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US 5,280,517 AGranted
Storage apparatus which controls the usage of a storage medium
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKoichi Matsumoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A storage apparatus capable of storing information in accordance with the history of use of the storage medium employed therewith. Control is performed in accordance with the history of reproduction from the storage medium and with the number of times storage operations have been performed on the storage medium. New storage operations are arranged to avoid those portions of the storage medium which have been used frequently. The apparatus may be used in conjunction with a telephone answering machine.
Claims35
A storage apparatus comprising:
- storage and reproduction means for storing information on a storage medium and for reproducing the information from the storage medium;
- holding means for holding data continuously updated when reproducing information by said storage and reproduction means;
- and
- control means for controlling which region on the storage medium the information is to be stored by said storage and reproduction means in accordance with the continuously updated data held by said holding means,
- wherein the continuously updated data held by said holding means includes the number of times reproduction has been performed by said storage and reproduction means at each of a plurality of regions of the storage medium.
2 more elements
A storage apparatus comprising:
- storage means for storing information on a storage medium;
- holding means for holiday continuously updated data indicating the number of times storage has been performed by said storage means respectively at each of a plurality of regions of the storage medium independent of other regions of the storage medium;
- and
- control means for controlling which region on the storage medium information is to be stored by said storage means in accordance with the continuously updated data held by said holding means.
1 more element
An answering machine comprising:
- recording and reproduction means for recording a message from a calling-out party on a storage medium and for reproducing the message from the storage medium;
- holding means for holding data continuously updated when reproducing a message from the storage medium indicating from which region on the storage medium a message has been reproduced by said recording and reproduction means;
- and
- restraining means for restraining the recording of a message in a region on the storage medium from which reproducing by said recording and reproduction means has not been performed, in accordance with the data held by said holding means,
- wherein said restraining means restrains recording by said recording and reproduction means on the storage medium while information is being recorded, when said recording and reproduction means reaches the region on the storage medium from which reproduction has not been performed.
2 more elements
A reproduction apparatus comprising:
- reproduction means for reproducing information from a storage medium;
- memory means for storing data continuously updated when reproducing information from the storage medium indicating from which region of the storage medium reproduction has been completed by said reproduction means;
- and
- control means for controlling said reproduction means to start reproduction from a region on the storage medium from which reproduction has not been completed by said reproduction means, in accordance with the data stored by said memory means.
1 more element
A reproduction apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the data stored in said memory means is updated in accordance with reproduction performed by said reproduction means.
A reproduction apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said reproduction means reproduces information from a magnetic tape as the storage medium.
A storage apparatus comprising:
- recording and reproduction means for recording information on a storage medium and for reproducing the information from the storage medium;
- holding means for holding data continuously updated when reproducing information from the storage medium indicating from which region on the storage medium information has been reproduced by said recording and reproduction means;
- and
- restraining means for referring to said holding means while information is recorded by said recording and reproduction means and for restraining the recording of information in a region on the storage medium from which reproduction has not been performed by said recording and reproduction means,
- wherein said restraining means restrains recording by said recording and reproduction means on the storage medium while information is being recorded, when said recording and reproduction means reaches the region on the storage medium from which reproduction has not been performed.
2 more elements
A storage apparatus comprising:
- writing/reading means for selectively writing and reading information into a plurality of exchangeable storage mediums;
- memory means for storing continuously updated data indicating which portions of each of the plurality of exchangeable storage mediums information has been written into or read from;
- and
- control means for controlling which portions of each of the plurality of exchangeable storage mediums information is written into by said writing/reading means in accordance with the continuously updated data stored in said memory means relating to the selected exchangeable storage medium.
1 more element
A reproduction apparatus comprising:
- a reproduction head for reproducing information from a storage medium;
- memory means for storing data continuously updated when reproducing information from the storage medium indicating from which region of the storage medium reproduction has been completed by said reproduction head;
- and
- control means for controlling said reproduction head to start reproduction from a region on the storage medium from which reproduction has not been completed by said reproduction head, in accordance with the continuously updated data stored by said memory means.
1 more element
A storage apparatus comprising:
- storage and reproduction means for storing information on a storage medium and for reproducing the information from the storage medium;
- holding means for holding data continuously updated when reproducing information by said storage and reproduction means;
- and
- control means for controlling which regions on the storage medium the information is to be stored by said storage and reproduction means in accordance with the continuously updated data held by said holding means,
- wherein the continuously updated data held by said holding means includes the number of times reproduction has been performed by said storage and reproduction means respectively at each of a plurality of regions of the storage medium independent of other regions of the storage medium.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.