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:
Mar. 09, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2001
Michael S. Rothberg, Foothill Ranch, CA (US);
Jan F. Rebalski, Foothill Ranch, CA (US);
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., Lake Forest, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention may be embodied in a method, implemented in a disk drive, for analyzing a magnetic media surface for indications of rough handling or “head slap.” In the method, a media surface is scanned to detect errors indicative of media defects. Location information is recorded for each detected error. Defect clusters are identified based on the location information. A confidence factor is generated based on a comparison between the defect clusters and a representation of the physical dimensions of the head. Whether the confidence factor indicates an impact between the head and the media surface is determined.