Method and apparatus for data storage
AssigneeThomson Licensing
InventorMeinolf Blawat
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus for data storage based on fibers are described. Data are stored as marks in a surface of a fiber or in a volume near the surface of the fiber. Data marks are written to or read from the fiber by irradiating the surface of the fiber with at least one radiation beam. The fiber has calibration marks for controlling a speed of the fiber relative to the at least one radiation beam.
Claims20
An apparatus for writing data to a diamond-shaped polymer fiber, with two or more light sources for emitting two or more light beams for writing data to the diamond-shaped polymer fiber, wherein the apparatus writes marks into a surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber along two or more tracks parallel to an axis of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber by independently irradiating the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber with the two of more light beams in accordance with the data to be written to generate holes in the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber or to induce changes of an optical property of a material of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber close to the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber.
An apparatus for reading data from a diamond-shaped polymer fiber, with two or more light sources for emitting two or more light beams for reading data from the diamond-shaped polymer fiber, wherein the apparatus reads marks from a surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber along two or more tracks parallel to an axis of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber by irradiating the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber with the two or more light beams, for each of the two or more light beams detecting light reflected by the diamond-shaped polymer fiber, and retrieving data from the light detected for each of the two or more light beams.
A method for writing data to a diamond-shaped polymer fiber, the method comprising:
- generating two or more light beams with two or more light sources for writing data to the diamond-shaped polymer fiber, and
- writing marks into a surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber along two or more tracks parallel to an axis of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber by independently irradiating the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber with the two or more light beams in accordance with the data to be written to generate holes in the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber or to induce changes of an optical property of a material of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber close to the surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber.
A method for reading data from a diamond-shaped polymer fiber, the method comprising:
- generating two or more light beams with two or more light sources for reading data from the diamond-shaped polymer fiber,
- irradiating a surface of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber with the two or more light beams along two or more tracks parallel to an axis of the diamond-shaped polymer fiber, for each of the two or more light beams,
- detecting light reflected by the diamond-shaped polymer fiber, and
- retrieving data from the light detected for each of the two or more light beams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.