# US 8,149,680 B2 · Random read/write performance of probe storage memory devices

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- Number: US 8,149,680 B2
- Document ID: US8149680B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 12/650,583
- Filed: 2009-12-31
- Published: 2010-09-09
- Granted: 2012-04-03
- Earliest claimed: 2008-12-31
- Assignees: Intel Corporation
- Inventors: Valluri R. Rao; Sanjay Rangan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8149680B2

## CPC

- G11B 9/1436: {with provision for moving the heads or record carriers relatively to each other}
- B82Y 10/00: Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
- G11B: INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER (recording measured values in a way that does not require playback through a transducer G01D9/00; recording or playback apparatus using mechanically marked tape, e.g. punched paper tape, or using unit records, e.g. punched or magnetically marked cards G06K; transferring data from one type of record carrier to another G06K1/18; circuits for coupling output of reproducer to radio receiver H04B1/20; gramophone pick-ups or like acoustic electromechanical transducers or circuits therefor H04R)
- B82Y: SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES

## Abstract

Current probe-type memory architecture assumes that the minimum chunk of data that a probe tip can access is one entire track and perhaps only four out of five-thousand, for example, probes participate in the access thereby degrading performance. By subdividing the track into D finer chunks or data zones, D times more probes can cooperate to read out the data, hence increasing the data throughput by Dx. Each tip now only scans approximately one Dth of the track and hence the scan time is reduced by a factor D, while D probes are being utilized in parallel.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus, comprising:
a movable sled
a data storage media on the sled;
a plurality of probes to scan over the data storage media to perform read and write operations,
wherein the data storage media is organized in tracks and the tracks are further subdivided into a plurality of data zones D, wherein each probe only scans 1/D of the track.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein D probes are used in parallel.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein the number of data zones D is 20 or less.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising:
a plurality of synchronizing regions on a track in between each of the data zones D.