WD Assigned Seventeen Patents

Storage device assembly fixture
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,707,531) developed by Komgrit Sungkhaphong, Bangkok, Thailabd, and Pattara Aryuwat, Pathum Thani, Thailand, for a “storage device assembly fixture.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage device assembly fixture comprises a platform configured to receive an external cover for a storage device, the external cover having a first face and a second face generally parallel to and opposing the first face, the first face coupled to the second face at a back end of the external cover, the first face defining a first edge at a front end of the external cover opposite the back end, and the second face defining a second edge at the front end; a first finger configured to engage the first edge; a second finger configured to engage the second edge; and a pivot assembly coupled to the second finger, the pivot assembly rotatable about a pivot axis and configured to pivot the second finger away from the first finger.”

The patent application was filed on Oct.22, 2009 (12/604,145).

HDD mapping low frequency write addresses to circular buffer write zone
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,699,175) developed by Edwin S. Olds, Fort Collins, CO, and William B. Boyle, Lake Forest, CA, for a “disk drive mapping low frequency write addresses to circular buffer write zone.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of data tracks. A random access write zone is defined on the disk comprising a first plurality of the data tracks, and a circular buffer write zone is defined on the disk comprising a second plurality of the data tracks. Write commands are received comprising logical block addresses (LBAs). First frequency and second frequency write LBAs are identified, where the second frequency is higher than the first frequency. Data associated with the first frequently write LBAs is stored in the circular buffer write zone, and data associated with the second frequency write LBAs is stored in the random access write zone.“

The patent application was filed on July 20, 2012 (13/554,994).

HDD detecting touchdown event
by evaluating frequency response of touchdown metric
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,699,173) developed by Soo-Choon Kang, Irvine, CA, Hongchao T. Zhao, San Jose, CA, and Siri S. Weerasooriya, Campbell, CA, for a “disk drive detecting touchdown event by evaluating frequency response of a touchdown metric.”

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 fly height actuator operable to control a fly height of the head over the disk. A periodic control signal is applied to the fly height actuator, a frequency response of a touchdown metric at a frequency of the periodic control signal is measured, and a touchdown event is detected in response to the frequency response of the touchdown metric.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 1, 2011 (13/224,118).

Hermetically sealed HDD with fill port valve
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,699,179) developed by Arman V. Golgolab, Los Altos, CA, and Jon E. Jacoby, San Jose, CA, for a “hermetically sealed disk drive with fill port valve.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A novel disk drive includes an enclosure and a disk rotatably mounted to and within the enclosure. The disk drive enclosure has a fill port opening with an internally threaded section and an internal annular seating surface. A fill port valve is disposed within the fill port opening. The fill port valve includes an externally threaded section that is engaged with the internally threaded section of the fill port opening, an external annular seating surface in contact with and forming a continuous annular seal with the internal annular seating surface of the fill port opening, and a gas flow channel spanning the externally threaded section of the fill port valve. The disk drive may be helium-filled, and may also include a metal foil seal that is externally adhered to the disk drive enclosure and covers the fill port opening and the fill port valve. “

The patent application was filed on March 14, 2013 (13/826,244).

Reducing effects of wide area track erasure in HDD
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,699,159) developed by James N. Malina, Irvine, CA, for “reducing effects of wide area track erasure in a disk drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Apparatus and methods for managing data stored in a disk drive having at least one disk including a first zone of tracks for storing data and a second zone of tracks for storing data, with the second zone being adjacent the first zone. It is determined whether a write counter for the first zone exceeds a threshold value. The write counter for the first zone represents a number of times the first zone has been completely written with data. If it is determined that the write counter for the first zone exceeds the threshold value, the disk drive is controlled to rewrite data from at least a portion of the second zone.”

The patent application was filed on June 18, 2012 (13/525,611).

Manufacturing flexible cable for HDD
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,702,998) developed by Albert J. Guerini, Gilroy, CA, for a “method to manufacture a flexible cable for a disk drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A novel method to manufacture a flexible cable for a disk drive is disclosed. The method includes providing a flexible laminar sheet. The flexible laminar sheet has a dielectric substrate layer and an electrically conductive layer contacting a first side of the dielectric substrate layer. A portion of the electrically conductive layer is etched away to define a first plurality of electrically conductive traces and to expose an etched surface of the first side of the dielectric substrate layer. A second plurality of electrically conductive traces is deposited on the etched surface of the first side of the dielectric substrate layer.”

The patent application was filed on March 9, 2012 (13/416,992).

Suspension clamp for clamping HDD suspension to actuator arm
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,705,209) developed by four co-inventors for a “suspension clamp for clamping a disk drive suspension to an actuator arm.“

The co-inventors are Mark S. Seymour, Felton, CA, Mitchell D. Dougherty, Los Gatos, CA, Walter G. Banshak Jr., Morgan Hill, CA, and Geoffrey A. Hales, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A suspension clamp is disclosed for clamping a disk drive suspension to an actuator arm. The suspension clamp comprises a housing including a spring operable to bias a latching member, wherein the latching member is rotatable about a pivot. After compressing the spring and rotating the latching member in a first direction, the latching member is operable to clamp the suspension to the actuator arm by decompressing the spring.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 14, 2011 (13/273,428).

Storage device with damping insert sheet between housing bay and HDD
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,705,201) developed by five co-inventors for “information storage device with a damping insert sheet between a housing bay and a disk drive.”

The co-inventors are Shawn E. Casey, San Jose, CA, Jifang Tian, Fremont, CA, Tegan Campbell, Dana Point, CA, Hongqi Li, Redwood City, CA, and William Flynn, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A novel information storage device is disclosed and claimed. The information storage device includes a device housing with a generally rectangular bay to accommodate a disk drive. The generally rectangular bay includes a base portion and a plurality of side portions. The information storage device further includes a damping insert sheet disposed between the disk drive and the base portion. The damping insert sheet has a plurality of elastomeric cushions, for example with a cushion thickness in the range 0.5 mm to 10 mm, and a spanning sheet, for example having a sheet thickness in the range 0.02 mm to 0.35 mm. Each of the plurality of elastomeric cushions is attached to the spanning sheet. Each of the plurality of elastomeric cushions contacts and is compressed between the generally rectangular bay and the disk drive.“

The patent application was filed on Dec. 20, 2011 (13/331,889).

Optimizing garbage collection in storage
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,706,985) developed by William B. Boyle, Lake Forest, CA, and Robert M. Fallone, Newport Beach, CA, for a “system and method for optimizing garbage collection in storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention is directed to systems and methods for optimizing garbage collection in data storage. The data storage may be a shingled disk drive or a non-volatile solid-state memory device. Garbage collection is optimized by selectively saving data read from certain locations of the data storage in response to host read commands and using the saved data for subsequent garbage collection operations. The decision of whether to save data may be based on a number of criteria, including whether the data is located in an area of the data storage that is due to be garbage collected in the near future. In this manner, certain garbage collection operations can be performed without having to re-read the saved data.”

The patent application was filed on July 23, 2013 (13/948,495).

Determining storage capacity error for storage device
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,711,665) developed by Hasni Zaidy Abdul Hamid, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a “method and apparatus for determining storage capacity error for a data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device comprising a non-volatile media including a plurality of segments, and configured to store a defect list, and a controller configured to perform a defect management process. The defect management process can include testing the plurality of segments for defects, detecting a defect in a first segment of the plurality of segments, updating the defect list to include the first segment, determining a defective space amount based on the segments in the updated defect list, determining whether the defective space amount indicates a storage capacity error, transmitting a storage capacity error signal to the test system when the defective space amount indicates the storage capacity error, and when the defective space amount does not indicate the storage capacity error, continuing to test the plurality of segments for defects until the defective space amount indicates the storage capacity error or all the segments have been tested.“

The patent application was filed on Oct. 26, 2011 (13/282,274).

Detailed error reporting in storage systems
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,713,357) developed by Sebastien A. Jean, Irvine, CA, and Robert L. Horn, Yorba Linda, CA, for “systems and methods for detailed error reporting in storage systems.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments of the invention are directed to providing detailed error reporting of data operations performed on a NVM storage device. In one embodiment, a controller interfaces with a NVM storage device including NVM storage coupled with a bridge. In one embodiment, the controller is provided physical, page-level access to the NVM via the bridge, and the bridge provides detailed error reporting of the data operations that the bridge performs on the NVM on behalf of the controller. For example, the bridge may provide page level reporting indicating which page(s) failed during a read operation. Detailed error reporting allows the controller to better understand the failures that occurred in a data access operation in the NVM. It also enables the controller to manage the flash media at the physical page/block level. In one embodiment, detailed error reporting also enables the return of discontinuous ranges of data with the error portions removed.“

The patent application was filed on Sept. 6, 2011 (13/226,418).

Visual indicator of online backup
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,713,265) developed by Matthew G. Rutledge, Brea, CA, for a “visual indicator of online backup.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The embodiments provide an external drive that is configured to coordinate with an online data backup service and having a visual or an audiovisual indication of the status and progress of the backup. In particular, upon the user’s request or as an automatic function, the external drive backs up its contents to a backup storage. In some embodiments, the backup storage is provided by an online backup service remotely via a network, such as the Internet. The external drive comprises a visual or an audiovisual indicator, such as one or more indicator lights, that provide a status of the backup. The various stages of the backup process may be indicated, for example, by changes in the color of the indicator lights, flashing patterns, or any combination of these indication signals.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 21, 2010 (12/887,341).

The patent application was filed on July 20, 2012 (13/554,994).

The patent application was filed on June 18, 2012 (13/525,611).

HDD detecting touchdown event
by evaluating frequency response of a touchdown metric
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,699,173) developed by Soo-Choon Kang, Irvine, CA, Hongchao T. Zhao, San Jose, CA, and Siri S. Weerasooriya, Campbell, CA, for a “disk drive detecting touchdown event by evaluating frequency response of a touchdown metric.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 1, 2011 (13/224,118).

Enhanced controller architecture in storage systems
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,700,834) developed by Robert L. Horn, Yorba Linda, CA, and Sebastien A. Jean, Irvine, CA, for “systems and methods for an enhanced controller architecture in storage systems.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Disclosed herein is a controller architecture that pairs a controller with a NVM (non-volatile memory) storage system over a high-level, high speed interface such as PCIe. In one embodiment, the NVM storage system includes a bridge that communicates with the controller via the high-level interface, and controls the NVM via an interface (e.g., ONFI). The controller is provided a rich set of physical level of controls over individual elements of the NVM. In one embodiment, the controller is implemented in a higher powered processor that supports advanced functions such as mapping, garbage collection, wear leveling, etc. In one embodiment, the bridge is implemented in a lower powered processor and performs basic signal processing, channel management, basic error correction functions, etc. This labor division provides the controller physical control of the NVM over a fast, high-level interface, resulting in the controller managing the NVM at both the page and block level.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 6, 2011 (13/226,393).

Storage device evaluating SATA connector to detect non-SATA host
Western Digital Technologies, Irvine, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,700,850) developed by Marc J. Lalouette, Laguna Beach, CA, for a “storage device evaluating a SATA connector to detect a non-SATA host.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device (DSD) is disclosed comprising a SATA connector and control circuitry comprising a communication module for communicating with a host. At least one pin of the SATA connector is evaluated to detect a host type. When the host type is SATA, the communication module is configured to operate according to a SATA protocol, and when the host type is non-SATA, the communication module is configured to operate according to a non-SATA protocol.“

The patent application was filed on June 24, 2011 (13/168,903).