Data storage device writing multiple burst correction values at the same radial location

Data storage devices such as disk drives comprise a disk and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and servo sectors. The servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a servo control system to control the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.

FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format 2 as comprising a number of servo tracks 4 defined by servo sectors 6 0 - 6 N recorded around the circumference of each servo track. Each servo sector 6 i comprises a preamble 8 for storing a periodic pattern, which allows proper gain adjustment and timing synchronization of the read signal, and a sync mark 10 for storing a special pattern used to symbol synchronize to a servo data field 12 . The servo data field 12 stores coarse head positioning information, such as a servo track address, used to position the head over a target data track during a seek operation. Each servo sector 6 i further comprises groups of servo bursts 14 (e.g., N and Q servo bursts), which are recorded with a predetermined phase relative to one another and relative to the servo track centerlines. The phase based servo bursts 14 provide fine head position information used for centerline tracking while accessing a data track during write/read operations. A position error signal (PES) is generated by reading the servo bursts 14 , wherein the PES represents a measured position of the head relative to a centerline of a target servo track. A servo controller processes the PES to generate a control signal applied to a head actuator (e.g., a voice coil motor) in order to actuate the head radially over the disk in a direction that reduces the PES.

FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format comprising a plurality of servo tracks defined by servo sectors.

FIG. 2A shows a data storage device in the form of a disk drive according to an embodiment comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of servo tracks defined by servo bursts.

FIG. 2B is a flow diagram according to an embodiment wherein first and second burst correction values generated at first and second radial locations are written to a third radial location.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment wherein an overlapping even and odd set of burst correction values are written to the disk.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate embodiments for generating a servo correction value based on scaled percentages of the burst correction values, wherein the scaled percentage for each burst correction value depends on the radial location of the head.

FIG. 2A shows a data storage device in the form of a disk drive according to an embodiment comprising a head 16 actuated over a disk 18 comprising a plurality of servo tracks 20 defined by servo bursts. The disk drive further comprises control circuitry 24 configured to execute the flow diagram of FIG. 2B , wherein the head is positioned at a first radial location over the disk and a first burst correction value is generated by reading at least one of the servo bursts (block 26 ). The head is positioned at a second radial location over the disk and a second burst correction value is generated by reading at least one of the servo bursts (block 28 ). The head is positioned at a third radial location over the disk and the first burst correction value and the second burst correction value are written at the third radial location (block 30 ). The head is servoed over the disk by reading the first and second burst correction values (block 32 ).

In the embodiment of FIG. 2A , the disk 18 comprises a plurality of servo sectors 22 0 - 22 N that define the servo tracks 20 , wherein the servo sectors 22 0 - 22 N may comprise any suitable head position information, such as a track address for coarse positioning and servo bursts for fine positioning. The servo bursts may comprise any suitable pattern, such as an amplitude based servo pattern or a phase based servo pattern ( FIG. 1 ). Data tracks may be defined relative to the servo tracks 20 at the same or different radial density. The control circuitry 24 processes a read signal 34 emanating from the head 16 to demodulate the servo sectors 22 0 - 22 N and generate a position error signal (PES) representing an error between the actual position of the head and a target position relative to a target track. A servo control system in the control circuitry 24 filters the PES using a suitable compensation filter to generate a control signal 36 applied to a voice coil motor (VCM) 38 which rotates an actuator arm 40 about a pivot in order to actuate the head 16 radially over the disk 20 in a direction that reduces the PES.

In one embodiment, imperfections in writing the servo sectors 22 0 - 22 N to the disk, including imperfections in writing the servo bursts, induces an error in the PES used to servo the head over a target data track. For example, in one embodiment shown in FIG. 3 the servo bursts may comprise first radially aligned phase based servo bursts (N servo bursts) and second radially aligned phase based servo bursts (Q servo bursts). The seam locations of the servo bursts (where the servo bursts reverse polarity) may be written at incorrect radial positions due to errors in the servo writing process. The written-in errors of the seam locations may induce a repeatable run-out (RRO) error when generating the PES. Accordingly, in one embodiment this RRO error is measured to generate burst correction values that are written to the disk. When servoing the head over a target data track during write/read operations, the burst correction values are read from the disk and used to adjust the PES to reduce the RRO error and therefore reduce the track misregistration (TMR).

Referring again to the example shown in FIG. 3 , in one embodiment the head is positioned at a first radial location (e.g., Q(k)) which corresponds to a seam in the phase based servo bursts (the Q servo bursts). A first burst correction value is generated (e.g., burst correction value Q(k)), for example, based on a first position measured from reading at least one of the servo bursts at the first radial location. The head is positioned at a second radial location (e.g., N(k)) which corresponds to a seam in the phase based servo bursts (the N servo bursts). A second burst correction value is generated (e.g., burst correction value N(k)), for example, based on a second position measured from reading at least one of the servo bursts at the second radial location. In the example of FIG. 3 , the servo track pitch (distance between servo tracks) spans the length of two servo burst fields, wherein a servo burst seam occurs at one quarter of a servo track offset from the center of a servo track. For example, radial location Q(k) may be one quarter of a servo track toward the outer diameter of the disk away from the center of servo track k, and radial location N(k) may be one quarter of a track toward the inner diameter of the disk away from the center of servo track k. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , after generating the first and second burst correction values N(k) and Q(k), the head is positioned over a third radial location (e.g., the center of servo track k) and the burst correction values are written at this third radial location (e.g., at the end of a servo sector).

A similar process is carried out to generate the burst correction values for the other servo tracks. For example, to generate the burst correction values for servo track k+1, the head is positioned at radial location Q(k+1) to generate a Q(k+1) burst correction value and the head is positioned at radial location N(k+1) to generate a N(k+1) burst correction value. The burst correction values are then written to the disk by servoing the head over the center of servo track k+1 as shown in FIG. 3 . In one embodiment, the Q(k) and Q(k+1) burst correction values at least partially overlap in the radial direction as shown in FIG. 3 . In general, in one embodiment burst correction values for the even servo tracks (k, k+2, k+4, etc.) are written in a first radial band and the burst correction values for the odd servo tracks (k+1, k+3, k+5, etc.) are written in a second radial band, wherein the burst correction values are written in a staggered pattern so that the even burst correction values at least partially overlap with the odd burst correction values as shown in FIG. 3 . As described in greater detail below with reference to FIGS. 4-6 , in one embodiment this partial overlap of the even and odd burst correction values enables a servo correction value to be generated for any target radial location when servoing the head over a target data track during write/read operations by interpolating between the burst correction values.

FIG. 4 shows an example embodiment wherein when the read element 42 of the head 16 is servoed over the centerline of servo track k (e.g., during a write or read operation), a servo correction value may be generated based on:

½·N(k)+½·Q(k)

That is, when the read element 42 is centered over the N(k) and Q(k) burst correction values, a servo correction value is generated as the sum of half of each burst correction value which effectively interpolates the burst correction values. The servo correction value is then used to adjust the PES generated at the corresponding servo sector, for example, by subtracting the servo correction value from the PES to attenuate the RRO error. FIG. 5 shows an example embodiment wherein when the read element 42 is servoed over radial location 44 (e.g., during a write or read operation), a servo correction value may be generated based on:

½·N(k+1)+½·Q(k)

That is, when the read element 42 is positioned over the top half of burst correction value Q(k) and positioned over the bottom half of burst correction value N(k+1), the servo correction value is generated as the sum of half of each burst correction value which again effectively interpolates the burst correction values. FIG. 6 shows an example embodiment wherein when the read element 42 is above radial location 46 , the servo correction value may be generated based on:

(1−δ)·N(k+1)+δ·Q(k+1)

and when the read element 42 is below radial location 46 , the servo correction value may be generated based on:

(1−δ)·N(k+1)+δ·Q(k)

where δ is a scalar that ranges from 0 to ½ such that the servo correction value is generated based on a corresponding percentage of each burst correction value. In one embodiment, the scalar δ varies relative to the radial displacement of the read element 42 away from radial location 46 shown in FIG. 6 . The resulting servo correction value is effectively an interpolation between the corresponding burst correction values. For example, as the read element 42 moves above radial location 46 , the read element 42 is partially over the radial location corresponding to burst correction Q(k+1), but more centered over the radial location corresponding to burst correction N(k+1). When servoing at this radial location (just above radial location 46 ), the scalar δ may be configured closer to zero so that the above equation uses a larger percentage of the N(k+1) burst correction value to generate the servo correction value. As the read element 42 moves further above radial location 46 , the scalar δ is increased toward ½ until the read element reaches the equivalent radial location as the example shown in FIG. 5 . In this manner, a servo correction value may be generated for any radial location by effectively interpolating between the appropriate burst correction values generated at the discrete radial locations across the disk surface.

In one embodiment, the burst correction values (such as N(k) and Q(k) in FIG. 3 ) may be written with an error correction code (ECC) field (e.g., after Q(k)) that may be used to correct errors when reading the burst correction values from the disk. In another embodiment, in order to increase the format efficiency of the disk, the burst correction values may be written without an ECC field which reserves more area of the disk to record user data. In the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 6 , generating the servo correction value based on a scalar δ percentage of each burst correction value may help attenuate the effect that a read error has on the servo correction value. For example, if the read element 42 shown in FIG. 6 is just below radial location 46 , there is a higher chance of a read error when reading burst correction value Q(k) since part of the read element 42 extends beyond the burst correction value Q(k). However, since the scalar δ at this radial location will be relatively small (e.g., near zero), the contribution of Q(k) to the servo correction value is small, and therefore a read error in the burst correction value Q(k) is ameliorated.

Any suitable control circuitry may be employed to implement the flow diagrams in the above embodiments, such as any suitable integrated circuit or circuits. For example, the control circuitry may be implemented within a read channel integrated circuit, or in a component separate from the read channel, such as a disk controller, or certain operations described above may be performed by a read channel and others by a disk controller. In one embodiment, the read channel and disk controller are implemented as separate integrated circuits, and in an alternative embodiment they are fabricated into a single integrated circuit or system on a chip (SOC). In addition, the control circuitry may include a suitable preamp circuit implemented as a separate integrated circuit, integrated into the read channel or disk controller circuit, or integrated into a SOC.

In one embodiment, the control circuitry comprises a microprocessor executing instructions, the instructions being operable to cause the microprocessor to perform the flow diagrams described herein. The instructions may be stored in any computer-readable medium. In one embodiment, they may be stored on a non-volatile semiconductor memory external to the microprocessor, or integrated with the microprocessor in a SOC. In another embodiment, the instructions are stored on the disk and read into a volatile semiconductor memory when the disk drive is powered on. In yet another embodiment, the control circuitry comprises suitable logic circuitry, such as state machine circuitry.

In various embodiments, a disk drive may include a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, etc. In addition, while the above examples concern a disk drive, the various embodiments are not limited to a disk drive and can be applied to other data storage devices and systems, such as magnetic tape drives, solid state drives, hybrid drives, etc. In addition, some embodiments may include electronic devices such as computing devices, data server devices, media content storage devices, etc. that comprise the storage media and/or control circuitry as described above.

The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and subcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method, event or process blocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processes described herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in other sequences that are appropriate. For example, described tasks or events may be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, or multiple may be combined in a single block or state. The example tasks or events may be performed in serial, in parallel, or in some other manner. Tasks or events may be added to or removed from the disclosed example embodiments. The example systems and components described herein may be configured differently than described. For example, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged compared to the disclosed example embodiments.

While certain example embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoing description is intended to imply that any particular feature, characteristic, step, module, or block is necessary or indispensable. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the embodiments disclosed herein.