JPH0823986B2 - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a tape cassette for video, audio, etc.

[Outline of Invention]

According to the present invention, in a tape cassette for video, audio, etc., a memory element is mounted in a housing accommodating a tape, and a connection terminal of this memory element is held by a cassette holder on the external device side from the center of the housing. It is eccentric to the side surface and exposed at a position from the back surface to the bottom surface of the housing so that a good connection with an external device can be made.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a tape cassette used in a video tape deck has, for example, a shape as shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, (1) shows a video tape cassette, and the video tape cassette (1) comprises a cassette body (2) composed of an upper half (2a) and a lower half (2b) made of ABS resin or the like. Has been done. Two reels (3) are arranged in the cassette body (2), and the two reels (3) are wound in a state in which one end and the other end of a magnetic tape (not shown) are locked. Has been done. A front lid (4) is attached to the front surface of the cassette body (2), and the cassette body (2) and the front lid (4) form a housing for the cassette tape (1). Then, the front lid (4) is configured to rotate upward and open only when the video tape cassette (1) is mounted in the deck. By opening the front lid (4), the front lid (4) is opened. The magnetic tape protected by (4) is exposed from the cassette body (2),
The exposed magnetic tape is pulled out and wound around the rotary head drum of the deck to record and reproduce video signals.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, this kind of video tape cassette (1)
It is inconvenient to manage the cassette unless the contents recorded on the cassette are known without being reproduced. However, the only way to do this with a conventional cassette is to directly write the contents in text on a label (5) attached to the upper surface of the cassette body (2). Writing to the label (5) is time-consuming and it is impossible to write a large amount of data due to the limited space.

In order to solve this problem, the applicant of the present invention has previously proposed a video tape cassette having an electronic circuit component capable of storing a predetermined signal, as shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-298306. If a memory element having a large storage capacity is mounted as the electronic circuit component, various data can be stored, and the labor of writing the data on the label can be saved.

However, the cassette having the conventionally proposed memory device mounted thereon has a structure of a terminal portion which can be connected only to a dedicated terminal portion provided at a corresponding position on the recording / reproducing device side. There were restrictions on the structure.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tape cassette in which a memory element can be favorably connected to an external device.

[Means for solving problems]

The tape cassette of the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, accommodates two reels (3) around which the tape is wound, and the tape pulled out from these two reels (3) is hung on the front surface of the cassette, In a tape cassette in which the front surface of the pulled-out tape is protected by a rotatable lid, a memory element (6) arranged inside the back surface of the tape cassette housing, and an electrical connection between the memory element and an external device. A plurality of connection terminals (7) for performing a physical connection, and the tape cassette housing is biased from the center to the side surface held by the cassette holder on the external device side, and from the back surface (2c) to the bottom surface (2c) of the tape cassette housing. 2d) is provided, and a plurality of exposed portions for connection terminals corresponding to each of the connection terminals (7) are provided, and the connection terminals (7) are exposed from the exposed portions for connection terminals.

[Action]

According to the tape cassette of the present invention, since the connection terminal exposed portion of the memory element is provided over the two surfaces of the cassette, it is possible to freely select the structure of the connection terminal of the external device to be connected such as the recording / reproducing apparatus. . Also, the exposed portion for the connection terminal is provided so that the connection terminal of the memory element is eccentric from the center of the cassette to the side surface held by the cassette holder on the external device side, and is located at the position where the tape cassette housing is covered from the back surface to the bottom surface. Since it is exposed from above, the electrical connection between the connection terminal of the tape cassette and the connection terminal on the external device side is reliably performed by using the holding force of the cassette holder.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the tape cassette of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 8 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The tape cassette of this example is a video tape cassette of the same standard as that of FIG. 8, and as shown in FIG. 1, the side opposite to the front lid (4) of the cassette body (2) of this video tape cassette (1). A non-volatile memory element (6) is embedded in the rear surface (2c) that becomes. From the center of this video tape cassette (1) to the left and right side surfaces held by the cassette holder (14) on the recording and reproducing device side shown in FIG. 5, and for connecting terminals from the rear surface (2c) to the lower surface (2d) An exposed part is provided. Then, a plurality of (for example, six) connection pins (8) (see FIG. 2) of the memory element (6) are exposed from the connection terminal exposed portion and electrically connected to an external device. The bottom surface of the cassette body (2) (2
d) is the side where the rotation drive shaft insertion hole (3a) of the reel (3) is exposed. With this configuration, the appearance of the video tape cassette (1) is such that only the plurality of connection terminals (7) are exposed from the rear surface (2c) to the lower surface (2d), and the memory device ( 6) cannot be seen.
Further, since the connection terminal exposing portion is provided over the two surfaces of the cassette, the structure of the connection terminal on the recording / reproducing apparatus side can be freely selected. Furthermore, the connection terminals were eccentric from the center of the cassette to the side surface held by the cassette holder on the recording / reproducing apparatus side, and exposed from the connection terminal exposed portion provided at the position extending from the back surface to the bottom surface of the tape cassette housing. Therefore, the holding force of the cassette holder is used to reliably establish the electrical connection between the connection terminal of the tape cassette and the connection terminal of the recording / reproducing apparatus. Otherwise, the configuration is the same as that of the video tape cassette shown in FIG.

The video tape cassette of the present embodiment is configured as described above. Hereinafter, the operation when the tape cassette is mounted on the video deck will be described.

The video tape cassette (1) of this example is mounted on a video tape deck (9) as shown in FIG. 3 to record / reproduce video signals and the like. This video tape deck (9) is of the so-called front loading type that has a cassette insertion window (9a) on the front surface.
Video tape cassette (1) from a) to arrow A in FIG.
When it is inserted as shown by, the video tape cassette (1) is held in the cassette holder provided inside the deck (9). When the cassette holder holds the video tape cassette (1), the cassette holder moves inside the deck (9) as shown by an arrow B, and moves and fixes the video tape cassette (1) to the vicinity of the rotating drum. The movement shown by the arrow B is after moving horizontally from the front to the back.
It's a vertical movement.

When the video tape cassette (1) is fixed inside the deck (9) in this way, the connection terminal (7) of the video tape cassette (1) is connected to the connection terminal on the deck (9) side. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a rubber sheet (11) having a conductive film (12) formed on the surface of a substrate (10) is fixed to the cassette fixing position of the deck (9). A plurality of the conductive films (12) are formed in parallel to correspond to the connection terminals (7) of the cassette tape (1), and each conductive film (12) is connected to the deck (described later by a lead wire (13)). It is connected to the operation control microcomputer (6) of 6).

In this way, the connection terminals on the deck (9) side are configured, and the video tape cassette (1) is fixed on the rubber sheet (11), so that the deck (9) side and the tape cassette (1) side are connected. Conduction is performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the video tape cassette (1) held by the cassette holder (14) is fixed on the substrate (10),
The connection terminal (7) of the video tape cassette (1) is located on the rubber sheet (11), and the conductive film (12) on the rubber sheet (11) and the connection terminal (7) of the video tape cassette (1).
Are brought into contact with each other to be in a conductive state.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a circuit configuration connected to the memory element (6) of the tape cassette (1) thus connected to the deck side. In FIG. 6, (15) shows a microcomputer for controlling the operation of the deck (9), which is connected to the memory element (6) through the connection terminal (7) as described above. There is.
The microcomputer (15) also includes a key (16) for instructing operation, a cassette detection circuit (17) for detecting whether the mounted cassette is capable of recording, etc., and a display panel for displaying operation status and the like. (18) is connected to a counter (19) that counts the running amount of the tape.

In this way, when each device is connected to the microcomputer (15) and a video signal is recorded on the tape cassette (1) mounted on the deck (6), the tape cassette (1 The memory device (6) is controlled by the microcomputer (15) so as to store the setting condition data at the time of recording. The setting conditions are tape speed (discrimination between standard mode and long-time mode) during recording, audio recording state (discrimination between audio multiplex broadcasting, stereo broadcasting and monaural broadcasting), whether or not high band recording, Various data such as tracking control data is stored.

Further, the count value information from the counter (19) at the start of recording together with the respective setting conditions is stored in the memory element (6) under the control of the microcomputer (15). This count value information also stores the count value when the tape cassette (1) is taken out from the deck, and sets the counter (19) to the stored count value when the tape cassette (1) is reloaded. In this way, the absolute count value is maintained.

When the tape cassette (1) in which the setting condition data is stored in the memory element (6) in this way is reproduced, the reproduction mode is set based on the setting condition data stored in the memory element (6). It That is, when reproducing a predetermined program recorded on the tape cassette (1), the microcomputer (15) reads out the setting condition data stored in the memory element (6) at the time of recording the program, and sets the reproduction condition of the deck. Set based on the read data. For example, the reproduction tape speed, the reproduction state of audio, whether high band reproduction is performed, the tracking control, etc. are set based on the stored data in the same manner as during recording.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 7, when the setting condition data is not written in the memory element (6) during reproduction, the reproduction condition of this deck is set by operating the key (16) and the key (16 The reproduction condition instructed in () is stored in the memory element (6).

Thus, the video tape cassette (1) according to this example
According to the above, the reproduction condition can be automatically set by using the memory element (6), and various settings can be surely made.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the setting condition data is stored in the memory element (6) for each recording, but the tape speed information such as the standard mode and the long time mode is
This mode is stored in the memory element (6) when the video tape cassette (1) is first used (at the time of recording), and based on the stored mode information even if the deck side is not set at the time of subsequent recording. The recording tape speed may be automatically set. If the VCR used is a VCR that can record / playback video signals of three systems of NTSC system, PAL system and SECAM system, which system video signal is recorded in the memory device (6). If it is stored, it is possible to automatically switch the reproduction method based on this data during reproduction.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the tape cassette for video has been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other tape cassettes for audio and the like. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various other configurations can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the tape cassette of the present invention, the memory element (8) is attached to the tape cassette (1), and the connection terminal (9) of the memory element (8) is connected to the connection terminal exposed portion provided over two surfaces of the cassette housing. Because it was exposed from
The structure of the connection terminal on the external device (for example, recording / reproducing apparatus) side can be freely selected. Furthermore, the connection terminals were eccentric from the center of the cassette to the side that is held by the cassette holder on the external device side, and exposed from the exposed exposed area for the connection terminals at the position from the back to the bottom of the tape cassette housing. Therefore, the holding force of the cassette holder is used to ensure the electrical connection between the connection terminal of the tape cassette and the connection terminal of the external device.

[Brief description of drawings]

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 a main part of the example of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a usage state of the tape cassette shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing terminals on the deck side connected to the tape cassette shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a tape shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a connection state between the cassette and the deck side, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration connected to the memory of the tape cassette of FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is an explanation of the tape cassette of FIG. FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional tape cassette. (1) is a video tape cassette, (2) is a cassette body, (6) is a memory element, and (7) is a connection terminal.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Koji Iwamoto 6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation (56) References JP-A-60-171685 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. Receiving two reels around which a tape is wound,
A tape cassette in which a tape drawn out from the two reels is laid over the front surface of the cassette, and the front surface of the drawn tape is protected by a rotatable lid. And a plurality of connection terminals for electrically connecting the memory element to an external device, the tape device being biased from the center of the tape cassette housing to the side surface held by the cassette holder on the external device side, And provided at a position extending from the back to the bottom of the tape cassette housing,
A tape cassette, wherein a plurality of exposed portions for connection terminals corresponding to each of the connection terminals are provided, and the connection terminals are exposed from the exposed portions for connection terminals.