Methods and apparatus for detecting whether a removable cartridge disk drive is empty
AssigneeIomega Corporation
InventorsDavid M. Ginosar, Mark S. Thayne, Yiping Ma, Clark C. Bruderer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The presence of a disk cartridge in a disk drive is detected by obtaining a measure of the load on the spindle motor of the disk drive and comparing that measure to a threshold value. The measure of load on the spindle motor may comprise (i) the time the spindle motor takes to spin-up to its full operating speed, (ii) the time the spindle motor takes to coast down to its operating speed from a first speed in excess of the operating speed, (iii) the voltage applied across the coils of the spindle motor, or (iv) the current drawn by the spindle motor.
Claims44
In a disk drive of the type that receives a removable disk cartridge, said disk drive having a spindle motor that engages with a hub of the disk cartridge in order to rotate a recording disk within the cartridge, a method for detecting whether the disk drive is empty, comprising the steps of:
- (a) initiating rotation of the spindle motor;
- (b) obtaining a measure of load on the spindle motor;
- and
- (c) comparing said measure of load on the spindle motor to a threshold value, and providing an indication of whether the disk drive is empty based on said comparison.
In a disk drive of the type that receives a removable disk cartridge, said disk drive having a spindle motor that engages with a hub of the disk cartridge in order to rotate a recording disk within the cartridge, a method for detecting whether the disk drive is empty, comprising the steps of:
- (a) initiating rotation of the spindle motor;
- (b) measuring the time the spindle motor takes to reach a predetermined operating speed;
- and
- (c) comparing the measured time to a threshold value, whereby the disk drive is detected to be empty if the measured time is less than the threshold value.
In a disk drive of the type that receives a removable disk cartridge, said disk drive having a spindle motor that engages with a hub of the disk cartridge in order to rotate a recording disk within the cartridge, a method for detecting whether the disk drive is empty, comprising the steps of:
- (a) initiating rotation of the spindle motor and bringing the spindle motor to a first speed in excess of a predetermined operating speed thereof;
- (b) allowing the spindle motor to coast down from said first speed to said predetermined operating speed;
- (c) measuring the time the spindle motor takes to coast down from said first speed to said predetermined operating speed;
- and
- (d) comparing the measured time to a threshold value, whereby the disk drive is detected to be empty if the measured time is greater than the threshold value.
In a disk drive of the type that receives a removable disk cartridge, said disk drive having a spindle motor that engages with a hub of the disk cartridge in order to rotate a recording disk within the cartridge, a method for detecting whether the disk drive is empty, comprising the steps of:
- (a) initiating rotation of the spindle motor;
- (b) detecting when the spindle motor has reached a predetermined operating speed;
- (c) obtaining a measure of the current drawn by a spindle motor controller/driver as the spindle motor is driven at said predetermined operating speed by said spindle motor controller/driver;
- and
- (d) comparing the measure of current drawn by the spindle motor controller/driver to a threshold value, whereby the disk drive is detected to be empty if the measured current is less than the threshold value.
A disk drive for receiving a removable disk cartridge and detecting whether the disk drive is empty, said disk drive comprising:
- a spindle motor positioned to engage a hub of the disk cartridge and to rotate a disk within the cartridge upon full insertion of the cartridge into the disk drive;
- a spindle motor controller/driver for initiating rotation of the spindle motor and for providing an indication of the speed of rotation of the spindle motor;
- and
- means for obtaining a measure of load on the spindle motor and for comparing the measure of load on the spindle motor to a threshold value, wherein the disk drive is detected to be empty when the measure of load does not satisfy the threshold value.
A disk drive for receiving a removable disk cartridge and detecting whether the disk drive is empty, said disk drive comprising:
- a spindle motor positioned to engage a hub of the disk cartridge and to rotate a disk within the cartridge upon full insertion of the cartridge into the disk drive;
- a spindle motor controller/driver for initiating rotation of the spindle motor and for providing an indication of the speed of rotation of the spindle motor;
- and
- means responsive to said indication for measuring the time the spindle motor takes to reach a predetermined operating speed after initiation of rotation, wherein the disk drive is detected to be empty when the measured time is less than a threshold value.
A disk drive for receiving a removable disk cartridge and detecting the disk drive is empty, said disk drive comprising:
- a spindle motor positioned to engage a hub of the disk cartridge and to rotate a disk within the cartridge upon full insertion of the cartridge into the disk drive;
- a spindle motor controller/driver for initiating rotation of the spindle motor and for providing an indication of the speed of rotation of the spindle motor;
- and
- means responsive to said indication for measuring the time the spindle motor takes to coast down to a predetermined operating speed from a first speed in excess of said predetermined operating speed, wherein the disk drive is detected to be empty when the measured time is greater than a threshold value.
A disk drive for receiving a removable disk cartridge and detecting whether the disk drive is empty, said disk drive comprising:
- a spindle motor being positioned to engage a hub of the disk cartridge and to rotate a disk within the cartridge upon full insertion of the cartridge into the disk drive;
- a spindle motor controller/driver coupled to the spindle motor and operable to drive said spindle motor at a predetermined operating speed;
- a power supply that provides power to said spindle motor controller/driver;
- and
- a current sensor coupled between said power supply and said spindle motor controller/driver for sensing a current drawn by said spindle motor controller/driver as said spindle motor controller/driver rotates said spindle motor at said predetermined operating speed, whereby the disk drive is detected to be empty if the sensed current is less than a threshold value.
A disk drive for receiving a removable disk cartridge and detecting whether the disk drive is empty, said disk drive comprising:
- a spindle motor being positioned to engage a hub of the disk cartridge and to rotate a disk within the cartridge upon full insertion of the cartridge into the disk drive;
- a spindle motor controller/driver coupled to the spindle motor and operable to apply a voltage to said spindle motor to cause said spindle motor to rotate at a predetermined operating speed;
- a voltage sensor coupled to said spindle motor controller/driver for obtaining a measure of the voltage applied by said spindle motor controller/driver to said spindle motor in order to maintain the speed of rotation of said spindle motor at said predetermined speed;
- and
- a comparator coupled to the voltage sensor that compares the measured voltage to a threshold value, the disk drive being indicated as empty when the measured voltage is less than the threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.