HGST Assigned Three Patents

Early degradation detection in flash memory using test cells
HGST Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (8,422,303) developed by Luiz M. Franca-Neto, Sunnyvale, CA, Richard Leo Galbraith, Rochester, MN, and Travis Roger Oenning, Rochester, MN, for "early degradation detection in flash memory using test cells."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A flash memory system and a method for data management using the embodiments of the invention use special test cells with Early Degradation Detection (EDD) circuitry instead of using the actual user-storage cells are described. The flash memory test cells can be made to serve as a "canary in a coal mine" by being made more sensitive than the standard cells by using experimentally determined sensitive write V.sub.T and variable read V.sub.T. Techniques for early degradation detection (EDD) in flash memories measure the dispersion of the threshold voltages (VT’s), of a set (e.g. page) of NAND flash memory cells during read operations. In an embodiment of the invention the time-to-completion (TTC) values for the read operation for the memory cells are used as a proxy for dispersion of the threshold voltages (VT’s). A dispersion analyzer determines the dispersion of the set of TTC values."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 22, 2010 (12/930,020).

Storage architecture for bit patterned media using
both erase band and shingled magnetic recording
HGST Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (8,432,633) developed by Michael K. Grobis, San Jose, CA, and Hans J. Richter, Palo Alto, CA, for a "system, method and apparatus for storage architecture for bit patterned media using both erase band and shingled magnetic recording."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Storage architecture for bit patterned media uses both erase band and shingled magnetic recording. A HDD drive may comprise a disk having bit patterned media with a plurality of data tracks arrayed in architecture pages having at least one of erase band mode (EBM), shingled mode (SM) and unallocated space. An actuator has a head for writing data to the data tracks of the bit patterned media. A control system monitors, reallocates and reconfigures the architecture pages from EBM, SM or unallocated space to a different one of EBM, SM or unallocated space to enhance performance of the HDD drive."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 26, 2010 (12/912,324).

Inhibiting oxidation of organic contaminants in HDD
HGST Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (8,405,929) developed by six co-inventors for an "inhibiting oxidation of organic contaminants in a HDD drive."

The co-inventors are Sahba Ghaderi, Morgan Hill, CA, John Martin Burns, Charles Hignite, San Jose, CA, Vedantham Raman, Morgan Hill, CA, Thomas Karis, Aromas, CA, and Charles A. Brown, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An information storage system including an enclosure, a rotating storage medium including a surface, a slider including an ABS and an airborne oxidizable contaminant disposed in the enclosure. The system also includes an antioxidant absorbed onto the surface of the storage medium. The antioxidant inhibits oxidation of the oxidizable contaminants at an interface between the ABS and the rotating storage medium."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 29, 2009 (12/648,548).