JPH11102583A - Recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording system for writing data with the use of a large-capacity recording medium such as an optical disk, etc., printing labels to distinguish contents and distributing individual data of a large amount. SOLUTION: An electronic document software at a CDW(CD writer) server 120 edits electronic document data, adds printing information, etc., and hands over to a CDW server software. The CDW server software sends a command and data to CDCs (CDW clients) 171-174 of a recording apparatus 140 so as to write data received from the electronic document software to a CD-R. The command, etc., are sent to a GLC(graphic label controller) 150 from the CDCs 171-174. A mechanics 190 takes out the CD-R from a hopper 191 and puts in one of CD-R write drives 175-178. Write data are sent from a host 110 or the CDW server 120 and written to the CD-R.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a recording medium, in particular, a CD.
The present invention relates to a system for recording on a medium capable of recording a large capacity such as -R, and more particularly, to a recording system capable of simultaneously printing the contents of the recorded medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for a branch office or business office of a company or the like, the data required at each business office, such as a ledger, is processed collectively by the headquarters and distributed to each business office. , Generates a large amount of documents.

[0003] Also, when data from each branch office or business office is also sent to the headquarters, a large amount of documents have been generated.

[0004] The round-trip of data on paper involves the handling of large amounts of data, resulting in enormous expenses such as delivery costs and storage costs. For this reason, in recent years, data has been transmitted between each branch office or business office and the headquarters by electronic data using a magneto-optical disk or the like.

[0005]

However, the magneto-optical disk device is not used as a standard personal computer peripheral device, and cannot always be used in all business offices and the like.

Further, labels and the like representing recorded data contents are separately prepared and affixed, or handwritten, so that the recorded contents may not always match the description on the label. Was.

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to write data using a large-capacity recording medium such as an optical disk which is standard for a personal computer, print a label so that the contents can be identified, and distribute a large amount of individual data. To provide a recording system for

Another object of the present invention is to be able to handle an optical disc in a case so that a writing error or a reading error does not occur by touching the optical disc when touching the optical disc.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording system for writing data on a recording medium and also printing a label, comprising a storage device storing write data and print data corresponding thereto. A server that controls the entire recording system, and a recording device that includes a device and a printer that writes to a recording medium,
It comprises a network connecting the server and the recording device, the recording device, when writing to a recording medium,
Data to be written is read from a storage device of the server.

The recording apparatus includes a hopper for storing the recording medium in a case where the recording medium is stored, means for removing the case from the hopper and opening a lid, and removing the recording medium from the case. And a stacker for storing the recorded and printed recording medium in a case.

[0011] According to such a configuration, since the recording medium can be inserted into and removed from the recording system while being stored in the case, human hands do not directly touch the medium.

The print data to be recorded by the printer of the recording device is at least one of a character, an image and an ID as identification information capable of specifying recorded contents, and the character, image or bar code is represented by an ID code. You can specify them all at once.

The recording device can record a program necessary for reading data together with the data. By doing so, the distribution side can distribute in a free data format.

Since the server transfers data to be recorded from the host, the data of the host can be effectively used.

Since the server can edit the data to be recorded, the server can distribute the desired data.

As the recording medium, CD-R, DVD-
R or MO.

[0017]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording system according to the present invention. In this figure, a host 110 or a CDW (CD Writer) server 1 which is a general-purpose computer
Reference numeral 20 is connected to the recording device 140 via the LAN 130. As the LAN 130, an Ethernet-LAN, an ATM-LAN, or the like using a TCP / IP protocol can be used. The host 110 uses a LAN and an LIC (LAN
It is connected via an interface controller (112). The CDW server 120 has a large-capacity storage device such as an 8-mm MT 121, a DAT 122, or a disk array 123 as a peripheral device. In these large-capacity storage devices, data to be written in the recording device 140 is stored. The host 110 naturally has these large-capacity storage devices, and the recording device 140 can also be used from this host.

The recording device 140 controls the printer 160 for printing on a medium such as an optical disk and the mechanics 190 in the recording device via a device control device 180.
LC (Graphic Label Control)
er) a client 150, four CDW Clients (CDCs) 171 to 174 for writing control, and four CD-R writing drives 175 to 178. The GLC 150 and the printer 160 are connected via a printer port 151. GLC15
The serial data port (RS232C) 153 is connected between “0” and the device controller 180 that controls the mechanics. CDC 171 to 174 and CD-R
The write drives 175 to 178 are connected by SCSI.

The GLC client 150 is composed of an ordinary personal computer or workstation, and has a host 1
10 and the CDW server 120 are directly connected to the LAN 130. On the CDW server, electronic form software 124 and CDW server software 125 which is software of the CDW server 120 are mounted. The CDCs 171 to 174 are provided with CD writer / controller software.

The operation of the recording system of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

The electronic form software 124 in the CDW server 120 receives the electronic form data from the host 110 and stores it in a storage device such as the disk array 123. After the electronic form software 124 assigns an index thereto, the data is sorted for each CD-R to be created, and the electronic form data is edited. C
The data sorted for each D-R is added with print information for a label and the like, and is passed to the CDW server software 125 as CD-R write / print data.

When editing electronic form data, format data (for example, OGL data. OGL means Overlay) in the host to make it easier to read at the distribution destination.
About Generation Language
Registered trademark of BM. ) And individual information can be edited in such a manner that an index is added as a form format.

Separating the data for each CD-R means that the file storing each data is divided into directories for each CD-R. This will be described in detail later. The type of data stored on the CD-R is not limited. This will be described later in detail.

The CDW server software 125 includes:
The data received from the electronic form software 124 is C
To write to the DR, the CDC 17 of the recording device 140 is used.
Commands and data are sent to 1-174. The GLC 150 that controls the mechanism and the printer has a CD
Commands and the like are sent from C171 to C174.

Next, the operation of the recording device 140 which has received a command from the CDW server 120 will be described. In a hopper 191 in the recording device 140, an unrecorded CD-R (CD-Record
table) is stored. The optical disk is taken out of the hopper 191 together with the case by the mechanics 190, the lid of the case is opened, and is put into one of the CD-R writing drives 175 to 178. Then, the write data is expanded from the host 110 or the CDW server 120 into a data image to be written, and sent to one of the corresponding CDCs 171 to 174. The transmitted data is written to a CD-R by one of the CD-R writing drives 175 to 178. Next, the CD-R in which the data has been written is taken out from one of the writing drives 175 to 178 by mechanics, and the contents of the written data are printed by the printer 160. Then, the CD-R is inserted into the case again and stored in the stacker 1192. If writing or the like results in an error for some reason, the stacker 21
93. As described above, data is written on the CD-R, and data corresponding to the written data is printed on the surface of the CD-R.

The operation of the mechanical part of the recording apparatus 140 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a layout view of the inside of the recording apparatus 140 as viewed from the front. On the right is a hopper 191 for storing unrecorded CD-Rs stored in a case. Case 10 from which one CD-R is inserted
1 is pulled out by the drawer 186. Then, the CD-R case 101 is inserted between the stopper 185 and the drawer 186.
, And the top opener 194 turns the case 1
Open the 01 lid. The CD-R is removed from the case by the disk carrier 195 and set in one of the CD-R writing drives 175 to 178. When the writing is completed, the disk carrier 195 is set in the printer 160. The printer 160 prints print data corresponding to the content written on the CD-R.
The printed CD-R is the disc carrier 1
95, the stacker 1 behind the hopper 191
92. Before the stacker, a CD-R case is sent, and the CD-R is set there. C
The case in which DR is set is pushed into the stutter car 192, and at that time, the lid of the case is closed.

The left part 145 includes the CDCs 171 to 174 and the GLC 150 controlling the recording device 140.
And the device controller 180 are stored.

3 (a) to 3 (d), C
How to open the lid of the DR case will be described. FIG.
(A) shows the case 101 being pulled out of the hopper 191 by the drawer 186.
As shown in FIG. 3B, when the case 101 is pulled out to the stopper 185, the top opener 1
The lid of the case 101 of the CD-R is hooked on the nail portion of the tip of the 94. Then, as shown in FIG. 3C, while the case 101 is being held by the stopper 185 and the drawer 186, the lid is opened by the top opener 194. Finally, the lid can be completely opened as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows the hopper 191 and the stacker 19.
2 and 193 are shown. The case 101 with the lid opened is sent in the horizontal direction with the lid opened, and stops in front of the stacker 192. Here, the CD-R on which the writing has been completed and printed is set and pushed into the stacker. At that time the lid is closed.

FIG. 5 shows that the CD-R 102 is
Carrier 195 used for transporting inside
Is shown. The outer shape of the disk carrier 195 is made of transparent plastic and has an actuator 196 inside, so that the operating rod 197 can be moved up and down. With this operating rod 197, the disc of the CD-R can be taken out by pressing the holding member holding the disc at the center of the case of the CD-R.

The pipe 199 is a vacuum pump (not shown)
The air is taken out and the CD-R disc 102 is attracted to the disc carrier 195.
Then, the CD-R 102 can be transported in the recording apparatus while being sucked. This disk carrier 195
The mechanism for moving the inside of the recording apparatus is well known in the field of conveyance, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

Now, in FIG. 1, the CDW server 12
0 and the response between the CDCs 171 to 174 in the recording device 140 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 6A shows an initialization command issued when the recording system of the present invention starts operating. From CDW server 120, each CDC 171
Send an initialization command to. The CDCs 171 to 174 that have received the initialization command can store the CD if necessary.
The writer / controller software and the CD-R drive are initialized, and an initialization command is sent to the GLC 150. The GLC 150 receives the initialization command and initializes each of the mechanicals and the printer. When the initialization is completed, a completion response is sent to the GLC 150.
To the CDC. The CDC sends the response as it is to the CDW server 120.

The CDW server 120 is provided for each CDC 171.
174 are also managed, and each CDC 17
1 to 174 are in operation or waiting. For this reason, the standby CDC that is not working
Can be issued to operate
Work can be performed in parallel on one CDC or the like. Such a state grasp is performed by periodically issuing a state acquisition command (sense command) from the CDW server 120. This will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 6B, the CDW server 12
When the status acquisition command is sent from 0 to one of the CDCs 171 to 174, the received CDC responds with its own status.
The response states include "waiting", "loading", "writing", "unloading and label printing", "failure", and the like.

With respect to a CDC that has responded that a failure has occurred, the CDC that has responded in such a manner is excluded from processing targets, and thereafter, processing is performed using another CDC. These managements can be performed by, for example, providing a CDC management table corresponding to the CDC and updating the state of the CDC in each item of the table corresponding to the CDC each time a status acquisition command is issued. .

When writing to a CD-R, the CD-R
R must be set in any of the write drives 175-178. The operation of the mechanics 190 at this time has been described in detail above. To perform this operation, the CDW server sends a CD-CD to the waiting CDC.
Issue an R load command. The processing at this time is shown in FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

[0040] The CDW server 120 transmits the standby CDC.
Issue a load command. The CDC that has received the load command issues a CD-R load command to the GLC 150 to the corresponding CDR writing drive. GLC150 that received the load command
If the command can be accepted, the mechanism 190 is operated via the device control device 180, the CD-R is transported from the hopper 191 and mounted on the CDR writing drive corresponding to the CDC that received the command. When the mounting is completed, a completion response from the device control device 180 is G
This is made to the LC 150, and the GLC 150 sends a completion response to the CDC. The CDC sends the completion response from the GLC 150 to the CDW server 120 as it is. Thus, the CDW server 120 recognizes that the mounting has been completed.

When the GLC 150 receives this command and is operating according to a command from another CDC, it returns a busy signal to the CDC. The CDC issues a mount command again after waiting for a certain time.

When the mounting is completed, the CDW server 120 issues a write command to the mounted CDC. This will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7B, the CDW server 12
0 issues a write command to the mounted CDC. Upon receiving the command, the CDC directly accesses the large-capacity storage device of the CDW server, for example, the disk array 123, extracts the data, and writes the data to the CD-R mounted on the corresponding CDR writing drive. When writing is completed, CD
Completion is made to the CDC from the R write drive,
The CDC notifies the CDW server 120 of the completion.

The specification of the data to be written on the CD-R can be performed in directory units of the storage device in the CDW server 120. In this case, the specified directory is specified as the root directory in the CD-R. All of the files and directories under the specified directory can be written while maintaining the directory structure.

As described above, since the recording device 140 directly reads the data to be recorded from the storage device of the CDW server 120, there is no need to transfer the data to the recording device 140, and the write data is transmitted to the recording device 140 side. You do not need to remember

Next, an unload and label print command is issued from the CDW server 120 to the CDC. This is because, like the mount command in FIG.
-Unload the R and issue an unload and label print command to the GLC 150.

The GLC takes out the CD-R from the CDR writing drive, takes out the print data from the designated file on the CDW server, prints a label on the surface of the CD-R, puts it in a case, and puts it in the stacker 11.
92.

At this time, for some reason, the CD-R
If the writing to the CD-R is not completed normally, the CD-R is conveyed to the stacker 2193 without being printed in the above-described unloading process.

Printing (printing) on a CD-R is performed using a CD.
Since -R is circular, it is automatically controlled to match the shape of CD-R. This is shown in FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 8A shows the format of the print instruction data. The head of the print instruction data is a print control parameter, followed by a print text, which is separated by a single-byte “:”. Print text includes
Half-width and full-width character codes can be used. In the print control parameters, a print start position of the print text, a print character size, a print character color, and the like can be designated. Next, regarding the designation of the print start position, FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

As described above, the CD-R is circular and has a shape with a hole at the center. For this reason,
In FIG. 8B, as the designation of the print start position, the position indicated by the symbol in each line can be designated. This is, for example, as% Pmmnn, the number of rows (2
Digit) and nn can be specified by specifying 01 () or 02 ().

As described above, the start position can be specified at a specific position, and the start position can be specified so as to match the shape of the CD-R.
It is controlled by the GLC 150.

Although the print control of character data has been described above, an image can be printed.
This can be realized by designating an image and accessing a file storing the image.

In addition to characters and images, bar codes can be printed. To print a barcode, access the file that stores the identification of the barcode, the character data to be printed as a barcode, and the barcode format, and convert the characters to the specified barcode format. Convert and print.

As described above, according to the present invention, since character (text) data, image (image) data, and barcode can be printed, errors may occur if they are specified separately. Therefore, an ID code is assigned to these data in a lump, and by designating the ID code, a file such as a character file or an image can be designated in a lump. As described above, the use of the ID code makes it possible to collectively handle such data.

FIG. 9 shows an example of printing on the CD-R 102. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 901 denotes an example in which enlarged characters are printed. 902 to 904 are normal characters. The signature 906 and the seal 907 are printed as images. 908 is a bar code. By giving image data such as a signature in this way, a distribution document with a strong impression can be created.

In addition, barcodes 9 of various formats
08 can be designated and printed, so that by reading the printed barcode, it can be used for various processes. For example, by printing a destination code or ID as a barcode, it can be used for address printing, acceptance check, and the like.

The CD-R can store not only data but also programs such as a browser for viewing data. Thus, storing a program for viewing data eliminates the need to prepare a program for viewing data at the distribution destination in advance,
It is also possible to freely upgrade the version to add an advanced search function. For this reason, CD
The format of the data stored in -R can also be freely set by preparing a browser for that.

Although the recording device 140 has been described as having four CDC and CDR writing drives, the present invention is not limited to this.

In the above description, the creation of a CD-R has been described as an example.
The present invention can be applied to other recording media such as a VD-RAM, an MO, and a PD.

Further, with respect to the part executing the function in the above-mentioned program, it can be implemented by storing it on a recording medium and reading it out by a computer system. The recording medium includes a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a ROM cassette, and the like.

[0062]

As described above, in the present invention, since the data to be recorded by the recording device is directly read from the CDW server, there is no need to transfer the data to the recording device. There is no need to store the write data.

In the recording apparatus of the present invention, the CD-R can be handled while being stored in the case, so that a CD-R with few writing errors and reading errors can be created.

Since the CDW server and the recording device having movable parts are connected in a LAN configuration, a sufficient distance can be provided between the CDW server and the recording device, so that the arrangement of the CDW server and the recording device can be freely determined. Can be Therefore, the recording device that emits noise can be separated from the office where the CDW server is located.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a layout view of the recording apparatus as viewed from the front.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a top opener.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an arrangement of a hopper and a stacker.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a disk carrier.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a response between a CDW server and a CDC or the like.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a response between a CDW server and a CDC or the like.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating print data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating data printed on a CD-R.

[Explanation of symbols]

 110 Host 112 LAN Interface Controller 120 CDW Server 121 8mm MT 122 DAT 123 Disk Array 124 Electronic Form Software 125 CDW Server Software 130 LAN 140 Recording Device 150 GLC 151 Printer Port 153 Serial Data Port 160 Printer 171 to 174 CDC 175 178 CD-R write driver 180 Device control device 190 Mechanics 191 Hopper 192 Stacker 193 Stacker

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI // G11B 7/00 G11B 7/00 Y

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A recording system for writing data on a recording medium and also printing a label, comprising: a server for controlling the entire recording system having a storage device for storing write data and print data corresponding thereto; A recording device including a device and a printer; and a network connecting the server and the recording device, wherein the recording device reads data to be written from a storage device of the server when writing to a recording medium. Recording system. 2. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the recording device includes a hopper that stores the recording medium while being stored in a case, a unit that removes the case from the hopper, and opens a lid. A recording system, comprising: a conveyance unit that takes out a recording medium and conveys the inside of the recording apparatus; and a stacker that stores a recorded and printed recording medium in a case. 3. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the print data to be recorded by the printer of the recording device is at least one of a character, an image, and an ID as identification information capable of specifying the recorded content. A recording system, comprising: 4. The recording system according to claim 3, wherein
A recording system wherein the characters, images, or barcodes are collectively specified by an ID code. 5. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein said recording device records a program necessary for reading the data together with the data. 6. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the server transfers data to be recorded from a host. 7. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the server can edit data to be recorded. 8. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a CD-R. 9. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a DVD-R. 10. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein said recording medium is an MO.