Patents by Inventor Douglas Zuercher

Douglas Zuercher 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: 9047921
    Abstract: Approaches for adjusting the recording density of a recording medium in a circumferential direction are disclosed. A hard-disk drive includes one or more electronic components configured to divide a track, of a plurality of concentric tracks on a magnetic-recording disk, into a plurality of portions, and write data to each of the plurality of portions at a recording density that is independent of the recording density used for any of the other portions. Data may be written to a first portion of a track at a different frequency than to a second portion of the same track. The frequency at which data is written may be adjusted for different portions of the same track to allow the frequency to be reduced at certain portions shown to have relatively higher soft error rate while increasing the frequency for other portions to achieve a desired average error rate for the track.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: David Jen, Indukumar Kalahasthi, Kris Schouterden, Douglas Zuercher
  • Patent number: 8068306
    Abstract: Approaches for improving the write quality of a hard-disk drive (HDD) head experiencing temporary fly-height problem. When the hard-disk drive is idle and heads are parked on the ramp, fluid, such as a lubricant or the condensation of vapor, may collect between the surface of a platter and the head or a slider, thereby causing the head to temporarily fly higher than normal. An HDD may include electronic component(s) configured to (a) determine whether it is likely that fluid is interposed between the surface of a magnetic-recording disk and the slider or the head, and (b) temporarily adjust one or more of (i) a thermal fly height control setting of the head and (ii) a write parameter of the head to compensate for the head flying higher than normal as a result of the fluid being interposed between the surface of the disk and the slider or the head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Lakshmi Ramamoorthy, David Jen, Douglas Zuercher, Masayoshi Shimokoshi, Kris Schouterden
  • Publication number: 20110141607
    Abstract: Approaches for improving the write quality of a hard-disk drive (HDD) head experiencing temporary fly-height problem. When the hard-disk drive is idle and heads are parked on the ramp, fluid, such as a lubricant or the condensation of vapor, may collect between the surface of a platter and the head or a slider, thereby causing the head to temporarily fly higher than normal. An HDD may include electronic component(s) configured to (a) determine whether it is likely that fluid is interposed between the surface of a magnetic-recording disk and the slider or the head, and (b) temporarily adjust one or more of (i) a thermal fly height control setting of the head and (ii) a write parameter of the head to compensate for the head flying higher than normal as a result of the fluid being interposed between the surface of the disk and the slider or the head.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2009
    Publication date: June 16, 2011
    Inventors: Lakshmi Ramamoorthy, David Jen, Douglas Zuercher, Masayoshi Shimokoshi, Kris Schouterden
  • Publication number: 20110116186
    Abstract: Approaches for adjusting the recording density of a recording medium in a circumferential direction are disclosed. A hard-disk drive includes one or more electronic components configured to divide a track, of a plurality of concentric tracks on a magnetic-recording disk, into a plurality of portions, and write data to each of the plurality of portions at a recording density that is independent of the recording density used for any of the other portions. Data may be written to a first portion of a track at a different frequency than to a second portion of the same track. The frequency at which data is written may be adjusted for different portions of the same track to allow the frequency to be reduced at certain portions shown to have relatively higher soft error rate while increasing the frequency for other portions to achieve a desired average error rate for the track.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Inventors: David Jen, Indukumar Kalahasthi, Kris Schouterden, Douglas Zuercher
  • Publication number: 20060114587
    Abstract: A method is presented for writing data to a surface of a magnetic disk in a disk drive. The method includes determining a number of sector groups into which sectors of the data to be written will be grouped, loading registers with current values, kick-latching values, and precompensation values for each of said sector groups, and applying the current values, kick-latching values, and precompensation values for each of the sector groups to the write head while writing data to the sector groups of the recording media.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2004
    Publication date: June 1, 2006
    Inventors: Indukumar Kalahasthi, Quan-chiu Lam, Guo Mian, Kris Schouterden, Joseph Silva, Christopher Wiederholt, Douglas Zuercher