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AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsEric A. Swanson, Stephen R. Chinn
Estimating the term…
Apparatus and methods for accessing data on a multilayered optical storage medium. The apparatus uses the time-of-flight of illumination directed to and reflected by the layers of the optical medium to access data stored on a desired layer of the medium. More particularly, alterations in illumination reflected from the desired layer are detected to access data stored on the layer. In accordance with embodiments of the invention utilizing interferometric techniques, the time-of-flight of a reference illumination is adjusted to cause interference of the reference illumination with the illumination reflected from the layer which contains the data to be accessed. Alternatively, and in accordance with embodiments of the invention utilizing non-interferometric techniques, the time-of-flight of illumination reflected by the layer which contains the data to be accessed is selected to permit data stored on the desired layer to be accessed.
A system for reading data comprising:
A method of accessing data comprising the steps of:
A system for accessing data comprising:
A multilayered medium for use in a data accessing system using time-of-flight detection and focussing optics, said medium comprising a plurality of layers, wherein the minimum thickness of each of said plurality of layers requires the use of both time-of-flight and focussing optics to access said layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.