Hewlett-packard Company

Mark Robert Watkins

Shinya Ozaki

Nigel Kevin Rushton

Data are stored on magnetic tape along successive tracks extending obliquely across the tape, in each of several areas including a lead-in area, a data area and an end-of-data (EOD) area. Each track comprises successive blocks or fragments of data, and each fragment has a compact header containing a synchronization byte, six information bytes and two parity bytes. The information bytes include a fragment ID, an area ID sub code identifying the area in which the fragment is located, and various other sub codes relating to logical structure of the data. The inclusion of an area ID sub code and logical structure sub codes in the (compact) header of every fragment facilitates reliable searching of the data stored on the tape at high tape advance speeds.

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Westbury Park, United Kingdom

Mark Robert Watkins