Claims
- 1. A method for monitoring internal temperature of a head disc assembly in a disc drive, comprising steps of:
(a) querying a temperature sensor located inside the head disc assembly to obtain temperature values; (b) conveying the temperature values over a communication line to a controller; and (c) calculating an average temperature from a subset of temperature values derived from the temperature values received by the controller.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:
(d) transmitting the average temperature to a processor.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises discarding irregularities in the temperature values prior to the calculation of an average temperature.
- 4. The method of claim 2, wherein step (c) further comprises discarding irregularities in the temperature values prior to the calculation of an average temperature.
- 5. The method of claim l, wherein the processor optimizes temperature-dependent disc drive parameters.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor is embedded in an integrated circuit.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor is a discrete component.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of temperature values used in the average temperature calculation is chosen from the group consisting of 32, 64, a range between 1 and 32, a range between 32 and 64, and a range between 64 and 256.
- 9. The method of claim 2, wherein the number of temperature values used in the average temperature calculation is chosen from the group consisting of 32, 64, a range between 1 and 32, a range between 32 and 64, and a range between 64 and 256.
- 10. A disc drive, comprising:
(a) a head controllably positionable adjacent a rotatable disc; (b) a read/write channel which controls transfer of data between the disc and a host computer in which the disc is mountable; (c) a servo circuit which controls position of the head; (d) a temperature sensor located inside a head disc assembly which provides an indication of internal operational temperature of the disc drive; and (e) a processor, responsive to the temperature sensor, the read/write channel and the servo circuit, which provides top level control of the disc drive, the processor being programmed to optimize the operational performance of the disc drive based on the internal operational temperature of the disc drive.
- 11. The disc drive of claim 10, wherein the servo circuit has associated programming to:
(a) query a temperature sensor located inside the head disc assembly to obtain temperature values; (b) receive the temperature values over a communication line from the temperature sensor; and (c) calculate an average temperature from a subset of temperature values derived from the temperature values received from the temperature sensor.
- 12. The disc drive of claim 10, wherein the temperature sensor is embedded in an integrated circuit.
- 13. The disc drive of claim 10, wherein the temperature sensor is a discrete component.
- 14. The disc drive of claim 10, further comprising element (f), a second temperature sensor located external to the head disc assembly which provides an indication of external operational temperature of the disc drive.
- 15. A disc drive, comprising:
(a) a head disc assembly; and (b) means for measuring internal operational temperature using a temperature sensor located inside of the head disc assembly.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/174,197, filed Jan. 3, 2000.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60174197 |
Jan 2000 |
US |