JPH087591Y2 - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a tape cassette for a video tape recorder, for example.

[Prior art and its problems]

For example, a tape cassette for a video tape recorder has a housing having an upper half 1, a lower half 2 and a tape protecting part as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. The guard panel 3 of FIG.

And the upper half 1 has a built-in reel hub 4,5
The transparent windows 7 and 8 made of a material formed of, for example, a transparent AS resin or the like are formed so that the amount of winding of the magnetic tape 6 wound around can be confirmed from the outside.

Further, the lower half 2 is provided with a hole 9 into which a light emitting element of the tape cassette is inserted when the tape cassette is mounted on a recording and / or reproducing device, and further, both front side wall portions 2a of the tape cassette are provided. , 2'a, the light emitted from the light emitting element advances to reach the light receiving element of the recording and / or reproducing apparatus,
The holes 10 and 11 which are translucent windows are provided so that this light can be detected by the light receiving element. That is, in this tape cassette, when the tape cassette is mounted in the recording / reproducing apparatus, the light emitting element of the recording / reproducing apparatus has a hole 9 in the tape cassette.
Light from the light emitting element located inside the hole 9 passes through the cutout window of the hole 9 and is transmitted through the transparent tape portion at the end of the magnetic tape, and the transmitted light is in front of the tape cassette. When the light passes through the holes 10 and 11 of the side wall portions 2a and 2'a, that is, when the light travels as shown by the arrow of the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 4, the light is detected by the light receiving element of the recording / reproducing apparatus, It is configured to detect that the tape has reached the end and stop the tape running.

Therefore, if there is an error in the detection of light by the light receiving element, for example, if the light receiving element detects light during recording and reproduction,
Even if the recording / reproduction is continued, the tape running is stopped and the recording / reproduction cannot be performed.

That is, the light detected by the light-receiving element is only the light emitted from the light-emitting element that passes through the transparent tape portion at the end of the magnetic tape and is incident (in the optical path indicated by the one-dot chain line arrow in FIG. 4). If, for example, the entire tape cassette is formed of a color having a high light transmittance and a high light reflectance, the natural light incident through the upper surface (including the transparent window portions 7 and 8) and the side surface of the upper half 1 is incident. The incident light due to external light such as, or the like, is also transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 of the tape cassette, and this transmitted light is reflected by the bottom surface of the lower half 2, and this reflected light is incident on the side surface, and this incident light is The one that is transmitted through the side surface, the light that is transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 of the tape cassette passes through the holes 10 and 11, and is transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 of the tape cassette, and this transmitted light is Reflected on the bottom of the lower half 2 And the reflected light hole 1
Some of them may pass through 0 and 11, so that the tape edge detection mechanism may malfunction due to light incident from the outside even if it does not reach the end of the magnetic tape, causing the tape running to stop unexpectedly. is there.

Therefore, in the conventional tape cassette, in order to prevent such a defect from occurring, that is, light is transmitted as much as possible from the upper half 1, the lower half 2 and the guard panel 3 and the light is not incident inside. In order to do so, the housing of these tape cassettes is made of black.

However, with the spread of video equipment, recently, it has become unsatisfactory only with black tape cassettes, and it has been attempted to color-code the tape cassettes according to the information content recorded on the tape cassettes. Since it may cause malfunction of the edge detection mechanism, the tape cassette should be red, blue,
It has been practically problematic to produce green and other desired colorful colors.

[Means for solving problems]

The present inventor has conducted research on the light that reaches the light receiving element through the tape cassette from the outside to the inside.
For example, even if only the lower half side is black, even if the upper half side is not black, that is, even if the upper half side is formed of red, blue, green, or other colorful colors,
It was clarified that the tape edge detection mechanism consisting of the light emitting element and the light receiving element hardly malfunctions.

The present invention has been made based on this point, and when a tape cassette constructed by assembling an upper half and a lower half is installed in a recording or reproducing device, the device is placed in the tape cassette from the lower half side. The light of the light emitting element of the device which has the light emitting element inserted therein and which hardly transmits the light of the tape cassette and which does not have the recording medium layer is transmitted through the light transmitting window provided in the lower half. In the tape cassette having the optical path of the light so that the light receiving element of the device located outside the tape cassette can detect the end of the tape, the entire lower half of the tape cassette can be used for the light transmittance and the light. The tape cassette is formed of a single color having a low reflectance, and the upper half of the tape cassette is formed of a color different from the above-mentioned light transmittance and light reflectance. There is provided a tape cassette according to symptoms.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a part of one embodiment of the tape cassette according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a portion of the tape cassette shown in FIG. FIG. 4B is a sectional view of a portion of the tape cassette shown in FIG. 4 in the vicinity where the hole 11 is formed.

In the figure, the same reference numerals as those given in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 indicate the same configurations, that is, in this embodiment, the lower half 2 is made of a plastic material in which a black material is blended as in the conventional case. It is characterized in that the upper half 1 is molded by using a plastic material mixed with a color other than black, for example, a red material, and other configurations are substantially the same as those of the conventional tape cassette.

In the figure, 12 and 13 are holes formed by the ribs 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the upper half 1 and the lower half 2, respectively, and the light from the light emitting element located in the hole 9 forms the hole 11. It is provided in a path that passes through to the light receiving element so that the light from the light emitting element is not blocked by the ribs 14, 15, 16, 17 before reaching the light receiving element.

When the tape cassette is configured as described above, when the tape cassette is mounted on the recording / reproducing device,
The light incident on the light receiving element of the recording / reproducing apparatus is other than the light from the light emitting element of the recording / reproducing apparatus located in the hole 9 of the tape cassette (shown by the solid arrow A in FIGS. 1A and 1B). Is a small amount of light that is transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 and through the hole 11 (indicated by the solid arrows a and b in FIGS. 1A and 1B), or the upper surface and side surfaces of the upper half 1. Is only a slight amount of light (shown by a solid arrow c in FIG. 1 (a)), and accordingly, light which is transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 and the side surface of the lower half 2 (see FIG. b) indicated by a dotted arrow d),
The light transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 is reflected by the bottom surface of the lower half 2 and is incident on the side surface, and the incident light is transmitted through the side surface and incident (FIG. 1 (a), ( b) light that is transmitted through the upper surface of the upper half 1 and is reflected by the bottom surface of the lower half 2, and the reflected light passes through the holes 10 and 11 and is incident. The lower half 2 is shown in Fig. 1 (a) and (b) by the middle dotted arrows g and h.
Is black and is not absorbed, and most of the light reaching the light receiving element passes through the transparent tape part of the magnetic tape from the light emitting element. Therefore, the upper half 1 of the tape cassette is lit like red light. Even if the color has a high transmittance and a high light reflectance, the tape end detecting mechanism of the recording / reproducing apparatus hardly malfunctions.

Incidentally, the upper half 1 is red, the lower half 2 is black, the tape cassette of the above embodiment, the upper half 1 and the lower half 2 are red, and the upper half 1 and the lower half 2 are black. As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional tape cassette is mounted on the recording / reproducing device 20, and a certain natural light is applied to the tape cassette from the upper half of the upper half of the tape cassette. When the amount of light detected is measured, it is 60 mV in the case of the tape cassette which is formed entirely in red, whereas it is 50 mV in the case of the tape cassette of the above-mentioned example, and in the case of the conventional black tape cassette. Was 40 mV.

In the above embodiment, the hole 11 is provided on the lower half 2 side, but the hole 10 is half the same shape as the conventional tape cassette provided on the upper half 1 side. As described above, if the hole 10 is provided on the lower half side like the hole 11, the upper half 1 is a color other than black, that is, the upper half 1 is the light reflectance and the light transmittance. Even if the color is high, the tape end detection mechanism does not malfunction more.

Further, if a light guide tube or the like is provided in the holes 10 and 11 so that light other than light from the light emitting element arranged in the hole 9 does not reach, the tape end detection is further improved. The mechanism will not malfunction.

〔effect〕

In the tape cassette according to the present invention, when a tape cassette constructed by assembling an upper half and a lower half is installed in a recording or reproducing device, a light emitting element of the device is inserted into the tape cassette from the lower half side, The light of the light-emitting element of the device that has transmitted through the tape portion where the recording medium layer that does not substantially transmit the light of the tape cassette is provided is located outside the tape cassette through the light-transmissive window provided in the lower half. In the tape cassette having the optical path of the light so that the light receiving element of the device can detect the tape end, the entire lower half of the tape cassette is a single color having low light transmittance and light reflectance. In the above, since the upper half of the tape cassette is formed in a color different from the color and having a higher light transmittance and light reflectance, as described above, Since external light such as natural light other than the light from the optical element is hardly incident on the light receiving element, the tape end detection mechanism of the recording / reproducing apparatus does not malfunction and the upper half of the tape cassette is accordingly colorful. It is possible to form the tape cassette in various colors, so that the user can use the tape cassette of a colorful color according to his or her preference, that is, the tape cassette can be color-coded according to the recorded information content, and accordingly, The tape cassette can be arranged very smoothly, and the tape cassette can be easily selected for recording / reproduction. In addition, the lower half of the present invention has a simple structure of a single color. It has features such as almost none.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (a) and 1 (b) are partial cross-sectional views of a tape cassette according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view for measuring whether or not the tape end detection mechanism operates normally. FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are explanatory views of a conventional tape cassette. 1 …… Upper half, 2 …… Lower half, 10,11 …… Hole (transparent window).

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. When a tape cassette constructed by assembling an upper half and a lower half is installed in a recording or reproducing apparatus, a light emitting element of the apparatus is inserted into the tape cassette from the lower half side, The device, which is located outside the tape cassette, transmits the light of the light-emitting element of the device, which has passed through the tape portion not provided with the recording medium layer that hardly transmits light, through the transparent window provided in the lower half. In order to be able to detect the tape end by detecting with the light receiving element of, the entire lower half of the tape cassette is formed of a single color having low light transmittance and light reflectance in the tape cassette having the optical path portion of the light. A tape cassette, wherein the upper half of the tape cassette is formed with a color different from the color and having a higher light transmittance and light reflectance.