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:
Sep. 12, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 22, 1998
Karl Gong, San Jose, CA (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A disk drive having an improved method of adjusting the head switch time to improve disk drive performance. In the process of writing or reading long data files, the heads on the actuator are sequentially selected in order to access all the data tracks forming a cylinder in the shortest time. Head offsets are significantly smaller for switching between heads mounted on the same actuator arm than for switching between heads mounted on different actuator arms. Therefore improved disk drive performance is obtained by using two values of head switch time instead of one. The head switch time allocated for switching from a first head on one actuator arm to a second head on a second actuator arm is made longer than the head switch time allocated for switching from a first head on one actuator arm to a second head on the same actuator arm. By allocating longer time for the head switches between different actuator arms, the error flag rate for heads not ready is reduced. The average head switch time is reduced without increasing error rates by separately optimizing the head switch times for same actuator arm head switches and different actuator arm head switches.