@retrolefty
It is a way to do it, but I think it is overcomplicated, to use IR diodes, because of the need to pulsate IR diodes.
No need to 'pulsate' IR diode, in fact the IR diode emitter(s) should be turned on continuously, and the 9 IR sensors will either see the IR light or not depending on if they are covered by the tape or exposed through a data hole as the tape passes by. The sprocket hole sensor will be the 'new data avalible'.
As far as the data format, that is something you will have to find out and it's not just the encoding method (either binary or ASCII) but also the whole software protocol being used.
Lefty