Method and system for modulation coding and synchronization

A method for reading data stored on a storage medium, comprising:

• detecting a sequence of symbols stored on an optical storage medium, wherein each symbol is an m×m matrix pattern;
• determining the characteristic polynomial of each sequential m×m matrix pattern, the characteristic polynomial of a subset of each sequential m×m matrix pattern, or both;
• matching each sequential m×m matrix pattern to a stored pattern in an indexed table of possible m×m matrix patterns;
• identifying an index number for each sequential m×m matrix pattern;
• associating a bit-pattern with each identified index number;
• and
• assembling a bit-stream comprising a sequential series of the bit-patterns.

A reader for optical storage media, comprising:

• an optical excitation device configured to focus a laser beam on a data storage unit;
• an optical detector configured to detect a reflected light beam from the data storage unit, and to detect a sequence of symbols in the reflected light beam, wherein each symbol is an m×m matrix pattern;
• a demodulator configured to:
• determine the characteristic polynomial of each sequential m×m matrix pattern, the characteristic polynomial of a subset of each sequential m×m matrix, or both;
• match each sequential m×m matrix pattern to a stored pattern in an indexed table of possible m×m matrix patterns;
• identify an index number for each sequential m×m matrix pattern;
• associate a bit-pattern with each identified index number;
• and
• assemble a bit-stream comprising a sequential series of the bit-patterns;
• a decoder configured to remove any error-correction codes from the bit-stream, correct any errors identified in the bit-stream, and send the error corrected bit-stream to an output device;
• and
• the output device, wherein the output device is configured to format the bit-stream and output the formatted bit-stream to an external unit.

An optical storage disk, comprising:

• a recording surface, wherein the recording surface comprises a photosensitive media containing a plurality of micro-holograms, wherein:
• the presence of a microhologram indicates a first bit-state;
• and the absence of a microhologram indicates a second bit-state;
• and
• the plurality of micro-holograms are arranged in sequential symbols, wherein each symbol is an m×m matrix pattern.