Patent ID: 6310838
Filing Date: 2001-10-30
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A record carrier comprising:substantially parallel tracks for recording optically readable marks representing information, the tracks being divided in longitudinal direction into recording units;address areas within the recording units, the address areas of adjacent tracks being substantially aligned in a direction transverse to the tracks;sharing portions within the address areas, the sharing portions containing sequences of shared address marks representing address information, the shared address marks being positioned in between substantially aligned sharing portions of the adjacent tracks to be readable from both adjacent tracks to share the address marks, the sharing portion sharing address marks with only one other sharing portion of the adjacent tracks;a free portion in at least one address area, the free portion being free from shared address marks, the free portion being transversely aligned with a sharing portion of an adjacent address area, the sequence of the free and the at least one sharing portion within an address area being different in the adjacent address areas;and wherein the transverse distance between centerlines of different shared address mark sequences being at least 3 times the track pitch.