Toshiba Assigned Eleven Patents

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,583,131) developed by Sugiyama, Hiroshi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk device and control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, there is provided a magnetic disk device including a magnetic disk, a magnetic head, and a controller. The magnetic head is opposite the magnetic disk. The magnetic head includes a first read head and a second read head. The controller determines a track pitch in the vicinity of a first track or a second track adjacent to the first track of the magnetic disk based on first position information and second position information. The first position information depends on a servo signal read by the first read head and corresponds to the first track. The second position information depends on a servo signal read by the second read head and corresponds to the second track.“

The patent application was filed on March 7, 2016 (15/062,598).

Magnetic disk and method for accessing data sector
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,576,605) developed by Matsuo, Takashi, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, Yoshida, Kenji, Takada, Kazuya, Kamakura Kanagawa, Japan, and Kondo, Yosuke, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk apparatus and method for accessing data sector.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic disk apparatus includes a disk and a controller. The disk includes a plurality of tracks including a first track and a second track that is different from the first track. A plurality of data sectors are located on the tracks. The data sectors include short data sectors and long data sectors, each including a plurality of short data sectors. If the controller accesses a long data sector located at an end of the first track, the controller first accesses a short data sector of the long data sector at the end of the first track, and then accesses a short data sector of the long data sector at the beginning of the second track.“

The patent application was filed on February 24, 2015 (14/630,496).

Magnetic disk and write control
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,576,604) developed by Inamura, Seiji, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk device and write control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic disk device according to an embodiment includes a disk including a plurality of tracks, a head configured to write and read data to and from the disk, and a controller configured to control an off-track of the head, which occurs when data is written to one track included in the plurality of tracks, within an allowable range of an amount of the off-track, which is set based on a count value of at least another track other than the one track.“

The patent application was filed on February 4, 2016 (15/015,260).

Magnetic storage device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,576,632) developed by Katayama, Akira, Seoul, Korea, for a “magnetic storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic storage device of one embodiment includes a first and second magnetoresistive effect elements. The first magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetic layer having a first coercivity, a second magnetic layer having a second coercivity higher than the first coercivity, and a third magnetic layer having a third coercivity higher than the second coercivity. Magnetization orientations of the second and third magnetic layers are antiparallel. The second magnetoresistive effect element includes a fourth magnetic layer having a fourth coercivity, a fifth magnetic layer having a fifth coercivity higher than the fourth coercivity, and a sixth magnetic layer having a sixth coercivity higher than the fifth coercivity. Magnetization orientations of the fifth and sixth magnetic layers are parallel.“

The patent application was filed on September 3, 2015 (14/844,218).

Storage apparatus, controller and control method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,548,071) developed by Isokawa, Hiroshi, Kanagawa, Japan, for a “storage apparatus, controller and control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage apparatus of an embodiment includes a magnetic disk, a head, and a controller. The head includes a writing unit that outputs a magnetic field to record write data into a recording region of the magnetic disk to which light is irradiated and a reading unit that reads read data from the recording region of the magnetic disk. Based on a first spectrum of first read data read by the reading unit at a first position of the magnetic disk and a second spectrum of second read data read by the reading unit at a second position which is a following position of the first position, the controller detects whether an offset of the writing unit occurs while writing into the recording region of the magnetic disk is performed by the writing unit.“

The patent application was filed on November 20, 2015 (14/948,055).

Hybrid HDD with improved data retention
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,536,619) developed by Ehrlich, Richard M., Saratoga, CA, Dunn, Eric R., Cupertino, CA, and Sukegawa, Hiroshi, Tokyo, Japan, for a “hybrid HDD with improved data retention.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Data are refreshed in a nonvolatile solid-state device to significantly reduce the likelihood of data retention errors. Test data are written in a region of the nonvolatile solid-state device when user data are stored in the nonvolatile solid-state device, and are subsequently read to detect the possibility of data retention errors occurring when the associated user data are read. The test data may be a portion of the user data or a predetermined test pattern. To increase sensitivity to incipient charge leakage that may compromise the user data, the test data may be written using a modified write process and/or read with a modified read operation. The nonvolatile solid-state device may be employed as part of a solid-state drive or as the flash-memory portion of a hybrid HDD.“

The patent application was filed on May 27, 2015 (14/723,087).

Magnetic disk, read/write control, and controller
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,514,787) developed by Takai, Yoriharu, Kodaira, Japan, for a “magnetic disk apparatus, read/write control method, and controller.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to at least one embodiment, a magnetic disk apparatus includes a magnetic disk, a nonvolatile memory, a determination module, a write module, and a read module. The determination module determines whether the off-track write occurs on a first data sector during a write mode. The write module writes first data in the nonvolatile memory if the determination module determines that the off-track write occurs on the first data sector. The read module reads the first data from one of the magnetic disk and the nonvolatile memory based on a determination result of the determination module.“

The patent application was filed on July 27, 2012 (13/560,094).

Spiral pitch correction based on micro-jog variation
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,514,774) developed by Szita, Gabor, Mountain View, CA, Liang, Jiangang, San Jose, CA, and Gerasimov, Anton, Santa Clara, CA, for a “spiral pitch correction based on micro-jog variation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “During a self-servo write process, servo sectors that have uniform radial spacing are written on a disk surface. As part of the in-drive writing of the servo sectors, a radial offset between a reader element and a writer element of a magnetic head is measured. The measured radial offset, or micro-jog, is compared to a known nominal micro-jog value for the current radial position of the magnetic head. When the measured micro-jog value does not match the nominal micro-jog value, an appropriate correction to the self-servo write step size is applied to the radial spacing between the servo sectors being written. Variations from ideal servo spiral slope that are inherent in some servo spirals can be compensated for, thereby improving the uniformity of radial spacing of data tracks associated with the servo sectors.“

The patent application was filed on October 27, 2015 (14/924,630).

Contact-detecting, manufacturing of disk drive, and disk drive
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,466,328) developed by Takaishi, Kazuhiko, Machida Tokyo, Japan, and Akiya, Shinsuke, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “contact-detecting method, manufacturing method of disk drive, and disk drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a contact-detecting method includes calculating a representative value for each of a plurality of first zones. The plurality of first zones is provided at different radial locations on the disk. The representative value is calculated based on values measured at a plurality of different radial locations included in each of the first zones. The method includes detecting a contact point at which a first member contacts with a second member based on a first difference. The first difference is a difference between a value measured at an objective measuring point and a representative value of a second zone among the plurality of first zones. The objective measuring point is included in a third zone among the plurality of first zones. The second zone is arranged radially inward of the third zone.“

The patent application was filed on August 26, 2015 (14/836,070).

Servo writing , magnetic disk, and head position control
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,460,743) developed by Sudo, Daisuke, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “servo writing method, magnetic disk apparatus and head position control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a servo writing method for a magnetic disk apparatus that includes a magnetic disk and a head is provided. The method rotates the magnetic disk, derives a path obtained by adding a second specifying value to a first specifying value, the first specifying value corresponding to a separation distance from a rotation center of the magnetic disk, the second specifying value periodically displacing the separation distance in a radial direction synchronously with a rotation angle of the magnetic disk, the second specifying value being a value in which the separation distances at a start point and an end point of one rotation of the magnetic disk coincide, and, while causing the head to follow the path, writes servo information onto the magnetic disk with the head.“

The patent application was filed on September 3, 2015 (14/844,790).

Hybrid HDD that limits dirty data in NAND
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,459,802) developed by Budiman, Mine Wonkyung, Livermore, CA, and Ehrlich, Richard M., Saratoga, CA, for a “hybrid HDD that limits dirty data in NAND.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A hybrid HDD that includes a magnetic storage medium and a nonvolatile solid-state device limits the amount of data that are stored in the solid-state storage device but are not also stored in the magnetic storage device. By limiting such ‘flash-only’ data to as much as can be flushed to the magnetic storage medium within a specified time, the hybrid HDD can flush all flash-only data to the magnetic storage medium immediately prior to a power-off of the drive. Thus, the hybrid HDD can employ a write cache, which relies on storing flash-only data in the hybrid HDD, without the disadvantage of storing flash-only data after shut-down.“

The patent application was filed on March 30, 2015 (14/673,763).