Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Control of storage or retrieval operation by a control... – Mechanism control by the control signal
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-11
2004-08-17
Edun, Muhammad (Department: 2655)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Control of storage or retrieval operation by a control...
Mechanism control by the control signal
C369S053100, C369S053200, C369S053450, C369S059100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06778479
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical media devices. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method that enables an optical media drive to detect, and hence configure for, the optical media that is disposed within the device drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of permanent memory storage systems, optical media, and the drives that are capable of reading the media, are currently offered in a plethora of standards. For example, the digital video disk (DVD) model includes DVD−ROM, DVD−RW, DVD+RW, DVD−R, DVD+R and DVD−RAM formats. Please refer to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
is a simple block diagram of a prior art optical disk drive
1
. The disk drive
1
contains a platter
2
which is designed to accept an optical disk
2
d
. The disk
2
d
is a carrier for an optical media that has a particular optical media format
2
f
. As noted above, such formats can include DVD−ROM, DVD−RW, DVD+RW, DVD−R, DVD+R and DVD−RAM formats. A spindle motor
4
is used to spin the disk
2
, and a read/write head
6
is used to read data from, or write data to, the disk
2
d
. A controller
8
controls both the spindle motor
4
and the read/write head
6
. The controller
8
sets up various configuration parameters
8
p
that are related to the disk
2
d
to enable the drive
1
to properly and efficiently utilize the disk
2
d
. There is a great deal of overlap in terms of data structure on these various optical media formats
2
f
. For example, each of these formats
2
f
contains space allocated on the optical media of the disk
2
d
from physical sector number (PSN) 0x2F200h to PSN 0x2FE00h for a so-called Control Data Zone. There is, nonetheless, quite a bit of variation as well. For example, although space is allocated for the Control Data Zone, not all of these formats
2
f
will actually contain useful data in the Control Data Zone, which is true in particular of the DVD−RW format, and certain versions of the DVD−R format. Blank areas on the optical disk
2
will typically cause the read/write head
6
to hang when attempting to read such blank areas. Hence, an optical disk drive
1
that is expecting to read configuration data from the Control Data Zone may obtain a read failure, and hence hang, when attempting to read a DVD−RW disk
2
d
, as the Control Data Zone on DVD−RW type optical media formats
2
f
is frequently embossed blank. Moreover, the End PSN of the data area on an optical media can vary from disk
2
d
to disk
2
d
. Areas on the optical media beyond this End PSN are frequently blank, and so will causes the read/write head
6
to hang if it ventures into such areas in a read operation. It is therefore essential to get the End PSN for a disk
2
d
to prevent the read/write head
6
from attempting to read too far into the disk
2
d
, as such areas are typically blank, and thus can lead to hanging. However, the End PSN value will vary in location from media format
2
f
to media format
2
f
, further increasing the chances the drive
1
will have incorrect configuration parameters
8
p
, and hence be more prone to hanging. Finally, simply in terms of maximizing drive performance by tuning the drive
1
to the particular media format
2
f
that is currently being read from/written to (i.e., having proper configuration parameters
8
p
), it is essential that the drive
1
properly identify the media format
2
f
of the disk
2
d
in the platter
2
.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of this invention to provide a media recognition control method that is applicable to optical disk drives, and which enables optical drives to properly detect, and hence configure for, various optical media types and formats.
Briefly summarized, the preferred embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for enabling a drive controller to recognize a media type. The drive controller is capable of reading information from an optically encoded disk. The drive controller is made to attempt a first read operation from a first area of the optically encoded disk to generate a first data set. If the first read operation is successful, the drive controller then verifies that the first data set conforms to a first data format. A media type descriptor is obtained from the first data set if the first data set conforms to the first data format. A media type descriptor is obtained from a second data set read from a second area of the optically encoded disk if the first data set does not conform to the first data format, or if the first read operation is not successful.
It is an advantage of the present invention that by performing sequential read operations from the disk in the prescribed manner, and by verifying that the read operations conform to an expected data format, the drive controller is able to properly identify the media type being utilized, and hence properly configure itself for the media being used, and avoid over-read operations into blank areas of the disk. Hanging of the drive is thereby prevented, and superior tuning for the disk being read from/written to is made possible.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6643238 (2003-11-01), Nakajima
Edun Muhammad
Hsu Winston
Mediatek Incorporation
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