Stmicroelectronics Gmbh

Seagate Technology Incorporated

Michael W Null

Francesco Carobolante

Karl M Schlager

Robert P Cloutier

Christopher E Mann

A method of parking the head by first moving the head toward the inner diameter of the disc an then back across the disc and parking the head on a flat part of a ramp. In one embodiment, a moderate voltage on the motor drives the head toward the inner diameter of the disc until the head hits the inner crash stop and then a moderate current drives the head back across the disc to give the head enough momentum to get to the flat part of he ramp. In another embodiment, more stages, each having a different voltage, are used to get better control of the velocity of the head as it is being driven across the disc. A higher voltage is also used to turn the head to move toward the inner diameter of the disc when it is moving fast toward the outer diameter. A retract circuit controls the movement of the head during retract. To be able to drive the head in the tow directions, the retract circuit needs to be bipolar, containing both a current source and a current sink. Counters are used to time the driving of the head. Driving the head toward the outer diameter of the disc across substantially the entire disc permits the head to gather momentum as the head approaches the ramp, and use a lower current to ensure that the head gets to the flat art of the ramp where it is then parked. Parking the head on the flat part of the ramp prevents the head from landing on the disc, preventing damage to the head and the disc, and eliminating the possibility of loss or corruption of data due to the head landing on the disc.

Method of retracting a read and/or write head for parking

A voltage regulator for producing an output voltage that selectively tracks a logic voltage or a reference voltage and method of operating the voltage regulator. The voltage regulator has a diode OR with a logic and reference transistors. The logic voltage is scaled to be close in value to the reference voltage, if the two are not close in value. When the scaled logic voltage is larger than the reference voltage the logic transistor is on, turning off the reference transistor and passing the logic voltage to the output of the diode OR. When the scaled logic voltage is smaller than the reference voltage the logic transistor is off and the reference transistor is on, passing the reference voltage to the output of the diode OR. The voltage at the output of the diode OR is then compared in a comparator with the voltage at the output of the voltage regulator, which is scaled by the same factor as the logic voltage. The comparator increases the output voltage if it is smaller than the voltage at the output of the diode OR, and decreases the output voltage if it is larger than the voltage at the output of the diode OR. This permits the circuitry attached to the voltage regulator to operate when the logic voltage is not present, and to operate at the exact same voltage as the logic voltage when the logic voltage is present.

Voltage regulator for regulating its output voltage selectively with

An apparatus and process for detecting rotor position for improved motor start-up. The apparatus detects a target equilibrium position of the rotor using a fixed gain amplifier, window comparator and slope detector circuitry. The window comparator circuitry qualifies the peaks of the back EMF signal. Slope detector circuitry pinpoints the peak of the back EMF signal qualified by the window comparator. The technique utilizes the steps of energizing the phase windings of said motor, detecting the target equilibrium position, and then accelerating the motor through a commutation process.

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Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America

Michael W Null