Integrated controller to process both optical reads and...

Details Integrated controller to process both optical reads and... Integrated controller to process both optical reads and...

2000-08-30

2004-02-10

Bragdon, Reginald G. (Department: 2188)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory

Addressing combined with specific memory configuration or...

Dynamic-type storage device

C711S159000, C714S052000, C360S032000, C360S048000, C369S030220, C369S030230, C369S047190

Reexamination Certificate

active

06691203

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to optical storage media, and more particularly to controllers for reading and writing to optical storage media.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Optical read and write media drives are well known in the art. Conventional optical read drives include Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) drives, which can read CD-based formats, and Digital Video Disc-Read Only Memory (DVD) drives, which can read DVD and CD-based formats. Conventional optical write drives include Compact Disc-Read/Write (CD-R) drives, which can read CD-based formats and read and write to Write Once Media, and; Compact Disc-Rewritable (CD-RW) drives, which can read CD-based formats and read and write to Write Once Media and Rewritable Media. Each of these drives conventionally requires different controllers.
FIGS. 1A and 1B
are block diagrams illustrating basic conventional controller architectures for optical drives.
FIG. 1A
illustrates a basic conventional architecture for CD-ROM and DVD controllers. The controller
100
comprises a host interface
104
, a buffer manager
106
, a decoder
110
, a read servo
112
, a read channel
114
, power drivers
116
, and a microcontroller interface
118
. The host interface
104
functions as an interface between a host
102
, such as a personal computer, and the rest of the controller
100
. When the host
102
sends a command to the controller
100
via the host interface
104
to read data on the disc
120
, the command is sent to an external microcontroller (not shown) via the microcontroller interface
118
. The host's command is interpreted and sent back to the controller
100
. The read servo
112
, using the read channel
114
and power drivers
116
, finds and collects the data from the disc
120
according to the command. The data is decoded by the decoder
110
and stored in an external Dynamic Random Access Memory
108
(DRAM). The buffer manager
106
manages data flow in and out of the external DRAM
108
via a bus
122
. Typically, the bus is either a 16-bit or 32-bit bus. Once enough of the data is decoded and stored in the DRAM
108
, the host
102
is notified. The host
102
then collects the data from the external DRAM
108
.
FIG. 1B
illustrates a basic conventional architecture for CD-R and CD-RW controllers. The controller
150
comprises a host interface
154
, a decoder
156
, an encoder
158
, a read and write servo
160
, a buffer manager
162
, and a microcontroller interface
164
. The host interface
104
functions as an interface between the host
102
and the rest of the controller
100
. To perform a write, the host
152
sends a command to the controller
150
via the host interface
154
to write data on the disc
170
. The command is sent to an external microcontroller (not shown) via the microcontroller interface
164
. The host's command is interpreted and sent back to the controller
150
. The data is encoded by the encoder
158
into the proper format. The data is then physically written onto the disc
170
by the read/write servo
160
, using the read channel and power drivers
168
, according to the command. How the data is written onto the disc
170
is determined by the write strategies
166
. Typically, the write strategies
166
and the read channel/power drivers
168
reside outside of the controller
150
. The buffer manager
162
manages data flow in and out of the external DRAM
172
via the bus
174
during the writing of the data. The reading of data with controller
150
functions in the same manner as with the controller
100
.
However, if a consumer desires the functionality of all four drives, the consumer must purchase multiple drives. One drive could be manufactured with a combination of the two controllers
100
and
150
, but an additional bridge chip is required to multiplex the controllers together. This is very costly to manufacture with no corresponding increase in performance. In fact, a decrease in the speed of the host would be required to interface with the combined controller. This results in a performance penalty for the host.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an integrated controller to process both optical reads and optical writes of multiple optical media. The integrated controller should be cost efficient to manufacture and also avoid a performance penalty for the host. The present invention addresses such a need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an integrated controller to process both optical reads and optical writes of multiple optical media. The integrated controller includes a host interface; a buffer manager coupled to the host interface; an embedded memory coupled to the buffer manager; an integrated encoding/decoding engine coupled to the buffer manager; a data channel interface coupled to the integrated encoding/decoding engine; and an integrated servo/recording processor coupled to the integrated encoding/decoding engine and the data channel interface, where the integrated servo/recording processor includes a set of write strategies. The present invention provides a controller which integrates the functionality of the conventional controllers into an integrated processor. With the controller in accordance with the present invention, a single drive may be provided which can read CD-based and DVD-based formats, read and write to Write Once Media, and read and write to Rewritable Media. The architecture of the controller is designed such that its manufacture is cost effective and a performance penalty for the host does not occur. In addition, the controller may also be used with conventional optical drives. Thus, with the present invention, the same controller may be used for all conventional optical drives as well as with an integrated drive.


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