Patents Issued in February 19, 2008
  • Patent number: 7333275
    Abstract: A compact zoom lens system having excellent optical performance. The zoom lens system includes a first lens unit of negative optical power, a second lens unit of positive optical power, a third lens unit of positive optical power, and an F-number defining member. The second lens unit is disposed on the image side of the first lens unit and includes a lens element disposed closest to the object side. The lens element has a rim, a surface on the object side and having a vertex, and an intersection point defined by an intersection between the surface and the rim. The third lens unit is disposed on the image side of the second lens unit. The F-number defining member is disposed along the optical axis between the vertex and the intersection point. Spaces between the first, second and third lens units vary during zooming.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Makoto Sekita
  • Patent number: 7333276
    Abstract: An optical element that condenses light emitted from a light source has: an entrance surface where the light enters; an exit surface from which the light entering inside via the entrance surface; and a reflection surface that directs, to the exit surface by total reflection, part of the light entering the inside via the entrance surface. The reflection surface has an axis of symmetry of sixfold or higher-order-fold rotation. The optical element fulfills conditional formula: 0.3<a/b<1.4, where a denotes the maximum length of the exit surface in the direction perpendicular to the axis of symmetry; and b denotes a surface gap on the axis of symmetry between the entrance surface and the exit surface. As a result, an optical element can be provided which achieves highly efficient condensation at low costs and with simple configuration and also which achieves compactification by reducing the diameter of the optical element for the size of the light emitting surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventors: Keiko Ikuno, Kenji Konno
  • Patent number: 7333277
    Abstract: The cap device contains a number of prisms housed inside a closed space formed by a transparent cover, a ring, and a base. Gear teeth are provided along the inner circumference of the ring, which engage a gear member of the cap device to drive a passive gear located at an end of one of the prisms. As the other ends of the prisms are connected by a shaft of the cap device, all prisms are rotated synchronously. For every 120° spin of the prisms as the ring is turned, the faces of the prisms are aligned to face upward, and the images on the faces jointly form a complete image. As such, three complete images are revealed sequentially and continuously as the ring is turned in one direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Inventor: Tsan-Yao Chen
  • Patent number: 7333278
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a color wheel with filter sectors. A resist film formed on a disk-like substrate of the color wheel is shaped into a mask pattern by photo processing, a metal mask which has openings configured similar to the filter sectors but having a slightly larger area than those is set on the substrate, and optical interference filters of a dielectric multi-layer film are formed by an evaporation method or a sputtering method, whereby the optical interference filters are formed so as to cover very limited portions of the mask pattern so that at lift-off process, resist remover can penetrate into the mask pattern from most portions of the mask pattern thus enabling the mask pattern to be removed easily and quickly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Minebea Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kuniyuki Takao
  • Patent number: 7333279
    Abstract: A storage device has a storage medium, a plurality of read-write mechanisms, a quality monitoring and book-keeping unit and a scheduling unit. The plurality of read-write mechanisms is coupled to the storage medium. The quality monitoring and book-keeping unit is coupled to the plurality of read-write mechanisms and is adapted to monitor at least one performance parameter associated with each read-write mechanism during operation. The scheduling unit is coupled to the quality monitoring and book-keeping unit. The scheduling unit is adapted to rank each of the plurality of read-write mechanisms according to the at least one performance parameter and to responsively schedule use of a read-write mechanism according to its rank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Erozan Kurtas, Mehmet Erden, Xueshi Yang
  • Patent number: 7333280
    Abstract: A method of writing product servo sectors on a disk of a disk drive is disclosed. The disk comprises a reference pattern having a plurality of sync marks written around the disk. The sync marks are detected to generate a sync mark detect signal, and a timing recovery measurement is generated in response to the sync mark detect signal. A frequency control signal is generated in response to the timing recovery measurement, and a servo write clock is generated in response to the frequency control signal. A feed-forward compensation value is generated in response to the timing recovery measurement and the frequency control signal, and the timing recovery measurement is adjusted in response to the feed-forward compensation value to compensate for a repeatable phase error in the timing recovery measurement. The servo write clock and the head internal to the disk drive are used to write the product servo sectors to the disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Yakov M. Lifchits, Wing Ying, Yilin Cai, Siri S. Weerasooriya
  • Patent number: 7333281
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus to write and inspect servo information on a disc drive and minimize an effect on servo information written in adjacent tracks caused by a gap erase field, and write servo information on the disc drive and perform servo information inspection and defect processing. The method includes sequentially writing servo information toward a track having skew ‘0’ at from outer surface in an outer region of the disc, and sequentially writing the servo information toward the track having skew ‘0’ from an inner surface in an inner region, and after writing of the servo information is completed, inspecting the servo information written in a track at a predetermined distance from the track having skew ‘0’, and determining whether the servo information is correctly written.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Seung-chul Park, Kwong-jo Jung
  • Patent number: 7333282
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention avoid an off-track write when an impact is applied. A hard disk drive according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a magnetic disk; an actuator for moving a head element section over the magnetic disk; and an HDC/MPU for prohibiting the head element section from writing onto the magnetic disk for a short period when a detected impact is found to be greater than a low reference level and not greater than a high reference level, and prohibiting the head element section from writing onto the magnetic disk for a period longer than the short period when the detected impact is found to be greater than the high reference level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Kaoru Iseri, Atsushi Tobari, Yasuhiro Iihara, Masanori Aratani
  • Patent number: 7333283
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a disk drive device excellent in reliability that can reduce influence of a temperature change in an environment of use. In one embodiment, a disk drive device includes a disk drive mechanism that records information in a disk or reproduces information stored in the disk and a housing in which the disk drive mechanism is housed. The disk drive device further includes a humidity control element that controls humidity in the inside of the housing, a temperature sensor that detects ambient temperature of the disk drive device or temperature of a portion where temperature changes substantially in the same manner as the ambient temperature, and a control circuit that controls the temperature control element on the basis of a rapid change in temperature detected by the temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Naotoshi Akamatsu, Yuji Fujita
  • Patent number: 7333284
    Abstract: A magnetic head accesses sectors of one track in the order starting with a sector where the magnetic head is put into an on-track state. A seek start timing is reliably determined by accessing on a track by track basis with an uncertain process of a read-ahead operation eliminated. A search time is eliminated by accessing any sector within one track. As a result, the number of seeks is minimized and access time is reduced. A sector format is used to perform an access operation on a track by track basis. In this arrangement, each of seek time and search time is reduced during a random access time and a data transmission speed of a disk drive is assured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroaki Eto, Daizo Nagahara, Akihiro Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 7333285
    Abstract: A method of and an apparatus for detecting an actuator vibration, and a hard disc drive write control method of avoiding an effect due to the actuator vibration. The method of detecting an actuator vibration includes: obtaining a specified number of position error signal (PES) samples while following a track; performing a time-frequency conversion on the specified number of PES samples; and detecting a magnitude of a conversion coefficient indicating a magnitude of an actuator vibration, in a specified frequency band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyung-joon Cho, Jae-hyeong Kim
  • Patent number: 7333286
    Abstract: In a method of writing a reference servo signal of a hard disk drive having a spiral reference servo signal that is referred to when writing a final servo signal is written while a head is moved across a disk for a predetermined time at a target movement velocity, an actual movement velocity of the head is detected from a counter electromotive force generated in a voice coil motor that moves that head, for the predetermined time during which the spiral reference servo signal is written, and the head is controlled to maintain the target movement velocity by feeding back the detected actual movement velocity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kwang-jo Jung, Da-woon Chung, Byoung-kul Ji
  • Patent number: 7333287
    Abstract: A head position control method controls a position of a head of a first apparatus with respect to a disk which has been formed with a track and has been recorded with servo information including position information in servo frames by a second apparatus that is different from the first apparatus. The method includes measuring an eccentricity of the disk in the first apparatus and calculating a correction value for controlling the head to scan a virtual circular locus approximately matching the track, writing the correction value in a specific servo frame, and controlling the head during a seek, based on the correction value read from the specific servo frame, so that the head scans the virtual circular locus approximately matching the track which has been formed by the second apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Takeshi Hara
  • Patent number: 7333288
    Abstract: RRO corrector function is formulated to partition the contribution of micro-actuator control from the other voice coil assembly contributions. Single stage actuation is supported by zeroing the micro-actuator control queue, otherwise multi-stage actuation is supported. The multi-stage actuation may include dual stage actuation and in some embodiments triple stage actuation. Triple stage further partitions RRO corrector function for the contribution of the second micro-actuator. Method of initializing an assembled hard disk drive creates hard disk drive as product, using the written-in parameter list for track on the disk surface to recreate the RRO corrector as RRO corrector filter using queues updated by NRRO corrector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Young-Hoon Kim, Sang Hoon Chu, Dong Jun Lee, Hyung Jai Lee
  • Patent number: 7333289
    Abstract: A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and a method of controlling the same, capable of increasing the output of a position control signal and performing a precise positioning control of a magnetic head. The magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus has: a magnetic recording medium on which a positional information is recorded in the form of burst signal groups each consisting of either one of a single concave portion and a single convex portion of a predetermined concavo-convex pattern formed of a magnetic layer; a gate circuit; and an integrator for calculating a area integral of a reproduced signal corresponding to each of the burst signal groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Akimasa Kaizu, Yoshikazu Soeno, Makoto Moriya
  • Patent number: 7333290
    Abstract: Disclosed is a magnetic disk having servo sectors for defining data tracks. Each servo sector includes a preamble field and a null servo burst field. The preamble field is for synchronizing a phase-locked loop oscillator and defines a reference phase angle. The null servo burst field includes first and second servo bursts that are radially adjacent and have opposed phase angles such that a read along a null path that is equally between the first and second servo bursts generates a read signal of substantially zero amplitude, and a read along a path that is offset from the null path generates a read signal having an amplitude indicating a distance between the offset path and the null path, and having a phase indicating an offset direction. Further, the phase angle of the first and second servo bursts are substantially different from the reference phase angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Hanan Kupferman
  • Patent number: 7333291
    Abstract: There is provided a system and a method for reducing noise in a tape drive. More specifically, in accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method of writing servo stripes comprising energizing a left servo gap while not energizing a right servo gap; energizing the left servo gap and the right servo gap at the same time, and energizing the right servo gap while not energizing the left servo gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Donald J. Fasen
  • Patent number: 7333292
    Abstract: A seek servo control method and device for a disk drive device for performing seek servo control according to a variation in a power supply voltage for the disk drive. The seek servo control method includes: detecting a supply voltage for the disk drive; and adjusting a seek time according to a track seek length based on the detected supply voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sang-hoon Chu, Nam-guk Kim, Cheol-hoon Park
  • Patent number: 7333293
    Abstract: A storage system includes at least one storage medium having a label, the label having a width extending along a first axis. The tape storage system further includes a reader to read the label based on light scanned across the label, where the reader has a light sensing portion extending along a second axis that is inclined with respect to the first axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Kelly J. Reasoner, Gregg S. Schmidtke, Thomas D. Benson
  • Patent number: 7333294
    Abstract: A disc drive head that includes a shared pole having high magnetic anisotropy layer which locally decreases the amplitude of dynamic field excitation of the shared pole at the write operation frequency to reduce side-writing of a disc media during a write operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Shaoping Li, Wenzhong Zhu, Lei Wang, Rick Michel, David Kaiser, Dean C. Palmer, Taras G. Pokhil, Ned Tabat
  • Patent number: 7333295
    Abstract: A method and system for plating CoNiFe is disclosed. The method and system include providing a plating solution including hydroxymethyl-p-tolylsulfone and plating the CoNiFe film on a substrate in the plating solution. The plating solution is configured to provide a CoNiFe film having a high saturation magnetic flux density and having a composition of 50-70 weight percent of Fe and 3-8 weight percent of Ni. In another aspect, the method and system include plating at least a portion of a first and/or second pole of a write head using the plating solution including hydroxymethyl-p-tolylsulfone and configured to plate the CoNiFe film having a high saturation magnetic flux density and a composition of 50-70 weight percent of Fe and 3-8 weight percent of Ni.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Western Digital (Fremont), LLC
    Inventors: Jose A. Medina, Thomas E. Dinan, Tiffany Yun Wen Jiang, Mohamad T. Krounbi
  • Patent number: 7333296
    Abstract: A pole layer is disposed in a groove of a pole-layer-encasing layer made of a nonmagnetic material with a nonmagnetic film disposed between the encasing layer and the pole layer. A polishing stopper layer made of a nonmagnetic conductive material is disposed on the top surface of the encasing layer. The polishing stopper layer indicates the level at which polishing for controlling the thickness of the pole layer is stopped. The polishing stopper layer has a penetrating opening, and the edge of the opening is located directly above the edge of the groove located in the top surface of the encasing layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Sasaki, Hironori Araki, Shigeki Tanemura, Takehiro Horinaka
  • Patent number: 7333297
    Abstract: An air bearing surface, with multiple deflection rails in a negative pressure pocket, between a leading air bearing surface and a central island for the read-write head. A gap separates left and right deflection rails. During the slider's normal operation, incoming particles may collide with at least one of the deflection rails and deflect away from the central island and the read-write head. The gap supports diminishing additional negative pressure in the negative air pressure pocket. The gap may minimize the accumulation of debris behind the rejection rails. The invention includes head gimbal assemblies containing these sliders, actuator arms coupled to the head gimbal assemblies, actuator assemblies including at least one of the actuator arms, and hard disk drives whish include the actuator assemblies. The invention also includes methods for making sliders, actuator arms, actuator assemblies, and hard disk drives, as well as the products of these manufacturing methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ki-Ook Park
  • Patent number: 7333298
    Abstract: In conjunction with a magnetic disk drive unit comprising a voice coil motor (14), an arm (12) extending from the motor, a magnetic head actuator (2) mounted at a distal end of the arm, a suspension (16) coupled to the actuator, and a magnetic head slider mounted on the suspension at its distal end, the magnetic head actuator (2) comprises a stator section (30) secured to the arm distal end, an attachment section (18) secured to the arm distal end together with the stator section, micro-beams (20, 22) extending from the attachment section, a rotor section (24) supported for swing motion by the micro-beams, a permanent magnet (32) disposed in the stator section, and a coil (28) disposed in the rotor section. Electric current is conducted through the coil in the magnetic field created by the permanent magnet for causing the micro-beams to be displaced for inducing swing motion of the suspension secured to the rotor section and the magnetic head slider mounted thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hajime Nakamura, Takehisa Minowa
  • Patent number: 7333299
    Abstract: A suspension is provided, which comprises: a flexure with elasticity for supporting a head slider having at least one head element; a first load beam having first ribs for reinforcement at both side ends of the first load beam, for supporting the flexure; and a second load beam having second ribs for reinforcement at both side ends of the second load beam, at least a part of the second load beam being overlapped with the first load beam and being fixed to the first load beam, at least a part of the first and second ribs being overlapped with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshimitsu Wada, Takeshi Wada, Takashi Honda, Yoshihisa Higuchi
  • Patent number: 7333300
    Abstract: A method for reducing noise in a lapping guide. Selected portions of a Giant magnetoresistive device wafer are masked, thereby defining masked and unmasked regions of the wafer in which the unmasked regions include lapping guides. The wafer is bombarded with ions such that a Giant magnetoresistive effect of the unmasked regions is reduced. The GMR device is lapped, using the lapping guides to measure an extent of the lapping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Mark A. Church, Wipul Pemsiri Jayasekara, Howard Gordon Zolla
  • Patent number: 7333301
    Abstract: A thin-film magnetic head having little temperature rise in the element, good heat dissipation and a short magnetic path length (narrow coil pitch) and manufacturing method for same is provided. To form the coil of the thin-film magnetic head, a lower coil is first formed and after forming alumina and an inorganic compound containing alumina, a trench is formed for the upper coil by reactive ion etching. The lower coil allows uniform etching at this time and functions as a film to prevent loading effects occurring during reactive ion etching. This trench is then plated in copper and chemical mechanical planarization performed to form the upper layer coil as the dual-layer coil of the present invention. Heat from the coil is efficiently radiated towards the substrate by alumina and an inorganic compound containing alumina with good heat propagation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kimitoshi Etoh, Nobuo Yoshida, Moriaki Fuyama, Makoto Morijiri, Kenichi Meguro, Ichiro Oodake, Kazue Kudo, Yohji Maruyama, Katsuro Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7333302
    Abstract: A magnetoresistive sensor having a substrate that has been treated with nitrogen (nitrogenated). The nitrogenated substrate includes an alumina base layer and a thin top layer of crystalline alumina that has had a very small amount of nitrogen deposited on top. The amount of nitrogen deposited on top of the alumina is less than or equal to two monolayer, and is preferably less than on monolayer. The amount of nitrogen deposited on top of the alumina substrate is not enough to constitute a layer of nitrogen, but affects the structure of the alumina to cause the alumina to have a desired crystalline structure and an extremely smooth surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technology Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Wen-yaung Lee, Thomas E. Shatz, Dulip Ajantha Welipitiya, Brian R. York
  • Patent number: 7333303
    Abstract: Provided is a magnetoresistive device capable of stably maintaining sufficient output characteristics even under a higher temperature environment while responding to a demand for a higher recording density. The magnetoresistive device comprises an MR film including a fixing layer made of IrMn, an outer pinned layer of which the magnetization direction is fixed in a +Y direction by the fixing layer, and an inner pinned layer of which the magnetization direction is fixed in a ?Y direction by the fixing layer, a pair of conductive lead layers and a constant current circuit which flows a sense current in a +X direction so as to generate a current magnetic field toward a ?Y direction in the inner pinned layer, and in the magnetoresistive device, a conditional expression (1) is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Shimazawa, Yoshihiro Tsuchiya, Kenji Inage
  • Patent number: 7333304
    Abstract: A current perpendicular to plane (CPP) having hard magnetic bias layers located at the back of the sensor, opposite the air bearing surface. The bias layer is magnetostatically coupled with the free layer to bias the free layer in a desired direction parallel with the ABS. First and second magnetic shield layers may be provided at either lateral side of the sensor to provide exceptional track width definition. The placement of the bias layer at the back of the sensor makes possible the addition of magnetic shields at the sides of the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Hardayal Singh Gill, Kuok San Ho
  • Patent number: 7333305
    Abstract: A magnetoresistive sensor having an in stack bias structure that extends beyond a stripe height edge defined by the free and pinned layers. The bias structure includes a magnetic bias layer that is magnetostatically coupled with the free layer by a non-magnetic spacer layer. The bias layer is pinned by an AFM layer that is disposed outside of the active area of the sensor beyond the stripe height edge. The AFM layer is exchange coupled with the bias layer on the same side of the bias layer that contacts the spacer layer. This reduces the gap height by moving the AFM layer up within the level of the other sensor layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventor: Hardayal Singh Gill
  • Patent number: 7333306
    Abstract: A TMR sensor, a CPP GMR sensor and a CCP CPP GMR sensor all include a tri-layered free layer that is of the form CoFe/CoFeB/NiFe, where the atom percentage of Fe can vary between 5% and 90% and the atom percentage of B can vary between 5% and 30%. The sensors also include SyAP pinned layers which, in the case of the GMR sensors include at least one layer of CoFe laminated onto a thin layer of Cu. In the CCP CPP sensor, a layer of oxidized aluminum containing segregated particles of copper is formed between the spacer layer and the free layer. All three configurations exhibit extremely good values of coercivity, areal resistance, GMR ratio and magnetostriction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tong Zhao, Kunliang Zhang, Hui-Chuan Wang, Yu-Hsia Chen, Min Li
  • Patent number: 7333307
    Abstract: It is necessary to stabilize the free layer of GMR or TMR devices by providing a longitudinal bias field. As read tracks become very narrow, this field can drastically reduce the strength of the output signal. This problem has been overcome by adding an additional bias layer. This layer, which may be located either above or below the conventional bias layer, is permanently magnetized in the opposite direction to that of the permanent magnets used to achieve longitudinal stability. Through control of the magnetization strength and location of this additional bias layer, cancellation of much of the field induced in the free layer by the conventional bias layers is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Kenichi Takano
  • Patent number: 7333308
    Abstract: A control arrangement is operable to control an electrical relay to supply current. The arrangement comprises current supply means and control means operable to provide a relay make signal and a relay break signal to control the state of the relay to respectively make and break a connection to the current supply means. Further control means are operable to enable or disable the current supply means. A first delay means operates to delay enabling the current supply means until after a relay make signal has been provided, to allow the relay to make the connection before current supply commences. Excess current is also sensed and controlled by a form of pulse-width modulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Inventor: Bruce Stanley Gunton
  • Patent number: 7333309
    Abstract: A superconducting fault current limiter array with a plurality of superconductor elements arranged in a meanding array having an even number of supconductors parallel to each other and arranged in a plane that is parallel to an odd number of the plurality of superconductors, where the odd number of supconductors are parallel to each other and arranged in a plane that is parallel to the even number of the plurality of superconductors, when viewed from a top view. The even number of superconductors are coupled at the upper end to the upper end of the odd number of superconductors. A plurality of lower shunt coils each coupled to the lower end of each of the even number of superconductors and a plurality of upper shunt coils each coupled to the upper end of each of the odd number of superconductors so as to generate a generally orthoganal uniform magnetic field during quenching using only the magenetic field generated by the superconductors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Inventor: Kasegn D. Tekletsadik
  • Patent number: 7333310
    Abstract: A bonding pad arrangement for an integrated circuit includes a bonding pad fabricated on a bonding area to enable bonding. A first ESD resistor is fabricated adjacent the bonding area, and at least a second ESD resistor is fabricated adjacent the first ESD resistor and the bonding area. The bonding pad extends beyond the bonding area to connect to the first ESD resistor and to the at least second ESD resistor, thereby providing at least two input ESD circuits for at least one current consuming electronic circuit from the single bonding pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.
    Inventor: David Charles McClure
  • Patent number: 7333311
    Abstract: A structure and method operable to provide ESD protection for protected circuitry of automatic test equipment (ATE). In a disable mode, the first voltage potential and second voltage potential are substantially equivalent to the reference potential resulting in a clamping circuit providing a nominal clamping voltage to the protected circuit so that an ESD event having a voltage between the first voltage potential and the second voltage potential is shunted to the reference potential via first and second ESD rails, wherein the ESD event is received on a DUT node coupled to the one or more signal rails of the protected circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: John C. Kerley, David D. Eskeldson
  • Patent number: 7333312
    Abstract: An ESD device invention comprises first and second transistors formed in a substrate, each having a source, a drain and a gate, the source and drain of the first transaction being connected between ground and an I/O pin or input, the gate of the first transistor being connected to ground and the source and drain of the second transistor being connected between the substrate of the first transistor and the I/O pin or input; first and second capacitors connected in series between ground and the I/O pin or input; and at least a third transistor connected between ground and a node between the first and second capacitors to which the gate of the second transistor is also connected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventors: Hugh Sungki O, Chih-Ching Shih, Cheng-Hsiung Huang, Yow-Juang Bill Liu
  • Patent number: 7333313
    Abstract: A temperature sensing circuit for a ballast for a HID lamp multiplexes the temperature measurement function with another function to reduce the number of pins required for the temperature measurement function performed by the microcontroller of the ballast. The circuit includes a microcontroller having a first A/D input/output pin, a second A/D input/output pin and a multifunction pin, a temperature measurement circuit connected to the second A/D pin, a timing circuit connected to the first A/D pin, and a switch connected to the multifunction pin, temperature measurement circuit and timing circuit. The switch activates the temperature measurement function by connecting the temperature measurement circuit to the multifunction pin in a first position and deactivates the function by disconnecting the temperature measurement circuit from the multifunction pin in a second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Osram Sylvania Inc.
    Inventors: Guy P. Bouchard, John E. Cross
  • Patent number: 7333314
    Abstract: A power control unit that can perform preventing a secondary battery from generating heat and preventing power supply from being suddenly shut off. Supply of power from a secondary battery to a system unit is controlled by a power control unit. At this time, the power control unit successively monitors a cell temperature of the secondary battery, and requests the system unit to switch to a power saving mode when the cell temperature exceeds a predetermined alarming temperature which is preset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hidenori Yamaji, Soichi Sato, Yoshitaka Narukawa
  • Patent number: 7333315
    Abstract: A secondary battery device 1 including multiple protective circuits U1-U3 connected in parallel and each having two fuses fa, fb connected in series, wherein a terminal tc of each heater h is connected to a switch element 4 via rectifier element D1-D3. Even if a potential difference is generated between terminals tc, no residual current flows because any one of the rectifier elements D1-D3 is reverse-biased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignees: Sony Chemical & Information Device Corporation, Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Kawazu, Hisaya Tamura, Yuji Furuuchi, Masahiro Matsuyoshi, Kazutaka Furuta
  • Patent number: 7333316
    Abstract: A transient suppressor circuit for use in suppressing transient voltages superimposed on AC power conductors. The transient suppressor circuit includes a threshold thyristor connected in series with a capacitor. The transient suppressor circuit is connected across the AC power conductors. In response to a transient voltage superimposed on the AC power conductors, the thyristor is triggered into conduction. The series capacitor has a capacitance such that it represents a low impedance to the transient voltage, but a high impedance to the AC power line frequency. Accordingly, the triggering of the thyristor shunts high frequency transient currents to ground via the low impedance of the capacitor, but does not shunt low frequency AC power currents to ground because of the high capacitive impedance. Circuit fuses are thus not blown in response to low frequency overvoltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Littelfuse, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard G. Norris
  • Patent number: 7333317
    Abstract: A portable ionizer is arranged for generating ionized air in an area of a user's fingers. The portable ionizer includes a battery-powered oscillator coupled via a high voltage conversion circuit to a positive electrode and a negative electrode for generating positive and negative ions. A fan positioned near the positive and negative electrodes is arranged providing a positive and negative ion flow path to the area of the user's fingers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Susan Ann Hodapp Benysh, Edward Charles Gillard, Don Alan Gilliland, Dennis Elmer Maloney
  • Patent number: 7333318
    Abstract: A multilayer capacitor 1 has a laminated body 20 configured by laminating a plurality of dielectric substrates 2 each having a plurality of internal electrodes 3 and 5 formed on its main surface and a capacitance component is generated between the facing internal electrodes 3 and 5. The dielectric constant of the dielectric substrate located at a central portion of a lamination direction of the laminated body 20 is lower than that of the dielectric substrate 2 located at the edge of the lamination direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akio Hidaka, Yuuichi Murano, Shinichi Wakasugi
  • Patent number: 7333319
    Abstract: To provide a solid electrolytic capacitor capable of being miniaturized with larger capacitance. A solid electrolytic capacitor comprises a capacitor element, an anode lead frame, a cathode lead frame, an adhesive layer and an exterior resin. The anode lead frame is connected to an anode of the capacitor element. The cathode lead frame includes a first and a second cathode leads and a boundary part. The first cathode lead is connected to a cathode of the capacitor element by the adhesive layer. The boundary part is disposed between the first cathode lead and the second cathode lead so as to provide a level difference at the capacitor element side. The exterior resin covers the capacitor element, a part of the anode lead frame, a part of the cathode lead frame and the adhesive layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Keiko Matsuoka
  • Patent number: 7333320
    Abstract: A fiber distribution terminal system includes a below ground vault, and a terminal enclosure within the vault. The system also includes a lift system in the vault, the lift system including a screw drive and a track system. Rotation of the screw drive lifts the terminal enclosure from a below ground to a lifted position, and the track system guides the terminal enclosure as the enclosure is lifted. The system also includes a tool such as a cordless drill to drive the screw drive. The screw drive can include a ball screw and a ball nut. The system can include a bracket to couple the terminal enclosure to the screw drive and the track system. The track system can include two sets of tracks, a first set of tracks that is fixed in the vault, and a second set of tracks that is coupled to the first set of tracks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: ADC Telecommunications, Inc.
    Inventors: Craig M. Standish, Troy Land, Ajay Sharma
  • Patent number: 7333321
    Abstract: An electronic device includes three substantially planar panels. The first panel has a first side edge and a second side edge, and includes a display. The second panel includes a first interface and is hingedly coupled to the first side edge of the first panel. The third panel includes a second interface and is hingedly coupled to the second side edge of the first panel. The device is configured in at least two positions. In a first position the first interface and the second interface are obscured and in a second position the first interface and the second interface are exposed. Such a device can be a gamer with a first gaming interface and a second gaming interface, or it can be an electronic device with PDA technology through a first keyboard and a second keyboard. Alternatively, the device can be a communicator or a music player.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Flextronics AP, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Sutton, Gabriele Diotti
  • Patent number: 7333322
    Abstract: A display apparatus includes a display main body, a base, a stand to link the display main body with the base, and a hinge rotatably connected to the base and the stand to allow the stand to be rotated about the base, the hinge comprising a shaft supported by the stand, rotatably coupled to the base, and formed with a contact portion on an outer circumference thereof, and a friction unit inserted in the base, surrounding the outer circumference of the shaft, and comprising a friction supporting portion to frictionally support the shaft being rotated when the display main body is operated, and a rotation holding portion to elastically contact the contact portion of the shaft when the display main body is in a folded state, and to hold the shaft from rotating. In the display apparatus, the display main body is smoothly operated when lifted, and is stably kept in the folded state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kwang-sung Hwang, Gyu Jung
  • Patent number: 7333323
    Abstract: A method and system are provided in which a display screen of an electronic device such as a laptop computer is double-hinged to a base or keyboard unit in such a manner as to allow the display screen to be opened while the bottom portion of the display screen is free to rotate toward a user to enable the user to view the display screen when little or no space is available at the rear of the display screen. A double-hinged arrangement including an extendable coupling is provided at the sides of the laptop such that there is access to the keyboard when the display screen is rotated upwardly and the bottom of the display screen is moved toward the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher James Dawson, Barry Michael Graham
  • Patent number: 7333324
    Abstract: A technique that facilitates the removal of a battery module from a variety of electronic devices, such as portable computers. The technique utilizes a latch having a lifting mechanism that forces the battery module to a lifted position. Upon reaching the lifted position, retention features on the lift mechanism and the battery module engage to hold the battery module in the lifted position. At this lifted position, the battery module is readily gripped and removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Ronald E. DeLuga