This disclosure generally relates to a compensator for correcting both symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation, such as in magnetic recording devices.
Magnetic recording, also known as magnetic storage, refers to the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Many contemporary magnetic recording systems employ magneto-resistive (e.g., MR (magnetoresistance), AMR (anisotropic magnetoresistance), or GMR (giant magnetoresistance)) read heads to detect the signals on the recording media. Such read heads introduce symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation into the signals, which tends to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) entering the read channels.
This disclosure generally relates to a compensator for correcting both symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation, such as in magnetic recording devices.
In particular embodiments, a read channel comprises: a preprocessor for receiving a first signal and producing a second signal from the first signal using current values of a positive coefficient, a zero coefficient, and a negative coefficient; an interpolator for producing a third signal based on the second signal; and a slicer for producing a fourth signal from the third signal by estimating a level for the third signal. The fourth signal is at one of three levels consisting of a positive level, a zero level, and a negative level. For every n first signals received by the preprocessor, the current value of one of the positive coefficient, the zero coefficient, and the negative coefficient is adjusted depending on which of the three levels the fourth signal is at.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the disclosure are described in more detail below in the detailed description and in conjunction with the following figures.
This disclosure is now described in detail with reference to a few embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of this disclosure. However, this disclosure may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structures have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure this disclosure. In addition, while the disclosure is described in conjunction with the particular embodiments, it should be understood that this description is not intended to limit the disclosure to the described embodiments. To the contrary, the description is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
A magneto-resistive read head employed in a magnetic recording system for detecting the signals on the recording media tends to introduce symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation into the signals. This often reduces the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) entering the read channel. Theoretically, in ideal situations, each signal detected on the recording media should be at one of three possible levels: a positive level, also referred to as the “+1” or “1” level; a neutral level, also referred to as the “0” level; and a negative level, also referred to as the “−1” level. The three levels may each be assigned a signal value. For example, the “+1” level may be assigned signal value “+100”; the “0” level may be assigned signal value “0”; and the “−1” level may be assigned signal value “−100”. In this case, a signal having a value of approximately 100 is considered to be at the “+1” level; a signal having a value of approximately 0 is considered to be at the “0” level; and a signal having a value of approximately −100 is considered to be at the “−1” level.
In practice, however, due to noise and other problems in the system, signals detected from the recording media sometimes have actual values that are not very close to the three values respectively assigned to the three levels. Symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation stretch the signals away from their supposed values. In the case of the symmetrical saturation, positive signals are stretched more positively, and negative signals are stretched more negatively. For example, a positive signal supposedly having a value of 95 may be stretched up to 115 (i.e., the positive signal value is further increased), and a negative signal supposedly having a value of −95 may be stretched down to −120 (i.e., the negative signal value is further decreased). In the case of the asymmetrical saturation, both positive and negative signals are stretched either more positively or more negatively. For example, if the asymmetrical saturation moves the signal values up in the positive direction, then a positive signal supposedly having a value of 95 may be stretched up to 115, while a negative signal supposedly having a value of −95 may be stretched up to −70. Conversely, if the asymmetrical saturation moves the signal values down in the negative direction, then a positive signal supposedly having a value of 95 may be stretched down to 70, while a negative signal supposedly having a value of −95 may be stretched down to −125.
Consequently, some form of correction is usually employed in a magnetic recording system to reduce the asymmetrical saturation. One way to reduce the asymmetrical saturation is employing a correction unit, which produces the effect of:
γo=γi+α(γi+λ)2+δ; (1)
where: “γi” is the input to the correction unit; “α” is an asymmetry correction term; “λ” is a harmonic offset; “δ” is a path offset; and “γo” is the output from the correction unit. The “α”, “λ”, “δ” terms may be fixed at point of manufacture or adjusted throughout the product life.
However, such a correction unit only compensates for the asymmetrical saturation, and the symmetrical saturation still remains, leading to substandard performance of the magnetic recording system. Further, the read head and recording media are subject to various forms of degradation, such as head wear, media wear, head-media separation, and pole-tip recession (PTR), which may degrade channel SNR further over the product life.
In particular embodiments, a correction unit reduces both symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation in a magnetic recording system. This correction unit produces the effect of:
γo=γi+α(γi)2+β(γi)2|γi|+δ; (2)
where, again: “γi” is the input to the correction unit; “α” is the asymmetry correction term; “δ” is the path offset; and “γo” is the output from the correction unit. In addition, “β” is a symmetry correction term. Comparing EQUATION (2) to EQUATION (1), the harmonic offset, “λ”, is omitted, and the symmetry correction term, “β”, is added.
With EQUATION (2), a positive “α” value stretches the positive side of the signal waveform and compresses the negative side of the signal waveform, and a negative “α” value does the reverse (i.e., stretches the negative side of the signal waveform and compresses the positive side of the signal waveform). Thus the “α” term corrects for the asymmetrical saturation. The “β” term is always positive (i.e., always has a positive value) and stretches both the positive and the negative sides of the signal waveform, thus correcting for the symmetrical saturation. The “δ” term moves the entire signal waveform up or down (i.e., more positive or more negative) without affecting the separation between levels. The objective of the correction unit according to EQUATION (2) is to keep the SNR in the read channel as high as possible, and thus accurately detecting which one of the three levels each signal should be at.
In some implementations, fixed preprocessor 110 contains the circuitry corresponding to EQUATION (1). The samples “γi”, which are distorted by noise, are linearized by preprocessor 110 to produce output “γo”. In some implementations, “γi” is linearized according to EQUATION (1).
Equalizer 120 serves to boost the distorted incoming signal “γo” to transform it into a suitably good approximation of the target waveform “γe”.
It is the function of interpolator 131 to separate the equalizer output “γe” into a small number of groups by interpolating between individual samples. This may be done on the basis of an offset “μk” received from NCO 132, as illustrated in
Because the source data are corrupted by noise, the samples “χk” are not confined to fixed values. Instead, they are randomly distributed about such values as shown in
Consequently, the succession of slicer output “{circumflex over (χ)}k” is divided into three fixed levels, where the central level is always zero and the other two levels have equal but opposite signs.
Following slicer 133, phase detector 134 determines the difference between “χk” and “{circumflex over (χ)}k” and produces an error signal, which, after passing through low-pass loop filter 135, is applied to NCO 132 to determine the next value of “μk” (e.g., to be used with the next signal sample). In some implementations, phase detector 134 selects an optimal point based on the interpolator output and the slicer output of the current sample and the previous sample as the following:
χk×{circumflex over (χ)}k−1−χk−1×{circumflex over (χ)}k; (3)
where: “χk” is the interpolator output for the current sample; “{circumflex over (χ)}k” is the slicer output for the current sample; “χk−1” is the interpolator output for the previous sample; and “{circumflex over (χ)}k−1” is the slicer output for the previous sample. The optimal point is used to determine the output of interpolated timing recovery unit 130.
NCO 132 may be a digital signal generator that creates a synchronous, discrete-time, discrete-valued representation of a waveform, usually sinusoidal. In some implementations, NCO 132 smoothes out the output received from loop filter 135. There are two coefficients involved with NCO 132 and loop filter 135: “kp” is the proportional coefficient and “ki” is the integral coefficient. NCO 132 may choose the values for “kp” and “ki” to optimize the signal output.
Finally, “χk” and “{circumflex over (χ)}k” exit interpolated timing recovery unit 130 and may be subjected to further processing.
In
In particular embodiments, three auxiliary variables, “Kpos”, “Kneg”, and “Kzer”, are defined as following:
From EQUATIONS (4) and (5), it may be derived that:
Kpos=α+β; and (7)
Kneg=α−β. (8)
Substituting the “α”, “β”, and “δ” terms in EQUATION (2) with “Kpos”, “Kneg”, and “Kzer” as defined in EQUATIONS (4), (5), and (6), EQUATION (2) may be rewritten as:
Therefore:
γo=γi+Kpos(γi)2+Kzer, if γi>0; and (10)
γo=γi+Kneg(γi)2+Kzer, otherwise. (11)
In particular embodiments, given the current interpolator output “χk” and the current sliced level “{circumflex over (χ)}k”, continuous adaptation of the preprocessor may be accomplished by updating the appropriate one of “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg”, as following:
Kposn+1=Kposn−μa•(χk−{circumflex over (χ)}k) if {circumflex over (χ)}k=+1; (12)
Kzern+1=Kzern−μb•(χk), if {circumflex over (χ)}k=0; and (13
Knegn+1=Knegn−μa•(χk−{circumflex over (χ)}k), if {circumflex over (χ)}k=−1. (14)
where “μa” and “μb” are positive constants, and usually small positive constants. In some cases, “μa” and “μb” may have the same value, but it is not necessarily so for all cases. They are used to control the adaptation rates.
In some implementations, the values of “μa” and “μb” may depend, at least in part, on the characteristics of the magnetic recording systems and the recording medium involved, and may be manually or semi-automatically determined based on experiments. For example, at the beginning, the values of “μa” and “μb” may be initialized to 0. Then, as the signal samples are obtained from the recording medium, the values of “μa” and “μb” may be adjusted to improve the output and the performance of the system, especially the read channel. The experiments may be repeated for different types of recording medium or read channels.
According to EQUATIONS (12), (13), and (14), one of “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg” is adjusted depending on the sliced level “{circumflex over (χ)}k” of the current signal sample. More specifically, if the sliced level “{circumflex over (χ)}k” of the current sample (e.g., sample n) is at level “+1”, then the current “Kposn” is adjusted according to EQUATION (12). The adjusted “Kposn+1” is used for the next sample. If the sliced level “{circumflex over (χ)}k” of the current sample is at level “0”, then the current “Kzern” is adjusted according to EQUATION (13). The adjusted “Kzern+1” is used for the next sample. If the sliced level “{circumflex over (χ)}k” of the current sample is at level “−1”, then the current “Knegn” is adjusted according to EQUATION (14). The adjusted “Knegn+1” is used for the next sample. Note that only one of “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg” is adjusted for a signal sample, because the sliced level “{circumflex over (χ)}k” of each sample can only be at one of the three levels. In this manner the “Kpos”, “Kneg”, and “Kzer” terms asymptotically approach the ideal sliced levels “{circumflex over (χ)}k”.
Comparing
In particular embodiments, the adjustment of one of the “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg” terms may be made once every n signal samples. For example, if n=1, then one of the “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg” terms is adjusted every signal sample. If n=2, then one of the “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg” terms is adjusted every other signal sample. And so on.
By substituting “α”, “β”, and “δ” with “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg”, as shown in EQUATION (9), preprocessor 810 is optimized not just at point of manufacture but throughout the product life. It provides for correction of both symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation while eliminating undesirable interaction between the “α” and “β” terms. It also provides for the independent adjustment of the “δ” term. Although the method of correcting both symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation is described mainly in connection with a read channel employed in a magnetic recording device, it is applicable to any type of channel that receives and processes nonlinear signals and is subject to various kinds of head or media wear that can reduce channel SNR over time.
As illustrated in
STEPS 920, 930, 940, and 950 are repeated as more signals are received from the sampling unit. For example, as the adaptive preprocessor receives a second input signal sample “γi” from the sampling unit, it produces another output signal sample “γo” using the current values of “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg”, one of which has been adjusted. This second output signal sample “γo” is then sent to the interpolated timing recovery unit, which determines another interpolator output “χk” and another slicer output “{circumflex over (χ)}k” for the second output signal sample “γo”. The second interpolator output “χk” and the second slicer output “{circumflex over (χ)}k” are sent to the adaptive preprocessor as feedback. One of “Kpos”, “Kzer”, and “Kneg” is then adjusted. And so on.
Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B” means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.
This disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Moreover, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
6043943 | Rezzi et al. | Mar 2000 | A |
6587292 | Ashley et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
6757863 | Kaneshige et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6788485 | Ashley et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6977970 | Shim et al. | Dec 2005 | B2 |
7239203 | Shanbhag | Jul 2007 | B2 |
7495854 | Hutchins et al. | Feb 2009 | B2 |
7710673 | Nakagawa et al. | May 2010 | B2 |
8300758 | Feller | Oct 2012 | B2 |
8433965 | Feller | Apr 2013 | B2 |
20040071206 | Takatsu | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20060023780 | Jibry | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20080001797 | Aziz et al. | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080187038 | Currivan et al. | Aug 2008 | A1 |
20090195906 | Feller | Aug 2009 | A1 |
20090276670 | Hasegawa et al. | Nov 2009 | A1 |
20130058391 | Hou | Mar 2013 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20130077187 A1 | Mar 2013 | US |