according to claim 1, the status notification means (26) of the controller (22) comprises:
When the ejection process of the ejection mechanism section (14) is successfully completed, an interrupt notification is issued to the host device (20) to report the end of ejection, and a status notification command is issued from the host device (20). On the other hand, if the ejection process of the ejection mechanism section (14) has not been completed normally, the host device (2)
1. A transport control method for a library apparatus, characterized in that an abnormal termination of the ejecting mechanism section (14) is reported when reporting the termination of another movement command to the transfer mechanism (14).