Process for optimizing head position to overcome disk misclamping and imperfections

Claim 2

A process for optimizing head position for disk misclamping and imperfections comprising the steps of: i. moving a transducer head to a track position on a disk, said head having a width less than a track width; ii. repeatedly reading said track and microstepping the head in a first direction across said disk until the number of identification fields detected is decreasing; iii. defining the preceding microstep position as a current maximum position; iv. moving the head to a microstep position on the other side of the maximum location and reading the track; v. if the number of identification fields read in step (iv) is less than the number of identification fields detected at the current maximum location, then defining the current maximum position as a reference position and terminating the process; vi. if the number of identification fields read in step (iv) is greater or equal than the number of identification fields detected at the current maximum location, then repeatedly reading said track and microstepping the head in a second direction across said disk until the number of identification fields detected is decreasing; and vii. defining the preceding microstep position as a reference microstep position for said track.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 wherein, said track is a center track of the disk.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 further comprising the step of: viii. using said optimum microstep position for said track as a reference position for positioning the head on other tracks of the disk.

Claim 5

A process for correcting head position for disk misclamping and imperfections comprising the steps of: i. moving a transducer head to a track position on a disk, said head having a width less than a track width; ii. repeatedly reading said track at different microstep positions; iii. determining the number of identification fields detected at each microstep position.; iv. if an odd number of microstep positions have a maximum number of identification fields detected, then defining the optimum position as the middle one of said microstep positions; v. if an even number of microstep positions have a maximum of number of identification fields detected, then defining said microstep positions as maximum positions determining which one of a couple of boundary microstep positions on either side of said maximum positions has a greater number of identifica­tion fields detected, and defining the optimum micro­step position as the one of the two middle-most of said maximum microstep positions which is closest to the boundary position having the greatest number of identification fields detected.

Claim 6

A process for correcting head position for disk misclamping and imperfections comprising the steps of: i. moving a transducer head to a track position on a disk, said head having a width less than a track width; ii. repeatedly reading said track at different microstep positions; iii. determining the number of identification fields detected at each microstep position.; iv. if an odd number of microstep positions have a maximum number of identification fields detected, then defining the optimum position as the middle one of said microstep positions; v. if an even number of microstep positions have a maximum of number of identification fields detected, then defining said microstep positions as maximum positions determining which one of a couple of boundary microstep positions on either side of said maximum positions has a greater number of identifica­tion fields detected, and defining the optimum micro­step position as the one of the two middle-most of said maximum microstep positions which is closest to the boundary position having the greatest number of identification fields detected.

Claim 7

The process of claim 4 wherein, said track position is a center track position.

Claim 8

The process of claim 4 further comprising the step of: vi. using said optimum microstep position as a reference position for positioning the head on other tracks of the disk.

Claim 9

A process for optimizing head position for disk misclamping and imperfections comprising the steps of: i. moving a transducer head to a track position on a disk, said head having a width less than a track width; ii. reading said track and determining the number of identification (ID) fields detected, defining a previous number of ID fields detected (P) as being equal to the number of ID fields detected, and defining the number of microstep positions having a maximum number of ID fields "c" as being equal to one; iii. setting said head movement in a first direction and moving said head one microstep; iv. reading said track and determining the number of ID fields detected and defining a current number of ID fields detected (N) as being equal to the number of ID fields just detected; v. if N equals P, then proceeding to a step (viii); vi. if N is less than P, then proceeding to a step (xii); vii. if N is greater than P, then proceeding to a step (xvi); viii. setting "c" equal to (c+1), moving said head one microstep, reading said track and setting N equal to the number of identification fields detected; ix. if N equals P, then returning to step (viii); x. if N is less than P, then proceeding to a step (xii); xi. if N is greater than P, then going to a step (xvi); xii. setting the number of ID fields detected at a first boundary position "a" equal to N, reversing the direction of head movement, moving said head a number of microsteps equal to (c+1), reading said track and setting N equal to the number of ID fields detected; xiii. if N equals P, then going to a step (xx); xiv. if N is less than P, then proceeding to a step (xxiv); xv. if N is greater than P, then proceeding to a step (xvi); xvi. setting "a" equal to P, setting "c" equal to one, setting P equal to N, moving said head one microstep, reading said track and setting N equal to the number of ID fields detected; xvii. if N equals P, then proceeding to a step (xx); xviii. if N is less than P, then going to a step (xxiv); xix. if N is greater than P, then returning to step (xvi); xx. setting "c" equal to (c+1), moving said head one microstep, reading said track and setting N equal to the number of ID fields detected; xxi. if N equals P, then returning to step (xx); xxii. if N is less than P, then going to a step (xxiv); xxiii. if N is greater than P, then returning to step (xvi); xxiv. setting the number of ID fields detected at a second boundary position "b" equal to N and reversing the direction of head movement; xxv. if "c" is odd, then moving the head a number of microsteps equal to (c+1)/2; xxvi. if "c" is even, and "a" is greater than "b", then moving the head a number of microsteps equal to (c/2)+1; xxvii. if "c" is even and "a" is less than or equal to "b", then moving the head a number of microsteps equal to c/2.

Claim 10

A process for optimizing head position for disk misclamping and imperfections comprising the steps of: i. moving a transducer head to a track position on a disk, said head having a width less than a track width; ii. reading said track and determining the number of identification (ID) fields detected, defining a previous number of ID fields detected (P) as being equal to the number of ID fields detected, and defining the number of microstep positions having a maximum number of ID fields "c" as being equal to one; iii. setting said head movement in a first direction and moving said head one microstep; iv. reading said track and determining the number of ID fields detected and defining a current number of ID fields detected (N) as being equal to the number of ID fields just detected; v. if N equals P, then proceeding to a step (viii); vi. if N is less than P, then proceeding to a step (xii); vii. if N is greater than P, then proceeding to a step (xvi); viii. setting "c" equal to (c+1), moving said head one microstep, reading said track and setting N equal to the number of identification fields detected; ix. if N equals P, then returning to step (viii); x. if N is less than P, then proceeding to a step (xii); xi. if N is greater than P, then going to a step (xvi); xii. setting the number of ID fields detected at a first boundary position "a" equal to N, reversing the direction of head movement, moving said head a number of microsteps equal to (c+1), reading said track and setting N equal to the number of ID fields detected; xiii. if N equals P, then going to a step (xx); xiv. if N is less than P, then proceeding to a step (xxiv); xv. if N is greater than P, then proceeding to a step (xvi); xvi. setting "a" equal to P, setting "c" equal to one, setting P equal to N, moving said head one microstep, reading said track and setting N equal to the number of ID fields detected; xvii. if N equals P, then proceeding to a step (xx); xviii. if N is less than P, then going to a step (xxiv); xix. if N is greater than P, then returning to step (xvi); xx. setting "c" equal to (c+1), moving said head one microstep, reading said track and setting N equal to the number of ID fields detected; xxi. if N equals P, then returning to step (xx); xxii. if N is less than P, then going to a step (xxiv); xxiii. if N is greater than P, then returning to step (xvi); xxiv. setting the number of ID fields detected at a second boundary position "b" equal to N and reversing the direction of head movement; xxv. if "c" is odd, then moving the head a number of microsteps equal to (c+1)/2; xxvi. if "c" is even, and "a" is greater than "b", then moving the head a number of microsteps equal to (c/2)+1; xxvii. if "c" is even and "a" is less than or equal to "b", then moving the head a number of microsteps equal to c/2.

Claim 11

The process of claim 7 further comprising the step of: xxviii. defining the present microstep position as the optimum position of said track.

Claim 12

The process of claim 8 further comprising the step of: xxix. using said optimum position of said track as a reference position for calculating the position of other tracks.

Claim 13

The process of claim 9 further comprising the steps of: xxx. moving said head to a position of a track containing a block of data which is to be read; xxxi. reading said block and determining if an error was detected; xxxii. if an error was detected at step xxxi, then moving said head one microstep in a first direction; xxxiii. moving said block and determining if an error was detected; xxxiv. if an error was detected at step xxxiii, then moving said head two microsteps in a direction opposite to that of the first direction; and xxxv. reading said block.

Claim 14

The process of claim 7 wherein, said track is a middle track of said disk.