Patent ID: 7495859

Claim:
A system for writing servo marks to a data storage tape comprising: a first write element that writes a first set of substantially identical time-based servo patterns to the data storage tape at a cross-tape position on the data storage tape, wherein the first write element includes at least three gaps that correspond to at least three servo marks in each of the first set of time-based servo patterns, wherein each of the first set of time-based servo patterns is configured to allow calculation of a position error signal that substantially mitigates error resulting from a variation in velocity of the data storage tape during detection of the first set of time-based servo patterns; a second write element that writes a second set of substantially identical servo patterns to the data storage tape independently of the first set of time-based servo patterns at the cross-tape position, wherein the second write element includes at least one gap, wherein the gaps of the second write element have the same shape and spacing of a subset of the gaps in the first write element, wherein the second write element includes less gaps than the first write element; and a controller that operates the first write element and the second write element to write the first set of time-based servo patterns with the first write element and the second set of servo patterns with the second write element, wherein the controller varies timing of electrical signals used to write the second set of time-based servo patterns in order to encode data on the data storage tape.