JPH05166272A - Magnetic cartridge tape device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten an access time to data by stocking plural media in an autoloader, sending succeedingly it to a deck and reading and writing it continuously. CONSTITUTION:A medium 5 in a warehouse 3 is taken out from a housing shelf 2 by an accessor 5 and sent to an unused medium stock part of an autoloader 6. At this time, the medium is loaded into a deck 4 by a medium loading part when the deck 4 is empty and the data is read. The medium to be read next is taken out from the housing shelf 2 by the accessor 5 and sent into the unused medium stock part and stored. The former medium is ejected from the deck 4 and entered into a used medium stock part when the former medium is ended to be read. The medium to be read next is loaded into the deck 4 by the medium loading part when the deck 4 is empty and the data is read. That is, the access time to the data is shortened since the device is constituted so that plural media are stocked temporarily by the loader 6 and the medium is loaded into the deck 4 continuously.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic cartridge tape device, and more particularly to a library type magnetic cartridge tape device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a library type magnetic cartridge tape device of this type can store only one medium in each deck. Therefore, in order to load the next medium, the used medium is first taken out and stored in the storage shelf, and then the next medium is taken out from the storage shelf and the medium is loaded into the deck.

[0003]

However, conventionally, in the library type magnetic cartridge tape device of this type, even if the medium to be used next is determined, the medium using the deck at that time is not used. The accessor cannot enter the next operation until it is completed. Therefore, when exchanging media, the accessor must always return the used media to the storage shelf, then take out the next media from the storage shelf and carry it to the deck.
It is necessary to load the deck. Therefore, there is a problem that useless time is generated.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic cartridge tape device capable of shortening the access time to data.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A warehouse having a storage shelf for storing a large number of media, a plurality of decks for writing and reading data on the media, an accessor for taking out the media from the storage shelf, transferring the media to the deck, and loading the media on the decks. A magnetic cartridge tape device having a control unit for controlling a deck and an accessor is provided with an autoloader capable of storing a plurality of media in each deck and successively loading the media into the deck.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the medium is a magnetic cartridge tape type storage medium.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the autoloader is composed of an unused medium input port, an unused medium stock section, a used medium take-out port, a used medium stock section, and a medium loading section. Is characterized by.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the deck is provided with an autoloader, and a plurality of media for continuous reading and writing are stocked in the autoloader to sequentially read and write. This allows
The accessor can perform the processing in a short time as compared with the case where the medium is taken in and out every time, and thus the access time to the data can be shortened.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a magnetic cartridge tape device according to the present invention. The library type magnetic cartridge tape device 1 of the present embodiment has a warehouse 3 having a storage shelf 2 for storing a large number of magnetic cartridge tape type storage media (hereinafter referred to as media), and recording data on the medium. , A deck 4 for reading recorded data, an accessor 5 for transferring a medium between the storage rack 2 and the deck 4, and an autoloader for temporarily stocking a plurality of media and successively loading the media on the deck 4. 6 and 6.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the autoloader 6. The autoloader 6 has an unused medium input port 7
The unused medium stock section 8, the used medium take-out port 9, the used medium stock section 10, and the medium loading section 11 are provided.

Next, the operation of the magnetic cartridge tape device of this embodiment will be described. Now, let us assume that the operation of reading the files successively stored in four media from the media is performed. The four mediums are referred to as medium a, medium b, medium c, and medium d, respectively. The accessor 5 takes out the medium a from the storage shelf 2 in which the medium a of the warehouse 3 is stored, and inserts the medium a into the unused medium input port 7 of the autoloader 6. Then, the medium a is sent to the unused medium stock section 8.
At this time, since the deck 4 is empty, the medium a is loaded into the deck 4 by the medium loading unit 11.

Next, the data on the medium a is read from the deck 4. The accessor 5 takes out the medium b in which the data to be read next is stored from the storage shelf 2, carries the medium b into the unused medium input port 7 of the autoloader 6, and inserts it. The medium b is accommodated in the unused medium stock section 8. Similarly, the mediums c and d are also stored in the unused medium stock section 8. During this time, if the reading of the medium a is completed, the medium a is ejected from the deck 4, and the used medium stock unit 1
Enter 0.

When the deck 4 becomes empty, the medium b, which is the next medium, is loaded into the deck 4 by the medium loading section 11. Similarly, the mediums c and d are also sent to the deck 4 to read the data.

When the accessor 5 finishes carrying to the medium d to the unused medium input port 7 and there is no medium to carry, the medium a, which has been read, is stocked in the used medium stock section 10. For example, the medium a is taken out from the used medium take-out port 9 and returned to the position where the medium a was on the storage shelf 2. Similarly, when the medium b, the medium c, and the medium d have finished reading data from the deck 4, they are sent to the used medium stock section 10, and when the accessor 5 is free, the used medium take-out port 9 is used by the accessor 5.
It is taken out and returned to the original position of the storage rack 2.

[0015]

As described above, according to the magnetic cartridge tape apparatus of the present invention, the deck is provided with an autoloader, and a plurality of media for continuous reading and writing are stocked in the autoloader to sequentially read and write. As a result, it is possible to perform processing in a short time as compared to the case where the accessor performs the loading / unloading of the medium each time as in the related art, and it is possible to significantly reduce the access time to the data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a magnetic cartridge tape device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an autoloader.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Magnetic Cartridge Tape Device 2 Storage Shelf 3 Warehouse 4 Deck 5 Accessor 6 Autoloader 7 Unused Medium Input Port 8 Unused Medium Stock Section 9 Used Medium Ejection Port 10 Used Medium Stock Section 11 Medium Loading Section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A warehouse having an accommodation shelf for accommodating a large number of media, a plurality of decks for writing and reading data on the medium, and a medium for taking out the media from the accommodation shelf and transferring the medium to this deck. A magnetic cartridge tape device comprising an accessor for loading a medium and a control unit for controlling the deck and the accessor, wherein an autoloader capable of storing a plurality of media in each deck and continuously loading the medium into the deck is provided. A magnetic cartridge tape device characterized by being provided. 2. The magnetic cartridge tape device according to claim 1, wherein the medium is a magnetic cartridge tape type storage medium. 3. The autoloader includes an unused medium input port,
Unused medium stock section, used medium outlet,
2. The magnetic cartridge tape device according to claim 1, comprising a used medium stock section and a medium loading section.