Abstract: The present invention is a system and method for creating a digital and searchable inventory of physically stored, items, objects, or documents. Methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may image physical items as a person removes them from a container. This person may also provide verbal descriptions of items being imaged. Artificial intelligence, such as object recognition, optical character recognition, or natural language processing, may then applied to the captured data to classify the items into a searchable hierarchy. The digital classification of the items and their attributes may be linked to a machine-readable ID, such as a barcode or other identifier, that may allow the items scanned to be associated with a specific physical storage device. This may include using identifiers that were originally on a container and by associating new identifiers with the container.

Abstract: A tape reader is provided that reads data from a tape without requiring specific alignment. The tape reader may include a reader head comprising a sensor array with a plurality of sensors that detect the data independent of the track within which the data is stored. Multiple sensors may detect data in each track instead of a single, dedicated sensor for each track. The sensor array may comprise multiple sensors in multiple dimensions, such as perpendicular to the movement of the tape or in parallel to the movement of the tape, including serpentine linear recording formats where the sensors may be in a matrix positioned at various angles from horizontal to vertical.