| WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20120081851 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONNECTING MULTIPLE HARD DRIVES - A multiple hard drive connection system includes a first backplane, a second backplane, and a card assembly. The first backplane includes a pass-through and a first socket, and couples to a control system such that the first socket is in electrical communication with the control system. The second backplane is adjacent to and spaced apart from the first backplane, includes a second socket aligned with the pass-through, and couples to the control system such that the second socket is in electrical communication with the control system. The card assembly includes a first edge card connected to the first socket and a second edge card extending through the pass-through and connected to the second socket. The card assembly couples to a hard drive such that the hard drive is in electrical communication with the control system via the first backplane, the second backplane, and the card assembly. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120036041 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A PERSONAL MULTIMEDIA CONTENT ARCHIVE - The embodiments provide for legally transferring multimedia content stored on a medium to a personal content archive device. The device is configured to consolidate a user's content into a single device or secured storage that allows easy access to the content while preserving the digital rights of the content. When a content medium has been provided, the device queries a registration service over a network, such as the Internet, to register the content and indicate that it was legitimately obtained. The device may then be authorized to download and store an authorized version of the content into its secured storage. The authorized version may be the same or a variation of the registered content. The content may then be downloaded from one or more content sources. The registration process may be based on several criteria, such as an authenticity check of the medium, a fee payment, and the like. | 02-09-2012 |
| 20120002324 | DISK DRIVE WITH BALANCE PLUG HAVING LONGITUDINAL RETAINERS - Described herein is a disk drive balance plug that includes a substantially cylindrical body defining a first end, a second end, a substantially cylindrical outer surface, and a plug central axis. The balance plug also preferably includes at least one protrusion extending along the cylindrical outer surface between the first and second ends in a direction substantially aligned with the plug central axis. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20110317309 | SUSPENSION ASSEMBLY HAVING A MICROACTUATOR BONDED TO A FLEXURE - Disclosed is a suspension assembly for a disk drive that includes: a mounting plate having a top-side and a bottom-side; a microactuator mounting structure formed in the mounting plate; a microactuator mounted in the microactuator mounting structure in which the microactuator has a top-side and a bottom-side; and a flexure attached to the bottom-side of the of mounting plate and the microactuator. The flexure includes a pad layer and a through-hole, in which the through-hole extends through the pad layer. An epoxy on the pad layer bonds widely to the microactuator and extends through the through-hole. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110292534 | DISK DRIVE EMPLOYING A PREAMP COMPRISING READ/WRITE PASS THROUGHS FOR CASCADING INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - A disk drive is disclosed comprising a plurality of disk surfaces and a plurality of corresponding heads. The disk drive further comprises a preamp including a first integrated circuit coupled to a first plurality of the heads. The first integrated circuit comprises a first read-output for outputting a preamplified read signal, a first write-input for receiving a first write signal, a write-output-passthrough for outputting a passthrough write signal in response to the first write signal, and a read-input-passthrough for receiving a passthrough read signal. The preamp further comprises a second integrated circuit coupled to a second plurality of the heads, wherein the second integrated circuit comprises a second read-output for outputting the passthrough read signal, and a second write-input for receiving the passthrough write signal. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110283049 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING GARBAGE COLLECTION IN SOLID-STATE MEMORY - Embodiments of the invention are directed to optimizing the selection of memory blocks for garbage collection to maximize the amount of memory freed by garbage collection operations. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide for the efficient selection of optimal or near-optimal garbage collection candidate blocks, with the most optimal selection defined as block(s) with the most invalid pages. In one embodiment, a controller classifies memory blocks into various invalid block pools by the amount of invalid pages each block contains. When garbage collection is performed, the controller selects a block from a non-empty pool of blocks with the highest minimum amount of invalid pages. The pools facilitate the optimal or near-optimal selection of garbage collection candidate blocks in an efficient manner and the data structure of the pools can be implemented with bitmasks, which take minimal space in memory. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110271151 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING ASYNCHRONOUS EVENT NOTIFICATION IN SYSTEMS - A method is provided for asynchronous notifications from a device to a host in systems without requiring hardware provision for asynchronous operations. In an embodiment of the invention, a system supports command queuing and a command is sent from a host to a device. The device receives the command and an associated tag, and accepts the command as valid. After accepting the command, the device begins monitoring for asynchronous events. If an asynchronous event is detected, the device provides notification of the event by sending a response and the associated tag to the host. In another embodiment of the invention, a method of asynchronous notification enables use of invalid tags. In a further embodiment of the invention, asynchronous notifications may be enabled by a host and operate without additional host commands. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110228425 | SUSPENSION ASSEMBLY HAVING A MICROACTUATOR ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO A GOLD COATING ON A STAINLESS STEEL SURFACE - A novel suspension assembly includes a suspension assembly mounting plate, a microactuator mounting structure extending from the suspension assembly mounting plate, a load beam extending from the microactuator mounting structure, and a laminated flexure attached to the load beam. The laminated flexure includes a tongue that has a read head bonding surface. The suspension assembly includes a stainless steel surface having a gold coating, and a piezoelectric microactuator attached to the microactuator mounting structure and electrically connected to the gold coating. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110226729 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A DOUBLE SIDED FLEX CIRCUIT FOR A DISK DRIVE WHEREIN A FIRST SIDE LEAD PROVIDES AN ETCHING MASK FOR A SECOND SIDE LEAD - A method of manufacturing a flex circuit is disclosed for a disk drive comprising a disk, a head actuated radially over the disk, and control circuitry. The flex circuit is for electrically coupling the head to the control circuitry and comprises a substrate. An electrical coating applied to a first side of the substrate is etched to form a first electrical lead. The first side of the substrate is irradiated with radiation such that the first electrical lead masks the radiation from passing through the substrate to prevent curing of a photoresist applied to the second side of the substrate to form an uncured photoresist and a cured photoresist on the second side of the substrate. The uncured photoresist is removed from the second side of the substrate to form a groove, and the groove is filled with electrically conductive material to form the second electrical lead. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110212281 | DISK DRIVE HAVING A CONFORMAL LAMINATED COVER SEAL ADHERED A TOP FACE AND FOUR SIDE FACES OF A HELIUM-FILLED ENCLOSURE - A novel hermetically sealed disk drive comprises a disk drive enclosure that includes a disk drive base with a bottom face, four side faces, and a top cover, the enclosure having a top face. The hermetically sealed disk drive also comprises a laminated cover seal that includes a continuous metal foil, and a continuous adhesive layer coating the continuous metal foil. The laminated cover seal conforms to the disk drive enclosure and is adhered to the top face and to each of the four side faces by the continuous adhesive layer. The disk drive enclosure is helium-filled. The continuous metal foil of the laminated cover seal overlaps each of the four side faces by at least 5 mm. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110211279 | SEALED LAMINATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR FOR HELIUM FILLED DISK DRIVE - A novel disk drive includes a hermetically sealed helium-filled enclosure that has an opening extending through the disk drive base. A laminated electrical connector is disposed inside the enclosure, spans the opening, and is accessible from outside the disk drive base via the opening. The laminated electrical connector has an adhesive layer that is adhered to the disk drive base continuously around the opening, and that has a hole therethrough that is aligned with the opening. The laminated electrical connector includes electrically conductive traces that are electrically connected to the actuator flex cable, and a first insulative layer that is disposed on the trace layer. The laminated electrical connector has a metal foil sealing layer that continuously spans and completely covers the opening, and that has no holes therethrough that are aligned with the opening. The metal foil sealing layer overlaps the adhesive layer continuously around the opening. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110154113 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE TESTER - A data storage device (DSD) tester for testing a DSD is disclosed. The DSD tester comprises control circuitry operable to receive a DSD log from the DSD, wherein the DSD log comprises at least one entry identifying at least one error condition. A sequence of commands associated with the error condition is executed in order to determine whether the DSD is defective. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110154112 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE TESTER - A data storage device (DSD) tester is disclosed for testing a DSD. The DSD tester comprises control circuitry operable to receive production line data through an interface, wherein the production line data is related to the DSD. The control circuitry executes a DSD test on the DSD, and transmits failure data generated by the DSD test and the production line data to a failure information database. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110150436 | PORTABLE CONTENT CONTAINER DISPLAYING A/V FILES IN RESPONSE TO A COMMAND RECEIVED FROM A CONSUMER DEVICE - A portable content container is disclosed comprising a decoder for decoding an A/V file into an A/V stream. File directory information identifying one or more A/V files is transmitted to a consumer device. A display command is received from the consumer device to display a selected one of the A/V files on a display device. The selected A/V file is decoded into an A/V stream transmitted to the display device in response to the display command. In an embodiment, the portable content container further comprises local memory for storing A/V files. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110149424 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE TESTER - A data storage device (DSD) tester for testing a DSD is disclosed. The DSD tester comprises a plurality of bays, a screen, and control circuitry operable to detect when a first DSD has been inserted into a first bay. Independent of operator input, a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on the screen is automatically updated to reflect the first DSD has been inserted into the first bay. Independent of operator input, a DSD test is automatically executed on the first DSD. When the first DSD is removed from the first bay, independent of operator input, the GUI is automatically updated to reflect the first DSD has been removed from the first bay. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110119464 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING A MAPPING BRIDGE FOR ALIGNING HOST BLOCK SIZE WITH PHYSICAL BLOCK SIZE OF A DATA STORAGE DEVICE - A data storage system is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory and a first interface operable to receive a write command from a host, the write command comprising a host write data block having a host logical block size. A block mapping bridge divides the host write data block into a plurality of transfer data blocks, wherein each transfer data block having a device logical block size smaller than the host logical block size. The transfer data blocks are transmitted through a second interface to control circuitry that accumulates the transfer data blocks into a physical data block having a device physical block size equal to a first integer multiple of the device logical block size, wherein the host logical block size is a second integer multiple of the device physical block size. The physical data block is then written to the non-volatile memory. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110107012 | NON-VOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY COMPRISING POWER FAIL CIRCUITRY FOR FLUSHING WRITE DATA IN RESPONSE TO A POWER FAIL SIGNAL - A non-volatile semiconductor memory is disclosed comprising a first memory device having a memory array including a plurality of memory segments, and a data register for storing write data prior to being written to one of the memory segments. A memory controller comprises a microprocessor for executing access commands received from a host. Interface circuitry generates control signals that enable the microprocessor to communicate with the first memory device. Power fail circuitry transmits a flush command to the first memory device through the interface circuitry in response to a power fail signal, wherein the first memory device responds to the flush command by transferring the write data stored in the data register to the memory segment. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110099323 | NON-VOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY SEGREGATING SEQUENTIAL, RANDOM, AND SYSTEM DATA TO REDUCE GARBAGE COLLECTION FOR PAGE BASED MAPPING - A non-volatile semiconductor memory is disclosed comprising a memory device having a memory array including a plurality of memory segments. A plurality of sequential access write commands and random access write commands are received from a host, wherein each write command identifies at least one logical block address (LBA). The LBAs for the sequential access write commands are mapped to a plurality of the memory segments to generate sequential mapping data, and the sequential mapping data is mapped to a first one of the zones. The LBAs for the random access write commands are mapped to a plurality of the memory segments to generate random mapping data, and the random mapping data is mapped to a second one of the zones. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110051292 | DISK DRIVE COMPRISING IMPEDANCE DISCONTINUITY COMPENSATION FOR INTERCONNECT TRANSMISSION LINES - A disk drive comprising a disk, and a head actuated over the disk, the head comprising a read element and a write element. The disk drive further comprises a preamp and an interconnect comprising a first transmission line and a second transmission line coupling the head to the preamp. A compensation network is disclosed operable to compensate for an impedance discontinuity in the first and second transmission lines, the compensation network comprising a first trace and a second trace connected in parallel with the first and second transmission lines, wherein a shape of the first and second traces varies to form at least a first capacitor. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110043941 | ENERGY ASSISTED DISCRETE TRACK MEDIA WITH HEAT SINK - A discrete track perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) disk and a method of fabricating the disk are described. The PMR disk may include a heat sink layer disposed above a substrate, intermediate layers disposed above the heat sink layer, and a magnetic recording layer disposed above the intermediate layers. The magnetic recording layer may have raised and recessed areas, where a heat conductive material may be disposed within one or more of the recessed areas. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110026159 | DISK DRIVE BIASING REFRESH ZONE COUNTERS BASED ON WRITE COMMANDS - A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk comprising a plurality of tracks, and a head actuated over the disk. A plurality of refresh zones are defined, wherein each refresh zone corresponds to a plurality of the tracks. Data is written to a first refresh zone, and a first zone counter is updated for a second refresh zone at a first rate. Data is written to a third refresh zone, and the first zone counter is updated for the second refresh zone at a second rate different than the first rate. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20100315923 | MECHANICALLY DECOUPLED STATUS LENS - A disk drive includes a light source configured to emit light indicative of a disk drive status. A disk drive status light guide system for a disk drive also includes a first light pipe configured and dimensioned to mechanically couple to the disk drive and configured to directly receive and guide light emitted by the light source, and a second light pipe separate from the first light pipe, the second light pipe configured to receive and guide light from the first light pipe to a status lens visible to a user. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100306551 | PHYSICALLY MODIFYING A DATA STORAGE DEVICE TO DISABLE ACCESS TO SECURE DATA AND REPURPOSE THE DATA STORAGE DEVICE - A data storage device is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory and control circuitry operable to evaluate a physical feature of the data storage device, wherein the physical feature is physically alterable by a user. When the physical feature is in a first state, host access to first secure data stored in the non-volatile memory is enabled, and when the physical feature is in a second state, the host access to the first secure data is disabled and host access to second data stored in the non-volatile memory is enabled. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100250793 | ADJUSTING ACCESS OF NON-VOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY BASED ON ACCESS TIME - A non-volatile semiconductor memory is disclosed comprising a first memory device and control circuitry operable to issue an access command to the first memory device. A command status is requested from the first memory device after a status delay. When the command status indicates the first memory device has completed the command, a first access time of the memory device is measured. An access sequence of the first memory device is then modified in response to the access time. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100214682 | DISK DRIVE RETURNING DUMMY DATA TO A HOST WHEN READING AN UNWRITTEN DATA SECTOR - A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk and a head actuated over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of tracks, wherein each track comprises a plurality of data sectors. A read command is received from a host to read data from a target data sector. When it is determined that the target data sector has not been written by the host, dummy data is returned to the host. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100146203 | USING NATIVE COMMAND QUEUING TAGS TO IMPLEMENT PROTECTION INFORMATION FOR DISK DRIVES - A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk and a head actuated over the disk. The disk drive further comprises control circuitry operable to receive a Native Command Queuing (NCQ) access command from a host, wherein the NCQ access command comprises at least one logical block address (LBA), and a tag field for identifying the access command. The tag field is evaluated to determine a size of the logical block in order to transfer the logical block between the disk drive and the host. In one embodiment, the tag field comprises a tag number selected from a range of numbers, including a first range of numbers identifying a first logical block size, and a second range of numbers identifying a second logical block size. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100108256 | CLOSED LOOP CONTROL OF ADHESIVE DOT CHARACTERISTICS - A plurality of adhesive dots are dispensed, and a characteristic for each of the plurality of adhesive dots is measured. An average and statistical dispersion for the measured characteristics of the plurality of adhesive dots are determined. The average in then compared to a function of a reference characteristic value and the statistical dispersion. A change to be made to a physical parameter of a subsequent adhesive dot is determined based at least in part on the comparison, and the subsequent adhesive dot is dispensed onto a subsequent disk drive suspension based at least in part on the change. | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100067344 | INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE HAVING A DISK DRIVE AND A BRIDGE CONTROLLER PCB WITHIN A MONOLITHIC CONDUCTIVE NEST - An information storage device includes a disk drive and a disk drive printed circuit board (PCB) with a disk drive interface connector. A bridge controller PCB is connected to the disk drive interface connector, and includes a host interface connector. An electrically conductive nest of monolithic construction receives the disk drive housing and the bridge controller PCB. The electrically conductive nest includes an enclosure portion enclosing the bridge controller PCB with a conductive grounding tab in contact with the host interface connector. The enclosure portion includes a first plurality of conductive fingers each in contact with the disk drive housing. The electrically conductive nest also includes an extended shield portion adjacent the second side of the disk drive base and overlying the disk drive controller PCB. The extended shield portion includes a second plurality of conductive fingers each in contact with the disk drive housing. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100053796 | DISK DRIVE INCLUDING A DELAY CIRCUIT TO PROVIDE A DELAYED RESET SIGNAL - A disk drive including a delay circuit to provide a delayed reset signal is disclosed. The disk drive includes a head to perform write and read operations to and from a disk and a disk controller that is coupled to the head to control the write and read operations performed by the head. The disk drive further includes: a power loss detection circuit to detect a power loss and to generate a reset signal in response to the power loss; a reset power line coupled to the disk controller and the power loss detection circuit to provide a non-delayed reset signal to the disk controller; and a delay circuit coupled to the reset power line wherein the delay circuit delays the reset signal to provide a delayed reset signal. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20090303637 | DISK DRIVE HAVING A HEAD LOADING/UNLOADING RAMP THAT INCLUDES A TORSIONALLY-COMPLIANT MEMBER - A disk drive includes a ramp having a fixed portion that is fixed to the disk drive base, and a guide portion that is not. The guide portion includes a guide surface having a parking region that is in contact with an HGA lift-tab with the disk drive in a non-operational state. The guide surface also has a load/unload region that extends over a disk outer periphery. The guide surface defines a guide surface length that is measured from the parking region to the load/unload region. The ramp also includes a torsionally-compliant member connecting the fixed portion to the guide portion. A distance between the torsionally-compliant member and the parking region, measured approximately parallel to the guide surface length, is less than half the guide surface length. The guide portion is not connected to the fixed portion over at least two-thirds of the guide surface length. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090213491 | INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE WITH A BRIDGE CONTROLLER AND A PLURALITY OF ELECTRICALLY COUPLED CONDUCTIVE SHIELDS - A novel information storage device is disclosed and claimed. The information storage device includes a disk drive, a disk drive printed circuit board, and a first conductive shield over the disk drive printed circuit board and electrically coupled to the disk drive. The information storage device also includes a bridge controller printed circuit board and a second conductive shield over and electrically coupled to the bridge controller printed circuit board. The first and second conductive shields are in direct contact with each other. A disk drive interface connector electrically couples the bridge controller printed circuit board with the disk drive printed circuit board. A third conductive shield is attached to the disk drive interface connector and is in direct contact with both the first and second conductive shields. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090195936 | DISK DRIVE SERVOING OFF OF FIRST HEAD WHILE DETERMINING FLY HEIGHT FOR SECOND HEAD - A method is disclosed for selecting a dynamic fly height (DFH) control setting for a head in a disk drive, the disk drive comprising a plurality of disk surfaces and plurality of respective heads. The method comprises servoing a first head over a first disk surface in response to servo data recorded on the first disk surface, adjusting a DFH control setting for a second head, and while servoing the first head over the first disk surface, detecting whether the second head has contacted a second disk surface. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090157848 | APPLICATION SERVER PROCESSING TCP/IP REQUESTS FROM A CLIENT BY INVOKING AN ASYNCHRONOUS FUNCTION - An application server is disclosed for communicating with a plurality of clients. The application server executes code segments stored on a computer readable storage medium, such as on a disk storage medium, FLASH memory, etc. The application server initiates a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) object for processing a request received from one of the clients, wherein the request comprises input data. The application server invokes an asynchronous function with the TCP/IP object as an input parameter to process the request, and when the asynchronous function is finished processing the request, returns output data to the client. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090113702 | DISK DRIVE COMPRISING A DOUBLE SIDED FLEX CIRCUIT WHEREIN A FIRST SIDE LEAD PROVIDES AN ETCHING MASK FOR A SECOND SIDE LEAD - A method of manufacturing a flex circuit is disclosed for a disk drive comprising a disk, a head actuated radially over the disk, and control circuitry. The flex circuit is for electrically coupling the head to the control circuitry and comprises a substrate. An electrical coating applied to a first side of the substrate is etched to form a first electrical lead. The first side of the substrate is irradiated with radiation such that the first electrical lead masks the radiation from passing through the substrate to prevent curing of a photoresist applied to the second side of the substrate to form an uncured photoresist and a cured photoresist on the second side of the substrate. The uncured photoresist is removed from the second side of the substrate to form a groove, and the groove is filled with electrically conductive material to form the second electrical lead. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090027799 | DISK DRIVE REFRESHING ZONES IN SEGMENTS TO SUSTAIN TARGET THROUGHPUT OF HOST COMMANDS - A disk drive is disclosed including a disk comprising a plurality of refresh zones, and a head actuated over the disk. The disk drive further comprises control circuitry for receiving access commands from a host. The control circuitry refreshes a refresh zone in a plurality of segments with an interval between each segment, and processes at least one of the access commands during the interval between at least two of the segments, wherein a size of each segment and the interval ensures an average throughput of access commands received from the host does not fall below a first threshold. | 01-29-2009 |
