IBM Assigned Eight Patents

Replicating data to plurality of replication devices through tape device
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11983430) developed by Brume, Shawn Owen, North Pole, AK, Sandoval Castro, Carlos, Jalisco, Mexico, Clemente Betancourt, Ricardo, Nayarit, Mexico, Wall, Parker Thomas, Raleigh, NC, and Lavigne, Jean Pierre, Durham, NC, for “replicating data to a plurality of replication devices through a tape device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for replicating data to a plurality of replication devices through a tape device. A replication request is transmitted to a primary tape device to replicate data to a replication number of at least one replication device to store the data to replicate. The primary tape device stores the data to replicate in tape storage media at the primary tape device and transmits the data to replicate over a network to the replication number of at least one replication device to store. Acknowledgment is received from the primary tape device indicating that the data has been replicated to the primary tape device and the replication number of the at least one replication device.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-08-01 (17/816477).

Dimensional stability compensation via head skew
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11972783) developed by Bui; Nhan Xuan, Judd; Kevin Bruce, Tucson, AZ, Furrer; Simeon, Altdorf, Switzerland, and Lantz; Mark Alfred, Adliswil, Switzerland, for a “dimensional stability compensation via head skew.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In one general embodiment, a data storage product includes a magnetic recording tape having written thereon at least two servo tracks extending along a longitudinal axis of the tape. Each servo track has a timing-based servo (TBS) pattern comprising a series of servo frames arranged to enable lateral positioning of a magnetic head relative to the servo tracks as well as tape dimensional stability (TDS) compensation via head skew. Each frame comprises a sequence of pairs of leading and trailing servo stripes. Midpoints between the servo stripes in each pair, at all points having a same relative lateral height on the tape, are located along a virtual median line oriented at an angle ? from perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tape, the angle ? being greater than 1 degree.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-03-29 (18/127946).

Header decoding mechanism for tape storage
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11967342) developed by Butt; Kevin Dale, Tucson, AZ, Cideciyan; Roy, Ruschlikon, Switzerland, Furrer; Simeon, Altdorf, Switzerland, Iwanaga; Masayuki, and Tanaka; Keisuke, Tokyo, Japan, for a “header decoding mechanism for tape storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Mechanisms are provided to receive encoded header information stored on a tape of a tape drive, wherein the encoded header information has been generated by: generating, for a plurality of tracks of the tape of the tape drive, a header information in a plurality of symbols, wherein the plurality of symbols is comprised of a first set of symbols and a second set of symbols, wherein the first set of symbols include identical information across all tracks of the plurality of tracks, and wherein the second set of symbols are configurable to include different information across all tracks of the plurality of tracks; and modifying, for writing to the tape of the tape drive, the first set of symbols of the plurality of tracks to include parity information corresponding to information included in the second set of symbols of the plurality of tracks. The received encoded header information is decoded.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-09-14 (17/944744).

Tape-to-tape copying between nodes of magnetic tape file systems
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11954353) developed by Abe; Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, Hasegawa; Tohru, Tokyo, Japan, Itagaki; Hiroshi, Miyamura; Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Mitsuma; Shinsuke, and Yamamoto; Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, for a “tape-to-tape copying between nodes of magnetic tape file systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In an approach to improve magnetic tape file systems through tape-to-tape copying between nodes on a Linear Tape File System using a cluster-wide named pipe. Embodiments transfer data between a first node and a second node. Additionally, both the first node and the second node implement a parallel shared-disk file system through a data path for node data reading and writing from a shared-disk and to the shared-disk. Further, to transfer data between the first node and the second node, embodiments, write, by the first node, the data for tape-to-tape copy from a first tape drive to the shared-disk, and write, by the second node, the data written from the shared-disk to a second tape drive.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-24 (17/448747).

Reducing deviation of read head position between writing and reading in magnetic tape
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11955140) developed by Sawada; Tatsuki, Matsudo, Japan, Miyamura; Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Masuda; Setsuko, Toshima-ku, Japan, and Nishida; Mitsuhiro, Sagamihara, Japan, for “reducing deviation of read head position between writing and reading in a magnetic tape.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method, and computer program product for offsetting a reading head on a magnetic tape to improve verification. A processor determines a write head width, a read head width, and a track pitch based on determining an LTO standard of the magnetic tape. The processor determines a distance of the reading head from a writing head using the write head width, the read head width, and the track pitch, and causes a tape appliance to relocate the read head on the magnetic tape to the determined distance.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-01-06 (17/647175).

Linear tape file system unoptimized read detection
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11934699) developed by Hasegawa; Tohru, Tokyo, Japan, Itagaki; Hiroshi, Miyamura; Tsuyoshi, Yokohama, Japan, Abe; Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, Mitsuma; Shinsuke, Machida, Japan, and Yamamoto; Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, for a “linear tape file system unoptimized read detection.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A computer-implemented method for unoptimized tape drive read detection is disclosed. The computer-implemented includes determining whether a read order of a trio of related files is consistent with an order in which the trio of related files are stored on a magnetic tape media. The computer-implemented method further includes generating an unoptimized tape drive read warning in response to determining that the read order of the trio of related files is inconsistent with the order in which the trio of related files are stored on the magnetic tape media.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-03-21 (17/699241).

Tape drive reel including damping to reduce track following errors
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11922982) developed by Harper; David, Vail, AZ, for a “tape drive reel including damping to reduce track following errors.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a tape drive reel including a damping structure for reducing position error signals in a tape during operation. The tape drive reel includes a hub including a first flange and a second flange. At least one of the first flange and the second flange includes a damping layer and a single stiffener layer positioned thereon. The damping layer is positioned between the single stiffener layer and the at least one of the first flange and the second flange. The single stiffener layer is more rigid than the damping layer.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-09-14 (17/932183).

Copy from LTFS to disk
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (11914883) developed by Mitsuma; Shinsuke, Machida, Japan, Miyamura; Tsuyoshi, Itagaki; Hiroshi, Yokohama, Japan, Hasegawa; Tohru, Yamamoto; Noriko, Tokyo, Japan, and Abe; Atsushi, Ebina, Japan, for “copy from LTFS to disk.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a tape drive reel including a damping structure for reducing position error signals in a tape during operation. The tape drive reel includes a hub including a first flange and a second flange. At least one of the first flange and the second flange includes a damping layer and a single stiffener layer positioned thereon. The damping layer is positioned between the single stiffener layer and the at least one of the first flange and the second flange. The single stiffener layer is more rigid than the damping layer.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-03-04 (17/653556).