JPH054382U - Cassette for recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Instantly identify the tape recording information displayed on the cassette by both visual and optical detection. A cassette is provided with a display column 3 in which a plurality of blank display portions are formed, and the blank display portions 4a to 4c, 5 and 6 are selectively filled in according to the tape recording information to display and display them. Both of them are identified.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a cassette for a recording medium capable of identifying the recording medium information recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape contained therein by both the visual sense of the user and the optical detection by a reader. Is.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, various methods have been proposed for displaying and identifying various recording media such as recording and recording mode time recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape in a cassette case accommodating the recording media. Has been done. For example, in an 8 mm video cassette, as an example, an erroneous erasure prevention display window is provided at one corner of the rear part of the cassette case as a mechanism for preventing erroneous erasure of recording medium information in the cassette, and a red indicator plate that can be slid on this display window. If the bit is covered and closed with this red indicator plate, it is prohibited to erase the recording medium in the cassette, and the bit is red-marked by sliding it to a position where the red indicator plate cannot be seen from the bit. Identification is performed so that the erasing operation of the recording medium can be performed when it is no longer covered by the plate. However, in the above-mentioned cassette, the erroneous erasure prevention mechanism that slides the red marking plate as needed can be used repeatedly, but the recording medium information in the cassette can be identified by the bits formed at both corners at the rear of the cassette. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a large number of bits in the cassette case so that a large amount of information on the recording medium can be identified. For example, the space space is limited by the space occupied by the tape reel and the attachment of the reel stopper. Because it is impossible.

On the other hand, in view of the above points, as a method of identifying a lot of recording medium information, there is a method of attaching a label displaying a barcode to a cassette case and identifying the barcode with an optical reader. There is also a method of identifying a magnetic tape on which recording information is recorded by a magnetic reader or a method of identifying an IC element by a CPU (computer) or the like.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, as described above, a large amount of recording medium information can be obtained by recording the recording medium information on a bar code, a magnetic medium, or an IC element, but only the reading by a reader is possible as the identification of the recording medium information. However, it is difficult to visually identify and read the recorded information of the bar code, and it is impossible to visually read the recorded information of the magnetic medium or the IC element.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a recording medium cassette capable of discriminating the recording information of a recording medium by both visual and optical detection. To aim.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, a recording medium cassette according to the present invention is a recording medium cassette in which a recording medium such as a magnetic tape is housed, and a plurality of blank display portions of a predetermined shape are arranged in a predetermined direction on the cassette. Arranged display columns are provided, and the recording medium information is displayed in the display columns by light and dark notation in the blank display section so that the above display in the display columns can be visually and optically detected. It is the one.

[0007]

[Action]

 In the recording medium cassette configured as described above, the required portion of the blank display portion of the display column is displayed in light and dark, for example, the blank display portion is filled with writing instrument and displayed in light and dark to display the recording medium information. As a result, the blank display area can be visually identified by the lightness and darkness of the filled portion and the unfilled blank portion. Further, the blank display portion can read the lightness and darkness between the painted portion and the blank portion by an optical sensor such as a photo interrupter, and the output signal from this optical sensor can be identified by a CPU (processor) or the like.

[0008]

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of, for example, an 8 mm video cassette as an example of a recording medium cassette. On the side surface 2 of the cassette, which is generally designated by reference numeral 1, a recording information of the cassette tape is displayed. A display column 3 in which a desired display can be written in a mark sheet system, for example, is formed and attached as a label. The tape record information displayed in the display column 3 is visually identifiable and also identifiable by optical detection.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the display column 2. In the display column 3 of, for example, a white background such as a label, the segment-shaped blank display portions 4a, 4b, 4c having a "day" character pattern are displayed. Has been formed. To the right of the segment-shaped blank display section 4c, a dot-shaped blank display section 5 showing the video recording time mode (MODE) field in five stages, and to the right of the dot-shaped blank display section 5 is, for example, a metal tape. , A dot type blank display portion 6 showing a tape type (TEPE) column of vapor deposition tape or the like in five stages and a segment type blank display portion 4a, 4b, 4c are formed corresponding to the respective blank display portions. There is. Then, on the lower edge of the display column 3, a position corresponding to each segment row of the segment-shaped blank display portions 4a to 4c and a position corresponding to the dot-shaped blank display portions 5 and 6 will be described later. A marker 7 is formed to indicate the timing of reading the display section by the optical sensor.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example in which the record information of the cassette tape is painted and displayed by the mark sheet method in the display field 3 of FIG. That is, by selectively filling each of the segment-shaped blank display portions 4a, 4b, 4c of the "day" shaped pattern with, for example, a black writing instrument, the non-painted portion of the segment-shaped blank display portions 4a, 4b, 4c. It is visually recognizable that the segment-shaped blank display portions 4a, 4b, 4c are displayed as a combination of numbers "1", "2", "3" as a whole by the light and shade of. Also, in the mode column, the dot-shaped blank display area 5 in the second row is similarly painted with black writing material, and in the type column, the dot-shaped blank display area 6 in the third row is painted with black writing material. The dot-shaped blank display portions 5 and 6 are distinguished by the lightness and darkness of the unpainted portions. Therefore, as described above, the number of the cassette and the tape record information of the tape accommodated in the cassette can be visually identified by looking at the display column 3 in which the blank display portion is selectively filled.

On the other hand, the display column 3 in which the blank display portions 4a to 4c, 5 and 6 are selectively filled as described above can be optically identified and read. An example of this optical reader will be described with reference to FIG. The X direction in the display column 3 is the loading / unloading direction of the cassette shown in FIG. 1, and the Y direction is the direction orthogonal to the X direction. The reader indicated by reference numeral 8 is a CPU including a plurality of optical sensors 9 such as photo interrupters for optically detecting the presence / absence of painting of the blank display portion, and a computer unit for discriminating signals from the respective optical sensors 9. (Processing device) 10.

The optical sensor 9 includes sensors 9a to 4b _{1 to} 4b ₅ corresponding to the blank display portions 4b _{1 to} 4b ₅ for each column of the arranged blank display portions (the segment type blank display portion 4b is shown in FIG. 4). A total of six sensors, 9e and a sensor 9f corresponding to the marker 7, are provided. That is, in the display column 3, the blank display portions 4b _{1 to} 4b ₅ are read by the sensors 9a to 9e at the same time when the marker 7a is read by the sensor 9f, and the light from the sensor 9 is read by the blank display portion. The black portion of 4b, which is filled with the black writing instrument, outputs a signal of digital value "1" because it is not reflected, and the blank portion which is not filled is reflected, so that a signal of digital value "0" is output. Therefore, at the position P ₁ of the marker 7a, as shown in FIG. 4, the sensor 9a has a digital value "1", hereinafter, the sensor 9b is "0", the sensor 9c is "1", the sensor 9d is "0", and The sensor 9e reads "1", and the CPU 10 identifies the digital signals of the respective sensors 9a to 9e. Similarly, the marker 7b made by reading the sensor 9a~9e of blank display unit 4b ₁ ~4b ₅ in position P ₂ by a timing to be read by the sensor 9f, the digital signals of their respective sensors 9a~9e It is identified by the CPU 10.

As described above, the display column 3 is read by the sensors 9a to 9e of the reader 8 contained in the recording / reproducing apparatus at the time of loading the cassette, and each sensor digital output signal is identified by the CPU 10. The recording information in the display column 3 can be automatically read by being performed.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which six sensors of the reader 8 are used has been described, but of course, the number of sensors is determined according to the number of rows of the blank display section to be read. The reading direction of the display column 3 is not necessarily limited to the X direction (cassette loading direction), but may be the Y direction or a combination of the X direction and the Y direction.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the display column 3. In the display column 3 in this case, a large number of dot-shaped blank display portions 11 are arranged vertically and horizontally, and the dot-shaped blank display portion 11 for each record information displayed in column number 12 is selectively filled. It is designed to be visually identifiable, and the filled dot portion for each column number 12 can be read by a reader for each marker 7.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the display column 3. In this case, the dot-shaped blank display portions 13 are arranged in a matrix type, and the blank display portions 13 are selectively filled to make a sentence. It can be visually identified as letters, alphabets, or figures, and of course, this display column 3 can also be read by the dot-shaped display section for each column by the reader.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. .. For example, the recorded information displayed in display field 3 can be rewritten by erasing the filled area with an eraser, or by partially pasting a new blank display area from above the filled display area, or until now. It is also possible to attach a new display field from the top of the display field 3 of. In addition to the method of painting with a writing instrument, the same effect can be achieved by sticking or peeling off a sticker with a difference in light and shade on the blank display part. Further, although the embodiment has been described taking the cassette for 8 mm video as an example, it is also widely applicable to identification of cassettes for recording media such as video cassettes other than 8 mm video, and recording media such as magnetic disks and optical disks. ..

In each of the above-described embodiments, the display column is designed so that the notation portion, that is, the required blank display portion is filled with black so that the visual identification and the detection by the reader can be performed. , This notation may be reversed. That is, the notation part can be formed as a reflection part such as black-painted non-reflective surface that is painted white or white. Therefore, when the cassette is made of a black material, the display column described above may be directly formed in white on the cassette surface.

[0019]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, in the cassette for recording medium according to the present invention, the blank display part of the display column provided in the cassette is identified by the light and dark notation such as filling in according to the recorded information, so that the recorded information can be visually recognized. It can be read instantly by both optical detection. In addition, more recording medium information can be displayed compared to the case where bits are formed in the cassette, and this display is simple, and a predetermined cassette can be easily selected and reliable recording and reproduction can be performed without fear of malfunction. The property is improved. Furthermore, since the recording medium information can be checked both visually and optically, the recording medium information can be double checked by both humans and machines, so that the recording medium information can be obtained without error.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a recording medium cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a display column in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of entry of recorded information in a display field.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an example of reading by a reader.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a display field of a dot-shaped blank display section.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a display column of a matrix-type blank display unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Display columns 4a to 4c Segment type blank display section 5, 6 Dot type blank display section 7, 7a, 7b Marker 8 Reader 9, 9a to 9f Optical sensor 10 CPU 11 Dot type blank display section 13 Matrix type blank display section

Claims (1)

Claims for utility model registration 1. A cassette for a recording medium containing a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, wherein a plurality of blank display portions having a predetermined shape are arranged in a predetermined direction on the cassette. A display column is provided, the recording medium information is displayed in the display column by light and dark notation in the blank display section, and the display in the display column can be identified by visual and optical detection. Characteristic recording medium cassette.