Re-writable optical disk having reference clock information permanently formed on the disk

An optical disk recorder comprising:

• an optical disk rotatably mounted on the recorder, the optical disk having a recording layer containing servo tracks;
• a first optical transducer optically coupled to the recording layer of the optical disk, the first optical transducer following a servo track as the optical disk rotates;
• a clock reference structure formed along the servo tracks providing data fields of indeterminate length, the clock reference structure causing the first optical transducer to produce a clock reference signal as the optical disk rotates;
• means for recording data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk, wherein the data marks are recorded to include fundamental spatial frequencies less than a predetermined spatial frequency;
• and
• a write clock which determines the placement of first and second transition edges of data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk with sub-bit accuracy, the write clock being phase locked to the clock reference signal.

An optical disk recorder for receiving an optical disk which is rotatably mountable on the recorder, the optical disk comprising a recording layer having servo tracks and a clock reference structure having a spatial frequency which is greater than a predetermined spatial frequency, the clock reference structure being formed along the servo tracks and providing data fields of indeterminate length, the optical disk recorder comprising:

• a first optical transducer which can optically couple to a recording layer of the optical disk, the first optical transducer following the servo tracks as the optical disk rotates, the clock reference structure causing the first optical transducer to produce a clock reference signal as the optical disk rotates;
• means for writing data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk;
• and
• a write clock which determines the physical placement of first and second transition edges of data marks written on the recording layer of the optical disk with sub-bit accuracy, the write clock being phase locked to the clock reference signal.

An optical disk comprising;

• a recording layer having servo tracks;
• a clock reference structure formed along the servo tracks, the clock reference structure permitting data marks to be written and re-written to the recording layer in data fields of indeterminate length, the reference clock structure permitting the generation of a clock reference signal which controls where first and second transition edges of data marks are written to the recording layer with sub-bit accuracy;
• a first optical transducer coupled to the clock reference structure generating a clock reference signal comprising a clock reference signal frequency;
• and wherein
• the first optical transducer coupled to data marks on the recording layer generates a data signal having a frequency spectrum in which the clock reference signal frequency is within fundamental frequency components of the frequency spectrum.

An optical disk recorder comprising:

• an optical disk rotatably mounted on the recorder, the optical disk having a recording layer containing servo tracks, the servo tracks comprising grooves;
• a first optical transducer optically coupled to the recording layer of the optical disk, the first optical transducer following a servo as the optical disk rotates;
• a clock reference structure comprising edges of the grooves which oscillate in-phase formed along the servo tracks, the clock reference structure providing data fields of indeterminate length, the clock reference structure causing the first optical transducer to produce a clock reference signal as the optical disk rotates;
• means for recording data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk, wherein the data marks are recorded to include fundamental spatial frequencies less than a predetermined spatial frequency;
• a write clock which determines the placement of data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk, the write clock being phase locked to the clock reference signal;
• and
• wherein data marks cause the first optical transducer to produce an unwanted data signal as the optical disk rotates, and the clock reference signal is separated from the unwanted data signal by detecting the clock reference signal using radial push-pull detection.

An optical disk recorder comprising:

• an optical disk rotatably mounted on the recorder, the optical disk having a recording layer containing servo tracks, the servo tracks comprising grooves;
• a first optical transducer optically coupled to the recording layer of the optical disk, the first optical transducer following a servo track as the optical disk rotates;
• a clock reference structure comprising edges on the grooves which oscillate substantially 180 degrees out-of-phase formed along the servo tracks, the clock reference structure providing data fields of indeterminate length, the clock reference structure causing the first optical transducer to produce a clock reference signal as the optical disk rotates;
• means for recording data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk, wherein the data marks are recorded to include fundamental spatial frequencies less than a predetermined spatial frequency;
• a write clock which determines the placement of data marks on the recording layer of the optical disk, the write clock being phase locked to the clock reference signal;
• and
• wherein data marks cause the first optical transducer to produce an unwanted data signal as the optical disk rotates, and the clock reference signal is separated from the unwanted data signal by detecting the clock reference signal using split detection.

An optical disk, comprising:

• a recording layer having a servo track;
• a high spatial frequency clock reference structure formed along the servo track;
• and
• a data field on the recording layer,
• wherein newly written data marks to the data field overlap previously written data marks in the data field when the data field is discontinuously written to the recording layer;
• wherein the spatial frequency of the high spatial frequency clock reference structure is greater than the spatial frequency spectrum of data in the data field.

An optical disk, comprising:

• a recording layer having a servo track for recording data fields of arbitrary length, wherein newly written data marks to the data field overlap previously written data marks in the data field when the data field is discontinuously written to the recording layer;
• and
• a clock reference structure formed along the servo track, the clock reference structure enabling writing of data on the recording layer, and enabling generation of a clock reference signal used for writing of the data;
• wherein the clock reference structure formed along the servo track comprises a first edge and a second edge of a groove of the servo track, and track address information is included in the clock reference structure as a low spatial frequency modulation of the edges of the groove.