Registers – Coded record sensors – Particular sensor structure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-05
2002-11-26
Frech, Karl D. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Coded record sensors
Particular sensor structure
C235S493000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06484940
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to the field of portable storage devices for electronic data, and more specifically to card-type devices having both linear magnetic and annular optical data storage regions, such data regions possessing the capability to be written at least once and read several times.
As technological advances have created more powerful and sophisticated electronic equipment at astounding speeds over the years, the size of the software, programs and generated data have grown at proportionally higher rates. Technology that was once 4-bit resolution became 8-bit, which in turn became 16-bit and so forth. As a result, the need for higher capacity data storage has been triggered by such developing technology. For example, at one time, early consumer image scanners were only capable of scanning black and white images, which were typically no more than 300 kilobytes in size (approximately ⅙ the storage capacity of a standard floppy diskette). Today, high resolution consumer color image scanners produce images with millions of colors which are typically as large as 100 megabytes or greater (approximately 50 floppy diskettes). Thus, such advancements in technology demand higher capacity data storage and clearly, such advancements have created a need for a medium capable of supporting such technology.
Ideally, a medium which is portable and easy to carry, highly durable and reliable, generally familiar to the consumer, and has an established base of compatible readers/writers is needed to fill this void. Credit cards have emerged as a standard medium that fits these qualifications. Credit cards are wallet-sized, made of a durable substrate such as plastic, can be embossed with numbers and/or letters, and possess an established market for the use and storage of such cards. Furthermore, consumers are familiar with the way credit cards work and are generally comfortable with using them. Cards in the shape of a credit card are in use by a variety of different companies for the purpose of identifying customers and storing vital information, as demonstrated by the existing use of Automatic Teller Machine (“ATM”) cards, driver's licenses membership cards, and other access cards produced for the purposes of identification.
However, credit cards in their current state have a severe limitation which impedes their ability to be used for more sophisticated purposes. Conventional access cards implementing a magnetic stripe have the capability of storing only a minimal amount of data. Generally, this is sufficient for storing and transmitting simple information such as account numbers and other information which does not require a great deal of data storage space. However, the magnetic stripe alone is insufficient to store large amounts of data. Thus, a higher capacity media used in conjunction with the standardized credit card medium may enhance the capabilities of the current credit cards and similar access cards.
Although several different forms of media with high data storage capacities are available, two have emerged as standards: magnetic data regions and optical data regions. Magnetic data storage involves the electrical encoding of analog or digital information on a magnetic surface. Magnetic data stripes found on credit cards are “swiped” linearly past the detector/encoder element of the read/write device. Magnetic media, as found in floppy diskettes, hard disk drives, and removable disks, is capable of storing larger amounts of data by spinning the storage material around an axis perpendicular to the plane of the surface of the storage material and aligning annular data “tracks” in either concentric parallel nested circular tracks or in a single concentric spiral track.
Optical data regions provide significantly larger storage capacities over magnetic media of comparable size. Two types of optical regions have been developed: those implemented in an annular fashion and those composed of strips or are generally non-annular in form. Annular optical discs are rapidly spun around a stationary assembly where data is then read through a beam of focused light off of concentric or spiral data tracks embedded in the optical disc. Such discs are typically composed of three types of layers which vary in composition depending on the type of optical disc. One layer is composed of a reflective material which allows an optical lens to reflect the beam of focused light off the optical disc and read the binary data back into the optical reader. A second layer contains the data, which is formed by marks or pits in a permanently encoded form found in mass manufactured audio CDs and computer CD-ROMs, or an organic dye polymer such as cyanine, phthalocyanine or azo as used in CD-Recordable discs. Alternatively, CD-Rewriteable discs utilize a polycrystalline layer that alternates between “amorphous” and “ordered” states to mimic pits and marks. Both the reflective layer and the data layer are embedded between two layers of a supporting structure, typically comprising a plastic, resin, or polycarbonate substrate.
Non-annular optical data regions and optical strips are typically composed of the similar types of material, yet can be less efficient than annular optical data regions. Existing cards which utilize non-annular optical regions or strips have severely limited data transfer rates due to the excessive amount of time that is typically required to read data from the optical strip. To scan an optical strip, either the card or the scanning beam must continuously move back and forth along successive lines of the data track to read the data. This process requires a specialized apparatus specifically designed to read such optical strips, and also requires very high precision in alignment of the card and scanning beams. It is due to this limitation that a number of inventions utilizing such optical strips necessarily disclose a proprietary apparatus for reading and/or writing to the optical strips.
It is intended in this application that any reference to CD, DVD, and/or LD will include not only the listed formats, but also contemplates other optical formats now known or later developed based upon the same technological concepts. Additionally, any reference to a tray-loading, caddy-loading, cartridge-loading, slot-loading, or hub-loading optical drive device is intended to include existing industry-standard optical drive devices as well as any other loading format now known or later developed based upon the same technological concepts.
Ideally, if an optical disc were to conform to either the 5 inch or 3 inch standard currently in use by CD, DVD, and/or LD device drives, the size and shape of the disc allow it to be compatible with most computer systems, stereo systems and other devices which incorporate industry standard optical drives. When CD players and CD-ROM drives were first developed, music and software publishers contemplated the use of two distinct sizes of optical discs: the 5 inch CD and the 3 inch CD (“Mini-CD”). Thus, CD, DVD, and LD drive devices with tray-loading carriage mechanisms came to be manufactured with trays that are compatible with both 5 inch and 3 inch optical discs. Such trays have recessed grooves which allow the 3 inch discs to fit snugly into the tray and ensure that the disc is precisely aligned with the optical beam when the tray is closed. Due to the close spacing between data tracks on an annular optical disc, it is necessary that the disc be precisely aligned with the optical beam. Early optical drives were not manufactured with such specialized grooves and in response to this demand, music and software publishers sometimes included an adaptor to convert 3 inch discs into a 5 inch size or sold such adaptors separately. By using such an adaptor, 3 inch discs could be read by any optical drive which reads 5 inch optical discs.
Similarly, caddy-loading optical drives were developed to provide a more stable environment for the optical disc during spin-up and also incorporated the 3 inch recessed grooves. Further, CD a
Dilday Robert Burr
Scarafiotti Timothy
Digital Castles
Frech Karl D.
Kim Ahshi K
Stetina Brunda Garred & Brucker
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