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. 10, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 25, 1994
Andrew Benson Millerd, Jr, San Juan Capistrano, CA (US);
Efren Mendez, Jr, Anaheim, CA (US);
Tecmar Technologies, Inc., Longmont, CO (US);
Abstract
The orientation of a tape cassette is automatically determined as it is being loaded into the tape drive by the transport mechanism. A reference edge of the cassette (for example, a predetermined lower edge of a DAT tape cassette) is characterized by a distinctive non-symmetrical profile of transparent and opaque edge portions, and a radiation source and sensor are positioned within the transport mechanism along a radiation axis that intersects an adjacent edge of the cassette as it is being loaded into the tape drive. The sensor output thereby produces a signal from which it can be determined whether the cassette is oriented with its reference edge intersecting the radiation axis. In a preferred embodiment, the output of the sensor is converted into a digital signature which is compared with a stored signature corresponding to the distinctive profile associated with the reference edge. The tape cassette may be ejected for possible manual re-orientation if the output signal from the sensor indicates the tape cassette is not properly oriented.