1. Field
This invention relates to disk drives and, more particularly, to electrical power supplied to disk drive circuitry.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic disk drives are conventionally designed to store large volumes of data on a plurality of disks mounted on a spindle assembly. In general, each disk includes two disk surfaces capable of storing data. On each disk surface, user data is divided into groups of sectors and stored in concentric circular tracks located between an outside diameter and inside diameter of the disk. Embedded servo information is recorded in servo sectors located in radially continuous narrow wedges along the disk surface.
In order to maximize the data recorded on each disk surface, it is desirable to use zone recording techniques. According to such techniques, the rate or frequency at which data is written to a disk surface increases from the inner tracks to the outer tracks to compensate for the fact that data tracks towards the inside diameter of the disk surface are shorter and can hold less data than tracks near the outside diameter. Thus, a relatively uniform data density may be achieved over the disk surface.
Although the recording rate could theoretically be optimized for each track, zone recording techniques typically utilize a relatively low number of discrete recording frequencies. Accordingly, groups of adjacent tracks may be assigned to an array of zones between the innermost track and the outermost track of the disk surface. For example, there may be ten to 20 zones across a disk surface. Data may then be written at the same recording frequency within each zone, and the recording frequency may increase from the inner zones to the outer zones.
In many disk drive applications, including mobile applications, power conservation is critical. To reduce the power needs of the spindle motor, for example, the prior art discloses disk drives designed to rotate at lower speeds in low-power environments. Thus, these prior art disk drives can rotate at a higher speed when the host computing device is coupled to a wall socket (a relatively abundant source of power), and at a lower speed in a mobile, battery-powered mode.
Operation of a disk drive at multiple speeds, however, has a number of drawbacks. First, the performance of a disk drive at lower speeds is significantly impaired, reducing the utility of the mobile mode. Second, there is the difficulty of maintaining a constant fly-height at different speeds. Finally, operating a disk drive at different speeds presents complex electrical engineering issues. For example, the disk drive must be able to read data that was written at a different speed.
There is therefore a need in the art for power conservation measures that may be efficiently implemented in disk drives.
Referring to
Disk 2 includes a plurality of zones 4, wherein each zone comprises data recorded at a particular data rate. In one embodiment, groups of adjacent annular regions (not shown in
Head 8 is actuated over disk 2 in order to generate a signal representing the data recorded on the disk 2, thereby accessing any one of the plurality of zones 4.
In a preferred embodiment, head 8 comprises a transducer (not illustrated). The transducer typically includes a writer and a read element. In magnetic recording applications, the transducer's writer may be of a longitudinal or perpendicular design, and the read element of the transducer may be inductive or magnetoresistive. In optical and magneto-optical recording applications, the head 8 may also include an objective lens and an active or passive mechanism for controlling the separation of the objective lens from a surface of the disk. Disk drive 1 further includes a voice coil motor 12 for rotating one or more actuator arms 10 about a pivot in order to actuate the head 8 over the disk 2. Of course, other actuating mechanisms may be used to move the head 8 relative to the disk 2.
Clock 14 generates a timing signal 16 having a timing frequency, and is configured to adjust the timing frequency in response to the data rate of the current zone being accessed or about to be accessed by the head 8. This timing signal 16 may be used to time a variety of operations within disk drive 1. In one embodiment, the clock 14 may be used to time read and/or write operations (either of which may be termed “data access operations”). For example, clock 14 may, in one embodiment, be used to provide a timing signal 16 having a timing frequency at which data is written to the current zone. In another embodiment, an analog read signal representing data detected by the head 8 may be sampled at the timing frequency. In fact, the same clock 14 may be used to time both read and write operations. In other embodiments, multiple clocks may be used. The clock 14 may also be used to time other operations within the disk drive 1, such as data processing operations implemented by other circuitry.
The clock 14 may comprise any circuitry for generating a timing signal 16 with an adjustable frequency. In one embodiment, the clock 14 may comprise a frequency synthesizer. In a preferred embodiment, the frequency synthesizer comprises a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), the frequency of which may be controlled by an input voltage. In another embodiment, the frequency synthesizer comprises a reference crystal coupled to at least one multiplier, the multiplier being configured to adjust the frequency output by the reference crystal to a desirable frequency. The clock 14 may be located anywhere within or external to the disk drive 1.
As discussed above, the clock 14 is preferably configured to adjust the timing frequency in response to the data rate of a selected zone. In one embodiment, the circuitry comprising clock 14 may itself detect the data rate of a selected zone and then adjust the timing frequency. For example, the clock 14 may be coupled to a register containing a value indicative of the data rate of a selected zone. In another embodiment, other circuitry within the disk drive 1, such as a controller, may send a signal to the clock 14 causing the timing frequency to adjust in response to the data rate. Preferably, the clock 14 has a feedback or control mechanism by which the timing frequency can be adjusted in response to a change in data rate.
Voltage controller 18 provides an adjustable supply voltage Vadj to circuitry 20. Preferably, the voltage controller 18 is configured to adjust this supply voltage Vadj in response to the data rate of a selected zone. In one embodiment, the voltage controller 18 adjusts the supply voltage Vadj supplied to the circuitry 20 as the timing frequency generated by the clock 14 is also adjusted. The supply voltage Vadj and timing frequency may be directly proportional to one another, according to a quadratic or other mathematical relationship.
In one embodiment, the voltage controller 18 supplies power to a single component within the disk drive 1, while in other embodiments, circuitry 20 may be one of a plurality of circuits that receive a supply voltage from voltage controller 18. Moreover, although depicted in
The voltage controller 18 may comprise any circuitry configured to deliver power at an adjustable supply voltage Vadj. In one embodiment, the voltage controller 18 may itself detect the data rate of a selected zone and then adjust the supply voltage Vadj. For example, the voltage controller 18 may be coupled to or include a register containing a value indicative of the data rate of a selected zone. In another embodiment, other circuitry within the disk drive 1, such as a controller, may send a signal to the voltage controller 18 causing the supply voltage Vadj to adjust in response to the data rate. Preferably, the voltage controller 18 has a feedback or control mechanism by which the supply voltage Vadj can be adjusted in response to a change in data rate, as discussed in greater detail below.
Circuitry 20 is coupled to the supply voltage Vadj and is responsive to the timing frequency provided by the clock 14. The circuitry 20 may be any of the electronic components and/or circuitry located within a disk drive 1. The circuitry 20 may be, inter alia, a pre-amplifier, a read channel, a controller, servo circuitry, or any combination of these components. These and other examples of circuitry are described in greater detail below.
The disk drive 1, in one embodiment, may also be configured to access the inner zones 4 more frequently than the outer zones 4 of the disk 2. By modifying the disk drive 1 in this fashion, although the data rate from the disk 2 may be slower (as the corresponding timing frequency of the clock 14 may also be slower towards the inner zones of the drive), the disk drive 1 should also consume less power, as a lower supply voltage may be provided to certain circuitry 20.
Referring to
As illustrated, disk drive 1 includes a controller 24 configured to execute at least one control program to control certain functions performed by the drive. For example, the controller 24 may determine which data to send to and receive from a read channel 22. The controller 24 may also perform error correction and detection routines on the data read from the disk 2.
Disk drive 1 also includes read channel 22. The read channel 22 is preferably coupled to a pre-amplifier 26 via a plurality of read and write lines 34. Typically, the pre-amplifier 26 is located on the actuator 10 within the disk drive. During a read operation, pre-amplifier 26 may amplify the analog signal detected by the head 8 in order to achieve a signal level that can be processed by the read channel 22. The read channel 22 then receives the amplified signal via one of the lines 34 and further amplifies, filters and converts the analog pulses into digital data that is output to the controller 24. During a write operation, the read channel 22 receives digital data from the controller 24 and forwards logical signals representative of the digital data to the pre-amplifier 26 via the lines 34.
Of course, the read channel 22 may perform synchronous or asynchronous timing recovery of the data written to the disk 2. U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,332 discloses exemplary methods of such timing recovery, the contents of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety.
In a preferred embodiment, as illustrated in
Disk drive 1 may further comprise servo circuitry 28. In one embodiment, servo circuitry 28 receives a position signal via the pre-amplifier 26 and the read channel 22 and performs calculations to determine the current position of the head 8 over the disk surface. The servo circuitry 28 uses these calculations to control the VCM 12, and to thereby control the position of the head 8.
Disk drive 1 may further include a disk interface 36 that mediates communication with a host. Typically, the disk interface 36 receives commands and data from and transmits status and data to the host. The interface between the host and disk drive 1 may comply with any of a number of electrical engineering standards. In one embodiment, the interface is a serial interface, such as SATA or SAS. In another embodiment, a parallel interface may be used, such as ATA/IDE or SCSI.
As illustrated, in a preferred embodiment, many of these circuit components may be incorporated into a system-on-a-chip (SoC) 44. Thus, a single piece of silicon may incorporate the functionality of many of the above described components. In other embodiments, the components described herein may be implemented on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) as separate elements.
Disk drive 1 may further comprise a buffer controller 38 and a memory 40. The buffer controller 38 typically arbitrates access to the memory 40, while the memory 40 may be employed to store data from the host that is to be written to the disk 2. The memory 40 may also be used to store data read from the disk 2. Furthermore, the memory 40 may store digital data representative of parameters of the disk drive 1, as well as op codes of control programs for controlling the operations performed by the controller 24. The memory 40 typically comprises random access memory (RAM), such as dynamic RAM, but may comprise any computer-accessible storage, such as flash memory.
Disk drive 1 may further comprise a power chip 42. The power chip 42 is preferably configured to receive power from an external power source (not shown), and to distribute that power to the electrical components of the drive. In a preferred embodiment, the power chip 42 may comprise a VCM driver (not shown) to deliver power to the VCM 12, a spindle motor driver (not shown) to deliver power to a spindle motor, and a circuit driver for delivering power to electronic circuits in the disk drive 1. In a preferred embodiment, the power chip 42 includes a voltage controller, such as voltage controller 18 illustrated in
As illustrated in
In one embodiment, a digital voltage value correlated to a selected zone may be stored in a register 32 on the power chip 42. The register 32 is preferably coupled to the SoC 44, so as to receive the digital voltage value. For example, in one embodiment, the controller 24, upon selecting a zone corresponding to a host command, retrieves a voltage setting corresponding to the selected zone from a table. The controller 24 may then store a digital voltage value corresponding to the voltage setting in the register 32.
This register 32 is preferably coupled to a digital to analog converter (DAC) 46, which is in turn coupled to the programmable voltage regulator 30. In one embodiment, the DAC 46 translates the digital voltage value stored in the register 32 into an analog voltage signal capable of programming the programmable voltage regulator 30. Preferably, the analog voltage signal causes the programmable voltage regulator 30 to adjust the supply voltage Vadj in response to the data rate of the selected zone.
In a preferred embodiment, the supply voltage Vadj is fed back to the DAC 46 as a feedback voltage Vf, such that the DAC 46 may continuously monitor the supply voltage output by the programmable voltage regulator 30, and may thereby compare the output supply voltage Vadj with the analog voltage signal. Based on this feedback, the DAC 46 may vary the analog voltage signal as necessary to accurately track the desired supply voltage value.
Thus, the supply voltage Vadj powering certain circuitry within the disk drive 1 may thereby be adjusted based at least in part on a selected zone. Of course, in other embodiments, other voltage controllers may be used to accomplish the same or similar results. The register 32 and DAC 46 may also comprise the voltage controller, but may also be implemented as separate components of power chip 42.
As would be well understood by those skilled in the art, many of the circuits discussed above, including the pre-amplifier 26 and many of the components incorporated onto the SoC 44, may be responsive to the timing frequency of a clock (illustrated as frequency synthesizer 23 in
Preferably, the pre-amplifier 26 is also responsive to the timing frequency of a clock, as the current modulations caused by the pre-amplifier are faster or slower according to the timing frequency of the write clock, as discussed above. As would be well understood by those skilled in the art, other circuitry within the disk drive, such as the controller 24, may also be responsive to the frequency of a clock. For example, as the controller 24 is performing error correction routines on data received from the read channel 22, the speed at which the controller 24 must process this data is reduced as the frequency at which the data is sent from the read channel 22 decreases. In some implementations, the servo circuitry 28 may also be responsive to a clock, if, for example, the servo patterns written to the disk 2 are written at a data rate that varies across the disk.
As the timing frequency of the clock decreases, thereby decreasing the frequency at which signals are driven through certain circuitry, the power necessary to drive the circuitry also decreases. Thus, in general, the supply voltage Vadj delivered to the circuitry may decrease with decreasing timing frequency.
Referring to
Moreover, in one embodiment, the voltage regulator 68 may include a voltage controller operable to adjust a supply voltage Vadj provided to circuitry within the disk drive 51. Thus, in one embodiment, the disk drive 51 may operate using supply voltage supplied directly from the voltage regulator 68 and may not have a separate voltage controller, such as the voltage controller 18 shown in
With reference to
In one embodiment, the host command may comprise a read or write command requesting data to be written to or read from the disk 2. If the command is a write command, the host 60 typically forwards data, along with a logical block address (LBA) designating a virtual location to which the forwarded data should be written. If the command is a read command, the host typically sends a LBA corresponding to the data the host wishes to receive back from the disk drive 1.
Based on the host command, the disk drive 1 preferably selects one of a plurality of zones 4, step 102. In one embodiment, the memory 40 of the disk drive 1 stores a plurality of tables, as may be seen in
As discussed above, in one embodiment, the data is written to and read from the disk 2 at different frequencies according to conventional zone recording techniques. Thus, another table 74 may be stored in the memory 40 (as illustrated in
Once the physical location on the disk 2 corresponding to the LBA of the host command is known, the servo circuitry 28 of the disk drive 1 may seek the appropriate head to the appropriate cylinder.
Preferably, another table 76 stored in the memory 40 is also accessed. This table 76 correlates the different zones with read/write settings, as well as voltage settings. The table 76 may be used to store the timing frequency of the clock 14 that corresponds to the selected zone, so that the timing frequency may be adjusted based at least in part on the selected zone, step 104. The timing frequency of the clock 14 is preferably adjusted to match the value for the frequency, Fn, stored in the table 76. In a preferred embodiment, the controller 24 accesses the stored table 76, and sets the timing frequency of the clock 14 to match the appropriate value stored in the table. This operation may be performed by setting a digital value that controls the frequency synthesizer 23, or by, for example, varying the voltage input to a VCO according to the new frequency value, Fn. Other parameters of the disk drive 1 may also be adjusted based on the selected zone.
A supply voltage Vadj provided to circuitry 20 is also adjusted based at least in part on the selected zone 4, step 104. In one embodiment, the supply voltage values are stored in the zone settings table 76 in the memory 40. In another embodiment, an algorithm may be stored that performs a translation between the zone or associated timing frequency, and the supply voltage value.
As described above, as the timing frequency of the clock 14 is reduced, the supply voltage Vadj provided to the circuitry 20 may also be reduced. Thus, in one embodiment, since the data rates and timing frequencies of zones 4 closer to the center of the disk 2 are reduced compared to the data rates and timing frequencies of zones 4 farther from the center, zones 4 closer to the center of the disk 2 may also be correlated with lower supply voltages Vadj than zones 4 farther from the center. Thus, the supply voltage provided to the circuitry 20 may be reduced if the currently selected zone is closer to the center of the disk 2 than a previously selected zone. In other words, if the data rate of a currently accessed zone is lower than the data rate of a previously accessed zone, the voltage controller 18 is preferably configured to reduce the supply voltage provided to the circuitry 20.
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