The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 01, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 01, 1993
Jeffrey D Schwartz, Loveland, CO (US);
Mark E Nash, Lyons, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for generating an index pulse by a data storage tape drive. The tape drive is controlled by a flexible disk controller. A multi-track tape is formatted into multiple data segments per track with erased areas between segments. A digital data signal from the tape signal processor is sampled to detect a lapse in data. Then, the analog data signal is continuously monitored to detect the reappearance of data. When filtered analog signal peaks exceed a fixed threshold, a pulse is generated from the tape drive to the flexible disk controller. In an alternative embodiment, to further protect against false triggering, index pulse generation is suppressed during most of each erased area between segments. In another embodiment, index pulse generation is suppressed if an erased area exceeds a length threshold, such as at the end of the tape. In still another embodiment, index pulse generation is suppressed if digital data reappears without triggering the analog monitoring circuit.