Thermal asperity compensation using multiple sync marks for retroactive and split segment data synchronization in a magnetic disk storage system
US5844920A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 7, 1996 |
| Grant date | Dec 1, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 7, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B2220/20
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A magnetic disk storage system is disclosed wherein byte synchronization to sector data is achieved even when noise in the read channel, due for instance to a thermal asperity (TA), corrupts the primary preamble and/or sync mark fields or causes a loss of frequency or phase lock. The data sector format is modified to comprise at least one secondary sync mark in addition to the conventional primary sync mark recorded at the beginning of the data field. In this manner, when the primary sync mark becomes undetectable due to errors, or when byte synchronization is lost, the storage system can still synchronize to the data sector using the secondary sync mark. The secondary sync mark is preferably spaced apart from the primary sync mark with either a gap (no data) or user data inserted inbetween. In the latter embodiment, two methods are employed to recover user data inbetween the primary and secondary sync marks when the primary sync mark is undetectable: on-the-fly erasure pointer error correction, and buffering to facilitate retroactive synchronization. The secondary sync mark may optionally include a secondary preamble to facilitate phase locking to the data when the primary preambl…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.