Patent ID: 7050250

Claim:
A storage apparatus having a plurality of round storage areas, on each of which a plurality of servo frames are arranged at uniform intervals in a spoke-like pattern, said apparatus comprising: an index bit storing section provided to each said servo frame arranged in each individual one of said plurality of storage areas, said index bit storing section storing, as an index bit, part of an index pattern having a specific bit pattern, which index pattern is operable to identify the individual storage area; an index bit obtaining unit for obtaining such index bits, each of which is stored in the index bit storing section of each said servo frame arranged in the individual storage area, one after another; and a storage area recognizing unit for recognizing the individual storage area based on the index bits, which are obtained by said index bit obtaining unit, a sector bit storing section provided to each said servo frame arranged in each said storage areas, said sector bit storing section storing, as a sector bit, part of a sector pattern which is operable to identify a position of such index pattern in the individual storage area, in association with the corresponding index bit storing section; a sector bit obtaining unit for obtaining such sector bit from the sector bit storing section of each said servo frame arranged in the individual storage area, one after another; and a position recognizing unit for recognizing a position of each said servo frame in the individual storage area based on such sector bits obtained by said sector bit obtaining unit, wherein the index bits, each of which is stored in the index bit storing section of each said servo frame arranged in the individual storage area, being adapted to form, when being sequentially arranged, an index bit string which includes a plurality of index patterns each having the specific bit pattern, and wherein said position recognizing unit (i) recognizes a position of the sector bits, constituting the sector pattern, in the storage area based on such sector bits obtained by said sector bit obtaining unit, (ii) recognizes a position of the index pattern corresponding to the sector pattern based on the recognized position of the sector bits, and (iii) recognizes the position of each said servo frame in the individual storage area based on the recognized position of the index pattern.