IBM Assigned Five Patents

Products with tape formats having one or more spare areas and apparatuses
configured for use with such products
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,196,264) developed by Biskeborn, Robert G., Hollister, CA, for a “products with tape formats having one or more spare areas and apparatuses configured for use with such products.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An apparatus includes a magnetic head having an array of transducers. The apparatus is configured to read and/or write to a magnetic recording tape according to a format. The format specifies a number of active channels and a contiguous spare area on the magnetic recording tape. The format also specifies compatibility with a second format. The second format specifies a different number of active channels than the number of active channels specified by the format. A product includes a magnetic recording tape and data stored on the product specifying the aforementioned format.“

The patent application was filed on May 15, 2014 (14/278,785).

Storing write environment conditions
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,190,112) developed by Bayang, Josephine F., Gale, Ernest S., Tucson, AZ, Nakayama, Hirokazu, Shiga-ken, Japan, and Nishida, Mitsuhiro, Kanagawa, Japan, for a “storing write environment conditions.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Described are embodiments of an invention for storing write environment conditions of a tape cartridge. A tape drive measures and stores the write environment conditions for a portion of tape as a result of receiving a write command to write data to the same portion of tape. In one embodiment, the write environment conditions are measured and stored to the tape cartridge each time a write command is received such that each portion of tape written has corresponding stored write environment conditions. The write environment conditions include temperature and relative humidity in one embodiment. The stored write environment conditions for each portion of tape written creates a historical log of the environment conditions that the tape was written within. The historical log can provide information to a manufacturer or user regarding the environmental conditions the user operates their tape drive within and provides information to assist with failure analysis.“

The patent application was filed on July 17, 2014 (14/334,571).

Data format using efficient reverse concatenated modulation code
for magnetic tape recording
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,190,076) developed by Cideciyan, Roy D., Rueschlikon, Switzerland, Hutchins, Robert A., Tucson, AZ, Mittelholzer, Thomas, Zurich, Switzerland, and Oelcer, Sedat, Kilchberg, Switzerland, for a “data format using an efficient reverse concatenated modulation code for magnetic tape recording.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In one embodiment, a tape drive system includes a write channel for writing data to a magnetic tape, the write channel utilizing a rate-(232/234) reverse concatenated modulation code. The write channel includes logic adapted for receiving a data stream comprising one or more data sets, logic adapted for separating each data set into a plurality of sub data sets, logic adapted for encoding each sub data set with a C2 encoding, logic adapted for encoding each C2-encoded sub data set with a modulation code, logic adapted for encoding each modulated sub data set with a C1 encoding, and logic adapted for simultaneously writing the encoded modulated sub data sets to data tracks of the magnetic tape. Other systems for writing data to a magnetic tape utilizing a rate-(232/234) reverse concatenated modulation code are described according to various other embodiments.“

The patent application was filed on May 29, 2012 (13/483,004).

Tape dimension compensation
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,183,863) developed by Herget, Philipp, San Jose, CA, for a “tape dimension compensation.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In response to determining that a first write operation is to be performed on a portion of tape, writing data to a data track with a tape head element spacing at a nominal value. A tape width of one or more tape positions at which data is written is recorded. In another aspect, a tape width value associated with a tape is retrieved. A current tape width value associated with the tape is determined, and the tape head element spacing is set based on a difference between the retrieved tape width value and the determined current tape width value.“

The patent application was filed on November 18, 2014 (14/546,121).

Magnetic tape recording in data format
using an efficient reverse concatenated modulation code
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,183,852) developed by Cideciyan, Roy D., Rueschlikon, Switzerland, Hutchins, Robert A., Tucson, AZ, Mittleholzer, Thomas, Zurich, Switzerland, and Oelcer, Sedat, Kilchberg, Switzerland, for a “magnetic tape recording in data format using an efficient reverse concatenated modulation code.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In one embodiment, a method for writing data to a magnetic tape utilizing a rate-(232/234) reverse concatenated modulation code includes receiving a data stream comprising one or more data sets, separating each data set into a plurality of sub data sets, encoding each sub data set with a C2 encoding, encoding each C2-encoded sub data set with the modulation code, encoding each modulated sub data set with a C1 encoding, and simultaneously writing the encoded modulated sub data sets to data tracks of the magnetic tape. Other methods for writing data to a magnetic tape utilizing a rate-(232/234) reverse concatenated modulation code are described according to various other embodiments.“

The patent application was filed on February 4, 2013 (13/758,752).