Magnetic tape read apparatus and error identification method
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorTadashi Ishitsuka
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An amplitude comparator compares to one another amplitudes of data items, which have been read by read heads and amplified by amplifiers. An error identification circuit detects a read level lowering in the read heads according to the result of the comparison. A signal processor references the detection result of the error identification circuit if a read error is detected. If any of the read units has a lowered read level, the cause of the read error is determined to be in that read unit. If none of the read heads has a lowered read level, it is determined that the read error has been caused by other than the read heads.
Claims7
A magnetic tape read apparatus for reading magnetic data items recorded on magnetic tapes, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of read units for reading magnetic data items from the magnetic tapes;
- a plurality of amplifying units for amplifying each of the data items which have been read by the plurality of read units to increase a magnitude of each of the data items;
- automatic gain control circuits for controlling amplitudes of the respective data items which have been amplified by the plurality of amplifying units;
- a comparison unit for comparing, to one another, the data items which have been amplified by the plurality of amplifying units;
- an error identification circuit for detecting a read level lowering in a read unit according to a comparison result;
- and
- a signal processor for processing the data items whose amplitudes have been controlled by the automatic gain control circuits, detecting a read error according to the processed data items, wherein if a read error is detected, the signal processor identifies a read error cause according to the detection result in the error detection circuit.
An error identification method for a magnetic tape read apparatus having a plurality of read units for reading magnetic data items recorded on magnetic tapes, and a plurality of amplifying units for amplifying each of the data items which have been read by the plurality of read units to increase a magnitude of each of the data items, wherein amplitudes of the magnetic data items read by the plurality of read units are compared to one another, so as to detect a read level lowering in the read units, and if a read error is detected, a cause of the read error is determined depending on whether any read unit has a lowered read level.
A magnetic tape read apparatus for reading magnetic data items recorded on magnetic tapes, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of read means for reading magnetic data items from the magnetic tapes;
- a plurality of amplifying means for amplifying each of the data items which have been read by the plurality of read means to increase a magnitude of each of the data items;
- automatic gain control circuits for controlling amplitudes of the respective data items which have been amplified by the plurality of amplifying means;
- comparison means for comparing, to one another, the data items which have been amplified by the plurality of amplifying means;
- an error identification circuit for detecting a read level lowering in a read means according to the comparison result of the comparison means;
- and
- a signal processor for processing data items whose amplitudes have been controlled by the automatic gain control circuits, detecting a read error according to the processed data items, wherein if a read error is detected, the signal processor identifies a read error cause according to the detection result in the error detection circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.