Patent ID: 6122121
Filing Date: 2000-09-19
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
In a disk drive apparatus implementing a zone bit recording format and having an embedded sector servo system where servo sector fields split at least one data field on a surface of a disk in said disk drive apparatus, said disk drive apparatus having a read/write controller including a disk controller coupled to a data sector/servo generator, said disk controller controlling a transfer of data between a host and a surface of one of a plurality of disks in said disk drive apparatus via a read/write head, said data sector/servo split generator comprising:a first counter counting a first amount of time to a beginning of a data field, such that a first signal is generated when a beginning of a data field is encountered by a read/write head, said first signal being supplied to a disk controller in a disk drive apparatus, such that a second signal is generated by said data sector/servo split generator if said data field after the generation of said first signal is split by a servo sector field;a second counter counting a predetermined number of data bytes transferred between a surface of a disk in said disk drive apparatus and said disk controller, such that a third signal is generated when said second signal is generated and said predetermined number of data bytes are transferred between said disk and said disk controller indicating a servo sector field split of said data field, said third signal being sent to said disk controller, such that said disk controller controls the transfer of data and servo information from and to said disk in dependence on said first and third signals; andmeans for generating a signal as a timing reference for marking a sector such that the first signal is subsequently generated, wherein the timing reference signal is independent of the rotational position of the disk the timing reference signal being a synchronizing signal for effectively generating a sector pulse signal which is independent of an index signal related to the rotational position of the disk.