JPS63164084A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely and well perform the program searching at the time of reproducing and the regeneration of a program, etc., and hence to improve the operation performances by providing a video tape cassette with a memory element and storing this element with index information such as a count value from a counter, etc. CONSTITUTION:A non-volatile memory element 8 is embedded into the video tape cassette 1 on a rear surface 2c that is the opposite side of a front face lid 4 of the cassette main body 2, plural contact pins of the element 8 are spliced electrically with connecting terminals 9 exposed from the surface 2c over to a bottom surface 2d. When the cassette 1 is picture recorded with a video signal, the element 8 of the cassette 1 is stored every one time of picture recording by supplying such information signals from a microcomputer 15 as for the picture recording date, time started for picture recording and time ended of picture recording, etc. Furthermore, count values by the counter 19 at the time of starting the picture recording and then at the time of ending the picture recording; are also stored, and when the cassette is unloaded from the deck at the time of an end of picture recording, the element 8 is also stored with a count value at the time of this unloading. In this way, the head access at the time of reproducing and regeneration of a program, etc., can well be performed with reliability and the operability is hence improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to tape cassettes for video, audio, and the like.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides a tape cassette for video, audio, etc., in which a memory element is installed in a housing housing a tape, and index information of the tape is stored in the memory element. This improves the operability of tape decks that use .

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, tape cassettes used in video tape decks have had a shape as shown in FIG. 8, for example. In this FIG. 8, (1) shows a video tape cassette, and this video tape cassette (1) has a cassette body (2) composed of an upper half (2a) and a lower half (2b) made of ABS resin or the like. be done. Two reels (3) are arranged inside the cassette body (2), and one end and the other end of a magnetic tape (not shown) are locked onto these two reels (3) and wound. equipped.

A front cover (4) is attached to the front of this cassette body (2).
) is attached, and the cassette body (2) and front cover (4) constitute the housing of this tape cassette (1). The front face M (4) is designed to rotate upward and open only when this video tape cassette +11 is installed in the deck. The magnetic tape protected by the tape is exposed from the cassette body (2), and the exposed magnetic tape is pulled out and wound around the rotating head drum of the deck to record and reproduce video signals and the like.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, it is inconvenient to manage this type of video tape cassette (1) unless it is possible to understand the contents recorded on the cassette without having to play it back. However, the only way to do this with conventional cassettes is to write the contents directly in letters on a label (5) attached to the top surface of the cassette body (2). The work of writing to this label (5) is extremely time consuming, and due to space constraints, it was not possible to write much data.

In order to solve this problem, the applicant has previously, for example,
As shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-298306, a videotape cassette equipped with electronic circuit components capable of storing predetermined signals was proposed. If a memory element with a large storage capacity is installed as this electronic circuit component, various data can be stored, and the effort of writing data on the label can be saved.

However, using this type of memory element simply for writing record data instead of a label has the disadvantage of being wasteful in terms of manufacturing cost, storage capacity, etc.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a tape cassette in which memory elements can be used effectively.

Means for Solving Problem C] The tape cassette of the present invention has, for example, as shown in FIG.
In a tape cassette configured by storing a tape in a housing (2), a memory element (8) is installed inside the housing (2), and index information of the tape is stored in this memory element (8). It is something.

[For production]

According to the tape cassette of the present invention, tape running etc. can be controlled based on the index information stored in the memory element (8), and the operability of the tape deck using this tape cassette is improved.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the tape cassette of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
Let's explain with reference to FIG. In FIGS. 1 to 6, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 8 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

The tape cassette of this example is a videotape cassette of the same standard as the example in Fig. 8, and as shown in Fig. 1, the front cover (4) of the cassette body (2) of the videotape cassette (1) is
A non-volatile memory element (8) is embedded in the back surface (2c) on the opposite side, and a plurality of (for example, six) connection pins (8a) of this memory element (8) are embedded (see Figure 2).
, from the back (2C) to the bottom (
2d) and is electrically connected to the exposed connection terminal (9). Note that the bottom surface (2) of the cassette body (2) referred to here is
d) is the surface on the lower half (2b) side where the rotational drive shaft insertion hole (3a) of the reel (3) is exposed. With this configuration, in terms of appearance of this video tape cassette (1), only the plurality of connection terminals (9) are exposed from the back surface (2c) to the bottom surface (2d), and the memory element ( 8) is not visible, and the other components are the same as the video tape cassette shown in FIG.

The videotape cassette of this example is constructed as described above.
The operation of installing this tape cassette into a video deck will be explained below.

The video tape cassette (11) of this example is mounted on a video tape deck (6) as shown in FIG. 4 to record and play back video signals, etc. This video tape deck (
6] is a so-called front loading type with a cassette insertion window (7) on the front.
When the video tape cassette (1) is inserted from the deck (6) as shown by arrow A in FIG. When holding the tape cassette (11), arrow B will appear inside the deck (6).
The video tape cassette (1) is moved as shown in FIG. 1 and fixed near the rotating drum. Note that the movement shown by arrow B is a movement that moves horizontally from the front to the back and then moves downward vertically.

In this way, the videotape cassette (1) is placed on the deck (
6), the connection terminal (9) of this video tape drawer (1) is connected to the connection terminal on the deck (6) side. That is, at the cassette fixing position of this deck (6), as shown in FIG. 4, a conductive film (
A rubber sheet αυ with b) formed on the surface is fixed.

This conductive film is the connecting terminal (9) of the tape cassette (1).
A plurality of conductive films (
The support (support) is connected to a microcomputer 09 for controlling the operation of this deck (6), which will be described later, by a lead wire α.

In this way, the connection terminal on the deck (6) side is configured,
By fixing the video tape cassette +11 on this rubber sheet αΩ, the deck (6) side and the tape cassette +1
Conductivity with the 1 side is established. As shown in Figure 5,
The videotape cassette (1) held by the cassette holder α is attached to the substrate α [when fixed on the rubber seat] 0
The connection terminal (9) of the videotape cassette (11) is located on υ, and the conductive film (2) on the rubber sheet αΩ and the connection terminal (9) of the videotape cassette (11) are brought into contact and electrically connected.

Next, the circuit configuration connected to the memory element (8) of the tape cassette (11) connected to the deck side in this way is shown in FIG. shows a microcomputer that controls the operation of
This microcomputer α is connected to the connection terminal (
9) to the memory element (8). Also,
This microcomputer α1 includes a key α0 for issuing operation instructions, a cassette detection circuit 0η for detecting the type of the installed cassette, such as whether recording is possible, a display panel al for displaying the operating status, etc., and a tape running distance. Counter that counts 0! and are connected.

In this way, each device is connected to the microcomputer α, and the tape cassette (6) attached to this deck (6) is
1) When recording a video signal on the tape cassette (11 memory elements (8)), the microcomputer inputs the recording date, recording start time, recording end time, recording mode, etc. , an information signal indicating the recording channel, etc. is supplied and stored.Furthermore, the count value at the start and end of recording is stored for each recording. , After recording/playback, etc., put the tape cassette +11 into this deck (6)
When taking out the data from the memory element (8), the count value of the counter 0 at the time of taking out is transferred from the microcomputer 0!9 to the memory element (8).
It is designed to be memorized.

And the tape cassette that recorded in this way
- (When playing back 11, when the cassette detection circuit 01 detects that a non-recordable tape is inserted or the key am is operated, the microcomputer α reads out the information stored in the memory element (8) and In addition to displaying information such as the date on the display panel αl for each recorded program, the memory element (
8) Read out the count value stored in the counter Ql.
Set this count value to .

The operator of this deck (6) then looks at the display on the display panel al and selects which program to play by pressing the key α. When selected in this way, the tape is fast-forwarded or rewound until the first count value of the selected program is reached to find the beginning, and the selected program is played back from the beginning. In this way, the memory element (8
) It is possible to easily locate the cue during playback based on the data stored in the .

In addition, in this example, the microcomputer 0 uses the count value of any playback location as index information during playback.
9 can be stored in the memory element (8). Then, from the next time of playback, program playback can be performed based on the index information stored in this memory element (8). For example, if you specify a commercial location in a recorded program as index information during the first playback, from the next playback, the commercial location specified by this index information will be displayed.
By using the key αQ to instruct the microcomputer α to automatically play fast-forward only the portion of the commercial
At this point, the program can be automatically played in fast forward so that only the main part of the program is played back normally.

As mentioned above, according to the videocassette tape in this example,
By mounting a memory element (8) on the video tape cassette fi+ and storing index information such as the count value of counter α1 in this memory element (8), the beginning of the playback, program playback, etc. are reliably performed. This improves the operability of the tape deck (6) using this tape cassette (11).

In the above embodiment, the memory element (8) was embedded in the cassette body (2), but as shown in FIG.
(c) may be installed with the memory element (8) exposed. By doing this, even if this videotape cassette is stored in a rack with only the back side exposed, it is easy to tell whether it is a cassette with a memory element (8). There are benefits that can be immediately determined.

Furthermore, although the above-mentioned embodiments have been described with respect to video tape cassettes, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other tape cassettes such as audio tape cassettes. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various other configurations may be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the tape cassette of the present invention, the tape strength is
Attach the memory element (8) to 11, and attach the memory element (8) to
) to store index information,
There is an advantage that the operability of the tape deck using this tape cassette +11 is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the tape cassette of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of the main part of the example in FIG.
The figure is a perspective view showing the usage state of the tape cassette in the example in Figure 1, Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the terminals of the example deck connected to the tape cassette in the example in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is the tape in the example in Figure 1. 6 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration connected to the memory of the tape cassette of the example shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is another embodiment of the tape cassette of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional tape cassette. (1) is a videotape cassette, (2) is a cassette body, (2a) is an upper half, (2b) is a lower half, (8) is a memory element, and 19) is a connection terminal. 1 Figure 1 'MI Snake's memory F village 3fL and Ho-cho Figure 2 Tape force and V tome usage status Err, T to Figure 3 r, key rule &113-t Ho-cho Figure 4 Connect to memory: 30 arithmetic configuration -Ike 1 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A tape cassette comprising a tape housed in a casing, characterized in that a memory element is installed in the casing, and index information of the tape is stored in the memory element. cassette.