Patents by Inventor Wayne A. Thorsted

Wayne A. Thorsted 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).

  • Disk drive booting from volatile semiconductor memory when exiting power save mode
    Patent number: 8601248
    Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, a first volatile semiconductor memory (VSM), and a second VSM. When the disk drive is powered on, control circuitry first reads VSM initialization code from the disk, first initializes the first VSM using the VSM initialization code, stores the VSM initialization code in the second VSM, and then enters a power save mode. When exiting the power save mode, the control circuitry second initializes the first VSM using the VSM initialization code stored in the second VSM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Wayne A. Thorsted
  • DISK DRIVE BOOTING FROM VOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY WHEN EXITING POWER SAVE MODE
    Publication number: 20120254601
    Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, a first volatile semiconductor memory (VSM), and a second VSM. When the disk drive is powered on, control circuitry first reads VSM initialization code from the disk, first initializes the first VSM using the VSM initialization code, stores the VSM initialization code in the second VSM, and then enters a power save mode. When exiting the power save mode, the control circuitry second initializes the first VSM using the VSM initialization code stored in the second VSM.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventor: WAYNE A. THORSTED
  • Servo error response system on a magnetic disk device
    Patent number: 6064535
    Abstract: A system for halting operation of a hard disk controller when a write operation occurs during a servo positioning error condition including a memory cell for retaining an indication of whether a write operation occurred during the previous servo sector. A memory cell, such as a flip flop, is set on any occurrence of a write operation. With the reading of a next servo field, the output of the first flip flop is latched to a second flip flop. During a present servo sector, a servo positioning error signal is logically AND'ed with a write gate active signal where the write gate active signal is enabled if write gate is active in the present servo sector or write gate was active in the previous servo sector (as indicated by the output from the second flip flop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, N.V.
    Inventors: Aaron W. Wilson, Russell B. Josephson, Wen Lin, Wayne A. Thorsted
  • Method and apparatus for optimizing prefetch caching by reverse ordering of logical blocks
    Patent number: 5283875
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for optimizing prefetch caching for sets of disc drives with reverse ordered logical block mapping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1990
    Date of Patent: February 1, 1994
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth J. Gibson, James P. Jackson, Richard F. Lary, Wayne A. Thorsted