JP2007004863A - Data recording disk driving device and data recording disk driving method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data recording disk driving device capable of reducing the power consumption of an HDD. <P>SOLUTION: Two or more non-data areas 104 not having a data track for retracting a head are provided, and a disk control part 109 holds the positions of all the non-data areas 104, respectively calculates the power consumption in the case of moving from a present head position to the non-data areas 104, decides the non-data area having the least power consumption among them as the moving destination of the head 105 and moves the head 105 by an actuator 107. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hard disk drive, and more particularly to reduction of power consumption of a disk drive powered by a battery.

  In recent years, hard disk drives (hereinafter referred to as HDDs) that can be accessed at random with a large capacity, a low unit price per bit, have been adopted as storage for video / audio recording and playback devices for homes that can record and play back video and audio data. Yes. Currently, stationary type video / audio recording / reproducing apparatuses using HDDs having a media diameter of 3.5 inches are widespread. This is known as an HDD recorder for recording TV broadcasts and the like. In addition to the above-mentioned HDDs that use 3.5 inch diameters, HDDs that use smaller and lighter media such as 2.5 inch, 1.8 inch, and 0.85 inch diameters in recent years. It has become widespread. Small HDDs are also used in portable music players and mobile phones.

  Mobile video / audio recording / playback devices (hereinafter referred to as mobile devices) such as portable music players, mobile phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) have a dramatic increase in convenience as the battery operating time becomes longer. Expect improvement. Further, the power of the mobile device is mainly consumed by the hard disk drive mechanism.

As a technique for reducing power related to driving of a hard disk, a power management method using a power-saving operation mode is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1). That is, when the head does not read, write, or seek, the head moves to the head parking position and stops supplying power to the servo system circuit. If the head does not read, write, or seek for an extended period of time, the disk stops spinning. Further, the transition to the power saving mode is performed by predicting and determining the transition to the power saving mode from the probability of the past access pattern.
JP-A-9-17099

  However, the conventional technology does not consider the power consumption required for the movement of the head from the data area to the head parking position or the movement from the head parking position to the next access data area. ) The longer the period, the HDD has a problem that the power consumption of the actuator for moving the head and the servo control circuit connected to the actuator increases.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a method and apparatus for further reducing the power consumption of an HDD.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, a data recording disk drive apparatus according to the present invention is a data recording disk drive apparatus for reading and writing data from and on a recording disk having a plurality of data tracks for storing data, Two or more head evacuation areas for evacuating a head for reading and writing data to the head, and disk control means for controlling movement of the head to the head evacuation area, the disk control means comprising the head evacuation area Area information holding means for holding the position of the head, selection means for selecting the head saving area for saving the head based on the current position of the head, and the head to the head saving area selected by the selection means Power consumption can be reduced by selecting a head save area.

  According to the data recording disk drive apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the moving distance required when the head is retracted, thereby reducing the power consumption of the HDD.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In order to shorten the seek distance of the head in the power saving mode, the present invention provides two or more non-data areas on the disk to save the head. The head is moved from the head position to the head saving area where the power consumption associated with the movement is the smallest.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a data recording disk drive apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The data recording disk drive device 101 includes at least one disk 102 for storing data, a spindle motor 106 for rotating the disk 102, a head 105 for reading / writing data from / to the disk 102, and a head 105 on the disk 102. Actuator 107 to be moved to the track, disk control unit 109 for controlling these, interface 108 for receiving commands requested from the host 112, command queue 111 for holding a plurality of commands received by the interface 108, temporarily reading and writing data In addition to the data area 103 having data tracks, the disk 102 has two or more non-data areas 104 having no data tracks.

  In the case where the data recording disk drive device 101 is a CSS (contact start / stop) system, it has a CSS zone for landing the head 105 when the disk 102 is not rotating. A CSS zone may be used for a part or all of the data area 104.

  The disk control unit 109 includes an area information holding unit 301, a selection unit 302, and a moving unit 303. The area information holding unit 301 holds the positions of all the non-data areas 104. The position of the non-data area 104 may be held as a track number, or may be held as a distance from the innermost circumference in the radial direction. The selection unit 302 selects a non-data area as a movement destination from among a plurality of non-data areas held in the area information holding unit 301 based on the current position of the head. The movement unit 303 controls the movement by instructing the actuator 107 to move the head to the non-data area selected by the selection unit 302.

  Further, a part of the non-data area 104 may be a non-data area of the inner diameter of the disk called an ID zone, or may be an area called a safe zone intended to keep the head 105 and the disk surface at a high level.

  Specifically, the disk control device 109 is realized using a microprocessor, a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory).

  Further, although the data recording disk drive device 101 is of the CSS system, it may be of a load system in which the head 205 is parked on the ramp instead of the disk surface when the disk is not rotating. In this case, for example, not only two lamps may be provided outside and inside the disk, but also one or more non-data areas may be provided on the disk in addition to one or more lamps. Further, a CSS zone, an ID zone, and a safe zone may be used for this non-data area.

  The operation of the disk control unit 109 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the following, the ramp is also treated as a non-data area.

  FIG. 3 is a processing flow when the head 105 is retracted to the non-data area 104 nearest from the current head position.

  First, the disk control unit 109 starts a power saving mode process (step S301).

  The selection unit 302 uses the information of all the non-data areas 104 held in the area information holding unit 301 to calculate the power consumption when the head 105 is moved from the current head position of the disk to all the non-data areas 104. Each is calculated (step S302). FIG. 5 is a graph showing characteristics of power consumption per unit with respect to the moving distance of the head. In general, the power consumption per unit distance associated with the head movement distance immediately after the start of head movement is larger than the average movement power consumption and has non-linear characteristics (non-linear zone). Therefore, in order to obtain the power consumption for the movement distance shorter than the point a where the power consumption can be calculated linearly from the movement distance of the head, the disk control unit 109 holds and uses a table of power consumption of the nonlinear zone with respect to the movement distance. The power consumption after point a is calculated linearly from the distance. Of course, the power consumption in the non-linear zone may be modeled and calculated, or the power consumption after the point a may be calculated using a table.

  After selecting the power consumption when moving to the non-data area 104, the selection unit 302 determines the non-data area with the lowest power consumption among them as the movement destination of the head 105, and the movement unit 303 The actuator 107 is instructed, the head 105 is moved to the destination determined by the selection unit 302 (step S303), and the process is terminated (step S304).

  In step S302, instead of calculating power consumption, the distance between the head 105 and each non-data area 104 may be obtained, and in step S303, the head 105 may be saved in the non-data area with the shortest distance. This method can determine the save destination of the head 105 with a small amount of calculation when the power consumption for the movement of the head 105 is nearly linear.

  As described above, it is possible to reduce the travel distance required when the head is retracted, thereby reducing the power consumption of the HDD.

  In FIG. 1, the non-data area 104 is arranged at the middle position between the innermost circumference and the disk, but the effect of the arrangement position in the present invention does not depend on the example of FIG. For example, when the non-data area 104 is arranged on the innermost data circumference and the outermost data circumference, the head can continuously move between the data areas, and the seek distance can be reduced. Further, when three or more non-data areas are arranged, the seek distance necessary for the head saving can be further reduced.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the data recording disk drive apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The difference from FIG. 1 is that the disk control unit 209 includes an access position selection unit 404. FIG. 1 shows an example of the CSS system, but FIG. 2 shows an example of a load type in which the head 205 is parked on the ramp instead of the disk surface when the disk is not rotating.

  The data recording disk drive device 201 includes at least one disk 202 for storing data, a spindle motor 206 for rotating the disk 202, a head 205 for reading / writing the disk 202 data, and a head 205 for each track on the disk. Including an actuator 207 to be moved to, a disk control unit 209 for controlling these, an interface 208 for receiving a command requested from the host 212, and a buffer 210 for temporarily storing data to be read and written. It has two lamps 204 (non-data area).

  The disk control unit 209 includes an area information holding unit 401, a selecting unit 402, a moving unit 403, and an access position selecting unit 404. The area information holding unit 401 holds the positions of all non-data areas 204. The position of the non-data area 204 may be held as a track number, or may be held as a distance from the innermost circumference in the radial direction. The access position selection unit 404 determines the next access position on the disk based on the command held in the command queue 211. The selection unit 402 selects a non-data area as a movement destination from a plurality of non-data areas held in the area information holding unit 401 based on the current position of the head. The movement unit 403 controls the movement by instructing the actuator 207 to move the head to the non-data area selected by the selection unit 402 or the access position determined by the access position selection unit 404.

  The data recording disk drive 201 is a load type, but it may be a CSS type. Further, one or more non-data areas may be provided on the disk 202 in addition to one or more lamps. Of course, a CSS zone, an ID zone, and a safe zone may be used for this non-data area.

  FIG. 4 is a processing flow when the head 205 is retracted to the non-data area 204 so as to further reduce power consumption in consideration of the current head position and the next access position.

  First, it is assumed that the current header is immediately after reading a certain data track, and the disk control unit 209 starts processing in the power saving mode (step S401).

  The access location selection unit 404 selects the next access to be executed from the command queue 211 that holds commands from the host 212 (step S402). This access position selection processing is generally selected by FIFO in the order in which commands are requested from the host 212, but in recent HDDs, command execution is performed in the order in which the seek distance of the head 205 is shortened, which is called elevator seek. By changing the order, the command execution speed is often improved and the power consumption is also reduced. The access location selection processing is a general processing method in this field, and any processing may be performed in the present invention, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the access location selection unit 404 determines whether it is necessary to immediately execute the access selected in step S402. As can be seen from the above-described principle of elevator seek, it is more efficient to perform processing after holding commands in the command queue 211 to some extent rather than sequentially accessing the command requests of the host 212. Good. The timing for executing a command is determined by the number of commands held, the amount of cached data, and the like. Also, in an AV HDD used for an HDD recorder or the like, execution completion time limit information is added to the command and requested from the host 212. Such time information is also one of the elements that determine the timing of executing the command. The command execution timing is a general processing method in this field, and any processing may be performed in the present invention, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  If it is determined in step S403 that access is to be performed immediately (step S403: Y), the moving unit 403 instructs the actuator 107 to move the head 105 to the access position determined by the access position selecting unit 404. Is accessed (step S407).

  After executing the access, the selection unit 302 determines whether there is a command in the command queue 111 (step S408). If there is no command (step S408: Y), the process ends (step S409). If there is a command in the command queue 111 (step S408: N), the process returns to S402.

  If it is determined in step S403 that access is not immediately executed (step S403: N), the selection unit 302 determines a non-data area in which the head 205 is to be withdrawn from the current head position and the next access position. (Step S404).

  The non-data area is determined by calculating the total power consumption when the head 205 is moved from the current head position to the non-data area 204 and the power consumption when the head 205 is moved from the non-data area 204 to the next access position. Are calculated for all non-data areas, respectively. Of the calculated power consumption, the non-data area with the smallest power consumption is determined as the movement destination of the head 205, and the movement unit 403 instructs the actuator 207 to move the head 205 to the movement destination determined by the selection unit 402. Move (step S405). In the calculation of the power consumption in step S404, the disk control unit 209 uses the power consumption table for a non-linear zone where the power consumption of the head 205 is nonlinear with respect to the movement distance of the head 205 when the movement distance of the head 205 is short. The calculation of power consumption using is the same as in step S302, and is omitted.

  In step S404, instead of the power consumption of the head 205, the total value of the distance from the current head position to the non-data area and the distance from the non-data area to the next access position is obtained, and the shortest distance is obtained in step S405. The head 205 may be saved in the non-data area. This method can determine the save destination of the head 205 with a small amount of calculation when the power consumption for the movement of the head 205 is nearly linear.

  After the head 205 is retracted to the non-data area in step S405, the selection unit 302 determines the timing for executing access (step S406). Since this timing is the same as that in step S403, description thereof is omitted here.

  In the above description, the lamp is treated as the non-data area 204. However, in the case of a lamp, power saving associated with loading / unloading the lamp may be added to the calculation of power consumption.

  As described above, it is possible to reduce the travel distance required when the head is retracted, thereby reducing the power consumption of the HDD.

  The functions of the interface, the disk control device, and the command queue may be a computer system that is realized using a microprocessor, ROM, RAM, a hard disk device, and the like.

  The ROM or hard disk device stores a computer program. Each function of the disk control unit may be realized by the microprocessor executing the computer program.

  Furthermore, information storage, command queue, and buffer in the disk control device may be realized using the RAM and the hard disk device.

  Note that the functional blocks of the interface, the disk control device, the buffer, and the command queue may be typically realized as an LSI that is an integrated circuit. These may be individually made into one chip, or may be made into one chip so as to include a part or all of them.

  The name used here is LSI, but it may also be called IC, system LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI depending on the degree of integration.

  Further, the method of circuit integration is not limited to LSI, and implementation with a dedicated circuit or a general-purpose processor is also possible. An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after manufacturing the LSI or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connection and setting of circuit cells inside the LSI may be used.

  Further, if integrated circuit technology comes out to replace LSI's as a result of the advancement of semiconductor technology or a derivative other technology, it is naturally also possible to carry out function block integration using this technology. Biotechnology can be applied.

  The data recording disk drive apparatus according to the present invention has two or more non-data areas on the disk for retracting the head, and is capable of moving the head to the head retracting area where the power consumption accompanying movement is the smallest, Useful for mobile devices with hard disks. It can also be applied to uses such as home appliances, information devices, and AV devices.

1 is a configuration diagram of a data recording disk drive device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration diagram of a data recording disk drive device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 7 is a flowchart showing head evacuation processing in the power saving mode of the data recording disk drive device according to the embodiment of the present invention. 7 is a flowchart showing head evacuation processing in the power saving mode of the data recording disk drive device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the power consumption characteristic per unit distance with respect to the moving distance of the head 105

Explanation of symbols

101, 201 Data recording disk drive device 102, 202 Disk 103, 203 Data area 104 Non-data area 105, 205 Head 106, 206 Spindle motor 107, 207 Actuator 108, 208 Interface 109, 209 Disk controller 110, 210 Buffer 111, 211 Command queue 112, 212 Host 204 Lamp

Claims (13)

A data recording disk drive device for reading and writing data to a recording disk having a plurality of data tracks for storing data,
Two or more head evacuation areas for evacuating the head for reading and writing data to and from the disk;
Comprising disk control means for controlling movement of the head to the head withdrawal area;
The disk control means includes
Area information holding means for holding the position of the head saving area;
Selection means for selecting the head saving area for saving the head based on the current position of the head;
A data recording disk drive apparatus comprising: moving means for controlling movement of the head to the head saving area selected by the selection means. 2. The data recording disk drive device according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects a head saving area that is at a shortest distance from a current head position. 2. The data recording disk drive apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the head saving area so that the energy required for the head to move from the current head position to the head saving area is minimized. . The data recording disk drive includes a command queue that holds a command request from a host;
Access position selection means for determining a next access position from a command held in the command queue,
2. The data recording disk drive device according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects a head saving area from a current head position and the determined access position. The selecting means selects the head evacuation area so that the total of the distance moved from the current head position to the head evacuation area and the distance moved from the head evacuation area to the selected access position is the shortest. The data recording disk drive apparatus according to claim 4. The selection means has a minimum sum of energy consumed by the device by moving from the current head position to the head saving area and energy consumed by the device by moving from the head saving area to the selected access position. 5. The data recording disk drive device according to claim 4, wherein the head saving area is selected so that A method for controlling a data recording disk drive device for reading and writing data to a recording disk having a plurality of data tracks for storing data,
The recording disk or the data recording disk drive device has two or more head evacuation areas for evacuating a head for reading and writing data to and from the recording disk,
A head saving area selecting step for selecting the head saving area for saving the head based on the current position of the head;
A data recording disk driving method comprising a moving step of moving a head to the head saving area selected in the head saving area selection step. 8. The data recording disk driving method according to claim 7, wherein the head saving area selection step selects a head saving area that is at the shortest distance from the current head position. 8. The data recording according to claim 7, wherein the head saving area selecting step selects the head saving area so that the energy required for the head to move from the current head position to the head saving area is minimized. Disk drive method. The data recording disk drive has a command queue for holding command requests from the host,
An access position selection step of determining a next access position from the command held in the command queue;
8. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the head saving area selecting step selects a head saving area from a current head position and a position selected by the access position selecting step. The head evacuation area selecting step includes a head evacuation area so that a sum of a distance moving from the current head position to the head evacuation area and a distance moving from the head evacuation area to the position selected by the access position selection step is minimized. The control method according to claim 10, wherein: is selected. In the head saving area selection step, the energy consumed by the apparatus by moving from the current head position to the head saving area and the apparatus moving from the head saving area to the position selected by the access position selection step The control method according to claim 10, wherein the head evacuation area is selected so that the total energy consumed is minimized. An integrated circuit for data recording disk drive control for reading and writing data to a recording disk having a plurality of data tracks for storing data,
Two or more head evacuation areas for evacuating the head for reading and writing data to and from the disk;
Comprising disk control means for controlling movement of the head to the head withdrawal area;
The recording disk control means includes
Area information holding means for holding the position of the head saving area;
Selection means for selecting the head saving area for saving the head based on the current position of the head;
An integrated circuit comprising: moving means for controlling movement of the head to the head saving area selected by the selecting means.

Images