Patent ID: 8094407

Claim:
A track-following servomechanism for a tape drive system, the servomechanism comprising: an actuator coupled to a head module housing at least one servo reader, the actuator configured to actuate motion of the head module based on a control signal u(t); a servo channel coupled to the servo reader, the servo channel configured to receive from the servo reader a servo signal s(t) and configured to determine, based on the servo signal s(t), a lateral position estimate signal y(t) representing a lateral position estimate of the servo reader and a tape velocity estimate signal v(t) representing longitudinal velocity of a tape, wherein the servo channel introduces a tape velocity-dependent delay τ(v) into the lateral position estimate signal y(t); a predictor filter coupled to the servo channel, the predictor filter configured to receive from the servo channel the lateral position estimate signal y(t) and the tape velocity estimate signal v(t), wherein the predictor filter determines a modified lateral position estimate signal ŷ(t) that reduces a difference, introduced by the tape velocity-dependent delay τ(v), between the modified lateral position estimate signal ŷ(t) and an actual lateral position; and a compensator coupled to the predictor filter and the actuator, the compensator configured to output the control signal u(t), wherein u(t) is based upon the modified lateral position estimate signal ŷ(t).