Data storage medium and manufacturing method thereof, data storage medium, data read out apparatus and data read out method

A data storage medium in which data is stored, the medium comprising:

• a substrate constituted by quartz, and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface;
• a data pattern which is formed in a rectangular storage area defined on the first surface of the substrate, and expresses a data bit string of the data by a physical structure corresponding to each bit of the data bit string;
• and
• an arrangement direction index mark which is disposed on the first surface of the substrate so as to correspond to the storage area, and indicates information on an arrangement direction of the data bit string expressed by the physical structure of the data pattern formed in the storage area, wherein
• the arrangement direction index mark is disposed in a position which enables specifying the arrangement direction of the data bit string expressed by the physical structure of the data pattern.

A data storage medium in which data is stored, the medium comprising:

• a substrate constituted by quartz, and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface;
• and
• a convexoconcave structure formed in a storage area which is set on the first surface of the substrate, wherein
• the storage area includes a plurality of unit storage areas which are arrayed in at least one direction, and non-data storage areas which are disposed between the unit storage areas which are adjacent to each other,
• the convexoconcave structure includes:
• a data pattern which is formed in a data area in the unit storage area and expresses data content of the data;
• a dummy pattern which is formed in a dummy area, which is an area other than the data area in the unit storage area;
• and a discernment pattern which is formed in the unit storage area so as to discern the boundary between the data pattern and the dummy pattern, and
• each of the data pattern and the dummy pattern is formed in the data area and the dummy area so that an area density of the convexoconcave structure in the storage area becomes substantially uniform.

A data storage medium which is used for storing data, the medium comprising a substrate constituted by quartz, and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface, wherein

• a storage area, in which a plurality of unit storage areas are arrayed, is set on the first surface of the substrate,
• the storage area includes a plurality of unit storage areas which are arrayed in at least one direction, and non-data storage areas which are disposed between the unit storage areas which are adjacent to each other,
• each of the plurality of unit storage areas is an area, in which only each of the plurality of unit data patterns, constituted by concave pattern and convex pattern indicating a unit bit string of unit data acquired by dividing the data content of the data into a plurality of data, is to be formed,
• in the non-data storage area, address patterns which indicate respective position information of the plurality of unit storage areas in the storage area are formed so as to correspond to the plurality of unit storage areas respectively, and boundary patterns which indicate a boundary of the unit storage areas adjacent to each other are formed, and
• the address patterns and the boundary patterns are both constituted by convexoconcave structures.

A manufacturing method for a data storage medium in which data is stored, the medium comprising:

• a substrate constituted by quartz, and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface;
• and
• a convexoconcave structure formed in a storage area which is set on the first surface of the substrate, wherein
• the storage area includes a plurality of unit storage areas which are arrayed at least in one direction, and non-data storage areas which are disposed between the unit storage areas which are adjacent to each other,
• the convexoconcave structure includes a plurality of unit data patterns which are constituted by concave pattern and convex pattern indicating a unit bit string of a plurality of unit data acquired by dividing the data, address patterns which indicate respective position information of the plurality of unit storage areas in the storage area, and boundary patterns which indicate the boundary of the unit storage areas which are adjacent to each other,
• each of the plurality of unit data patterns is formed in each of the plurality of unit storage areas in an array sequence of the plurality of unit storage areas, and
• the address patterns are formed in the non-data storage areas so as to correspond to the plurality of unit storage areas respectively, in which the plurality of unit data patterns are formed respectively, the method comprising:
• setting a virtual grid in an area corresponding to a storage area of the data storage medium, on a first surface side of a data storage medium substrate constituted by quartz and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface;
• forming a resist pattern, corresponding to the unit data pattern which is constituted by concave pattern and convex pattern indicating a unit bit string of the data acquired by dividing the data content of the data into a plurality of the data stored in the data storage medium, on an intersection of virtual grids in an area corresponding to each of the unit storage areas of the data storage medium;
• forming resist patterns corresponding to the address pattern and the boundary pattern respectively in an area corresponding to the non-data storage area of the data storage medium;
• and
• etching the first surface of the data storage medium substrate using the resist pattern as a mask.

A manufacturing method for a data storage medium in which data is stored, the method comprising:

• a pattern data generation step of generating pattern data, which is used for forming a convexoconcave structure on a first surface side of a data storage medium substrate constituted by quartz and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface;
• and
• a convexoconcave structure formation step of forming the convexoconcave structure on the first surface of the data storage medium substrate based on the pattern data, wherein
• the convexoconcave structure includes:
• a data convexoconcave structure which is formed in a data area in a storage area defined on the first surface side of the data storage substrate and expresses the data content of the data;
• and a dummy convexoconcave structure which is formed in a dummy area, which is an area other than the data area in the storage area,
• the pattern data generation step includes a first step of generating a first pattern data corresponding to the data convexoconcave structure, and a second step of generating the pattern data by adding a second pattern data corresponding to the dummy convexoconcave structure to the first pattern data, and
• in the second step, the second pattern data is added to the first pattern data, so that an area density of the convexoconcave structure in the storage area becomes substantially uniform based on the first pattern data.

A data read out apparatus reading out data stored in a data storage medium in which data is stored, the medium comprising:

• a substrate constituted by quartz, and having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface;
• and
• a convexoconcave structure formed in a storage area which is set on the first surface of the substrate, wherein
• the storage area includes a plurality of unit storage areas which are arrayed at least in one direction, and non-data storage areas which are disposed between the unit storage areas which are adjacent to each other,
• the convexoconcave structure includes a plurality of unit data patterns which are constituted by concave pattern and convex pattern indicating a unit bit string of a plurality of unit data acquired by dividing the data, address patterns which indicate respective position information of the plurality of unit storage areas in the storage area, and boundary patterns which indicate the boundary of the unit storage areas which are adjacent to each other,
• each of the plurality of unit data patterns is formed in each of the plurality of unit storage areas in an array sequence of the plurality of unit storage areas, and
• the address patterns are formed in the non-data storage areas so as to correspond to the plurality of unit storage areas respectively, in which the plurality of unit data patterns are formed respectively, the apparatus comprising:
• an image data acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of image data including the plurality of unit storage areas and the address pattern which indicates position information of each of the plurality of unit storage areas;
• a data read out unit configured to read out the unit data from the image data, based on the unit data pattern which is formed in each of the plurality of unit storage areas;
• a position information read out unit configured to read out the position information of each of the unit storage areas from the image data, based on the address pattern formed in the non-data storage area;
• a storage unit configured to store in association with each other the unit data read out by the data read out unit and the position information of the unit storage area;
• data restoration unit configured to restore the data, based on the plurality of unit data which has been read out by the data read out unit;
• a determination unit configured to determine whether reading of the unit data is possible or not from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit, based on the unit data pattern formed in the unit storage area;
• and
• an error data generation unit configured to generate error data when the determination unit determines that reading of the unit data is impossible, wherein
• the data read out unit reads out the unit data, based on the unit data pattern when the determination unit determines that reading of the unit data is possible, and
• the storage unit stores in association with each other another the unit data which has been read out by the data read out unit and the corresponding position information of the unit storage area, or stores in association with each other the error data generated by the error data generation unit and the position information of the unit storage area.