Cirrus Logic Inc.

Paul M Romano

Louis Supino

Larry D King

David R Welland

Petro Estakhri

William G Bliss

Richard T Behrens

Christopher P Zook

David E Reed

Trent O Dudley

Son H Ho

Tyson Tuttle

Christopher Thomas Settje

Phuc Tran

Diwakar Vishakhadatta

Jerrel P Hein

Maryam Imam

Jim Graba

Mike Machado

Neal Glover

German S Feyh

John S Geldman

John J Schadegg

Bhupendra K Ahuja

Howard H Sheerin

Palaksha Setty

Francis H Reiff

Shuangxia Zhu

A discrete-time sliding mode controller (SMC) controls the motion of a read head actuated over a disk storage medium during tracking operations. The discret-time SMC comprises a linear signal generator for generating a linear control signal, and a sliding mode generator for generating a sliding mode signal. These signals are combined and applied to a voice coil motor (VCM) for positioning the read head over a particular data track recorded on the disk. The linear signal generator and the gain (c&Ggr;) &Dgr; are designed such that once the sliding mode variable &sgr; crosses the sliding line the first time, it will cross the sliding line in every successive sample period resulting in a zigzag motion about the sliding line wherein &sgr; changes sign at every sample period. The switching action and resulting chatter of the sliding mode controller are minimized by adjusting the width of the boundary layer through appropriate selection of predetermined constants &Dgr; and &lgr;. The boundary layer can be made arbitrarily small so as to better approximate and thereby attain the benefits of continuous time SMC. In addition, the required control effort is minimized while still providing adequate immunity to parameter variations and external load disturbances.

Disk storage system employing a discrete-time sliding mode controller for servo control

A sampled amplitude read channel incorporated within a magnetic disk storage system for reading data recorded tracks on a magnetic medium, where the data comprises user data sectors recorded at varying data rates across a plurality of predefined zones and embedded servo data sectors recorded at the same data rate across the zones. The read channel comprises a timing recovery component for synchronous sampling of a read signal from a magnetic read head positioned over the magnetic medium, a gain control component for adjusting the amplitude of the read signal, and a DC offset component for canceling a DC offset in the read signal. These components are dynamically configured to operate according to whether the read channel is processing user data or embedded servo data.

Sampled amplitude read channel employing pipelined reads to reduce the gap between sectors

A discrete-time sliding mode controller (SMC) controls the motion of mechanical apparatus such as a read head in a disk storage system. The overall control effort is generated by combining a linear control effort with a discrete-time sliding mode control effort generated by switching between gains in order to drive the system's phase states toward a sliding line trajectory. An estimate of a reference is generated and added to the control effort, thereby providing an approximation of the derivative of the reference signal. Estimating the reference signal may be performed by various methods, depending on whether the reference is known, unknown but repeatable, or completely unknown and non-repeatable. A least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm is employed to estimate the reference signal by computing coefficients of a function which minimizes a particular system parameter. If the reference is an unknown, repeatable sinusoid, such as the runout signal in a disk storage device, the coefficients of a synthesized sinusoid may be determined by minimizing the position error phase state. Alternatively, the coefficients of the synthesized sinusoid may be determined by minimizing the sliding mode variable &sgr;,which defines the position of the system phase states relative to the sliding line. For references that are unknown and non-repeatable, an estimate of the derivative of the reference signal is computed, weighted, and added to weighted derivatives of the estimate, where the weights or coefficients of this function are also determined by minimizing the sliding mode variable &sgr;,.

Reference estimator in a discrete-time sliding mode controller

Adaptive discrete-time sliding mode controller

A quadrature signal generator for optical disk storage devices is disclosed comprising a differential phase detector (DPD) implemented as an adaptive length dual arm correlator. A photo diode generates a light beam for irradiating the optical disk during read operations, and a pair of diagonal signals S1 and S2 are generated by adding a pair of respective quadrants of a four-quadrant photodetector which detects the light beam reflected from the disk. The phase offset between the diagonal signals represents the centerline offset of the light beam from the centerline of a data track recorded on the optical disk. A first and second position error signals (PES) are generated by computing the difference and sum between a positive and negative correlation of the diagonal signals S1 and S2, otherwise referred to as a dual arm correlation (DAC) ##EQU1## where .DELTA. is the correlation offset and L is the correlation length. In the present invention, the correlation length L is programmably adjusted relative to the t rack crossing velocity such that the correlator outputs a substantially constant number of correlations per track crossing, which facilitates generating a quadrature signal for use in counting track crossings during seek operations.

Quadrature signal generator using an adaptive length dual arm correlator

A sampled amplitude read channel is disclosed for reading data recorded on a disk storage medium by detecting an estimated binary sequence from a sequence of discrete time sample values generated by sampling pulses in an analog read signal from a read head positioned over the disk storage medium. The read channel comprises a sampling device, such as an analog-to-digital converter (A/D), for sampling the analog read signal to generate the discrete time sample values and for sampling at least one other auxillary analog input signal, such as a servo control signal. In this manner, performance characteristics of the read channel can be measured, such as the driving current applied to the servo control voice coil motor (VCM), without requiring additional hardware.

Sampled amplitude read channel for reading user data and embedded servo

An optical disc storage system comprises a sliding mode controller for actuating an optical read head assembly over an optical disc during focus capture, focus tracking, track seeking and centerline tracking. The sliding mode controller is a non-linear control system which operates by switching between positive and negative feedback in order to force certain phase states (such as the read head's position error and velocity) to follow a predetermined phase state trajectory. Sliding mode control provides improved compensation to parametric variations, external load disturbances and other transients such as, for example, the focus capture transient. Furthermore, the sliding mode positive and negative feedback gains need only be within a predetermined range, thereby allowing gain values of 2.sup.n which significantly reduces the complexity and cost of the gain multipliers.

Optical disc drive comprising switching gains for forcing phase states

In an optical disk storage device, a differential phase detector is disclosed for generating a position error signal independent of the frequency content of the recorded data. A pair if diagonal signals S1 and S2 are generated by adding a pair of respective quadrants of a four-quadrant photodetector, where the phase offset between the diagonal signals represents the position error of the pit image as it passes over the photodetector. The position error is determined in the present invention by computing the difference between a positive and negative correlation of the diagonal signals S1 and S2, otherwise referred to as a dual arm correlation (DAC) ##EQU1## where .DELTA. is the correlation offset and L is the correlation length. In the preferred embodiment, the correlation offset .DELTA. is adaptively adjusted to maximize the correlation between S1 and S2. In this manner, the position error estimate is substantially insensitive to the frequency content of the recorded data. Furthermore, this method extends the position error over a range of plus or minus one-half a track, which facilitates generating a quadrature signal for use in counting track crossings during seek operations.

Differential phase error detector using dual arm correlation for servo

A trellis sequence detector is disclosed for detecting a quadrature servo signal in optical disk storage devices. The quadrature servo signal is generated in discrete time and comprises two sinusoidal signals phase offset by 90 degrees. The sampling frequency of the quadrature signal is controlled relative to the track crossing velocity so as to produce a fixed number of samples per period of the sinusoid (i.e., per track crossing). In the embodiment disclosed herein, the sampling of the sinusoidal signals is controlled such that there are eight samples per track crossing. The eight samples are associated with a state transition diagram and corresponding trellis diagram which define the operation of a trellis sequence detector. The trellis sequence detector processes the actual samples of the quadrature signal to determine an estimated quadrature sequence closest to the actual samples of the quadrature signal. In this manner, spurious pulses in the actual quadrature signal are filtered out which significantly enhances the performance of the servo system.

Trellis sequence detector for detecting a quadrature servo signal in

In an optical disk storage device wherein user data is demodulated from a light beam reflecting off data pits in tracks of an optical disk storage medium, a quadrature seek signal is generated indicative of the light beam crossing tracks of the optical disk during a seek operation. The quadrature seek signal is generated from a discrete-time tracking error signal (TES) and a discrete-time RF baseband signal. The discrete-time TES is generated according to the mode of operation, compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD). In CD mode the TES is generated as the difference between E and F tracking photodiodes, and in DVD mode the TES is generated using a discrete-time differential phase detector (DPD). To generate the discrete-time RF baseband signal, the RF data signal (generated as the sum A+B+C+D of a four quadrant photodiode) is sampled at the channel rate and the RF data samples passed through a discrete-time envelope detector. The envelope detector extracts a discrete-time RF baseband signal which represents the light beam's location with respect to a track centerline. The discrete-time TES and baseband signals are synchronized and converted into binary square waves which form a quadrature seek signal (four transitions per track) for counting track crossings and for determining the radial seek direction.

Generating a quadrature seek signal from a discrete-time tracking error

A magnetic disc storage system employing two stage actuators for simultaneously positioning recording heads over the top and bottom surfaces of the disc is disclosed. The recording heads are fastened to a distal end of respective top and bottom load beams. A base end of the load beams is connected to a voice coil motor (VCM) rotary actuator which simultaneously positions both recording heads over the disc. A silicon microactuator is also fastened to the distal end of at least one of the load beams for positioning the recording heads independent of one another, thereby allowing simultaneous tracking of embedded servo data. Various data formats are provided, including interleaving logical sector numbers, symbols of a logical sector, and segments of a logical sector, between the top and bottom physical sectors of a track. Complexity and cost of the servo controllers is reduced through the use of sliding mode control: a simple, robust and fast control system implemented using simple switching circuitry, small lookup tables, and simplified binary multipliers (shift registers). A dual path read channel implemented in a single integrated circuit is provided for parallel processing the read signals from the top and bottom recording heads.

Magnetic disc recording system employing two stage actuators for

A sliding mode controller is disclosed for controlling a read/write head actuator in a magnetic disk drive storage system wherein a voice coil motor connected to the actuator operates to adjust the position of the read/write head over a selected data track recorded on a magnetic medium. The sliding mode controller comprises an improved technique for reducing chatter associated with the inherent operation of such a controller--rapid switching between gains to force the observable phase states to follow a predetermined phase state trajectory. The sliding mode controller generates a motor control command by multiplying an actuator position error and an actuator position error velocity by respective switching gains. The gains are switched according to a predetermined relationship .sigma. between the phase states and a phase state trajectory. In order to reduce the switching frequency (i.e., chatter), a boundary layer around the phase state trajectory results in hysteresis, causing the gain blocks to switch only after the phase states cross over the boundary line. Further chatter reduction is achieved by generating the motor control signal proportional to an integral of sgn(.sigma.). The cost of the sliding mode controller is reduced by implementing the phase state trajectory .sigma. as a lookup table indexed by a single phase state.

Chatter reduction in sliding mode control of a disk drive actuator

A sliding mode controller is disclosed for controlling the motion of a read/write head actuated by a voice coil motor over a rotating magnetic disk storage medium. The magnetic disk comprises a plurality of concentric data tracks recorded thereon wherein each data track comprises user data and servo data. The sliding mode controller operates by multiplying a head position error phase state and a head position error velocity phase state by respective switching gains to force the phase states to follow a predetermined phase state trajectory. The phase state trajectory can be defined by a single linear segment, a variable linear segment, multiple linear segments over the entire region of excursion, or optimum parabolic acceleration and deceleration segments. Switching logic, responsive to the phase states and a trajectory segment value .sigma., switches between positive and negative feedback gains to drive the phase states toward a current trajectory segment. A .sigma. processing block monitors the phase states to determine when to switch from a current trajectory segment to the next trajectory segment. The resulting servo control system is relatively inexpensive to implement in either software or hardware, and it is substantially insensitive to parametric changes and external load disturbances. Further, it does not require notch filters commonly used in conventional linear controllers to compensate for mechanical resonances.

Sliding mode control of a disk drive actuator for positioning a

A sampled amplitude read channel incorporated within a magnetic disk storage system for reading data recorded in concentric tracks on a magnetic medium, where the data comprises user data sectors recorded at varying data rates across a plurality of predefined zones and embedded servo data sectors recorded at the same data rate across the zones. The sampled amplitude read channel comprises a timing recovery component for synchronous sampling of a read signal from a magnetic read head positioned over the magnetic medium, a gain control component for adjusting the amplitude of the read signal, and a DC offset component for cancelling a DC offset in the read signal. These components are dynamically configured to operate according to whether the read channel is processing user data or embedded servo data. A user data frequency synthesizer and a servo data frequency synthesizer lock the timing recovery component to a reference frequency and provide a coarse center frequency control signal corresponding to the user data or servo data mode. The read channel further employs pipelined reads to reduce the physical gap between sectors on the medium. In addition, an improved sync mark detector and an improved asynchronous servo address mark detector increase the accuracy and reliability of the read channel.

Sampled amplitude read channel employing a user data frequency

A sliding mode controller is disclosed for controlling the motion of a magnetoresistive (MR) read head actuated by a voice coil motor over a rotating magnetic disk storage medium. The magnetic disk comprises a plurality of concentric data tracks recorded thereon wherein each data track comprises user data and servo data. The sliding mode controller operates by multiplying a head position error phase state and a head position error velocity phase state by respective switching gains to force the phase states to follow a predetermined phase state trajectory. The phase state trajectory can be defined by a single linear segment, a variable linear segment, multiple linear segments over the entire region of excursion, or optimum parabolic acceleration and deceleration segments. Switching logic, responsive to the phase states and a trajectory segment value .sigma., switches between positive and negative feedback gains to drive the phase states toward a current trajectory segment. A .sigma. processing block monitors the phase states to determine when to switch from a current trajectory segment to the next trajectory segment. The resulting servo control system is relatively inexpensive to implement in either software or hardware, and it is substantially insensitive to parametric changes, external load disturbances, and non-linearities inherent in controlling MR read heads. Further, it does not require notch filters commonly used in conventional linear controllers to compensate for mechanical resonances.

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Boulder, CO, United States of America

Paul M Romano