Seagate Assigned Eighteen Patents

Thermal management of laser diode mode hopping for HAMR
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11450346) developed by Tatah, Karim, Benakli, Mourad, Eden Prairie, MN, and Wessel, James Gary, Savage, MN, for a “thermal management of laser diode mode hopping for heat assisted media recording.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method and apparatus provide for determining a temperature at a junction of a laser diode when the laser diode is operated in a lasing that facilitates heat-assisted magnetic recording, comparing the junction temperature and an injection current supplied during the lasing to stored combinations of junction temperature and injection current, and determining a likelihood of mode hopping occurring for the laser diode during the lasing based on the comparison to stored combinations of junction temperature and injection current.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-01-18 (17/151401).

Proactive load balancer for storage system
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11445012) developed by Govande, Nilesh, and Kirunge, Basavaraj, Pune, India, for a “proactive load balancer for data storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Load balancing technology is used to distribute tasks requested of a data storage network across the connected storage nodes within the data storage network. Conventional load balancing technology is not proactive. Storage nodes within a data storage network may have different performance characteristics and/or current loads created by various demands on the storage nodes and connected servers. The proactive load balancers and corresponding load balancer agents disclosed herein are used to detect these variations in performance characteristics and/or current loads in the storage nodes and connected servers to inform decisions made by the proactive load balancer in distributing incoming access requests across the storage nodes and connected servers.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-11-25 (17/105162).

HDD with internal access door
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11443775) developed by Herdendorf, Brett R., Mound, MN, Mendonsa, Riyan Alex, Minneapolis, MN, and Subramanian, Krishnan, Shakopee, MN, for a “hard disc drive with internal access door.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An issue facing shared read/write player hard disc drives (HDDs) is when a head-media contact event occurs, any resulting plume of debris caused by the contact event not only affects the magnetic disc currently being read or written, but other magnetic discs within the HDD enclosure. The presently disclosed technology is directed as mitigating the potential consequences of such a head-media contact event. By providing one or more internal access doors within the HDD, a magnetic disc currently being read from or written to may be physically isolated from other magnetic discs within the HDD. As a result, in the event of a head-media contact event, any resulting plume of debris caused by the contact event only affects the magnetic disc currently being read or written. The remaining magnetic discs within the HDD are isolated from the plume of debris.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-04-20 (17/235614).

Disk drive with multiple actuators on pivot axis
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11443763) developed by Ma, Yichao, and Liu, Xiong, Singapore, Singapore, for a “disk drive with multiple actuators on a pivot axis.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a stack of data storage disks mounted on a spindle, a first arm and a second arm. The stack comprises a first plurality of upper disks and second plurality of lower disks. The first arm is movably attached to an actuator shaft, the first arm having a first head end that supports a first head, the first arm configured to move along a first portion of the actuator shaft to enable the first head to interact with data storage surfaces of the first plurality of upper disks. The second arm has a second head end that supports a second head, the second arm attached to and configured to move along a second portion of the actuator shaft, independently of the first arm, to enable the second head to interact with data storage surfaces of the second plurality of lower disks.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-06-18 (17/351804).

Waveguide having plasmonic strips for HAMR
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11443764) developed by Gan, Choon How, Londonderry, Great Britain, Gubbins, Mark Anthony, Donegal, Ireland, McConnell, Beverley Rutherford, Eglinton, Great Britain, McCurry, Martin Peter, Hardy, Michael James, Barbosa Neira, Andres David, El Hallak, Fadi, and Puri, Anil Kumar, Londonderry, Great Britain, for a “waveguide having plasmonic strips for heat-assisted magnetic recording.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An apparatus includes a slider configured for heat-assisted magnetic recording. The slider includes an input coupler configured to receive light excited by a light source. The slider includes a waveguide core tapering along a light propagation direction from a first cross-sectional width to a second cross-sectional width, the waveguide configured to provide a surface plasmon-enhanced near-field radiation pattern proximate an output end in response to the received light. One or more cladding layers surround the waveguide core. At least one strip of plasmonic material is disposed between the waveguide core and at least one of the one or more cladding layers.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-03-04 (16/291491).

HAMR recording head with external cavity laser using near-field transducer as reflector
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11437068) developed by Krishnamurthy, Vivek, Edina, MN, Olson, Scott Eugene, Eagan, MN, Perry, Tyler Lenn, Cottage Grove, MN, and Duda, John Charles, Bloomington, MN, for a “HAMR recording head with external cavity laser using a near-field transducer as a reflector.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A recording head includes an external cavity laser with an externally mounted part having an active region. The external cavity laser also includes a channel waveguide that delivers light towards a media-facing surface. A near-field transducer functions as a reflector, either alone or in combination with a Bragg grating in the channel waveguide. A reflective back facet of the externally mounted part and the reflector define a resonator of the external cavity laser.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-07-30 (16/943124).

Semi-sequential drive I/O performance
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11436151) developed by Velayuthaperumal, Gomathirajan Authoor, Bangalore Karnataka, India, for a “semi-sequential drive I/O performance.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method includes receiving a request for a cache operation at a first storage device and identifying at least a first input/output operation at a first data block at the first storage device, the first data block having a corresponding first data range. The method also includes identifying a second input/output operation at a second data block having a corresponding second data range and initiating a read operation at the first storage device that comprises the first data block and the second data block. The method further includes combining the first data block and the second data block into a first data volume and writing the first data volume to a second storage device as a third input/output operation.”

The patent application was filed on 2018-08-29 (16/115882).

Multi-session concurrent testing for multi-actuator drive
Seagate Technology LLC, Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (11437071) developed by Tang Kok Meng, Fabian, Chen, Zhixing, and Liqin, Song, Singapore, Singapore, for a “multi-session concurrent testing for multi-actuator drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for testing a multiple-actuator storage device includes accessing a first storage device comprising at least a first and a second logical unit and concurrently performing a first group of test operations on the first logical unit and a second group of test operations on the second logical unit. The method includes monitoring for an interruption during the performing the group of test operations on the first or the second logical unit, and during the monitoring, if it is determined that there is an interruption on one of the first or second logical units, performing the respective test operations on the other logical unit is temporarily suspended. The method also includes continuing to monitor for the interruption, and upon determining that the interruption is not currently active, resuming concurrently performing the test operations on the first and second logical units.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-08-26 (16/551184).

Partial adjustment of disk drive areal density to compensate for head or surface degradation
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11430471) developed by Cheney, Drew Allen, Mound, MN, Gage, Edward Charles, Edina, MN, and Viraraghavan, Praveen, Fort Collins, CO, for a “partial adjustment of disk drive areal density to compensate for head or surface degradation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk drive is operable to determine degradation associated with writing to a disk surface by a head which has written existing data at a first areal density. A second areal density less than the first areal density is determined that remediates the degradation. The disk drive performs subsequent writes to the disk surface at the second areal density, and continues to read the existing data at the first areal density.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-12-18 (17/127420).

Multiple duration deduplication entries
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11429587) developed by Barrell, Michael, Davies, Ian, Longmont, CO, Day, III, Kenneth F, Cedar Park, CO, and Dewey, Douglas, Longmont, CO, for “multiple duration deduplication entries.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods are disclosed for multiple duration deduplication entries. A processor may be configured to perform data deduplication operations, including setting a first indicator for first metadata stored to a hash database identifying a first time interval to maintain the first metadata in the database, and setting a second indicator for second metadata stored to the database identifying a second time interval to maintain the second metadata in the database longer than the first time interval. The processor may remove the first metadata from the database when no duplicative data is detected for the first metadata within the first time interval, and remove the second metadata from the database when no duplicative data is detected for the second metadata within the second time interval.”

The patent application was filed on 2017-06-29 (15/638302).

Triple magnet linear actuator motor
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11430472) developed by Ma, YiChao, Liu, Xiong, Singapore, Singapore, Harwood, Gordon, Minneapolis, MN, and Tang, Yongjie, Singapore, Singapore, for a “triple magnet linear actuator motor.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a ferromagnetic center pole, a drive coil for an actuator arm assembly, and a magnetic assembly surrounding the drive coil. The drive coil surrounds the center pole and has a top, a bottom, and first and second sides, the first side is attached to the actuator arm assembly. The magnetic assembly includes a top magnet disposed above and spaced from the center pole, a bottom magnet disposed below and spaced from the center pole, and a side magnet disposed proximate the second side of the coil and spaced from the center pole. In another embodiment, a linear actuator comprises a ferromagnetic center pole, a drive coil supported for linear motion on a rail, and a magnetic assembly. A method including linearly moving a drive coil along a center pole by a magnetic field is also described.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-11-17 (17/528296).

Distributed secure edge heterogeneous storage network with byzantine attack resilience
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11425164) developed by Keshtkarjahromi, Yasaman, Shakopee, MN, for a “distributed secure edge heterogeneous storage network with byzantine attack resilience.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Distributed storage of a file in edge storage devices that is resilient to eavesdropping adversaries and Byzantine adversaries. Approaches include a cost-efficient approach in which an authorized user has access to the content of all edge storage nodes. In this approach, key blocks and file blocks that are masked with key blocks are saved in the edge storage nodes. Additionally, redundant data for purposes of error correction are also stored. In turn, upon retrieval of all blocks, errors introduced by a Byzantine adversary may be corrected. In a loss resilient approach, redundant data is stored along with masked file partitions. Upon retrieval of blocks from the edge storage nodes, a unique approach to solving for the unknown file partition values is applied with identification of corrupt nodes based on an average residual error value for each storage node.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-08-28 (17/006394).

Assembly that enables reduction in disk to disk spacing
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11423927) developed by Mendonsa, Riyan Alex, Edina, MN, Gage, Edward Charles, Lakeville, MN, Gomez, Kevin, Eden Prairie, MN, Herdendorf, Brett R., Mound, MN, and Mohr, Dan, Saint Paul, MN, for an “assembly that enables reduction in disk to disk spacing.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage system includes a data storage foil mounted within the data storage system, the data storage foil has at least one data storage surface. The data storage system also includes a head configured to interact with the at least one data storage surface to carry out at least one of data read or data write operations.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-06-21 (17/352703).

Reader with wide synthetic antiferromagnetic structure optimized for high stability and low noise
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11423929) developed by Sapozhnikov, Victor, Minnetonka, MN, Pokhil, Taras Grigorievich, Arden Hills, MN, Stankiewicz, Andrzej Adam, and Patwari, Mohammed Shariat Ullah, Edina, MN, for a “reader with wide synthetic antiferromagnetic structure optimized for high stability and low noise.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A reader includes a bearing surface and a free layer having a front surface that forms a portion of the bearing surface. The reader also includes a synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) structure below the free layer, the SAF structure has a narrow portion with a front surface that forms a portion of the bearing surface and a wide portion behind the narrow portion. The reader further includes an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer in contact with the wide portion of the SAF structure. The SAF structure is configured to prevent switching from one magnetic to another magnetic in the wide portion under thermal fluctuations.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-08-03 (17/392627).

Processing for forming single-grain near-field transducer
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11423928) developed by Kautzky, Michael Christopher, Eagan, MN, Zhao, Tong, Eden Prairie, MN, Wan, Li, Prior Lake, MN, and Kou, Xiaolu, Los Gatos, CA, for “processing for forming single-grain near-field transducer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method includes forming a single-crystal-like metal layer on a metal seed layer, the metal seed layer formed on a sacrificial wafer. An anchor layer is formed on the single-crystal-like metal layer. The single-crystal-like metal layer is separated from the sacrificial wafer via the anchor layer. The single-crystal-like metal layer is transported via the anchor layer to a target substrate having one or more recording head subassemblies. The single-crystal-like metal layer is joined with the recording head, the single-crystal-like metal layer being integrated with the recording head as a near-field transducer.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-01-18 (16/252167).

Confirming version of firmware loaded to processor-based device
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11409872) developed by Miller, Michael H., Eden Prairie, MN, for “confirming a version of firmware loaded to a processor-based device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Apparatus and method for verifying firmware used by a programmable processor in a processor-based device, such as but not limited to a solid- drive (SSD). In some embodiments, the firmware is stored in a device memory and is accessed to generate an output value using a suitable mathematical function, such as a cryptographic function, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) function, etc. The output value is used to verify a of the firmware, such as by ensuring a proper version of firmware has been loaded, that an attacking party has not tampered with the firmware, etc. The firmware may be subsequently loaded and executed by the programmable processor responsive to successful verification. A nonce value supplied by a host can be incorporated into the output value generation process.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-11-05 (16/674740).

Sliding disk drive recording head with wireless power and data interfaces
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11410698) developed by Gubbins, Mark Anthony, Donegal, Ireland, for a “sliding disk drive recording head with wireless power and data interfaces.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A disk drive has a recording head slidably coupled to a rail and in magnetic communication with a disk surface. The recording head has an optical power interface and an optical data interface. An optical transceiver is fixably mounted proximate an end of the rail and optically coupled to the optical power interface and/or the optical data interface of the recording head. The coupling between the optical transceiver and the interfaces facilitates writing data to the disk surface and/or reading data from the disk surface via the recording head.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-04-14 (17/230396).

Laser stress mitigation for HAMR
Seagate Technology LLC, Fremont, CA, has been assigned a patent (11404083) developed by Lapicki, Adam Andrzej, Venugopal, Vijayaharan Arumungakannunadar, Habibi, Helene Parwana, and McNeill, Debra Ann, Londonderry, Great Britain, for a “laser stress mitigation for heat-assisted magnetic recording.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An apparatus has a substrate. A laser is deposited above the substrate. The laser comprises one or more non-self-supporting layers of crystalline material. A first layer is disposed proximate the laser. The first layer is deposited using a first process. A second layer is disposed proximate the second layer. The second layer is deposited using a second process different than the first process. The first layer and the second layer are configured to mitigate mechanical stress in the laser. A waveguide is deposited proximate the laser. The waveguide is configured to receive plasmons from the laser and direct the plasmons to a recording medium.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-04-27 (17/241664).