Sony Corporation

Katsumi Ikeda

Yoshihisa Takayama

Tatsuya Kato

Masaki Yoshida

Osamu Nakamura

Takuji Himeno

Hironori Miyoshi

Takanobu Sano

Masaki Yamada

Takashi Katoku

Yasuaki Kano

Hideto Suzuki

Katsumi Maekawa

Hiroshi Takahata

A tape cassette of this invention is equipped with a memory capable of accommodating at least management information including identification information unique to each tape cassette. A magnetic tape housed in the tape cassette is written with identification information that is supposed to be the same in content as the memory-stored identification information. When the tape cassette is loaded into a tape drive system, the system acquires both the memory-stored identification information and the tape-stored identification information to determine a match therebetween. A mismatch between the two sets of identification information, if detected, is interpreted to mean that the tape cassette has been tampered with, and read and write operations on the cassette are restricted accordingly. This enhances security against fraudulent uses of the tape drive system.

Tape drive apparatus and recording and/or reproducing method

A tape cassette of this invention is equipped with a memory capable of accommodating management information. Where the tape cassette is used, a MIC mode switch is written to a predetermined area on the magnetic tape held in the cassette. That item of information specifies whether or not the use of the management information held in the memory is mandatory upon write or read operations to or from the magnetic tape. A check is made on the consistency between the MIC mode switch read from the magnetic tape on the one hand and a result of access to the memory on the other hand. If an inconsistency is detected, that is interpreted as something fraudulent having been committed on the tape cassette. In such a case, read and write operations on the illegitimate cassette are restricted. This improves security of a tape drive system running the tape cassette.

Tape drive apparatus, recording and/or reproducing method, and recording medium

A tape cassette of this invention is equipped with a memory capable of accommodating management information. The memory retains an MIC logical format type designating a format state, either formatted or unformatted, of the magnetic tape. A check is made on the consistency between the format state designated by the MIC logical format type and the format state estimated by reading data from the magnetic tape. If an inconsistency is detected, that is interpreted to mean that the tape cassette has been tampered with, and read and write operations on the cassette are controlled accordingly. This enhances security against fraudulent uses of a tape drive system loaded with the tape cassette.

When a memory in cassette (MIC) in a loaded tape cassette can successfully be accessed, an MIC type stored in the MIC is detected to judge a data format the tape cassette has. To this end, the tape cassette is adapted such that the data format or the loaded tape cassette can be identified without detecting an identification hole formed in the tape cassette. Thus, it is possible to easily accommodate any future extension of the data format.

Recording medium, tape drive, and method for identifying type of recording medium

A tape drive device including a tape driver for information recording or reproduction is performed on a magnetic tape when a tape cassette having the magnetic tape accommodated therein is loaded, a memory driver through which when a memory for recording management information to manage the recording or reproduction to the magnetic tape is provided to the tape cassette, read-out or writing of the management information from/into the memory can be performed, a detector for detecting storage capacity information of the memory which is stored in the memory, and an identifier for identifying the storage capacity of the memory on the basis of the storage capacity information.

Recording medium and tape drive suitable for the same

When a tape cassette is mounted, a tape drive apparatus judges whether the tape cassette is of a first mode (normal mode) or a second mode (multi-partition mode) based on one or both of management information that is read out from the magnetic tape and management information that is read out from a memory (MIC) incorporated in the tape cassette. The tape drive apparatus then an performs an operation setting in accordance with the mode thus judged.

Tape drive apparatus for judging an operational mode of the tape based on detected tape management information

A data recording device and a data reproducing device for appending data in a data storage device without requiring that data be read up to the last group directly before an end-of-data area. A system controller controls a recording data processing system, a data recording/reproducing unit, a playback data processing system and a tracking control system for recording the identification information of the last group in an end-of-data (EOD) area and for reading out the identification information of the last group from the EOD area.

Data recording apparatus and data reproducing apparatus

A recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing a data signal on and from a magnetic tape includes a rotary head drum, first and second magnetic heads, third and fourth magnetic heads, a data processor, a data signal decoder, and controller. The magnetic tape is wrapped around the rotary head drum slanted at a predetermined angle. The first and second magnetic heads are provided on the rotary head drum at positions apart from each other by a predetermined rotational angle and have a first azimuth angle. The third and fourth magnetic heads are provided on the rotary head drum at positions apart from each other by a predetermined rotational angle and have a second azimuth angle different from the first azimuth angle. The data processor adds address data to each recording unit of a data signal and outputs the data signal as a recording signal. The data signal decoder decodes the data signal from recorded signals reproduced by the first, second, third, and fourth magnetic heads based on the address data included in the recorded signal. The controller, upon the recording, supplies the recording signal to the first magnetic head and the second magnetic head alternately at each rotation of the rotary head drum to record the same on the magnetic tape and, upon the reproduction, supplies the recorded signals reproduced by the first, second, third, and fourth magnetic heads to the data signal decoding means.

Magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus having four heads and

A reproducing device for reproducing information from a tape-shaped recording medium, such as a magnetic tape, in which address information and data are recorded on the recording medium on a plurality of inclined tracks. The address information is composed of a track address and a block address. The reproducing device, which reads and reproduces data from the tape-shaped recording medium includes a reproducing unit, an address extracting unit, a memory, a driving unit and a controller. The reproducing unit reads out data from the tape-shaped reproducing medium for data reproduction. The reproducing unit has a rotary head configured for scanning a plurality of tracks of the tape-shaped recording medium for reading out data from the recording medium. The address extracting unit extracts the address information from data read out by the reproducing unit from one scan of the tape-shaped recording medium by the rotary head. The memory stores data read out from the reproducing unit. The data read out from the reproducing unit is written in the memory based upon the address information extracted by the address extraction unit. The driving unit runs the tape-shaped recording medium. The controller generates read-out addresses for reading out the data stored in the memory. The controller controls the driving unit based upon the address information which is extracted by the address extraction unit and which is associated with pre-set locations on the track of the tape-shaped recording medium.

Apparatus for reproducing information from a tape-shaped recording

A recording apparatus has a check-after-write function for reproducing and checking the recorded state of a recorded track. When overwriting of data is started, an identification number to be stored in a track is set at a fixed value, and check-after-reproduction is performed by the fixed value during reproduction in which a check is made. Also, a reproducing apparatus includes a system for detecting that a very small error segment has occurred on the data and for making the data of the error segment invalid or not outputting the data when it is determined that the error segment has occurred.

Data recording apparatus having check-after-write function and

An external position detector is mounted on a head arm that also carries a transducer for tracking a magnetic disk. When the head arm is moved at constant speed, the position detector produces an output signal that is periodic but has a measurable pitch error or pitch unevenness. The periodic output signal is measured to determine the pitch error, and an amount of compensation required to compensate for the measured pitch error is calculated. A value of the periodic output signal corresponding to the amount of compensation and therefore corresponding to an absence of pitch error is calculated, and a servo signal is recorded on the magnetic disk at a location corresponding to the calculated value of the periodic output signal. The pitch error is thereby fully compensated, and the servo signal is recorded with precision.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Katsumi Ikeda