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:
May. 20, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 02, 1999
Michael Mallary, Sterling, MA (US);
Michael Leis, Framingham, MA (US);
Maxtor Corporation, Longmont, CO (US);
Abstract
Several ways of avoiding collisions between a transducer and asperities on the surface of a moving data storage medium are described. In general, information that indicates locations of the asperities on the surface is provided, and relative movement between the transducer and the surface is altered in response to the information. Approaches for altering the relative movement include preventing the transducer from idling over a track that contains an asperity or over a nearby track, and moving the transducer over an asperity-containing track before a read/write operation or away from the track after the read/write operation to avoid colliding with the asperity. In another technique, the transducer is temporarily moved away from the track as the asperity approaches during a data exchange, and is then returned to the track after the asperity passes. In yet another approach, the trajectory of the transducer during a seek operation between tracks is changed to avoid an asperity on an intermediate track or a destination track.