Seagate Assigned Twenty Patents

HAMR device incorporating laser diode temperature control using common-mode voltage
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,943,608) developed by Wessel, James Gary, Savage, MN, for a “heat-assisted magnetic recording device incorporating laser diode temperature control using common-mode voltage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An apparatus comprises a slider configured to facilitate heat assisted magnetic recording. The slider comprises a plurality of bond pads including a first electrical bond pad, a second electrical bond pad, and a ground pad. A laser diode comprises an anode coupled to the first electrical bond pad and a cathode coupled to the second electrical bond pad. The laser diode is operable in a non-lasing state and a lasing state. A heater is coupled between the ground pad and at least one of the anode and cathode of the laser diode. The heater is configured to generate heat for heating the laser diode during the non-lasing state and the lasing state.”

The patent application was filed on January 29, 2020 (16/775,503).

Storage and verification
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,942,668) developed by Awan, Mohammad Mohsin, Lafayette, CO, Seesdorf, David Michael, Broomfield, CO, Sternberg, Kevin Gautam, Longmont, CO, Biswas, Saheb, Boulder, CO, and Duran, Anthony Ramon, Longmont, CO, for “storage device and verification thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided herein is a method that includes receiving a signal to erase content stored on a storage device. The method further includes erasing the content stored on the storage device in response to the signal to erase. The method also includes issuing a certificate of erasure, wherein the certificate is unique to the storage device.”

The patent application was filed on May 29, 2018 (15/992,072).

Mitigating data errors in storage
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,942,655) developed by Danjean, Ludovic, Viroflay, France, Alhussien, Abdelhakim, San Jose, CA, Sankaranarayanan, Sundararajan, Fremont, CA, and Haratsch, Erich Franz, San Jose, CA, for “mitigating data errors in a storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods presented herein provide for mitigating errors in a storage device. In one embodiment, a storage system includes a storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas operable to store data, and a controller operable to evaluate operating conditions of the storage device, to perform a background scan on a first of the storage areas to characterize a read retention of the first storage area, and to adjust a read signal of the first storage area based on the characterized read retention and the operating conditions of the storage device.”

The patent application was filed on July 9, 2019 (16/505,909).

Separate data registers and cache registers in memory
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,936,495) developed by Jagtap, Sachin Sudhir, Pune, India, for “separate data registers and cache registers in memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Implementations disclosed herein include a system and method of storing one or more data and program data in a memory, temporarily storing the one or more data and the program data in a cache, managing the one or more data from the memory and the cache in a read data register and a read cache register, and managing the program data from the memory and the cache in a program data register and a program cache register, wherein each of the read data register and the read cache register are separate from the program data register and the program cache register. Read operations are performed only with the read data register and the read cache register. Program operations are performed only with the program data register and the program cache register.”

The patent application was filed on April 2, 2018 (15/942,905).

Storage using elastic spares
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,936,453) developed by Rutman, Nathaniel, Portland, OR, and Danilov, Nikita, Moscow, Russia, for “data storage systems using elastic spares.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system utilizing elastic spares includes nodes and devices to store one or more data objects having information. The data object includes data object units each assigned to a storage location on a different node than the other units. The data object includes one or more spare units to store reconstructed information of a failed unit. When one of the data objects has a failed unit and no spare units available to store reconstructed information, a controller of the system assigns an elastic spare unit to an available storage location of one of the nodes. Reconstructed information of the failed unit is stored in the elastic spare unit.”

The patent application was filed on March 27, 2018 (15/937,335).

Active drive API
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,936,350) developed by Yang, Chiaming, Fremont, CA, Trantham, Jon D., Shakopee, MN, Feldman, Timothy Richard, Longmont, CO, Wyatt, Bryan David, Shakopee, MN, Anderson, David B., and Warmka, Robert John, Shakopee, MN, for an “active drive API.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An application programming interface (API) that enables installation of an application as one or more key-value objects on a data storage drive such as a hard disk drive, a solid state drive or a hybrid drive. The API also enables execution of the application within a controlled environment of the data storage drive.”

The patent application was filed on December 19, 2019 (16/720,927).

I/O device and computing host interoperation
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,936,251) developed by Cohen, Earl T., Oakland, CA, and Canepa, Timothy L., Los Gatos, CA, for “I/O device and computing host interoperation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for a storage device to, upon receiving a command from a computing host, determine whether or not the command includes location information targeting a particular portion of a NVM of the storage device, the location information having been retrieved by the computing host from a shadow map and included with the command. Upon determining that the command includes location information, the command is processed by the storage device using the included location information. Upon determining that the command does not include location information, the storage device determines the particular portion of the NVM targeted by the command based on a map stored in a memory of the storage device before processing the command.”

The patent application was filed on November 14, 2019 (16/684,027).

Data channel optimization with smart black box algorithms
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,935,603) developed by Ghosal, Sayan, Bloomington, MN, and Tantzen, John, Eagan, MN, for a “data channel optimization with smart black box algorithms.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system includes a host configured to communicate with a device under test. The host is configured to write test data to the device under test. An optimization engine is configured to optimize a plurality of parameters associated with a magnetic recording channel associated with the device under test. The optimization engine is configured to select a first set of parameters for the plurality of parameters and the host is configured to set the magnetic recording channel based on the first set of parameters. The host then measures the performance of the magnetic recording channel based on the first set of parameters. Based on the measured performance, the optimization engine then selects new parameter values for the plurality of parameters. Until the measured performance is within an acceptable threshold, the optimization engine will iteratively update the plurality of parameters based on the measured performance.”

The patent application was filed on August 7, 2019 (16/534,753).

Storage with front end bus
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,929,319) developed by Allo, Christopher Nicholas, Longmont, CO, for a “data storage device with front end bus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device can employ a front end bus to optimize data storage performance. A first controller may be connected to a first memory via a first bus and to a second memory via a second bus with the first bus and first memory housed within an internal cavity of an enclosure while the second bus is exposed to an exterior surface of the housing and the second memory is separated from the internal cavity. The first controller can be configured to substitute the second memory for the first memory in response to a front end controller identifying a type of data storage of the second memory.”

The patent application was filed on May 10, 2019 (16/409,382).

Arbitrated management of shared NVM resource
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,929,286) developed by Scott, Benjamin J., and Williams, Steven S., Longmont, CO, for an “arbitrated management of a shared non-volatile memory resource.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Apparatus and method for managing shared resources in a data storage device such as a solid-state drive (SSD). In some embodiments, a non-volatile memory (NVM) has a population of semiconductor memory dies to which are connected a number of parallel channel. A controller circuit apportions the semiconductor memory dies into a plurality of die sets each configured to store user data blocks associated with a different user during hot data transfers responsive to a sequence of host access commands. A shared resource is available for use by each of the die sets to support background data transfers not associated with the host access commands, such as a RAID buffer. The controller circuit arbitrates the use of the shared resource by each of the die sets in turn to sequentially perform the background data transfers to maintain a selected level of deterministic performance of the hot data transfers.”

The patent application was filed on June 29, 2018 (16/023,071).

Multi-tier detection and decoding in flash memories
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,929,221) developed by Haratsch, Erich F., and Alhussien, AbdelHakim S., San Jose, CA, for a “multi-tier detection and decoding in flash memories utilizing data from additional pages or wordlines.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods, systems, and machine-readable storage medium for multi- tier data recovery utilizing a series of progressively more complex detection and decoding modes based on data from additional pages or wordlines. In one aspect, read data is obtained from at least one cell comprising a given page of a flash memory, and reliability values are generated for the cell from the read data. The reliability values are utilized to decode the read data for the given page. If the decoding of the read data fails, a series of successive decoding steps is performed, with each successive decoding step utilizing additional read data to generate reliability values for the decoding. In one example, reads of one or more additional pages in the same wordline are performed. In a second example, several read retries, soft reads) of the same wordline are performed. In a third example, one or more additional neighboring wordlines are read.”

The patent application was filed on December 21, 2017 (15/850,948).

Storage with I/O determinism latency optimization
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,929,025) developed by Shaw, Michael, Colorado Springs, CO, for a “data storage system with I/O determinism latency optimization.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In a data storage system, latency optimization can be practiced by logging a plurality of data accesses to a memory in a register with each data access of the plurality of data accesses corresponding with a command generated by a host connected to the memory. The register may be analyzed with a system module to predict a command execution latency value for the plurality of data accesses that can be used to generate a deterministic data access sequence with the system module. A queue of data accesses can then be reorganized from a first sequence to the deterministic data access sequence to reduce command execution latency variability during a deterministic window selected by the host.”

The patent application was filed on June 25, 2019 (16/451,841).

Testing assembly for sealed HDD
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,923,160) developed by Castaneda, Noel, Denver, CO, Griep, Jerome F., Longmont, CO, and Tattershall, Jeffrey Benjamin, Milliken, CO, for a “testing assembly for sealed hard disk drives.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A hard disk drive includes a base deck, a cover coupled to the base deck to create an internal cavity, and a testing assembly coupled to the cover. The testing assembly includes a housing and is arranged to expose an organic material, for example grease or oil, to the internal cavity.”

The patent application was filed on July 5, 2019 (16/503,845).

Virtualized volume level security
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,922,420) developed by Allo, Christopher N., Lyons, CO, and Weiss, Richard O., Superior, CO, for a “virtualized volume level security.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Implementations and methods herein provide a networked storage system including a plurality of physical storage devices configured to store data on a plurality of virtualized volumes, a key store configured to store a plurality of encryption keys, and a security manager configured to encrypt data stored on each of the plurality of virtualized volumes using a different key.”

The patent application was filed on February 14, 2017 (15/432,539).

Recovery of parity based storage systems
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,922,176) developed by Sahasrabudhe, Nachiket, and Sawant, Mandar, Pune, India, for a “recovery of parity based storage systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for recovery of parity based storage systems are described. In one embodiment, a group of nodes includes one or more storage nodes, and the one or more storage nodes include one or more storage containers. In one embodiment, the one or more storage containers include one or more data storage containers, one or more parity storage containers, or one or more spare storage containers, or any combination thereof. The system and methods include a hardware controller configured to identify a first failed storage container on a first storage node from the group of storage nodes, identify data associated with the first failed storage container on at least a second storage container on a second storage node from the plurality of storage nodes, and recover the data associated with the first failed storage container from at least the second storage container on the second storage node.”

The patent application was filed on April 27, 2018 (15/964,432).

Die access order variation
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,922,014) developed by Henze, Jonathan, Rochester, MN, for a “die access order variation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods are disclosed for die access order variation to a memory having a multiple-die architecture. In certain embodiments, an apparatus may comprise a controller configured to assign a unique die access order to each set of multiple sets of related commands, a die access order controlling an order in which a plurality of dies of a solid state memory are accessed to perform the related commands. A first stream may be assigned a first die access order, and a second stream may be assigned a second, different die access order, thereby distributing the timing of die access collisions between the streams.”

The patent application was filed on June 5, 2018 (15/997,768).

Near field transducers including copper based alloys
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,916,262) developed by Janjua, Muhammed Bilal, Belfast, Great Britain, McCurry, Martin Peter, Londonderry, Great Britain, Hardy, Michael James, Londonderry, Great Britain, and Gubbins, Mark Anthony, Letterkenny, Ireland, for a “near field transducers including copper based alloys.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A device including a near field transducer, the near field transducer including a near field transducer, the near field transducer comprising a copper (Cu) alloy of the formula Cu.sub.1-zX.sub.z, where z ranges from 0.001 to 0.9 and X is selected from aluminum (Al), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), erbium (Er), iron (Fe), gold (Au), hafnium (Hf), iridium (Ir), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), rhenium (Re), rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), silicon (Si), tin (Sn), tantalum (Ta), tellurium (Te), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), yttrium (Y), zinc (Zn), zirconium (Zr), or combinations thereof .”

The patent application was filed on December 23, 2019 (16/725,746).

Storage device initiated copy back operation
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,915,448) developed by Velayuthaperumal, Gomathirajan Authoor, and Swamy, Vijay Nanjunda, Bangalore, India, for a “storage device initiated copy back operation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Method and apparatus for managing data in a data storage system. A storage array controller device is coupled to a plurality of storage devices by an external data path, with the storage devices used for non-volatile memory (NVM) storage of user data from a host. A copy back operation is initiated by issuing a copy back transfer command that identifies a selected data set stored in a source device and a unique identifier (ID) value that identifies a destination device. A peer-to-peer connection is established over the external data path in response to the copy back transfer command so that the selected data set is transferred from the source device to the destination device while bypassing the storage array controller device. Normal data transfers can be carried out between the storage array controller and the respective source and destination devices during the copy back operation.”

The patent application was filed on August 21, 2018 (16/106,389).

Hybrid storage device partitions with storage tiers
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,915,262) developed by Bhagwat, Rajesh Maruti, Kabra, Nitin S., Govande, Nilesh, Pune, India, Sharma, Manish, Moolanmoozha, Joe Paul, Bangalore, India, and Worrall, Alexander Carl, Waterlooville, Great Britain, for a “hybrid storage device partitions with storage tiers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A hybrid storage device includes a first storage medium configured to store data at a first speed and a second storage medium configured to store data at a second speed. The first storage medium may be a NAND flash storage medium, and the second storage medium may be disc storage medium. Partitions of the first storage medium are associated with partitions of the second storage medium to form at least two storage tiers. Each of the storage tiers may include different NAND partition capacities. The storage device further includes a peer to peer communication channel between the first storage medium and the second storage medium for moving data between a NAND partition and HDD partition. The storage device is accessible via a dual port SAS or PCIe interface.”

The patent application was filed on March 13, 2018 (15/920,264).