Patent ID: 9606868
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G06F,H03M

Claim:
1. A linear tape drive for writing data in Q parallel data tracks on multitrack tape, the tape drive comprising: a data partitioner operable to partition a block of data into a plurality of sub-blocks each comprising a logical array having rows and columns of data symbols; a product encoder operable to encode the rows and columns of each sub-block using a row linear block code and a column linear block code respectively to produce a product codeword comprising a logical array of code symbols having rows which comprise respective row codewords and columns which comprise respective column codewords; rate-L/(L+M) encoder apparatus operable to encode the product codewords by encoding groups of L symbols, each from a respective one of L product codewords, using a rate-L/(L+M) linear block code to produce a plurality of (L+M)-symbol codewords which are logically arranged in nQ encoded blocks each comprising an array having rows and columns of code symbols in which each column comprises a codeword of said column code, wherein the symbols of each of said (L+M)-symbol codewords are distributed over corresponding rows of the nQ encoded blocks and n is an integer greater than zero; a packet formatter operable to produce packets from the encoded blocks, each packet comprising a row of an encoded block; and a write-head comprising Q write elements operable to write the packets for said block of data in said Q parallel data tracks.