Cirrus Logic Inc.

Lisa Chaya Sundell

William G Bliss

David E Reed

Richard T Behrens

William R Foland, Jr

Sian She

German Stefan Otto Feyh

Christopher Lyle Painter

A disk drive system is disclosed that includes a disk device coupled to control circuitry. The control circuitry encodes data using a modulo code. The control circuitry separates the data into blocks and encodes the data by inserting stuff bits between blocks according to the modulo code. The control circuitry converts the encoded data into a write signal and transfers the write signal to the disk device. The control circuitry also receives a read signal from the disk device and converts the read signal into a data signal. The data signal represents blocks of data separated by stuff bits. The control circuitry detects errors in a block of data by determining the modulo value of the block of data and the following stuff bits.

Error checking in a disk drive system using a modulo code

2,2,1 Asymmetric partial response target in a sampled amplitude read channel for disk storage systems

An improved read channel for storage and communication application particularly useful in optical storage applications. The improved read channel includes a Viterbi sequence detector tuned to a preferred partial response target well suited to sensing of pulses in the waveforms typical of optical storage read heads. In particular, the read channel of the present invention implements pulse and sequence detection for a partial response target having a spectral null at the Nyquist frequency and having a relative minimum between zero and the Nyquist frequency. In other words, the partial response target of the improved read channel is not a monotonic decreasing function between zero and the Nyquist frequency as is known in present read channels. More specifically, in the preferred embodiment, the partial response target of the read channel includes a spectral null at the Nyquist frequency and another spectral null at half the Nyquist frequency. The improved read channel further includes state logic in the Viterbi sequence detector that processes two discrete samples in parallel. Parallel processing of multiple samples improves the read channel performance for application in ever increasing bit density storage and communication applications. The preferred embodiment of the present invention also includes selectable waveform shaping features to improve the flexibility of utilizing the read channel in a variety of applications. Specifically, the present invention includes a reshaping filter, a prefilter and DC offset circuit that may be selected to adapt the waveform as required for application to the slicer and to adapt as required for application to the sequence detector.

Read channel

A sampled amplitude read channel is disclosed for disk storage systems that employs an EPR4 remod/demod sequence detector. To reduce the complexity of timing recovery, gain control and adaptive equalization, the channel samples are initially equalized into a PR4 partial response so that a simple slicer circuit can generate estimated sample values. The PR4 equalized channel samples are then passed through a 1+D filter to generate EPR4 equalized channel samples which are processed by an EPR4 Viterbi sequence detector to generate a preliminary binary sequence. The preliminary binary sequence is remodulated into an estimated or ideal PR4 sample sequence which is subtracted from the PR4 equalized channel samples to generate an error sample sequence. An error pattern detector processes the error sample sequence to detect the dominant error events associated with the EPR4 Viterbi sequence detector.

PR4 equalization and an EPR4 remod/demod sequence detector in a sampled

A sampled amplitude read channel is disclosed for disk storage systems that employs a remod/demod sequence detector guided by an error syndrome of an error detection code (EDC). The remod/demod sequence detector comprises: a conventional trellis type maximum likelihood sequence detector, such as a Viterbi detector, for detecting a preliminary binary sequence from the channel sample values; a syndrome generator for generating an error syndrome in response to the preliminary binary sequence; a remodulator for remodulating the detected binary sequence into a sequence of estimated ideal sample values; a sample error generator for subtracting the channel samples from the estimated samples to generate a sample error sequence; an error pattern detector for detecting potential error events in the sample error sequence; and an error corrector for correcting the preliminary binary sequence when the error syndrome indicates that an error occurred. In the embodiment disclosed herein, the error syndrome is generated as the parity over a predetermined number of bits. When a parity error occurs, a correction is made corresponding to the most likely error event detected. Guiding the remod/demod sequence detector with an error syndrome avoids miscorrections that may otherwise occur in conventional remod/demod sequence detectors.

Sampled amplitude read channel employing a remod/demod sequence detector

In a computer disk storage system for recording binary data, a sampled amplitude read channel comprises a sampling device for asynchronously sampling pulses in an analog read signal from a read head positioned over a disk storage medium, interpolated timing recovery for generating synchronous sample values, and a sequence detector for detecting the binary data from the synchronous sample values. The sequence detector comprises a demodulator for detecting a preliminary binary sequence which may contain bit errors, a remodulator for remodulating to estimated sample values, a means for generating sample error values, an error pattern detector for detecting the bit errors, an error detection validator, and an error corrector for correcting the bit errors. The remodulator comprises a partial erasure circuit which compensates for the non-linear reduction in amplitude of a primary pulse caused by secondary pulses located near the primary pulse. The error pattern detector comprises a peak error pattern detector and, if an error pattern is detected, a means for disabling the error pattern detector until the detected error pattern has been fully processed. The error detection validator checks the validity of a detected error event and, if valid, enables operation of the error corrector.

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Boulder, CO, United States of America

Lisa Chaya Sundell