JPH07130070A - Method for controlling library device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve operability by automatiaclly switching at least one of medium throw-in/ejection devices to an ejection mode when all medium throw-in/ ejection devices are set to a throw-in mode, and a throw-in work of a portable recording medium is performed. CONSTITUTION:After the locks of the medium throw-in/ejection devices 6, 7 are released, a library controller 9 is monitored with open/close detection sensers 11A, 11B. When no open/close of a door is performed for a fixed time, the control is performed so that the device 7 is switched to the ejection mode automatically by the controller 9. In such a manner, both of plural devices 6, 7 are made in the throw-in mode, and the throw-in work of massive media is performed efficiently. Together with that, after the throw-in work is ended, since one side device is switched to the ejection mode without depending on an operator, the occurrence of an impediment due to the matter, etc., that is forgotten by the operation is evaded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control technique for a library device, and more particularly to a loading / unloading operation of a portable storage medium in a library device constructed by a plurality of portable storage media such as cartridge type magnetic tapes or optical disks. Related to effective technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the field of information processing technology, a storage rack for storing a large number of portable storage media such as cartridge type magnetic tapes or optical disks, and a portable storage medium between the storage rack and the medium driving device. It is known to construct a library device with a large storage capacity by combining it with a transfer robot that performs a transfer operation (replacement operation of media).

By the way, such a library device is a device having a relatively high frequency of loading / unloading such as loading a new medium or discharging an unnecessary medium, and in some cases, a single loading / unloading may be several tens. It may be more than one volume.
Moreover, there is a demand for a device that is inexpensive and easy to use.
Therefore, a special mechanism capable of large-scale input / discharge can be added in some cases, but it is undeniably expensive. As one of the means that is inexpensive and allows a large amount of loading / unloading, the medium loading device and the medium discharging device that are equipped as standard have the same structure, and the loading / unloading mode of each device can be arbitrarily switched. In some cases, the number of charging devices may be two, and in some cases, the number of discharging devices may be two.

As a related prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 3
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 263649 is known. In this technique, a pedestal that swings under the weight of the cartridge is provided at each of the loading port and the discharging port to allow the cartridge to be transferred between the robot and the operator, thereby reducing the cost of the medium loading device and The medium ejecting device is intended to be constructed, but the cartridge is inserted and ejected through dedicated insertion and ejection ports, respectively.

[0005]

As described above, in the case where the medium feeding device and the medium discharging device have the same structure, and the charging / discharging modes of the respective devices can be arbitrarily switched to form two co-charging devices, The problem as described in 1.

[0006] That is, if both units are set as input devices, naturally, there is no discharge device.
If the medium to be loaded cannot be stored in the medium storage shelf due to some trouble, the accessor robot will hold the medium unless the medium is immediately ejected, and the library device may be down.

[0007] To prepare for such a case, it is common to allocate a part of the storage rack as a temporary discharge reservation rack, but since the number of windings of the medium storage rack that can be used by the user is reduced, a large number of storage racks are allocated. Can not. As a result, the number of temporary winding reservation shelves that can be stored is limited, and if it is not used as much as possible, it will be full soon and the library device will go down.

As described above, it is important to switch at least one of the two feeding devices to the medium ejecting device which allows the user to arbitrarily eject the medium. However, since switching of loading / discharging of each device is made by the operator's intention, there is no guarantee that one of the devices will be switched to the discharging device even if the loading work is completed. Even if you use cautions on labels or output warning messages, you will end up relying on the attention of the operator.
There is a limit to maintaining reliability.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to improve the operability by increasing the input amount of a portable storage medium by effectively using a plurality of medium input / output devices and maintain the operational reliability. An object of the present invention is to provide a control technology of a library device that can be controlled.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0011]

Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, a representative one will be briefly described below.
It is as follows.

That is, the control method of the library apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage rack for storing a plurality of portable storage media, a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information using the portable storage media, and an operator. With the intervention, a plurality of medium loading / unloading devices capable of setting both a loading mode for loading a portable storage medium from the outside and a discharging mode for discharging the portable storage medium to the outside, a medium loading / unloading device, a recording / reproducing device, and a storage device. In a library device including a medium transport device that transports a portable storage medium between shelves and a control device that controls each device and exchanges information with a higher-level device, operator intervention is required. When all the media loading / unloading devices are set to loading mode and the loading operation of the portable storage medium is performed, the number of the media loading / unloading devices is automatically decreased after the loading work is completed. Both those which to perform the automatic switching operation one to the discharge mode.

[0013]

The loading of the portable storage medium is an operation that the operator voluntarily does, and the working time is finite. Further, in the case of continuous loading, a work such as adding a medium occurs, so that the medium loading / unloading device is accessed at a certain time interval. That is, it may be considered that the above-mentioned access is lost when the medium loading operation is completed. Humans and accessor robots (medium conveying device)
Since a door (safety cover) or the like is provided to prevent interference with the above, opening and closing of the door can be regarded as the above-mentioned access.

Therefore, for example, when the door is provided with an opening / closing detection sensor and all of the medium loading / unloading devices are used as loading devices, after all the portable storage media in the medium loading / unloading device have been processed, a fixed amount is set. If the door has not been opened or closed for a certain period of time, it is determined that the medium loading operation has been completed, and the library device automatically switches at least one of the plurality of medium loading / unloading devices to the discharging mode.

As described above, after all the plurality of medium loading / unloading devices are put into the loading mode to efficiently carry out the loading work of a large amount of portable storage media, the plurality of media loading / unloading are performed without depending on human operation or attention. One of the devices is automatically switched to the ejection mode automatically, so all the media loading and ejecting devices are in the loading mode, so the media to be loaded cannot be stored in the media storage shelf due to some trouble. Alternatively, it is possible to avoid filling the temporary discharge reservation shelf as much as possible, and reduce the possibility that the library device goes down.

[0016]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of a library device in which a method of controlling a library device according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented, and FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of its control system. 3 is a conceptual diagram, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a part thereof, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of its action.

The library apparatus 1 has a storage rack 8 having a plurality of cells 8a for storing a portable storage medium (hereinafter, simply referred to as a medium), and a medium loading port 5a is exposed in a part of the storage rack 8. The arranged recording / reproducing device 5 (MTU) and the accessor robot 2 for carrying, storing and taking out the medium.
(AC) includes a guide rail 3 and a guide rail 4 for moving the accessor robot 2 vertically and horizontally.

The accessor robot 2 and the recording / reproducing apparatus 5 are controlled by a library controller 9 which operates based on a command from the higher-level device 10, and the library controller 9 moves the medium or records / reproducing apparatus based on the command. The switching operation for 5 is executed.
Further, the library controller 9 controls transmission / reception of information recorded / reproduced on / from the medium in the recording / reproducing apparatus 5 to the higher-level apparatus 10.

On the side surface of the library device 1, a plurality of medium loading / unloading devices 6 and loading / unloading devices 6 for loading / unloading media from outside are provided.

The medium inputting / discharging device 6 (7) is provided with a plurality of cells 6a (cells 7a) having a structure equivalent to the cells 8a of the storage rack 8 as shown in FIG. Of the housing 6b (housing 7b) in which the drawer operation and the housing operation are performed by moving the housing 6b (7b).
The door 6c (door 7c), which is one side surface and is exposed to the outside of the library apparatus 1, and the handle 6d (handle 7d) provided on the door 6c (7c) and held by the operator are provided.

Further, the medium loading / unloading devices 6, 7 are stored in the storage portions of the medium loading / unloading devices 6, 7 in the storage rack 8.
Whether or not each of the housings 6b and 7b is pulled into a predetermined position inside the storage rack 8, that is, whether or not the housings 6b and 7b have been manually pulled out by the operator. The opening / closing detection sensor 11A and the opening / closing detection sensor 11B, and the lock mechanism 12A for fixing the housings 6b and 7b in the retracted state inside the storage rack 8,
A lock mechanism 12B is provided.

Each of the lock mechanisms 12A and 12B is composed of, for example, a solenoid 121 and a rod 122 which is projected and retracted by the solenoid 121. The housings 6b and 7b of the medium loading / unloading devices 6 and 7 are completely retracted into the storage rack 8 (the state of the media loading / unloading device 7 in FIG. 3). The rod 122 is protruded and fitted into a lock hole (not shown) provided on the back surface of the device to lock the medium inputting / discharging device 6, 7 from the outside. The lock operation is released by the rod 12
This is performed by the pulling operation of the second solenoid 121 into the solenoid 121.

The outputs of the open / close detection sensors 11A and 11B are input to the library controller 9 through the signal lines 13a and 13b, and similarly, the lock mechanism 1
2A and 12B are operated by the drive signal sent from the library controller 9 via the signal line 14a and the signal line 14b.

It should be noted that the number of each of the above-mentioned devices and the connection configuration are not particularly limited, and they are described as one embodiment.

The medium inputting / discharging devices 6 and 7 have the same mechanism as described above, and can store several mediums in the cells 6a and 7a. Further, logically, it is possible to switch to a charging device (a charging mode) at a certain time and a discharging device (a discharging mode) at a certain time. The functions of the medium input / output devices 6 and 7 may be switched by instructing the library controller 9 from the console of the host device 10 by the operator, or the library device 1 may be provided with a panel for the operator. The switching instruction may be issued from, and is not particularly limited.

Further, on the doors 6c and 7c of the medium inputting / discharging devices 6 and 7, respectively, an indicator lamp 6e and a display indicating whether the present state is the medium inputting device or the medium discharging device. The lamp 7e is provided so that the operator can visually recognize the charging mode and the discharging mode easily from the outside.

An example of the operation of the control method for the library device of this embodiment will be described below.

In order to avoid confusion, the medium loading / unloading devices 6 and 7 will be referred to as the port A hereinafter.
The medium input / output device 7 will be referred to as port B.

First, the port A is usually set as a medium feeding device, and the port B is set as a medium discharging device.

Next, the medium loading operation using the ports A and B will be described.

Before the operator starts the medium loading work, it is assumed that the port B is switched to the medium loading device to work in order to load a relatively large amount of medium.

The operator opens the doors 6c and 7c of the ports A and B (draws the casings 6b and 7b to the outside), and the cells 6a,
When the medium is loaded into 7a and the doors 6c and 7c are closed, the library controller 9 causes the open / close detection sensor 11A,
Door closing is detected by 11B, and lock mechanism 12A, 12B
To lock ports A and B. In this state, the cells 6a and 7a of the ports A and B are incorporated in the array of the cells 8a of the storage rack 8 and are accessible by the accessor robot 2. Then, the accessor robot 2 conveys the medium put into the cells 6a and 7a by the operator to the cell 8a at a predetermined position of the storage rack 8 based on the instruction of the host device 10 and sequentially stores the medium.

After storing all the media in the ports A and B, the doors 6c and 7c are unlocked. The operator recognizes the unlocking of the doors 6c and 7c from the display panels of the ports A and B, pulls out the unlocked ports A and B as appropriate, stores the next medium, and continues the work. At this time, since both the ports A and B can be used for loading the medium, the medium loading operation can be performed with almost twice the efficiency as when the ports are fixed in the loading mode and the ejection mode.

When all the medium loading operations have been completed, normally, for example, in preparation for the ejection of the obstructed medium,
Although the operator switches the port B to the medium ejecting device (ejection mode), there is a possibility that the operator forgets the switching. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, the control is performed as follows.

That is, the library controller 9 monitors the opening / closing of the port B by the opening / closing detection sensors 11A and 11B after unlocking the ports A and B. If the doors 6c and 7c are not opened / closed for a fixed time (for example, 1 minute), the library controller 9 causes the port B
Is automatically switched to the medium ejection device (ejection mode). An example of a series of control operations as described above is the flowchart of FIG.

As described above, according to the control method of the library apparatus of this embodiment, both the plurality of medium loading / unloading apparatuses 6 (port A) and the medium loading / unloading apparatus 7 (port B) are set to the loading mode. Since it is possible to efficiently carry out the work of loading a large amount of media and, after completion of the work of loading, one of the media loading / unloading device 7 surely switches to the discharge mode without depending on the operator. / Both ejectors 6 and 7 are still in the loading mode, so that the medium to be loaded cannot be stored in the storage rack 8 due to some trouble, or the temporary discharge reservation rack becomes full. Can be avoided as much as possible, and the possibility that the library device goes down can be reduced. That is, it is possible to reliably avoid the occurrence of a failure caused by the operator forgetting to switch to the discharge mode.

As a result, it is possible to improve the operability by increasing the input amount of the medium by effectively utilizing the plurality of medium inputting / discharging devices 6 and 7, and to maintain the reliability of the operation of the library apparatus 1 at the same time. Becomes

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

For example, the structure of the library device is not limited to that illustrated in the above embodiment, and the number of medium input / output devices may be three or more.

[0041]

The effects obtained by the typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.
It is as follows.

According to the control method of the library apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to improve the operability by increasing the loading amount of the portable storage medium by effectively using the plurality of medium loading / unloading apparatuses and to maintain the reliability of the operation. The effect is that it can be made.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of a library device in which a method of controlling a library device according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the control system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a part thereof taken out.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 library device 2 accessor robot 3 guide rail 4 guide rail 5 recording / reproducing device 5a loading port 6 medium loading / unloading device (port A) 6a cell 6b housing 6c door 6d handle 6e indicator lamp 7 medium loading / unloading device (port B) ) 7a cell 7b case 7c door 7d handle 7e display lamp 8 storage shelf 8a cell 9 library controller 10 host device 11A open / close detection sensor 11B open / close detection sensor 12A lock mechanism 12B lock mechanism 121 solenoid 122 rod 13a signal line 13b signal line 14a Line 14b Signal line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage shelf for storing a plurality of portable storage media, a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information using the portable storage medium, and the portable storage from the outside by intervention of an operator. Between a plurality of medium loading / unloading devices capable of setting both a loading mode for loading a medium and a discharging mode for discharging the portable storage medium to the outside, and between the medium loading / unloading device and the recording / reproducing device and the storage rack. In a library device including a medium transport device that performs the transport operation of the portable storage medium, and a control device that controls the above-mentioned devices and the exchange of the information between the host device and the device, When all of the medium loading / unloading devices are set to the loading mode to perform the loading operation of the portable storage medium, the medium loading is automatically performed after the loading operation is completed. A method of controlling a library device, wherein at least one of the discharging devices is automatically switched to the discharging mode.