Disk drive synchronization
US6118612A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 22, 1997 |
| Grant date | Sep 12, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 22, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B2220/415
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A spindle synchronization technique is described which is useful in a disk array subsystem comprising a plurality of disk drives (40,41,42,43) connected by means of serial links (25,26,27,28) to a disk drive controller (20). Data and command information is transmitted over the link in the form of multi-character frames, the flow of which is regulated by special ten bit protocol characters. A SYNC protocol character is defined which is used to synchronize the spindles of the disk drives. This SYNC character is issued by controller to selected ones of the drives over the same link used for the transmission of the command and data information. The SYNC character may be interleaved between the characters of frames being transmitted over the link.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.