The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 16, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 07, 1997
Mehran Ataee, Cupertino, CA (US);
Quantum Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
a An apparatus for preventing damage to components of a hard disk drive having a microprocessor when the microprocessor fails. The hard disk drive further includes at least one read/write head and a data storage disk having a designated parking zone. The apparatus includes a microprocessor monitoring circuit configured to be coupled to the microprocessor. The microprocessor monitoring circuit is configured for detecting a microprocessor failure condition in the microprocessor. The apparatus further includes a head park circuit coupled to the microprocessor monitoring circuit. The head park circuit is configured to receive a park command from the microprocessor monitoring circuit when the microprocessor failure condition is detected by the microprocessor monitoring circuit. The head park circuit, upon a receipt of the park command, parks the at least one read/write head of the hard disk drive over the designated parking zone, whereby the microprocessor monitoring circuit issues the park command to cause the parking of the at least one read/write head without intervention from the microprocessor when the microprocessor failure condition is detected by the microprocessor monitoring circuit.