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:
Oct. 26, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 07, 2002
Steven L. Magnusson, Boulder, CO (US);
Exabyte Corporation, Boulder, CO (US);
Abstract
A helical scan tape drive ( ) has a cartridge compartment ( ) for accommodating a single reel cartridge ( ) of magnetic tape ( ), and a take-up reel ( ) which, with respect to a threading path ( ), is not coplanar with the cartridge compartment. A threading system ( ) grasps an end of the magnetic tape in the cartridge and transports the magnetic tape through the threading path. The threading path is configured such that the magnetic tape is at least partially wrapped around a rotatable scanner ( ) before the end of the magnetic tape is attached to the take-up reel. The rotatable scanner has one or more elements ( ) for transducing information relative to the magnetic tape. The take-up reel is situated at a location either above or below the cartridge compartment for reducing footprint of the drive. In one embodiment, the take-up reel and the compartment are in an at least partially overlapping relationship.