Patent ID: 6122243
Filing Date: 2000-09-19
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A combination of an optical information recording apparatus and an optical recording medium:the recording medium comprising a tracking groove with a land area and a groove area for storing information, and a prepit region for storing an address that separates sectors of the tracking groove and that is aligned along an extension of an edge of the groove area; andthe recording apparatus comprising a laser beam source, a half-split photodetector that is split along a line that is parallel to the tracking groove and that receives a laser beam from said laser beam source that has been reflected by the recording medium, a first signal amplifier connected to a first side of said photodetector, a second amplifier connected to a second side of said photodetector, and a signal switcher that receives signals from both said first and second signal amplifiers and provides a single output that is selected from one of said first and second signal amplifiers so that only one of the first and second sides of said photodetector is read at a time,said photodetector being aligned with the recording medium so that when the first side of said photodetector reads the groove or land area in a sector of the tracking groove the second side of said photodetector has read the address in the corresponding prepit region and when the first side of said photodetector reads the address in the prepit region for a sector the second side of said photodetector reads the corresponding land or groove area.