Patents by Inventor Kevin Tzou

Kevin Tzou has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11423931
    Abstract: A data storage device is disclosed comprising a plurality of disks each comprising a top disk surface and a bottom disk surface, and a plurality of actuator arms each comprising a first fine actuator configured to actuate a top head over one of the top disk surfaces and a second fine actuator configured to actuate a bottom head over one of the bottom disk surfaces. A first fine driver controls the fine actuators of an even interleave of the actuator arms, and a second fine driver controls the fine actuators of an odd interleave of the actuator arms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Tzou, Robert C. Reinhart, Hitoshi Shindo, Shigenori Takada
  • Publication number: 20220157338
    Abstract: A data storage device is disclosed comprising a plurality of disks each comprising a top disk surface and a bottom disk surface, and a plurality of actuator arms each comprising a first fine actuator configured to actuate a top head over one of the top disk surfaces and a second fine actuator configured to actuate a bottom head over one of the bottom disk surfaces. A first fine driver controls the fine actuators of an even interleave of the actuator arms, and a second fine driver controls the fine actuators of an odd interleave of the actuator arms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2021
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Inventors: Kevin Tzou, Robert C. Reinhart, Hitoshi Shindo, Shigenori Takada
  • Patent number: 9934803
    Abstract: A data storage device is disclosed comprising a first actuator configured to actuate a first head over a first disk, and a second actuator configured to actuate a second head over a second disk. The first actuator is controlled based on a first feed-forward seek profile to seek the first head over the first disk, and the second actuator is controlled to position the second head over a second data track on the second disk including to process the first feed-forward seek profile to attenuate a coupling disturbance from the first actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tetsuo Semba, Jeffrey J. Dobbek, Bryan Rowan, Masahito Kobayashi, Kevin Tzou
  • Patent number: 9792938
    Abstract: A data storage device is disclosed comprising a first disk comprising first servo sectors A0-AN distributed around a circumference of the first disk, and a second disk comprising second servo sectors B0-BN distributed around a circumference of the second disk, wherein the second servo sectors B0-BN are offset circumferentially from the first servo sectors A0-AN. While the first and second disks are rotating second servo information is transmitted from a second servo channel to a first servo channel. One of the first servo sectors Ai is read to generate first servo information, and a first command value is generated based on the first servo information and the second servo information, wherein a first actuator is controlled based on the first command value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Western Digial Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Masahito Kobayashi, Bryan Rowan, Tetsuo Semba, Kevin Tzou, Gary Herbst
  • Patent number: 8196732
    Abstract: A transport mechanism is configured to transport a work piece carrier within a buffer in fabrication facility, comprising: a transporter configured to travel on two rails, wherein the transporter comprises (i) a flat belt hoist mechanism configured to lift and to lower one or more work piece carriers, and (ii) a gripper mechanism configured to capture and to release the one or more work piece carriers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Muratec Automation Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Joseph John Fatula, Jr., Roumen Iliev Deyanov, Kevin Tzou, Pablo Gonzalez, Robert Carlson, John Brooks Greene
  • Publication number: 20110031091
    Abstract: A transport mechanism is configured to transport a work piece carrier within a buffer in fabrication facility, comprising: a transporter configured to travel on two rails, wherein the transporter comprises (i) a flat belt hoist mechanism configured to lift and to lower one or more work piece carriers, and (ii) a gripper mechanism configured to capture and to release the one or more work piece carriers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2010
    Publication date: February 10, 2011
    Inventors: JOSEPH JOHN FATULA, JR., ROUMEN ILIEV DEYANOV, KEVIN TZOU, PABLO GONZALEZ, ROBERT CARLSON, JOHN BROOKS GREENE
  • Publication number: 20070217052
    Abstract: A disk drive has multiple feedforward controllers for handling external disturbances, such as rotational vibration (RV), that have different external disturbance frequency spectra. Each feedforward controller is designed to be optimal for a canceling a specific associated RV spectrum. The actual RV spectrum acting on the disk drive is determined and the proper feedforward controller is then selected and used to generate a compensation signal for canceling the RV. Each feedforward controller may be tested when the disk drive is experiencing the RV, and the resulting compensation signal and PES measured. The feedforward controller that produces the best external disturbance cancellation is then selected as the feedforward controller. A signal from a RV sensor may be used to detect the peak frequency of the actual RV spectrum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2006
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Inventors: Tetsuo Semba, Matthew White, Kevin Tzou
  • Publication number: 20070030768
    Abstract: A magnetic recording disk drive with rotational vibration (RV) cancellation uses the position error signal (PES) and the signal from a RV sensor to determine when to enable and disable RV cancellation. An RV feedforward compensation signal to be summed with the VCM control signal is “switchable”, meaning that it can be enabled or disabled by the disk drive servo control processor. The determination to enable or disable is made from a comparison of the PES with a threshold PES, which may be an estimate of the off-track position of the head calculated from the RV sensor signal. The estimated off-track is compared to the absolute value of the actual or measured PES. If the estimated off-track is smaller than the actual PES, then the state of the RV cancellation is switched, i.e., if it is enabled it is disabled and if it is disabled it is enabled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2005
    Publication date: February 8, 2007
    Inventors: Tetsuo Semba, Matthew White, Kevin Tzou
  • Publication number: 20050219737
    Abstract: A disk drive manufacturing method calibrates the stitching gain of a position error signal (PES) by sampling servo information from a quadrature servo pattern while the head is maintained at the quarter-track positions and then calculating the kurtosis of the distribution of the PES values calculated from the samples. Because the kurtosis is a measure of the deviation from a normal or Gaussian distribution, the kurtosis of a PES distribution is used to optimize the stitching gain value through iteration until the kurtosis is close to zero, indicating that the PES with the optimal stitching gain values has a near-Gaussian distribution. The stitching gain calibration is performed for all heads and for multiple tracks across the surface of the disk for each head. The resulting values of stitching gain, each associated with a head and track, are stored in the disk drive memory and recalled during operation of the disk drive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2004
    Publication date: October 6, 2005
    Inventors: Craig Fukushima, Kevin Tzou, Mantle Yu