Patents by Inventor Christopher J. Turner

Christopher J. Turner 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).

  • Publication number: 20020097651
    Abstract: A system and method for controlling operation of a motor system that addresses the design challenges for the small form factor optical disk system. The present invention includes starting the operation of a motor including windings and a rotor; placing the motor in a first operational state; driving the motor from the first operational state to a second operational state; and sensing a variation in an electrical waveform induced by driving of the motor to determine a cycle period from which the speed of the motor can be determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2001
    Publication date: July 25, 2002
    Inventors: Charles R. Watt, Christopher J. Turner
  • Publication number: 20020080698
    Abstract: A control system controls the spin speed of optical media in an optical disc drive, wherein the optical media comprises a premastered area that cannot be overwritten and a user-writeable area that can be overwritten. The control system stops and starts the spinning of the optical media, and controls the spin speed and the direction of spin. The control system also determines whether the commanded spin speed has been attained within a specified time period, and maintains the commanded spin speed. An event issues when the commanded spin speed was not attained within a specified time period, when a problem is detected while attempting to maintain the commanded spin speed, and when the optical media stops spinning. A laser in the disc drive is turned off when spin is turned off.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2001
    Publication date: June 27, 2002
    Inventors: Christopher J. Turner, Charles R. Watt
  • Patent number: 6364234
    Abstract: A capstan controlled tape transport mechanism that includes a tape tension controller for preventing tape slack in the tape path is presented. The transport mechanism includes a capstan, a spinnable reel, and a reel motor which controls the speed of revolution of the reel in response to a reel motor voltage/current. The spinning of the reel results in the winding of the tape around the reel to generate a tape stack whose radius varies according to the amount of tape wound around the reel hub. Each revolution of the reel generates a fixed number of reel tach pulses per reel revolution. The spinnable capstan controls the transport of tape across the capstan in the direction of the reel, generating a fixed number of capstan tach pulses per capstan revolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2002
    Inventors: Michael Donald Langiano, Christopher J. Turner
  • Publication number: 20020030918
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for varying track recording speed to maximize host-to-tape data transfer rates is presented. Variable data transfer rates of host systems and networks are accommodated by continually adjusting the tape speed to match the tape drive to the host's actual transfer rate. jThe speed of the tape is adjusted according to both the level of data present in the tape drive data buffer and whether the current mode of the drive is write mode or read mode. In the preferred embodiment, when the tape speed is accelerated or decelerated while writing a number of data track pairs to tape, a predetermined number of dummy track pairs are first written to tape at the current speed. On the next write head phase after the speed is increased or decreased as appropriate while the read heads are over the track, a predetermined number of dummy track pairs followed by more data track pairs are written to the tape at the new speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2001
    Publication date: March 14, 2002
    Inventors: Kelly J. Beavers, Michael A. Blatchley, David L. Detro, Christopher J. Turner, Thomas E. Zaczek
  • Patent number: 6307701
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for varying track recording speed to maximize host-to-tape data transfer rates is presented. Variable data transfer rates of host systems and networks are accommodated by continually adjusting the tape speed to match the tape drive to the host's actual transfer rate. The speed of the tape is adjusted according to both the level of data present in the tape drive data buffer and whether the current mode of the drive is write mode or read mode. In the preferred embodiment, when the tape speed is accelerated or decelerated while writing a number of data track pairs to tape, a predetermined number of dummy track pairs are first written to tape at the current speed. On the next write head phase after the speed is increased or decreased as appropriate while the read heads are over the track, a predetermined number of dummy track pairs followed by more data track pairs are written to the tape at the new speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: Ecrix Corporation
    Inventors: Kelly J. Beavers, Michael A. Blatchley, David L. Detro, Christopher J. Turner, Thomas E. Zaczek