Methods and apparatus for simultaneously reading multiple tracks of an optical storage medium
AssigneeZen Research N. V.
InventorsAmir Alon, Jacob Finkelstein
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for synchronously reading data from multiple tracks of an optical disk using multiple illumination beams. Circuitry is provided for use with a photodetector array to read and buffer data in parallel from the multiple adjacent tracks, while asynchronously providing processed data to a host processor. Circuitry is further provided for correcting phase errors resulting from variations in the linear velocity of the tracks being read, depending upon the radial position of the tracks.
Claims20
Apparatus for simultaneously reading a plurality of neighboring data tracks of an optical disk, the apparatus comprising:
- a multibeam pickup assembly comprising a laser light source, a diffraction grating and a plurality of detectors, the laser light source providing a light beam, the diffraction grating splitting the light beam into a plurality of illumination beams, each of the illumination beams reflecting from a corresponding one of the data tracks, each of the reflected beams focused on a corresponding one of the detectors to provide a plurality of data signals corresponding to data stored in the plurality of neighboring data tracks;
- a plurality of data sampler circuits for recovering a plurality of digital data signals from the plurality of data signals;
- and
- a plurality of data aligner circuits, each data aligner circuit synchronizing a corresponding one of the data sampler circuits to a corresponding one of the data signals to account for variations in the linear velocities of the plurality of neighboring data tracks.
A method of simultaneously reading a plurality of neighboring data tracks of an optical disk, the method comprising:
- providing a multibeam pickup assembly comprising a laser light source that generates a light beam;
- providing a crating in a path of the light beam to split the light beam into a plurality of illumination beams;
- reflecting each of the illumination beams from a corresponding one of the data tracks;
- detecting each of the reflected beams to provide a plurality of data signals;
- sampling the plurality of data signals to generate a plurality of digital data signals;
- and
- synchronizing the sampling of each of the plurality of data signals to account for variations in the linear velocities of the plurality of neighboring data tracks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.