Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Assigned Sixteen Patents

Disk apparatus including flexure having portions of different thicknesses
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12462835) developed by Nojima; Yusuke, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “disk apparatus including flexure having portions of different thicknesses.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk apparatus includes a carriage, a magnetic disk, a base plate, a load beam, a flexure, and a magnetic head. The carriage rotates around a first rotation axis. The base plate includes a first surface facing the magnetic disk and is attached to the carriage. The load beam is attached to the base plate. The flexure includes a plurality of wirings and is attached to the base plate and the load beam. The magnetic head is attached to the flexure and electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of wirings. The flexure includes a thin portion that is thinner than other portions of the flexure. The thin portion includes a first portion which covers the first surface and at which the plurality of wirings extends in non-parallel directions with respect to each other.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-02-29 (18/591696).

Disk apparatus having shock absorber between a housing of disk apparatus and a protective cover for disk apparatus
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12456497) developed by Morita; Masaki, and Hasegawa; Hisashi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk apparatus having a shock absorber between a housing of the disk apparatus and a protective cover for the disk apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk apparatus includes a housing including a base, the base including a bottom wall and a frame-like side wall standing upright along peripheral edges of the bottom wall, and a top cover joined to the base, a rotatable disk-shaped recording medium disposed in the housing, a protective cover including a top plate secured to the top cover and a side plate facing one side surface of the base, and a shock absorber sandwiched between the side plate and the one side surface of the base.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-08-31 (18/459317).

Magnetic disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12456489) developed by Matsuzawa; Takuji, Kashiwa Chiba, 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 loop shaping filter by a digital filter, which is disposed in parallel to a controller, having a peak at certain frequency, and coefficients of which are determined by a sensitivity function and a controlled object, wherein the coefficients of the loop shaping filter of the digital filter based on a change in a sampling period of servo information.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-03-11 (18/600894).

Disk device with filters arranged in filter unit configurations
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12456498) developed by Zaima; Shino, and Mizutani; Akiyo, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device with filters arranged in filter unit configurations.“

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 housing, a first filter unit, and a second filter unit. The housing is provided with an internal space and is provided with a first through hole. The first filter unit includes a first case with a first accommodation space which is in communication with the first through hole, a first adsorbent in the first accommodation space, and a first filter. The first accommodation space is in communication with the internal space through the first filter. The second filter unit includes a second case with a second accommodation space which is separated from the first accommodation space, a second adsorbent in the second accommodation space, and a second filter. The second accommodation space is in communication with the internal space through the second filter.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-01-31 (18/428988).

Magnetic disk device and method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12456487) developed by Toyosaki; Tatsuhiko, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, Furuhashi; Takao, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, and Kimura; Kaori, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk to which positional information for each track is written, an assist mechanism that heats the magnetic disk, a magnetic head that performs data reading and data writing on the magnetic disk, and a controller that controls the magnetic disk device. The controller is configured to cause the magnetic head to read the positional information written to the magnetic disk to learn a correction amount of a positional deviation generated in synchronization with rotation of the magnetic disk, in parallel with reading the positional information, cause, while supplying assist power to the assist mechanism to heat a learning target portion of the magnetic disk, the magnetic head to write a data pattern used for detection of a defective portion of the magnetic disk, and while supplying the assist power to the assist mechanism to heat a writing target portion of the correction amount of the magnetic disk, cause the magnetic head to write the learned correction amount to the magnetic disk.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-10-10 (18/912217).

Digital-filter engine with pre-compute of output
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12456486) developed by Ehrlich; Richard M., Edina, MN, for a “digital-filter engine with pre-compute of output.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A digital filter completes a portion of digital filter operations performed on a control signal before the control signal has been determined. Calculation delay associated with performing digital filter operations on the control signal can be reduced and stability of the servo control system improved. For a particular servo wedge of a storage disk, an estimated control signal is used to determine a pre-computed first output of a digital filter before an actual control signal for that particular servo wedge has been determined. Then, once the actual control signal for the servo wedge has been determined, an implemented second output of the digital filter is determined based on the pre-computed first output and a difference between the estimated control signal and the actual control signal. The implemented second output of the digital filter is used to control magnetic head position in response to crossing the servo wedge.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-09-23 (18/893326).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12444437) developed by Okamoto; Makoto, Tokyo, 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 an embodiment includes a first suspension and a second suspension. The first suspension has a first base plate mounted to the arm. The second suspension has a second base plate mounted to the arm. The arm with a through-hole includes a first surface, a second surface, and an inner surface. The through-hole is open to the first surface and the second surface. The inner surface defines the through-hole. The first base plate includes a first boss accommodated in the through-hole in contact with the inner surface. The second base plate includes a second boss accommodated in the through-hole in contact with the inner surface. The second boss is at least partly held between the inner surface and the first boss.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-02-28 (18/590664).

Magnetic disk apparatus and control method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12417037) developed by Chen; Yu, Sagamihara Kanagawa, Japan, and Oozeki; Kenichiro, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk apparatus and control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In a magnetic disk apparatus according to an embodiment, a power supply circuit generates second power from first power supplied by an external power supply, and generates third power when the first power is cut off. The third power is generated based on regenerative energy generated by stoppage of a motor. A controller writes data received from a host device to a magnetic disk via a cache area by the second power while the first power is supplied, and executes a backup process when the first power is cut off. The backup process is executed by disabling communication with the host device and saving content of the cache area to the first memory by the third power. A monitoring circuit keeps connection with the external power supply even when the first power is cut off. The controller enables communication with the host device when the first power is restored.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-08-20 (18/809737).

Magnetic disk drive
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12417783) developed by Matsuzawa; Takuji, Kashiwa Chiba, Japan, for a “magnetic disk drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk drive includes rotatable disks, heads, microactuators, a voice coil motor (VCM), and a control system, wherein the control system determines a final set of heads of target for simultaneously positioned on their respective target tracks from among the heads, by using at least a displacement amount of the microactuators, determines a target position of the VCM when the heads in the final set are simultaneously positioned on their respective target tracks, switches a controller of the VCM when the heads in the final set are simultaneously positioned on their respective target tracks, and switches controller of the microactuators included in each of the heads in the final set.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-09-09 (18/829105).

Magnetic disk device and method of controlling the same
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12406698) developed by Kinohara; Yuma, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and method of controlling the same.“

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 write control section of writing first data and second data to each of the sectors of a predetermined track among the tracks, a second write control section of writing the first data to each of the sectors of a predetermined track among the tracks, and a selection control section of, when receiving a write command, estimating the time required from start of a process of the first write control section to end of the process, and selectively executing the process of the first write control section or a process of the second write control section by comparing the estimated time with a time limit specified in advance.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-09-11 (18/830907).

Magnetic disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12387757) developed by Takaesu; Masaya, Yokohama 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 disk, a write head, a write processing unit selecting a shingled magnetic recording, a determination unit, and a refresh processing unit. The determination unit determines whether a quality-degraded recording sector exists in all recording sectors in each of the bands. If it is determined that a target band including the quality-degraded recording sector exists in the bands, the refresh processing unit refreshes target recording sectors. The target recording sectors include the quality-degraded recording sector. In the target band, the number of the target recording sectors is less than the number of all recording sectors.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-07-03 (18/763110).

Disk device
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12380928) developed by Minami; Hiroshi, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, Juman; Shigeru, Toukairin; Kouichi, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, Kato; Yasuhiko, Setagaya Tokyo, Japan, Kuribara; Hirofumi, Chuo Tokyo, Japan, and Mizuochi; Kenji, Kamakura 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 housing, magnetic disks in the housing, and a printed circuit board attached to an outer surface of a bottom wall of the housing. The housing includes a base including a bottom wall and a side wall, and at least two base-side positioning portions provided on the bottom wall in a region overlapping the side wall. The printed circuit board includes at least two board-side positioning portions each engaged with the base-side positioning portion. One of the base-side positioning portion and the board-side positioning portion includes a pin extending substantially perpendicular to the bottom wall, and another includes a hole into which the pin is fitted.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-03-13 (18/182719).

Disk device with cover damping configuration
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12367908) developed by Tokizaki; Tomoyuki, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for a “disk device with cover damping configuration.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk device according to one embodiment includes a base, a first cover, a second cover, and a damper. The base includes a bottom surface, a side wall protruding in a first direction from the bottom surface, and a support surface located at an end of the side wall in the first direction. The first cover is attached to the base to close the inner space. The second cover is joined to the base while being supported by the support surface, to cover the first cover. The damper includes a constrained layer in-between the first cover and the second cover and a viscoelastic material between the first cover and the constrained layer. The constrained layer includes a smaller-thickness part extending along the support surface and a larger-thickness part connected to the smaller-thickness part.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-02-28 (18/590756).

Magnetic disk apparatus and method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12361969) developed by Tsuneda; Hidetoshi, Yamato Kanagawa, Japan, and Takada; Kazuya, Chigasaki Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk apparatus and method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A magnetic disk apparatus according to an embodiment includes a magnetic disk, a magnetic head, a second memory, and a controller. On the magnetic disk, a servo sector where first servo data is recorded is provided. The magnetic head writes data and reads data to and from the magnetic disk. The first memory stores data to be written and stores data read from the magnetic disk. The second memory stores second servo data. The controller acquires the second servo data corresponding to the first servo data from the second memory based on the first servo data read by the magnetic head when passing over the servo sector. The controller executes positioning control of the magnetic head by using the first servo data and the second servo data.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-08-20 (18/809938).

Magnetic disk device and method
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12347471) developed by Suzuki; Sho, Tokyo, Japan, Kawabe; Takayuki, Sagamihara Kanagawa, Japan, Hara; Takeyori, Kawasaki Kanagawa, Japan, and Tagami; Naoki, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “magnetic disk device and method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A controller of a magnetic disk device obtains, for each of a plurality of first position sets, a first distribution that is a radial distribution of differences between a target orbit of the magnetic head and an actual position of the magnetic head while correcting a disturbance synchronized with rotation of the magnetic disk by using correction amounts at a plurality of positions included in one of the plurality of first position sets. The controller performs weighting the first distribution according to a position in the radial direction and calculating an evaluation value based on the weighted first distribution for each of the plurality of first position sets. The controller selects a second position set from the plurality of first position sets based on the evaluation value. The controller records correction amounts at a plurality of positions included in the second position set by the magnetic head.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-03-08 (18/119254).

Method and magnetic disk apparatus
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12347456) developed by Tomoda; Yusuke, Yokohama Kanagawa, Japan, for “method and magnetic disk apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method according to one embodiment includes acquiring a result of quality inspection related to recording quality of first sectors included in a first storage area of a magnetic disk. The method includes calculating a first number being the number of sectors corresponding to a capacity obtained by subtracting a set capacity from an actual capacity of the first storage area. The first number is calculated based on the set capacity of the first storage area and a set value of recording density of the first storage area. The method includes selecting a second number of sectors from the first sectors based on the result of quality inspection. The method includes assigning addresses to a group of sectors that are not included in the second number of sectors among the first sectors. The group of sectors consists of sectors with the number corresponding to the set capacity.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-07-10 (18/768832).