JPH0714289A - Library apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the movement of a medium conveyance operation when a medium is charged, discharged, housed, recorded and reproduced, to simplify the structure of a mechanism and to enhance the performance of an access operation regarding a library apparatus using a rotary-type medium storage warehouse. CONSTITUTION:The apparatus is a rotary-type library apparatus provided with a cell drum 20 which has a cell 44 and which can be freely rotatable in the horizintal direction, and a cartridge is taken in and out directly between a conveyance-only cell for the medium storage warehouse 20 and the outside. An accessor 28 can move a robot hand 32 only in the vertical direction, and it conveys the cartridge between it and a recording and reproducing device 36 installed at the upper part of the cell drum 20. On the basis of a move command from a host apparatus, a charge and discharge mechanism 18, the cell drum 20 and the accessor 28 are driven, and a recording medium is moved from a movement source which has been designated, up to a movement destination. The accessor 28 delivers the cartridge between itself and the throwing-into and discharge mechanism 18 via the conveyance-only cell for the cell drum 20.

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 recording / reproducing information by storing a large number of recording media stored in a cartridge such as a magnetic tape or an optical disk, and more particularly to a library device using a rotary type medium storage. Regarding In recent years, with the increase in the amount of information, inexpensive and easy-to-use cartridge type storage media have been increasingly used for storing information. Therefore, a large amount of storage media are managed unattended and the storage media are automatically replaced. A mass storage device known as a library device has been developed. A recent trend calls for a medium-capacity to small-capacity library device to reduce the installation space.

For this reason, a medium storage mechanism is fixed from a large-capacity library device of a type in which a medium storage is arranged horizontally and a storage medium is accessed by horizontal movement of the medium conveyance mechanism. Mechanism changes have been made to rotary type library devices that rotate and position.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a conventional rotary type library apparatus. The library device 200 includes a cylindrical cell drum 20 that is rotationally driven by a motor 210.
5, the cell drum 205 has a plurality of cells 208 which are opened in the outer peripheral direction to accommodate and store the cartridge 204.
Is provided. The cell drum 205 is provided with a cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 202, an accessor 206 as a medium carrying mechanism, and a recording / reproducing device (MTU) 212.

Further, a library control device 216 for controlling the entire device based on an instruction from a host device, and a rotation of the cell drum 205 by an accessor 218, a cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 202 and a motor 210 under the instruction from the library control device 216. An accessor control device 214 for controlling is provided. Cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 20
In No. 2, the operator transports the cartridge 204, which is inserted from the outside with the label 230 facing forward, by rotating as shown in the figure to the delivery position to the accessor 206 where the label 230 is directed outward, while winding the cartridge 204 one by one. The accessor 206 has an elevating table 218 that moves up and down with respect to the fixed support 216, and a robot hand 222 that is rotatable on the elevating table 218 by a rotating shaft 220 in a range of A to C.
It is equipped with.

For example, when receiving a movement command to convey the loaded cartridge 204 to an arbitrary cell 208 of the cell drum 205, the accessor 206 rotates the robot hand 222 to the position A and receives the cartridge 204 transported by the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 202. Move to rotation position B. At the same time, the motor 210 rotates the cell drum 205 to the position B. Subsequently, the robot hand 222 is moved in the vertical direction to match the cell position of the movement destination, and the cartridge 204 is housed in the cell.

Further, an arbitrary cell 208 of the cell drum 205.
When receiving a movement command to convey the cartridge 204 from the recording / reproducing apparatus 212, the cell drum 205 rotates the cell of the movement source to the relative position of the accessor 206, and vertically moves the robot hand 222 to move the cell from the cell to the cartridge 204.
Is taken out, the robot hand 222 is further rotated to the position C, and then the robot hand 222 is put into the recorder reproducing device 212.

[0007]

However, in such a conventional rotary type library device, the robot hand of the accessor fixedly installed is moved in the vertical direction, and at the same time, it is rotated in the horizontal direction to convey the cartridge. There is a problem that it takes a long time to carry the medium because the cartridge is carried along with the vertical movement and the down movement.

In the swing control of the robot hand, the rotation angle obtained from the design of the control device is set as a fixed value, and the difference from the actual rotation angle obtained by the test drive after mounting is set as an offset. , The robot hand is controlled to swing so that the rotation angle is a set angle plus an offset. For this reason, there is a problem that control and adjustment of the swing, which is a rotational drive, is relatively complicated as compared with the horizontal and vertical linear drive of the accessor provided in the conventional large-capacity type library device.

Further, in the conventional cartridge loading / unloading mechanism, since the label is directed outward when the cartridge is stored in the cell, the cartridge loaded from the outside is rotated to direct the label to the robot hand of the accessor. And the mechanism for rotating the cartridge is complicated,
There was a problem that the cost was also high. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and simplifies the movement of medium transportation during medium loading / unloading, storage, and recording / reproducing to simplify the mechanism structure and improve the access performance. It is an object to provide a rotary type library device.

[0010]

To achieve this object, the present invention is constructed as follows. The reference numerals in the drawings of the embodiments are also shown. First, the library device of the present invention is intended for a rotary type provided with a horizontally rotatable media storage (cell drum) 20 having a plurality of medium storage portions (cells) 44. A loading / discharging mechanism 18 that transfers the recording medium 34 between the outside and a medium storage portion facing the outside is fixedly arranged in opposition to the position of a specific medium storage portion formed on the peripheral side surface of the rotary type medium storage cabinet 20. It

A medium transport mechanism (accessor) 28 that moves in the vertical direction of the medium storage cabinet 20 relative to the peripheral side surface of the medium storage cabinet 20 and transfers the recording medium 34 to and from the medium storage section 44 is fixedly installed. To be done. Furthermore, the recording / reproducing device 3
6 is installed at a position opposite to the vertical movement direction of the medium transport mechanism 28 and at the position above or below the medium storage 20.

The control means of the library device drives the loading / unloading mechanism 18, the rotary type medium storage 20 and the medium transporting mechanism 28 based on a movement command (move command) from the host device, and is designated to move from the source. The recording medium is moved to the destination. Here, a plurality of medium storage units at specific horizontal positions of the medium storage 20 for loading / unloading the recording medium by the loading / unloading mechanism 18 are assigned to the transporting dedicated storage unit 45, and the medium transporting mechanism 28 uses the loading / unloading mechanism. The recording medium is transferred to and from the storage unit 18 via the transport-dedicated storage unit 45 of the medium storage cabinet 20.

Further, the medium loading / unloading mechanism 18 is provided with a slide table 72 which is slidable in the direction of the transfer-dedicated storage section 45 of the medium storage 20 on the fixed table 70, and the recording medium pulled from the outside onto the slide table 72. 34 is sent to the storage section 45 dedicated to transport, and the storage section 45 dedicated to transport
It is equipped with a belt transport mechanism that sends the recording medium 34 pulled in from the outside.

Further, the medium transport mechanism 28 includes a guide column 30 standing upright in the vertical direction, an elevating table 48 that moves up and down along the guide column 30, and a recording medium that is mounted on the elevating table 48 and advances and retreats in the horizontal direction. The robot hand 32 has a simple structure including the robot hand 32 for delivering and receiving. When the control means of the library apparatus of the present invention receives a movement command from the host apparatus to set the medium source / eject apparatus 18 as the source and the specific medium storage section 44 of the medium storage 20 as the destination, the following control is performed. I do.

The medium loading / unloading mechanism 18 is driven to load the recording medium into the empty position of the transport-dedicated storage 45 of the medium storage 20. The medium storage 20 is rotationally driven to move the transport-dedicated storage unit 45 in which the recording medium is loaded to the relative position of the medium transport mechanism 28. The medium transport mechanism 28 is driven to take out the recording medium from the transport-dedicated storage section 45 of the medium storage cabinet 20 and move it to the vertical storage position.

The medium storage 20 is rotationally driven to align the medium storage unit 44, which is the destination, with the medium transport mechanism 28, and the medium transport unit 28 is held in the finally aligned medium storage unit 44. Insert the recording medium. Further, when receiving a movement command (medium ejection) from the higher-level device to set the movement source to the specific medium storage section 44 of the medium storage 20 and the movement destination to the medium loading / unloading device 18, the following operation is performed.

The medium storage 20 is rotationally driven to align the medium storage unit 44, which is the movement source, with the medium transport mechanism 28, and the recording medium is taken out. The medium transport mechanism 28 is driven to load the recording medium into the transport-dedicated storage section 45 of the medium storage 20. The medium storage box 20 is rotationally driven to move the transport-dedicated storage section 45 in which the recording medium is loaded to the relative position of the loading / unloading mechanism 18.

Finally, the medium loading / unloading mechanism 18 is driven to eject the recording medium in the transport-dedicated storage section 45 of the medium storage 20 to the outside. On the other hand, when a move command is received from the higher-level device, the move source being the specific medium storage section 44 of the medium storage 20 and the move destination being the recording / reproducing device 36, the following control is performed. The medium storage unit 4 is driven by rotating the medium storage 20 to move it.
4 is moved to the relative position of the medium transport mechanism 28.

The medium transport mechanism 28 is driven to take out the recording medium from the medium storage section 44 of the medium storage 20, and the recording medium is moved to the position of the recording / reproducing device 36 in the vertical direction and loaded. Further, when receiving a movement command from the higher-level device to set the moving source to the recording / reproducing apparatus 36 and the moving destination to the arbitrary medium storage section 44 of the medium storage 20, the following control is performed. The medium transport mechanism 28 is driven to take out the recording medium from the recording / reproducing device 36 and move it to the destination position in the vertical direction.

The medium storage 20 is rotationally driven to move the medium storage unit 44 at the destination to the relative position of the medium transport mechanism 28 to load the recording medium.

[0021]

According to such a library device of the present invention,
Since the recording / reproducing device is placed above the cell drum and the medium can be moved in the vertical direction only between the cell and the recording / reproducing device, the accessor does not need to swing the robot hand, so the mechanical structure is simple. The access time can be shortened, and the space for swinging is not required, so the device can be downsized.

Further, by using the loading / unloading mechanism for directly loading / unloading the medium to / from the cell drum, it is not necessary to rotate the medium with the label direction being the specified direction, and similarly, the mechanism structure can be simplified and the access time can be shortened. .

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of a library apparatus of the present invention incorporating a rotary type cell drum. An operation panel 12 is provided on the front panel of the library device 10 of FIG. 1, an insertion port 14 is provided on the upper part of the operation panel 12, and an ejection port 16 is provided on the lower side. The operator inputs 14
On the other hand, when a plurality of magnetic tape cartridges, for example, an ISO standard 5 inch magnetic tape cartridge is loaded, and a switch operation of the operation panel 12 is instructed, a stacker mechanism or the like built-in causes the cartridge to become a discharge / injection mechanism in which the cartridges are incorporated one by one. Sent. On the other hand, the cartridge that has become unnecessary is discharged to the outside from the discharge port 16 via the built-in charging / discharging mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the inside of the library apparatus of FIG. 1 with the upper panel removed. Library device 10
Forms a box frame with the frame 11 inside the surrounding panels. A cylindrical cell drum 20 is rotatably arranged inside the frame 11 by mounting a rotary shaft 22 on a support frame 24. The cell drum 20 can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise by a drum rotation motor 26.

A cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18 is installed inside the cell drum 20 on the front panel side.
The cartridge loaded into the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18 from the outside is directly fed to the cell of the cell drum 20. Further, the cartridge discharged from the cell drum 20 to the outside is directly taken out by the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18 and discharged to the outside.

Next to the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18, an accessor 28 is installed as a medium carrying mechanism. The accessor 28 erects a fixedly installed guide column 30, and a robot hand 32 is provided on the guide column 30 so as to be movable only in the vertical direction. The robot hand 32 holds the cartridge 34 as shown in the drawing, and advances and retreats with respect to the cell drum 20 to insert and remove the cartridge.

Further, a recording / reproducing device 36 is installed above the cell drum 20 at a position opposite to the vertically moving position of the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28. The recording / reproducing device 36 has a medium entrance / exit on the side opposite to the accessor 28, and by vertically moving the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 to the upper position where the recording / reproducing device 36 is installed, the recording / reproducing device 36 is moved by the robot hand 32. The cartridge 34 can be put in and taken out between them.

Further, in the library device 10, a library control device 40 for exchanging commands and data with a host device to control the entire device, and an accessor 28 and a cell drum under the control of the library control device 40. An accessor control device 38 for controlling the rotation of 20 and the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18 is installed. FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the library apparatus according to the present invention with the cell drum 20 and the recording / reproducing apparatus 36 incorporated therein. In FIG. 3, the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 installed inside the cell drum 20 and above the cell drum 20 with the left and right panels and the front panel removed from the frame 11.
6 shows an embedded state. The cell drum 20 has a plurality of rows of cells 40 arranged in the vertical direction on the circumferential side surface of the cylindrical body. For the cell 40, the cartridge 3
The tip of 0 is held in the state of being put. Cell drum 2
In this embodiment, two recording / reproducing devices 36 are installed on the upper part of 0, and the recording / reproducing device 36 is provided with a medium entrance / exit 42 on the front surface. This medium entrance / exit 42 is arranged so as to face the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows the recording / reproducing apparatus 3 on the upper side of FIG.
6 is a sectional view showing the cell drum 20 with 6 removed. In this embodiment, the cell drum 20 is divided into nine radial cells 44, and a part of the cartridge 34 is held by being housed in the cells 44 as shown in the drawing. The loading / unloading mechanism 18 holds the cartridge 34 in the illustrated position, and fixedly inserts / unloads the cartridge 34 into / from a specific cell 44 facing in the height direction of the cell drum 20.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, among the plurality of cells 44 formed in the cell drum 20, the cells indicated by diagonal lines corresponding to the cartridge 34 held in the loading / unloading mechanism 18 are
It is assigned as a transport-dedicated cell 45 for transporting the cartridge between the loading / unloading mechanism 18 and the accessor 28. In this embodiment, since the cell drum 20 has nine cells per revolution, the dedicated cell 45 for conveyance shown in FIG.
Nine will be prepared.

FIG. 6 shows the internal structure of FIG. 3 with the upper recording / reproducing device 36 removed. The upper part of the cell drum 20 is rotatably supported by mounting the rotary shaft 22 on the support frame 24, and the lower part is also rotatably supported by mounting the rotary shaft on the support frame. Also,
The drum rotation motor 26 shown in FIG. 2 meshes with the circumferentially formed gears of the number of the cell drums 20 to rotate the cell drums 20 clockwise or counterclockwise. Further, the rotational position of the cell drum 20 is detected by a rotary encoder, a photo sensor or the like, and the rotational position can be positionally controlled.

FIG. 7 shows the accessor 28 used in the present invention.
It is an explanatory view showing the details of. Accessor 28 is base 5
2, a guide column 30 is erected, and a T-shaped rail 54 is provided at the end of the guide column 30. A pair of guide rollers 56 are vertically arranged on the rail 54 so as to be sandwiched from the front and back, and the guide rollers 56 support the lifting table 48.

The rail 5 is installed in the screw hole of the lifting table 48.
4 is fitted in a screw shaft 46 arranged along the line 4. The screw shaft 46 is rotationally driven by a motor 50 installed below. That is, when the screw shaft 46 is rotated in the specified direction by the motor 50, the elevating table 48 rises, and when rotating in the opposite direction, the elevating table 48 descends. The robot hand 32 is mounted on the lifting table 48. A stopper 58 is provided above the guide column 30.

Details of the robot hand 32 are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.
Shown in. The robot hand 32 is mounted on the lifting table 48. The robot hand 32 has a fixed frame 66 that can be seen with the upper lid of FIG.
2 is provided, and the medium holding unit 62 has the slide motor 60.
9 is driven by the wire belt 64 from the position shown in FIG.
It can be moved horizontally to the front position shown in. As described above, the cartridge housed in the cell drum can be gripped between the fixed plate 66 and the lower movable plate (not shown) in a state where the medium holding unit 62 is fed out in the horizontal direction.

FIG. 10 is a plan sectional view showing the details of the charging / discharging mechanism of the present invention together with the cell drum. Input / discharge mechanism 18
Has a fixed table 70 installed inside the medium entrance 68. A slide table 72 is installed on the fixed table 70 so as to be movable in the direction of the cell drum 20. That is,
The slide table 72 has guide walls 74 on both sides, and a plurality of guide rollers 76 provided on the fixed table 70 are brought into contact with the outside of the guide wall 74 so as to be movable in the direction of the cell drum 20.

A motor 8 is provided below the slide table 72.
0 is installed, and pulleys 84 and 94 are provided on both sides of the drive pulley 80 attached to the rotary shaft of the motor 80 via belts 82 and 92. The drive pulley 80 is a two-stage pulley, and a belt 82 is wound around one side and a belt 92 is wound around the other side. The belt 82 is hung parallel to the drive pulley 80 and the pulley 84, but the belt 92 is crossed between the drive pulley 80 and the pulley 94. Therefore, the pulley 84 rotates in the same direction as the drive pulley 80 rotates, but the pulley 94 rotates in the opposite direction.

Pulleys 88 and 98 are provided in the sliding direction with respect to the pulleys 83 and 93, and the conveyor belts 86 and 98 are respectively provided.
I am running around 96. The rotating shafts of the pulleys 88 and 98 are slidably installed in an arc shape having a radius of the rotation center of the pulleys 84 and 94, and their movable ranges are springs 90 and 10.
It is regulated by 0. In the initial state, the conveyance belts 86 and 96 are narrow on the outside where the medium entrance 68 is provided and open on the cell drum 20 side.

Further, a notch 102 is formed in the center of the slide table 72 in the moving direction, and a rack gear 104 is formed at one end face of the notch 102. Rack gear 10
A pinion gear 108 provided on the rotating shaft of a motor 106 installed on the fixed table 70 meshes with the gear 4. When the pinion gear 108 is rotated clockwise by the motor 106, the slide table 72 moves from the illustrated position to the cell drum 20 side.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing the operation of loading the cartridge from the outside by the loading / unloading mechanism 18 of FIG. At the time of loading, the pulley 78 is rotated counterclockwise by the motor 78 as indicated by the arrow, and therefore the pulley 84 is rotated.
Rotate in the same direction, and the pulley 94 rotates in the opposite direction, and as a result, the insides of the conveyor belts 86 and 96 move in the pull-in direction of the arrow.

In this state, when the cartridge 34 is inserted from the medium inlet / outlet 68 as shown in the figure, it comes into contact with the conveyor belts 86 and 96 at the positions of the pulleys 88 and 98, and is pulled in integrally with the belts by frictional force, and the cell drums facing each other. 20 cells 4
Sent to 4. That is, the cartridge 34 is fed into the cell drum 20 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 shows the discharging operation of the cartridge from the cell drum by the charging / discharging mechanism 18. At the time of the discharging operation, the drive pulley 80 is rotated clockwise by the motor 78 to move the insides of the conveyor belts 86 and 96 in the discharging direction as shown by the arrows. In this state, the motor 106 rotates the pinion gear 108 clockwise to move the rack gear 1
The slide table 72 is sent to the cell drum 20 side as shown in the figure by meshing with 04.

When the slide table 72 is sent out,
The rear portion of the cartridge 44 is taken in by the portions of the pulleys 84 and 94 that are open to the outside, and the friction force when the conveyor belts 86 and 96 come into contact with the cartridge 4 from the cell drum 20.
4 is pulled out and sent to the medium entrance / exit 68. Simultaneously with the withdrawal of the cartridge 44 from the cell drum 20, the motor 106 rotates in the reverse direction to return the slide table 72 to the initial position of FIG.
Is discharged to the outside.

FIG. 13 shows a library control device 40 and an accessor control device 3 provided in the library device 10 of FIG.
8 shows a control block of the present invention configured with 8. As host devices for the library device 10, for example, two host computers 110-1 and 110-2 are provided.
The host computers 110-1 and 110-2 are connected to the library device 1 by the system buses 112-1 and 112-2.
The two channels are coupled to the channels A and B of the directors 114-1 and 114-2 provided at 0.

The directors 114-1 and 114-2 have channels a and b on the device side, and the channel a side is connected to the recording / reproducing device 36 by the interface bus 112. The channel b side is connected to the accessor controller 116. An accessor mechanical controller 118 is provided under the accessor controller 116. The mechanical controller 118 drives the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 and the cell drum 2 by the drum drive motor 26.
0 is driven and the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18 is driven. Regarding the rotational driving of the cell drum 20, positioning control of the rotational position based on the detection signal of the position sensor 120 is performed.

Host computer 110-1 or 11
When an input / output request for the library device 10 is generated at 0-2, the library support program provided on the host computer side uses the transfer source address (From Address) and transfer destination address (To Address) of the cartridge as parameters. The move command is issued to the director 114-1 or 114-2.

Since the director 114-2 is a spare device, a move command is normally issued to the director 114-1. The move command received by the director 114-1 is transferred to the accessor controller 116. The accessor controller 116 includes an accessor mechanism controller 118 that executes transport control based on the move source address and move destination address of the move command.
A set instruction of a plurality of control commands indicating specific driving procedures for the access controller is prepared, and a series of control commands are sequentially provided.
Issued on 18.

When the accessor controller 116 issues the control command in one set command to the accessor mechanism controller 118, the connection is disconnected,
In the disconnection state of the connection, the status response from the accessor mechanism controller 118 is monitored every fixed cycle, and when the end response is obtained, the next control command is issued.

A cell address is pre-assigned to each cell 44 of the cell drum 20 in order to control the carriage of the cartridge by the accessor controller 116 based on the move command. Further, of the cells 44, a specific cell address dedicated to transportation is assigned to the dedicated cell 45 shown in FIG. Further, the cell address is also assigned to the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18 and the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28. The move commands from the host computer side are basically the following four.

Move command A for transporting a cartridge from the loading / unloading mechanism 18 to an arbitrary cell address on the cell drum 20; move command B for transporting a cartridge having an arbitrary cell address on the cell drum 20 to the loading / unloading mechanism 18; optional on the cell drum 20 Move command C for transporting the cartridge of the cell address to the recording / reproducing device 36; Move command D for transporting the cartridge of the recording / reproducing device 36 to an arbitrary cell address of the cell drum 20; 4 types of move commands from the host computer side as described above. On the other hand, in the accessor controller 116, the accessor mechanical controller 118 actually uses the cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 18, the accessor 28, and the cell drum 20.
A control command for driving is prepared as a set command and is executed. The specific description is as follows.

[Move Command A] First, it is assumed that the accessor controller 116 receives a move command A from the host computer, in which the source address is the input / discharge mechanism 18 and the destination address is the arbitrary cell 44 of the cell drum 20. In this case, first, the loading / unloading mechanism 18 is driven to feed the loaded cartridge into the empty transfer-dedicated cell 45 of the cell drum 20.

Subsequently, the cell drum 20 is rotated by the drum drive motor 26, and the cartridge of the transport-specific cell 45 fed by the loading / unloading mechanism 18 is positioned at the accessor 28. Subsequently, the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 is driven to align with the position of the dedicated cell 45 for transfer, and after alignment, the robot hand 32 is horizontally moved forward to take out the cartridge. Then, the cell drum 20 is rotated by the drum drive motor 26, and the column having the cell address to be moved is positioned so as to face the accessor 28. After the positioning of the cell drum 20, the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 is raised or lowered, and the cartridge is stored in the cell 44 which is the movement destination address of the column where the positioning has been completed.

[Move Command B] It is assumed that the host computer side gives the move command B to the accessor controller 116, the move source address being the arbitrary cell 44 of the cell drum 20, and the move destination address being the inserting / ejecting mechanism 18. In this case, the drum drive motor 26
The cell row of the source address is positioned so as to face the accessor 28 by the rotation of the cell drum 20 by, and the robot hand 32 is raised or lowered to take out the cartridge from the source cell address.

Subsequently, the robot hand 32 is moved to the position of the cell 45 for exclusive use of transportation, and the held cartridge is stored. Of course, if the dedicated cell 45 facing the accessor 28 is not empty at this time, the cell drum 20
The cartridge of the robot hand 32 is stored after rotating to the vacant transport-only cell 45. Subsequently, the cell drum 20 is rotated to move the transfer-dedicated cell 45 storing the cartridge from the robot hand 32 to a position facing the loading / unloading mechanism 18, and finally, the loading / unloading mechanism 18 ejects the transfer-dedicated cell 45. Take out the cartridge and eject it to the outside.

[Move Command C] The host computer side gives a move command C to the accessor controller 116, in which an arbitrary cell 44 of the cell drum 20 is used as a source address and one of the recording / reproducing devices 36 is used as a destination address. Suppose In this case, the cell drum 20 is rotated by the drum drive motor 26 to position the row of cells 44 having the source address in the accessor 28, and the robot hand 32 is moved to the position of the cell 44 serving as the source address. Remove the cartridge.

Subsequently, the robot hand 32 is moved to the upper part, and the cartridge is loaded into one of the recording / reproducing devices 36 installed on the upper part of the cell drum 20 having the destination address. In this case, the carriage of the cartridge is only the vertical movement of the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28. [Move Command D] It is assumed that the host computer side gives the accessor controller 116 a move command D in which one of the recording / reproducing devices 36 is a source address and an arbitrary cell 44 of the cell drum 20 is a destination address. In this case, the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 is moved to the recording / reproducing device 36, which is installed at the upper part of the cell drum 20 and serves as the source address, and the cartridge is taken out. After taking out, the robot hand 32 is moved to the cell having the destination address of the cell drum 20. Position at 44.

On the other hand, in parallel with the driving of the accessor 28,
The cell drum 20 is rotated by the drum drive motor 26,
The column of cells 44 having the destination address is positioned at a position facing accessor 28. When the positioning of both the cell drum 20 and the robot hand 32 of the accessor 28 is completed, the cartridge held by the robot hand 32 is stored in the cell 44 which is the destination address.

In the above embodiment, one horizontal row of the cell drum 20 facing the loading / unloading mechanism 18 is assigned to the dedicated transfer cell 45, but the loading / unloading mechanism 18 can be moved by two cells in the vertical direction. By doing so, two rows around the horizontal can be assigned to the transport cells. Alternatively, one row in the horizontal direction may be used as a carrying cell for loading and the other row may be assigned as a carrying cell for discharging.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operation of the accessor as the medium transporting mechanism can be performed only in the vertical direction. Therefore, as compared with the conventional accessor involving movement in the vertical direction and the rotational direction, The structure can be simplified and the access time can be shortened. Further, since the medium does not need to be rotated and moved around the horizontal direction, the installation space for the accessor is small and the device can be downsized.

Further, the medium loading / unloading mechanism only needs to linearly load / unload the medium to / from the cell drum without rotating, and the structure is simplified by the absence of the medium rotating mechanism. It is possible to simplify the operation and efficiently insert and remove the medium.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an appearance of a library device of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of the library apparatus shown in FIG. 1 with an upper lid removed.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the apparatus of the present invention showing the assembled state of the cell drum and the recording / reproducing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 2 is removed.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing allocation of cells dedicated to conveyance to the cell drum of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the apparatus of the present invention showing the assembled state of the cell drum.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an accessor used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing details of the robot hand of FIG.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing details of the robot hand with the upper lid of FIG. 8 removed.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing the details of the charging / discharging mechanism of the present invention.

11 is an explanatory view showing a cartridge loading operation by the loading / unloading mechanism of FIG.

12 is an explanatory view showing a cartridge discharging operation by the charging / discharging mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing details of a control device of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a conventional rotary library device 10: library device 12: operation panel 14: input port 16: discharge port 18: cartridge loading / unloading mechanism 20: cell drum (rotary medium storage) 22: rotating shaft 24: Support frame 26: Drum drive motor 28: Accessor (medium transport mechanism) 30: Guide support 32: Robot hand 34: Cartridge (recording medium) 36: Recording / reproducing device (MTU) 38: Accessor control device 40: Library control device 42: Medium input / discharge port 44: Cell (medium storage unit) 46: Screw shaft 48: Lifting table 50: Motor 52: Base 54: Rail 56: Guide roller 58: Stopper 60: Motor 62: Medium storage unit 64: Belt 66: Presser plate 68: Medium entrance / exit 70: Fixed table 72: Slur Table 74: Guide wall 76: Guide roller 78, 106: Motor 80: Drive pulley 82, 92: Belt 84, 94: Conveyor belt 84, 88, 94, 98: Pulley 90, 100: Spring 102: Notch 104: Rack gear 108: Pinion gear 110-1, 110-2: Host computer 112-1, 112-2: System bus 114-1, 114-2: Director 112: Interface bus 116: Accessor controller 118: Accessor mechanical controller 120: Position sensor

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroki Ohashi, 35, Saho, Kato-gun, Hyogo Prefecture, Saho, Fujitsu Machinery Co., Ltd. Within

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of medium accommodating portions (4) on the peripheral side surface of a cylindrical body.
Horizontally rotatable media storage (4) with 4)
And a recording medium (3), which is fixedly arranged relative to the position of a specific medium storage portion formed on the peripheral side surface of the medium storage (20).
4) is arranged so as to face the peripheral side surface of the medium storage (20), and a loading / unloading mechanism (18) for delivering and receiving 4) between the medium storage section facing the outside.
A medium transport mechanism (28) that moves in the vertical direction of the medium storage (20) to transfer the recording medium (34) to and from the medium storage section (44), and a vertical movement of the medium transport mechanism (28). One or a plurality of recording / reproducing devices (36) installed at positions opposite to each other and above or below the medium storage (20)
And the input / discharge mechanism (1
8), medium storage (20) and medium transport mechanism (28)
And a control unit that drives the recording medium to move the recording medium from the movement source to the movement destination. 2. The library device according to claim 1, wherein
A plurality of medium accommodating portions at specific horizontal positions of the medium storage (20) for inserting and ejecting the recording medium by the inserting / ejecting mechanism (18) are assigned to the accommodating portion (44) dedicated to conveyance, and the medium conveying mechanism ( 28) is the charging / discharging mechanism (18)
Transfer of a recording medium to and from the medium storage (20)
The library device is characterized in that it is carried out via the storage section (45) for exclusive use of transportation. 3. The library device according to claim 1, wherein
The loading / unloading mechanism (18) is provided with a slide table (72) slidable on the fixed table (70) toward the storage section (45) of the medium storage (20) dedicated to transportation, and the slide table (72). ) A belt conveying mechanism for sending out the recording medium (34) drawn from the outside to the carrying-dedicated storing section (45) and sending out the recording medium (34) drawn from the carrying-dedicated storing section (45) to the outside. A library device characterized by being installed. 4. The library device according to claim 1, wherein
The medium transport mechanism (28) is mounted on the vertically movable guide column (30), an elevating table (48) vertically moving along the guide column (30), and the elevating table (48). A library device comprising: a robot hand (32) that moves forward and backward in a horizontal direction to transfer a recording medium.