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:
May. 13, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 16, 1995
Robert C Baca, Tucson, AZ (US);
Alex Chliwnyj, Tucson, AZ (US);
Wayne T Comeaux, Tucson, AZ (US);
James F Crossland, Tucson, AZ (US);
Ronald K Rhodes, Tucson, AZ (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for initializing a magnetic tape when it is mounted in a tape drive. In one embodiment, each time a tape is mounted, control parameters pertaining to the servo system are set to predetermined values and servo read elements in the tape head are activated. The tape is moved and a number of position error signal (PES) samples are read and averaged for each of the active servo elements. The value of one or more of the parameters is modified and new PES readings and averages are obtained. This process is repeated for a predetermined combination of parameter values whereupon read and write offsets are calculated and stored for each servo element. During an actual read (or write) operation, the tape head is positioned relative to the data tracks on which the desired data is located and servo control enabled. An actual PES generated by each active servo element is adjusted by the read (or write) offset calculated for that servo element, thereby substantially canceling the effects of element-to-element, module-to-module and azimuthal deviations. The resulting adjusted PES is used by the servo controller to optimize track following.