Arrangement and processing of longitudinal position information on a data storage medium

1. A decoder apparatus to decode longitudinal position (LPOS) information from servo elements arranged in a longitudinally extending sequence in servo bursts on a data storage medium, at least some of the servo bursts including non-shifted elements and an unbroken sequence of plural shifted elements, variations in the relative displacement of the non-shifted and shifted elements within a servo burst encoding the LPOS information, the decoder apparatus comprising:

a detector to receive signals from a transducer head apparatus that detects the servo elements as they move past the transducer head apparatus;

a processor to:

process information produced from the signals to obtain data related to relative displacement of mutually adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within respective ones of the servo bursts, and data related to relative displacement of mutually non-adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within the respective ones of the servo bursts; and

process the data to determine LPOS bit values corresponding to respective ones of the servo bursts.

2. The decoder apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to further, for the unbroken sequence of plural shifted elements, to process the signals to obtain data related to the relative displacement of each shifted element in the unbroken sequence and the non-shifted element immediately preceding the unbroken sequence, and between each shifted element in the unbroken sequence and the non-shifted element immediately following the unbroken sequence, and process the data to determine LPOS bit values corresponding to the respective ones of the servo bursts.

3. The decoder apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:

process the information produced from the received signals to generate time values related to the relative displacement of mutually adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within the respective ones of the servo bursts, and to generate time values related to the relative displacement of mutually non-adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within the respective ones of the servo bursts; and

process the time values to determine LPOS bit values corresponding to respective ones of the servo bursts.

4. The decoder apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detector includes a pulse detector to detect pulses in read back waveforms generated from the servo elements, the decoder apparatus further comprising:

a timestamp pre-processor to generate respective timestamps corresponding to the pulses and store the timestamps in a register, and

wherein the processor includes a timestamp processor to process the stored timestamps to generate time difference values related to the relative displacement of shifted and non-shifted elements, accumulate a plurality of the time difference values for respective ones of the servo bursts, and compare the results of each accumulation with a reference value to determine respective LPOS bit values for the servo bursts.

5. A data storage apparatus comprising a transducer head apparatus ( 131 ), a drive apparatus to cause movement of a data storage medium relative to the transducer head apparatus, and a servo controller comprising the decoder apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the servo elements comprise azimuthally inclined stripes, and the servo controller is configured to process a plurality of the LPOS bit values to construct an LPOS word, and to use the LPOS word and lateral position information determined from the servo elements to control longitudinal movement of the storage medium and lateral movement of the transducer head apparatus.

6. A linear tape drive comprising the data storage apparatus as claimed in claim 5 .

7. A method of decoding longitudinal position information from servo elements arranged in a longitudinally extending sequence in servo bursts on a data storage medium, at least some of the servo bursts including non-shifted elements and an unbroken sequence of plural shifted elements, variations in the relative displacement of the non-shifted and shifted elements within a servo burst encoding the LPOS information, the method comprising:

receiving signals from a transducer head apparatus that detects the servo elements as they move past the transducer head apparatus;

processing the signals to obtain data related to relative displacement of mutually adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within respective ones of the servo bursts, and data related to relative displacement of mutually non-adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within the respective ones of the servo bursts; and

processing the data to determine an LPOS bit value.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: outputting the LPOS bit value,

using a plurality of outputted LPOS bit values to construct an LPOS word, and

using the LPOS word to control a position of the data storage medium relative to a transducer head of a storage device.

9. The method of claim 7 , comprising, for the unbroken sequence of plural shifted elements within a burst, processing the signals to obtain data related to the relative displacement of each shifted element in the unbroken sequence and the non-shifted element immediately preceding the unbroken sequence, and between each shifted element in the unbroken sequence and the non-shifted element immediately following the unbroken sequence, and processing the data to determine LPOS bit values corresponding to the respective ones of the servo bursts.

10. A data storage apparatus comprising:

a servo controller comprising a decoder apparatus to decode longitudinal position (LPOS) information from servo elements arranged in a longitudinally extending sequence in servo bursts on a data storage medium, at least some of the servo bursts including non-shifted elements and an unbroken sequence of plural shifted elements, variations in the relative displacement of the non-shifted and shifted elements within a servo burst encoding the LPOS information;

a drive apparatus to cause longitudinal movement of the data storage medium; and

a transducer head apparatus to generate signals from the servo elements as the data storage medium moves past the transducer head apparatus;

the servo controller to:

receive signals generated by the transducer head apparatus;

process the signals to obtain data related to relative displacement of mutually adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within respective ones of the servo bursts, and data related to relative displacement of mutually non-adjacent shifted and non-shifted elements within the respective ones of the servo bursts;

process the data to determine LPOS bit values corresponding to respective ones of the servo bursts;

use a plurality of the determined LPOS bit values to construct an LPOS word; and

output the LPOS word for controlling the drive apparatus.

11. The data storage apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

the decoder apparatus is to decode the LPOS information in which the at least some servo bursts comprise at least three non-shifted elements, and unbroken sequences of plural shifted elements between each non-shifted element and a next sequential non-shifted element, the unbroken sequences containing the shifted elements in equal numbers; and

the servo controller is further, for a given one of unbroken sequences of plural shifted elements within a servo burst, to process the signals to obtain data related to the relative displacement of each shifted element in the given unbroken sequence and the non-shifted element immediately preceding the given unbroken sequence, and between each shifted element in the given unbroken sequence and the non-shifted element immediately following the given unbroken sequence, and process the data to determine LPOS bit values corresponding to the respective ones of the servo bursts.