Toshiba and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Assigned Twenty One Patents

Magnetic disk drive including actuator assembly, flexible print circuit board and control circuit
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,811,041) developed by Yoshikawa, Norio, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk drive including actuator assembly, flexible print circuit board and control circuit board.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a housing that includes a bottom wall, a magnetic disk contained in the housing, a first head and a second head configured to write data to the magnetic disk, and read data from the magnetic disk, a first actuator assembly including the first head, a second actuator assembly including the second head, a first flexible print circuit board including a first connector, a second flexible print circuit board including a second connector, and a control circuit board that is provided outside the housing, and includes a third connector electrically connected to the first connector and the second connector.”

The patent application was filed on September 5, 2019 (16/561,405).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,811,040) developed by Tokuda, Kota, Kawasaki, Japan, and Yamamoto, Nobuhiro, Yokohama, Japan, for a “disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a plurality of disk-shaped recording media, a first actuator assembly supported by a support shaft, a second actuator assembly supported by the support shaft and spaced from the first actuator assembly, a flexible printed wiring board includes a base portion, a first relay portion extending from the base portion and connected to the first actuator assembly, and a second relay portion extending from the base portion and connected to the second actuator assembly, a support member fixed to the base portion of the flexible printed wiring board, and a reinforcing member provided in the base portion in the vicinity of the first relay portion and the second relay portion.”

The patent application was filed on August 29, 2019 (16/555,463).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,803,899) developed by Ishii, Koji, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A magnetic disk device includes a control circuit, and a disk unit including a plurality of magnetic disks, a plurality of magnetic heads configured to read or write data from or to the magnetic disks, a first actuator configured to move the magnetic heads, a plurality of second actuators each configured to move the corresponding magnetic head, and a switch circuit configured to connect the control circuit and one of the second actuators. The control circuit is configured to transmit to the disk unit an instruction in which one of the magnetic heads is specified, control one of the second actuators corresponding to the specified magnetic head to move the magnetic head via the switch circuit, and based on a signal from the one of the second actuators, determine whether an error occurs in the one of the second actuators.”

The patent application was filed on August 30, 2019 (16/557,035).

Magnetic disk controlling device capable of tracking different servo pattern frequencies
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,803,894) developed by Kuwahara, Satoshi, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, and Ishii, Koji, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk controlling device capable of tracking different servo pattern frequencies.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk including at least one servo zone that includes a first data storage track with a first servo pattern having a first frequency and a second data storage track with a second servo pattern having a second frequency, wherein the first data storage track is located closer to an outer diameter of the magnetic disk than the first data storage track and the first frequency is greater than the second frequency, a magnetic head that faces the magnetic disk, and a zone servo switching unit that switches a servo pattern frequency employed to position the magnetic head in a radial direction based on a radial position of the magnetic head.”

The patent application was filed on August 22, 2018 (16/109,357).

Magnetic disk drive and recording method for magnetic disk drive
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,803,887) developed by Isokawa, Hiroshi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk drive and recording method for magnetic disk drive .“
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 drive comprising a magnetic disk, a magnetic head configured to read/write data from/to the magnetic disk, a signal processing circuit configured to convert data to be recorded on the magnetic disk into a write signal, and to output the write signal to the magnetic head that generates a recording magnetic field corresponding to the write signal, and a recording control circuit configured to control the signal processing circuit and the magnetic head to record, in a target recording area of the magnetic disk, first data in the target recording area with a recording magnetic field having a first frequency, and to write, second data different from the first data over the first data with a recording magnetic field having a second frequency higher than the first frequency.”

The patent application was filed on August 12, 2019 (16/538,027).

Magnetic disk device and control
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,777,227) developed by Kashiwagi, Kazuto, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, and Shimomura, Kazuhito, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and control method.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to an embodiment, the magnetic disk device includes a disk medium and a control circuit. The disk medium includes a first region including a first track. The control circuit controls a write operation of first data to the first track, executes error correction coding of the first data during the write operation. The control circuit makes first determination on whether the written first data is protected by an error correction code. The control circuit sets a second track in a location adjacent to the first track in accordance with a result of the first determination.”

The patent application was filed on March 12, 2019 (16/299,839).

Disk drive with efficient handling of off-track events during sequential write
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,770,111) developed by Zayas, Fernando A., Rangiora, New Zealand, for a “disk drive with efficient handling of off-track events during sequential write.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In a disk drive, when an off-track error occurs during a sequential disk access operation that spans multiple contiguous data tracks, efficient recovery is performed. In an embodiment, the disk access operation, (e.g., reading from or writing to a disk) is attempted for all sectors of the sequential disk access operation. The disk access operation is then attempted again for sectors associated with any off-track errors that occurred during the disk access operation. In another embodiment, when an off-track error occurs during a sequential write operation in a shingled magnetic recording drive, the data originally targeted to be written to a first portion is written to a second portion of the data track that follows the first portion. Since no additional revolutions of the disk are needed for data associated with the sequential write operation to be written to the disk.”

The patent application was filed on September 30, 2019 (16/589,113).

Disk drive with efficient handling of off-track events during sequential write
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,770,110) developed by Ehrlich, Richard M., Saratoga, CA, for a “disk drive with efficient handling of off-track events during sequential write.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In a disk drive, when an off-track error occurs during a sequential disk access operation that spans multiple contiguous data tracks, efficient recovery is performed. In an embodiment, the disk access operation (e.g., reading from or writing to a disk) is attempted for all sectors of the sequential disk access operation. The disk access operation is then attempted again for sectors associated with any off-track errors that occurred during the disk access operation. In another embodiment, when an off-track error occurs during a sequential write operation in a shingled magnetic recording drive, the data originally targeted to be written to a first portion is written to a second portion of the data track that follows the first portion. Since no additional revolutions of the disk are needed for data associated with the sequential write operation to be written to the disk.”

The patent application was filed on September 30, 2019 (16/589,103).

Recording density setting method based on linear recording densit and track pitch limiting
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,770,095) developed by Kashiwagi, Kazuto, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “recording density setting method based on linear recording densit and track pitch limiting.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a recording density setting method includes performing first process and performing second process. The first process including recording and reading data on and from a disk medium of a magnetic disk device, and acquiring first information for setting the read data to satisfy a certain quality criterion. The first information represents a first shape of a first plurality of unit regions. Each of the a first plurality of unit regions is a recording region of a unit capacity. The second process includes acquiring second information representing a second shape of the first plurality of unit regions, and setting a recording density on the basis of the second information. The second shape is formed by adding margin regions having the same area to the first plurality of unit regions of the first shape.”

The patent application was filed on February 27, 2019 (16/286,926).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,762,921) developed by Akatsuka, Naoto, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a first actuator assembly and a second actuator assembly which are respectively supported by a first bearing unit and a second bearing unit to be rotatable about a support shaft. The first bearing unit includes a first sleeve and a ball bearing. The second bearing unit includes a second sleeve and a ball bearing. The first sleeve includes a first end surface opposed to the second sleeve and an annular first step projecting from the first end surface, and the second sleeve includes a second end surface opposed to the first step with a gap and an annular second step projecting from the second end surface. The second step is opposed to the first step and the first end surface with a gap.”

The patent application was filed on March 6, 2020 (16/811,650).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,762,920) developed by Sakamoto, Nobuyuki, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, and Tomita, Isamu, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a first magnetic disk, a second magnetic disk, a first actuator with a first head which reads/writes data from/to the first magnetic disk, a second actuator with a second head which reads/writes data from/to the second magnetic disk, the second actuator operated independently from the first actuator, a first controller configured to retracts the first actuator at a first time, and a second controller configured to retract the second actuator at a second time which is shifted from the first time by a certain period of time.”

The patent application was filed on March 14, 2019 (16/353,382).

Magnetic disk device and method for demodulating servo demodulation position
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,748,569) developed by Ogawa, Takuya, Machida Tokyo, Japan, Kudo, Fumiya, Kamakura Kanagawa, Japan, and Tagami, Naoki, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and method for demodulating servo demodulation position.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a disk including two first servo sectors arranged side by side in a circumferential direction and a second servo sector located between the two first servo sectors, a head that writes data to the disk and reads data from the disk, and a controller that adjusts a second timing at which the second servo sector is demodulated based on a first timing at which the first servo sector is demodulated, and corrects a first initial phase of a first demodulation signal obtained by demodulating the second servo sector at the second timing, based on a first amplitude of the first demodulation signal.”

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2019 (16/560,582).

Magnetic disk device and head position correction
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,741,206) developed by Tagami, Naoki, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and head position correction method.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a disk including a recording region including a servo sector, a head configured to write data to the disk and read data from the disk, and a controller configured to acquire a plurality of correction data for a repeatable runout of the recording region, the correction data respectively corresponding to a plurality of measurement positions set based on a first linearity error acquired by reading the servo sector, and to correct a position of the head based on the correction data.”

The patent application was filed on February 4, 2019 (16/266,145).

Magnetic recording device capable of stabilizing oscillations of high frequency assisted element
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,741,201) developed by Koizumi, Gaku, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, and Ohtake, Masaya, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic recording device capable of stabilizing oscillations of high frequency assisted element.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device applies a bias voltage for measurement to a high frequency assist element according to a setting instruction of the bias voltage to measure a conduction current by in a recording head, calculates the resistance value in the supply path of the bias voltage from a relationship between the measured current and the bias voltage for measurement, and changes the bias voltage applied at the time of data recording based on the calculated resistance value.”

The patent application was filed on August 30, 2019 (16/556,445).

Magnetic disk device and actuator control
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,734,022) developed by Sudo, Daisuke, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and actuator control method.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a disk, a first head, a second head, an actuator configured to position the first head and the second head over the disk, and a controller configured to control the actuator based on a first value having a first waveform suppressing a disturbance component, wherein the controller is configured to invert, in the first waveform, a polarity of a third waveform succeeding a first timing with respect to a polarity of a second waveform preceding the first timing in a case where the first head is changed to the second head at the first timing.”

The patent application was filed on August 15, 2019 (16/541,885).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,734,018) developed by Uehara, Manabu, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a disk device includes two magnetic disks opposing each other at intervals of 1.2 to 1.5 mm, and at least two suspension assemblies movable respectively between the two magnetic disks. Each of the suspension assemblies includes a base plate, a load beam extending from the base plate, a tab extending from a distal end of the load beam, a wiring member on the load beam and the base plate, including a gimbal portion, and a magnetic head on the gimbal portion, abutting on a dimple of the load beam via the gimbal portion. The ratio of a distance from a bendable location of the load beam to a center of the dimple with respect to a distance from the center of the dimple to a tip of the tab is 2.8 to 3.8.”

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2019 (16/560,240).

Disk device and data management
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,725,854) developed by Toukairin, Norikatsu, Hino Tokyo, Japan, for “disk device and data management method.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A disk device includes a disk medium, a magnetic recording head, a processor configured to control the magnetic recording head to write data to and read data from a plurality of tracks of the disk medium on a sector-by-sector basis, and a check value generation circuit configured to generate, for each of the plurality of tracks, check value data based on data stored in one or more sectors of the track. The processor controls the magnetic recording head to write check value data for a first track of the plurality of tracks in a first sector on the disk medium and check value data for a second track of the plurality of tracks in a second sector on the disk medium that is adjacent to the first sector.”

The patent application was filed on September 3, 2018 (16/120,407).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,714,147) developed by Sato, Yuki, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A disk device includes a top cover and a disk medium with a recording surface. The top cover includes a center horizontal portion having a surface which extends from a center point of the disk medium along the recording surface to an outer peripheral portion, a curved portion having a surface which extends from the outer peripheral portion of the center horizontal portion in a direction away from the recording surface, and an outer horizontal portion having a surface which extends from the curved portion in a direction away from the center point and along the recording surface. The recording surface includes a first zone in which data is set to be written, and a second zone in which data is set not to be written, the second zone being disposed adjacent to the first zone on an outer edge side of the disk medium from the first zone.”

The patent application was filed on July 22, 2019 (16/518,603).

Disk device and media scanning
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,714,142) developed by Segawa, Makoto, Tawada, Fuyuki, and Yoshida, Osamu, Kanagawa, Japan, for “disk device and media scanning method.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a disk, a head that performs data read/write processing on a recording region of the disk, a controller that performs a media scan processing for detecting the presence or absence of a defect in a sector in the recording region of the disk in track unit. When the controller performs the media scan processing on a first sector and a second sector arranged in the track, and a third sector arranged between the first sector and the second sector, the controller performs skip processing in which the controller scans the first sector and the second sector, and does not scan the third sector.”

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2018 (16/126,422).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,706,881) developed by Uchida, Takato, Hiratsuka Kanagawa, Japan, and Ikeda, Naomichi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk device.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A magnetic disk device includes a case including a magnetic disk, a magnetic head configured to read or write data from or to the magnetic disk, an actuator configured to move the magnetic head, and a humidity sensor positioned within the case to measure a humidity in the case and output a measurement value, a control circuit configured to calculate a value of a voltage to be applied to the actuator based on a displacement amount of the magnetic head and the measurement value output from the sensor, and output the calculated value, and a servo controller configured to control the actuator by applying the voltage to the actuator according to the value output by the control circuit.”

The patent application was filed on August 20, 2019 (16/545,440).

Magnetic disk device and write method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,705,739) developed by Umeda, Michihiko, and Yamamoto, Minoru, Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and write method.“
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device including a disk, a head configured to write data to the disk, a buffer memory configured to temporarily hold data to be written to the disk, a recorder configured to temporarily hold data to be input from the buffer memory, and a controller configured to transfer first data from the buffer memory to the recorder and to transfer second data corresponding to the first data from the recorder.”

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2018 (16/126,229).