JPH0581831A - Library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the efficiency of an inserting/ejecting operation and to enhance the efficiency of a mounting/demounting operation in a casing, as well by attaching the assembly unit (magazine) housing plural media to the casing and a housing shelf when a massive inserting/ejecting operation is done to the medium (cartridge) housing shelf of the library device. CONSTITUTION:An assembly 12 is provided with the part of the cell structure 20 of medium housing shelves 20 and 21 in a casing 1 and the same cell structure and plural media are housed. When the assembly 12 is attached to the assembly attaching port 4 as a unit, the assembly functions as part of the shelf 21 and the media are carried to a driving section 7 being accessed by a medium carrying mechanism 6. A medium ID and an assembly ID are added to each medium and each assembly and using them, the media at the time of attaching assemblies from the second time on are identified at once.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a library device for managing a portable storage medium in an external storage device, and in particular, for managing each removable portable storage medium aggregate, The present invention relates to a library device that manages individual portable storage media in an aggregate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a portable storage medium (tape cartridge) such as a magnetic tape used as an external storage device of a general-purpose computer is provided with a storage shelf for storing a large amount of the storage medium, and the portable storage device is instructed by a higher-level device. There is an external storage device having a function of automatically mounting / demounting a storage medium from this storage shelf to a storage medium driving device.

Conventionally, in such an external storage device, in order to load / unload a large amount of portable storage media into / from the device, a tape cartridge library device as described in JP-A-2-42672 is used. There is a loading / unloading device. This device is intended to reduce the work load at the time of loading / unloading to / from a library device (housing) by transporting a plurality of portable storage media (tape cartridges) collectively, and to store tapes in the device housing. A storage rack having a large number of cells vertically and horizontally for individually storing the cartridges, a transport mechanism for loading or unloading the cartridges into the cells, and a drive section for recording / reproducing the tape are provided, and a housing is provided from outside the housing. Attaching a detachable box containing a plurality of cartridges (composed of cartridges for loading and ejecting) to the box mounting window provided on the wall, or removing the detachable box from the mounting window so,
It is possible to equip multiple groups of cartridges at once.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the box mounting window portion (assembly mounting window portion) is provided as a simple cartridge passage point or relay point at only one location of the housing. The position is not provided for treating the same as a part (cell) of the storage shelf. Therefore, in the conventional device, it is necessary to carry the cartridges in the attachment / detachment box (aggregate) attached to the box attachment window portion from here to the regular cells by the transport mechanism one by one.

The attachment / detachment box simply attaches the cartridges to the housing window portion at a time.
It does not correspond to which removable box contains which cartridge. Therefore, each time the detachable box is attached to the window of the device,
(Regardless of whether this detachable box has been attached to the window of the device housing before), the recognition of the portable storage medium (the number of the cartridge etc.) to be loaded / unloaded is recognized by the automatic transport mechanism or the external storage device. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is necessary to carry out each portable storage medium one by one. The cause of the above problem is that no consideration is given to a method of recognizing a plurality of portable storage media set at one time by the removable box.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and when the aggregate (attachable / detachable box) is attached to the library apparatus, the aggregate is as if it were a part of a storage rack (regular cell). (EN) Provided is a library device capable of efficiently storing a portable storage medium in a housing and efficiently transporting the portable storage medium in the housing.

Another object of the present invention is to make a group of a plurality (a large number) of portable storage media to be loaded / ejected in a device (housing) divided into certain units, and to recognize the portable storage media. When the same assembly is repeatedly mounted (loaded) in the apparatus by performing the above operation, the recognition operation of the individual transportable storage medium by the automatic transport mechanism or the external storage device is unnecessary when reloading again. To provide a library device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a storage device for storing a portable storage medium (for example, a housing and a storage rack), and a portable storage medium on the storage device. In a library device having a management mechanism for managing a storage location by means of a medium recognition symbol attached to a portable storage medium, an assembly containing a plurality of portable storage media is attached to the storage device in units of the assembly and detachable. Installed in
When the assembly is loaded in the storage device, the management mechanism manages the assembly as a part of the storage location at the loading position.

The management mechanism includes means for detecting the medium recognition symbol of each portable storage medium in the assembly loaded in the storage device.

Further, this aggregate has an aggregate recognition symbol capable of recognizing the aggregate itself by the management mechanism.

The management mechanism includes means for reading the aggregate recognition symbol and the medium recognition symbol and storing these associated symbols in association with each other. Even after the aggregate is removed from the storage device, the inside of the aggregate is removed. It is configured to store the medium identification symbol of each portable storage medium.

Further, the management mechanism detects means for exchanging an aggregate when the aggregate is exchanged with respect to the storage device, aggregate recognition symbols of a plurality of aggregates stored and stored, and the symbols. Means for selecting an aggregate recognition symbol and a medium recognition symbol relating to the currently loaded aggregate from among the medium recognition symbols of each portable storage medium in the aggregate, and managing the portable storage medium by the selected recognition symbol It has and.

Further, the aggregate includes means for detecting and storing the change when the portable storage medium in the aggregate is changed outside the storage device, and the management mechanism includes the aggregate. Means for correcting the stored medium recognition symbol by sensing a change in the detected and stored portable storage medium when the portable storage medium is loaded into the storage device. It is configured to be compatible with the medium recognition symbol stored by the management mechanism.

The means for detecting and storing the change is constituted by a portable storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism attached to the aggregate.

[0015]

The operation based on the above configuration will be described.

According to the present invention, an aggregate in which a plurality of portable storage media are collectively stored is detachably provided in a storage device (consisting of a housing, a storage rack, etc.) in units of the aggregate, and the aggregate is provided. When the body is loaded into the storage device, this assembly is managed in the loading position by the management mechanism as if it were a part of the storage location (cell) on the storage device. It is not necessary to transport the storage medium to another regular cell one by one, and a large amount of the portable storage medium is loaded into the storage device and discharged by this, in the loading / unloading efficiency of the portable storage medium and mounting. / Demount processing efficiency can be improved.

Further, the management mechanism for managing the portable storage medium in the storage device detects the aggregate recognition symbol attached to the loaded aggregate, and detects the aggregate identification symbol of the aggregate that has been previously loaded. Sometimes the information (medium recognition symbol) of each portable storage medium in the collection can be restored, so that the automatic transport mechanism of the portable storage medium or the recognition operation of each external storage device by the external storage device becomes unnecessary, The recognition and registration operation time of the media in the loaded assembly is reduced.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view showing an example of the entire configuration of an external storage device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the external storage device in FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the host device in one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the aggregate in one embodiment of the present invention. ..

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a housing, and the housing 1 is composed of four frames divided by a line 1a in this embodiment. Inside the housing 1, a plurality of (two in the figure) storage shelves 20, 21 are provided in parallel at a predetermined interval, and both of the storage shelves 20, 21 face each other. , A plurality of portable storage media (tape cartridges) 3
A plurality (a large number) of cells 20a, 21a in which
(However, 21a is not shown) are regularly arranged in the vertical and horizontal directions. In this example, 3 per line (vertical direction)
Six cells are provided.

A transport rail 5 is arranged between the plurality of storage shelves 20 and 21 in parallel with the storage shelves 20 and 21, and the portable storage medium 3 is moved to the transport rail 5 ( An automatic transport mechanism 6 is provided for recognizing (mounted / demounted) on the medium driving device. The automatic transport mechanism 6 has a carriage 6a that moves on the transport rail 5, an elevating arm 6b on the carriage 6a, and a medium holding mechanism 6c that moves up and down. It is possible to access a cell and a portable storage medium contained in a medium loading port 7a, a medium loading port 21b, a medium discharging port 21c, an assembly loading port 4 and the like, which will be described later.

A portable storage medium which is loaded on the back surface (the surface opposite to the surface on which the transport rail 5 is located) of one of the storage shelves 20 through the medium loading port 7a which is open to the storage shelves. Three
Drive a plurality of recording media (in this example, four in each frame) to record or reproduce data 8 exchanged with the host device 100 shown in FIG. 2 in the portable storage medium 3. A device 7 is arranged. The storage position of each portable storage medium 3 in the housing 1 (the position of the cell in which the storage medium is stored) is determined, for example, by the medium identification symbol (medium ID) attached to the portable storage medium. Is managed by using a correspondence table with, and when a certain portable storage medium is designated based on the write / read command from the host device, the automatic transport mechanism 6 causes the cell containing the corresponding storage medium to be specified. Then, the storage medium is pulled out from the cell and conveyed to the medium loading port 7a. When this portable storage medium is set in one of the medium loading ports 7a, the storage medium driving device 7 pulls this medium to the writing / reading position and performs writing / reading (recording / reproducing). After writing / reading, the portable storage medium is always returned to the original cell position. (The same applies when returning to a cell in the aggregate described later).

Reference numeral 12 denotes an aggregate (magazine) capable of accommodating a plurality of portable storage media, and the aggregate 12 is provided on the side surface (back side of the storage shelf 21) of the housing 1 shown in FIG. It is removably loaded in the mouth 4 (or directly on the storage shelf 21 from the back through the assembly loading port 4). The above-mentioned aggregate includes a plurality of storage shelves, a non-volatile memory 12a for storing identification symbols of the aggregate, and a portable storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism for recognizing attachment / detachment of a portable storage medium loaded in the aggregate. 12b is provided. Nonvolatile memory 12a
The storage operation is performed when the aggregate 12 is loaded into the loading port 4, but the portable storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism 12b causes the storage medium 3 to be removed even when the assembly 12 is removed from the loading port 4. It is possible to recognize that the attachment / detachment was performed.

In this example, 16 cells (one of which is for ID) capable of accommodating a portable storage medium are arranged in a row in the vertical direction in the aggregate 12, and the user manually By mounting the aggregate 12 on the loading port 4, the aggregate can be used similarly to the storage rack 2 installed in the housing 1. That is, the aggregate 12 is loaded into the aggregate loading port 4
While still attached to, any cell in the assembly 12 can be accessed by the automated transport mechanism to mount / demount the portable storage medium contained therein.

As a feature of this embodiment, the required number (a plurality) of the aggregates 12 are prepared, and the aggregate loading ports 4 are formed at a plurality of or a plurality of places so that these aggregates can be simultaneously mounted. ing. Then, when the assembly 12 is fitted into the assembly loading port 4, the part of the storage shelf 21 that has been a space until then is filled with cells, as if the storage shelf 2 were to be stored.
Function as part of 1. In this example, of the storage shelves 21, the upper and lower two stages have three rows per frame on the left and right,
It is applied to a space where twelve aggregates 12 can be mounted in a total of two frames.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes an external storage device,
The external device 200 includes an automatic transport mechanism 6, a storage medium drive mechanism 7, a storage medium drive control device 9, an automatic transport control device 10,
And a non-volatile memory 11. Also, the aggregate 12
When the non-volatile memory 12a is attached to the loading port 4,
Is connected to the automatic transfer control device 10. In addition, 8 is a data line.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the portable storage medium 3 is set in the aggregate 12 (step 301), and the housing 1
When loaded in the loading port 4 on the side of the
00 to the upper apparatus 100 to report the mounting of the assembly (step 305), and the upper apparatus 100 starts the operation of recognizing the portable storage medium in the mounted assembly 12 (steps 309 to 311).

This operation will be described in detail. In FIG. 3 (operation flow of the external storage device 200), the assembly 12 is the loading port 4.
When it is loaded into the device (step 301), the same aggregate symbol (aggregate ID) stored in the device is taken out (step 302), and when the aggregate and the in-device information (aggregate ID) match, the higher rank device is selected. Report (step 305), and when they do not match, report the mismatched cartridge information (medium ID) to the upper device as undetermined (unknown). In the case of removal of the aggregate (step 306), it is also reported to the host device. In FIG. 4 (operation flow of the host device 100), the host device 100 that has received the report confirms whether or not to perform the recognition operation of the loading of the aggregate (step 309). In the recognition operation, the medium in the loaded aggregate is confirmed. Whether or not there is a storage medium with an unknown ID (step 310), if there is a storage medium with an unknown ID, an ID recognition confirmation operation for that medium is instructed (step 3).
11). The upper level device 100 recognizes the attributes of the portable storage medium (whether writing is prohibited, scratches, user's designation, etc.) and the medium volume, and recognizes the information (the portable storage medium's contents) in the nonvolatile memory 11 in the external storage device 200. Recognition symbol or I
D) is written and the portable storage medium is stored (registered) in the device at the same time.
Write to a.

As shown in FIG. 5 (operation flow chart of the aggregate), after the aggregate 12 is removed from the housing 1, the aggregate 12 is removed by the portable storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism 12b of the aggregate 12.
Until it is recognized that the portable storage medium is ejected from
The written information (information indicating that the portable storage medium is registered in the device) is held in the non-volatile memory 12a (steps 313 to 135).

When the aggregate 12 whose information is stored in the non-volatile memory 12a of the aggregate 12 is loaded again into the loading port 4 of the housing 1 (in this case, the portable storage medium in the aggregate is the same as the previous one). It is assumed that it has not changed from time to time), since the host device recognizes the mounting of the aggregate and the recognition symbol of the aggregate 12 recognizes that information is held in the non-volatile memory 11, The portable storage medium in 12 is not recognized by the automatic transport mechanism 6 or the recording medium driving device 7, and the nonvolatile memory 11 in the external storage device is recognized.
The information of all the portable storage media in the assembly is restored only by copying the same recorded information as the symbol of the assembly mounted from.

When any of the portable storage media in the aggregate is taken out or replaced, the portable storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism 12b recognizes that the portable storage medium has been attached / detached, and the portable storage medium is attached. The fact that the information has been changed is stored in the nonvolatile memory 12a in the aggregate.

When the assembly is loaded into the loading port 4 of the housing 1 again, the host device recognizes that the assembly has been installed, and the identification symbol of the assembly 12 holds information in the nonvolatile memory 11 in the device. However, since it is recognized that the portable storage medium in the aggregate has been attached / detached (replaced) by the stored information of the aggregate, the information of the portable storage medium (medium identification symbol) In order to determine, the recognition operation of the portable storage medium is performed by the automatic transport mechanism 6 or the recording medium driving device 7.

[0033]

As described above in detail, according to the library apparatus of the present invention, an aggregate containing a plurality of portable storage media can be attached to and detached from the storage device in units of an aggregate. , The loading / discharging efficiency of the storage device is improved, and the assembly is treated in the same loading position as the regular storage location (cell) of the storage device.
The processing efficiency of the portable storage medium in the storage device is also improved, and the overall processing time is shortened.

Further, an aggregate recognition symbol for identifying an aggregate is attached to the aggregate itself, a medium identification symbol for identifying each portable storage medium is attached to these storage media, and these identification symbols are used. , Once mounted and registered, the medium identification code (medium ID, attribute, volume) of the portable storage medium is stored and saved until the portable storage medium is removed from the group. When the attachment is performed, it is not necessary for the external storage device to recognize the portable storage medium in the assembly, and as a result, the registration time can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a configuration of an external storage device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an external storage device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of control of an external storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of control of a host device in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of control of an aggregate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Case 1a Frame 3 Portable Storage Medium 4 Assembly Loading Port 5 Conveyor Rail 6 Automatic Conveying Mechanism 6a Cart 6b Elevating Arm 6c Medium Holding Mechanism 7 Recording Medium Drive 7a Medium Loading Port 8 Data 9 Recording Medium Drive Controller 10 Automatic Transport controller 11 Non-volatile memory 12 Aggregate 12a Non-volatile memory 12b Storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism 20, 21 Storage rack 20a Cell 21b Medium input port 21c Medium discharge port

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Tatsuo Namba 2880 Kozu, Odawara-shi, Kanagawa Stock company Hitachi Ltd. Odawara factory

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A storage device for storing a portable storage medium,
In a library device having a management mechanism for managing a storage location of a portable storage medium on the storage device by a medium identification symbol attached to the portable storage medium, an aggregate containing a plurality of portable storage media The unit is detachably provided to the storage device, and when the assembly is loaded in the storage device, it is configured to be managed as a part of the storage location by the management mechanism at the loading position. Characteristic library device. 2. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the management mechanism includes means for detecting a medium recognition symbol of each portable storage medium in the aggregate loaded in the storage device. 3. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the aggregate has an aggregate recognition symbol that allows the aggregate to be recognized by the management mechanism. 4. The management mechanism includes means for reading the aggregate recognition symbol and the medium recognition symbol and storing the associated identification symbols in association with each other, and the aggregate is removed even after the aggregate is removed from the storage device. 4. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the medium recognition symbol of each portable storage medium in the body is stored. 5. The management mechanism detects means for exchanging an aggregate in the storage device when the aggregate is exchanged, aggregate recognition symbols of a plurality of aggregates stored and stored therein, and the symbols. Means for selecting an aggregate recognition symbol and a medium recognition symbol relating to the currently loaded aggregate from among the medium recognition symbols of each portable storage medium in the aggregate, and managing the portable storage medium by the selected recognition symbol 6. The library device according to claim 1, further comprising: 6. The assembly includes means for detecting and storing the change when the portable storage medium in the assembly is changed outside the storage device, and the management mechanism includes:
When the aggregate is loaded into the storage device, the portable storage medium is provided with means for detecting a change in the detected and stored portable storage medium and correcting the stored medium recognition symbol. 6. The library device according to claim 4, wherein the library device is configured to obtain consistency between the storage medium and the medium recognition symbol stored by the management mechanism. 7. The library device according to claim 6, wherein the means for detecting and storing the change is constituted by a portable storage medium attachment / detachment recognition mechanism attached to the aggregate.