Magnetic tape device capable of determining the vertical position of magnetic head based on pattern combinations comprising servo band identifiers
View Patent ↗A magnetic tape and servo elements of a magnetic head for reading and writing to the magnetic tape can ascertain servo band signals from different servo bands that are vertically aligned and adjacent to one another. When operating in a write or read mode, at least two servo elements can be activated to respond to a write/read operation based on a determined position across a width of the servo bands in the magnetic tape. The determined position is based on various pattern combinations from different servo band identifiers from the servo band signals.
1. A magnetic tape comprising:
a plurality of servo bands comprising corresponding servo band signals to be read by servo elements of a magnetic head, wherein the plurality of servo bands comprises servo band frames that are vertically aligned with respect to one another; and
a plurality of pattern combinations comprising servo band identifiers of the corresponding servo band signals from different servo bands of the plurality of servo bands;
wherein a pattern combination of the plurality of pattern combinations indicates a vertical position that is associated with the servo elements of the magnetic head among the plurality of servo bands when performing at least one of: a write operation or a read operation to the magnetic tape, wherein the pattern combination is formed by a first servo band identifier and a second servo band identifier corresponding to different servo bands, respectively, and matches a stored pattern combination to receive write data of the write operation, or read data of the read operation, at a data band of the magnetic tape.
2. The magnetic tape of claim 1 , wherein the first servo band identifier and the second servo band identifier identify a location of the data band from among different data bands.
3. The magnetic tape of claim 1 , wherein the different servo bands comprise a first servo band and a second servo band, wherein the servo elements of the magnetic tape comprise a first servo element configured to read the first servo band identifier of the first servo band, and a second servo element configured to read the second servo band identifier of the second servo band that is vertically adjacent, above or below, the first servo band.
4. The magnetic tape of claim 1 , wherein the different servo bands comprise a first servo band and a second servo band, wherein the plurality of pattern combinations comprise a first pattern combination formed by the first servo band identifier of the first servo band and the second servo band identifier of the second servo band, and a second pattern combination formed by a third servo band identifier of a third servo band, and the second servo band identifier or a fourth servo band identifier of a fourth servo band.
5. The magnetic tape of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of data bands, each located between at least two vertically aligned and adjacent servo bands forming servo band pairs of the plurality of servo bands, and associated with a different pattern combination of the plurality of pattern combinations for position tracking of the at least one of: the write operation or the read operation.
6. The magnetic tape of claim 1 , wherein the pattern combination of the plurality of pattern combinations is read in response to activation of at least two servo elements of the magnetic head that concurrently read the first servo band identifier and the second servo band identifier for the at least one of: the write operation or the read operation.
7. An apparatus of a magnetic tape, comprising
a magnetic head comprising a first servo element configured to read a first servo signal from a first servo band of the magnetic tape, and a second servo element configured to read a second servo signal from a second servo band of the magnetic tape;
a processing device, coupled to the magnetic head, configured to determine a vertical location of the magnetic head among a plurality of servo bands along a width of the magnetic tape based on a pattern combination formed by servo band identifiers from the first servo signal and the second servo signal, and generate at least one of: a write operation, or a read operation, based on the vertical location of the magnetic head; and
wherein the first servo band and the second servo band comprise different servo bands with longitudinal position (LPOS) words continuously along the magnetic tape, wherein the LPOS words each comprise a longitudinal position portion with the servo band identifiers of the corresponding servo band signals for forming the pattern combination.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic head is configured to adjust a position along the width of the magnetic tape from a first data band to a second data band in response to the at least one of: the write operation or the read operation being associated with a different vertical location matching a different pattern combination than the pattern combination associated with the vertical location, or the pattern combination being associated with the second data band instead of the first data band.
9. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a servo write element configured to write data to a data band between the first servo band and the second servo band, or a servo read element configured to read data from a data band between the first servo band and the second servo band, in response to the pattern combination matching a stored pattern combination that is associated with the data band.
10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic tape comprises different data bands between different pairs of servo bands along the width and each of the different data bands is associated with a different pattern combination for tracking positions of the magnetic head during the at least one of: the write operation or the read operation.
11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first servo band and the second servo band comprise servo frames that are vertically aligned to one another across the width of the magnetic tape.
12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic head activates the first servo element and the second servo element to write/read data at a location of a data band from among a plurality of data bands based on whether a stored pattern combination associated with the location of the data band matches the pattern combination.