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Claims  |
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What is claimed is:
1. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; a timer for measuring time from the instant that said
detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf; rent registering means for registering rent information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which said cassette is pulled out, in
response to a rent key operation which has been done before the time measures a predetermined allowance time; status pending registering means for registering status pending information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the
number of the shelf from which said cassette has been pulled out, in response to the end of the allowance time measured by said time.
2. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables
respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main
body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller
when said cassette is set in said shelf; rent registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the shelf number
of the cassette pulled-out shelf; commodity information reading means for reading out, after said detector detects the cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; return
registering means for registering the return information into the rent information area of the table, which stores the read out commodity information; and arrears registering means for registering the arrears information into said rent information area,
when the rent term from said rent registration to said return registration exceeds a specified rent term.
3. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables
respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main
body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller
when said cassette is set in said shelf; rent registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information including rent time into the rent information area of the table corresponding
to the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out; commodity information reading means for reading out, in response to the detection by the detector of cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted
cassette via said signal transfer means; and retraction registering means for retracting the rent information of the table storing the read out commodity information, if the time elapsed from the rent time when the read out commodity information is
stored into the rent information area of said table until the insertion time of the cassette, is shorter than a predetermined during of said allowance time.
4. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables
respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; rent
registering means for registering, in response to a rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf
number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and rent slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip.
5. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables
respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; rent
registering means for registering, in response to the rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf
number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and rent slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip; single discounting means for registering, in response to a discount key operation performed before a rent key is
operated, discount information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which the article has been pulled out just before the discount key is operated, and whole discounting means for registering, in
response to the discount key operation after said rent key is operated, discount information into the respective rent information areas of the tables associated with the shelf numbers of all the shelves from which the cassettes have been pulled out
before the rent key is operated.
6. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables
respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main
body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller
when said cassette is set in said shelf; commodity information reading means for reading out, when said detector detects the insertion of the article into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted article via said signal transfer means;
working selector means having a registering work mode for registering commodity information into said rent control memory; commodity information registering means for storing said read out commodity information into the commodity information area of the
corresponding table provided in the rent control memory, when the registering work mode is set in the working selector means.
7. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the insertion of the cassette into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of
tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;
main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory; working selector means having delete work mode for deleting the commodity information stored in said rent control memory; rent information printing means
for printing the rent information stored in the table associated with the number of shelf from which said article has been pulled out when the delete work mode is set in the working selector means, when said detector detects the pull-out of said cassette
from the shelf; commodity information delete means for clearing the rent information and commodity information in the table with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out.
8. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables
respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of at least a commodity information area for storing commodity information and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main body controller for performing the read and
write of information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf
number clear means for clearing, when it is detected that said cassette is pulled from the shelf, the shelf number stored in the shelf number area of the table associated with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out;
commodity information reading means for reading out, when the detector detects the insertion of the cassette into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; table search means for searching for the
commodity information areas of said tables by using the read out commodity information; and shelf number setting means for storing the number of the shelf into which said cassette has been inserted, into the shelf number area searched by said table
search means.
9. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of shelf means constitute rack means having each a pair of upper and lower members arranged in parallel whose surfaces facing each other have first and second guide grooves
along which cassettes are slidably guided; at least one stopper which limits the insertion of cassette when it is inserted along said guide grooves; means for preventing the cassette from slipping off the guide grooves, said means being a stepped
portion formed upwardly at the entrance portion for cassette insertion of said second guide groove; and means for detecting that the cassette reaches said at least one stopper.
10. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main body controller for performing the read and write of
information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf; rent
registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; commodity
information reading means for reading out, after said detector detects the cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; return registering means for registering the return
information into the rent information area of the table, which stores the read out commodity information; and arrears registering means for registering the arrears information into said rent information area, when the rent term from said rent
registration to said return registration exceeds a specified rent term.
11. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main body controller for performing the read and write of
information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf; rent
registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information including rent time into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which said
article has been pulled out; commodity information reading means for reading out, in response to the detection by the detector of cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; and
retraction registering means for retracting the rent information of the table storing the read out commodity information, if the time elapsed from the rent time when the read out commodity information is stored into the rent information area of said
table until the insertion time of the cassette, is shorter than a predetermined retractable allowance time.
12. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; rent registering means for registering, in response to a
rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and rent slip
issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip.
13. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; rent registering means for registering, in response to
the rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and rent
slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip; single discounting means for registering, in response to a discount key operation performed before a rent key is operated, discount information into the rent information
area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which the article has been pulled out just before the discount key is operated, and whole discounting means for registering, in response to the discount key operation after said rent key is
operated, discount information into the respective rent information areas of the tables associated with the shelf number of all the shelves from which the cassettes have been pulled out before the rent key is operated.
14. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main body controller for performing the read and write of
information for the rent control memory; signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf; commodity
information reading means for reading out, when said detector detects the insertion of the article into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted article via said signal transfer means; working selector means having a registering work mode
for registering commodity information into said rent control memory; commodity information registering means for storing said read out commodity information into the commodity information area of the corresponding table provided in the rent control
memory, when the registering work mode is set in the working selector means.
15. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the insertion of the cassette into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes,
said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main body controller for performing the read and
write of information for the rent control memory; working selector means having delete work mode for deleting the commodity information stored in said rent control memory; rent information printing means for printing the rent information stored in the
table associated with the number of shelf from which said article has been pulled out when the delete work mode is set in the working selector means, when said detector detect the pull-out of said cassette from the shelf; commodity information delete
means for clearing the rent information and commodity information in the table with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out.
16. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf; a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said
tables each consisting of at least a commodity information area for storing commodity information and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number; main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;
signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf; shelf number clear means for clearing, when it is
detected that said cassette is pulled from the shelf, the shelf number stored in the shelf number area of the table associated with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out; commodity information reading means for reading out,
when the detector detects the insertion of the cassette into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; table search means for searching for the commodity information areas of said tables by using the
read out commodity information; and shelf number setting means for storing the number of the shelf into which said cassette has been inserted, into the shelf number area searched by said table search means.
17. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:
a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity
information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;
a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and
control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store
signals from said plurality of signal input means;
wherein said plurality of shelf means constitute rack means having each a pair of upper and lower members arranged in parallel whose surfaces facing each other have first and second guide grooves along which cassettes are slidably guided; at
least one stopper which limits the insertion of cassette when it is inserted along said guide grooves; means for preventing the cassette from slipping off the guide grooves, said means being a stepped portion formed upwardly at the entrance portion for
cassette insertion of said second guide groove; and means for detecting that the cassette reaches said at least one stopper. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a cassette and cassette-rent control system, for example, utilizing the states of cassettes, such as the rent and return of cassettes, and more particularly to a rent control system for controlling the rent and return of
cassettes, each containing an article such as an information-recorded medium and an IC circuit storing the commodity information concerning the article.
In rental shops for renting video tapes and video discs to the public, a clerk records, on a notebook or a rental slip, various necessary information, such as the name or the code of a rental article, the address and the name of a customer, and
the rental date before renting articles, such as video tapes. When receiving the returned rental article, the clerk erases the rental records. Such recording work of rental information by the clerk reduces the efficiency of his rental work. Further,
mistaken operations are inherent to such recording work, since it is performed manually. For example, he or she may fail to erase the recorded information when receiving the returned rental article.
Software rental companies for renting rental articles to the public must pay to the software suppliers, such as recording, TV and motion picture companies, a royalty which is calculated depending on the number of rentings. Therefore, the rental
company must accurately control the renting work, at least the number of articles rented. Thus, if the conventional rent control is performed by manual work, it is almost impossible to accurately and quickly control the rental articles.
To cope with this, there is proposed a software rent control system. In this system, a bar code representing an article code is attached to each cassette tape. Membership cards are issued to customers, bearing the numbers assigned to them. In
renting an article to a customer, the clerk reads out the bar code of the article by a bar-code reader, and stores into a memory device the bar codes together with the the customer's number.
However, this rent control system still involves problems in the rent control work. In the rent control system, the article code of cassette, which is being rented, have been stored in the memory device. To see how many times the cassette has
been rented, it is sufficient to read and print out the contents stored in the memory. In this case, the clerk must read the bar codes of the cassettes every time they are rented or returned.
Additionally, the memory device does not contain such data indicating whether or not the unrented cassettes have been set in the shelf. Therefore, in checking inventories at the end of month or at the end of day work, the clerk must carefully
check and itemize the stocked cassettes. This work is time consuming, and the results of the work are inevitably accompanied by inexactness.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a new and improved cassette and rent control system thereof, which can exactly and easily control the rent and return of cassettes.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided an information recording cassette comprising cassette means accommodating an article, IC circuit means provided in the cassette means, for storing commodity information concerning the
article, and signal output means provided in the cassette means, for transferring the commodity information stored in the IC circuit means to outside.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes. This system comprises a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each containing an article, and being
provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning the article, and signal output means for transferring the commodity information stored in the IC circuit means to outside, a plurality of shelf means for respectively
accommodating a plurality of the cassettes to be controlled, and control means provided in connection with the plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from the signal output means of the cassettes, and
memory means being coupled with the control means so as to store signals from the plurality of signal input means.
In the cassette thus arranged, if a cassette holder shelf is provided with terminals, which are electrically connectable by signal output units to the IC circuits of the cassettes, the article data stored in the IC circuits provided in the
cassettes can be read out by an external controller. Therefore, the rent and return of cassettes can be controlled exactly and easily.
In the rent control system, the IC circuit for storing the article such as the tapes of cassettes is incorporated in the cassette. Therefore, the article information stored in the IC circuits can be read out at any time, while the cassettes are
left on the cassette holder shelf. If a cassette is pulled out from the shelf, the rental information of the pulled out cassette is automatically stored into the rental control memory. When the cassette is returned and set on the shelf, the cassette
return information is automatically stored into the rental control memory. Thus, when the cassettes are pulled out of, and put on, the shelf, the rent and return data are automatically stored into the memory device. Therefore, the easy and exact
rent/return control of cassettes is realized.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other objects and features of this invention can be understood through the following embodiments by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a partial cross sectional view of a cassette being set in the shelf;
FIG. 2 shows a perspective view illustrating an overall rent control system;
FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a part of the rent control system of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a cassette;
FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an IC circuit assembled into the cassette;
FIG. 6 is a view showing commodity information stored in a memory in the IC circuit
FIG. 7 shows a layout on the operation panel of the rent control system according to this invention;
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the main body controller used in the rent control system according to this invention;
FIG. 9 is a view showing contents of a rent control memory of the main body controller;
FIG. 10 shows a flowchart illustrating a flow of operation of the rent control system;
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a sixth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a seventh embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing an eight embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a ninth embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Some specific embodiments of this invention will be described referring to the accompanying drawings.
Referring first to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a rent control system using a cassette control system, which is a first embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, the rent control system is installed in a video rental shop for renting
video tapes, or the like, to the public. In the figure, reference numeral 21 designates a rack with a number of shelves 22 on the front. Main body controller 23 is installed adjacent to rack 21, operation panel 25 covers the front of main body
controller 23.
Each shelf 22 mounted to rack 21 includes a plurality of ledges 22a arranged on the front of rack 21, horizontally and in parallel, as shown in FIG. 3. A pair of guide grooves 22b and 22c are respectively formed on the upper and lower surfaces
of each ledge 22a. The lower guide groove 22b has stepped portion 22d for preventing the cassette from slipping off. Stepped portion 22d rises at the front of the lower guide groove 22b. In use, a cassette 24 of the video tape shown in FIG. 4 is set
between opposing guide grooves 22b and 22c, in the longitudinal direction (arrow direction). When cassette 24 is fully inserted along guide grooves 22b and 22c, the whole of cassette 24 passes stepped portion 22d and is placed in the horizontal section
of guide 22b. To pull out the cassette, the end of cassette 24 closer to stepped portion 22d is slightly raised, and pulled to your side.
FIG. 1 shows in cross sectional form cassette 24 which is left inserted into shelf 22, and placed in the prescribed position. A pair of reels 24b and 24c are disposed in cassette case 24a shaped like a parallelepiped. Tape 24d is wound around
reels 24b and 24c. Window 26 is formed in the corner enclosure 24e of cassette case 24a, through which an optical communication is allowed. In corner enclosure 24e, IC circuit 27 is disposed facing window 26. Printed circuit (PC) board 27e supporting
IC circuit 27 is attached to the inner surface of cassette case 24a. Disposed on PC board 27e are light emitting element 28a and photodetector element 28b, which constitute a signal output unit. Through holes are formed in PC board 27e at the location
thereof, facing the light emitting surface and the light receiving surface of those elements. Battery 29 is provided adjacent to PC board 27e. These electronic parts are located within the corner enclosure 24e of cassette case 24a, thus not hindering
the running of the tape.
As shown in FIG. 1, when cassette 24 is inserted into shelf 22 until it is placed at the regular position, light emitting element 47a and photodetector element 47b are provided in the upper groove 22c and face the window 26 of cassette frame 24a. Microswitch 45 is mounted on the wall 22e of the shelf 22. When cassette 24 is inserted into shelf 22 up to the prescribed position, microswitch 45 is closed.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating IC circuit 27. Central processing unit (CPU) 27a is connected by bus line 27b to read o | | |
