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:
Dec. 19, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 28, 1999
Lance Robert Carlson, Niwot, CO (US);
Aaron Wade Wilson, Berthoud, CO (US);
STMicroelectronics, N.V., , NL;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing head switch operations in a magnetic disk system having a magnetic disk device that is segmented into a plurality of cylinders, which cylinders are grouped into an inner zone, a middle zone, and an outer zone. The inner zone is near the innermost area of the magnetic disk device. The outer zone is near the outermost area of the magnetic disk device. The middle zone is in between the inner zone and the outer zone. The head switch is performed from a current head to a target head. Prior to the head switch, the system determines if the current cylinder is in either the inner zone or the outer zone. When the current cylinder is in either the inner zone or the outer zone, the system seeks the current head to the middle zone, whereupon the system performs a head switch from the current head to the target head. When the current cylinder is not found to be in either the inner zone or the outer zone, i.e. when the current cylinder is in the middle zone, then the system performs the head switch from the current head to the target head without first performing a seek. After either of the above described head switch operations, the system seeks the target head to the target cylinder, when necessary.