Method and apparatus for predicting contact of a read-write head in a hard disk drive

1 . A pre-contact signal detector for a hard disk drive, comprising: a pre-contact filter, and a pre-contact threshold comparator, further comprising:

a read signal received from a read head and filtered by said pre-contact filter to provide a filtered read signal to said pre-contact threshold comparator for comparison with a pre-contact threshold to create the pre-contact detection signal;

wherein said pre-contact detection signal is active shortly before a read-write head containing said read head contacts a rotating disk surface.

2 . The pre-contact signal detector of claim 1 , wherein said pre-contact filter includes at least one member of the group consisting of: a low pass filter with a cut-off frequency; and a band pass filter with a center frequency and a bandwidth.

3 . The pre-contact signal detector of claim 2 , further comprising: a pre-contact filter control providing at least one member of the group consisting of: said cut-off frequency to said low-pass filter; said center frequency to said band pass filter; and said bandwidth to said band pass filter.

4 . The pre-contact signal detector of claim 3 , wherein said pre-contact filter control is directed by an embedded circuit in said hard disk drive.

5 . The pre-contact signal detector of claim 1 , further comprising: a pre-contact threshold generator generating said pre-contact threshold.

6 . The pre-contact signal detector of claim 5 , wherein said pre-contact threshold generator is directed by an embedded circuit in said hard disk drive.

7 . The pre-contact signal detector of claim 1 , further comprising: an amplifier receiving said read signal to create an amplified signal presented to said pre-contact filter.

8 . A preamplifier for said hard disk drive, comprising: said pre-contact signal detector of claim 1 provided a version of said read signal based upon a read signal coupling to said read head to create said pre-contact detection signal.

9 . A main flex circuit, comprising: said pre-contact signal detector of claim 1 provided a version of said read signal based upon a read signal coupling to said read head to create said pre-contact detection signal.

10 . The main flex circuit of claim 9 , further comprising a preamplifier;

wherein preamplifier, comprises:

said pre-contact signal detector provided said version of said read signal based upon said read signal coupling to said read head to create said pre-contact detection signal.

11 . A head stack assembly, comprising: said main flex circuit of claim 9 coupling to said read head for use in creating said pre-contact detection signal.

12 . The head stack assembly of claim 11 , further comprising: a slider containing said read head providing a read differential signal pair for use in creating said pre-contact detection signal.

13 . The head stack assembly of claim 12 , wherein said slider further comprises: an amplifier receiving said read differential signal pair to create said read signal presented to said read signal coupling.

14 . The head stack assembly of claim 12 , wherein said read differential signal pair is presented to said read signal coupling.

15 . The head stack assembly of claim 12 , further comprising: a flexure finger coupling said slider to said main flex circuit and providing said read signal based upon said read signal pair to said read signal coupling.

16 . The head stack assembly of claim 11 , further comprising said main flex circuit further coupling to a second of said read heads to provide a second of said read signals used to generate said pre-contact detection signal.

17 . The head stack assembly of claim 11 , wherein said pre-contact signal detector, further comprises: a multiplexer receiving said read signal and said second read signal to create selected read signal presented used in with said pre-contact filter.

18 . The head stack assembly of claim 16 , further comprising a second of said pre-contact detectors receiving said second of said read signals to generate a second of said pre-contact detection signal.

19 . A method of using said pre-contact detection signal of claim 11 within said hard disk drive, comprising of the step of:

receiving said pre-contact detection signal to create a pre-contact condition presented to a pre-contact alert circuit;

wherein said pre-condition condition is asserted whenever said pre-contact detection signal is active shortly before said read-write head contacts said disk surface;

wherein said method, further comprises at least one member of the group consisting of the steps of:

responding to said pre-contact condition by altering a vertical actuator control signal sent to a vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter the vertical position of said slider over said disk surface;

configuring said pre-contact signal detector based upon said pre-contact condition; and

calibrating a preamplifier based upon said pre-contact condition.

20 . The method of claim 19 ,

wherein the step receiving said pre-contact detection signal, further comprises at least one member of the group consisting of the steps of:

digitizing said pre-contact detection signal to at least partly create said pre-contact condition;

level-shifting said pre-contact detection signal to at least partly create said pre-contact condition;

sampling said pre-contact detection signal to at least partly create said pre-contact condition;

wherein the step responding to said pre-contact condition by altering said vertical actuator control signal, further comprises at least one member of the group consisting of:

communicating said pre-contact condition to an embedded circuit directing a vertical driver to alter said vertical actuator control signal sent to said vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter said vertical position of said slider over said disk surface; and

communicating said pre-contact condition to a preamplifier containing said vertical driver to alter said vertical actuator control signal sent to said vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter said vertical position of said slider over said disk surface.

21 . The pre-contact alert circuit, supporting the method of claim 19 includes at least one member of the alert means group consisting of:

means for responding to said pre-contact condition by altering said vertical actuator control signal sent to said vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter said vertical position of said slider over said disk surface;

means for configuring said pre-contact signal detector based upon said pre-contact condition; and

means for calibrating a preamplifier based upon said pre-contact condition.

22 . The pre-contact detection circuit, further comprising: said pre-contact alert circuit of claim 21 receiving said pre-contact detection signal to create said pre-contact condition.

23 . The preamplifier implementing the method of using said pre-contact detection signal, comprising:

said pre-contact alert circuit of claim 21 receiving said pre-contact detection signal to create said pre-contact condition.

24 . The preamplifier of claim 23 , further comprising said vertical driver generating said vertical actuator control signal.

25 . The pre-contact alert circuit of claim 21 , includes at least one instance of at least one member of the group consisting of:

a computer responding to said pre-contact condition as directed by a program system to execute program steps residing in an accessibly coupled memory;

a finite state machine receiving said pre-contact condition to create a control state;

a neural network receiving said pre-contact condition to alter at least one member of the group consisting of: a neuron state, and a synaptic connection state;

an inference engine receiving said pre-contact condition to alter at least one member of the group consisting of: a fact, and an inference.

26 . The pre-contact alert circuit of claim 25 , wherein said computer, includes: at least at least one data processor and at least one instruction processor; wherein each of said data processors is directed by at least one of said instruction processors;

wherein said memory includes at least one instance of at least one member of the group consisting of a non-volatile memory component, and a volatile memory component.

27 . The pre-contact alert circuit of claim 25 , wherein said program system includes at least one member of the group consisting of the program steps:

responding to said pre-contact condition by altering said vertical actuator control signal sent to said vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter said vertical position of said slider over said disk surface;

configuring said pre-contact signal detector based upon said pre-contact condition; and

calibrating a preamplifier based upon said pre-contact condition.

28 . An embedded circuit for said hard disk drive and implementing the method of using said pre-contact detection signal, comprising:

said pre-contact alert circuit of claim 25 ;

a means for receiving said pre-contact detection signal to create a pre-contact condition presented to a pre-contact alert circuit;

wherein said pre-condition condition is asserted whenever said pre-contact detection signal is active shortly before said read-write head contacts said disk surface.

29 . The embedded circuit of claim 28 , wherein said program system further includes at least one member of the group consisting of the program steps:

positioning said slider to follow a track on said disk surface;

encoding of the data for said read-write head to write as the write data to said track on said disk surface;

writing said write data using said read-write head to said track;

retrieving using said read head the data read from said track; and

decoding said data read by said read head from said track.

30 . The hard disk drive using said embedded circuit and said head stack assembly of claim 28 , comprising:

said head stack assembly coupled to said embedded circuit to provide said pre-contact detection signal to said means for receiving.

31 . A method of manufacturing at least one member of the manufactured product group, consisting of the members: said hard disk drive of claim 30 , said embedded circuit, said pre-contact alert circuit, said head stack assembly, said main flex circuit, a preamplifier, said pre-contact signal detector;

wherein said method comprises at least one member of the group consisting of the steps of:

coupling said head stack assembly to said embedded circuit to create said hard disk drive;

providing said means for receiving and said pre-contact alert circuit to create said embedded circuit;

providing at least one said members of said alert means group to create said pre-contact alert circuit;

for each of said read heads included in said head stack assembly, coupling said read head to said main flex circuit to create said head stack assembly;

providing said pre-contact detector to create said main flex circuit; and

providing said pre-contact detector in said preamplifier to create said main flex circuit;

providing said pre-contact signal detector to create said preamplifier, further comprising the step: providing said pre-contact filter and said pre-contact threshold comparator to create said pre-contact signal detector included in said preamplifier; and

providing said pre-contact filter and said pre-contact threshold comparator to create said pre-contact signal detector.

32 . The at least one member of said manufactured product group as a product of the process of claim 31 .

33 . A method of generating a pre-contact detection signal for a hard disk drive, comprising the steps of:

receiving a read signal received from a read head;

pre-contact filtering said read signal to provide a filtered read signal;

comparing said filtered read signal with a pre-contact threshold to create said pre-contact detection signal;

wherein said pre-contact detection signal is active shortly before a read-write head containing said read head contacts a rotating disk surface.

34 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the step of pre-contact filtering, includes at least one member of the group consisting of:

low pass filtering based upon said read signal with a cut-off frequency to at least partly create said filtered read signal; and

band pass filtering based upon said read signal with a center frequency and a bandwidth to at least partly create said filtered read signal.

35 . The method of claim 34 , further comprising the step:

controlling said step of pre-contact filtering, further comprising at least one member of the group consisting of the steps of:

providing at least one member of the group consisting of: said cut-off frequency, center frequency, and said bandwidth.

36 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the step of controlling is directed by an embedded circuit in said hard disk drive.

37 . The method of claim 33 , further comprising the step of: generating said pre-contact threshold.

38 . The method of claim 37 , wherein the step of generating said pre-contact threshold is directed by an embedded circuit in said hard disk drive.

39 . The method of claim 33 , further comprising the step of: amplifying said read signal to create an amplified signal for said step of pre-contact filtering.

40 . A method of using said pre-contact detection signal of claim 33 within said hard disk drive, comprising of the step of:

receiving said pre-contact detection signal to create a pre-contact condition presented to a pre-contact alert circuit;

wherein said pre-condition condition is asserted whenever said pre-contact detection signal is active shortly before said read-write head contacts said disk surface;

wherein said method, further comprises at least one member of the group consisting of the steps of:

responding to said pre-contact condition by altering a vertical actuator control signal sent to a vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter the vertical position of said slider over said disk surface;

configuring said pre-contact signal detector based upon said pre-contact condition; and

calibrating a preamplifier based upon said pre-contact condition.

41 . The method of claim 40 ,

wherein the step receiving said pre-contact detection signal, further comprises at least one member of the group consisting of the steps of:

digitizing said pre-contact detection signal to at least partly create said pre-contact condition;

level-shifting said pre-contact detection signal to at least partly create said pre-contact condition;

sampling said pre-contact detection signal to at least partly create said pre-contact condition;

wherein the step responding to said pre-contact condition by altering said vertical actuator control signal, further comprises at least one member of the group consisting of:

communicating said pre-contact condition to an embedded circuit directing a vertical driver to alter said vertical actuator control signal sent to said vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter said vertical position of said slider over said disk surface; and

communicating said pre-contact condition to a preamplifier containing said vertical driver to alter said vertical actuator control signal sent to said vertical micro-actuator causing said slider to alter said vertical position of said slider over said disk surface.

42 . The pre-contact condition as a product of the process of claim 40 .

43 . The threshold detect as a product of the process of claim 33 .