WD Assigned Seven Patents on Hard and Hybrid Disk Drive

Method to assemble disk drive
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,438,721) developed by Kevin Richard Sill, Campbell, CA, for a "method to assemble disk drive."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A disk drive is assembled to have a cover that includes a hole there through, and an annular gasket continuously encircling the hole and being adhered to an undersurface of the disk drive cover. A breather filter is adjacent the disk drive base. The breather filter includes a breather filter housing having a top surface and an entrance port. The annular gasket is in compressive contact with, but not adhered to, the top surface of the breather filter housing. The annular gasket encircles the entrance port. In certain embodiments, this method of assembly may facilitate disk drive rework."

The patent application was filed on June 9, 2010 (12/797,517).

HDD component test system
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,432,630) developed by Tao Lin, San Jose, CA, and Gang Lin, San Jose, CA, for a "disk drive component test system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A HDD component test system is provided. The HDD component test system includes a rack having multiple test bays with first test sub-assemblies mounted in respective ones of the of test bays. A test control system is electrically coupled to each of the first test sub-assemblies. Each of the test bays is configured to receive a second test sub-assembly and to engage the second test sub-assembly with the first test sub-assembly mounted in the respective bay to form a drive assembly. The test control system is configured to selectively execute a test process on the drive assemblies mounted in the rack."

The patent application was filed on June 30, 2010 (12/828,086).

Disk spindle assembly cartridge
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,432,631) developed by four co-inventors for a "disk spindle assembly cartridge."

The co-inventors are Tao Lin, San Jose, CA, Chih-Wu Jen, Longmont, CO, Chunjer C. Cheng, Saratoga, CA, and Gang H. Lin, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A disk spindle assembly cartridge is described. The disk spindle assembly cartridge includes a base, a spindle motor attached to the base, a disk seated on the spindle motor, a disk clamp attached to the spindle motor, wherein the disk clamp secures the disk to the spindle motor, and a cover attached to the base. The base is configured to detachably mount a head stack assembly cartridge, where the disk is accessible to a head stack assembly pivotally mounted in the head stack assembly cartridge via an opening defined by the base and the cover."

The patent application was filed on June 7, 2012 (13/491,283).

Hybrid drive employing non-volatile semiconductor memory
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,429,343) developed by Chun Sei Tsai, Tustin, CA, for a "hybrid drive employing non-volatile semiconductor memory to facilitate refreshing disk."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A hybrid drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of data sectors, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM). A plurality of refresh zones are defined, wherein each refresh zone comprises a plurality of the data sectors on the disk, and a refresh monitor is maintained for each refresh zone. When a write command is received from a host comprising data and the data is targeted to the NVSM, the data is written to the NVSM. When the data is targeted to a first refresh zone on the disk, and a first refresh monitor has not reached a refresh limit, the data is written to the first refresh zone. When the data is targeted to the first refresh zone on the disk, and the first refresh monitor has reached the refresh limit, the data is written to the NVSM."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 21, 2010 (12/909,555).

Storage device employing run-length mapping table
and single address mapping table
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,443,167) developed by Robert M. Fallone, Laguna Niguel, CA, and William B. Boyle, Lake Forest, CA, for a "storage device employing a run-length mapping table and a single address mapping table."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A storage device is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory comprising a plurality of memory segments. When a write command comprising a logical block address (LBA) is received, a number of consecutive memory segments to access in response to the write command is determined. When the number of consecutive memory segments to access is greater than a threshold, a new run-length mapping entry in a run-length mapping table (RLMT) is created. When the number of memory segments to access is not greater than a threshold, at least one new single address mapping entry in a single address mapping table (SAMT) is created."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 16, 2009 (12/639,794).

With Nidec: spindle motor having connecting mechanism
connecting lead wire and circuit board
Nidec Corp., Kyoto, Japan, and Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, have been assigned a patent (8,416,524) developed by eight co-inventors for a "spindle motor having connecting mechanism connecting lead wire and circuit board, and storage disk drive having the same."

The co-inventors are Masayoshi Saichi, Kazuhiko Fukushima, Hironori Ando, Kazushi Miura, Katsuya Takahashi, Takehito Tamaoka, Kyoto, Japan, Jonathan M. Garbarino, San Jose, CA, and Robert N. Lion, Redwood City, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A spindle motor includes a base portion, a rotor hub, a stator, and a circuit board. The base portion preferably includes a through hole and is arranged to spread out radially around a central axis. The rotor hub is arranged above the base portion to rotate about the central axis. The stator is arranged above the base portion, and includes coils each including at least one lead wire. The circuit board is arranged radially outward of the through hole, and arranged on a lower surface of the base portion. The base portion includes a communicating groove arranged to join the through hole and the circuit board to each other. The at least one lead wire of the coils is arranged to pass inside the through hole and the communicating groove to be electrically connected to the circuit board. The through hole is sealed with a sealant."

The patent application was filed on Feb. 17, 2011 (13/029,143).