Contactless authentication of optical disk drives

An optical disc drive, comprising:

• a housing;
• a turntable within the housing;
• a shaft which connects the turntable to a motor;
• a cover around the shaft;
• a coil antenna within the housing, the coil antenna has rotational symmetry about an axis of the shaft and is spaced apart from the turntable, and the coil antenna comprises a coil which is wound around the cover along a length of the cover;
• a magnetic insulating material between the coil antenna and the housing;
• an RFID reader circuit connected to the coil;
• and
• a processor in communication with the RFID reader circuit, the processor receives data from the RFID reader circuit.

A method for authenticating an optical disc, comprising:

• rotating a turntable on which an optical disc is seated, wherein a shaft connects the turntable to a motor and a cover is around the shaft;
• while the turntable is rotating, activating an RFID reader circuit which is connected to a coil antenna having a rotational symmetry with an axis of the turntable, the coil antenna comprising a coil which is wound around the cover along a length of the cover;
• at the RFID reader circuit, reading an authentication code from an RFID tag carried by the optical disc;
• and
• determining whether to allow access to the optical disc based on the authentication code.