Modulating Or Demodulating Patents (Class 360/29)
  • Patent number: 10504542
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems, methods, and devices for increasing the storage areal density of a storage device. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising receiving host data, the host data including first data and extra bit data; generating run-length limited (RLL) data by encoding the first data with an RLL encoder; generating a symbol corresponding to at least one bit of the extra bit data; and generating superpositioned data by inserting the symbol within a contiguous section of repeating bits in the RLL-encoded first data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LIMITED
    Inventor: Shu Li
  • Patent number: 10236899
    Abstract: A tunable fractional phase locked loop (PLL) (hereinafter “tunable PLL”) is described herein and includes a controller configured to tune the tunable PLL to a range of frequencies corresponding to a frequency of the input clock signal. The tunable PLL includes a phase detector configured to receive an input clock signal and a feedback signal, a voltage controller oscillator (VCO) configured to receive the error signal from said phase detector and in response thereto to generate a VCO clock signal, a controller configured to generate a dithered division ratio having an average value corresponding to a ratio of a number of edges of the VCO clock signal generated in a cycle of the input clock signal, and a feedback module configured to generates a feedback signal to tune the PLL such that the PLL operates in the range of input frequencies of the input clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Allegro MicroSystems, LLC
    Inventors: Mackenzie Tope, Kapil Kesarwani
  • Patent number: 10163459
    Abstract: A data storage device is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of servo tracks and a plurality of data tracks defined by the servo tracks. Each servo track is defined by a first set of servo sectors interleaved with a second set of servo sectors, wherein each servo sector comprises a servo burst field. The servo burst field of the first set of servo sectors has a first length and the servo burst field of the second set of servo sectors has a second length longer than the first length. Data is written to a first data track by reading at least one of the second set of servo sectors and skipping the read of at least part of one of the first set of servo sectors, and servoing the head over the first data track in response to reading the second set servo sector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: James B. French, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9759583
    Abstract: A method for finding a reference correction value of an angular encoder index mark is given. The angular encoder has a first read head, a second read head, and a patterned element that includes incremental marks and an index mark. In a first instance, the first read head detects the presence of the index mark and, in response, the second read head generates a first analog signal. In a second instance, the first read head detects the presence of the index mark and, in response, the second read head generates a second analog signal. A processor determines the reference correction value based at least in part on the first analog signal and the second analog signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: FARO TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Alexander Kramer, Martin Ossig, Reinhard Becker
  • Patent number: 9590834
    Abstract: A transmitting apparatus, includes a signal generator that generates a modulation signal by modulating transmission data using one of a plurality of modulation schemes, a first modulation scheme having a higher m-ary modulation value than other modulation schemes and a pilot signal generator generates a pilot signal. An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal generator generates an OFDM signal by selecting the modulation signal and the pilot signal according to the frame timing signal. The OFDM signal is converted to a radio signal, is amplified and is transmitted to an antenna. The pilot signal is inserted in the OFDM signal per a predetermined OFDM symbol and per a predetermined subcarrier and has a lower amplitude than a maximum amplitude of the first modulation scheme in an in-phase-quadrature (IQ) plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Wi-Fi One, LLC
    Inventors: Yutaka Murakami, Shinichiro Takabayashi, Katsuaki Abe, Masayuki Orihashi, Akihiko Matsuoka
  • Patent number: 9262081
    Abstract: A storage system includes a plurality of tape drives connected to a host, and a buffer configured to temporarily hold data read from the drives. A mechanism loads a plurality of media on which a file has been written to the plurality of drives so as to mount the plurality of media in the plurality of drives and divides the file into a plurality of data portions in an order. The mechanism determines a medium that takes the shortest time to move from a current position of a read head of a corresponding drive to a beginning position of the file and one or more media from which following data portions of the beginning data portion are to be read. The mechanism executes reading of the following data portions from the next media and temporarily holding of the read following data portions in the buffer of the storage system while reading the beginning data portion of the file from the first medium to the host.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Ashida, Hiroshi Itagaki, Setsuko Masuda, Tsuyoshi Miyamura, Terue Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9196298
    Abstract: An apparatus includes an array reader with multiple of read heads operable to read a preamble pattern from a magnetic storage medium. A number of analog to digital converters are operable to sample an output of each of the read heads to generate digital data streams for the preamble pattern. A zero phase start calculation circuit is operable to calculate a phase offset between the digital data streams and to generate an integer phase adjustment signal and a fractional phase adjustment signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Haotian Zhang, Lu Pan, Haitao Xia
  • Publication number: 20150146318
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, at demodulation of an A-phase burst pattern and a B-phase burst pattern arranged in a down-track direction so as to be different from each other in phase in a cross-track direction, the demodulated position of a magnetic head is calculated based on a sin component and a cos component in the A-phase burst pattern and a sin component and a cos component in the B-phase burst pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2014
    Publication date: May 28, 2015
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Tomoyoshi YAMADA
  • Patent number: 8982491
    Abstract: A hard disk drive has disks with data sector preambles that allow for inter-track interference. The same data sector preamble is used for all data sectors in a track but the preamble in each track is different from the preamble in radially adjacent tracks. In a first embodiment each preamble includes a synchronization field (SF) and synchronization mark (SM) that are the same in each track but different from the SF and SM in radially adjacent tracks. Only two unique SFs and two unique SMs are required, with the two SFs and two SMs alternating in radially adjacent tracks. In a second embodiment the preambles are “integrated”, meaning that the preamble is a sequence of bits that does not include separate dedicated fields, like SF and SM. The preamble bit sequences are decoded using matched filters to provide bit synchronization and start-of-data information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Jonathan Darrel Coker, Richard Leo Galbraith, Weldon Mark Hanson, Travis Roger Oenning, Srinivasan Surendran
  • Publication number: 20150062730
    Abstract: A magnetic recording system includes an array of analog inputs operable to receive analog signals retrieved from a magnetic storage medium, a quadrature amplitude modulator operable to combine the analog signals to yield a quadrature amplitude modulated signal, a quadrature amplitude demodulator operable to yield a plurality of demodulated signals from the quadrature amplitude modulated signal corresponding to each channel of the array, and a joint equalizer operable to filter the plurality of demodulated signals to yield an equalized output.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2013
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Applicant: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: George Mathew, Angelo R. Mastrocola, Robert A. Greene
  • Patent number: 8922148
    Abstract: A motor includes a rotor, a sensor unit, an offset unit, a rectification unit and a modulating unit. The sensor unit outputs a first signal in accordance with a magnetic field variation of the rotor. The offset unit is coupled to the sensor unit, and outputs a second signal in accordance with the first signal. The rectification unit is coupled to the offset unit, and outputs a third signal in accordance with the second signal. The modulating unit is coupled to the rectification unit, and outputs a control signal in accordance with a result by comparing the third signal with a periodic signal. The modulating unit controls a reverse rotation of the rotor smoothly in accordance with the control signal. A control method of the motor is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Yu-Liang Lin, Kun-Fu Chuang, Cheng-Chieh Liu
  • Patent number: 8917470
    Abstract: A method for detecting a data sequence includes generating a sample stream, which is a time-sequenced digital signal associated with samples of an analog signal. The sample stream is input to n equalization filter banks, which each have m equalization filters to generate m equalized sample streams. The m equalized sample streams from each equalization filter bank are input to a corresponding one of n noise predictive filters. Each noise predictive filter is an m-tap noise predictive filter that receives the m equalized sample streams from a corresponding one of the n equalization filter banks. Each noise predictive filter is associated with one of n data patterns. A filtered equalization stream is generated by each noise predictive filter. Noise sample streams are generated using the filtered equalization streams generated by the n noise predictive filters. A data sequence is detected using the noise sample streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Liao, Haitao Xia
  • Patent number: 8908303
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, in a method for servo demodulation, a first demodulated signal and a second demodulated signal, which are calculated from amplitude values of burst signal patterns of a first area and a second area, are generated in order to generate a position error signal of a reader, based on a servo pattern read from a disk by the reader. Further, in the method for servo demodulation, a square-root of sum of squares of the first and the second demodulated signals is calculated, and an optimal compensation coefficient of a linearity correction function to be used in linearity compensation of the position error signal is calculated based on a maximum value and a minimum value of the square-root of sum of squares.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tomoyoshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 8824093
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a head position detecting method and a magnetic disk device includes measuring a burst output by reading a burst pattern, which is recorded on a magnetic disk, with a magnetic head and calculating a demodulation position of the magnetic head on the basis of the result of the correction of the phase shift of the burst output corresponding to magnetization transition curvature of the burst pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Daisuke Sudo
  • Publication number: 20140233128
    Abstract: A data processing circuit with flaw robust burst field demodulation includes a burst integration circuit operable to calculate burst integration results for a servo data burst field, a comparison circuit operable to determine whether an absolute value of the burst integration results falls outside a window, and an error indicating circuit operable to indicate that a media flaw has been detected when the absolute value of the burst integration results fall outside the window.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2013
    Publication date: August 21, 2014
    Applicant: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Xun Zhang, Haitao Xia, Dahua Qin
  • Patent number: 8810937
    Abstract: A system including a first circuit, a second circuit, an amplifier, and a summer. The first circuit is configured to (i) select a first portion of a signal, and (ii) generate a first compensation for asymmetry in the first portion of the signal using a first function, where the first function is a modulus function. The second circuit is configured to (i) select a second portion of the signal, and (ii) generate a second compensation for asymmetry in the second portion of the signal using a second function, where the second function is different than the first function. The amplifier amplifies the signal and provides an amplified output. The summer is configured to add (i) the first compensation, (ii) the second compensation, and (iii) the amplified output, where (i) the first circuit, (ii) the second circuit, and (iii) the amplifier are connected in parallel to the summer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International LTD.
    Inventors: Mahendra Singh, Sriharsha Annadore
  • Patent number: 8760784
    Abstract: Disclosed is a magnetic recording/reproduction device 2 including: a recording/reproduction head 7; and a recording/reproduction head 7 for detecting a leakage magnetic field of each of the plurality of magnetic recording cells 1 so as to reproduce information, the recording/reproduction head 7 carrying out the recording on the magnetic recording medium 4 so that the magnetic recording medium 4 includes continuous recording regions that (i) satisfy Nmin?2 and that (ii) include a continuous recording region that satisfies N?n×Nmin, where N represents a number of magnetic recording cells 1 in a continuous recording region; Nmin represents a minimum value for N; and n represents a positive integer, the continuous recording regions each being a region on a reproduction track in which region magnetic recording cells 1 sharing an identical magnetization direction are sequentially arranged in a circumferential direction of the magnetic recording medium 4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshihiko Sakai, Yoshiteru Murakami
  • Patent number: 8736997
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system are provided for implementing magnetic defect location detection on-the-fly for hard disk drives. A magnetic media readback signal of a hard disk drive is demodulated to generate phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) signals. A new coordinate plane defined by a combined phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) phasor-defect detector calculation function used to locate magnetic defects on-the-fly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Richard Leo Galbraith, Weldon Mark Hanson, Martin Aureliano Hassner, Travis Roger Oenning, Satoshi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8711499
    Abstract: Methods for measuring media performance associated with adjacent track interference are provided. One such method includes iteratively writing data to a target track for each of a plurality of n frequencies, measuring a first signal amplitude and a first noise for each of the n sectors on the target track, writing an aggressor track pattern proximate the target track, measuring a second signal amplitude and a second noise for each of the n sectors on the target track, calculating a weighted sum for each of the signal amplitude measurements for each of the plurality of n frequencies, and calculating a weighted sum for each of the noise measurements for each of the plurality of n frequencies, and repeating the writing the aggressor track pattern, the measuring the second signal amplitude and the second noise, and calculating the weighted sums for preselected numbers of times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: WD Media, LLC
    Inventors: Mrugesh Desai, Harold H. Gee, Mark A. Nichols
  • Publication number: 20140111880
    Abstract: A system is described for constructing maximum transition run modulation code based upon a multi-level run-length limited finite state machine. A processor is configured to receive information from a hard disk drive via a read channel and recover data from the hard disk drive using maximum transition run modulation code. A memory has computer executable instructions configured for execution by the processor to model a magnetic recording channel as a partial response channel, model a source of information to the magnetic recording channel to provide an optimized Markov source, and construct a maximum transition run modulation code to mimic the optimized Markov source based upon a finite state machine having a limited transition run length and a multi-level periodic structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2012
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: LSI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Wu Chang, Razmik Karabed, Shaohua Yang, Fan Zhang
  • Patent number: 8707147
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for decoding data stored on a data storage medium. A disclosed decoding method and decoder include a radial incoherence (RI) detector that increases the probability of detecting RI and improves the decoding performance in terms of the bit error rate of the decoded signal. RI is detected by comparing an input signal to the decoder against a RI threshold value and generating a RI-type signal. The RI detector may include a filter for filtering out noise and error in the RI-type signal, an adaptive threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon the RI-type signal, a transition-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon each transition in the input signal, or a path-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon a best surviving path corresponding to the input signal, in combination or alone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Zaihe Yu, Michael Madden
  • Patent number: 8693117
    Abstract: According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method includes: receiving a plurality of groups of one or more phase signals, each group of phase signals having a different phase relative to other groups of one or more phase signals; generating a plurality of interpolated phase shifted signals based on the plurality of groups of one or more phase signals, wherein the plurality of interpolated phase shifted signals do not have an associated common mode component; receiving data bits and precompensating each data bit in accordance with a given interpolated phase shifted signal; and selecting a precompensated data bit for output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chi Fung Cheng
  • Patent number: 8625230
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a position demodulator includes a demodulator, a phase corrector, and a position demodulating module. The demodulator demodulates a first demodulated signal and a second demodulated signal having a phase difference of 90 degrees from the first demodulated signal as a result of discrete Fourier transform operation on a read signal of a null servo pattern recorded in a servo area of a medium read out by a head. The phase corrector carries out correction to tilt respective vectors of the first demodulated signal and the second demodulated signal represented on a phase plane by a predetermined angle. The position demodulating module demodulates a positional signal for determining the position of the core of the head based on the first demodulated signal and the second demodulated signal corrected by the phase corrector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Tatsuhiko Kosugi, Kazuhiko Takaishi, Takeshi Hara, Hiroshi Oyabu
  • Publication number: 20130335841
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system are provided for implementing magnetic defect location detection on-the-fly for hard disk drives. A magnetic media readback signal of a hard disk drive is demodulated to generate phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) signals. A new coordinate plane defined by a combined phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) phasor-defect detector calculation function used to locate magnetic defects on-the-fly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Applicant: HGST NETHERLANDS B.V.
    Inventors: Richard Leo Galbraith, Weldon Mark Hanson, Martin Aureliano Hassner, Travis Roger Oenning, Satoshi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8570842
    Abstract: Instead of using discontinuous step functions or pulses to drive a laser of a TAR enabled disk drive between on and off, a fixed modulation frequency may be used that alternates between a high and low laser power such that the radiation source is always delivering heat to the magnetic media when writing data to the magnetic disk. The magnetic field of the write pole may be synchronized to the modulation frequency of the radiation source to ensure that the radiation source heats the magnetic media proximate to the write pole above the grain freezing temperature when the Zeeman energy produced by the magnetic field of the write pole exceeds the thermal energy of the magnetic media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Hans J. Richter, Erhard Schreck, Matteo Staffaroni, Barry C. Stipe
  • Patent number: 8553345
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a position demodulation method includes demodulating a first demodulation signal and a second demodulation signal having a phase difference of 90 degrees to the first demodulation signal based on a read-out signal obtained by reading out a servo pattern recorded on a medium by the head for positioning of a head with respect to the medium; correcting the first and second demodulation signals in which, when a trace of a Lissajous figure is drawn representing the first and second demodulation signals as values on coordinate axes different from each other on a plane, a ratio of respective lengths between intersections of the trace intersecting with two axes orthogonal at an origin of the plane is kept constant; and demodulating a positional signal for determining a position of the head based on the first and second demodulation signals after being corrected at the correcting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hiroshi Oyabu, Tatsuhiko Kosugi, Kazuhiko Takaishi
  • Patent number: 8547655
    Abstract: A magnetic recording method for a recording layer of a magnetic recording medium uses a thin film magnetic head with a sub-coil or a microwave radiator. In the method, a microwave spread spectrum (SS) signal is applied to the sub-coil or the microwave radiator, the microwave SS signal including a ferromagnetic resonant (FMR) frequency of the recording layer as a carrier wave within a band so as to generate an in-plane high-frequency magnetic field so that a magnetization reversal magnetic field Hsw of the recording layer is lowered. The magnetic recording is performed while the magnetization reversal magnetic field Hsw of the recording layer is lowered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Aoyama, Hiroshi Ikeda, Isamu Sato
  • Patent number: 8520334
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a disk storage device includes: a disk on which a servo pattern is recorded; a head; a driver; a signal generator; a demodulator; and a controller. Position signals for detecting an offset position from a center of a track are recorded in a recording area of a servo pattern. The signal generator generates a first timing signal indicating a timing for reading the position signals. When the controller performs a seek operation for moving the head to a target track, the signal generator generates a second timing signal. The period of the second timing signal for reading each of the position signals is made shorter than that of the first timing signal. A center time of the period of the second timing signal is shifted closer to a demodulation center time corresponding to a center of the recording area than that of the first timing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Kazuhiko Takaishi
  • Patent number: 8514512
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a disk storage device includes: a disk on which a servo pattern is recorded; a head; a driver; a signal generator; a demodulator; and a controller. Position signals for detecting an offset position from a center of a track are recorded in a recording area of a servo pattern. The signal generator generates a first timing signal indicating a timing for reading the position signals. When the controller performs positional control along a virtual circular orbit of the disk, the signal generator generates a second timing signal. The period of the second timing signal for reading each of the position signals is made shorter than that of the first timing signal. A center time of the period of the second timing signal is shifted closer to a demodulation center time corresponding to a center of the recording area than that of the first timing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Kazuhiko Takaishi
  • Patent number: 8446683
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for selecting between pre-coding and non-pre-coding. As an example, a data processing circuit is disclosed that includes: a first data detector circuit, a second data detector circuit, a first comparator circuit, a second comparator circuit, and a pre-code selection circuit. The first data detector circuit is selectably configurable to operate in a pre-coded state, and operable to apply a data detection algorithm on a data input to yield a first detected output. The second data detector circuit operable to apply the data detection algorithm to the data input to yield a second detected output without compensating for pre-coding. The first comparator circuit operable to compare the first detected output against a known input to yield a first comparison value, and the second comparator circuit operable to compare the second detected output against the known input to yield a second comparison value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Changyou Xu, Shaohua Yang, Haitoa Xia, Kapil Gaba
  • Patent number: 8358479
    Abstract: In a perpendicular magnetic recording system, the data that is being written by the write channel is fed back into the read channel. The read channel processes the data and decides if the written sequence is likely to have very poor DC characteristics. If that is the case, the write channel changes a scrambler seed and rewrites the data using the new scrambler seed. The data may also be inspected for patterns that might cause large baseline wander before being written to disk, i.e., in the write channel. A data sequence may be repeatedly scrambled and encoded until an acceptable level of estimated DC-wander has been achieved. The data sequence may then be written to disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Mats Oberg, Pantas Sutardja
  • Publication number: 20130003209
    Abstract: A channel circuit includes a reader, a decoder, a prediction module, and a seek module. The reader reads data written in a medium. The decoder performs iterative decoding of the read data. The prediction module predicts whether an early read is possible or not without waiting for arrival of the read data. The seek module continuously initiates a seek when the prediction module predicts that the read is possible.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2012
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Keiichi KISHINO
  • Patent number: 8345365
    Abstract: A processing unit performs a method including controlling a reading-out of data from a first storage medium at a predetermined read-out data rate to produce inputted data, and controlling a compression of the inputted data to produce first compressed data of a first compressed format. The method includes controlling a storage of the first compressed data in a second storage medium at a faster writing data rate than the predetermined read-out data rate, controlling a reading-out of second compressed data of a second compressed format from the second storage medium, and controlling a decompression of the second compressed data to produce decompressed data. The method also includes controlling simultaneously the storage of the first compressed data in the second storage medium, the reading-out of the second compressed data from the second storage medium, and audibly reproducing the decompressed data. The first compressed format is different from the second compressed format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Arai, Takashi Kumagai, Hajime Inai, Hiroaki Sato, Fumitake Yodo, Masami Oyama
  • Patent number: 8300351
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording apparatus includes a magnetic recording medium for perpendicular magnetic recording system, a magnetic head including a read head to read data from the magnetic recording medium, and an actuator to actuate the magnetic head on the magnetic recording medium. The magnetic recording medium includes a first magnetic pattern recorded in a servo area by applying a magnetic field horizontally to a disk surface, and the first magnetic pattern corresponding to positioning data used for positioning the magnetic head. The magnetic recording medium further includes a second magnetic pattern recorded in the servo area by applying a magnetic field perpendicularly to the disk surface, and the second magnetic pattern corresponding to position correction data used for correcting the positioning data. The position correction data is derived from modulated original position correction data. The original position correction data is created for correcting the positioning data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Suzuki, Hiroshi Kubota, Masahide Yatsu
  • Patent number: 8279546
    Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting and designing enhanced disk sync marks using correlation detection are disclosed. The enhanced sync marks provide better noise immunity and higher detection rates over traditional Viterbi-based detection schemes even with a shorter sync mark length. The disk sync mark may provide optimal noise immunity for a particular target polynomial or a plurality of common target polynomials. The minimum Euclidean distance between a candidate sync mark and a plurality of right-shifted versions of the candidate sync mark is computed and compared with other candidate sync marks. The sync mark with the largest minimum Euclidean distance is then selected as the optimal mark. Systems and methods are also disclosed for detecting and designing a disk sync mark using correlation detection when the polarity of the disk is unknown or time-varying.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Ke Han, Zining Wu, Michael Madden
  • Patent number: 8261172
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for decoding data stored on a data storage medium. A disclosed decoding method and decoder include a radial incoherence (RI) detector that increases the probability of detecting RI and improves the decoding performance in terms of the bit error rate of the decoded signal. RI is detected by comparing an input signal to the decoder against a RI threshold value and generating a RI-type signal. The RI detector may include a filter for filtering out noise and error in the RI-type signal, an adaptive threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon the RI-type signal, a transition-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon each transition in the input signal, or a path-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon a best surviving path corresponding to the input signal, in combination or alone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Zaihe Yu, Michael Madden
  • Patent number: 8254049
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for synchronizing data processing. As one example, a method for synchronizing data processing is disclosed that includes receiving a data input, and sampling the data input at a sample period to generate a sample set. A first pattern is received and a first periodic boundary associated with the first pattern is identified. In one particular case, the first pattern is a preamble pattern included as sector data on a storage medium, and the first periodic boundary is a 4T boundary. Further, a second pattern is detected in the sample that is used to establish a second periodic boundary. In one particular case, the second pattern is a SAM pattern included as sector data on a storage medium, and the second periodic boundary is a 1T boundary. Based at least in part on the first periodic boundary and the second periodic boundary, a time to transmit or assert a data-found signal is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Agere Systems Inc.
    Inventor: Viswanath Annampedu
  • Patent number: 8213106
    Abstract: A disk drive includes a plurality of servo zones of different servo frequencies and a read channel. The disk drive also includes a frequency detector operable to determine a servo frequency associated with a servo sector. The read channel includes a voltage-controlled oscillator operable to provide a reference clock; frequency multiplier/divider circuitry operable to multiply or divide the reference clock from the voltage-controlled oscillator by a first factor to generate a first servo timing recovery clock for the first servo zone, the first factor selected based at least in part on the servo frequency determined by the frequency detector; and a servo demodulator operable to demodulate the at least a portion of a servo sector using the first servo timing recovery clock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Guoxiao Guo, Jie Yu
  • Publication number: 20120162803
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a disk storage device includes: a disk on which a servo pattern is recorded; a head; a driver; a signal generator; a demodulator; and a controller. Position signals for detecting an offset position from a center of a track are recorded in a recording area of a servo pattern. The signal generator generates a first timing signal indicating a timing for reading the position signals. When the controller performs positional control along a virtual circular orbit of the disk, the signal generator generates a second timing signal. The period of the second timing signal for reading each of the position signals is made shorter than that of the first timing signal. A center time of the period of the second timing signal is shifted closer to a demodulation center time corresponding to a center of the recording area than that of the first timing signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2011
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Kazuhiko TAKAISHI
  • Publication number: 20120162804
    Abstract: A magnetic head which includes a core, a coil wound on the core, terminals to which ends of the coil are connected. The magnetic head also includes a substrate on which mounted are a demodulating electronic component for demodulating an analog output signal output from the terminals to create a digital demodulated signal, and an encrypting electronic component for encrypting the demodulated signal to create an encrypted signal. A cable electrically connects the demodulating electronic component and the terminals. A case body stores the core, the coil, the terminals, and the cable. The demodulating electronic component is mounted on one side of the substrate, and the encrypting electronic component is mounted on the other side of the substrate. The substrate is fixed to the case body so that the demodulating electronic component is placed inside the case body while the encrypting electronic component is placed outside the case body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2010
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Inventors: Toshiro Shiomi, Kazunori Takahashi, Shigeo Nakajima
  • Patent number: 8159766
    Abstract: An information-processing apparatus includes a processing unit that compresses inputted data to produce compressed data of a first compressed format. The information-processing apparatus also includes a storage unit that stores the compressed data in a storage medium. The processing unit decompresses data, stored in the storage medium, of a second compressed format to produce decompressed data. Further, the processing unit controls the storage unit to store the compressed data of the first compressed format in the storage medium while the processing unit simultaneously decompresses the data, stored in the storage medium, of the second compressed format and reproduces the decompressed data. The first compressed format is different than the second compressed format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Arai, Takashi Kumagai, Hajime Inai, Hiroaki Sato, Fumitake Yodo, Masami Oyama
  • Patent number: 8144415
    Abstract: To effectively suppress a signal in a low frequency region in which the medium noise and the signal distortion are concentrated, and in order to effectively utilize a detected component of the reproduced signal in the low frequency region, a target of partial response equalization to the perpendicularly recorded/reproduced signal is set so that the low-frequency component around the direct current is suppressed to a regulated quantity for both the effective suppression and the effective utilization. Accordingly, a maximum-likelihood decoding process is carried out through the target of partial response equalization. Reliability of data detection is made higher and a signal-to-noise ratio is improved, so that the noise from the recording medium can be reduced more and it is possible to provide a high-density magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideki Sawaguchi, Yasutaka Nishida, Hisashi Takano, Hiroyuki Tsuchinaga
  • Patent number: 8120870
    Abstract: Systems and techniques associated with signal processing are described. A described technique includes generating asymmetry vectors that model asymmetry in a received analog signal, including an effect of asymmetry spreading in a read channel and selecting at least two different indicators of asymmetry based on the asymmetry vectors. The technique can include using the selected indicators of asymmetry to compensate for one or more asymmetries associated with the analog signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Ke Han
  • Patent number: 8098447
    Abstract: In a perpendicular magnetic recording system, the data that is being written by the write channel is fed back into the read channel. The read channel processes the data and decides if the written sequence is likely to have very poor DC characteristics. If that is the case, the write channel changes a scrambler seed and rewrites the data using the new scrambler seed. The data may also be inspected for patterns that might cause large baseline wander before being written to disk, i.e., in the write channel. A data sequence may be repeatedly scrambled and encoded until an acceptable level of estimated DC-wander has been achieved. The data sequence may then be written to disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Mats Oberg, Pantas Sutardja
  • Patent number: 8051365
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for decoding data stored on a data storage medium. A disclosed decoding method and decoder include a radial incoherence (RI) detector that increases the probability of detecting RI and improves the decoding performance in terms of the bit error rate of the decoded signal. RI is detected by comparing an input signal to the decoder against a RI threshold value and generating a RI-type signal. The RI detector may include a filter for filtering out noise and error in the RI-type signal, an adaptive threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon the RI-type signal, a transition-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon each transition in the input signal, or a path-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon a best surviving path corresponding to the input signal, in combination or alone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Zaihe Yu, Michael Madden
  • Patent number: 8045640
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for demodulating information emitted by amplitude modulation with two levels by a reader (2) to a transponder (4), comprising a step to determine if this symbol is identical to or is different from the previous symbol, after each symbol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Commissariat A l'Energie Atomique
    Inventors: Gérard Robert, François Dehmas, Elisabeth Crochon, Jacques Reverdy
  • Publication number: 20110249354
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a disk storage apparatus includes a disk and a servo demodulator. The disk has a servo area, in which a first phase servo pattern, a second phase servo pattern that is in phase with the first servo pattern, and a third servo pattern that is inverse in phase to the first and second servo patterns. The third servo pattern comprises at least two phase servo pattern segments. The servo demodulator is configured to perform a phase servo demodulating process that includes integration operation on integration sections of the same ratio, using a read signal read from the servo area by a head.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2011
    Publication date: October 13, 2011
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Tatsuhiko KOSUGI, Takeshi HARA, Satoshi YAMASHITA
  • Patent number: 8023219
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a storage device includes an area demodulator and a head position demodulator. The area demodulator demodulates a first demodulation signal and a second demodulation signal having a phase difference of 90° from a read signal by a head of an area demodulation pattern recorded on a medium. The head position demodulator receives the first demodulation signal and the second demodulation signal, and outputs a phase angle indicating a direction of a vector formed in a phase plane by the first demodulation signal and the second demodulation signal as a head position signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Toshiba Storage Device Corporation
    Inventor: Tatsuhiko Kosugi
  • Publication number: 20110157736
    Abstract: A hard disk drive (HDD) including a slider. The slider includes a resistive temperature detector (RTD) configured to detect a temperature generated by one or more of slider spacing and contact with a media of said HDD. HDD also includes a slider signal controller configured to control bias signal of a slider with respect to a media potential, a real-time media-disk fly-height and contact detector configured to detect one or more of temperature generated by real-time media-disk slider spacing and real-time media-disk contact, and a real-time relative fly-height determiner configured to detect real-time relative fly-height of the slider based on analysis of a modulated portion of a high-frequency signal coupled to an element of the slider.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2009
    Publication date: June 30, 2011
    Inventors: John CONTRERAS, Bernhard E. Knigge
  • Patent number: 7933084
    Abstract: A signal reconstruction technique is used to correct for wow and flutter in analog audio recordings. Elements of the recording are used to generate a signal for correcting the output. Involves locating modulated entities such as bias signal (e.g. frequency-modulated, amplitude-modulated, or phase-modulated entities) in the recording, extracting them, and utilizing them as a carrier to synchronize to a master clock, using the irregularity of the anomaly to indicate the speed and pitch information to be corrected. A carrier frequency is determined and applied to a digitized form of the recording. This may be performed even in the absence of a prescribed reference code or tone, such as a pilot tone laid down purposefully at the moment of recording. In the case of signals presumed to have an error in the carrier, a corresponding signal is buffered, and in the case of a presumed error, a last known signal is used for the duration of the error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Inventors: James R. Howarth, Patrick J. Wolfe, Darryl Curley, Timothy Rector