Patents by Inventor Tomokazu Okubo

Tomokazu Okubo 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: 11900964
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, there is provided a disk device including a disk, a head, a preamplifier and a controller. The head writes information to the disk according to a write current. The preamplifier causes the write current to flow through the head. The controller is capable of causing the preamplifier to perform current zero control for maintaining an amplitude of the write current at zero, and is capable of changing a time for maintaining the amplitude of the write current at zero according to a pattern of write data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 11735209
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device, including a disk, a head to write data to the disk and read data from the disk, a preamplifier to generate a recording current corresponding to data that the head writes to the disk, and a controller to convert a first data pattern in first write data, in accordance with a pattern length of a second data pattern previous to the first data pattern, to a different data pattern including a pseudo polarity inversion that does not cause a polarity inversion when converting the first data pattern to the recording current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Publication number: 20230186951
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, there is provided a disk device including a disk, a head, a preamplifier and a controller. The head writes information to the disk according to a write current. The preamplifier causes the write current to flow through the head. The controller is capable of causing the preamplifier to perform current zero control for maintaining an amplitude of the write current at zero, and is capable of changing a time for maintaining the amplitude of the write current at zero according to a pattern of write data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2022
    Publication date: June 15, 2023
    Inventor: Tomokazu OKUBO
  • Publication number: 20230081206
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device, including a disk, a head to write data to the disk and read data from the disk, a preamplifier to generate a recording current corresponding to data that the head writes to the disk, and a controller to convert a first data pattern in first write data, in accordance with a pattern length of a second data pattern previous to the first data pattern, to a different data pattern including a pseudo polarity inversion that does not cause a polarity inversion when converting the first data pattern to the recording current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 10395690
    Abstract: A magnetic disk device includes a disk, a head configured to write data on the disk based on a write current, and a controller configured to determine whether a write error occurs when data is written on the disk, based on a change in a heating value of the head, and upon determining that the write error occurs, read the data written on the disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 10325624
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a disk device including a head and a controller. The controller, with mapping information in which parameter sets each including multiple types of parameters related to operations of the head are mapped to an adjustment variable so as to be associated with multiple different values of the adjustment variable, evaluates operations of the head while changing the value of the adjustment variable contained in the mapping information and determines a parameter set corresponding to an appropriate value of the adjustment variable based on the evaluation results and the mapping information to set for operations of the head using the determined parameter set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Publication number: 20190066728
    Abstract: A magnetic disk device includes a disk, a head configured to write data on the disk based on a write current, and a controller configured to determine whether a write error occurs when data is written on the disk, based on a change in a heating value of the head, and upon determining that the write error occurs, read the data written on the disk.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2018
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Inventor: Tomokazu OKUBO
  • Patent number: 10147457
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device including a disk, a head configured to write write data to the disk, and a controller configured to write first data including a high-frequency pattern, detect, from a reproduced waveform obtained by reading the written first data, a difference between a first percentage by which high-frequency patterns of a first polarity are lost and a second percentage by which high-frequency patterns of a second polarity obtained by reversing the first polarity are lost, and adjust a high-frequency pattern of the first polarity of the write data or a high-frequency pattern of the second polarity of the write data on the basis of the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 9858962
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk medium and a controller. The disk medium is able to store a signal with three levels in a track. The track includes a first subtrack and a second subtract. The second subtrack is adjacent to the first subtract. The controller performs a first operation based on a selected level among the three levels, a first bit written in the first subtract corresponding to the selected level, and a second bit written in the second subtrack corresponding to the selected level. The first operation is an operation to correct displacement between a write position of a third bit in the first subtrack and a write position of a fourth bit in the second subtrack in a circumferential direction of the disk medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 9626995
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk medium and a controller. The disk medium has a data area and a servo area. The controller obtains offset amount of a head from a target position along an cross-track direction based on a signal read from the data area by the head and performs first control to cause the head to approach the target position based on the offset amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Publication number: 20170011764
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk medium and a controller. The disk medium has a data area and a servo area. The controller obtains offset amount of a head from a target position along an cross-track direction based on a signal read from the data area by the head and performs first control to cause the head to approach the target position based on the offset amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Publication date: January 12, 2017
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 9489977
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a storage device including a data converter, a recording medium, and an equalizer. The data converter converts data into sets of n number of four-ary symbols according to mapping rules in which 22n-1 or fewer types of bit labels are mapped onto the n number of four-ary symbols, where n is an integer of two or greater. Onto the recording medium, the converted n number of four-ary symbols are recorded in the form of a signal of one level among four levels. The equalizer equalizes a signal read from the recording medium into sets of the n number of four-ary symbols.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kohsuke Harada, Akihiro Yamazaki, Tomokazu Okubo
  • Publication number: 20160171993
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetic head includes read elements each including a first magnetic layer having a pinned magnetization direction, and a second magnetic layer provided to oppose the first magnetic layer via an insulating layer therebetween and having a free magnetization direction. At least two of the read elements are arranged such that both of the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer of each of these elements cross an arbitrary line and the first magnetic layers of these elements are different in magnetization direction with respect each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2015
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 9105277
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, an equalizer is configured to obtain a noise included in a first correction signal by using a noise component of a first track and a noise interference component from a second track. The equalizer is configured to correct the first correction signal by using the obtained noise. The equalizer is configured to equalize the corrected first correction signal. The noise component of the first track is calculated based on a noise component of the first track at a first timing and a noise component of the first track at a second timing earlier than the first timing. The noise interference component from the second track is calculated based on a noise interference component from the second track at the first timing and a noise interference component from the second track at the second timing. The decoder is configured to decode the equalized first correction signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kohsuke Harada, Akihiro Yamazaki, Nobuhiro Maeto, Kazuto Kashiwagi, Naoki Tagami, Masahiro Kanamaru, Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 9082457
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a data decoding control apparatus includes a reading controller and a decoding controller. The reading controller reads the encoded data of a symbol unit bit by bit from a storage medium. The decoding controller computes a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) value of the symbol unit for estimate decoding calculation relative to the encoded data based on the number of bit inversion in a symbol of the encoded data and a correction factor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 8988814
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a storage device includes a data conversion unit that coverts user data of n bits, into m three-ary symbols, a recording medium that records the symbols as a signal of any one of three levels corresponding to values of the symbols, and a Viterbi equalizer that performs equalization of the m symbols simultaneously based on a signal read from the recording medium while setting the number of states as a power of 3 and using a trellis diagram having 2n branches, and calculates 2n likelihoods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kohsuke Harada, Akihiro Yamazaki, Nobuhiro Maeto, Kazuto Kashiwagi, Tomokazu Okubo, Naoki Tagami
  • Publication number: 20140347761
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a data decoding control apparatus includes a reading controller and a decoding controller. The reading controller reads the encoded data of a symbol unit bit by bit from a storage medium. The decoding controller computes a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) value of the symbol unit for estimate decoding calculation relative to the encoded data based on the number of bit inversion in a symbol of the encoded data and a correction factor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2013
    Publication date: November 27, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 8867155
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a data reproduction apparatus includes a decoder, a cancellation process module and a calculator. The cancellation process module cancels, from equalized-waveform data of a read signal, the interference between a signal read from a first track and a signal read form a second track adjacent to the first track. The calculator calculates, for a specific window, a first cancellation coefficient necessary to cancel the interference. The calculator further calculates a second cancellation coefficient by correcting the first cancellation coefficient based on a ratio of the number of adjacent bits of opposite polarity to the number of all bits in the specific window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tomokazu Okubo
  • Patent number: 8780472
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, an information reproducing apparatus is configured to obtain, from a read sample value sequence obtained by sampling a read signal read from a first recording track of a magnetic recording medium, an interference-component-removed read sample value sequence, from which an interference component from a second recording track adjacent to the first recording track is removed. The apparatus includes a decoding module. The decoding module is configured to generate a first interference-component-removed read sample value sequence based on a cancellation weight column which varies according to a difference in polarity between a first bit of the first recording track and a second bit of the second recording track adjacent to the first bit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Tomokazu Okubo, Akihiro Yamazaki, Kazuto Kashiwagi, Naoki Tagami
  • Publication number: 20140104715
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a data reproduction apparatus includes a decoder, a cancellation process module and a calculator. The cancellation process module cancels, from equalized-waveform data of a read signal, the interference between a signal read from a first track and a signal read form a second track adjacent to the first track. The calculator calculates, for a specific window, a first cancellation coefficient necessary to cancel the interference. The calculator further calculates a second cancellation coefficient by correcting the first cancellation coefficient based on a ratio of the number of adjacent bits of opposite polarity to the number of all bits in the specific window.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2013
    Publication date: April 17, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Tomokazu OKUBO