Patent ID: 6038091
Filing Date: 2000-03-14
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A digital thermal asperity detector for a magnetic disk drive read channel, comprising:a pre-filter coupled to an analog-to-digital converter in the read channel, the analog-to-digital converter generating ADC samples having digital values, said pre-filter for averaging the values of a first predetermined number of consecutive ADC samples;a first threshold module coupled to said pre-filter for generating a first TA flag if the average value of the first predetermined number of consecutive ADC samples exceeds a predetermined value, indicative of the possible presence of a thermal asperity; anda second threshold module for increasing the accuracy of the digital thermal asperity detector by generating a second TA flag if, out of a second predetermined number of consecutive ADC samples, the number of first TA flags exceeds a third predetermined number, thereby verifying the presence of the possible thermal asperity indicated by said first threshold module.