Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Shigetaro Iwatsu

Masahiro Ueno

Nobuyoshi Izawa

Masao Sakai

Kikuji Katou

A media library system capable of reducing a time and an average moving distance of the media carrying unit required for exchanging the recording media. The system includes a storehouse having a plurality of storage cells for storing a plurality of recording media, a media driving unit for executing data read/write operation with respect to the recording media, and a media carrying unit for carrying the recording media between the storehouse and the media driving unit, so as to exchange a previously used recording medium mounted on the media driving unit with a new recording medium stored in the storehouse. The media exchange operation of the media carrying unit is controlled such that the storage cells of the storehouse are divided into at least two groups arranged in an order of average distances with respect to the media driving unit, including a first group with a shortest average distance with respect to the media driving unit and a last group with a longest average distance, and at least one vacant cell not storing any recording medium is secured among the storage cells of the first group after the media exchange operation is completed.

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Saitama-ken, Japan

Shigetaro Iwatsu