Systems and Methods for Media Defect Detection With Pattern Qualification

Abstract

An apparatus for detecting media flaws includes an envelope based media defect detector operable to identify a media defect based on an envelope of an input signal, a periodic pattern detector operable to determine whether the input signal comprises a data pattern, and a media flaw signal generation circuit operable to indicate a media defect when the envelope based media defect detector identifies the media defect and the periodic pattern detector determines that the input signal does not comprise the data pattern.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority to (is a non-provisional of) U.S. Pat. App. No. 61 / 832,136, entitled “Systems and Methods for Media Defect Detection With Pattern Qualification”, and filed Jun. 6, 2013 by Singleton et al, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for detecting media flaws, and more particularly to systems and methods for envelope-based defect detection with pattern qualification.BACKGROUND[0003]In a typical magnetic storage system, digital data is stored in a series of concentric circular tracks along a storage medium. Data is written to the medium by positioning a read / write head assembly over the medium at a selected location as the storage medium is rotated, and subsequently passing a modulated electric current through the head assembly such that a corresponding magnetic flux patt...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a system and method for detecting defects on storage media using a digital data detector. The system includes an envelope based media defect detector, a periodic pattern detector, and a media flaw signal generation circuit. The envelope based media defect detector identifies the media defect based on the envelope of the input signal. The periodic pattern detector checks whether the input signal contains a data pattern. The media flaw signal generation circuit indicates a media defect only when the envelope based media defect detector identifies the media defect and the periodic pattern detector determines that the input signal doesn't contain a data pattern. This invention allows for more accurate detection of defects on storage media, which can improve the reliability and quality of the storage devices.

Problems solved by technology

Writing data to a defective region can result in the loss of such data.

However, some of these approaches can yield false positives in some environments, incorrectly identifying a region of the storage medium as defective.

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