Tape drive with head assembly having dual offset devices

• US 9,177,580 B1
• Filed: 03/16/2015
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Yeakley, Darryl Wayne, Trabert, Steven G., Vanderheyden, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, K.
• Application Number:
  US14/658,419
• Time in Patent Office: 232 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/00826 comprising a plurality of single poles or gaps or groups thereof operative at the same time
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/4893 relative to moving tape
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/58 with provision for moving the head for the purpose of maintaining alignment of the head relative to the record carrier during transducing operation, e.g. to compensate for surface irregularities of the latter or for track following spacing means incorporated in the head structure G11B5/187, G11B5/255, G11B5/3106
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/584 for track following on tapes

Abstract

A recording head assembly that includes two side-by-side and separately actuated heads. To increase tape capacity while controlling tape mis-registration, write elements are provided in two subsets with a first subset provided on a first of the two heads and a second subset provided on the second of the two heads. The two subsets are offset a distance along the direction of travel for a tape (or horizontal offset) while the two subsets of write elements are also offset along the longitudinal axes of the heads (or bumps on the heads) such that a first subset acts as the upper half of the write element set and a second subset acts as the lower half of the write element set. The subsets of write elements simultaneously writes data, and a similar arrangement can be provided for two subsets of read elements that are aligned with the write elements.

Claims

1. A tape drive for recording data on a magnetic storage tape, comprising:

a recording head assembly; and

a drive assembly guiding the magnetic storage tape past the recording head assembly along a tape path,

wherein the recording head assembly includes;

a first head and a second head spaced apart from the first head,

a first subset of write elements arranged linearly on a bump of the first head to extend parallel to a longitudinal axis of the bump of the first head,

a second subset of write elements arranged linearly on a bump of the second head to extend parallel to a longitudinal axis of the bump of the second head, wherein the first and second subsets of the write elements are offset from each other relative to the longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads and are concurrently operable to write data on the magnetic storage tape, and

wherein the first and second subsets of write elements are concurrently positionable relative to the magnetic storage tape to write a plurality of tracks within a single band of the magnetic storage tape.

2. The tape drive of claim 1, wherein the first and second heads are separately actuatable to position the first and second subsets of the write elements relative to the magnetic storage tape.

3. The tape drive of claim 1, wherein the recording head assembly further includes a first pair of servo readers on a bump of the first head and a second pair of servo readers, aligned with the first pair of servo readers, on a bump of the second head and wherein the first subset of write elements is positioned to span a first portion of a gap between the first pair of servo readers and the second subset of write elements is positioned to span a second portion of a gap between the second pair of servo readers.

4. The tape drive of claim 3, wherein the first portion of the gap is a lower half of the gap between the first pair of servo readers and the second portion of the gap is an upper half of the gap between the second pair of servo readers.

5. The tape drive of claim 3, wherein the recording head assembly is free of additional servo readers, read elements, and write elements between the first and second pairs of servo readers.

6. The tape drive of claim 3, wherein the recording head assembly is positioned in response to position error signals from the servo readers to center the write elements relative to tracks of the magnetic storage tape.

7. The tape drive of claim 1, wherein the first subset of write elements comprises sixteen write elements and wherein the second subset of write elements comprises sixteen write elements, whereby thirty-two elements are provided for concurrently writing data to the band of the magnetic storage tape.

8. The tape drive of claim 1, wherein the recording head assembly further includes:

a first subset of read elements arranged linearly on an additional bump of the first head to extend parallel to a longitudinal axis of the additional bump of the first head and to be aligned with the first subset of write elements of the first head, and

a second subset of read elements arranged linearly on an additional bump of the second head to extend parallel to a longitudinal axis of the additional bump of the second head and to be aligned with the second subset of write elements of the second head, wherein the first and second subsets of the read elements are offset from each other relative to the longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads and wherein the first and second subsets of the read elements are operable to substantially concurrently read differing tracks from a band of the magnetic storage tape.

9. A recording head assembly for use in a tape drive, comprising:

a first head with first and second bumps;

a second head positioned adjacent the first head and having first and second bumps, wherein the first and second heads are independently actuatable; and

a set of write elements positionable with the first and second heads during writing data to a single band of tracks on a tape, wherein the set of write elements comprises a first subset including a number of the write elements positioned on the first bump of the first head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the write elements positioned on the first bump of the second head.

10. The recording head assembly of claim 9, wherein the first subset of the write elements is positioned in a lower region of the first head and the second subset of the write elements is positioned in an upper region of the second head, whereby the write elements of the first and second subsets are longitudinally offset from each other along longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads.

11. The recording head assembly of claim 10, further including servo readers on the bumps spaced apart for reading servo tracks defining the band on the tape and wherein the first and second subsets of the write elements are disposed between opposite pairs of the servo readers to extend across about one half of a gap between the opposite pairs.

12. The recording head assembly of claim 11, wherein the write elements are centered relative to the tracks on the tape using a position error signal from the servo readers.

13. The recording head assembly of claim 9, further including a set of read elements aligned with the write elements for reading the tracks in the band on the tape, wherein the set of read elements comprises a first subset including a number of the read elements positioned on the second bump of the first head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the read elements positioned on the second bump of the second head.

14. The recording head assembly of claim 13, wherein the first subset of the read elements is positioned in a lower region of the first head and the second subset of the read elements is positioned in an upper region of the second head, whereby the read elements of the first and second subsets are longitudinally offset from each other along longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads.

15. The recording head assembly of claim 9, further including an additional set of write elements for writing data to a second band of tracks on the tape, wherein the additional set of write elements comprises a first subset including a number of the write elements positioned on the second bump of the second head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the write elements positioned on the second bump of the first head.

16. The recording head assembly of claim 15, further including an additional set of read elements aligned with the write elements of the additional set of the write elements for reading the tracks in the second band on the tape, wherein the set of read elements comprises a first subset including a number of the read elements positioned on the first bump of the second head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the read elements positioned on the first bump of the first head.

17. A head assembly for a tape drive, comprising:

a first head with first and second bumps;

a second head positioned adjacent the first head and having first and second bumps;

a set of write elements for writing data to a band of tracks on a tape, wherein the set of write elements comprises a first subset including a number of the write elements positioned on the first bump of the first head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the write elements positioned on the first bump of the second head;

servo readers on the bumps spaced apart for reading servo tracks defining the band on the tape, wherein the first subset of the write elements are disposed between a first pair of the servo readers on the first bump of the first head to extend linearly a first distance across a gap between the first pair of the servo readers and the second subset of the write elements are disposed between a second pair of the servo readers on the first bump of the second head to extend linearly a second distance across a gap between the second pair of the servo readers, wherein the band has a width equal to a combination of the first and second distances, and wherein the first subset of the write elements are longitudinally offset from the second subset of the write elements; and

a set of read elements aligned with the write elements for reading the tracks in the band on the tape, wherein the set of read elements comprises a first subset including a number of the read elements positioned on the second bump of the first head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the read elements positioned on the second bump of the second head.

18. The head assembly of claim 17, wherein the first subset of the read elements is positioned in a lower region of the first head and the second subset of the read elements is positioned in an upper region of the second head, whereby the read elements of the first and second subsets are longitudinally offset from each other along longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads.

19. The head assembly of claim 17, wherein the first subset of the write elements is positioned in a lower region of the first head and the second subset of the write elements is positioned in an upper region of the second head, whereby the write elements of the first and second subsets are longitudinally offset from each other along longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads.

20. The head assembly of claim 17, further including an additional set of write elements for writing data to a second band of tracks on the tape, wherein the additional set of write elements comprises a first subset including a number of the write elements positioned on the second bump of the second head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the write elements positioned on the second bump of the first head.

21. The recording head assembly of claim 20, further including an additional set of read elements aligned with the write elements of the additional set of the write elements for reading the tracks in the second band on the tape, wherein the set of read elements comprises a first subset including a number of the read elements positioned on the first bump of the second head and further comprises a second subset including remaining ones of the read elements positioned on the first bump of the first head.

22. A tape drive for recording data on a magnetic storage tape, comprising:

a recording head assembly; and

a drive assembly guiding the magnetic storage tape past the recording head assembly along a tape path,

wherein the recording head assembly includes;

a first head and a second head spaced apart from the first head,

a first subset of write elements arranged linearly on a bump of the first head to extend parallel to a longitudinal axis of the bump of the first head and operable to write data on a first portion of a band on the magnetic storage tape,

a second subset of write elements arranged linearly on a bump of the second head to extend parallel to a longitudinal axis of the bump of the second head and concurrently operable to write data on a second portion of the band differing from the first portion of the band, wherein the first and second subsets of the write elements are offset from each other relative to the longitudinal axes of the bumps of the first and second heads.

23. The tape drive of claim 22, wherein the recording head assembly further includes a first pair of servo readers on a bump of the first head and a second pair of servo readers, aligned with the first pair of servo readers, on a bump of the second head and wherein the first subset of write elements is positioned to span a first portion of a gap between the first pair of servo readers and the second subset of write elements is positioned to span a second portion of a gap between the second pair of servo readers.

24. The tape drive of claim 23, wherein the first portion of the gap is a lower half of the gap between the first pair of servo readers and the second portion of the gap is an upper half of the gap between the second pair of servo readers.

25. The tape drive of claim 22, wherein the first subset of write elements comprises sixteen write elements and wherein the second subset of write elements comprises sixteen write elements, whereby thirty-two elements are provided for concurrently writing data to the band of the magnetic storage tape.