Optimized transmission of signals between a disk drive controller and a motor controller using a serial port
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorLance Leslie Flake
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Herein described are at least a method and a system for prioritizing the transmission of one or more types of signals through a serial port. Various aspects of the present invention may be implemented using a serial port interface module that facilitates communication between any two devices. In a representative embodiment, the two devices comprise a disk drive controller and a disk drive motor controller used in a hard disk drive. In a representative embodiment, the method and the system are used in the hard disk drive for prioritizing the transmission of multirate voice coil motor (VCM) updates and other asynchronous data signals between the disk drive controller and disk drive motor controller through the serial port.
Claims24
A method for transmitting data over a serial port comprising:
- determining a period of transmission of a first data signal through said serial port;
- determining a maximum transmission duration of a second data signal through said serial port;
- computing a difference between said period and said maximum transmission duration;
- initiating transmission of said first data signal at a specified time;
- and
- restricting transmission of said second data signal from said specified time to until said difference has elapsed, wherein said first data signal comprises a multirate voice coil motor update, said update based on positional information obtained from one or more servo sectors.
A method of transmitting multirate update signals between a disk drive controller and a disk drive motor controller of a hard disk drive comprising:
- determining a maximum transmission duration of one or more asynchronous transmissions, said asynchronous transmissions not comprising said multirate update signals;
- computing the difference between a period of said multirate update signals and said maximum transmission duration to yield a difference value;
- transmitting multirate voice coil motor (VCM) data provided by said multirate update signals to said disk drive motor controller from said disk drive controller, said transmitting started at a specified time;
- and
- restricting transmission of said one or more asynchronous transmissions until said difference value has elapsed after said specified time.
A hard disk drive comprising:
- one or more circuits operable for, at least:
- determining a period of transmission of a first data signal through a serial port;
- determining a maximum transmission duration of a second data signal through said serial port;
- computing a difference between said period and said maximum transmission duration;
- initiating transmission of said first data signal at a specified time;
- and
- restricting transmission of said second data signal from said specified time to until said difference has elapsed, wherein said first data signal comprises a multirate voice coil motor update, said update based on positional information obtained from one or more servo sectors.
A hard disk drive comprising:
- one or more circuits operable for, at least:
- determining a maximum transmission duration of one or more asynchronous transmissions, said asynchronous transmissions not comprising multirate update signals;
- computing the difference between a period of said multirate update signals and said maximum transmission duration to yield a difference value;
- transmitting multirate voice coil motor (VCM) data provided by said multirate update signals to a disk drive motor controller from a disk drive controller, said transmitting started at a specified time;
- and
- restricting transmission of said one or more asynchronous transmissions until said difference value has elapsed after said specified time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.