G11B 5/6011
Control of flying height
Official title: {Control of flying height}
G11B5/6011 (Control of flying height) appears on 1,260 US grants and 935 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in G11B- Granted patents
- 1,260
- Published applications
- 935
- Assignees
- 139
- Inventors
- 1,871
- Latest grant
- 25 Aug 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1 | 0 |
| 1986 | 1 | 0 |
| 1987 | 0 | 0 |
| 1988 | 1 | 0 |
| 1989 | 1 | 0 |
| 1990 | 2 | 0 |
| 1991 | 1 | 0 |
| 1992 | 2 | 0 |
| 1993 | 2 | 0 |
| 1994 | 1 | 0 |
| 1995 | 6 | 0 |
| 1996 | 2 | 0 |
| 1997 | 7 | 0 |
| 1998 | 26 | 0 |
| 1999 | 30 | 0 |
| 2000 | 30 | 0 |
| 2001 | 20 | 4 |
| 2002 | 14 | 13 |
| 2003 | 11 | 9 |
| 2004 | 11 | 20 |
| 2005 | 13 | 33 |
| 2006 | 42 | 49 |
| 2007 | 44 | 86 |
| 2008 | 58 | 130 |
| 2009 | 81 | 91 |
| 2010 | 84 | 77 |
| 2011 | 70 | 54 |
| 2012 | 73 | 50 |
| 2013 | 59 | 57 |
| 2014 | 135 | 57 |
| 2015 | 98 | 38 |
| 2016 | 51 | 22 |
| 2017 | 62 | 22 |
| 2018 | 39 | 14 |
| 2019 | 37 | 16 |
| 2020 | 29 | 12 |
| 2021 | 19 | 7 |
| 2022 | 20 | 11 |
| 2023 | 18 | 11 |
| 2024 | 21 | 21 |
| 2025 | 21 | 19 |
| 2026 | 17 | 12 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Subgroups
Granted patents
- G11B 5/607Using thermal means581
- G11B 5/6064Using air pressure336
- G11B 5/6076Detecting head-disk contact322
- G11B 5/6029Measurement using values derived from the data signal read from the disk239
- G11B 5/6017Using capacitive measurement60
- G11B 5/6058Using piezoelectric means59
- G11B 5/6052Using optical means28
- G11B 5/6035Using electrostatic forces22
Recent patents
- Magneto-resistive reader utilizing read shields to maintain reference layer magnetization25 Aug 2026US 12,718,839 B2Headway Technologies, Inc.
- Magnetic disk device having piezoelectric element18 Aug 2026US 12,711,986 B2Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
- Architecture for DC bias canceling and gain recovery for hard disk drive fly height detection11 Aug 2026US 12,706,117 B1
- Use of common head slider for different RPM hard disk drives21 Jul 2026US 12,688,871 B2Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
- Data storage device with real time fly height predictor for different servo seek sequences and other drive operations21 Jul 2026US 12,688,872 B1Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
- High impedance biasing circuit27 Aug 2026US 2026/0254427 A1STMicroelectronics International N. V.
- Architecture for dc bias canceling and gain recovery for hard disk drive fly height detection13 Aug 2026US 2026/0237403 A1STMicroelectronics International N. V.
- Air bearing design for high oxygen partial pressure for heat-assisted magnetic recording30 Jul 2026US 2026/0221152 A1Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
- Magnetic disk device23 Jul 2026US 2026/0212884 A1Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
- Data storage device with real time fly height predictor for different servo seek sequences and other drive operations23 Jul 2026US 2026/0212885 A1Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
Most cited
By later US patents
- Slider with temperature responsive transducer positioning229US 5,991,113 ASeagate Technology LLC · 1999
- Method and apparatus for in-situ measurement of head/recording medium clearance214US 4,777,544 AInternational Business Machine Corporation · 1988
- Differential head integrated touchdown sensors for hard disk drives207US 7,800,858 B1Western Digital (Fremont), LLC · 2010
- Head integrated touchdown sensor for hard disk drives204US 7,796,356 B1Western Digital (Fremont), LLC · 2010
- Dual electrical lapping guides with common bonding pad189US 7,551,406 B1Western Digital (Fremont), LLC · 2009