Head assembly for recording and reading, employing inductive and magnetoresistive elements

Claim 2

A head assembly for reading and recording magnetically recorded information on a medium comprising: a magnetoresistive element; conductive films having one planar surface of each disposed adjacent to opposite planar surfaces of said magneto-resistive element; highly permeable magnetic members disposed adjacent to the planar surface of said films opposite said magnetoresistive element; means for applying an electrical current to said conductive films to selectively provide a bias field for said magnetoresistive element and to selectively provide a periodically reversible current to record magnetic transitions in the medium; and means for sensing the resistance of said magnetoresistive element to read the magnetic information from the medium.

Claim 3

A head assembly as in claim 1, wherein said means for applying an electrical current includes control means for varying the direction of current to said conductive films.

Claim 4

A head assembly as in claim 1, wherein said current applying means applies D.C. bias current to said conductive films in opposite directions and of substantially equal magnitude during a read mode.

Claim 5

A head assembly as in claim 1, wherein said current applying means applies a current to said conductive films in the same direction at any given time, said current being periodically reversed to record transitions in a medium.

Claim 6

A head assembly as in claim 1, including insulating members disposed between said magnetoresistive element and said conductive films.

Claim 7

A head assembly as in claim 1, wherein said magnetic members and said magnetoresistive element are of different widths.

Claim 8

A head assembly as in claim 1 including a substrate, wherein one of said highly permeable magnetic members is made of Permalloy, and the other of said permeable magnetic members is made of an insulating ferrite formed with said substrate.

Claim 9

A head assembly as in claim 1, wherein said magnetic members are made of Permalloy layers.

Claim 10

A head assembly as in claim 8, wherein the thickness of a Permalloy layer is several times that of said magneto-resistive element.

Claim 11

A multilayer head assembly for reading and recording magnetically recorded information on a medium comprising: a layer of a magnetoresistive material for sensing magnetically recorded information while transversing the medium, a pair of layers of electrically conductive film material, one planar surface of each layer disposed adjacent to opposite planar surfaces of said magnetoresistive layer; and a pair of highly permeable magnetic members, one disposed adjacent to each planar surface of said pair of conductive film layers opposite said magnetoresistive layer; selectively controllable means connected to said conductive film material to provide a bias field for said magnetoresistive element and to provide a periodically reversible magnetic field to record magnetic transitions in the medium.

Claim 12

A multilayer head assembly for reading and recording magnetically recorded information on a medium comprising: a layer of a magnetoresistive material for sensing magnetically recorded information while transversing the medium, a pair of layers of electrically conductive film material, one planar surface of each layer disposed adjacent to opposite planar surfaces of said magnetoresistive layer; and a pair of highly permeable magnetic members, one disposed adjacent to each planar surface of said pair of conductive film layers opposite said magnetoresistive layer; selectively controllable means connected to said conductive film material to provide a bias field for said magnetoresistive element and to provide a periodically reversible magnetic field to record magnetic transitions in the medium.

Claim 13

A multilayer head assembly for reading and recording magnetically recorded information on a medium comprising: a layer of a magnetoresistive material for sensing magnetically recorded information while transversing the medium, a pair of layers of electrically conductive film material, one planar surface of each layer disposed adjacent to opposite planar surfaces of said magnetoresistive layer; and a pair of highly permeable magnetic members, one disposed adjacent to each planar surface of said pair of conductive film layers opposite said magnetoresistive layer; selectively controllable means connected to said conductive film material to provide a bias field for said magnetoresistive element and to provide a periodically reversible magnetic field to record magnetic transitions in the medium.

Claim 14

A multilayer head assembly for reading and recording magnetically recorded information on a medium comprising: a layer of a magnetoresistive material for sensing magnetically recorded information while transversing the medium, a pair of layers of electrically conductive film material, one planar surface of each layer disposed adjacent to opposite planar surfaces of said magnetoresistive layer; and a pair of highly permeable magnetic members, one disposed adjacent to each planar surface of said pair of conductive film layers opposite said magnetoresistive layer; selectively controllable means connected to said conductive film material to provide a bias field for said magnetoresistive element and to provide a periodically reversible magnetic field to record magnetic transitions in the medium.

Claim 15

A head assembly as described in claim 10 wherein said selectively controllable means includes a means for applying a unidirectional bias electrical current to each of said conductive film layers in opposite directions and of substantially equal magnitude during a read mode.

Claim 16

A head assembly as described in claim 10 including insulating layers disposed between said magnetoresistive layer and said conductive film layers.