TAPE RECORDER HEAD POSITION CONTROLLING DEVICE

Abstract: A head position controlling device adjusts the position of the head (16) so as to maintain a prescribed position relative to a multi-track magnetic tape (14). The device includes a moving mechanism (24), which moves the head (16) laterally across the magnetic tape (14), and two tracking circuits (34,36). During recording, a non-contacting tape position detec­ tor (30,32) detects continuously the tape edge and controls the moving mechanism (24) by means of tracking circuit (36). During play-back, a tracking error signal from the reproduc­ ing head (28) controls the head position by means of tracking circuit (34).

Description: The present invention relates to a head position controlling device for tape recorders, more particularly, to a head position controlling device for tape recorders which employ the PCM recording system. In recent years, the PCM recording system, replacing the conventional analog recording system, is being put into practical use for cassette tape recorders in order to realize recording and reproduction of high quality voice signals by securing a wide dynamic range without being affected by wow and flutter and by noise. The PCM recording system is a system which records voice signals on a magnetic tape by encoding the waveform according to whether there is a pulse or not, and reverts the codes pulses to the original voice signals at the time of reproduction. In the PCM recording system, in order to make it possible to record and reproduce voice signals in the audio range of frequencies (between about 20 Hz and about 20 kHz), it is necessary in general to process information content of the order of several mega bits per second. For processing this much information in a short time, there are proposed several methods of recording and reproduction. One of such methods is the multitrack recording and reproducing system. This is a system in which the recording head is constructed in a stacked form in the lateral direction of a magnetic tape in order to make it possible to form a plurality of parallel recorded tracks in the direction of the magnetic tape. The reproducing head is also constructed, analogous to the recording head, in a stacked form in the lateral direction of the magnetic tape in order to correspond to the plurality of recorded tracks that are formed by the recording head. In this system, recording is made by means of the recording head by recording the encoded voice signals on each of the tracks, and reproduction is made by means of the reproducing head by reproducing the encoded voice signals on each of the tracks. Because of the circumstances described above, the width of the recording track is extremely narrow, somewhere between several tens of µm and one hundred µm. Furthermore, in view of making the tape recorder small in size, making the units compatible in recording and reproduction, and the like, the recording head and the reproducing head are generally either of the type where the recording head serves also as the reproducing head or of the type where both heads are put into a single unit, the so-called combined head, moving in an interlocked manner. In a casette tape recorder with the PCM recording system, it is apt to produce a relative slip in position between the magnetic tape and the head, due to outside vibrations acting on the magnetic tape and the head or to the accuracy of the running mechanism of the magnetic tape, or the like. Accordingly, at the time of recording and reproduction, the magnetic tape runs meandering relative to the head. Thus a problem arises that the head runs off the recording tracks over which it should run under normal conditions and runs into the contiguous recording tracks, because the recording track has a very narrow width, as mentioned earlier, and the spacing between the neighboring recording tracks is less than the width of each track being of the order of several tens of µm. As one of the countermeasures against the above problem, there is known the servo tracking method. This is a method of forming a servo track at the time of recording and independent of the information tracks, and moving the head following the servo track at the time of reproduction in order to prevent the runnng-off of the head from the recorded tracks. However, in the servo tracking method described above, the meandering of the magnetic tape that arises during recording will be recorded as is on the recording tracks and the servo track, since there are recorded on the magnetic tape no tracks that can be used as guide during recording. Consequently, excessive load is placed on the tracking servo mechanism during reproduction, causing sometimes a run off of the head from the recorded tracks. Furthermore, when a tape, which has already been recorded and reproduced on a recorder and has been taken off subsequently from the recorder, is reset on a recorder for reproduction, the positioning error is at least several tens of µm so that it has been difficult to insure the reproducibility of the positioning accuracy of the corresponding positions between the magnetic tape and the head. In addition, as another countermeasure against the existing problem, there has been proposed a method for improving the reproducibility of the relative positioning relationship between the tape and the head. According to the method, there is provided on the cassette or the recorder itself a guiding member which serves to restrict the running range of the magnetic tape by making direct contact with the edge of the magnetic tape at the intake side of the tape into the head. However, in a method of this kind, the edge of the magnetic tape in recording is forcibly position controlled by the guiding member so as to run on the head by contacting it at a prescribed relative position, so that there is a danger of creating buckling on the tape during recording due to the load acting on the tape. When buckling is formed, the meandering of the recording tracks become substantial so that an excess burden is placed on the tracking servo mechanism of the head. Also, even under reproduction with the servo tracking device there occur such drawbacks as the reduction in the level of reproduced signals or even the impossiblility of reproduction. Even when there is formed no buckling during recording, the wear of the magnetic tape edges will increase under forced control on the running range of the magnetic tape in repeated reproductions such that either buckling is apt to be formed or slips in relative positions are introduced after use over extended period, leading to a reduction in the reliability of the signal reproduction. As a further improvement GB-A-2 008 290 discloses a recording and/or reproducing apparatus including two optical systems which are used to provide a control signal for the positioning means without contact with the tape. Two light-emitting elements of the two optical systems emit radiation beams to the both edges of the tape and a detection device determines the difference of the output signals of the two photodiodes corresponding to the difference of the edge position. The difference signal is applied to the drive means to correct the position of the head. Namely, in this apparatus, the position of the head is controlled in such a manner that a center line of the magnetic tape is kept in a center position between the two optical systems. Therefore, if the magnetic tape is changed to a magnetic tape with a different width, the distance between the lowest track on the tape and the edge of the tape is also changed, in this cited apparatus. EP-A-0 032 660 also discloses an automatic track following system. Namely, in this system, a pair of detecting heads are disposed in positions corresponding respectively to single heads at both ends of a multichannel head unit, symmetrically inclined with respect to the tape travelling direction. The center positions of these detecting heads are severally in alignment with the center positions of tracks of a magnetic tape. The phase difference between track playback signals reproduced respectively by these detecting heads is detected, and a tracking error is corrected in accordance with the phase difference. An object of the present invention is to provide a head position controlling device for tape recorders which allows to obtain recordings and reproductions of higher quality. Another object of the present invention is to provide a head position controlling device for tape recorders which allows to prevent the relative position slips between the magnetic tape and the head without placing any load on the magnetic tape. Other object of the present invention is to provide a head position controlling device for PCM tape recorders which allows to prevent the running-off of the head from the recording tracks. Other object of the present invention is to provide a head position controlling device for PCM tape recorders which allows to make straight line recordings for the servo tracks and the recording tracks. Other object of the present invention is to provide a compact head position controlling device which can also utilize a conventional servo tracking mechanism. Other object of the present invention is to provide a head position controlling device which makes it possible to extend the life of the tape. These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by the provision of a head position controlling device for controlling a position of a head by moving said head in a lateral direction of a magnetic tape so as to maintain a prescribed relationship between the positions of said magnetic tape and said head, comprising: means for moving said head in the lateral direction of said magnetic tape; means for detecting a positional variation of said magnetic tape relative to said head without making contact with said magnetic tape; and controlling means for controlling continuously during recording said head moving means to maintain the prescribed relative positional relationship between said magnetic tape and said head in response to the positional variations of the magnetic tape detected by said tape position detecting means, characterized in that said detecting means detects a positional variation of only one edge of said magnetic tape relative to said head, and said controlling means controls said head moving means so as to maintain constant the distance between a predetermined track on said magnetic tape and said edge of said magnetic tape. Embodiments of the invention will be more apparent from the following description, taken in conjuction with the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 is a simplified plan view of a head driving section of a head position controlling device embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view and a circuit diagram of a head driving section of a head position controlling device embodying the present invention; Fig. 3 is a perspective view and a circuit diagram of another embodiment of the head position controlling device according to the present invention; and Fig. 4 is a simplified construction diagram which illustrates another method of detecting the head position for the embodiment shown in Fig. 3. Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown a head driving section of a head position controlling device embodying the present invention with the reference numeral 10, wherein the head driving section 10 supports a head 16 which records and reproduces the voice signals on a magnetic tape 14 of a cassette 12. Referring to Fig. 2, the head driving section 10 includes a pair of parallel plane springs 20 which are installed to a head holding section 22 so as to arrange the head 16 between the parallel plane springs 20. The head holding section 22 is connected to a voice coil motor 24 which is arranged on a block 18, and is made movable in the lateral direction of the tape 14 with the voice coil motor 24 as the actuator. Namely, when the head holding section 22 moves, the parallel plane springs 20 bend, and at the same time, the head 16 is moved in the lateral direction of the tape 14. The head 16 comprises a recording head 26 and a reproducing head 28 which are arranged adjacent to the running path of the tape 14, each having a structure stacked along the lateral direction of the tape 14. In between these two heads 26, 28 there is formed a tape position detecting section which comprises a light receiving device 30 and a light source 32. The reproducing head 28 is connected to a tracking circuit 34 for reproduction which will cause the head 16 to track the tape 14 during reproduction. Further, the light receiving device 30 is connected to a tracking circuit 36 for recording which will cause the head 16 to move following the motion in the lateral direction of the tape 14 corresponding to the meandering motion of the tape 14, in order to maintain the same running position of the tape 14 relative to the head during recording. The outputs from both tracking circuits 34 and 36 are connected to the voice coil motor 24 via a circuit changing switch 38. The light receiving device 30 has a prescribed area for light reception, and outputs signals upon receipt of light from the light source 32. When the tape 14 is found at a prescribed position on the head 16, it is so arranged that the light receiving section will always be shielded by the tape for the prescribed amount of area along the lateral direction of the tape. Therefore, the output signal of the light receiving device 30 under these conditions has a constant level So. Accordingly, if the tape meanders while running by making contact with the head, the light receiving area of the light receiving devic 30 varies corresponding to the change in the position of the tape edge on the head 16 due to the meandering, with the result that the output signal of the light receiving device 30 varies in accordance with the position change in the tape edge corresponding to the meandering. The tracking circuit 36 for recording comprises an operational amplifier 40, a servo circuit 42, and an amplifier 44. One input terminal of the operational amplifier 40 is connected to the light receiving device 30 while the other input terminal is connected to a reference power terminal 46 which possesses the same level So as the level of signal output by the light receiving element 30 when the tape is found at a prescribed position relative to the head 16. Due to this arrangement, the output signals of the operational amplifier 40 correspond to the position variations of the tape (its edge) on the head 16. Based on the output of the operational amplifier 40, the servo circuit 42 generates controlling signals for maintaining all the time a prescribed positional relationship of the tape 14 relative to the head 16, which causes the head 16 to follow the lateral motion of the tape 14 by means of the operation of the voice coil motor 24, corresponding to the position variations of the tape 14 on the head 16. The amplifier 44 amplifies the controlling signals to the level necessary for driving the voice coil motor 24, and the resulting voice coil current is output to the voice coil motor 24 via the circuit changing switch 38. The tracking circuit 34 for reproduction comprises a track signal comparing circuit 50, a servo circuit 52, and an amplifier 54. The input terminal of the track signal comparing circuit 50 are connected to the reproducing head 28 which has the stacked structure, so as to be able to receive the reproduced signals from the two predetermined reproducing heads of the stacked structure. The two reproducing heads are arranged adjacent to, and so as to have a normally constant contact area with, the track for the tracking servo system which is formed by the recording heads 26 and is recorded with fixed signals. Hence, the reproduced signals from the two heads will be equal if both reproducing heads are in normal positions relative to the track for the tracking servo system. Therefore, the output signal of the track signal comparing circuit 50 corresponds to the deviation in the levels of the reproduced signals from the track for the tracking servo system, in other words, to the slip of the tape 14 relative to the position of the head 16 during the running of the tape for reproduction. The servo circuit 52 generates controlling signals based on the output signal of the track signal comparing circuit 50 to let the tape 14 maintain a prescribed relationship with respect to the position of the head 16, by operating the voice coil motor 24 in accordance with the position variations of the tape 14 on the head 16. This cause the head 16 to follow the lateral motion of the tape 14. The amplifier 54 amplifies the controlling signals to the level necessary to drive the voice coil motor 24, and outputs the resulting voice coil current to the voice coil motor 24 via the circuit changing switch 38. The operation of the present embodiment of the device will now be illustrated. First, the operation during recording will be explained. When recording starts by setting a blank cassette in the recorder (not shown in the figure), the head 16 makes contact with the tape 14 by means of the head set mechanism which is not shown in the figure, and the tape 14 starts to run by keeping contact with the head 16. At the same time, the tracking circuit 36 for recording starts to be driven, and the operation of the circuit changing switch 38 brings about an electrical connection between the amplifier 44 and the voice coil motor 24. Due to driving of the tracking circuit 36 for recording, the operational amplifier 40 outputs signal of the light receiving device 30, that is, signals corresponsing to the deviations in the position of the tape 14 from a prescribed position on the head 16. Therefore, the servo circuit 42 and the amplifier 44 output a voice coil current to the voice coil motor 24 so as to cancel the signal which corresponds to the deviation in the position. The voice coil motor 24 move the head holding section 22 in the lateral direction of the tape 14 in response to the voice coil current. Together with this motion, the head 16 is moved in the same direction while being held by the parallel plane springs 20. As a result, the relative positions between the head 16 and the tape 14 remains constant regardless of the meandering running of the tape, forming the recorded tracks on the tape 14 with little meandering. Next, the operation during reproduction will be described. When reproduction starts by setting a recorded cassette in the recorder, the head 16 is contact with the tape 14 by means of the head set mechanism, similar to the case of recording, and the tape starts to run by keeping contact with the head 16. At the same time, the tracking circuit 34 for reproduction starts to be driven, and the amplifier 54 and the voice coil motor 24 are connected electrically by the operation of the circuit changing switch 38. Due to the operation of the tracking circuit 34 for reproduction, the track signal comparing circuit 50 outputs signals corresponding to the differences in signals coming from the two prescribed reproducing heads for tracking servo system, that is, signals corresponding to the position deviations of the reproducing head 28 relative to the recorded tracks. Because of these signals, the servo circuit 52 and the amplifier 54 output voice coil currents, which cancel the signals that correspond to the above position deviations, to the voice coil motor 24 The voice coil motor 24 operates in response to the voice coil current and moves the head holding section 22 to the lateral direction of the tape 14. Because of this, the head 16 supported by the parallel plane springs 20 is moved in the same direction. As a result, even if the recorded tracks on the tape 14 have some fine meanderings, the reproducing head 28 follows the meanderings of the tracks so that the reproduction can be continued satisfactorily without apparent distortion. In Fig. 3 there is shown another embodiment of the head position controlling device according to the present invention. The special feature of the embodiment exists in the fact that it is so arranged as to have the displacement of the head, which is movable in the lateral direction of the tape, from the reference position for the head to remain always equal to the displacement of the tape from the reference position for the tape. The tape reference position is defined as the position of the tape on the head corresponding to the situation where the head is located at the reference position for the head. As shown in Fig. 3, this head position controlling device includes a head driving section 60, a head position detecting section 62, a tape position detecting section 64, and a head position controlling circuit 66. The head driving section 60 includes a pair of parallel plane springs 70 which are installed in a block 68. The parallel plate springs 70 hold a head holding section 74 which has a protrusion 72 which can move either as a single unit with or keeping a prescribed positional relationship with the parallel plate springs 70. The head holding section 74 is connected to a voice coil motor 76 which is installed in the block 68, and is movable in the lateral direction of the tape by the voice coil motor 76 as the actuator. Namely, when the motion of the head holding section 74 is transmitted to the parallel plane springs 70, the parallel plane springs 70 bend to let the head 80 to move in the lateral direction of the tape 78, as will be explained later. In between the parallel plane springs 70 there is arranged a head section 80. The head section 80 includes a head 84 which has a stacked construction in the lateral direction of the tape 78. The head 84 fulfils both of the recording and reproducing functions. The head position detecting section 62 comprises a light source 86 and a photoelectric conversion device 88 which are arranged as to sandwich the protrusion 72. The light source 86 and the photoelectric conversion device 88 are arranged in such a way as to have the rate of obstruction, of light passage from the light source 86 to the photoelectric conversion device by the protrusion 72 to be constant for a situation where the head 80 is found in a prescribed state, for example, when there is no bending in the parallel plane springs 70. Consequently, the output signal from the photoelectric conversion device 88 for such a sate will remain constant. However, when the protrusion 72 moves with the motion of the head holding section 74, the rate of obstruction of the light passage by the protrusion 72 varies, with the result that the output signal from the photoelectric conversion device 88 varies also. Namely, the variation in the output signal of the photo electric conversion device 88 corresponds to the distance over which the head section 80 moved in the lateral direction of the tape 78. The tape position detecting section 64 comprises a light source 90 and a photoelectric conversion device 92 which are arranged as they sandwich the tape 78. The light source 90 and the photoelectric conversion device 92 are arranged in such a way as to have the rate of obstruction of light passage from the light source 90 to the photoelectric conversion device 92 by the edge of the tape 78 remained constant for a prescribed state of the head section 80, for example, when there is no bending in the parallel plate springs 70. Therefore, the output signal from the photoelectric conversion device 92 is constant which set to be identical to the level of the output from the photoelectric conversion device 88 under such a condition. When the tape 78 meanders while running by making contact with the head section 80, the rate of obstruction of light passage by the edge of the tape 78 varies, resulting that the output signal from the photoelectric conversion device 92 varies also. The variation of the output signal corresponds to the distance over which the tape 78 moved in the lateral direction of the tape relative to the head section 80. The head position controlling circuit 66 controls to maintain for all times the prescribed relationship of the head 84 relative to the position of the tape 78, by causing the head 84 to move following the lateral motion of the tape 78 through operation of the voice coil motor 76 in response to the position variation of the tape 78 on the head 84. The controlling circuit 66 comprises of a head displacement calculating circuit 94, a tape displacement calculating circuit 96, a comparsion section 98, a servo circuit 100, and an amplifier 102. The head displacement calculating circuit 94 is connected to the photoelectric conversion device 88 of the head position detecting section 62, and calculates the displaced distance of the head section 80. The tape displacement calculating circuit 96 is connected to the photoelectric conversion device 92 of the tape position detecting section 64, and calculates the displaced distance of the tape 78. Both of the input terminals of the comparison section 98 are connected to the two calculating circuits 94 and 96 which calculate the difference between the displaced distance of the head 80 and the displaced distance of the tape 78, and outputs the result to the servo circuit 100. The servo circuit 100 calculates the controlling signal which cancels the difference in distances by moving the head section 80 in the lateral direction of the tape 78 through operation of the voice coil motor 76 corresponding to the difference in the distances. The amplifier 102 amplifies the controlling signal to the level necessary to drive the voice coil motor 76, and outputs the result to the voice coil motor 76. The operation of this embodiment will now be described. Upon start of running of tape 78 over the head 84 for recording, the head position detecting section 62, the tape position detecting section 64, and the head position controlling circuit 66 start to operate at the same time. When the tape 78 runs over the head 84 at a prescribed position, the output signals from the photoelectric conversion devices 88 and 92 for the head position detecting section 62 and the tape position detecting section 64, respectively, show identical levels. The output of the comparison section 98 of the head position controlling circuit 66 in this situation is zero, resulting that the servo circuit 100 and the amplifier 102 stay unactuated. On the other hand, if the tape 78 meanders during recording, the output signal of the photoelectric conversion device 92 of the tape position detecting section 64 varies in response to the meandering. Consequently, the output level of the comparison section 98 becomes nonvanishing. Upon receipt of the output signal from the comparison section 98, the servo circuit 100 and the amplifier 102 actuate the voice coil motor 76 to bring the output of the head position detecting section 62 to be on the same level as the output of the tape position selecting section 64, and eventually moves the head 84 in the lateral direction of the tape 78. By moving the head 84 in response to the meandering running of the tape 78, it becomes now possible to maintain a constant position of the tape 78 on the head 84 during recording. This forms recorded tracks on the tape 78 where there is little indication of meandering. It should be mentioned that, though in the present embodiment an optical detection system was employed for the head position detecting section 62, it is not limited to this type of system but some other system, such as the one employing a gap sensor 104 which detects the eddy current, as shown in Fig. 4, can also serve the same purpose. In summary, according to the present invention, the relative position between the magnetic tape and the head during recording is maintained by detecting the displacement of the edge of the running tape without forcibly controlling the tape edge, by employing a means for insuring the relative positioning between the head and the tape during reproduction, so that it is possible to form recorded tracks which show almost no indication of meanderings by absorbing the meandering of the tape due to manufacturing accuracy of the tape running mechanism. Consequently, during reproduction, it is possible to reduce the burden on the servo system to an extremely low level, since there is almost no indication of the meanderings in the servo track and the amount of servo required is only that for taking care of the manufacturing accuracy for the mechanism of running the tape.

Claims: A head position controlling device (10) for controlling a position of a head (16; 80) by moving said head in a lateral direction of a magnetic tape (14; 78) so as to maintain a prescribed relationship between the positions of said magnetic tape (14; 78) and said head (16; 80), comprising: means (20, 24; 70. 76) for moving said head (16; 80) in the lateral direction of said magnetic tape (14; 78) means (30, 32, 64) for detecting a positional variation of said magnetic tape (14; 78) relative to said head (16; 80) without making contact with said magnetic tape (14; 78); and controlling means (34, 36; 66) for controlling continuously during recording said head moving means (20, 24; 70, 76) to maintain the prescribed relative positional relationship between said magnetic tape (14; 78) and said head (16; 80) in response to the positional variations of the magnetic tape 114;78) detected by said tape position detecting means (30, 32; 64), characterized in that said detecting means detects a positional variation of only one edge of said magnetic tape relative to said head, and said controlling means controls said head moving means so as to maintain constant the distance between a predetermined track on said magnetic tape and said edge of said magnetic tape. A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said tape position detecting means comprises a set of light sources (32; 90) and light receiving devices (30; 92) which are arranged so as to detect the positional variations of the magnetic tape (14; 78). A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said head moving means comprises a holding member (20, 22; 70) which holds the head (16; 80) to be movable in the lateral direction of the magnetic tape (14; 78), and an actuator (24; 76) which is installed relative to said head in the running direction of said magnetic tape and adapted to move said head in the lateral direction of said magnetic tape by acting on said holding member in the lateral direction of said magnetic tape. A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that said holding member comprises a pair of plane springs (20; 70) arranged parallel and opposing each other in the lateral direction of said magnetic tape. A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that said actuator comprises a voice coil motor (24; 76). A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 2, in which the light source (32; 90) and the light receiving device (30; 92) detect the positional variations of the magnetic tape (14; 78) as the positional variations of the edge of said magnetic tape. A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said controlling means comprises a servo tracking circuit which comprises a tracking circuit (36) for recording which controls said head moving means in such a manner as to cause the head (16) to follow in the lateral direction of the magnetic tape (14) in response to the meandering running of said magnetic tape in order to maintain the running position of said magnetic tape on said head during recording to be prescribed; and a tracking circuit (34) for reproduction which controls said head moving means in such a manner as to cause the head (16) to track the magnetic tape (14) during reproduction. A head position controlling device as claimed in claim 7, in which the tracking circuit (34) for reproduction comprises a track signal comparing circuit (50), a servo circuit (52), and an amplifier (54), and in which the tracking circuit (36) for recording comprises an operational amplifier (40), a servo circuit (42), and an amplifier (44).

Inventors: NUKADA, HIDEKI, TAKAHASHI, ATSUSHI
Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Application year: 1984
Main classification: G11B5
IPC codes: G11B5