Patent ID: 8144424

Claim:
A servo apparatus for verifying at least one timing based pattern printed on media, comprising: a first magnetic azimuthal core bar comprising a pair of magnetic cores bonded together with a first magnetic read gap disposed between the magnetic cores, the pair of magnetic cores arranged and configured such that the first magnetic read gap is parallel to at least a portion of a first magnetic transition of a timing based pattern of a servo band, the first magnetic transition being non-orthogonal to the transverse direction of the media; and a second magnetic azimuthal core bar comprising a pair of magnetic cores bonded together with a second magnetic read gap disposed between the magnetic cores, the pair of magnetic cores arranged and configured such that the second magnetic read gap is parallel to at least a portion of a second magnetic transition of the timing based pattern, the second magnetic transition also being non-orthogonal to the transverse direction of the media and non-parallel to the first magnetic transition; wherein the first magnetic read gap and the second magnetic read gap are non-parallel so that the first and second magnetic read gaps at least partially cover the first and second non-parallel magnetic transitions of the timing based pattern.