JPH11259939A - Cartridge transporting section control system of cartridge automatic exchange mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device stably operating a mechanism at a low cost, in which a cartridge is smoothly inserted and extracted by grasping the cartridge with spring force without providing an exdusive driving section to the mechanization section that grasps the cartridge. SOLUTION: A cartridge 20 is correctly and completely taken into a transporting mechanism and the mechanism is moved to the position where the cartridge 20 is inserted into and extracted from a magnetic tape device. When the movement to the position is completed, the cartridge 20 which is taken into the inside of the transporting mechanism, is inserted into the magnetic tape device. Similarly to the operation, in which the cartridge 20 in a magazine is taken into the transporting mechanism, a picker arm is horizontally moved. The cartridge inserting position into a screw tape device is detected by the detection conditions of a PCK 1 sensor 21 and a PCK 2 sensor 22 and the arm is stopped. In the case of the horizontal movement, a clomp arm 25 is automatically disengaged if the arm moves in the horizontal direction in the state of holding the cartridge.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic cartridge changing mechanism for receiving a cartridge from a magnetic tape device for carrying out data processing and conveying the cartridge to the magnetic tape device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-73558, it is known to perform control using a dedicated drive unit such as a solenoid in order to grasp a cartridge. No control is performed by a mechanism that automatically grips the cartridge without using the drive unit.

[0003]

In the cartridge transport mechanism, a mechanism capable of smoothly removing and inserting a cartridge without providing a dedicated drive mechanism is provided, thereby stably operating with reduced cost. It is possible to make a device that performs

[0004]

A mechanism for gripping a cartridge by a spring force is provided without providing a dedicated driving unit in a mechanism for gripping the cartridge.

When inserting or removing a cartridge,
You need to grab and release the cartridge,
This is made possible only by moving the mechanism for gripping the cartridge horizontally.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a cartridge transport mechanism (picker). FIG. 2 shows the moment when the picker arm 23 grips the cartridge in the magazine.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control method for grasping a cartridge in the case where an instruction to carry the cartridge 20 in the magazine to the magnetic tape device is issued from the host device and inserting the cartridge into the magnetic tape device.

In this device, the cartridge in the magazine is transported to a magnetic tape device. To transport a cartridge from a magnetic tape unit to a magazine. It is possible to move a cartridge in a magazine to another magazine cell. Here, a control method when a cartridge in a magazine is transported to a magnetic tape device will be described, and control of a cartridge transport mechanism will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a simple control flow. With this mechanism that does not have a dedicated drive device for holding the cartridge,
Since the control unit itself cannot recognize whether the cartridge is grasped at the part controlling the automatic exchange mechanism, it is necessary to determine whether or not the cartridge is grasped by another means without fail. .

The control unit of the automatic exchange mechanism monitors a LOAD request for the cartridge 20 stored in the magazine from the host. When a LOAD request for a cartridge is issued from a higher-level device, the cartridge transport mechanism is first positioned to the specified magazine cell position. Next, the picker arm 23 is started to move horizontally toward the cartridge. PCK1 sensor 21 and PCK2 sensor 22, which are sensors for positioning the picker arm
The horizontal movement of the picker arm is performed while checking the detection state of, and the horizontal movement of the picker arm is stopped when it reaches the magazine cartridge insertion / removal position (FIG. 2). Here, the detection state of the cartridge sensor 24 is checked to determine whether or not the target cell has a cartridge. If there is a cartridge, a special status bit is set to note that there is a cartridge. Clamp arm 2 by moving picker arm horizontally
5 follows the appearance as indicated by the arm trajectory 27, and when it is positioned at the magazine insertion / removal position, the cartridge 20 can be gripped as shown in FIG. If there is no cartridge, the status bit indicating that there is a cartridge is cleared. Next, an operation for taking the cartridge into the transport mechanism is performed. Picker arm with PCK1 sensor 21 and PCK2
The sensor 22 is moved to the standby position while checking. When each sensor detects that it has reached the standby position, the horizontal movement of the picker arm 23 is stopped. here,
In order to determine whether the cartridge has been grabbed or not, it is checked whether the bit indicating that the cartridge is present is set. If this bit is set,
The state of the cartridge sensor 24 is checked to check whether the cartridge has been loaded into the transport mechanism. If the cartridge sensor 24 is in the ON state, it is recognized that the cartridge has been correctly loaded into the transport mechanism.
If it is determined that the loading of the cartridge has failed while the cartridge sensor is OFF, the process of loading the cartridge 20 with the picker arm 23 to the magazine insertion / removal position is repeated. In the present invention, the retry operation is limited in consideration of a case where the operation is repeated due to a detection abnormality or the like of each sensor.

When the cartridge 20 has been correctly loaded into the transport mechanism, the transport mechanism is moved to a position where the cartridge 20 is inserted into and removed from the magnetic tape device. When the movement to the magnetic tape device position is completed, the operation moves to the operation of inserting the cartridge 20 taken into the transport mechanism into the magnetic tape device. The picker arm is moved horizontally in the same manner as when the cartridge 20 in the magazine is loaded into the transport mechanism. PCK1
The position where the cartridge is inserted into the magnetic tape device is detected based on the detection states of the sensor 21 and the PCK2 sensor 22, and the picker arm is stopped. In this horizontal movement, if the user moves horizontally while holding the cartridge, the clamp arm 25 gripping the cartridge follows the arm path 28 by the guide rail 29 and automatically comes off the cartridge 20. The picker arm 23 is returned to the standby position from the position where the cartridge is inserted into the magnetic tape device.
At this time, the state of the cartridge sensor 24 is checked. If there is no cartridge, it is recognized that the cartridge 20 has been correctly inserted into the magnetic tape device.

[0011]

As described above, instead of a mechanism and control logic for electrically gripping the cartridge using a dedicated drive unit for gripping the cartridge as described above, mechanical movement is achieved only by horizontally moving the picker arm. By providing a mechanism for gripping the cartridge and providing and controlling the presence / absence of the cartridge with a dedicated status bit for recording the output and state of the sensor, an automatic exchange mechanism that can move the cartridge smoothly at low cost can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cartridge transport mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state where a picker arm clamps a cartridge in a magazine.

FIG. 3 is a control flow diagram when an instruction to insert a cartridge in a magazine into a magnetic tape device is issued from a host device.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 20: a cartridge housed in a magazine; 21, a PCK1 sensor; 22, a PCK2 sensor; 23, a picker arm; 24, a cartridge sensor; 25, a clamp arm; 28: Track of the clamp arm when the cartridge is inserted.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Control of a cartridge transport section of a cartridge automatic exchange mechanism having a cartridge transport section (picker) for extracting and inserting a cartridge without having a dedicated drive mechanism (solenoid, motor, etc.) for gripping the cartridge. method.