Toshiba and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Assigned Twenty Patents

Disk device with heat-assister having movement restrictor
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,282,539) developed by Kudo, Masaya, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device with heat-assister having movement restrictor.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a magnetic disk, a load beam, a flexure, a head unit, and a first restrictor. The load beam has a first face facing the magnetic disk. The flexure is attached to the first face. The head unit includes: a magnetic head attached to the flexure, configured to read and write information from and to the magnetic disk, and a heat-assister attached to the magnetic head, configured to heat the magnetic disk. The first restrictor is included in the head unit, configured to come in contact with at least one of the load beam and the flexure along with movement of the magnetic head away from the first face by a first distance.”

The patent application was filed on August 31, 2020 (17/007,012).

Disk device and manufacturing
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,276,425) developed by Tokizaki, Tomoyuki, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “disk device and manufacturing method thereof.“

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 head actuator, a second head actuator, and a wiring board unit connected to the first head actuator and the second head actuator. The wiring board unit includes a flexible printed wiring board including a base portion and at least two extension portions extending from the base portion, and each of the extension portions includes a joint portion provided with connection pads and a cutting work trace portion. One joint portion is attached to a first actuator block, and the connection end portion of a first wiring member is joined to the connection pads. Another joint portion is attached to a second actuator block, and the connection end portion of a second wiring member is joined to the connection pad.”

The patent application was filed on August 14, 2020 (16/993,373).

Energy-assisted magnetic recording
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,276,421) developed by Isokawa, Hiroshi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for an “energy-assisted magnetic recording 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 disk having a first area, and a second area to which data is temporary written, a head including a write head which writes data to the disk, and an assisting element which generates energy which improves write performance of the write head, and a controller which writes data to the first area by supplying energy having a first value to the assisting element, and writes data to the second area by supplying energy having a second value different from the first value to the assisting element.”

The patent application was filed on September 2, 2020 (17/010,025).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,275,653) developed by Sato, Takumi, Tokyo, 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 magnetic disk, a storage unit, a magnetic head, an error correction unit that, in a case where an error is detected in user data read by the magnetic head, performs error correction on a sector in which the error is detected in track units and acquires error correction data, and a control unit. The control unit controls reading/writing of user data, management data for managing a sector on which the error correction is performed in the track units, and the error correction data, and in a case where there is no host access, rewrites data on the track including the sector on which the error correction is performed, based on the user data stored in the track and the error correction data of the sector, in which the error is detected, of the track.”

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2020 (17/012,175).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,257,515) developed by Sato, Yuki, Ota Tokyo, 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 recording medium, a first magnetic head, a first wiring member, a flexible printed circuit board, and a wire. The first wiring member is electrically connected to the first magnetic head. The flexible printed circuit board includes a surface, a first fixed part fixed to a first component, and a second fixed part fixed to a second component, and is electrically connected to the first magnetic head through the first wiring member. The wire on the flexible printed circuit board extends along the surface such that the wire extends between the first fixed part and the second fixed part in a direction intersecting at an angle of larger than 45 degrees and not larger than 90 degrees with an extending direction of a virtual shortest line that connects the first fixed part to the second fixed part along the surface.”

The patent application was filed on March 11, 2021 (17/198,481).

Disk with base and first and second covers
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,238,892) developed by Kato, Yasuhiko, Setagaya Tokyo, Japan, for “disk device with base and first and second covers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a recording medium, a base accommodating the recording medium, the base including a bottom wall, a sidewall on a peripheral portion of the bottom wall, and a rib on a part of an upper surface of the sidewall, a first cover on a part of the upper surface of the sidewall, and a second cover on the rib and above the first cover. The rib includes a first region with a first chamfered surface with a first chamfered width and a second region with a second chamfered surface with a second chamfered width which is less than the first chamfered width. The first region and the second region are located corresponding to a side portion of the recording medium.”

The patent application was filed on November 17, 2020 (16/950,014).

Parallel micro-actuator SSW writing
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,227,631) developed by Schmidt, Thorsten, Livermore, CA, Calfee, Gary W., Santa Clara, CA, Szita, Gabor, Mountain View, CA, and Pham, Hieu, San Jose, CA, for a “parallel micro-actuator SSW writing.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A self servo-write process in performed on two or more recording surfaces simultaneously. In a dual-stage servo system, a first fine positioning servo system that includes a first microactuator independently controls the position of a first read/write head over a first recording surface of a hard disk drive, while a second fine positioning servo system that includes a second microactuator independently controls the position of a second read/write head over a second recording surface of the hard disk drive.”

The patent application was filed on May 26, 2020 (16/882,956).

Disk having head-support arms with reduced thickness regions that overlie disk regions when in parked state
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,217,275) developed by Nakamura, Yoshihiko, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device having head-support arms with reduced thickness regions that overlie disk regions when in a parked state.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk device includes a magnetic disk having a data non-recording region, and a data recording region inside the data non-recording region, a plurality of heads configured to read and write information from and onto the magnetic disk, and a plurality of arms supporting the heads, the arms being rotatable to move the heads from a parked position to a desired data recording position above or below the magnetic disk. Each of the arms comprises an overlapping region that overlaps the data recording region of the magnetic disk in a thickness direction of the magnetic disk when the heads are at the parked position.”

The patent application was filed on August 21, 2019 (16/547,411).

Disk with wiring board on outer surface of housing and connected to motor and sealing configuration
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,211,099) developed by Uehara, Manabu, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, and Kawai, Yuu, Shinagawa Tokyo, Japan, for “disk device with wiring board on outer surface of housing and connected to motor and sealing configuration.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a housing with a bottom wall, magnetic disks supported on a hub of a motor, a printed circuit board provided on an outer surface of the bottom wall, and a wiring board attached on the outer surface of the bottom wall. The bottom wall includes a recess formed in the outer surface, a step located on border between the outer surface and the recess, and through holes opened to the recess. The wiring board includes one end portion disposed in the recess and connection pads on the one end portion, connected to lead wires of a coil. An adhesive is filled into the recess and the through holes, and covers the one end and a solder joint and seals the through holes.”

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2020 (17/016,878).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,205,448) 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 according to one embodiment includes a recording medium, a magnetic head, a wiring member, and a flexible printed circuit board. The magnetic head is configured to read/write information from/to the recording medium. The wiring member includes a plurality of first terminals, and a plurality of first wires that electrically connect the magnetic head to the first terminals. The flexible printed circuit board includes a surface, a plurality of second terminals located on the surface to be connected to the first terminals by means of a conductive adhesive, and a ground plane spaced apart from the second terminals in a direction along the surface.”

The patent application was filed on February 28, 2020 (16/804,384).

Disk with flexure wiring spacing configuration
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,195,549) developed by Nojima, Yusuke, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device with flexure wiring spacing configuration.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a recording medium, electronic components including a magnetic head, a flexure, and an adhesive. The flexure includes a surface on which the electronic component is mounted, a first wiring and a second wiring each extending along the surface, and a groove provided on the surface between the first/second wirings. The adhesive is in contact with an inner surface of the groove and includes an adhesive portion attaching the electronic component to the surface. A first portion in the flexure is provided in a position apart from the electronic component. A second portion in the flexure is positioned closer to the adhesive portion than the first portion. A distance between the first wiring and the second wiring is larger than that in the first portion.”

The patent application was filed on March 11, 2021 (17/198,586).

Magnetic disk and data protection
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,195,547) developed by Chokki, Kazuo, Fujisawa Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and data protection method thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a monitoring unit of a magnetic disk device monitors a supply voltage supplied to a plurality of actuators by a first threshold value at which power supply by back electromotive force of a motor is started, and a second threshold value that is larger than the first threshold value. In a case where the supply voltage is lower than or equal to the second threshold value and is higher than the first threshold value, a controller interrupts execution of processing of reading/writing data to a magnetic disk in at least one of the actuators according to a predetermined condition based on execution status of the processing in the actuators.”

The patent application was filed on March 4, 2020 (16/808,432).

Magnetic recording and method of controlling magnetic head
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,189,317) developed by Matsumoto, Takuya, Tokyo, Japan, for “magnetic recording apparatus and method of controlling magnetic head thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording apparatus measures and stores recording signal quality of a disk at an initial stage, inspects the recording signal quality before data is recorded, determines whether or not the recording signal quality obtained in the inspection satisfies a standard when compared to the stored recording signal quality at the initial stage, adjusts, based on a result of the determination, light irradiation power of a light irradiation element so as to satisfy the standard, determines a read offset amount based on a result of the adjustment, and performs control so that a position of a read head is shifted based on the determined read offset amount.”

The patent application was filed on September 30, 2020 (17/038,446).

Magnetic disk and write processing
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,189,305) developed by Tomoda, Yusuke, Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and write processing 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 head including a main magnetic pole having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end in a radial direction of the disk, a write shield facing the main magnetic pole with a gap, and an assist element provided in the gap and at a position where a first distance between the first end and the assist element and a second distance between the second end and the assist element are different from each other, and a controller which controls a voltage applied to the assist element according to a shingled write direction in which a second track is overwritten on a first track.”

The patent application was filed on February 16, 2021 (17/176,901).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,183,210) developed by 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, the controller of the magnetic disk drive configured to synthesize the first positioning data and second positioning data obtained by the second reader reading the positioning information based on the evaluation data, and performs positioning of the magnetic head based on the synthesized positioning data.”

The patent application was filed on September 15, 2020 (17/021,095).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,176,965) developed by Okada, Mio, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, Watanabe, Toru, Koizumi, Gaku, and Tomoda, Yusuke, 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 magnetic disk, a magnetic head including an assist part to assist recording of data into the magnetic disk, a controller configured to control the recording of data by the magnetic head based on a recording condition, and a memory configured to record a first threshold value used to define that an assist element included in the assist part is in a deterioration condition. Furthermore, the controller detects the condition of the assist element, determines whether or not the recording condition is changed based on the detected condition and the first threshold value stored in the memory, and changes the recording condition based on the result of the determination.”

The patent application was filed on July 31, 2020 (16/944,599).

Magnetic disk and method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,152,029) developed by Nakamura, Daigo, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and 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 magnetic disk, a magnetic head, and a controller. The magnetic disk has a plurality of tracks. The magnetic head performs reading and writing from and to the magnetic disk. The controller controls write operations to a first region and a second region of the magnetic disk in different manners. The second region is narrower in track pitch than the first region.”

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2020 (17/016,841).

Magnetic disk
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,152,025) developed by Tsuruoka, Masakazu, Kudo, Fumiya, and Abe, Takao, Kanagawa, Japan, for a “magnetic disk device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to an embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk including a first storage area and a second storage area different from the first storage area. In the second storage area, both of a first post code that is used to write user data in the first storage area by a first method and a second post code that is used to write user data in the first storage area by a second method are stored in advance. The first method is a method in which one track between two tracks adjacent to each other overlaps a part of the other track between the two tracks. The second method is a method in which two adjacent tracks do not overlap each other.”

The patent application was filed on March 2, 2020 (16/806,208).

Magnetic disk and servo write
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,127,427) developed by Yamashita, Satoshi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, and Aoki, Takahiro, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and servo write method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a servo write method includes a head and a disk having a plurality of spiral servo patterns which are written radially in a first direction from a first area to a second area other than the first area at velocity that varies between the first area and the second area, the method including moving the head in a second direction opposite to the first direction to read each of the spiral servo patterns, measuring a plurality of time intervals at which each of the spiral servo patterns is read in the first area, and writing a plurality of servo patterns to the first area based on the time intervals.”

The patent application was filed on September 9, 2020 (17/016,091).

Magnetic disk and head position correction
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,127,426) 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 July 7, 2020 (16/922,316).