This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-059607, filed Mar. 6, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording apparatus and a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, and in particular, a magnetic recording apparatus and a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus in which information is recorded on the basis of arrangement of a magnetic material and in which a pattern area in which the magnetic material arrangement cannot be changed even by a read and write head is recorded on a magnetic recording medium, the magnetic recording apparatus and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus being able to execute magnetic additional recording on the magnetic material in the non-rewritable area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to the need to meet requirements for an increase in the storage capacity of magnetic recording apparatuses (also hereinafter referred to as magnetic disk apparatuses or hard disk apparatuses), demands have been made for an increase in the recording density of magnetic recording medium. However, an increase in recording density has disadvantageously caused magnetic information recorded by a read and write head moving relatively on a recording medium to affect recording in an adjacent track. This problem can be avoided by physically separating the parts of the magnetic material in adjacent tracks from one another.
For example, JPA 10-255407 (KOKAI) proposes a magnetic recording medium in which servo or ROM information is non-rewritably recorded on the basis of the presence of a magnetic material by patterning the magnetic material on the magnetic recording medium.
For example, JPA 10-255407 (KOKAI) discloses a scheme of enabling servo or ROM information to be recorded on the basis of the presence of a magnetic material by patterning the magnetic material on the magnetic recording medium.
In a recording portion, ROM information is recorded by patterning a magnetic material. In general, if information is newly recorded in an area in which the ROM information has been recorded, magnetic segments and nonmagnetic segments are inconsecutively arranged in the area; magnetic information can be recorded in the magnetic segments but not in the nonmagnetic segments. Consequently, when a write head provided in a recording and reproducing apparatus is used to overwrite the recording portion in which ROM information has already been written, information is not recorded in the nonmagnetic segments present in the recording portion. Thus, the overwritten information cannot be reproduced. As a result, with a magnetic recording medium with ROM information, an additionally recordable capacity is equal to the recording capacity of the entire medium minus the amount corresponding to the recording portion in which the ROM information has been recorded. This reduces the recording capacity of the entire recording medium. However, demands have been made to provide a sufficient additionally recordable capacity for a magnetic recording medium with a ROM information recording portion to minimize a decrease in additionally recordable capacity.
According to an aspect of the present invention provides a magnetic recording apparatus comprising:
a magnetic recording medium including a ROM area, and a RAM area on which rewritable information is magnetically recorded, the ROM area having a pattern of a first-type segment sequence indicating first-type modulation information which is fixedly recorded on the ROM area, the first-type segment sequence being formed as a sequence of magnetic and nonmagnetic segments, and
a recording unit configured to record second-type modulation information on the ROM area, the recording unit selectively magnetizing the magnetic segments in the pattern to record a second-type segment sequence of first and second segments magnetized in one and opposite directions, which indicates the second-type modulation information.
According to another aspect of the present invention provides a magnetic recording medium comprising:
a RAM area on which rewritable information is magnetically recorded; and
a ROM area having a pattern of a first-type segment sequence indicating first-type modulation information which is fixedly recorded on the ROM area, the first-type segment sequence being formed as a sequence of magnetic and nonmagnetic segments, the magnetic segments in the pattern being selectively magnetized to record a second-type segment sequence of first and second segments magnetized in one and opposite directions on the ROM area, which indicates the second-type modulation information.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention provides a method of magnetically recording first-type and second-type modulation information and rewritable information on a magnetic recording medium, the magnetic recording medium including a ROM area and a RAM area on which the rewritable information is magnetically recorded, the ROM area having a pattern of a first-type segment sequence indicating the first-type modulation information which is fixedly recorded on the ROM area, the first-type segment sequence being formed as a sequence of magnetic and nonmagnetic segments, the method comprising:
recording the second-type modulation information on the ROM area, which includes selectively magnetizing the magnetic segments in the pattern to record a second-type segment sequence of first and second segments magnetized in one and opposite directions, which indicates the second-type modulation information.
Referring to the drawings as required, description will be given of a magnetic recording apparatus and an additional recording method according to embodiments of the present invention.
With reference to
A recording medium comprises recording areas including a non-erasable ROM area and a repeatedly erasable and writable RAM area. As described below in detail, non-erasable ROM data is recorded in the non-erasable area by a first-type modulation scheme A. Further, the magnetic segments in the non-erasable ROM area can be utilized to record erasable data by means of a second-type modulation scheme.
As shown in
Here, the pattern area means an area which is composed of an inerasable segment sequence (physically non-rewritable sequence) and the magnetization in the direction 1, of which can be detected by the magnetic head as will be described later. A predetermined pattern (recording bit pattern) may be formed by arranging magnetic segments in which an internal magnetic layer can be detected and inverse-magnetized segments in which a magnetic layer is formed but inversed magnetization (direction 2) cannot be detected as the magnetized (direction 1) segments. Alternatively, a predetermined pattern (data pattern) may be formed by arranging magnetic segments with a magnetic layer and nonmagnetic segments free from a magnetic layer. Hereafter, the segment 1 and segment 0 are identified depending on whether or not a detection head can detect the magnetization in the direction 1of that segment, regardless of the presence of a magnetic layer.
As shown in
In demodulation based on the second-type modulation scheme B, “0” means that “2 recording bits contain consecutive 0s”. “1” means that “2 recording bits surely contain 1”. In other words, if magnetized in direction 1 is not physically detected in 2 segments representing 1 original second-type data bit, the original data bit is “0”. If magnetized in direction 1 is physically detected in 2 segments representing 1 original second-type data bit, the original data bit is “1”. The opposite definition is also possible. That is, if magnetized in direction 1is not physically detected in 2 segments representing 1 original data bit, the original data bit is “1”. If magnetized in direction 1 is physically detected in 2 segments representing 1 original data bit, the original data bit is “0”.
Specifically, if the original first-type data bit “0”, which cannot be erased by the first-type modulation scheme as shown in
As described above, a large number of segments constitute a pattern area in which data bits are recorded by the first- and second-type modulation schemes, that is, recording schemes. The minimum recording unit for 1 data bit is defined to be 2 segments consisting of the magnetic segment, in which magnetic recording in the direction 1 can be executed, and the nonmagnetic segment, in which magnetic recording cannot be executed. The first-type modulation scheme A non-erasably records first-type modulation data (information) in a combinatory sequence of the magnetic and nonmagnetic segment in 2 segments. The second-type modulation scheme rewritably records second-type modulation data (information) by magnetizing (magnetically recording in the direction 1) or inverse-magnetizing (magnetically recording in the direction 2) the magnetic segments in 2 segments.
In normal magnetic recording, magnetization corresponds to magnetic recording, whereas non-magnetization corresponds to erasure. However, clearly, in vertical magnetic recording, magnetic recording may correspond to magnetization of an N pole, whereas magnetic erasure corresponds to magnetization of an S pole, or vice versa. Accordingly, magnetization in the direction 1 includes recording in or magnetization of a particular pole toward the direction 1. Magnetization in the direction 2 includes recording in or magnetization of a particular pole toward the direction 2, which means magnetization of the opposite pole. The nonmagnetic segment is not magnetized and is thus not recognized as the magnetization in the direction 1.
It should be noted that in
Read-only ROM data (original first-type data) recorded during production of a recording medium, that is, a magnetic disk is recorded on the recording medium (magnetic disk) by the first-type modulation scheme A. Erasable additional-recording data (original second-type data) is additionally recorded on the recording medium (magnetic disk) by the modulation scheme B. In a pattern area in which the read-only original first-type data has been recorded by the modulation scheme A, the original second-type data can be recorded by the modulation scheme B so that it can be distinguished from the original first-type data. The additional-recording data (original second-type data) can be read by the modulation scheme B separately from the read-only ROM data.
As shown in
Then, in the magnetic disk in which non-erasable ROM data has been recorded, as shown in
As shown in
The maximum inversion interval for the modulation scheme A is specified to be 2. The minimum inversion interval for the modulation scheme B is specified to be 2. A combination of the modulation schemes A and B enables the information IB to be recorded in the pattern area in which the information IA has been recorded as a pattern and then enables the additionally recorded information IB to be acquired using the modulation scheme B.
With reference to
The first-type modulation scheme A shown in
Specifically, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Then, as shown in
In the example shown in
With reference to
As is the case with
As shown in
If the information IA as the original first-type data is modulated in accordance with the modulation scheme A, a bit “0” for modulation is added to the position preceding the leading bit of the information IA “0110101110” as the original first-type data. Since the data bit “0” is added to the original first-type data (information IA) “0110101110”, “0” in the consecutive data bit string is followed by “0”. The first-type recording bit (1) is generated and recorded as the leading magnetic segment (1). The original leading data bit of the original first-type data (information IA) “0110101110” is 0, followed by the bit “1”. Consequently, the first-type recording bits (1, 0) are generated to indicate the transition from “0” to “1”. The recording bits (1, 0) are recorded as the sequence (1, 0) of the magnetic and nonmagnetic segments. Then, the bit “1” is followed by another bit “1”, so that the first-type recording bits (1) is generated to indicate the transition from “1” to “1”. The recording bit (1) is recorded as the magnetic segment sequence (1). A similar process is repeated to form strings of the first-type recording bits (1), (1, 0), (1), (1, 0), (1, 0), (1, 0), (1, 0), (1), (1), (1, 0) is formed in the recording medium as combinations of the magnetic and nonmagnetic segments.
As shown in
Then, as shown in
With reference to
The first-type modulation scheme A shown in
As shown in
Then, as shown in
In this recording, the maximum inversion interval for the modulation scheme A is specified to be 2. The minimum inversion interval for the modulation scheme B is specified to be 2. A combination of the modulation schemes A and B enables the information IB to be recorded in the pattern area in which the information IA has been recorded as a pattern and then enables the additionally recorded information IB to be acquired using the modulation scheme B.
Then, as shown in
The numerical values (0.5, 0.8, . . . etc.: relative values) shown in
The flowchart shown in
Then, the process determines whether or not the former 2 segments are magnetized in the direction 1 so as to indicate the second-type data bit “1” (S(b1, b2)=1) (S14). If the former 2 segments are magnetized in the direction 1so as to indicate the second-type data bit “1” (S(b1, b2)=1), the segments are [1, 0] or [0, 1]. In step S16, the signal intensities b1 and b2 from the former 2 segments are compared with each other. If the signal intensity b1 is higher than that b2, the first-type data “10” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step 16, if the signal intensity b1 is not higher than that b2, the first-type data “00” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step S14, if the former 2 segments are magnetized so as not to indicate the second-type data bit “1” (S(b1, b2)≠1), the segments are [0, 0]. In step S16, the signal intensities b1 and b2 from the former 2 segments are compared with each other. If the signal intensity b1 is higher than that b2 (one of the segments is nonmagnetic and offers a reproduction intensity of the intermediate value), the first-type data “10” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step 16, if the signal intensity b1 is not higher than that b2, the first-type data “00” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step S12, if in the 4 segment pattern, the difference (|b1−b2|) between the signal intensities from the former 2 segments is not larger than that (|b3−b4|) between the signal intensities from the latter 2 segments, then the first-type segment sequence is (1, 1, 0, 1) or (1, 1, 1, 0) as seen in
Then, the process determines whether or not the latter 2 segments are magnetized so as to indicate the second-type data bit “1” (S(b3, b4)=1) (S26). If the latter 2 segments are magnetized so as to indicate the second-type data bit “1” (S(b3, b4)=1), the segments are [1, 0] or [0, 1]. In step S28, the signal intensities b3 and b4 from the latter 2 segments are compared with each other. If the signal intensity b3 is higher than that b4, the first-type data “11” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step 16, if the signal intensity b3 is not higher than that b4, the 2 segments are formed of [0, 1]. Consequently, the first-type data “01” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step S26, if the latter 2 segments are magnetized so as not to indicate the second-type data bit “1” (S(b3, b4)≠1), the segments are [0, 0]. In step S32, the signal intensities b3 and b4 from the former 2 segments are compared with each other. If the signal intensity b3 is higher than that b4 (one of the segments is nonmagnetic and offers a reproduction intensity of the intermediate value), the first-type data “11” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
In step 32, if the signal intensity b3 is not higher than that b4, the first-type data “01” is output which has been demodulated as seen in
The process shown in
As described above, the maximum inversion interval for the first-type modulation scheme A is specified to be 1. The minimum inversion interval for the second-type modulation scheme B is specified to be 2. A combination of the modulation schemes A and B enables the information IB to be recorded in the pattern area in which the information IA has been recorded as a pattern and then enables the additionally recorded information IB to be acquired using the modulation scheme B. In other words, the information IA that cannot be erased by the first-type modulation scheme A is recorded in the ROM area of the magnetic recording medium as a pattern. Further, the magnetic segments can be used to additionally record the information IB that can be erased by the second-type modulation scheme B.
As described above, the first-type information IA recorded using a pattern of the segment 1 and segment 0 cannot have its pattern changed by the write head. This enables recording of, for example, ID information on the magnetic recording medium and information on security. Further, the first-type information IA can be recorded on the magnetic recording medium during its production, as a magnetic pattern. This enables medium in which information has been recorded to be produced in a shorter time than recording with the write head after completion of the magnetic recording apparatus. Consequently, it is possible to inexpensively provide a magnetic recording apparatus in which the first-type information has been recorded.
On the other hand, the pattern area in which the first-type information IA is recorded is composed of a pattern of the magnetic and nonmagnetic segments. Thus, the write head can be used to rewrite, in the magnetic recording apparatus, the magnetization information on the recording portion. Specifically, the write head is used to rewrite the first-type information IA in the pattern area into the magnetic segments in the pattern area; the first-type information IA can be reproduced as a given magnetization pattern using the write head or demagnetizing device. This enables the second-type information IB, which is different from the first-type information IA, to be recorded in and reproduced from the magnetic recording medium. An additional recording capacity can thus be added to the pattern area to increase the additional recording capacity of the magnetic recording medium.
The first-type information IA recorded in the pattern area as a magnetic pattern is recorded in a converted form using a certain first-type modulation scheme A. Moreover, after production of the magnetic recording apparatus, the second-type modulation scheme B different from the first-type modulation scheme A is used to write the second-type information IB into the pattern area by means of the write head. This enables the additionally recorded information IB to be correctly recorded and reproduced.
Here, the modulation scheme means conversion of original data into a certain data string. Various modulation schemes are available. For example, a 1-7 run length limited (RLL) modulation scheme can be used to limit the maximum magnetization inversion interval to 7. For example, if the original data is composed of a run of zeros, a recording inversion “0→1” or “1→0” is encountered every 7 recording units. In a magnetic pattern, the boundary between a recording portion and a segment 0 is surely present within 7 recording units.
Accordingly, if the information IA has been recorded by the 1-7 RLL modulation scheme, the recording units constituting the second-type information IB can be prevented from being lost under the effect of the nonmagnetic segments present in the magnetic pattern of the first-type information IA, by using a modulation scheme of recording at least one recording unit at a period at least seven times as long as that for the information IA.
Provided that the maximum magnetization inversion interval for the first-type modulation scheme A is equal to or smaller than the minimum magnetization inversion interval for the second-type modulation scheme B, the magnetic/nonmagnetic segment inversion section based on the first-type modulation scheme A is present in all the magnetization inversion sections based on the second-type modulation scheme B. This enables the information IB recorded by the second-type modulation scheme B to be reproduced without any information loss regardless of the contents of the first-type information IA.
Further, provided that the maximum interval between the nonmagnetic segments in a magnetic and nonmagnetic segment pattern produced by the first-type modulation scheme A is smaller than the minimum magnetization inversion interval based on the second-type modulation scheme B, the second-type information IB can be similarly additionally recorded in and reproduced from the pattern area.
Method for Producing Media
With reference to
First Production Method (Magnetic Member Processing Type)
First, an imprint stamper is produced. Specifically, as shown in
Then, as shown in
The imprint stamper 18 is obtained by the process described below.
As shown in
Then, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The above method produces recording medium in which the information IA in the pattern area 26 constitutes a recording pattern of the magnetic and non-magnetic segments. This recording medium is installed in a recording apparatus in a manner similar to the conventional one.
Second Production Method (Substrate Processing Type)
A second production method (substrate processing type) shown in
An imprint stamper 18 is produced through the process shown in
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
As shown in
The above method produces a recording medium in which the information IA in the pattern area constitutes the recess and protrusion pattern 26 of the magnetic member. This recording medium is installed in a recording apparatus in a manner similar to the conventional one. The recording apparatus can rewritably record the second-type information IB on the recording medium.
Configuration of the Drive
Now, with reference to
The magnetic disk apparatus shown in
As is often the case, two magnetic heads 110 (lower and upper heads) are arranged on the respective sides of the magnetic disk 140. The magnetic head 110 is rotated and moved in a radial direction of the magnetic disk 140 being rotated. Consequently, the opposite sides of the magnetic disk 140 are scanned by the magnetic head 110, which thus records or reproduces information on or from the magnetic disk 140.
As shown in
Head Disk Assembly (HDA)
The disk drive section 100 (HDA) comprises a spindle motor (SPM) 150 that rotates the recording medium 140. The head 110 is moved over the recording medium 140 by a head moving mechanism 130.
The head 110 has magnetic head elements mounted on a slider (ABS) that is a head main body; the magnetic head elements include a read element (GMR element) and a write element. The head 110 is mounted on a head moving mechanism 130 having a suspension arm 120 that supports a head, a pivot shaft 139 that rotatably supports the arm 120, and voice coil motor (VCM) 131. The VCM 131 allows the arm 120 to generate a rotating torque around the pivot shaft 139 in the radial direction of the disk 140. I/O signals from the head 110 are amplified by a head amplifier (HIC) 160 fixed to the arm. The signals are electrically transmitted to a printed circuit board (PCB) 200 via a flexible cable (FPC).
In the description of the present embodiment, the HIC is installed on the head moving mechanism in order to reduce the signal-to-noise (SN) ratio of head signals. However, obviously, HIC may be fixed to the main body portion.
Data can be recorded on and reproduced from both surfaces (front and back surfaces) of the recording medium 140. Patterns are formed on the front and back surfaces so that the moving trajectory of head of the drive substantially matches the circular shape of a servo area pattern. The recording medium 140 is incorporated into the disk drive section 100. The specifications of the disk naturally include an outer and inner diameters and recording and reproducing characteristics which are adapted for the disk drive section 100 as is the case with the prior art. However, the circular shape of the servo area is such that the circular center is located on a circumference having a radial position at the distance from the rotating center of the disk to a pivot center and such that the circular radius corresponds to the distance from the pivot to the magnetic head element.
(PCB)
Four system LSIs are mainly mounted on printed circuit board (PCB) 200. Specifically, the PCB 200 comprises a disk controller (HDC) 210, read-write channel IC 220, MPU 230, and a motor driver IC 240.
The MPU 230 is a control section for a drive control system and includes a ROM, RAM, CPU, and logic processing section, which cooperatively provide a head positioning control system. The logic processing section is a mathematic processing section composed of a hardware circuit and is used for high-speed mathematic processes. Appropriate operating firmware (FW) is saved to ROM. MPU controls the disk drive section 100 in accordance with firmware.
The HDC 210 is an interface section in the hard disk. The HDC 210 manages the entire drive by exchanging information with an interface between the disk drive section 100 and a host system (for example, a personal computer) or with the MPU 230, read-write channel IC 220, and motor driver IC 240.
The read/write channel IC 240 is a head signal processing section for read and write operations. The read/write channel IC 240 is composed of a circuit which switches a channel for the head amplifier (HIC) 160 and which processes recording and reproduction signals such as read and write signals.
The read/write channel IC 240 restores the modulation scheme A for reading the information IA recorded in the pattern area, additionally records the information IB in the pattern area using the modulation scheme B, and restores the additionally recorded information IB on the basis of the modulation scheme B.
The motor driver IC 240 is a driver section that allows the VCM 131 and spindle motor 150 to be driven. The motor driver IC 240 drivingly controls the spindle motor 150 to a given rotation speed and drives the head moving mechanism 130 by providing the VCM 131 with a manipulated variable for the VCM 131 which is a current value provided by the MPU 230.
The recording and reproducing apparatus shown in
When the recording portion of the pattern area is composed of a pattern of the magnetic material, while the non-magnetized segments are composed of a pattern of the nonmagnetic material, the volume of the magnetic material is zero in the pattern area of the nonmagnetic material. If for example, the demagnetizing device is used to demagnetize the entire pattern area, a magnetization signal received by the read head varies between the magnetic material portion and the nonmagnetic material portion. The volume of the magnetic material in the non-magnetized segments need not necessarily be zero. The signal for the read head is varied provided that the volume of the magnetic material in the non-magnetized segments is smaller than that in the recording portion. Therefore, this magnetic pattern is appropriate.
The magnetic material volume can be formed into a pattern by, for example, etching the magnetic material during production of a medium.
The present invention also provides a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus characterized in that information is recorded in the pattern area on the magnetic recording medium in the magnetic recording apparatus on the basis of a difference in the height, on the medium surface, of top of the magnetic material in which magnetization is recorded by the write head.
Specifically, if the magnetic material in the recording portion of the pattern area is higher than that in the non-magnetized segments, then during a write operation, the write can execute recording only on the magnetic material in the recording material.
According to the recording method and apparatus of the present invention, the recording apparatus comprises the recording medium on which the first-type modulation information is recorded by forming a magnetic material pattern in the pattern area. The recording apparatus can additionally record the second-type modulation information in the pattern area. This makes it possible to minimize a decrease in additionally recordable capacity associated with the magnetic material pattern.
As described above, the present invention provides the method by which even a magnetic recording apparatus comprising magnetic recording medium having a pattern area corresponding to a ROM area to additionally record information in the pattern area using a write head. The present invention also provides a recording apparatus capable of the additional recording.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2006-059607 | Mar 2006 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3286251 | Rendlet et al. | Nov 1966 | A |
5218599 | Tsuyoshi et al. | Jun 1993 | A |
5274510 | Sugita et al. | Dec 1993 | A |
5363251 | Kamo et al. | Nov 1994 | A |
5466904 | Pfeiffer et al. | Nov 1995 | A |
5477526 | Inoue | Dec 1995 | A |
5545902 | Pfeiffer et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5587850 | Ton-that | Dec 1996 | A |
5600506 | Baum et al. | Feb 1997 | A |
5715232 | Chikazawa et al. | Feb 1998 | A |
5748421 | Taki et al. | May 1998 | A |
5812519 | Kawamura et al. | Sep 1998 | A |
5815333 | Yamamoto et al. | Sep 1998 | A |
5828536 | Morita | Oct 1998 | A |
5875083 | Oniki et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
5966259 | Mitsuishi et al. | Oct 1999 | A |
6029259 | Sollish et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6031808 | Ueno | Feb 2000 | A |
6103407 | Izumi et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6263151 | Nishijima et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6313969 | Hattori et al. | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6377413 | Sacks et al. | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6424479 | Hayashi | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6433944 | Nagao et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
6433950 | Liikanen | Aug 2002 | B1 |
6480462 | Ha et al. | Nov 2002 | B2 |
6529341 | Ishida et al. | Mar 2003 | B1 |
6563673 | Mundt et al. | May 2003 | B2 |
6667849 | Sasaki et al. | Dec 2003 | B2 |
6697311 | Kim | Feb 2004 | B1 |
6748865 | Sakurai et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6805966 | Formato et al. | Oct 2004 | B1 |
6853320 | Hayami et al. | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6877343 | Watanabe et al. | Apr 2005 | B2 |
6887626 | Koba | May 2005 | B2 |
6961203 | Baker | Nov 2005 | B1 |
6967798 | Homola et al. | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6980387 | Yoshizawa et al. | Dec 2005 | B2 |
7031086 | Nishida et al. | Apr 2006 | B2 |
7035036 | Shimomura et al. | Apr 2006 | B2 |
7038872 | Yip et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
7141317 | Kikitso et al. | Nov 2006 | B2 |
7147790 | Wachenschwanz et al. | Dec 2006 | B2 |
7150844 | Deeman et al. | Dec 2006 | B2 |
7203969 | Sakurai et al. | Apr 2007 | B2 |
7214624 | Fujita et al. | May 2007 | B2 |
7306743 | Hieda et al. | Dec 2007 | B2 |
7319568 | Okino et al. | Jan 2008 | B2 |
7362528 | Moriya et al. | Apr 2008 | B2 |
7522499 | Hosokawa et al. | Apr 2009 | B2 |
20010018743 | Morishita | Aug 2001 | A1 |
20020025039 | Kato et al. | Feb 2002 | A1 |
20020098423 | Koba | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020100052 | Daniels | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020168548 | Sakurai et al. | Nov 2002 | A1 |
20020191317 | Yasunaga | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20030002671 | Inchalik et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030063403 | Nishikawa et al. | Apr 2003 | A1 |
20040076110 | Hino et al. | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20040100711 | Sato et al. | May 2004 | A1 |
20040101713 | Wachenschwanz et al. | May 2004 | A1 |
20040107355 | Sakurai et al. | Jun 2004 | A1 |
20040131890 | Kikitso et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20050079283 | Sakurai et al. | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050117253 | Moriya et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050128887 | Hosokawa | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050175905 | Amemiya | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050219730 | Sakurai et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050225890 | Sakurai et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20060012905 | Okino et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060076509 | Okino et al. | Apr 2006 | A1 |
20060172155 | Okino et al. | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060222967 | Okino et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20060263642 | Hieda et al. | Nov 2006 | A1 |
20060280974 | Okino et al. | Dec 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
60-145501 | Aug 1985 | JP |
62-256225 | Nov 1987 | JP |
3-116506 | May 1991 | JP |
04-291256 | Oct 1992 | JP |
07-201726 | Aug 1995 | JP |
09-73680 | Mar 1997 | JP |
09-097482 | Apr 1997 | JP |
09-204747 | Aug 1997 | JP |
10-255407 | Sep 1998 | JP |
11-96673 | Apr 1999 | JP |
2000-020945 | Jan 2000 | JP |
2000-339670 | Dec 2000 | JP |
2001-143257 | May 2001 | JP |
2001-312819 | Nov 2001 | JP |
2002-008965 | Jan 2002 | JP |
2002-15420 | Jan 2002 | JP |
2002-50565 | Feb 2002 | JP |
2002-197725 | Jul 2002 | JP |
2002-222750 | Aug 2002 | JP |
2002-280290 | Sep 2002 | JP |
2002-334414 | Nov 2002 | JP |
2002-342986 | Nov 2002 | JP |
2002-343710 | Nov 2002 | JP |
2003-141715 | May 2003 | JP |
2003-142371 | May 2003 | JP |
2003-151209 | May 2003 | JP |
2003-157507 | May 2003 | JP |
2003-157520 | May 2003 | JP |
2003-263850 | Sep 2003 | JP |
2003-281841 | Oct 2003 | JP |
2004-39006 | Feb 2004 | JP |
2004-110896 | Apr 2004 | JP |
2004-158579 | Jun 2004 | JP |
2004-179411 | Jun 2004 | JP |
2004-265486 | Sep 2004 | JP |
2004-311839 | Nov 2004 | JP |
2005-166141 | Jun 2005 | JP |
2005-293730 | Oct 2005 | JP |
2006-031851 | Feb 2006 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20070206307 A1 | Sep 2007 | US |