Appeal No. 1998-2591 Page 4
Application No. 08/636,304
Accordingly, if tracking of the playback heads A1 and A2
deviates during playback, the output from either playback head
A1 or A2 is selected based on which output has the better
error rate. The invention is not only advantageous in
overcoming tracking deviations but also provides improved
reading of data due to physical disturbances of the tape 4,
such as a curved track. The invention also can be used with
the now popular narrow track recording/playback devices
without requiring expensive servo systems.
Claim 1, which is representative for our purposes,
follows:
1. A helical scanning magnetic
recording/playback device comprising:
a plurality of recording heads for writing a
plurality of recording tracks on a helically scanned
magnetic tape mounted on a periphery of a rotary
head drum, and
a plurality of playback head pairs, each
playback head pair comprising two playback heads for
reading the recording tracks on the helically
scanned magnetic tape mounted on the periphery of
said rotary head drum,
wherein playback heads in said plurality of
playback head pairs have a track width wider than
the track width of the recording heads, each
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