EP0440413A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Disk drive system and method for accessing a physical memory location therein
Assignee: Seagate Technology International
•
Filing: 1991-01-29
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2011-01-29
Abstract
Abstract The present invention provides a method for accessing a physical memory location in a disk drive system having at least one magnetic storage disk (12) having a plurality of the physical memory locations (40), and at least one magnetic head (14) for accessing the physical memory locations, wherein each physical memory location is designated by a cylinder number, a head number and a sector number, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request for access to a physical memory location, the request comprising a logical cylinder address, a logical head address and a logical sector address, translating the logical cylinder address, the logical head address and the logical sector address into a physical cylinder number, a physical head number and a physical sector number, and seeking the at least one magnetic head to the physical memory location on the at least one magnetic storage disk designated by the physical cylinder number, the physical head number and the physical sector number. The translating step comprises obtaining the physical cylinder number by referring to an index table in which logical cylinder addresses correspond with physical cylinder numbers for physical cylinders arbitrarily located on the at least one magnetic storage disk.
Inventors
- 👤 Jeffrey Alan Golden
- 👤 Karl David Schuh
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 22:07
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/10; G11B20/18; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/06; G06F3/0601; G06F3/0602; G06F3/0614; G06F3/0619; G06F3/0628; G06F3/0629; G06F3/0668; G06F3/0671; G06F3/0673; G06F3/0674; G06F3/0676; G11B20/1883; G11B27/00; G11B27/10; G11B27/102; G11B27/105; G11B27/11; G11B2020/10916; G11B2220/00; G11B2220/20; G11B2220/60; G11B2220/65
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
197 words
A method for accessing a physical memory location in a disk drive system having at least one magnetic storage disk (12) having a plurality of the physical memory locations (40), and at least one magnetic head (14) for accessing the physical memory locations, wherein each physical memory location is designated by a cylinder number, a head number and a sector number, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request for access to a physical memory location, the request comprising a logical cylinder address, a logical head address and a logical sector address, translating the logical cylinder address, the logical head address and the logical sector address into a physical cylinder number, a physical head number and a physical sector number, and seeking said at least one magnetic head to the physical memory location on said at least one disk designated by the physical cylinder number, the physical head number and the physical sector number, characterised in that the step of translating comprises obtaining the physical cylinder number by referring to an index table, in which logical cylinder addresses correspond with physical cylinder numbers for physical cylinders arbitrarily located on said at least one magnetic storage disk.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method according to claim 1 characterised in that the step of translating further comprises referring to a defect table for generating the physical head number and the physical sector number from the logical head address and the logical sector address, whereby to compensate for physical defects on said at least one magnetic storage disk.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
86 words
A method according to claim 2 characterised in that the defect table contains a defect count representing the number of physical defects present in each physical cylinder on said at least one magnetic storage disk, and in that the step of generating comprises computing an initial physical head number and an initial physical sector number from the logical head address and the logical sector address and adjusting the physical head number and the physical sector number according to the defect count obtained from the defect table.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
A method according to claim 2 or 3 characterised in that the step of referring to the defect table is initiated by a pointer in the index table.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
211 words
A disk drive system having a controller (18), at least one magnetic storage disk (12) having a plurality of physical memory locations (40), and at least one magnetic head (14) for accessing the physical memory locations, wherein each physical memory location is designated by a cylinder number, a head number and a sector number, the controller comprising means for receiving a request for access to a physical memory location, in the form of a logical cylinder address, a logical head address and a logical sector address, and means for translating the logical cylinder address, the logical head address and the logical sector address into a physical cylinder number, a physical head number and a physical sector number, and the controller being arranged to move said at least one magnetic head to the physical memory location on said at least one magnetic storage disk designated by the physical cylinder number, the physical head number and the physical sector number, characterised in that the controller further comprises an index table in which logical cylinder addresses correspond with physical cylinder numbers for physical cylinders arbitrarily located on said at least one magnetic disk, and means for referring to the index table in response to the request for access for obtaining the physical cylinder number.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
47 words
A disk drive system according to claim 5 characterised in that the controller further comprises a defect table, and means for referring to the defect table for generating the physical head number and the physical sector number from the logical head address and the logical sector address.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
A disk drive system according to claim 6 characterised in that the defect table contains a defect count representing the number of physical defects present in each physical cylinder on said at least one magnetic storage disk.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
36 words
A disk drive system according to claim 6 or 7 characterised in that the index table contains pointers to the defect table associated with the physical cylinder numbers for physical cylinders in which defects are present.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
223 words
A method for accessing a physical memory location in a disk drive system, the system having a controller (18), at least one magnetic storage disk (12) having a plurality of physical memory locations (40), the individual locations being accessed by cylinder, head and sector numbers, and at least one magnetic head (14) for accessing the physical memory locations, the method being characterised by the steps of: storing in the controller an index table containing a set of logical cylinder memory location entries, wherein each said logical cylinder entry and said index table corresponds to a physical cylinder arbitrarily located in said disk drive system, transmitting from a host computer (20) a request, including a logical cylinder, a logical head and sector, to the controller to access a specific, physical memory location defined by a physical cylinder, head and sector in the disk drive system, identifying said specific logical cylinder in said index table, and by virtue of said identification, pointing to said corresponding physical cylinder arbitrarily located in said disk drive system, translating said logical head and sector into respectively a physical head and sector within said pointed to physical cylinder, and seeking said magnetic head to said physical cylinder, head and sector to facilitate information transfer between said physical memory location arbitrarily located in the disk drive system and the host computer.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
226 words
A method of accessing a physical memory location in a disk drive system having at least one magnetic storage disk (12) having a plurality of the physical memory locations (40), and at least one magnetic head (14) for accessing the physical memory locations, wherein each physical memory location is designated by a cylinder number, a head number and a sector number, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request for access to a physical memory location, the request comprising a logical cylinder address, a logical head address, and a logical sector address, translating the logical cylinder address, the logical head address and the logical sector address into a physical cylinder number, a physical head number and a physical sector number, and seeking said at least one magnetic head to the physical memory location on said at least one magnetic storage disk designated by the physical cylinder number, the physical head number and the physical sector number, characterised in that the step of translating comprises generating the physical cylinder number from the logical cylinder address, and referring to a defect table containing data relating to the defects in a physical cylinder on the at least one magnetic storage disk designated by the physical cylinder number for generating the physical head number and the physical sector number from the logical head address and the logical sector address.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
204 words
A disk drive system having a controller (18), at least one magnetic storage disk (12) having a plurality of physical memory locations (40), and at least one magnetic head (14) for accessing the physical memory locations, wherein each physical memory location is designated by a cylinder number, a head number and a sector number, the controller comprising means for receiving a request for access to a physical memory location, in the form of a logical cylinder address, a logical head address and a logical sector address, and means for translating the logical cylinder address, the logical head address and the logical sector address into a physical cylinder number, a physical head number and a physical sector number, and the controller being arranged to move the at least one magnetic head to the physical memory location on the at least one magnetic storage disk designated by the physical cylinder number, the physical head number and the physical sector number, characterised in that the controller comprises a defect table containing data relating to the defects in each physical cylinder on the at least one magnetic storage disk, and means for referring to the defect table for generating the physical head number and the physical sector number.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.