Patents by Inventor Todd Franks

Todd Franks 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: 7729076
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention allow for media erasure. Various embodiments allow for controlling an actuator based on feedback signal measurements and disk phase to seek a head across a surface of a disk systematically for an erasure operation. Also, in various embodiments, a substantially repeatable seek motion of a head across a stroke may be determined, and launch points at which the head is launched over a disk in the seek motion for erasing at least a portion of the disk are determined based on disk phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Craig Smith, Brian Rigney, Todd Franks, Xin H. Yang, Stan Shepherd, Bruce Liikanen
  • Patent number: 7551387
    Abstract: In accordance with various embodiments, a rotatable member is mounted to a spindle hub so that initial servo data previously provided to the rotatable member are eccentrically offset with respect to a rotational center of the spindle hub. Compensation vales are determined to characterize said offset, after which final servo data are provided to the rotatable member in relation to the initial servo data and the determined compensation values. The final servo data are nominally concentric with the rotational center of the spindle hub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Sun, Dave McMurtrey, Bruce Liikanen, Don Brunnett, John W. VanLaanen, Charles R. Watt, Stan Shepherd, S. Craig Smith, Todd Franks, Lin Guo
  • Publication number: 20080030894
    Abstract: In accordance with various embodiments, a rotatable member is mounted to a spindle hub so that initial servo data previously provided to the rotatable member are eccentrically offset with respect to a rotational center of the spindle hub. Compensation vales are determined to characterize said offset, after which final servo data are provided to the rotatable member in relation to the initial servo data and the determined compensation values. The final servo data are nominally concentric with the rotational center of the spindle hub.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2007
    Publication date: February 7, 2008
    Applicant: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: YU SUN, Dave McMurtrey, Bruce Liikanen, Don Brunnett, John VanLaanen, Charles Watt, Stanley Shepherd, S. Smith, Todd Franks, Lin Guo
  • Publication number: 20070268619
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention allow for media erasure. Various embodiments allow for controlling an actuator based on feedback signal measurements and disk phase to seek a head across a surface of a disk systematically for an erasure operation. Also, in various embodiments, a substantially repeatable seek motion of a head across a stroke may be determined, and launch points at which the head is launched over a disk in the seek motion for erasing at least a portion of the disk are determined based on disk phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2007
    Publication date: November 22, 2007
    Inventors: Craig Smith, Brian Rigney, Todd Franks, Xin Yang, Stan Shepherd, Bruce Liikanen
  • Patent number: 7251095
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for performing best head detection in a disk drive using reference tracks. In one embodiment, a disk drive includes a plurality of disk surfaces. Each disk surface has a read head and a write head associated therewith. A servo track writer is provided for moving each write head and each read head relative to their corresponding disk surfaces. Reference tracks are written onto each of the disk surfaces. The reference track from each disk surface is read by its corresponding read head to determine a best read head. In one embodiment, the servo track writer sweeps each read head across its corresponding reference track as the reference track is being read. In one embodiment, each reference track includes reference track patterns and the best read head is the read head that detects the most patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Brian Rigney, Jason Laks, Todd Franks