Specified Velocity Pattern During Access Patents (Class 360/78.06)
  • Publication number: 20070206319
    Abstract: A system comprises a positioning module, a frequency measuring module, a simulation module, and a control module. The positioning module positions an actuator arm adjacent to a track to read spirals that are prewritten using current of a predetermined frequency. The frequency measuring module measures a first frequency of sync marks of the spirals when the actuator arm is positioned adjacent to the track. The simulation module calculates a second frequency of the sync marks when the actuator arm moves at a predetermined actuator velocity. The control module calculates an actuator velocity at which the spirals are prewritten based on the first frequency, the second frequency, and the predetermined actuator velocity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2006
    Publication date: September 6, 2007
    Applicant: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: David Rutherford, Luan Ton-That
  • Patent number: 7259933
    Abstract: A method for generating a velocity command for an actuator assembly is provided. The actuator assembly includes an actuator arm, which is to move over a plurality of surfaces. The method begins by providing a compensation torque for each of the plurality of surfaces. A position of the actuator arm is determined so that it may be mapped to one of the plurality of surfaces, which is the present surface over which the actuator arm is moving. A target velocity is then provided for the actuator arm and input to a controller, which generates a velocity command from the target velocity and a selected compensation torque, which is the compensation torque of the present surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2007
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Lee Ling Tan, Xiong Liu, Choon Kiat Lim
  • Publication number: 20070183082
    Abstract: Provided are a method, apparatus, and storage medium for controlling a track seek servo in a disk drive. Thus, a transducer is moved to a target track using a transformed Proximate-Time Optimal Servo (PTOS) velocity trajectory in which an acceleration duration is symmetrical to a deceleration duration in a track seek mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2007
    Publication date: August 9, 2007
    Inventor: Sang-eun Baek
  • Patent number: 7253581
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a way to accurately detect the position of a spindle motor. In a spindle motor startup process according to one embodiment, a parameter setup section acquires from a parameter table a sense time value corresponding to an input voltage that is acquired from an ADC. The parameter setup section sets the sense time value in a register. A position determination section, which is within an SPM driver, performs an induced voltage detection process for rotor position detection purposes during the time corresponding to the sense time value that is set in the register. Even when the input voltage is decreased, rotor position detection can be properly achieved by changing the sense time value in accordance with a change in the input voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Nobuhisa Koide, Yukiko Hayashi, Shougo Shimada, Gaku Ikedo
  • Patent number: 7248428
    Abstract: A method, medium, and apparatus controlling a hard disk drive, and more particularly, a method, medium, and apparatus controlling a track seek of a hard disk drive, where the hard disk drive compensates for a gain distortion and a phase delay caused by a notch filter and a VCM driver using a sinewave acceleration trajectory. According to the method of controlling a track seek of a hard disk drive, an ideal sinewave for obtaining a position y*(n), a velocity v*(n), and an acceleration a*(n), according to a sinewave acceleration trajectory, and a sinewave indicating a gain distortion and a phase delay may be integrated and a VCM driving current u(n) can be generated by the integrated sinewave for compensating for gain distortion and phase delay, compensating for a value C(j2?f) of the gain distortion and the phase delay caused by the notch filter and the VCM driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Nam-guk Kim, Sang-hoon Chu, Cheol-hoon Park
  • Patent number: 7248427
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for reducing velocity errors when writing spiral servo information onto a disk surface of a disk drive. In one embodiment, a servo track writer is provided for moving a write head at a controlled velocity. The write head is used to write spiral servo information onto a disk surface. The write head is moved, using the servo track writer, at an actual velocity trajectory to simulate writing one spiral of spiral servo information. Differences between the actual velocity trajectory and a desired velocity trajectory are measured on a control sample by control sample basis over a window of control samples. The differences are integrated over the window. A gain, associated with the servo track writer controlling the velocity of the write head, is adjusted using the integrated differences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporagion
    Inventors: Tim Everett, Brian Rigney
  • Patent number: 7248429
    Abstract: A settling control method and apparatus perform an improved settling control regardless of a seek distance when a disc drive track seek control operation is performed. An adaptive settling control method used in controlling the track seek mode of the disc drive includes: controlling a head to converge into a target position and a target velocity along with an eigen vector by transiting an initial state of the head motion onto an eigen vector line of a system at the time transiting from an acceleration/deceleration control mode of the track seek mode to a settling control mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sang-eun Baek, Jun-seok Shim, Chang-ik Kang
  • Patent number: 7215503
    Abstract: A method, computer program product, and apparatus for controlling the arrival of a disc drive actuator arm assembly using a time-linear arrival profile are disclosed. A reference velocity is calculated as a function of the current position of the arm assembly and the amount of time left to complete the seek operation, where the first derivative of the reference velocity function with respect to time varies linearly with respect to time. This reference velocity is used to control the actual velocity of an arm assembly. In a preferred embodiment, this time-linear arrival is utilized in the second stage of a two-stage arrival sequence, in which the arm assembly follows a constant-acceleration profile during the first stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventor: Apurva Dolatrai Naik
  • Patent number: 7209304
    Abstract: The thermal decay of data written to a magnetic mass storage medium is determined by measuring and analyzing the time-domain equalized-signal-to-noise ratio (ESNR) and equalized signal-to-total-distortion noise ratio (ESTDR) of written data. In some embodiments, a test track and a reference track are initialized from data. Subsequently, the reference track is re-initialized from the test data, and the time-domain ESNR and/or ESTDR measurements are made of the test track and the reference track, at predetermined time intervals. Later, the time-domain ESNR and ESTDR measurements are analyzed to determine the thermal decay of the data written. In another embodiment of the present invention, the ESNR and/or ESTDR measurements includes reading the data through a non-return-to-zero bus in phases, in which the phases are selected in sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Edmun Chian Song Seng, UttHeng Kan
  • Patent number: 7208898
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for control object manipulation from an initial position to a final position. A jerk control profile describes a near time-optimal jerk trajectory for the control object and includes a sequence of first, second and third sinusoidal pulses of respectively alternating polarity and common absolute magnitude. The area of the second pulse is nominally equal to the combined area of the first and third pulses, and the pulses are preferably symmetric about the respective maximum pulse values. Associated control profiles (control voltage, current, velocity, displacement, etc.) are derived from the jerk control profile. For longer seeks, constant, non-zero jerk segments are inserted into the profile between the pulses, during which control voltage is maintained near saturation. The control object preferably comprises a transducer in a data storage device and the jerk control profile is stored in a memory location of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: The Board of Regents for Oklahoma State University
    Inventors: Chad Andrew Stoecker, Eduardo Akira Misawa, Clyde Everett Goodner, III
  • Patent number: 7203028
    Abstract: A fast settling servo control method and apparatus for a hard disc drive and a method and apparatus estimate an acceleration coefficient of a voice coil motor (VCM) actuator suitable for the settling servo control method and apparatus for disc drives, which allow a head to stably and rapidly move to a target track when a track seek operation is performed in the hard disk drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2007
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Da-woon Chung, Chang-Ik Kang, Chan-hyuck Boo
  • Patent number: 7199966
    Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk having a plurality of tracks, a head actuated over the disk, and a voice coil motor for seeking the head from a first track to a second track. A first seek time is computed corresponding to a first seek profile, and second seek time is computed which is greater than the first seek time. A second seek profile is computed in response to the first seek time, the second seek time, and a scaling factor that accounts for a back EMF voltage generated by the voice coil motor. The voice coil motor is then controlled according to the second seek profile to seek the head from the first track to the second track.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kuang-Yang Tu, William T. Stoll
  • Patent number: 7110213
    Abstract: A drive current output unit outputs a drive current to an actuator, for moving a head to an intended position on a disk. A drive current adjusting unit adjusts the drive current based on a speed of the head, and a distance of a position of the head from the intended position when the drive current is output to the actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Tomoaki Saito, Tatsuhiko Kosugi
  • Patent number: 7110214
    Abstract: Disclosed is a disk drive including an actuator having a coil, a head attached to the actuator, and a disk including at least a first track and a second track, and a processor for controlling operations in the disk drive including a seek operation from the first track to the second track in which the head is moved between the first track and the second track by the movement of the actuator. The processor under the control of a program generates a deceleration velocity profile for the seek operation that is determined based upon a deceleration velocity profile function that includes a back electromagnetic force (BEMF) model to take into account back electromagnetic forces (BEMFs) associated with the coil of the actuator such that the BEMFs are mathematically modeled. The head is commanded to seek to the second track utilizing the deceleration velocity profile function that includes the BEMF model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kuang-Yang Tu, David Dung Tien Nguyen
  • Patent number: 7082010
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for reducing seek acoustics in a disk drive using feedback during large current transitions is provided. A desired transition profile, which uses feedback, is followed in order to smoothen transitions of a commanded current profile that is supplied to a VCM for moving a head relative to a disk surface during a seek operation. Linear interpolation is used to provide feedback for following the desired transition profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2006
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Fred Hansen, Unkyong Hand, Fernando Zayas
  • Patent number: 7079350
    Abstract: A control circuit controls a motor assembly having a coil and a movable arm. The control circuit includes a drive circuit that is coupled to the coil and that generates a drive signal in response to a control signal and a speed signal. The control circuit also includes a sensor circuit that is coupled to the drive circuit and to the coil and that generates the speed signal at a level that corresponds to the speed of the arm. In a disk drive, such a circuit can be used to control the movement of a read-write-head assembly during parking and unparking of a read-write head. The circuit monitors the speed of the head and uses this speed information as feedback to maintain the speed of the head within a specified range. This prevents damage to the head and other disk-drive components, particularly in a disk drive that incorporates a head parking platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2006
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Carlo Vertemara, Paolo Menegoli, Giorgio Pedrazzini
  • Patent number: 7064919
    Abstract: In a disk storage apparatus having an actuator for loading/unloading a magnetic head with respect to a magnetic disk, a voltage signal generated when the actuator is driven is detected by a voltage detector, a speed load estimator estimates moving speed of the head and level of load disturbance added to the magnetic head from a driving signal in a driver of the actuator and the voltage signal, and outputs a speed estimating signal and a load estimating signal, a speed controller generates and outputs a speed control signal based on a speed command signal and the speed estimating signal, a synthesizer generates a driving signal from the load estimating signal and a speed control signal, and the apparatus loads and unloads the head at a stable speed against the load disturbance caused by friction or the like on a ramp block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshio Inaji, Hiroshi Kohso
  • Patent number: 7054099
    Abstract: Improved deceleration control for a disk drive is provided. A deceleration profile is selected based on a present velocity (vi), a present position (xi) and a BEMF constant associated with a voice coil motor (VCM), wherein the deceleration profile is useful for moving the read/write head to a point in phase space (defined by a target velocity and a target position) where it is efficient to hand-off control of a seek operation from a deceleration controller to a seek controller. A control signal is supplied to a VCM driver in an attempt to have a read/write head follow the selected deceleration profile. As new present velocities and new present positions are obtained, these steps are repeated until the seek operation transitions from the deceleration phase to a settle phase. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures and the claims.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Fred R. Hansen
  • Patent number: 7054790
    Abstract: Method for measuring performance of a storage device including rotatable media, for storing data to and/or retrieving data from said media via one or more data buffers. The measurement method includes the steps of: specifying one or more access patterns for transferring data to/from the media; and for each access pattern, specifying one or more different required data transfer rates, measuring the actual data transfer time of the storage device for transferring the data according to that access pattern, and determining performance of the storage device in relation to each required data transfer rate based on the actual data transfer time for the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventor: Phil Rich
  • Patent number: 7054098
    Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk, an actuator arm, a head connected to a distal end of the actuator arm, and a voice coil motor (VCM) for rotating the actuator arm about a pivot to actuate the head over the disk, wherein the VCM rotates the actuator arm into a latched positioned when the disk drive is idle. Disk drive control circuitry unlatches the actuator arm by applying a driving current to the VCM according to an open-loop current profile. The open-loop current profile comprises an acceleration pulse having an acceleration magnitude and an acceleration interval, and a deceleration pulse having a deceleration magnitude and a deceleration interval. The deceleration magnitude is substantially smaller than the acceleration magnitude, and the deceleration interval is substantially longer than the acceleration interval, to thereby attenuate acoustic noise when unlatching the actuator arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jie Yu, David D. Nguyen
  • Patent number: 7035042
    Abstract: A method useful to change a system's output from one value to another within a prescribed time-interval in an optimal manner using optimization criteria such as minimal time (e.g., to increase throughput) or minimal energy (e.g., to reduce heat dissipation and reduce induced vibrations). Optimal design of maneuvers (such as fast seek and scanning) that rapidly change the output from one value to another, arise in flexible structure applications, including rapidly positioning the end-point of large-scale space manipulators, positioning of read/write heads of disk-drive servo systems, which are relatively medium-scale flexible structures, and nano-scale positioning and manipulation using relatively small-scale piezo actuators. Maintaining a position of an element constant outside of the transition time-interval is critical in many applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2006
    Assignee: University of Washington
    Inventors: Santosh Devasia, Qingze Zou, Dhanakorn Iamratanakul, Héctor Ramiro Pérez Rodriguez
  • Patent number: 7031100
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for compensating for a decrease in the torque constant of an actuator motor in a data storage device. An actuator supports the head adjacent a data recording surface on which a plurality of tracks are defined. A servo circuit outputs current to the actuator motor to carry out a seek to move the head from an initial track to a destination track in accordance with a velocity profile having a nominal deceleration trajectory along which the head is decelerated to reach the destination track. The servo circuit operates to adjust an initial value of gain to a second value in response to a selected parameter, and scales the nominal deceleration trajectory to a derated deceleration trajectory in relation to the second value of the gain. The derated deceleration trajectory is preferably selected in relation to the difference between the second value of gain and a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Jeffrey D. Andress, Philip R. Woods, Ryan Todd Lyle
  • Patent number: 6995945
    Abstract: A head positioning system includes: a positioning mechanism section 1 for positioning a head 12; a position controller 2 for detecting a head position signal x to output a position control signal Ux; a velocity detector 3 for detecting the relative velocity of the head 12 with respect to a disk 7 based on the head position signal x; a counter electromotive voltage detector 4 for outputting an estimated head velocity signal Ve2 that is obtained by estimating the absolute velocity of the head 12 based on a counter electromotive voltage signal Vs of an actuator 50; an estimated velocity corrector 5 for correcting an estimation error of the estimated head velocity signal Ve2 based on a velocity signal detected from the head position signal x so as to output a corrected estimated velocity signal Ve2?; and an estimation controller 6 for outputting a velocity control signal Uv based on the corrected estimated velocity signal Ve2?, wherein the actuator 50 is controlled by a control amount signal U that is obtained by
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Kohso, Toshio Inaji
  • Patent number: 6995944
    Abstract: A head positioning method and device positions a head which reads disk-type storage medium at a specified location, and accurately estimates estimates a bias value during settling control. A disk device includes a disk medium, a head, an actuator , and a control circuit, settling control is performed based on a detected position after coarse control without integral compensation or bias compensation having been performed. The position of the head for a next sample is estimated, and an initial bias value is estimated from the difference between the detected position and the estimated position. This initial bias value is then used to perform settling control together with integral compensation of bias compensation. Since the accurate initial bias value at the start of settling is estimated, it is possible to reduce the time for correcting the shift in the bias during settling control, and greatly reduce the time required for settling control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Takaishi, Shunji Saito
  • Patent number: 6987636
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for adjusting the track density over the disk radius by changing the slope of spiral tracks used to servo write a disk drive. A plurality of spiral tracks are written to the disk wherein each spiral track comprises a high frequency signal interrupted at a predetermined interval by a sync mark. A slope of the spiral tracks over a first radial segment of the disk is substantially steeper than the slope of the spiral tracks over a second radial segment of the disk. The head internal to the disk drive is used to read the spiral tracks in order to write product servo sectors to the disk to define a plurality of data tracks. The steeper slope of the spiral tracks over the first radial segment causes a track density of the data tracks to be lower over the first radial segment compared to the track density of the data tracks over the second radial segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2006
  • Patent number: 6977794
    Abstract: A disk drive having a control system which adjusts seek velocity profiles is disclosed. The seek velocity profile is adjusted based on the direction of the seek and the location of the target track. If the seek is away from the ramp, the seek velocity profile is not adjusted. If the seek is toward the ramp, the control system determines the location of the target track. If the target track is within a predefined distance of the ramp, and the transducer velocity exceeds a predetermined velocity, the seek velocity profile is adjusted to limit the deceleration current. The adjustment may be a preset factor, or may be a variable factor depending upon the distance from the target track to the ramp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2005
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Sun, Mark Rice, Don Brunnett
  • Patent number: 6967811
    Abstract: A disk drive comprising a first seek operating mode to move the actuator over a seek distance D in a seek time T1, using a first seek profile for minimizing T1, wherein for a first repetitive series of seeks over distance D a servo control system would require a delay time TD between seeks to control temperature rise in a VCM. A second seek operating mode to move the actuator over the seek distance D in a second seek time T2 using a second seek profile for limiting the temperature rise in the VCM, wherein for a second repetitive series of seeks over the seek distance D, a time average TAVG of the T2 seek times is substantially less than T1+TD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2005
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Raffi Codilian, David D. Nguyen, Alexander Babinski
  • Patent number: 6961205
    Abstract: A seek controller corresponds to a velocity control system which produces a target value based upon a target track, a present position, and a remaining distance from a commencement of a seek operation up to a time instant when a sign of an operating amount is changed; and the seek controller corresponds to a Two Degree of Freedom control system which sets an waveform by a function of time as a target value after the time instant when the sign of the operating amount is changed. The hard disk drives applies a velocity control system based upon a deviation of head positions as to a VCM voltage saturation and a uniform velocity mode, and also, applies a Two Degree of Freedom control system with employment of a function of time having a smooth locus in a decelerated velocity mode so as to suppress residual vibrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takenori Atsumi, Hidehiko Numasato, Jiro Abe
  • Patent number: 6961204
    Abstract: A head position control method controls the speed of the head using the position and the speed detected from the servo information on the disk and directly detects the head speed. The speed detection pattern is assigned to the servo area of the disk, and the speed of the head is detected at the frequency of the regeneration signal. Therefore the speed of the head can be directly detected at the timing of the servo reading. By this, information on the head speed can be obtained with less error. Since there is no delay in the speed detection, the phase margin of the control system increases and stability improves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Keiji Shimatani
  • Patent number: 6950272
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for reducing the acoustic output of a computer disk drive during a load or unload operation are provided. According to the invention, a pulse train having pulse widths that vary from one pulse to the next is provided to a voice coil motor while the transducer head is being loaded to or unloaded from the surface of the disk. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a proportional term equal to the inverse of the pulse width is supplied to the controller such that, with all other inputs to the controller being equal, a pulse train having pulses of equal total power are produced. By providing pulses of varying widths, the acoustic output of the disk drive is spread among multiple frequencies, and the amplitude at any one frequency is diminished as compared to a pulse train having pulses of equal width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2005
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Rice, Bernhard Hiller, Richard Yaeger
  • Patent number: 6940684
    Abstract: When a head passes over a track with a projected item in a seek operation, the CPU delays a seek start time to conduct the seek by changing a period of time from a seek start position to a position of the track with a projected item. Or, the CPU conducts seek control by changing a speed table. Or, the CPU changes a sequence of items of a tag queue to obtain a seek locus not passing the projected item. By the control operation, a seek error due to thermal asperity is prevented and the head is not damaged. This also prevents appearance of a new projected item produced by contact between the magneto-resistive head and the projected item on the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaki Yoshioka, Kenichi Masuda, Yuji Hata, Takeshi Nakazawa, Takayuki Umemoto
  • Patent number: 6940685
    Abstract: A method of driving an electrical load having a complex electrical impedance, such as a voice-coil motor controlling the position of a read/write head in a data storage disk drive system, comprises providing a voltage-mode driver generating drive signals for the electrical load in response to drive commands. Compensated commands for the voltage-mode driver are generated filtering the drive commands, compensating for a phase shift between electrical quantities delivered to the electrical load. The voltage-mode drive thus emulates a conventional, but more expensive, current-mode drive. In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises estimating characteristic parameters of the electrical load during the operation, and adapting the filtering to the estimated characteristic parameters. The estimation comprises implementing a Kalman filtering algorithm, particularly an extended Kalman filtering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Francesco Chrappan Soldavini, Roberto Oboe, Paolo Capretta
  • Patent number: 6937431
    Abstract: A seek operation is performed by identifying a seek length of the seek operation and selecting a representation of a deceleration position-velocity profile based on the seek length. Successive demand velocity values are selected during the seek operation by identifying a distance-to-go and a distance-traveled of the seek length, calculating a representation of an acceleration demand velocity based on the identified distance-traveled and a representation of an acceleration position-velocity profile, identifying a representation of a deceleration demand velocity based on the identified distance-to-go and the selected representation of a deceleration position-velocity profile, and selecting the representation of either the acceleration demand velocity or the deceleration demand velocity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventor: Paul A. Galloway
  • Patent number: 6937429
    Abstract: In a magnetic disk storage apparatus, when power supply is stopped, a magnetic head can be retracted safely and quickly so as not to be damaged. There are provided a back electromotive a force detector that detects back electromotive forces developed in coils of a voice coil motor for moving a magnetic head when power a supply is stopped, and a brake controller that judges a movement speed of the magnetic head from the detected back electromotive forces, and brakes the voice coil motor when the movement speed is greater than a preset first limited speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignees: Hitachi ULSI Systems Co., Ltd., Renesas Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Yoshida, Hiroshi Satou, Kenji Nishimura
  • Patent number: 6937428
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for compensating actuator arm oscillation induced by resonance mode excitation during a seek in a disc drive data handling system. The actuator arm supports a head adjacent a recording surface, and a servo loop controls the position of the actuator arm. A frequency of actuator arm oscillation is identified, after which a seek is initiated to move the head from an initial track to a destination track on the recording surface. A position error signal (PES) is generated to indicate position of the head relative to the destination track, and a compensation signal is generated by a filter based on the PES and the frequency of oscillation of the actuator arm. The compensation signal is adapted to remove a component of the PES arising from the actuator arm oscillation, and is applied to the servo loop as the head is settled onto the destination track.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Hai Thanh Ho, Justin Won, Fadi Youssef Abou-Jaoude, Gregory Andrew Campbell
  • Patent number: 6937430
    Abstract: Friction existing between any two surfaces having relative motion is nonlinear, multiform, and is difficult to model. Nonlinear friction in the actuator pivot of a hard disk drive (HDD) limits the low frequency gain, which prevents the system positioning accuracy from further improvement. This problem is much more pronounced for the severe nonlinearity at the micrometer level. The conventional two-mode proximate time optimal servomechanism (PTOS) is inadequate for immediate future hard disk drives because of the existence of restrictions in the particular design approach. A triple-mode control scheme, and its variations, as presented herein, include (a) a proximate time-optimal controller (PTOC) having a relatively large output is used for track seeking, (b) a robust compensator having a relatively small output is used for track following to compensate for friction and other nonlinearities, and (c) a bridging (connection) control to guarantee the continuity of the control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignee: National University of Singapore
    Inventors: Shuzhi Ge, Yaolong Lou, Tong Heng Lee, Chun-Hung Tony Huang, Teck Seng Low
  • Patent number: 6930853
    Abstract: By dynamically adjusting the maximum voice coil motor driving current produced by an amplifier in a disc drive, amplifier saturation may be reduced, while still maintaining optimal current to quickly drive the voice coil motor during seek operations. Reducing disc drive saturation, and thus non-linearities in the driving current, increases notch filter performance. As the notch filter is used in the disc drive to remove frequencies from the driving current that tend to cause or excite the mechanical oscillations in the disc drive, increased notch filter performance reduces mechanical oscillations and improves disc drive noise characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Chris Thomas Settje, Frank William Bernett
  • Patent number: 6917483
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving the settle time and thus, the transition from seek control to track following control in a disc drive system are provided. With the apparatus and method, two counters are provided—a consecutive counter and a non-consecutive counter. The consecutive counter counts consecutive samples that meet threshold requirements. The non-consecutive counter counts non-consecutive groups of consecutive samples that meet threshold requirements. When the consecutive counter reaches a first predetermined value, the non-consecutive counter is incremented and the consecutive counter is reset to zero. When the non-consecutive counter reaches a second predetermined value, a track following control mechanism is initiated to thereby transition from a seek control operation to a transitional control operation and finally a track following control operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2005
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Avanindra Annu Gupta, Gregory Christopher Labbe
  • Patent number: 6917488
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for resolving a “continuity” problem that occurs when modes are switched in the head positioning control process, and a contradiction exists between a short seek and a long seek.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Yutaka Ozawa, Masahide Yamasaki
  • Patent number: 6917489
    Abstract: A seek-servo apparatus and method used by a hard disk drive is capable of making the actual position of a head correctly follow the target position of the head irrespective of time delay. The seek-servo apparatus of a hard disk drive is capable of moving a head to a desired track location, and includes an actuator which moves the head to the desired track location in response to an acceleration command having a target acceleration, which leads a target velocity and a target position by a predetermined time. Therefore, the head can be correctly positioned at a desired location on a desired track in real time, and the time for the head to read/write information can be significantly shortened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2005
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., LTD
    Inventor: Ju-Il Lee
  • Patent number: 6914745
    Abstract: The hard disk drive comprises: a magnetic disk 2 having servo information stored; magnetic heads 4 seeking on the magnetic disk 2 and staying at a predetermined position to read or write data; a voice coil motor 6 moving the magnetic heads 4 to the predetermined position of the magnetic disk 2; a position controller supplying a driving current to the voice coil motor 6 based on the servo information read by the magnetic heads 4. The position controller includes: a CPU 12 outputting a speed control value based on the servo information; a DAC 7 and a VCM driver 8 converting the speed control value into the driving current; and a controller 10 limiting a driving speed of the voice coil motor 6 in a case that an output timing of the speed control value is shifted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Masayuki Takeuchi, Yuzo Nakagawa, Yukio Fukushima, Tetsuo Ueda
  • Patent number: 6909575
    Abstract: In a magnetic disk drive that performs the seek operation of a magnetic head by a VCM, a characteristic that is excellent in fault tolerance that will not generate a fault in severe environment, such as a high temperature and the issue of high frequency command without requiring a special device and special operation and without deteriorating access performance. For this purpose, a VCM current and a VCM voltage are measured and VCM back electromotive force is calculated based on both results. At seek operation, position information located on a magnetic disk is sampled and a traveling velocity is detected from the difference of the sampled result. VCM coil temperature is estimated from the difference between the traveling velocity and the VCM back electromotive force. The magnetic disk drive moves low velocity seek mode when the estimated value of this VCM coil temperature exceeded a specified value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshio Soyama, Yuji Hata, Katsumoto Onoyama
  • Patent number: 6903897
    Abstract: A method for improving the performance of a rotary actuator in a disk drive, the rotary actuator comprises a voice coil motor (VCM) characterized by a torque parameter, the disk drive comprises a servo control system having a motor driver circuit for receiving a series of command effort signals (CEFs) transmitted based on a first seek profile, and for providing an operating current to VCM based on the CEFs for causing a movement of the actuator from a first radial location to a target radial location. The method includes recording the transmitted CEFs, and while actuator is moving: adjusting each recorded CEF to account for a disk drive influence on actuator movement; storing adjusted CEFs; monitoring velocity of moving actuator; calculating an acceleration value corresponding to moving actuator from the stored CEFs and monitored velocity; and adjusting the acceleration value to account for a radial torque parameter variation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhi Wang, Jenghung Chen
  • Patent number: 6903896
    Abstract: A disturbance compensation signal is produced by estimating the magnitude of disturbance acting upon an actuator based on a driving signal and a voltage signal generated when driving the actuator. A control signal is produced by multiplying the disturbance compensation signal by a gain adjustment coefficient. A head position error signal is produced based on the target position of a magnetic head and the current position of the magnetic head that is detected based on servo information recorded in advance on a magnetic disk. A gain adjuster obtains the driving signal by adding together the control signal and a position control signal. The actuator is driven with the driving signal output from the gain adjuster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Keizo Miyata, Toshio Inaji
  • Patent number: 6888695
    Abstract: An information recording and reproducing apparatus having a high track density, a high recording density in each of the tracks, and a short seeking time. In a seeking operation, a control circuit performs a calculation required for the seeking operation and then sets, to (f=fs), a drive pulse frequency f for a tracking control to be supplied to a piezoelectric element based on the calculation result. A drive circuit outputs a drive pulse of the frequency f corresponding to the input drive pulse to an actuator, so that a recording and reproducing head is moved near a target track. In a following operation, the control circuit performs a calculation required for following operation and then sets, to (f=ft, wherein fs>ft), the drive pulse frequency f to be supplied to the piezoelectric element based on the calculation result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takayuki Hoshino
  • Patent number: 6882604
    Abstract: The invention is a modulation system that encodes symbols in accordance with a modulation code which, for a given communications channel, produces a signal that at the decoder includes maximized sample timing information in each encoded symbol. For systems that use PLLs to control a sample timing clock, the sample timing information is the average or squared slope. The modulation code used for a given system is selected based on the target response h(x) of the associated communications channel, such that h (x)*rk exceeds a predetermined threshold value, where “*” represents convolution and rk is a modulation code symbol. To reduce the bit overhead, or code rate, the inventive modulation system provides more modulation code symbols at the start of a data block, or sector, when system jitter is expected to be relatively high in response, for example, to the movement of a read head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: Maxtor Corporation
    Inventors: Ara Patapoutian, Peter McEwen
  • Patent number: 6879549
    Abstract: A brake signal generating circuit and method for improving the efficiency of a lens brake in an optical disc reproducing system are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Je-kook Kim, Young-wook Jang
  • Patent number: 6873490
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for moving a control object, such as a data transducing head in a data storage device, from an initial position to a destination position. A base generation term describes a normalized trajectory (acceleration, velocity, displacement) of the control object away from the initial position and toward the destination position. A control profile is determined in relation to the base generation term as well as in relation to an acceleration distance and an acceleration time, respectively characterized as a displacement distance and an elapsed time during which the control object is accelerated. The control object is then moved in relation to the control profile. The base generation term is preferably stored in a table which is accessed and scaled in relation to the displacement distance (seek length) for the control object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: HengChang Guo, ChoonHoe Koh
  • Patent number: 6865048
    Abstract: An information storing device and an information processing device having a memory for registering a plurality of working modes at recording/reproduction and a switching circuit for selecting one of the plurality of working modes, which select the optimum working mode automatically or by an instruction of an operator according to power supply capacity of a device of higher rank to effect recording/reproduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Koizumi, Hideaki Amano, Katsuhiro Tsuneta, Koji Kodama
  • Patent number: 6850386
    Abstract: A method for positioning a control object using an optimum jerk profile to reduce excitation of mechanical resonances. A base set of control profiles is selected to describe jerk, acceleration, velocity and displacement of the control object during a seek. Notch functions are applied to the base jerk profile to provide a modified jerk profile having a value of zero at selected times during which maximum current is to be applied to move the control object. Normalized control profiles describing acceleration, velocity and displacement are generated from the modified jerk profile and thereafter used to move the control object. To suppress specific resonant frequencies of interest, the elapsed time of the seek is selected to coincide with a time at which a combination of the excitation energies associated with the resonant frequencies is at a minimum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2005
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Svetlana I. Kovinskaya, Roy L. Wood, Evert S. Cooper