JPH0612487B2 - Carriage relative address detection method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a relative address detection method for detecting a relative address of a moving carriage by detecting a position pattern, and in particular, normality of a position pattern which is a source of a relative address. The present invention relates to a relative address detection method for a carriage that detects a relative address while checking the.

A mechanism for moving a carriage along a predetermined transfer path is widely used. For example, in an automatic warehouse, a carriage having an article take-out section is moved along the transfer path to move the carriage, that is, the article, to each storage position of the automatic warehouse. The take-out part is positioned. In order to perform such moving / positioning of the carriage, it is necessary to detect the position of the carriage, and a relative address method with high accuracy is generally used.

The relative address method obtains a relative address by accumulating position signals obtained each time the carriage moves by a certain amount, for example, an output of a tacho generator provided in a carriage drive motor,
The output obtained by detecting the timing pattern of the pattern track provided along the transport path is used.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, position detection tracks TT are provided along a transport rail RL on which a carriage CR moves, and position patterns TP are provided at equal intervals on the position detection tracks TT and provided on the carriage CR. The position sensor TP moves along with the movement of the carriage CR.
Is detected to obtain the relative address.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional method, the position detecting track T
Assuming that the position pattern TP provided in T is normal, the position pattern is abnormal, for example, when the position pattern is missing or when the detector malfunctions due to disturbance noise, an accurate relative address cannot be detected. Further, since the positioning is performed at the center of the position pattern TP, there is a problem that accurate positioning cannot be performed due to the lack of the position pattern TP when edge detection is performed.

[Means for solving problems]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a relative address detection method for a carriage that can detect a relative address based on a position pattern while checking the normality of the position pattern.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the carriage driving means for driving the carriage along the transfer path, the cell pattern for rough positioning at a constant interval along the transfer path, and within the range of the length of the cell pattern, A position detection track having a mid pattern provided at a specific position at a specific distance from the end of the cell pattern, a first sensor provided on the carriage for detecting the cell pattern, and a first sensor for detecting the mid pattern. A sensor unit including two sensors, a control unit that obtains a relative address of the carriage by the output of the sensor unit, a signal generation unit that issues a signal for each unit drive of the carriage drive unit, and a signal of the signal generation unit. A counter that counts, and the controller controls the count value of the counter according to the cell pattern detection output of the first sensor when the carriage moves. By reading, the amount of change in the count value of the counter when the cell pattern of the first sensor passes is obtained, and the normality of the cell pattern is confirmed by comparing the amount of change with a reference value. At the time of positioning to the target cell pattern, the carriage is moved to the specific position based on the output of the second sensor when the carriage is moved by the specific distance from the end of the target cell pattern based on the output of the counter. It is characterized in that it is positioned and the normality of the mid pattern is confirmed.

[Action]

According to the present invention, a signal generation unit that issues a signal for each unit drive of the drive unit that drives the carriage, and a counter that counts the signal of the signal generation unit are provided, and the control unit that detects the relative address uses the position pattern detection signal of the sensor. Rise (fall)
The count value of the counter is read according to the above, and obtained as position information of the position pattern, and the validity of the position pattern is checked by this.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Examples.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus in which the address detection system of the present invention is used, and shows a mass storage device using a magnetic tape cartridge.

In the figure, LCF and RCF are a left control frame and a right control frame, respectively, which are provided at both ends of the device and are provided with a main control circuit, an accessor drive circuit, etc., DEF, SEF, and TEF are honeycomb frames, respectively. The storage shelves 4 of the magnetic tape cartridges 3 are provided on both wall surfaces, and guide rails RLU and RLL of an accessor, which will be described later, are provided on the upper and lower portions, and the magnetic tape set on a part of the honeycomb frame TEF. A read / write station (not shown) for reading / writing the cartridge 3, an entry station 5A for inserting a new magnetic tape cartridge 3 from the outside, and an unnecessary magnetic tape cartridge 3 (hereinafter referred to as a cartridge) for discharging to the outside. Exit station for 5B and is provided. Reference numerals 1A and 1B denote a left accessor and a right accessor, respectively, for rotating the mechanical hand 2 in the vertical direction (Y direction) and the storage shelves 4 on both sides in the rotation direction (Z direction).
Left control frame LC
The F and light control frames RCF are used as home positions to move in the three honeycomb frames DEF, SEF, and TEF along the upper and lower rails RLU and RLL.

The operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described. The left or right accessor 1A or 1B is driven by the accessor drive circuit according to a command from the main control circuit, moves on the rails RLU, RLL in the X direction, and further the hand 2 is moved to the Y direction. Drive in the (up and down) direction to move the hand 2 to the desired position on the cart shelf 3 of the storage rack.
Is positioned, the hand 2 is driven at that position to take out and hold the cartridge 3, then the accessor 1A or 1B moves to the read / write station to convey the cartridge 3, and the hand 2 is driven to move the cartridge 3 Set to the read / write station. After reading / writing, read / write the cartridge 3 in the same manner.
It is taken out from the light station with the hand 2, gripped, and similarly transported and stored in the original storage shelf. The same applies when the cartridge 3 is transported from the entry station 5A to the storage shelf 4 and from the storage shelf 4 to the exit station 5B.

Therefore, in the mass storage device, the honeycomb frame TE
The accessor 1A, 1B takes out the desired cartridge 3 stored in the storage shelf 4 in F, SEF, DEF by the hand 2 and conveys it to the read / write station to set the cartridge 3 and read / write the cartridge 3 After writing / reading / writing, the cartridge 3 is taken out from the read / write station with the hand 2, gripped, and conveyed by the accessors 1A and 1B to be returned to the original storage shelf 4
It operates so that it can be stored and returned.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an accessor (conveying device) having the configuration of FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 is a detailed sectional view thereof.

In the figure, TT is a track for position detection, has a pattern to be described later, is provided along a rail RLL that is a transfer path, 10 is a carriage of an accessor, which constitutes a base frame, 11a, 11b , 11c,
Reference numerals 11d denote lower rollers, which are provided at the lower portion of the carriage 10 and engage with the lower guide rails RLL to guide the movement in the X direction. Reference numeral 12 denotes an X motor, which drives the accessor in the X direction. For moving the X-direction by rotating the pinion gear 13 engaged with the rack provided on the side surface of the lower guide rail RLL, and 14 is a support carrier for the mechanical hand 2.
For supporting the guide rollers 15a, 1 at the right end.
5b, 15c, 15d, 16 is a Y-side guide rail, is provided on the carriage 10, and engages with the guide rollers 15a to 15d, 17 is a Y motor, and the support carrier 14 is a Y-side guide rail. 16 for moving in the Y direction (up and down direction) along 16 and driving the wire 17a connected to the support carrier 14 to move the support carrier 14 along the Y side guide rail 16, 18a, 18b. Are upper rollers, which are provided on the upper part of the carriage 10 and engage with the upper guide rail RLU to guide the movement in the X direction. Reference numeral 19 is a protective cover, which is provided on the support carrier 14 and is provided in the mechanical hand. It protects 2. A sensor 6 is provided on the carriage 10 and detects the pattern of the position detection track TT. In addition, left accessor 1
A also has the same structure.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, by driving the Y motor 17, the support carrier 14 is moved along the Y guide rail 16 in the Y direction.
Direction, the metallic hand 2 is positioned in the Y direction of the storage shelf 4, while the X motor 12 is driven to rotate the pinion gear 13 engaged with the rack to rotate the carriage 1.
0 is moved in the X direction along the X guide rails RLU and RLL, and the pattern of the position detection track TT is detected by the sensor 6
Is detected and the storage rack 4 is positioned in the desired X direction (horizontal direction).

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, showing a drive mechanism of the carriage shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and in FIG.
The same symbols as those shown in the drawings and FIG. 4 are indicated by the same symbols, and 12a is a tacho generator (signal generator).
Is provided on the shaft of the X motor 12 and outputs a rotation pulse each time the X motor 12 rotates by a predetermined angle. TP is a cell pattern, which indicates the position of each storage cell of the storage rack 4 in FIG. Are provided on the position detecting track TT at equal intervals, MP is a mid pattern, and is provided on the position detecting track TT at a position corresponding to the center of each cell pattern TP. The sensor light receiving portion 6a is for detecting cell patterns, and the sensor light receiving portion 6a is for detecting mid patterns. Is used for.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and is a block diagram of a control unit 7 having the configuration shown in FIG. 5, in which the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same symbols. Yes, 70 is a sensor decoding circuit, which is the sensor light receiving portion 6 of the sensor 6.
a signal for indicating the rise / fall of the cell pattern detection output TS and the rise of the mid pattern detection output TS according to the detection outputs TS and MS of a and 6b, 71 is a direction determining circuit, , Which outputs the rotation pulse RP according to the rotation direction by detecting the rotation direction from the two-phase rotation pulse RP, 72 is a tacho counter, and the movement amount is set and the rotation amount is set. Is a register for measurement, 73 is a register for measurement, which latches the counter value of the tacho counter 72 according to the output signal (rising edge detection) from the processor decoding circuit 70, and 74 is a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as processor) And higher (main control circuit)
In order to control the motor by executing a program in response to a command from, a cell counter section 74a for detecting a relative address and a reference value register section 74b for inspecting the validity of the pattern are provided. A register for preset, which temporarily stores the movement amount for the processor 74 to preset in the tacho-coin 72, 76
Is an input register for temporarily storing the speed command value from the processor 74, and 77 is a digital-analog converter (hereinafter referred to as DAC), which is an analog speed command voltage corresponding to the speed command value set in the input register 76. Is supplied to the motor 12.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 5 will be described with reference to the flow chart of the address detection processing of FIG. 6 and the operation explanatory diagram of FIG.

When the processor 74 receives a movement command from the host, the number of moving cells n up to the target cell is set in the cell counting unit 74 a, and the rotation amount (moving amount) m of the motor 12 corresponding to the number of moving cells is set via the preset register 75. Preset in the tacho counter 72, the moving direction and the speed command value are set in the input register 76, and the speed voltage having the polarity in the moving direction is supplied from the DAC 77 to the motor 12. As a result, the motor 12 rotates and the carriage 10 starts moving toward the target cell.

Next, the processor 74 outputs the output signal from the sensor decoding circuit 70, that is, each sensor light receiving portion 6a shown in FIG.
When the edge detection signal EP of the cell pattern detection signal TS and the mid pattern detection signal MS from 6b is monitored and the rising detection signal is received, whether or not this is the cell pattern TP, that is, whether it is due to the output of the sensor light receiving unit 6a Check whether or not. That is, when the cell pattern TP rises, the cell pattern continues for a certain fixed distance as shown in FIG. 5, so that the detection signal of the sensor light receiving unit 6a also continues to be in the detection state of the cell pattern TP. The rise of the cell pattern TP can be detected by detecting the continuation. The processor 74 uses the cell pattern T
If it is determined that the rising edge of P is not the rising edge of the mid pattern MP, the rising edge of the mid pattern MP should come after the rising edge of the cell pattern TP in time.
If the rising of the mid pattern MP is detected first, it is determined that the cell pattern TP has a missing error, and the process ends.

In step, the processor 74 sets the cell pattern TP
When it is determined that the target cell has been reached, the cell counter 74a is updated by subtracting "1" from the cell number n of the cell counter 74a and checking whether the content of the cell counter 74a has become zero. To determine. The number of cells up to the target cell is set in the cell counter section 74a and is subtracted each time the edge of the cell pattern corresponding to each cell is detected. Therefore, when the content of the cell counter section 74a becomes zero, the carriage 10 Determines that the target cell has been reached.

When the processor 74 determines that the target cell has not been reached, it reads the content of the measurement register 73 that latches the content of the tacho counter 72 with the rising / falling output signal EP of the sensor decoding circuit 70. Since the rotation pulse RP is generated from the tacho generator 12a by the rotation of the motor 12 and the tacho counter 72 subtracts the rotation pulse RP from the preset movement amount m, as shown in FIG. The content of 73 is the value m ₁ of the tacho counter 72 when the cell pattern TP rises, and the processor 74 reads and stores it.

Next, the processor 74 monitors the output signal EP of the sensor decoding circuit 70 and detects whether or not the rising of the mid pattern MP following the rising of the cell pattern TP. The rising of the mid pattern MP is also detected by detecting that the detection state of the mid pattern MP has continued for a finite time, similar to the detection of the rising of the cell pattern TP described above. If the rising edge detection signal is not output and the rising edge detection signal is output,
It is determined that the rising edge of the mid pattern MP has not been detected, that is, it is determined that there is an error in the mid pattern MP, and the process ends.

Conversely, when the processor 74 receives the rising edge detection signal,
It is determined that the rising edge of the mid pattern MP is detected, and the content of the measurement register 73 that latches the value of the tacho counter 72 by the rising edge detection is read. At this time, the content of the measuring register 73 is the tacho counter 7 at the rising edge of the mid pattern MP.
A value of ₂ is m ₂ . Then, the processor 74 subtracts the rising value m ₂ of the mid pattern MP from the rising value m _{1 of} the cell pattern TP to calculate the width w ₁ from the rising of the cell pattern TP to the rising of the mid pattern MP. Further reference width from the rise of the pre-Ji-determined cell pattern TP width w ₁ and the reference value register section 74b processor 74 calculated to the rising of the mid pattern MP WT1
It is determined whether or not the width w ₁ is within a predetermined area centered on the reference width WT1 by comparing with. If it is determined that the cell pattern TP is not within the predetermined area, there is a possibility that the cell pattern TP is missing, and the process ends as a cell pattern error.

Conversely, when the processor 74 determines that the width w ₁ is within the predetermined area, the processor 74 next monitors the output progress EP of the sensor decoding circuit 70 to determine whether the cell pattern TP falls after the rise of the mid pattern MP. To detect. When the processor 74 receives the fall detection signal, the cell pattern TP
Of the tacho counter 72, and the contents of the measuring register 73 for latching the value of the tacho counter 72 by the fall detection are read. At this time, the content of the measurement register 73 is the value m ₃ of the tacho counter 72 when the cell pattern TP falls.

Then, the processor 74 subtracts the falling value m ₃ of the cell pattern TP from the rising value m ₁ of the cell pattern TP, measures the width w ₂ of the cell pattern TP, and predicts the reference value register unit 74b. compared to the reference width WT2 a defined cell pattern TP, it determines whether the measurement width w ₂ is in a predetermined region around the reference width WT2.

If it is determined that the measurement width w ₂ is not within the predetermined area, there is a possibility that the cell pattern TP is missing, and the process ends as a cell pattern error.

On the other hand, if it is within the predetermined area, return to the step,
Check the next cell pattern, etc.

While checking the cell pattern and the mid pattern in this way, when the processor 74 determines in step that the target cell has been reached, the processor 74 positions and controls the carriage 10 at the center of the cell pattern TP. That is, the processor 74 sets the amount of movement corresponding to the distance from the edge of the cell pattern TP to the center in the preset register 75 and presets it in the tacho counter 72. Then, the processor 74 thereafter reads the count value of the tacho counter 72 (that is, the value obtained by sequentially subtracting the rotation pulse RP from the preset movement amount), and the speed command value corresponding to the read value of the predetermined deceleration curve. Is set in the input register 76, the corresponding speed voltage is supplied from the DAC 77 to the motor 12, and the tacho counter 7
The speed of the motor 12 is controlled according to the deceleration curve until the value of 2 becomes zero (that is, the carriage 10 is positioned at the center of the cell pattern TP).

In this way, the carriage 10 is positioned at the center of the cell pattern TP, that is, the position of the mid pattern MP.

In order to confirm that the processor 74 has been positioned at the position of the mid pattern MP, when the tacho counter 72 becomes zero, the processor 74 checks the presence or absence of the rise detection signal of the mid pattern MP from the sensor decoding circuit 70, and the rise detection signal is If there is, it is determined that it is positioned at the position of the mid pattern MP, and the process ends. On the contrary, if the rising edge detection signal is not output, the process ends as a missing mid pattern MP or a positioning error.

Such errors are displayed on a monitor not shown,
Warn the operator.

As described above, the processor 74 checks that the output of the sensor decoding circuit 70 occurs in the order of the rising of the cell pattern TP, the rising of the mid pattern, and the falling of the cell pattern TP, and checks the presence or absence of each pattern. The width of the cell pattern TP and the position of the mid pattern MP with respect to the cell pattern TP are checked from the value of the tacho counter 72 latched by the output of the sensor decoding circuit 70 to check the lack of the cell pattern TP and the mid pattern MP.

In the above embodiment, the cell pattern as the position pattern,
Although both of the mid patterns are used, one of them may be used, and the width and the like are checked for defects.
It may be possible to check for missing or the like depending on the rising / falling position. Furthermore, although the carriage has been described as an example used as an accessor of a mass storage device, the carriage is not limited to this and may be any other known one.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention can be variously modified according to the gist of the present invention, and these modifications are not excluded from the present invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

The controller obtains the amount of change in the count value of the counter when the cell pattern of the first sensor is passed by reading the count value of the counter according to the cell pattern detection output of the first sensor when the carriage moves. , Confirming the normality of the cell pattern by comparing the change amount with a reference value,
At the time of positioning the carriage to the target cell pattern, the second position at the time when the carriage is moved by the specific distance from the end of the target cell pattern based on the output of the counter.
Since the carriage is positioned at a specific position and the normality of the mid pattern is checked based on the presence or absence of the sensor output, the effectiveness of the cell pattern that is the basis of relative address detection is checked while positioning control is performed. It is possible to check the validity of the mid pattern and guarantee the validity of relative address detection.

Further, since the positioning is performed by the address detection by the cell pattern of the cell pattern sensor and the AND of the count value of the tacho generator, the positioning can be performed with high accuracy. Furthermore, the practically excellent effect that the realization is easy is also achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of one embodiment of an apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are detailed configuration diagrams of main parts in the configuration of FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a flow chart of address detection processing in the configuration of FIG. 1, FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 8 is a conventional relative address. It is detection explanatory drawing. In the figure, 6 ... Sensor, 10 ... Carriage, 12 ... Motor (carriage drive means), 12a ... Tacho generator (signal generating section), 72 ... Tacho counter, 74 ...
Processor (control unit), TT ... position detection track,
TP, MP ... Position pattern.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Akira Nagayama 3-9-11 Midoricho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo Inside Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation Musashino Electro-Communications Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Shin Takayanagi 3-9-11 Midoricho, Musashino-shi Tokyo Japan (72) Inventor, Masakatsu Nunoya, 3-9-11, Midoricho, Musashino City, Tokyo (56) Reference: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-148200 (JP, A) ) JP-A-57-3107 (JP, A) JP-A-53-24978 (JP, A) JP-B-49-19755 (JP, B1)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carriage driving means for driving a carriage along a transfer path, a cell pattern for rough positioning at regular intervals along the transfer path, and a cell pattern within a range of the length of the cell pattern. Position detecting track having a mid pattern provided at a specific position at a specific distance from the end of the, and a first sensor provided on the carriage for detecting the cell pattern and a second sensor for detecting the mid pattern. A sensor unit including a sensor, a control unit that obtains a relative address of the carriage by the output of the sensor unit, a signal generation unit that issues a signal for each unit drive of the carriage drive unit, and a signal of the signal generation unit The counter reads the count value of the counter according to the cell pattern detection output of the first sensor when the carriage is moving. Thus, the amount of change in the count value of the counter when the cell pattern of the first sensor passes is obtained, and the normality of the cell pattern is confirmed by comparing the amount of change with a reference value. When positioning to the target cell pattern,
Based on the output of the counter, whether the carriage is positioned at a specific position or whether the mid pattern is normal based on the presence or absence of the output of the second sensor when the carriage is moved by the specific distance from the end of the target cell pattern. Relative address detection method for carriage, which is characterized in that the property is confirmed.