Patents by Inventor Thomas Melrose

Thomas Melrose 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: 7315431
    Abstract: A disk drive measures the radial misposition of tracks and repositions the tracks at regularly spaced intervals. Written in runout (WRO) in servo bursts is determined to calculate track spacing and squeeze among adjacent tracks. Tracks with improper spacing are repositioned by adding a squeeze correction term to the servo wedges. Thereafter, when the disk drive operates to store data, the servo bursts are used to calculate a position error signal (PES), and the squeeze correction term is combined with the PES to position the head at a proper track radius.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2008
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen Perlmutter, Thomas Melrose, James Hargarten, Don Brunnett, Lloyd Levy, Adrián Cerdá
  • Publication number: 20070297088
    Abstract: Performing embedded runout correction for a track on a rotational data storage disk includes measuring written-in runout for the track, selecting a number of revolutions in response to the measured written-in runout of the track, calculating embedded correction values for the track for the selected number of revolutions of the rotational data storage disk, and storing the embedded correction values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2007
    Publication date: December 27, 2007
    Inventors: Yu Sun, Don Brunnett, Lloyd Levy, Thomas Melrose
  • Publication number: 20070139809
    Abstract: An apparatus and associated method is provided for observing a positional misplacement of a control object at a first commanded position, defining a fault threshold as a function of the observed positional misplacement, and signaling a write unsafe command to the control object in relation to comparing an instantaneous positional misplacement of the control object to the defined fault threshold during self servo writing with the control object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2006
    Publication date: June 21, 2007
    Applicant: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce Liikanen, Thomas Melrose
  • Publication number: 20070096678
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for compensating for positional indicia misplacements in the positioning of a control object, such as with servo seam misplacements on a data storage device storage medium. An actual position for the control object is determined in relation to a corrected commanded position of the control object and a corrected position error of the control object. The corrected commanded position is determined in relation to a gain error and an actual commanded position, and the corrected position error determined in relation to the gain error and an actual position error. Preferably, an actual position error of the control object is next determined in relation to the actual position, and the control object is moved to reduce the actual position error. The positional indicia preferably comprise AB and CD seams of ABCD servo dibit patterns on a recording surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2006
    Publication date: May 3, 2007
    Applicant: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventor: Thomas Melrose
  • Patent number: 7106547
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining embedded runout correction values uses a closed-loop system (with feedback) in a disk drive. Optionally, the embedded runout correction values may be determined after the disk drive has been manufactured and placed in the field. In addition, the embedded runout correction values may be updated after the disk drive has been manufactured and placed in the field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2006
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: James Hargarten, Thomas Melrose
  • Patent number: 6965491
    Abstract: A disk drive measures the radial misposition of tracks and repositions the tracks at regularly spaced intervals. Written in runout (WRO) in servo bursts is determined to calculate track spacing and squeeze among adjacent tracks. Tracks with improper spacing are repositioned by adding a squeeze correction term to the servo wedges. Thereafter, when the disk drive operates to store data, the servo bursts are used to calculate a position error signal (PES), and the squeeze correction term is combined with the PES to position the head at a proper track radius.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2005
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen Perlmutter, Thomas Melrose, James Hargarten, Don Brunnett, Lloyd Levy, Adrián Cerdá
  • Patent number: 6947249
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for automatically determining an embedded runout correction threshold for a disk drive are disclosed. In prior systems, embedded runout correction thresholds were set for all disk drives in a production run. The present invention provides a technique for automatically determining an embedded runout correction threshold on a drive-by-drive basis, instead of a production run of drives basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Jim Hargarten, Thomas Melrose, John Purkett
  • Patent number: 6940679
    Abstract: A disk drive utilizes a track dependent variable write fault gate for each of the transducers within the drive. By deriving a 3 sigma distribution across the repeatable run out (RRO) and the non-repeatable run out (NRRO), a position error signal (PES) is derived which varies in magnitude across the stroke of the transducers and which has a slope used to derive variable write fault gate thresholds for the tracks associated with each transducer. As the stroke of the transducer moves from the outer diameter (OD) to the inner diameter (ID), the magnitude of the write fault gate thresholds may be decreased relative to the PES, and track density and capacity may increase where PES and write fault gate thresholds are low. The invention thus maintains a constant hard error recovery margin across the stroke.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Michael McNeil, Thomas Melrose, Keith Malang
  • Patent number: 6549362
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for the enhancement of embedded runout correction in a disk drive is provided. According to the present invention, embedded runout correction values are obtained by convolving a position error signal due to repeatable runout for a track with an inverse impulse response describing the response of a transducer head servo system to a given input. According to the present invention, the inverse impulse response is determined by introducing an impulse to a transducer head servo system, and measuring the response of the system in the time domain. The response is transformed to the frequency domain to form an error transfer function, the reciprocal is taken, and the function is transformed back into the time domain. The inverse impulse response, according to the present invention, is obtained for at least every transducer head in a disk drive capable of addressing a track for which embedded runout correction is desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Melrose, Andy Ottele, Jim Hargarten, Dave Finamore