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WD Assigned Fifteen Patents

On HDD technologies: motor, head, sensor, actuator, disk, degragmentation, etc.

HDD predicting spindle motor failure
by evaluating current draw relative to temperature
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,804,267) developed by four co-inventors for “disk drive predicting spindle motor failure by evaluating current draw relative to temperature.”

The co-inventors are Yanan Huang, Torrance, CA, Chuanwen Ji, Irvine, CA, Duc T. Phan, Saratoga, CA, and Chui Lyn Cheong, Lake Forest, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a spindle motor operable to rotate the disk. A baseline relationship is generated between a baseline current draw of the spindle motor over a temperature range. An operating current draw of the spindle motor is measured and a corresponding operating temperature is measured. Failure of the spindle motor is predicted based on the operating current draw, the operating temperature, and the baseline relationship.

The patent application was filed on Nov. 7, 2012 (13/671,487).

Selective defragmentation in storage device
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,819,375) developed by David C. Pruett, Longmont, CO, and Srinivas Neppalli, Irvine, CA, for a “method for selective defragmentation in a storage device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device is disclosed including a non-volatile media having a plurality of physical locations for storing user data, each physical location associated with a logical block address (LBA), a translation table having a plurality of entries, each entry having a mapping of one or more LBAs to a corresponding number of physical locations on the non-volatile media. The data storage device further includes control circuitry that divides the translation table into a plurality of segments, each segment including a group of entries corresponding to a range of LBAs, determines a first score for each segment using a first metric, and selects a segment for defragmentation by utilizing the first score for each segment.”

The patent application was filed on Nov. 30, 2011 (13/308,403).

Defect record search
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,817,584) developed by Gomez S. Selvaraj, Irvine, CA, for “defect record search.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk drive including a disk storing a defect log including one or more defect records, wherein each of the defect records comprises record fields, and a controller configured to determine a match for a reference defect record by at least selecting one or more record fields of the reference defect record as search fields, setting the search fields in the reference defect record, generating a mask record comprising mask fields corresponding to the record fields, setting a first bit value for each bit in the mask fields corresponding to the search fields and a second bit value for each bit in the mask fields which do not correspond to the search fields, selecting a defect record from the defect log, generating an intermediate result by performing a first logic operation, and generating a matching result by performing a second logic operation.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 28, 2013 (13/781,428).

Disk lubricant management in storage device
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,817,413) developed by Bernard E. Knigge, San Jose, CA, David E. Wachenschwanz, Saratoga, CA, and Min Yang, San Jose, CA, for the “disk lubricant management in storage device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “It is determined whether one or more heads of a data storage device (DSD) have been within a radial position of one or more disks of the DSD for more than a threshold period of time. When it is determined that the one or more heads have been within a radial position of the one or more disks for more than the threshold period of time, the one or more heads are radially moved by more than a predetermined distance to reduce a development of variations in a distribution of lubricant on a first surface of the one or more disks.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 23, 2013 (14/034,427).

HDD head suspension with single piezoelectric element adhered to rotary-actuated
and non-actuated portions of a structural layer of aongue of laminated flexure
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,691) developed by five co-inventors for a “disk drive head suspension with a single piezoelectric element adhered to rotary-actuated and non-actuated portions of a structural layer of a tongue of a laminated flexure.”

The co-inventors are Jifang Tian, Jian Yang,  Qiang Yang, Fremont, CA, William S. Wang, San Jose, CA, and Yih-Jen D. Chen, Pleasanton, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk drive head gimbal assembly includes a laminated flexure with a tongue having an actuated portion that rotates about an axis of rotation by expansion of an adhered piezoelectric element. A non-actuated portion of the tongue adjoins and forms a bridge between two outrigger beams, with a dimple contact location that is in contact with a dimple of the load beam and through which the axis of rotation passes. The piezoelectric element has an anchored end that is adhered to the non-actuated portion of the tongue, and an opposing actuated end adhered to the actuated portion. The actuated portion of the tongue includes first and second head mounting plates that are each adhered to the read head. Each of the head mounting plates is connected to the non-actuated portion of the tongue by an elongated compliant member that is oriented radially with respect to the dimple contact location.”

The patent application was filed on June 28, 2013 (13/931,588).

Disk deflection damper for HDD
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,677) developed by five co-inventors for a “disk deflection damper for disk drive.”

The co-inventors are Baekho Heo, San Jose, CA, Enoch Mylabathula, San Jose, CA, Brian P. Schott, San Jose, CA, Keith R. Berding, San Jose, CA, and Jonathan M. Garbarino, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of te patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “It is determined whether one or more heads of a data storage device (DSD) have been within a radial position of one or more disks of the DSD for more than a threshold period of time. When it is determined that the one or more heads have been within a radial position of the one or more disks for more than the threshold period of time, the one or more heads are radially moved by more than a predetermined distance to reduce a development of variations in a distribution of lubricant on a first surface of the one or more disks.”

The patent application was filed on Dec. 15, 2011 (13/327,267).

Magnetic recording sensor with AFM exchange coupled shield stabilization
Western Digital, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,692) developed by Yimin Guo, San Jose, CA, Rongfu Xiao, Dublin, CA, and Yuankai Zheng, Fremont, CA, for a “magnetic recording sensor with AFM exchange coupled shield stabilization.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic recording sensor with AFM exchange coupled shield stabilization for use in a data storage device includes a read sensor positioned between a bottom shield and a top shield. The top shield comprises a first ferromagnetic (FM) layer, a coupling layer, and a second FM layer. An exchange coupling insertion layer is provided between the second FM layer and an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer above. In an embodiment of the invention, the exchange coupling insertion layer comprises CoFe with a Fe content from about 35-45 at. %, and thickness from about 1nm to about 3nm. In another embodiment of the invention, the exchange coupling insertion layer comprises a bi-layer, including first sub-layer comprising CoFe with Fe content from about 8-12 at. %, and second sub-layer comprising CoFe with Fe content from about 35-45 at. %, and the bi-layer has a thickness less than about 4nm.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 7, 2012 (13/607,593).

HDD calibrating bias signal for touchdown sensor
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,667) developed by six co-inventors for “disk drive calibrating bias signal for touchdown sensor.”

The co-inventors are Carl E. Barlow, Lake Forest, CA, Chun Sei Tsai, Tustin, CA, Thomas A. O’Dell, Sunnyvale, CA, David E. Fowler, San Jose, CA, David E. Wachenschwanz, Saratoga, CA, and Balvinder Singh, Gilroy, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, the head comprising a touchdown sensor comprising a resistance. A bias signal is applied at a reference value to the touchdown sensor at a reference temperature, and a corresponding reference resistance of the touchdown sensor is measured. An operating value for the bias signal is generated based on a predetermined operating temperature of the touchdown sensor, the reference resistance, the reference temperature, and a thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR) of the touchdown sensor, wherein the TCR specifies a change in temperature of the touchdown sensor relative to a change in the resistance of the touchdown sensor.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 15, 2012 (13/652,239).

HDD head suspension assembly with piezo element stress relief features
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,689) developed by five co-inventors for a “disk drive head suspension assembly with piezo element stress relief features.”

The co-inventors are Tzong-Shii Pan, Kia Moh Teo, San Jose, CA, Wing C. Shum, San Mateo, CA, Yanning Liu, San Ramon, CA, and Mukund Vijay, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A head suspension assembly for a disk drive includes a mounting plate that may include an annular swage boss. A load beam is attached to and extends from the mounting plate in a longitudinal direction. A first piezoelectric element is disposed within a first piezoelectric element receiving window in the mounting plate. The load beam includes a first etched region that is elongated in a transverse direction that is transverse to the longitudinal direction. The first etched region neighbors the first piezoelectric element and is disposed closer to the annular swage boss than is the first piezoelectric element.”

The patent application was filed on Nov. 21, 2012 (13/683,974).

Polarity detection of piezoelectric actuator in HDD
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,664) developed by five co-inventors for the “polarity detection of piezoelectric actuator in disk drive.

The co-inventors are Hengchang Guo, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, Duc T. Phan, Saratoga, CA, Yanan Huang, Torrance, CA, Chuanwen Ji, Irvine, CA, and Yakov M. Lifschitz, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Determining a polarity of a piezoelectric (PZT) actuator of a disk drive including a disk for storing data and a head for reading and writing data. A test signal is injected into the PZT actuator and a position signal is received which indicates a position of the head over the disk resulting from the test signal. A test compensation signal is generated based on the received position signal and the polarity of the PZT actuator is determined based on a phase of the generated test compensation signal.”

The patent application was filed on Dec. 22, 2012 (13/726,007).

PMR head having reduced shield notching
Western Digital, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,797,680) developed by five co-inventors for a “perpendicular magnetic recording head having reduced shield notching.”

The co-inventors are Guanghong Luo, Fremont, CA, Liubo Hong, San Jose, CA, Honglin Zhu, Yun-Fei Li, and Yingjian Chen, Fremont, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) transducer is provided. The PRM transducer includes a PMR pole having a top, a bottom, and at least one sidewall, the bottom having a bottom width, the top having a top width bigger than the bottom width. The PRM transducer further includes an intermediate layer adjacent to the at least one sidewall, a write gap on the PMR pole, the write gap including a first layer on the PMR pole, the first layer including a planarization stop layer, and a shield on the write gap.”

The patent application was filed on March 12, 2012 (13/417,930).

Digital rights management for accessing content from intelligent storage
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,831,217) developed by David L. Blankenbeckler, Longmont, VO, Danny Ybarra, Mission Viejo, CA, and Lambertus Hesselink, Atherton, CA, for “digital rights management system and methods for accessing content from an intelligent storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention relates to accessing content stored on a storage device and protecting the content with a digital rights management (DRM) scheme. The storage device may be a disk drive, or network attached storage. The storage device can perform cryptographic operations and provide a hardware root of trust. The DRM employs a binding key, a content key, and an access key. The binding key binds the content to the storage device and is based on a key concealed on the storage device. The binding key itself is not stored anywhere on the storage device. The content key is a key assigned to the content. The access key is determined based on a cryptographic combination of the content key and binding key. In one embodiment, the content is encrypted based on the access key and stored in encrypted form in the storage device.”

The patent application was filed on April 30, 2012 (13/460,616).

Electroless coated disks for high temperature applications
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., Irvine, CA, and Coventya, Inc., Brooklyn Heights, OH, have been assigned a patent (8,828,482) developed by six co-inventors for “electroless coated disks for high temperature applications and methods of making the same.”

The co-inventors are Alan J. Ruffini, Lebanon, New Jersey, Lindsey A. Hamilton, Dorothea Buechel-Rimmel, San Jose, CA, Jean M. Laplante, Oriskany, NY, Ambrose Schaffer, Canajoharie, NY, and Frederick K. Lowes, Vernon Center, NY.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk for a hard disk drive is provided. The disk comprises a substrate comprising aluminum, and a coating layer disposed over the substrate. The coating layer comprises an alloy of Ni, X1 and X2, wherein X1 comprises one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, B, Cr, Cu, Ga, In, Mn, Mo, Nb, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Te, W, Zn and Zr, and wherein X2 comprises either B or P, and wherein X1 and X2 do not comprise the same elements.”

The patent application was filed on March 4, 2013 (13/783,660).

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