Optical disk storage media identification

#This invention relates generally to optical disk storage. Particularly, this invention relates to a system that provides identification of optical disk storage media inserted into an optical disk drive for differentiation among different versions of optical storage technology.

#In Oct. 2000, a study released out of the University of California, Berkeley reported that it took the entire history of humankind until the year 1999 to accumulate 12 exabytes of information (where 1 exabyte equals 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes). Twelve exabytes of data is 50,000 times the size of the Library of Congress. The study estimated that this amount of accumulated information will double by the middle of the year 2002. The incredible recent growth in the production of information has made the demand for information management tremendous.

#Over the course of computing history, various methods of information storage have been used. Currently, optical disk storage is particularly popular, both because it is a removable storage means (in contrast to hard disk drives) and because it offers high capacity at a reasonable cost. Of course, as with many industries, competition is focused on three factors: bigger, faster, and cheaper. With respect to “bigger,” optical disk manufacturers strive to provide higher capacity disks. Currently, an everyday CD-ROM or CD-RW can store about 600 megabytes of information while a single-sided DVD traditionally can store 4,700 megabytes (i.e., 4.7 GB). However, the recent arrival of duallayer optical technology was a jump for disk capacity. By writing and reading data encoded on two different depths or layers of the disk, capacity essentially doubled. For example, a dual-layer DVD can store 8,500 megabytes (i.e., 8.5 GB) per side.

#FIG. 1 is a view of a prior art cartridge configuration having a colored insert to indicate the type of optical storage media within the cartridge.

#FIG. 2 shows a view of a full-insert detection switch from a disk drive unit of the prior art.

#FIGS. 3 shows a view of a full-insert detection switch from a new generation disk drive unit of the present invention.

#As previously explained, FIG. 1 shows a cartridge 100 for an optical disk from the prior art. While a color insert 110 is included in FIG. 1, it is understood that although many versions of prior art cartridges do not have such a color insert, they otherwise share a similar shape and configuration. As is well known in the art, such cartridges consist of a housing 115 that encapsulates the optical disk 105. The housing 115 is usually made from two pieces of plastic (a base (not shown) and a cover 120) that have been sonically welded or otherwise connected. The housing defines a top face 125, a corresponding bottom face (not shown), a front (not shown, but indicated by arrow 130), a back (not shown, but indicated by arrow 135), a first side (arrow 140) and a second side (arrow 145). Often, the optical disk 105 is recorded with data on both sides of the disk. Therefore, the cartridge 100 can be inserted into a disk drive unit two ways—one way to access data from Side A and another way to access data from Side B.

#FIG. 2 shows views of full-insert detection switches (also referred to as media identification switches) installed on cartridge holders 210. Usually, two cartridge holders 210A and 210B are installed within a prior art disk drive unit (not shown, but well known in the art) such that as an optical disk cartridge 100 is inserted into the disk drive unit, the left and right cartridge holders 210A and 210B guide and support the cartridge. There are guide-stops 215 or similar devices in place to give a user tactile feedback that the cartridge is fully inserted—and to prevent the cartridge from being inserted too far into the drive unit. When the cartridge is fully inserted into the disk drive unit, the full-insert detection switches 205 are activated by the presence of the front-most portion of the cartridge sides 140 and 145 near the full-insert detection switch. While the switches can be mechanical switches, often such switches operate electronically without moving parts, such as with the use of a light sensor. Only when the full-insert detection switch is activated does the disk drive unit spin-up the optical disk 105.

#FIG. 4 shows the present invention's addition of “media identification” notches 405 in the cartridge 400. These notches are created at the front face of the cartridge 400. As is shown in FIG. 4, each notch causes removal of a portion of the front-most area of the left side 140A and right side 140B of the cartridge 400. In other words, to the front corners of the cartridge are removed. In this manner, the cartridge 100 shown in FIG. 4 is of the same physical size and overall shape as those cartridges of previous systems (as shown in FIG. 1). Importantly, the optical disk 105′ of FIG. 4 is of a different capacity from that of the disk shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, it is known as a new generation (in comparison to older, previous generations). While the overall look of the cartridges 100 remain fairly the same, the internal optical disk 105′ can vary greatly from one generation to the next.