Disk Drive Controller Logical-Physical Address Conversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing process of high-capacity disk drives is inefficient due to lengthy formatting times, which increases the overall production time and requires enhancement in the disk drive manufacturing process.
Innovation Solution
A disk drive apparatus with a controller that reads data from designated sectors using logical block addresses and sends back predetermined data, allowing for efficient data management and formatting by converting logical block addresses to physical addresses, thereby reducing the need for extensive logical formatting post-manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If logical formatting is performed on high-capacity disks during manufacturing, then data can be properly organized and addressed, but the formatting process takes tens of hours which significantly increases production time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing physical formatting and defect inspection before logical formatting during manufacturing. The disk surface is physically formatted and defective sectors are identified and marked with special physical addresses (e.g., 0xFFFFF) during the initial setup phase. This preliminary preparation allows the disk to be shipped and used immediately without requiring time-consuming logical formatting operations later, thus resolving the contradiction between data organization quality and production time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a mapping table that copies logical block addresses to physical addresses during the preliminary physical formatting stage. Instead of performing full logical formatting later, the system maintains a copy of the address mapping that can be used directly during operation. This copying approach eliminates the need for extensive logical formatting while preserving proper data organization capabilities.
2Reliability
If physical formatting and defect inspection are performed during manufacturing, then defective sectors can be identified and managed, but the overall manufacturing process remains time-consuming for large capacity disks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the defect inspection and marking operation from the overall logical formatting process. During manufacturing, only the essential physical formatting and defect inspection are performed, with defective sectors being identified and marked with special physical addresses. The time-consuming logical formatting operation is completely removed from the manufacturing process, allowing disks to be shipped immediately after the extracted critical steps are completed, thus improving manufacturing efficiency while maintaining reliability through defect detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies self-service by automatically marking defective sectors with special physical addresses during the inspection phase. The manufacturing process itself performs the defect management function without requiring subsequent logical formatting operations. The disk drive automatically handles the defective sectors through the pre-established address mapping, eliminating the need for manual or system-level intervention during normal operation.
Data Source
AI summary
In a disk drive apparatus, a plurality of data sectors is recorded on a disk. A data sector is designated by a logical block address in accordance with a read command received from a host, and the data is read from the data sector specified by a physical address corresponding to the designated logical block address included in the read command. Predetermined data different from the data read from the designated data sector is sent back to the host in response to information relevant to the physical address included in the read data.