Tape head assembly

A tape head assembly comprising:

• a transducer head having plural arrays of transducing elements to record data to or read data from tape, the transducing elements comprising write elements and read elements;
• a set of conditioning elements, the conditioning elements comprising write drivers and read amplifiers;
• and
• multiplexing circuitry to selectively couple the conditioning elements to one of the plural arrays of the transducing elements;
• and
• write circuitry comprising the write drivers and read circuitry comprising the read amplifiers,
• wherein the write circuitry and read circuitry are contained in separate units,
• wherein the write circuitry is positioned in closer proximity to the transducer head than the read circuitry.

A tape head assembly comprising:

• a transducer head having plural arrays of transducing elements to record data to or read data from tape, the transducing elements comprising at least one of write elements and read elements;
• a set of conditioning elements, the conditioning elements comprising at least one of write drivers and read amplifiers;
• multiplexing circuitry to selectively couple the conditioning elements to one of the plural arrays of the transducing elements,
• wherein the multiplexing circuitry comprises multiplexers controllable by one or more control signals to select which one of the plural arrays of transducing elements to couple to the conditioning elements;
• and
• a module to set a bias current of each of the transducing elements, the module to set the bias current through the multiplexers.

A tape head assembly comprising:

• a transducer head having plural arrays of transducing elements to record data to or read data from tape, the transducing elements comprising at least one of write elements and read elements;
• a set of conditioning elements, the conditioning elements comprising at least one of write drivers and read amplifiers;
• multiplexing circuitry to selectively couple the conditioning elements to one of the plural arrays of the transducing elements,
• wherein the multiplexing circuitry comprises multiplexers controllable by one or more control signals to select which one of the plural arrays of transducing elements to couple to the conditioning elements;
• and
• a module to detect a parameter associated with each of the transducing elements, the module to receive information relating to the parameter through the multiplexers.

A tape drive comprising:

• a circuit board;
• and
• a tape head assembly, comprising:
• a transducer head;
• read circuitry mounted on the circuit board;
• an interconnect structure to electrically connect the transducer head to the read circuitry;
• and
• write circuitry mounted on the interconnect structure and electrically connected to the transducer head,
• wherein the write circuitry is in closer proximity to the transducer head than the read circuitry.

A tape drive comprising:

• a circuit board;
• and
• a tape head assembly, comprising:
• a transducer head;
• read circuitry mounted on the circuit board;
• an interconnect structure to electrically connect the transducer head to the read circuitry;
• and
• write circuitry mounted on the interconnect structure and electrically connected to the transducer head,
• wherein the transducer head has plural sets of write elements to record data to tape, and plural sets of read elements to read data from tape,
• wherein the write circuitry comprises write drivers and multiplexing circuitry to selectively couple outputs of the write drivers to one of the plural sets of write elements, and
• wherein the read circuitry comprises read amplifiers and multiplexing circuitry to selectively couple one of the plural sets of read elements to inputs of the read amplifiers.