JPH03708B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a magnetic tape device, and particularly to a method for reading a signal (also referred to as a cue signal) that identifies a recording position recorded on a magnetic tape in order to search for a recording position in a parallel loading method. The present invention relates to a magnetic tape device using a magnetic tape device.

High-density recording has progressed in magnetic tape devices, including recent VTR (video tape recorder) devices, making it possible to record and play over long periods of time, making it possible to record and play for 4 to 6 hours on a single cassette tape. As the magnetic tape becomes more popular, the need to search for specific recording locations on the magnetic tape has increased. Conventional consumer magnetic tape devices often search for recording positions by counting the number of rotations of the tape supply reel disk or tape take-up reel disk, but with this method, the recording position is searched from the tape start point in the cassette tape. Since counting is required, it is impossible to start a search from the middle of the tape, and there are disadvantages in that it is impossible to search or automatically search multiple recording positions on one cassette tape. Ta. These drawbacks can be overcome by using a method in which a signal identifying the recording position is recorded on the magnetic tape and the search is performed by detecting it, but in conventional magnetic tape devices, the tape running device Such a method could not be adopted due to the structure of . The tape running device of a parallel loading type VTR device will be explained below as an example.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are system diagrams showing a conventional parallel loading type tape running device.
Figure 1 shows recording and playback operations (loading state)
Figure 2 shows the tape running path during rewinding and fast forwarding operations (unloading state). , 1b are fixed at exactly 180 degrees to the center of the rotating drum 1 and slightly protrude from the periphery of the drum. 2a, 2b, 2c are loading tape guides on the supply side (supply side);
a', 2b', and 2c' are loading tape guides on the take-up side (take-up side) that serve to stably load the magnetic tape 3 on the rotating drum 1; ',2
c' can be moved between two stopping positions shown by dotted lines and solid lines, and by moving from the position shown by solid lines in Fig. 2 to the position shown by solid lines in Fig. 1, As shown, the magnetic tape 3 in the unloaded state is pulled out from the cassette 14 and mounted on the rotating drum 1. 4
4b is an impedance roller for reducing small vibrations of the tape 3 and jitter. 5
is a full-width erasing head, 6 and 7 are tape guides, and tape guide 7 can be moved between two types of stopping positions shown by dots and solid lines, from the position shown by solid lines in Figure 2 to the position shown by solid lines in Figure 1. The magnetic tape 3 is moved to the position shown by the solid line and mounted on the full width erasing head 5. Numeral 8 is a tape tension regulator, 9 is an audio erasing head, and 10 is an audio signal and control signal head. These heads 9 and 10 are integrated to provide mechanical precision. 11 is a tape guide, 12 is a pinch roller,
Reference numeral 13 designates a capstan, and during recording and reproducing as shown in FIG.
The rotation of 3 causes it to move in the direction of the arrow at a constant speed. Further, during rewinding and fast forwarding as shown in FIG. 2, the pinch roller 12 moves to a position away from the capstan 13 and stops. 14 is a cassette in which the magnetic tape 3 is stored; 15, 16, and 17 are tape guides provided in the cassette 14 to smoothly supply or wind up the stored magnetic tape 3; 18 is a tape guide provided in the cassette 14; 19 is a take-up reel in the cassette 14.

In the VTR device configured as described above, recording,
During the playback operation, the magnetic tape 3 is supported by the movable tape guide mechanisms 2b, 2c, 2b', 2c', 7 and moved to the video heads 1a, 1b, 1b, as shown in FIG.
It contacts the full width erase head 5, the audio erase head 9, and the audio signal and control signal head 10, each head performing its own operation. Rewind again,
For fast forwarding operation, tape guides 2b, 2 on the supply side are used.
c. By storing the tape guides 2b' and 2c' on the winding side and the tape guide 7 in the cassette 14, the magnetic tape 3 is generally recorded and played back in the unloaded state as shown in FIG. It can run 20 to 30 times faster than when in mode.

In such conventional VTR devices, rewinding,
As a method of searching for a specific recording position on a magnetic tape during fast forwarding, it is not possible to use a method in which a signal identifying the recording position is recorded on the magnetic tape for the following two reasons.
Since it was necessary to use a method of counting the number of revolutions of the supply reel 18 or the take-up reel 19,
There are disadvantages in that a search cannot be started from the middle of the magnetic tape, and it is impossible to accurately detect multiple recording positions on a single cassette tape.

In other words, in the VTR device shown in Figs. 1 and 2,
Because the tape travel path is significantly different between the loading state during recording and playback operations and the unloading state during rewind and fast-forward operations, it is difficult to record a recording position identification signal on the magnetic tape, even if it is recorded during playback. Difficult to detect during rewind and fast forward operations. That is, even though it is possible to record an identification signal by using either the full-width erasing head 5, the audio erasing head 9, or the audio signal/control signal head 10 as a recording position identification signal head during recording or reproducing operations. , it is impossible to detect this with the same head during rewinding and fast forwarding operations because the running paths of the tape are different. Therefore, in this case, a dedicated head for calling the recording position identification signal is required, which contacts the magnetic surface of the magnetic tape 3 within the tape running path in the unloading state shown in FIG. In order to provide this read-only head, it is difficult to realize it because it must not interfere with the movement of the magnetic tape 3 during tape loading and must be in stable contact with the magnetic tape 3 during unloading. Even if it were realized, the device would be complicated and expensive, making it impractical.

In addition, in order to record and detect the recording position identification signal with the same head, rewinding and fast forwarding in the loading state shown in FIG. Since the magnetic tape 3 is moved at high speed while being wound around the rotating drum 1 at an angle of 180 degrees or more, there is a significant risk of damage to the tape and wear of the head, leading to failure.

For the above reasons, in conventional VTR devices, it is unavoidable to perform fast forwarding and rewinding operations in the unloading state, and the supply reel 18 or take-up reel 1
The recording position was searched by counting the number of revolutions such as 9.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional magnetic tape devices, and provides a method for recording recording positions on a magnetic tape and retrieving them using an identification signal, with a simple structure, and preventing unreasonable tape running that may lead to malfunctions. The object of the present invention is to obtain a magnetic tape device that can be realized by a device that does not have a magnetic tape device. The invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram showing the tape running path during rewinding and fast forwarding operations in an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, each part is the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2 and is given the same reference numeral. It has been done. The difference from the conventional one is the movable tape guide 2b,
2c has three stop positions, and the control signal head 10 also has the function of recording and reproducing a recording position identification signal.
In such an apparatus, first, during recording and reproduction, the movable tape guides 2b, 2c and the other movable tape guides 2b', 2c', 7 are in the position shown in FIG. Recording and playback are performed on exactly the same tape running path.

At this time, the recording position identification signal is recorded on the magnetic tape by the control signal head 10. Next, during rewinding and fast forwarding operations, the movable tape guides 2b' and 2c' on the winding side move to an intermediate stop position (referred to as the second position) and are fixed, as shown in Figure 3, and the movable tape guides 2b' and 2c' cause the magnetic tape 3 to slightly contact the control signal head 10 and a part of the rotating drum 1, and the running path of the magnetic tape 3 is as shown in FIG. Here, the magnetic tape 3 comes into contact with a part of the rotating drum, and moreover, at the contact point, the lower end of the magnetic tape rests on the lead groove of the fixed drum. At this time, since the contact angle with the drum is small, mutual frictional contact is extremely small, and even if the magnetic tape 3 runs at high speed, the magnetic tape 3 will not be damaged or the head will be worn out. Generally, a fixed drum 100 is provided below the rotating drum 1 as shown in FIG.
It slightly contacts the slant lead groove 200 of No. 0. This helps to reduce vibrations in the width direction of the magnetic tape 3, and has the advantage of stabilizing the contact between the head surface of the control signal head 10 and the magnetic surface of the magnetic tape 3. That is, it is possible to suppress vibrations in the width direction of the magnetic tape while it is running. In this state, the magnetic tape 3 runs at high speed from the supply reel 18 side to the take-up reel 19 side during fast forwarding, and in the opposite direction during rewinding, but in both cases, vibrations in the width direction of the magnetic tape 3 are suppressed. Control signal head 1
Since it is in stable contact with zero, it is possible to sufficiently detect the recording position identification signal recorded on the magnetic tape surface. Incidentally, during this fast forwarding and rewinding, the pinch roller 12 separates from the campus stan 13, and the magnetic tape 3 is driven to run by the respective reel disks 18 and 19. Fast forward again,
It is also possible to newly record an identification signal on the magnetic tape 3 during rewinding. Next, when attempting to remove the cassette 14, that is, when the cassette 14 is only loaded, the movable tape guides 2b, 2c, 2b', 2c', and 7 are in the unloading state shown by the solid line in FIG. Become.

In a device in which a portion of the magnetic tape 3 is partially loaded in a semi-loaded state, and the lower end of the tape is placed on a portion of the slant lead groove of the fixed drum to perform high-speed rewinding and fast forwarding, the control signal head 10 The recording position identification signal can be recorded and reproduced by one fixed head such as the one, and the movable tape guides 2b, 2c
In order to provide an intermediate stop, it is only necessary to make a simple improvement to the mechanism of the conventional tape running device, so that a search based on the identification signal on the magnetic tape can be realized with a simple configuration. Furthermore, it is conceivable that separate guide pins may be provided in place of the movable tape guides 2b' and 2c', although this would be slightly more complicated. Furthermore, since the magnetic tape 3 is in only slight contact with the control signal head 10, the rotating drum 1, and the stationary drum 100, there is very little risk of damage to the tape or wear of the head even when running at high speed.

In the parallel loading system of VTRs currently on the market, tape guides 2b, 2c and tape guides 2b', 2c' move simultaneously in parallel, resulting in the loading state shown in Fig. 1 or the unloading state shown in Fig. 2. There are many things that are configured to do so. It is easy to add the mechanism of the present invention as shown in FIG. 3 to an apparatus having such a configuration, and since the recorded recording position identification signal is recorded on the tape magnetic material, it is easy to add the mechanism of the present invention as shown in FIG. It is possible to search, and to code the recording position identification to record complex types of recording position identification signals.

In addition, in Fig. 3, it is possible to reduce the angle θ of contact with the slant lead groove provided on the fixed drum by increasing the distance between the drum position and the cassette reel position, or it is possible to increase θ by decreasing the distance. You can also choose.

It is also possible to provide other guide pins in place of the movable tape guides 2b' and 2c' and to use them as 2b' and 2c' in FIG.

Incidentally, although the above description has been made regarding the case of a parallel loading type VTR device, it goes without saying that the present invention can be widely used in other magnetic tape devices (eg, DAT, etc.) of this type. As explained above, according to the present invention, a recording position identification signal is recorded on a magnetic tape and detected using a device that has a simple configuration and does not cause damage to the magnetic tape or wear on the head. In addition, in the semi-loading state, the magnetic tape rests on a part of the slant lead groove of the stationary drum and is slightly in contact with the rotating drum, so it is possible to search for the recording position at high speed. Even if there is a problem, vibrations in the width direction of the magnetic tape can be reduced, allowing stable running of the magnetic tape.
Control signals and recording position identification signals on a magnetic tape can be detected quickly and with high precision.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a tape running path during recording and playback operations of a conventional VTR device, and a system diagram showing the tape running path during recording and playback operations of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. , FIG. 2 is a system diagram showing the tape running path during fast forwarding and rewinding operations of the conventional VTR device shown in FIG. A system diagram showing the route, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view explaining details of the slant lead groove of the fixed drum. In the figure, 1 is a rotating drum, 1a and 1b are video heads, 2a, 2b', 6, 11, 1
5, 16, 17 are fixed tape guides, 2
b, 2b', 2c, 2c', 7 are movable tape guides, 3 is a magnetic tape, 9 is an audio erasing head,
10 is an audio signal and control signal head. Note that the same reference numerals in each figure indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotating drum equipped with a magnetic head for recording and reproducing information on the magnetic tape, a control signal head for recording and reproducing control signals and recording position identification signals on the magnetic tape, and a movable tape guide mechanism during recording or reproducing operations. The magnetic tape is wound around the rotating drum at a predetermined angle and is loaded in a first position where it is brought into contact with the control signal head to be in a loading state, and during fast forwarding or rewinding. a tape guide mechanism mounted in a second position for placing the magnetic tape on a part of the slant lead groove of the fixed drum below the rotating drum and bringing it into contact with the control signal head; A magnetic tape device characterized by: