Patent ID: 6314071
Filing Date: 2001-11-06
Classification: G02F,G11B

Abstract:
An optical system for use in an optical disk drive that simultaneously reads multiple tracks of an optical disk, the optical system comprising:a laser diode providing a light beam;a diffractive element disposed between the laser diode and the optical disk;an actuator coupled to the diffractive element, the actuator moving the diffractive element from a first position in a path of the light beam to provide a plurality of reading beams during a read mode, to a second position outside of the path of the light beam to provide a writing beam during a write mode;a plurality of detector elements, each detector element disposed to accept a corresponding reading beam reflected from one of the multiple tracks of the optical disk; anda processor coupled to the laser diode to selectively control operation of the laser diode so that during the write mode the light beam has a power level sufficient to write data to a track of the optical disk, and during the read mode the reading beams have a sufficient power level to read the multiple data tracks of the optical disk but insufficient power to write data to a track of the optical disk.