Patent ID: 7126771
Filing Date: 2006-10-24
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. A read channel for (a) receiving a signal including a stream of sequential data of a first data type and a second data type, the first data type having a random signal structure and the second data type having a regular signal structure, and (b) recovering the random data type and the regular signal structure, in combination with a magnetic tape head for deriving the signal, the channel comprising (a) a main data read channel operable to output the sequential first and second data types, and (b) a branch from the main data read channel, the branch comprising a signal analyzer for determining whether the signal in the channel at a particular time is the first data type or the second data type, and a controller operable to control at least one element of the main data read channel in response to determination by the signal analyzer from the data stream so that the determination made for the first data type controls the element at the time while the first data type is in the main data channel; and the magnetic head being arranged to interact with magnetic tape that is arranged to move relative to the head for causing the signal derived by the head to have interspersed (a) non-periodic, variable amplitude maxima and minima, (b) periodic data separator variations having a first fixed frequency, and (c) periodic tone fields having a second fixed frequency.