IBM Assigned Thirteen Patents

Tape erase element included in tape erase device to erase tape medium
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11837263) developed by Harper, David, Vail, AZ, Rothuizen, Hugo E., Oberrieden, Switzerland, Lantz, Mark Alfred, Adliswil, Switzerland, and Childers, Edwin Ralph, Tucson, AZ, for a “tape erase element included in a tape erase device to erase a tape medium.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided are a tape erase element, tape erase device, and method for forming a tape erase element to erase content of a tape medium. The tape erase element comprises a housing forming a gap extending along a length of an outer surface of the housing. The gap extends from the outer surface of the housing to open into an inner space formed within the housing. A magnet is positioned within the inner space of the housing and having a surface extending across the gap. The magnet produces a magnetic flux that extends through a tape contact zone extending across a portion of the outer surface of the housing and the gap to erase content on the tape medium as the tape guide rollers guide the tape medium across the housing through the tape contact zone.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-08-18 (17/820731).

Write performance by enabling host data transfer immediately after reposition command
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11823709) developed by Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Yamamoto, Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, Abe, Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, Mitsuma, Shinsuke, Machida, Japan, Itagaki, Hiroshi, Yokohama, Japan, and Hasegawa, Tohru, Tokyo, Japan, for a “write performance by enabling host data transfer immediately after a reposition command.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In an approach to improving write performance by enabling host data transfer immediately after a reposition command, responsive to receiving on a tape drive a reposition command from a host, a ready response is returned to the host. Write data from the host is accumulated in a write buffer, where the write data is accumulated in the write buffer while simultaneously moving a tape media in the tape drive to a target location. The write data from the write buffer is written to the tape media immediately after the target location is reached on the tape drive.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-08-12 (17/400170).

Appending data to tape cartridge during recall operations
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11809731) developed by Yamamoto, Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, Itagaki, Hiroshi, Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Yokahama, Japan, Hasegawa, Tohru, Tokyo, Japan, Mitsuma, Shinsuke, Machida, Japan, and Abe, Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, for an “appending data to a tape cartridge during recall operations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A tool for tape library hierarchical storage management. The tool mounts a tape cartridge to a tape drive to satisfy a recall request. The tool determines there is available tape capacity on the tape cartridge to migrate data from a migration queue during recall operations. The tool sends a locate end of data (EOD) command to the tape drive. The tool receives a longitudinal position (LPOS) range returned from the tape drive. The tool determines the migration queue is within the LPOS range. The tool writes data from the migration queue to the tape cartridge within the LPOS range.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-28 (17/486970).

Mechanism to shift the head span of tape head at wafer level
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11810602) developed by Iben, Icko E..T., Santa Clara, CA, Liang, Jason, Campbell, CA, and Hamidi, Hoodin, San Francisco, CA, for a “mechanism to shift the head span of a tape head at a wafer level.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided are a magnetic tape head, a magnetic tape drive, and a computational device in which the magnetic tape head is comprised of a plurality of elements, wherein a pitch between adjacent elements of the plurality of elements is not identical. Selected elements of the plurality of elements that are shifted from a nominal position are selected in a symmetrical manner in the plurality of elements. A total of shifts of the elements of the plurality of elements that are shifted add up to a desired total shift to realign a plurality of modules, such that the median head span of each module type match as closely as possible to a desired value of a head span for all module types.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-09 (17/470977).

Lockable air gap deep cells in tape library
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11798591) developed by Jesionowski, Leonard G., and Nave, Shawn M., Tucson, AZ, for a “lockable air gap deep cells in a tape library.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A deep slot cell configured to house a plurality of tape cartridges. The deep slot cell includes a front side of the deep slot cell configured to allow insertion and removal of a locking tape cartridge of the plurality of tape cartridges by a robotic mechanism. The deep slot cell includes a depth side of the deep slot cell configured with an opening to engage a locking mechanism that prevents a biasing spring mechanism of the deep slot cell from advancing a rearmost tape cartridge of the plurality of tape cartridges forward toward the front side of the deep slot cell. The deep slot cell includes a front air gap at the front side of the deep slot cell that prevents the robotic mechanism from reaching a front-most tape cartridge of the plurality of tape cartridges after the robotic mechanism removes the locking tape cartridge from the deep slot cell.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-22 (17/481347).

Using cut and paste segment for reading standard housekeeping data set
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11789795) developed by Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Masuda, Setsuko, Toshima-ku, Japan, Nishida, Mitsuhiro, Sagamihara, Japan, and Sawada, Tatsuki, Matsudo, Japan, for “using a cut and paste segment for reading a standard housekeeping data set.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In an approach to using a cut and paste segment for reading an sHKDS, a request to reposition a tape media in a tape drive is received. Responsive to encountering an error reading an sHKDS while attempting to reposition the tape media, one segment of a plurality of segments from a data set cut and paste error recovery procedure (ERP) is used for an sHKDS cut and paste ERP. Responsive to recovering the sHKDS using the sHKDS cut and paste ERP, the one segment reserved for the sHKDS cut and paste ERP is released to the data set cut and paste ERP.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-11-08 (17/453878).

Storage system and magnetic tape recording media with features for correcting combined effects of tape skew and tape dimensional stability
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11783857) developed by Biskeborn, Robert, Hollister, CA, for “data storage system and magnetic tape recording media with features for correcting the combined effects of tape skew and tape dimensional stability.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An apparatus according to one approach includes an array of skew detection transducers. An array of write transducers is spaced from the array of skew detection transducers along an intended direction of tape travel thereacross. An array of read transducers is aligned with the array of write transducers in the intended direction of tape travel. The apparatus also includes a first actuator configured to operatively exert a force on the array of skew detection transducers for orienting a longitudinal axis of the array of skew detection transducers substantially orthogonal to the actual direction of tape travel across the array of skew detection transducers. A magnetic recording medium according to one approach includes a magnetic recording tape having a longitudinal axis extending between distal ends thereof, the magnetic recording tape having vertical bars written in servo-skew patterns thereof, the vertical bars being oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tape.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-12-08 (17/115637).

Reducing time to locate and read files within tape medium
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11768604) developed by Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Abe, Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, and Sasaki, Yuka, Kawasaki, Japan, for “reducing time to locate and read files within a tape medium.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “File number segments to be used within simulations can be defined. Tape division regions to be used within simulations can be defined. Times to locate each file number segment for each tape division region according to a first locate method can be simulated. Times to locate each file number segment for each tape division region according to a second locate method can be simulated. The simulated times for each locate method can be applied to a set of defined total file numbers to determine the time to locate each defined total file number for each locate method, file number segment, and tape division region combination.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-11-15 (17/454844).

Storing modified or unmodified portions of file based on tape loading
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11762603) developed by Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Hasegawa, Tohru, Tokyo, Japan, Itagaki, Hiroshi, Yokohama, Japan, Abe, Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, Mitsuma, Shinsuke, Machida, Japan, and Yamamoto, Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, for “storing modified or unmodified portions of a file based on tape loading.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A computer-implemented method for migrating file data in a hierarchical storage environment includes: detecting that a file recalled from a magnetic tape to a primary storage device was modified, determining whether the magnetic tape from which the file was recalled is loaded in a tape drive upon detecting that the file was modified, responsive to determining that the magnetic tape from which the file was recalled is loaded in the tape drive upon detecting that the file was modified, appending only a modified portion of the file to the magnetic tape, and responsive to determining that the magnetic tape from which the file was recalled is not loaded in the tape drive upon detecting that the file was modified, appending the file in its entirety, including the modified portion of the file and any unmodified portions of the file, to a different magnetic tape.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-02-10 (17/668467).

Tape media having synergistic magnetic recording layer and underlayer
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11749306) developed by Bradshaw, Richard, Tucson, AZ, for a “tape media having synergistic magnetic recording layer and underlayer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic recording tape, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, includes a substrate, an underlayer formed above the substrate, and a magnetic recording layer formed above the underlayer. The underlayer includes first encapsulated nanoparticles each comprising a first magnetic nanoparticle encapsulated by a first aromatic polymer, and a first polymeric binder binding the first encapsulated nanoparticles. The recording layer includes second encapsulated nanoparticles each comprising a second magnetic nanoparticle encapsulated by an encapsulating layer, and a second polymeric binder binding the second encapsulated nanoparticles.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-08-27 (17/459659).

Tape drive tension management
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11721362) developed by Schäfer, Markus, Heiligenmoschel, Germany, Wiedemann, Stefan, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Rueger, Erik, Ockenheim, Germany, Beiderbeck, Robert, Wassenberg, Germany, and Asmussen, Ole, Henstedt-Ulzburg, Germany, for a “tape drive tension management.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A tape drive includes a plurality of rollers, a head, a tension sensor, and control circuitry. The rollers are spatially arranged within the tape drive to define a route for tape of a received data cartridge to travel from the received data cartridge to a tape reel. The head includes read elements and write elements configured to read from and write to the tape as tape of the received data cartridge travels along the route. The tension sensor is configured to measure tension of the tape as it travels along the route. The control circuitry is configured to cause a motor to impact the tension to keep the tape within a tension threshold.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-12-15 (17/644460).

Tape reposition management in tape storage drive
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11688431) developed by Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Abe, Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, and Masuda, Setsuko, Tokyo, Japan, for a “tape reposition management in a tape data storage drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In one aspect of tape repositioning management in accordance with the present description, in response to loading a tape in a tape drive, mounting the tape linear tape file system (LTFS) is initiated including reading an index partition on the tape to extract metadata for mounting the tape LTFS, and prior to accessing a data area of the tape in response to any application access request, the tape is repositioned within a data partition to read a vHRTD (virtual High Resolution Tape Directory) recorded in an EOD (End of Data) portion such as an EOD data set, for example, of the data partition. The EOD portion is read to retrieve the vHRTD to facilitate application requested accesses to the tape. In one embodiment, repositioning and stopping the tape at the beginning of the data partition after reading the index partition containing metadata is bypassed.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-05-06 (17/313630).

Dynamic tape storage device data buffer
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11681437) developed by Abe, Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, Miyamura, Tsuyoshi, Itagaki, Hiroshi, Yokohama, Japan, Hasegawa, Tohru, Yamamoto, Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, Mitsuma, Shinsuke, Machida, Japan, and Matsui, Sosuke, Tokyo, Japan, for a “dynamic tape storage device data buffer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A computer-implemented method for altering a position on a tape at which the tape transitions to a DATA_FULL state is disclosed. The computer-implemented method further includes determining, after a file is written to a Data Partition of the tape, a size of an Index representing metadata associated with the file. The computer-implemented method further includes altering, based on the size of the Index representing metadata associated with the file, a position in the Data Partition of the tape at which the tape transitions to the DATA_FULL state.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-02-25 (17/185089).