METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING TRANSDUCERS BY DIGITAL CONVERSION OF ANALOG-TYPE SIGNALS

摘要

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING TRANSDUCERS BY DIGITAL CONVERSION OF ANALOG-TYPE SIGNALS Apparatus and method for decoding of transducer head-positioning information which has been recorded on data-storage media, in particular magnetic tape, and for use of the decoded information to position a transducer head, wherein the transducer head reads the recorded information and its output signals are sampled at predetermined times to determine their magnitude and a digital representation of such magnitude it obtained by timing an interval during which a reference source increases at a known rate from a first value to a second value whose difference corresponds to the detected magnitude of the transducer output signals. The timed interval is outputted in the form of a digital count value which is thus representative of the headpositioning information read out from the data storage media, and the digital signal provided by such count value is then used in positioning, or repositioning, the transducer head in a representative manner.