System for sensing a tape cartridge

摘要

A tape deck system uses four sensors to read features on a tape cartridge to determine control operations. A first sensor determines and a second sensor indicate a condition from a set comprising standard tape cartridge present with file protect, standard tape cartridge present without file protect, cleaning cartridge present, and a standard cartridge quiescent state. The remaining two sensors are used with a special cartridge. The special cartridge has features that indicate, to the first two sensors, that the tape deck system is in the standard cartridge quiescent state. A third and fourth sensors then read features on the special cartridge indicating cartridge type and file protect status. This system allows special cartridges, such as those that may contain thin tape, to only be accessed by tape deck systems equipped to handle the special cartridges. The sensor for indicating the special cartridge type may be modified to also indicate that the cartridge is properly seated in the tape deck.