JPH06175625A - Device for managing optical disk on screen - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the mangement of an optical disk and to rapidly perform the maintenance by visually displaying the condition of the optical disk in an optical disk device. CONSTITUTION:The optical disk device is constituted of an autochanger 14 incorporating many optical disk, a controller 12 controlling the auto-changer 14 and a host computer 10 controlling the controller. A GUI utility capable of operating using a graphical figure is provided on the host computer 10 together with other software, and management information is displayed graphically. For instance, the optical disk 41 shows that is not stored in the autochanger 14, and the optical disk 42 shows that is stored in the autochanger 14, but a file system is not yet formed, and the optical disk 43 shows that the file system is formed. Thus, the visibility is enhanced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a function (hereinafter referred to as a GUI function) that allows a computer to operate with a graphics figure for a plurality of optical disks stored in an optical disk device having an autochanger. The present invention relates to a screen management device for an optical disc that visually manages the states of the plurality of optical discs by using a graphic figure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to manage an optical disk stored in an optical disk device having an autochanger, there has been a method of obtaining the management information as a character and a numerical value by a command or the like.

[0003]

However, these commands are for obtaining one type of information or checking the state of one optical disk. Therefore, in order to obtain multiple pieces of information for an arbitrary number of optical disks, it is necessary to execute a number of commands, and it takes a lot of time and effort to analyze the management information and obtain the necessary information. There was a problem that it cost.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and simplifies the management of optical disks by visually displaying the status of a plurality of optical disks in the optical disk device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a screen management device for an optical disc, which can quickly perform maintenance of the optical disc.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an optical disc apparatus having an autochanger, on a computer having a function capable of being operated by utilizing graphics.
By managing the states of a plurality of optical discs stored in the optical disc device by using a graphic figure, the above-mentioned conventional problems are solved.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a host computer having a GUI function is connected to an optical disk device having an autochanger, and the GUI function is used to store the storage status and files of a plurality of optical disks in the optical disk device. Management of the optical disk can be simplified by visually indicating information such as the system status, free space, availability, and the like.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 10 is a host computer, 12 is a controller, 14 is an autochanger, and the autochanger 14 contains, for example, 50 optical disks. Host computer 10
Controls the controller 12, which in turn controls the autochanger 14.

FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram constructed on the host computer 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
Reference numeral 16 is an optical disk screen control utility, 18 is an optical disk management command and subroutine, and 20 is a GUI.
Utility, 22 is operating system (O
S).

Conventionally, in order to manage an optical disk, a command and subroutine 1 for managing the optical disk are used.
Although the information is obtained as a character string or a numerical value by using 8, the management information is graphically displayed by using the GUI utility 20 that can operate the host computer 10 by using a graphic figure in the present invention. By doing so, the visibility is enhanced.

FIG. 3 is an example of a management screen that visually represents the state of the optical disc inside the autochanger 14. In the conventional method, all the management information is expressed by characters and numerical values, so that the visibility is very poor. However, in the present invention, the visibility is extremely enhanced by visually displaying the optical disk as shown in FIG.

For example, FIG. 3 shows that the optical disc 41 is not stored in the autochanger, and the optical disc 42 is stored in the autochanger, but the file system is not created and the optical discs 43 and 46 are shown. Indicates that a UFS file system (a kind of UNIX file system) has been created. In addition, the optical disk 44 has an S5 file system (a kind of UNIX file system)
Has been created. The displays on the optical disc 43 and the optical disc 44 are made in colors that symbolize the respective file systems, and the file systems created by the colors can be identified at a glance.
Further, the optical disc 45 is in a non-usable state.
Further, the free space of each optical disk is represented by the length and the numerical value of the bar line in the figure showing each optical disk.

Further, conventionally, since all management information was expressed by characters and numerical values, it was not possible to display a plurality of pieces of information on 50 optical disks at a time, but in the present invention, scrolling is possible in which the drawings can be scrolled vertically and horizontally. Bar 31, 32
You can see 50 optical disks on one screen by clicking.

Now, let us consider a case where an instruction to insert an optical disk is issued to the autochanger 14.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a conventional procedure, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a procedure for inserting an optical disc into the automatic changer 14 according to the present invention.

In step 100 of FIG. 4, a command to know the storage status of the optical disk 41 is executed in order to know whether the optical disk 41 in the autochanger 14 is inserted. In step 102, it is confirmed from the management information obtained in step 100 that the optical disc 41 is not stored in the autochanger 14. Since all of these conventional methods are performed manually, it requires a lot of time and labor to manage the optical discs stored in the autochanger 14.

The present invention is a program for visually managing the autochanger 14 using graphics.
On the management screen (FIG. 3), it is possible to recognize at a glance that the optical disc 41 is not stored in the autoenger 14. Therefore, the process performed in steps 100 and 102 of FIG. 4 can be omitted, and the information of the optical disc stored in the autochanger 14 can be understood in an extremely short time.

Step 104 of FIG. 4 executes a command to the controller 12 to store the optical disc at the position of the optical disc 41 in the autochanger 14.

Here, in the present invention, the auto changer 1
4, the optical disc 41 can be directly specified from the management screen of the program for visually managing the program. Therefore, in step 200 of FIG. 5, a command is issued to the controller 12 to store the optical disc at the position of the optical disc 41 on the optical disc management screen (FIG. 3).

In step 106 of FIG. 4, a command for knowing the storage condition of the optical disc 41 is executed in order to know whether or not the optical disc 41 is inserted in the position of the optical disc 41 in the autochanger 14. In step 108, it is confirmed from the management information obtained in step 106 that the optical disc 41 has been inserted into the autochanger 14.

On the other hand, in the present invention, in step 204 of FIG. 5, it is confirmed whether or not the optical disc is inserted in the position of the optical disc 41, and if the optical disc is inserted in the position of the optical disc 41, step 206 is performed. In FIG. 3, the screen display indicating that the optical disc 41 is not stored in FIG. 3 is changed to the display indicating that the optical disc 41 is stored in FIG. Therefore, it is possible to easily confirm that the optical disc 41 is stored in the autochanger 14 by changing the steps 106 and 108 of FIG. 4 performed manually by the steps 204 and 206 of FIG. 5 of the present invention. Like

Next, FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a conventional procedure for creating a file system on an optical disk in FIG. 8 according to the present invention.

In step 300 of FIG. 7, a command for checking whether or not a file system is constructed on the optical disc 41 in the autochanger 14 is executed.
In step 302, it is confirmed from the management information obtained in step 300 that the file system is not built on the optical disc 41. Then, in step 304,
The command is executed so as to construct the UFS file system on the optical disc 41.

On the other hand, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, it can be confirmed at a glance that the optical disk 41 has no file system. Therefore,
The steps 300 and 302 in the conventional method can be omitted. Therefore, in step 400 of FIG. 8, the optical disk 41 is designated using the management screen (FIG. 6), and in step 402, a command is issued to construct the UFS file system.

Further, in step 306 of FIG. 7, a command for checking whether or not the UFS file system is constructed on the optical disc 41 is executed, and in step 308, the management information obtained in step 306 is analyzed and the optical disc 41 is recorded. Confirm that the UFS file system has been built.

On the other hand, in the present invention, in step 404 of FIG. 8, it is checked whether or not the UFS file system has been constructed on the optical disc 41, and if the UFS file system has been constructed on the optical disc 41, step 406.
In, the display of the optical disc 41 on the management screen is changed from the display of FIG. 6 to the display of FIG. As a result, the time taken to confirm that the UFS file system is constructed on the optical disc 41 in the conventional method can be confirmed at a glance in the present invention.

Further, FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a procedure for monitoring the state of the optical disc and displaying the state of the optical disc in the prior art and in FIG. 11 according to the present invention.

In the conventional method, step 500 of FIG.
In step 502, a command to check whether the optical disc 41 of the autochanger 14 is usable is executed.
Now, analyze the management information obtained in step 500,
It is confirmed whether the optical disc 41 can be used.

On the other hand, in the present invention, in step 600 of FIG. 11, it is checked whether or not the optical disc 41 of the autochanger 14 can be used at regular intervals, and then step 60
If it is unusable after determining whether it is usable in step 2, the optical disc 41 of the optical disc management screen (FIG. 9) is displayed.
The display is changed to the display showing the usable state of the optical disc 41 shown in FIG. Therefore, whether or not the optical disk can be used is always displayed by the present invention and can be checked at a glance.

Further, in the conventional step 504 of FIG. 10, a command for checking the free space of the optical disc 41 is executed, and in step 506, the management information obtained in the step 504 is analyzed to know the free space of the optical disc 41. .

On the other hand, in the present invention, in step 606 of FIG. 11, the free space of the optical disc 41 is checked, and in step 608, the optical disc management screen (FIG. 9).
Is displayed on the screen of FIG.
The display is changed to the display showing the free space of the optical disc 41. As a result, according to the present invention, the free space of the optical disk is graphically displayed, so that it is possible to know at a glance.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the optical disc screen management technique, by visually displaying the management information of a plurality of optical discs stored in the optical disc device having the autochanger, the optical disc Since the visibility of the information is improved, the management of the optical disk is simplified, and the state of the optical disk can be diagnosed instantly, there is an effect that the optical disk can be quickly maintained.

Since the optical disc management information can be displayed on the same screen, a large number of optical discs can be easily managed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of an optical disc management screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a conventional procedure for inserting an optical disc into an autochanger.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure of inserting an optical disc into an autochanger according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an optical disc management screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a conventional procedure for creating a file system on an optical disc.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for creating a file system on an optical disc according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example of an optical disc management screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a conventional procedure for displaying the state of an optical disc.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for displaying the state of the optical disc according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an example of an optical disc management screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an example of an optical disc management screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Host computer 12 ... Controller 14 ... Auto changer 16 ... Optical disk screen control utility 18 ... Optical disk management command and subroutine 20 ... GUI utility 22 ... OS 31, 32 ... Scroll bars 41-46 ... Optical disk

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical disc apparatus having an autochanger, which is equipped with a computer having a function capable of operating by using graphics, so that the states of a plurality of optical discs stored in the optical disc apparatus can be represented by using graphics figures. A screen management device for optical discs, which can be managed by the following.