Magnetic tape reading apparatus capable of synthesizing a plurality of reproducing signal sequences

A magnetic tape reading apparatus comprising:

• a reading head which includes a plurality of reading units disposed at positions respectively corresponding to a plurality of tracks included in a magnetic tape;
• a controller which controls each of the plurality of reading units to read data plural times from a range of a single track having the corresponding position among the plurality of tracks, in a running direction of the magnetic tape, by a linear scan method, the range being a part or an entirety of the single track;
• a synthesis unit which synthesizes a plurality of reproducing signal sequences obtained by reading data plural times from the range by each of the plurality of reading units, and
• a first movement mechanism that moves the reading head in a width direction of the magnetic tape,
• wherein the magnetic tape has a plurality of sets of the plurality of tracks in a width direction, and
• the controller controls the first movement mechanism to move the reading head to a position where the plurality of reading units are to be disposed on the plurality of tracks of a designated set among the plurality of sets, and controls each of the plurality of reading units to read data plural times from the range of the single track of the designated set.

A magnetic tape reading apparatus comprising:

• a reading head which includes a reading unit disposed at a position corresponding to a single track included in a magnetic tape;
• a controller which controls the reading unit to read data plural times from a range of the single track in a running direction of the magnetic tape by a linear scan method, the range being a part or an entirety of the single track;
• a synthesis unit which synthesizes a plurality of reproducing signal sequences obtained by reading data plural times from the range by the reading unit;
• and
• a second movement mechanism that moves the reading head in a width direction of the magnetic tape,
• wherein the controller controls the second movement mechanism to vary reading paths for plural times of reading operations with respect to the range by the reading unit, by moving the reading head in the width direction.

An operation method of a magnetic tape reading apparatus including a reading head including a reading unit disposed at a position corresponding to a single track included in a magnetic tape, the method comprising:

• controlling the reading unit to read data plural times from a range of the single track in a running direction of the magnetic tape by a linear scan method, the range being a part or an entirety of the single track;
• and
• synthesizing a plurality of reproducing signal sequences obtained by reading data plural times from the range by the reading unit
• wherein reading paths for plural times of reading operations with respect to the range by the reading unit are reading paths different from each other depending on environmental conditions affecting at least one of the magnetic tape or the reading unit for each of the plural times of reading operations in the range.

An operation method of a magnetic tape reading apparatus including a reading head which includes a plurality of reading units disposed at positions respectively corresponding to a plurality of tracks included in a magnetic tape and a first movement mechanism that moves the reading head in a width direction of the magnetic tape, the method comprising:

• controlling each of the plurality of reading units to read data from a range of a single track having the corresponding position among the plurality of tracks, in a running direction of the magnetic tape, by a linear scan method to thereby control the reading head to read data plural times, the range being a part or an entirety of the single track;
• wherein the magnetic tape has a plurality of sets of the plurality of tracks in a width direction,
• synthesizing a plurality of reproducing signal sequences obtained by reading data plural times from the range by the reading head, and
• controlling the first movement mechanism to move the reading head to a position where the plurality of reading units are to be disposed on the plurality of tracks of a designated set among the plurality of sets, and controls each of the plurality of reading units to read data plural times from the range of the single track of the designated set.