Magnetic record medium having permanent record pattern and information processing system using said medium

Claim 2

In a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersEd magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to an intended direction of movement, wherein the improvement comprises the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations spaced along a track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium being physicaly aligned in a direction transverse thereto to provide a series of spaced magnetically detectable permanent position/clocking marks.

Claim 3

A magnetic recording medium according to claim 1 wherein said layer comprises magnetizable particles uniformly dispersed in a nonmagnetic binder.

Claim 4

A magnetic recording medium according to claim 2, wherein the magnetizable particles are acicular gamma-Fe2O3.

Claim 5

A magnetic recording medium according to claim 2, wherein the predominant physical alignment in said one direction is parallel to the plane of the medium and the magnetizable particles within each of said selected locations are physically aligned parallel to the plane of the medium and perpendicular to said one direction.

Claim 6

In a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersed magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to an intended direction of movement, wherein the improvement comprises the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations uniformly spaced along a track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium being physically aligned in a direction transverse thereto to provide a series of uniformly spaced magnetically detectable permanent position/clocking marks.

Claim 7

In a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersed magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to an intended direction of movement, wherein the improvement comprises the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations uniformly spaced along a track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium being physically aligned in a direction transverse thereto to provide a series of uniformly spaced magnetically detectable permanent position/clocking marks.

Claim 8

A magnetic recording medium according to claim 5 wherein the layer comprises magnetizable particles uniformly dispersed in a nonmagnetic binder.

Claim 9

A magnetic recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the magnetizable particles are acicular gamma-Fe2O3.

Claim 10

A magnetic recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the predominant physical alignment in said one direction is parallel to the plane of the medium and the magnetizable particles within each of said selected locations are physically aligned parallel to the plane of the medium and perpendicular to said one direction.

Claim 11

In a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersed magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy, which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to an intended direction of movement, and wherein said layer has data magnetically recorded at a plurality of predetermined recording regions, wherein the improvement comprises the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations along a control track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium and spatially correlated with the predetermined recording regions being differently physically aligned from the alignment of the magnetizable particles in the remainder of the layer to provide magnetically detectable permanent position marks for indicating the positions of the predetermined recording regions.

Claim 12

In a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersed magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy, which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to an intended direction of movement, and wherein said layer has data magnetically recorded at a plurality of predetermined recording regions, wherein the improvement comprises the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations along a control track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium and spatially correlated with the predetermined recording regions being differently physically aligned from the alignment of the magnetizable particles in the remainder of the layer to provide magnetically detectable permanent position marks for indicating the positions of the predetermined recording regions.

Claim 13

In a magnetic recording medium according to claim 9, wherein said predetermined recording regions are uniformly spaced along at least one recording track parallel to said one direction, said recording regions forming data bit locations for magnetically recorded binary data, wherein said selected locations are uniformly spaced along said control track to provide a series of uniformly spaced magnetically detectable permanent clocking marks corresponding to the series of data bit locations for providing signal indications for enabling reproduction of a data bit from each data bit location of said at least one recording track.

Claim 14

An information processing system for determining the location of predetermined portions of a record medium, which system comprises: a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersed magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy, which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to said intended direction of movement, and wherein the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations spaced along a track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium is physically aligned in a direction transverse thereto to provide a series of spaced magnetically detectable permanent position/clocking marks; means for moving said medium in said direction parallel to said track; means for applying a substantially constant intensity unidirectional magnetic field along said track to differently magnetize said magnetizable material depending upon the direction of physical alignment thereof; and means for sensing the magnetization along said track when sid record medium is moved in a direction parallel to said track to produce signal pulses representative of said selected locations; and means for processing said representative signal pulses to locate predetermined portions of said record medium.

Claim 15

An information processing system for determining the location of predetermined portions of a record medium, which system comprises: a magnetic recording medium comprising a backing and a layer thereon having a smooth outer surface, which layer comprises uniformly dispersed magnetizable material having magnetic anisotropy, which magnetizable material is predominantly physically aligned parallel to said intended direction of movement, and wherein the magnetizable material at a plurality of selected locations spaced along a track extending in said intended direction of movement of the medium is physically aligned in a direction transverse thereto to provide a series of spaced magnetically detectable permanent position/clocking marks; means for moving said medium in said direction parallel to said track; means for applying a substantially constant intensity unidirectional magnetic field along said track to differently magnetize said magnetizable material depending upon the direction of physical alignment thereof; and means for sensing the magnetization along said track when sid record medium is moved in a direction parallel to said track to produce signal pulses representative of said selected locations; and means for processing said representative signal pulses to locate predetermined portions of said record medium.

Claim 16

A system according to claim 11, wherein the magnetizable material within each of said selected locations is physically aligned parallel to the plane of the medium and perpendicular to said one direction, whereby the applied magnetic field magnetizes the magnetizable material other than at said selected locations along said track to a first remanent state and magnetizes the magnetizable material within the selected locations along said track to a second lower remanent state.

Claim 17

An information processing system according to claim 11, for providing clocking pulses, wherein said selected locations are uniformly spaced along said track to provide a series of uniformly spaced magnetically detectable permanent clocking marks corresponding to a series of data bit locations, and wherein said signal processing means comprises means coupled to said sensing means for converting said representative signal pulses into a series of uniformly spaced clocking pulses corresponding to the series of data bit locations to enable recording/reproduction of data bits in/from each said data bit location.