EP0517473A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Miniature disk drive having embedded sector servo with split data fields and automatic on-the-fly data block sequencing
Assignee: Quantum Corp
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Filing: 1992-06-02
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2012-06-02
Abstract
Abstract A programmable data sequencer is provided for controlling transfer of fixed length data blocks between variable length storage locations of a storage medium and a buffer memory within a data storage device. The data sequencer includes a writeable control store including a random access memory directly addressable by a programmed digital microcontroller of the data storage device for writing sequences of control patterns, there being dual function control patterns such that a single sequence of control patterns may be written for controlling states of the programmable data sequencer during both data read operations and data write operations to and from the storage medium and the buffer memory, a control pattern decoder for decoding the control patterns into functional values for controlling operations within the data sequencer , and a stack memory for holding user byte count values indicating respective lengths of said variable length storage locations so that the storage capacity of each said storage location is determined by the data sequencer automatically as a user byte count value associated with a particular variable length storage location is provided at the stack memory.
Inventors
- 👤 Bruce R. Peterson
- 👤 Michael G. Machado
- 👤 Daniel E. Barnard
- 👤 Clifford M. Gold
- 👤 James H. Do
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 17:53
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11B; G11B7/00; G11B7/08; G11B7/09; G11B19/00; G11B19/02; G05; G05B; G05B19/00; G05B19/02; G05B19/04; G05B19/042; G05B19/0421; G11B20/00; G11B20/10; G11B20/12; G11B5/00; G11B5/48; G11B5/58; G11B5/596; G11B5/59633; G11B5/59655; G05B2219/00; G05B2219/20; G05B2219/21; G05B2219/21017; G05B2219/22; G05B2219/2207; G05B2219/25; G05B2219/25269; G11B20/1217; G11B20/1258; G11B2020/1264; G11B2020/1265; G11B2020/1281; G11B2020/1282; G11B2220/00; G11B2220/20; G11B2220/25; G11B2220/2508
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
355 words
A disc drive including a data storage disk (10) defining a data storage pattern, the storage disk (10) being rotatable at a substantially constant angular velocity and having at least one storage surface defining a multiplicity of concentric data tracks, a data transducer head (114) positionable at each one of said data tracks by a head positioning mechanism (108) operating within a head position servo loop of the disk drive, a data sequencer means (152), a buffer memory means (166), an interface means (158) and a digital controller means (162) for controlling operations of the head position servo loop, the data sequencer means (152) and the interface means (158), the disk drive being characterised by: a series of circumferentially spaced apart, radially extending servo sectors (38) on the disk (10), each servo sector (38) being prerecorded with plural flux transition patterns providing head position servo information for use by the head position servo loop for moving the head (114) to a said track during track seeking operations and for maintaining the head (114) in alignment with the said track during track following operations, said tracks being grouped into a plurality of concentric track zones (18-32) each zone having a data transfer rate related to the radial offset of said zone from a centre of rotation of the disk (10), each said track within a zone (18-32) being formatted into a predetermined number of data sectors (42) of predetermined user data block storage length, at least some of said sectors (42) being interrupted by at least one of said servo sectors (38) to form data segments, each said data sector (42) having a data sector identification field (44) including a plurality of user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) indicating the user data storage capacity of each said segment thereof, and the data sequencer means (152) including user byte count value (c1,c2,c3) processing means (234) for receiving, storing and using said user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) automatically to correlate a user data block with the segments of each one of said some of said sectors (42) without intervention of said digital controller means (162).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
26 words
A disk drive according to Claim 1, wherein each segment of a said data sector (42) includes a preamble field (46) including an address mark (58).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
62 words
A disk drive according to Claim 1, wherein each said data sector (42) which is divided into plural segments by at least one said servo sector (38) includes said data sector identification header (44) as a preamble of a first segment of said plural segments and each said segment includes a data preamble header (46) including a data segment address mark (58).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
A disk drive according to Claim 3, wherein the data segment address mark (58) is different from an address mark (52) contained within said data sector identification field (44).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
125 words
A disk drive according to Claim 3, wherein said identification header (44) includes a predetermined sync pattern for enabling a phase locked loop of said disk drive to resolve the data transfer rate of the said zone (18,32) of the track containing said field (46), said address mark (58), an identification field (54) including said count values (c1, c2, c3), a sector (S) and a head (H) identifier field for enabling said data sequencer means (152) of said disk drive to resolve said sector location among multiple ones thereof, and an error detection field (EDC) for enabling an error correction circuit associated with said data sequencer means (152) of said disk drive to verify the correctness of the values contained within said preamble field (46).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
A disk drive according to any preceding Claim, wherein data transfer rate for the information set forth in said servo sectors (38) is maintained at a fixed rate throughout the radial extent of said storage surface.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
64 words
A disk drive according to any preceding claim, wherein each said servo sector (38) includes a servo address mark, a servo sector number and servo centerline information, the transition pattern defining the sector number and the servo centerline information being resolvable by the disk drive into a digital number representing actual head position relative to a said concentric track (18,32) containing said sector (38).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
33 words
A disk drive according to any preceding claim, wherein a predetermined one of said servo sectors (38) contains a prerecorded index pattern indicating a once per revolution index marker for said disk (10).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
189 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) for a disk drive comprising at least one storage disk (10) rotatable at substantially constant angular velocity and having at least one storage surface defining a multiplicity of concentric data tracks (18-32), and a data transducer head (114) positionable at each of said tracks by a head positioning mechanism (108) operating within a digital servo loop including a programmed digital microcontroller means (162), characterised in that the programmable data sequencer (152) comprises : writable control store means (210) including random access memory means (218) directly addressable by said programmed digital microcontroller means (162) for writing sequences of control patterns, there being dual function control patterns such that a single sequence of control patterns may be written to the writable control store means (210) by the microcontroller means (162) for controlling states of said programmable data sequencer (152) during both data read operations and data write operations to and from the disk surface and a buffer memory means (166), and control pattern decoding means (238) for decoding the control patterns into functional values for controlling operations within the data sequencer state machine (152).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
168 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) according to Claim 9, wherein the control patterns include an opcode field control pattern (250), a count select field control pattern (252), a control field control pattern (254), a jump field control pattern (256), a count field control pattern (258) and a data field control pattern (260), and wherein the control pattern decoding means (238) includes : opcode decoding means for decoding values comprising opcode (230) of a said sequence ; jump field decoding means for decoding values comprising a jump field control pattern (256) of a said sequence ; control field decoding means for decoding the control field control pattern (254) of a said sequence ; counting means responsive to said count field control pattern (258) of a said sequence ; data decoding means responsive to said data field control pattern (260) of said sequence ; and the count select field pattern (252) controlling the selection of a command operational mode or a jump operational mode for a said sequence.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
35 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) according to Claim 10, wherein at least some of said patterns (256, 258) comprise dual purpose patterns whose purpose is selected by the count select field pattern (252).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
86 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) according to Claim 11 responsive to at least two types of control sequences, both types including opcode, data and primary control fields, one type being where a count is required and including a secondary control word field and a count field, and the other type being where a jump is required and having a count field of either a one, a top of stack value, and a next of stack value, a jump field and a jump address field.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
67 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) according to Claim 12, wherein the jump field occupies the same space in the writable control store (210) as the secondary control work field (256) and wherein the jump address field occupies the same space in the writable control store (210) as the count field (258) and wherein the count select field pattern (252) determines the type of control sequence.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
330 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine according to any one of Claims 9 to 13, wherein the data storage disk (10) defines a series of circumferentially spaced apart, radially extending servo sectors (38), each servo sector (38) being prerecorded with flux transition patterns defining a servo address mark, a servo sector identification number and servo centerline information, the transition patterns defining the sector identification number and the servo centreline information being resolvable by the disk drive into digital numbers representing the head position relative to a said concentric track containing said sector (38), said tracks being grouped into a plurality of concentric track zones (18-32) each zone having a data transfer rate related to the radial offset of said zone from a centre of rotation of the disk (10), each said track within a zone (18-32) being soft-formatted into a predetermined number of data sectors (42) of predetermined user data block storage length, at least some of said sectors (42) being interrupted by at least one of said servo sectors (38) into data segments, each said data sector (42) having a data sector identification field (44), including a plurality of user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) indicating the user data storage capacity of each said segment thereof, whereby the count values (c1, c2, c3) may be read by the disk drive on the fly in order to read a user data block from, and to write a user data block to, the segments of each one of said some of said sectors (42), said programmable data sequencer state machine (152) further comprising a count stack means (234) for storing said user byte count values (c1, c2, c3), and a loadable sector segment counter means (236) for receiving sequentially from said count stack means (234) ones of said user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) for decoding on the fly the length of a said segment denoted by a said one of said user byte count values (c1, c2, c3).
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
52 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) according to any one of Claims 9 to 14 further comprising a loadable sector counter means (206) directly loadable by said programmed microcontroller means (162) and responsive to a data clock means for counting a preset number of data bytes comprising a data sector (42).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
60 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152), according to any one of Claims 9 to 15 further comprising a loadable loop counter means (240) directly loadable by said programmed microcontroller means (162) and responsive to a data clock means for counting a preset number of data byte clock periods corresponding to a loop established within sequences of said control patterns.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
43 words
A programmable data sequencer state machine (152) according to Claim 16, wherein said control pattern decoding means decodes the control field control pattern (254) and generates said data clock means for clocking said sector counter means (206) and said loop counter means (240).
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
179 words
A programmable data sequencer (152) for a disk drive including a rotatable data storage disk (10) defining a multiplicity of concentric data tracks, a said track including fixed capacity data fields (42) which are split into segments by intervening servo sectors (38), characterised in that each said data field (42) comprises a data field identification header (44) including plural user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) each said user byte count value (c1, c2, c3) indicates the storage capacity of a said segment associated therewith, the data sequencer (152) comprising : control means (154) for controlling transfer of data blocks of said fixed capacity between a buffer memory means (166) of said disk drive and a said data field ; and stack memory means (234) for holding each said user byte count value (c1, c2, c3) associated with the said data field (42) so that the storage capacity of each said segment is determined by said sequencer (152) automatically as a said user byte count value (c1, c2, c3) associated therewith is provided at said stack memory means (234).
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
197 words
A programmable data sequencer (152) for controlling the transfer of fixed length data blocks between variable length storage locations of a storage medium means and a buffer memory means (166) of a data storage device comprising : writable control store means (210) including random access memory (218) means directly addressable by a programmed digital microcontroller means (162) of said device for writing sequences of control patterns, there being dual function control patterns (256, 258) such that a single sequence of control patterns may be written for controlling states of said programmable data sequencer (152) during both data read operations and data write operations to and from said storage medium means and said buffer memory means (166), control pattern decoding means for decoding the control patterns into functional values for controlling operations within the data sequencer (152) and stack memory means (234) for holding user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) indicating the respective lengths of said variable length storage locations so that the storage capacity of each said storage location is determined by said sequencer (152) automatically as a said user byte count value (c1, c2, c3) associated therewith is provided at said stack memory means (234).
Claim 20
Independent Claim
194 words
A method for controlling the transfer of fixed length data blocks between variable length storage locations of a storage medium means and a buffer memory means (166) of a data storage device comprising the steps of : writing sequences of control patterns from a programmed digital microcontroller means (162) of said device directly to a writable control store means (210) of a programmable data sequencer means (152) of said device, decoding the control patterns into functional values for controlling operations within the data sequencer (152), transferring user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) indicating respective lengths of segments of said variable length storage locations from a data header (44) of a said storage location directly into a byte count values stack means (234) of said data sequencer means (152) as said data header (44) is read and, automatically transferring each said user byte count value (c1, c2, c3) to a byte counter means (238) of said data sequencer means (152) so that the storage capacity of each said segment is determined by said sequencer means (152) automatically by the value held in said byte counter means (238) without intervention by said microcontroller means (162).
Claim 21
Independent Claim
148 words
A method for controlling transfer of data blocks between storage locations of a storage medium means and a buffer memory means (166) of a data storage device comprising the steps of : writing sequences of control patterns from a programmed digital microcontroller means (162) of said device directly to a writable control store means (210) of a data sequencer means of said device, there being dual function control patterns (256,258) such that a single sequence of control patterns may be written for controlling states of said programmable data sequencer means (152) during both data read operations and data write operations to and from said storage medium means and said buffer memory means (166) ; and decoding the control patterns into functional values for controlling operations within the data sequencer (152) during both data read operations and data write operations without intervention by said programmed digital microcontroller means (162).
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
306 words
A data storage pattern for a disk drive including a storage disk (16) rotatable at a substantially constant angular velocity and having at least one storage surface defining a multiplicity of concentric data tracks, and a data transducer head (114) positionable at each of said tracks by a head positioning mechanism (108) operating within a digital servo loop, the data storage pattern comprising : a series of circumferentially spaced apart, radially extending servo sectors (38) each servo sector (38) being prerecorded with flux transition patterns defining a servo address mark, a servo sector identification number and servo centreline information, the transition patterns defining and sector identification number and the servo centreline information being resolvable by the disk drive into digital numbers representing the head position relative to a said concentric track containing said sector (38) said tracks being grouped into a plurality of concentric track zones (18-32), each zone (18-32) having a data transfer rate related to the radial offset of said zone from a centre of rotation of the disk (10), each said track within a zone being soft formatted into a predetermined number of data sectors (42) of predetermined user data block storage length, at least some of said sectors (42) being interrupted by at least one of said servo sectors (38) into data segments, each said data sector (42) having a data sector identification field (54) including a plurality of user byte count values (c1, c2, c3) indicating the user data storage capacity of each said segment thereof, whereby the count values (c1, c2, c3) may be read by the disk drive and processed by a data sequencer means (152) thereof on the fly in order to read a user data block from, and to write a user data block to, the segments of each one of said some of said sectors (42).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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