DISK-LIKE RECORDING MEDIUM

Abstract: A disk-like recording medium is provided with recording tracks (TK), each of which includes recording sectors (SC₁, SC₂, ---, SC m ). Each of the recording sectors includes a recording region (AR C ) for control and a subsequent region (AR D ) for writing data. The invention further deals with a disk apparatus using the disk-like recording medium. In the recording region (AR C ) for control of the disk-like recording medium are provided a clock data pit (Q B ), a pair of tracking data bits (Q A , Q C ) po­ sitioned inside and outside a track center line (K C ) being separated at a predeter­ mined distance from the clock data bit (Q B ), and a pair of traverse data pits (Q D , Q E ) being separated from each other at a dis­ tance allotted depending upon the recording tracks (TK). In recording or reproducing the data using a light beam, the clocks are reliably reproduced under a stable tracking condition, and traverses can be counted. Abstract A disk-like recording medium is provided with recording tracks (TK), each of which includes recording sectors (SC₁, SC₂, SC m ). Each of the recording sectors includes a recording region (AR C ) for control and a subsequent region (AR D ) for writing data. The invention further deals with a disk apparatus using the disk-like recording medium. In the recording region (AR C ) for control of the disk-like recording medium are provided a clock data pit (Q B ), a pair of tracking data bit (Q A , Q C ) positioned inside and outside a track center line (K C ) being separated at a predetermined distance from the clock data pit (Q B ), and a pair of traverse data pits (Q D ,Q E ) being separated from each other at a distance allotted depending upon the recording tracks (TK). In recording or reproducing the data using a light beam, the clocks are reliably reproduced under a stable tracking condition, and traverses can be counted.

Description: The present invention relates to a disk-shaped recording medium in which recording tracks having prerecorded information are formed on an annular recording surface section. The document EP-A-0 225 259 describes a disk-shaped recording medium in which recording tracks forming a large number of circular turns are formed on an annular recording surface section for surrounding a central hole, each of said turns including a predetermined number of recording regions being arrayed along said length direction of each track, each including a control recording region and an information writing region consecutive thereto, whereby clock information is prerecorded in each control recording region; a pair of tracking information pits is prerecorded in each control recording region, with one of the pits being shifted to the left against the center line of the track within said region, and the other pit being shifted to the right against said line; traverse information is prerecorded in each control recording region in a way to have a start border and an end border, said traverse information having a predetermined pattern in radial direction of the disk-shaped medium, which pattern is repeated in units of sets, each set having a predetermined number of groups, and each group having a predetermined number of tracks, whereby the distance between the start and end borders in each track is different for all tracks within a group with a change by a predetermined first amount from one track to the next, whereby the start borders are the same for all tracks within a group, whereas the start border is shifted from one group to the next by a second predetermined amount. In this recording medium, each set of tracks comprises four groups, each group having four tracks. In all groups, the distance between the start and end borders of the traverse information along one track increases from one track to the next. Thereby, and due to the above described arrangement of the start borders, the end borders form a double-sawtooth configuration in radial direction, with a small tooth from one group to the next and a large tooth from one set to the next. It is the object of the present invention to provide a disk-shaped recording medium having an arrangement of travers information which allows very accurate traverse counting of the recording track. The recording medium of the present invention is characterized in that the traverse information in each track is formed by two pits (Q D , Q E ) whereby the start border of the first pit is the start border of said traverse information and whereby the end border of the second pit is the end border of said traverse information; and the end border is shifted in a first direction along the tracks by said predetermined first amount from one track to the next within a group, whereas it is shifted in the counter direction in the two adjacent groups, whereby the end border in the last track of each group corresponds to the end border in the first track in the next group. Due to this arrangement, groups of tracks can be better distinguished from one another as in the prior art arrangement as the end border does not move in the same direction from one track to the other in all groups with a large back step between adjacent groups, but as the end border moves in a first direction from one track to the other in one group, but in the opposite direction in the adjacent groups. However, it is not only the change of the sign of the difference between the end borders of adjacent tracks within the groups which improves the accuracy in distinguishing adjacent groups, but it is also the fact that the end borders are aligned, due to the just defined arrangement, along an almost sinusoidal curve in radial direction in contrast to the double-sawtooth arrangement in the prior art. As it is wellknown, it is much simpler to process a sinusoidal signal than a sawtooth signal. This sinusoidal character is promoted by the fact that the end border within the last track of a group is at the same position as the end border in the first track of the next group. This digital arrangement corresponds to the behaviour of an analog sinusoidal curve, in which there is only small signal change in the amplitude regions. A further improvement is achieved when shifting one of the tracking information pits from one side of tracks to the next. Then, it is not only possible to distinguish sets of tracks, group of tracks and single tracks, but also double sets of tracks. The embodiments of the present invention will be explained hereinafter by referring to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing a recording format of the optical disk as a first embodiment of the disk-shaped recording medium according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the state of each information pit provided in the control recording region of the optical disk; Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the disk apparatus employing the above optical disk; Fig. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the clock regenerating circuit constituting the disk apparatus; Fig. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a concrete constructional example of the tracking error detection circuit constituting the above disk apparatus; Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the construction of a pattern discriminating circuit constituting the disk apparatus; Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the recording format of the optical disk according to a modified embodiment of the disk-shaped recording medium according to the present invention; and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the state of each information pit provided in the control recording area of the optical disk. In an optical disk D, shown in Fig. 1, an annular label section 2 is provided about a central hole 1, as in the conventional disk d shown in Fig. 9, and an annular recording surface section 4 is provided around the label section 2. On the section 4, there is provided a spirally extending recording track TK forming a pattern of a large number of circular or substantially concentric turns surrounding the central hole 1. Each turn or each circular track is divided into a predetermined number m of sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... , SC m (where m =32, as an example). A plurality of registering sectors among the circular tracks, such as the sectors SC₁ of the tracks, are aligned in the radial direction of the optical disk D. Each of the sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... SC m in each circular track is provided at towards its incipient side with an address information section AD followed by a predetermined number n of blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... , BL n , (where n=43, as an example). As far as the blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... , BL n , a plurality of registering blocks among the sectors, such as the block BL₁ among the sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... SC m , are aligned in the radial direction of this optical disk d . Each of the blocks BL₁ BL₂, ... , BL n of each of the sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... SC m is provided towards its incipient end with a control recording area AR C , followed by an information writing area AR D to constitute a unit information division. The control recording region AR C of each of the blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... , BL n is divided into a servo region AR S and a traverse region AR T . In the servo region AR S , a pair of tracking information pits Q A and Q C are provided with a shift towards the outside and the inside on both sides of a track center line K C with a spacing of a predetermined interval along the track direction, while a clock information pit Q B is provided on the track center line K C at a position intermediate between the tracking information pits Q A and Q C . On the traverse region AR T , a pair of traverse information pits Q D , Q E are provided at an interval from each other of a distance P allotted for each recording track with the clock information pit Q B as the reference. In the present embodiment, each control recording region AR C has a data recording capacity of 30 channel bits. The 7th and 11th channel bits are allocated as the recording positions of the tracking information pits Q A and Q C and the 11th channel bit is allocated as the recording position of the clock information pit Q B , while the 19th and the 27th channel bits are allocated as the recording regions of the traverse information pits Q D and Q E . Referring to the direction of the tracking information pits Q A , Q C , clock information pits Q B and the traverse information pits Q D , Q E orthogonal to the track center line K C , that is, the radial direction of the optical disk D, the tracking information pits Q A and Q C and the clock information pits Q B are arrayed on respective straight line along the radial direction, whereas the traverse information pits Q D are shifted in their positions in the track direction by one channel bit at intervals of four consecutive tracks, whereas the other traverse information pits Q E are shifted in their positions by one channel bit for each track, except the portions where the traverse information pits Q D are being changed in their positions at intervals of four consecutive tracks, such that the bit pattern differs on the track-by-track basis with the 16 consecutive tracks as a recurrent unit. In the present embodiment in which the control recording region AR C of each of the blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... , BL n is divided into a servo region AR S and a traverse region AR T and in which the tracking information pits Q A , Q C and the clock information pits Q B are arrayed on respective straight radial lines in the servo region AR S , even when the so-called ghost pits are locally produced in the radial direction of the disk due to thermal contraction or the like of the disk substrate at the time of injection molding of the disk substrate on which the tracking information pits Q A , Q C and the clock information pits Q B are transferred thermally, there is no risk that the reproducing output of the tracking information pits Q A and Q C or the clock information pits Q B should become unstable, under the effect of the ghost pits, in the disk apparatus adapted for reproducing the recording and/or reproduction of the information using this optical disk D, such that clock degeneration or reproduction may be achieved reliably from the clock information pits Q B on the basis of the tracking information pits Q A , Q C under stable tracking control. In the optical disk D of the present embodiment, since the clock information pits Q B are placed intermediate between the tracking information pits Q A and Q C , the deviating scanning of the light beam for reading out the information may be facilitated. In addition, the relative distance P between the traverse information pits Q D and Q E provided in the traverse region AR T is changed by one channel bit between adjacent tracks, and one of the paired traverse information pits Q D and Q E is at the same position, so that the read-out errors at the time of reading out the traverse information by the traverse information pits Q D and Q E may be identified easily, such that the bit patterns of the paired traverse information pits Q D and Q E may be read out on the basis of the reproducing clocks obtained from the above clock information pits Q B under the stable tracking control on the basis of the above tracking information pits Q B . The above described optical disk D is employed as the disk-shaped recording medium for the disk apparatus arranged as shown for example in Fig. 3. In the block diagram shown in Fig. 3, a system controller 21 is responsive to the control instructions supplied from a host computer 23 connected via an interfacing circuit 22 to control the operation of the apparatus in its entirety. Thus it supplies to an up/down counter 25 preset data indicating the number of the tracks up to a target track for performing a seeking control of an optical head 24 adapted for recording/reproducing the information on the optical cisk D, while supplying to a latch circuit 26 the bit pattern data of the aforementioned traverse information pits Q D , Q E previously recorded on the tracks to be erased or recorded, and also supplying erasure or recording instruction signals to a record data demodulating circuit 27 and to a laser ariving circuit 28. During the erasure mode operation, the modulating circuit 27 supplies erasure pulses to the laser drive circuit 28 at the timing conforming to the reference channel clocks CCK. During the recording mode operation, the circuit 27 subjects the recording data written from the host computer 23 via interfacing circuit 22 into a memory 29 to a predetermined modulation, such as EFM (eight-fourteen modulation) to supply the modulated recording data pulses timed with the above channel clocks CCK to the laser driving circuit 28. This laser driving circuit 28 drives a laser diode, not shown, enclosed in the optical head 24, by drive pulse signals conforming to recording data pulses during the record mode operation or erasure pulses during the erasure mode operation. During the reproducing operation mode, other than the erasure and, recording operation modes, the circuit 28 supplies to the laser diode the high frequency signals adapted for high frequency driving the laser diode with a lower light volume for reproducing the information for the optical disk D. It will be noted that the optical disk D is rotated accurately by a disk motor 30 at a constant angular velocity. The optical head 24 has enclosed therein a laser diode driven by the laser drive circuit 28 to output a laser light for information recording and or reproduction, a photodetector for detecting the laser light irradiated on the disk D and reflected thereby, and the like, such that the photo-detector output, that is, the reproducing output, is supplied to a clock reproducing circuit 32, a tracking error detecting circuit and to a pattern detecting circuit 34, while being simultaneously supplied to a demodulating circuit for data reproduction, not shown. This optical head 24 is moved on the radius of the optical disk D by a slide motor 35, the driving speed of which is detected by a speed sensor 36. A motor driving circuit 40 is servo controlled by a slide servo circuit 39 on the basis of the speed detection signals sensed by the speed sensor 36 and the target speed signal converted by a digital to analog (D/A) converter 38 from the target speed data read out from a speed information reference memory 37 with the count output by the up/down counter 55 as the address. The clock regenerating circuit 32 performs clock reproduction by a so-called phase locked loop (PLL), on the basis of the reproducing output by the clock information pits Q B in the reproducing output supplied from the optical head 24 via the preamplifier 31, for regenerating channel clocks CCK as shown in Fig. 4 and for various sampling pulses SP₇, SP₁₁, SP₁₅, SP₁₉, SP₂₀, SP₂₁, SP₂₂, SP₂₄, SP₂₅, SP₂₆ or SP₂₇ timed to the channel clocks CCK. The tracking error detecting circuit 33 detects the tracking error, on the basis of by the tracking information pits Q A , Q C in the reproducing output supplied from the optical head 24 via the preamplifier 31, for supplying the tracking error signals to a tracking servo circuit 41. The tracking error detecting circuit 33 is constituted by, for example, two sample-and-hold circuits 33A, 33B a differential amplifier 33C, etc., as shown in Fig. 5, and operates in such a manner that the reproducing output for the tracking information pits Q A , Q C in the reproducing output is sampled and held by the sample-and-hold circuits 33A, 33B and the level difference in the sample-held output is detected by the differential amplifier 33C as the tracking error. The sample pulses SP₇, SP₁₅ formed in the clock regenerating circuit 33 are used for sampling and holding of the reproducing output for the tracking information pits Q A , Q C by the sample-and-hold circuit 33A, 33B. With respect to the reproducing output supplied from the optical head 24 via the preamplifier 31, the pattern discriminating circuit 34 discriminates the bit pattern of the traverse information pits Q D , Q E and supplies the discrimination output data to a latch circuit 42, a reference memory 43 for the traverse information and to a comparator 44. As shown for example in Fig. 6, the pattern discriminating circuit 34 is constituted by the eight sample-and-hold circuits 34A, 34B to 34H and two minimum value discriminating circuits 34I, 34J. The aforementioned eight sample-and-hold circuits 34A and 34B-34H sample and hold the reproducing output for the traverse region AR T of the optical disk D, using the sampling pulses SP₁₅, SP₁₉, SP₂₀, SP₂₁, SP₂₂, SP₂₄, SP₂₅, SP₂₆ and SP₂₇ formed in the clock regenerating circuit 32. The minimum value discriminating circuits 34I, 34J perform level comparison of the sample-held outputs by the sample-and-hold circuits 34I, 34J to form discrimination data indicating the bit pattern of the traverse information pits Q D , Q E , based on the bit timing of the sample-held reproducing outputs for the paired traverse information pits Q D , Q E contained in the reproducing output from the aforementioned traverse region AR T , that is, the sample-held outputs affording a minimum value. In the reference memory 43 for the traverse information, there are stored the data concerning the number of tracks and the changing direction based on the trackwise bit patterns of the traverse information pits Q D , Q E provided in the traverse region AR T of the optical disk D. From the reference memory 43, there are read out data indicating the number of track jumps and the direction of track jumps by the movement of the optical head 24, using the bit pattern data, before one servo block or before one track, that are given by the contents of the latch circuit 42 latching the discrimination output data obtained at the pattern discriminating circuit 34 and the bit pattern data given by the current discrimination output data obtained at the pattern discriminating circuit 34. The data indicating the track jump direction are supplied from the reference memory 43 to the up/down control input of the up/down counter 25 as the count control signals. The data indicating the number of track jumps are supplied from the reference memory 43 to a pulse producing circuit 45 where they are converted into clock pulses having a pulse number conforming to the number of track jumps, which clock pulses are then supplied to the clock input terminal of the up/down counter 25. The up/down counter 25, in which are preset the data indicating the number of tracks up to the target track afforded by the system controller 21, counts up or counts down the clock pulses having a pulse number conforming to the number of track jumps by the shifting of the optical head 24, to apply to the speed information reference memory 37 the count output indicating the distance to the target track as the address data. The target speed data read out from the reference memory 37 are converted in the digital to analog D/A) converter 38 into analog target speed signals which are then supplied to the slide servo circuit 39 to control the slide motor 35 to access the optical head 24. Upon terminating the accessing, that is, after the seeking of the optical head 24 to the target track position is terminated, the count value of the up/down couner 25 is reset to zero. The comparator 44, to which the discriminating output is applied by the pattern discriminating circuit 34, compares the bit pattern data applied by the system controller 21 to the latch circuit 26 and the bit pattern data obtained as the discriminating output of the pattern discriminating circuit 34 and, when the two bit pattern data coincide with each other, outputs a coincidence signal having a logical value "0". The output of the comparator 34 is stored for each servo block by two cascaded latch circuits 46, 47 and a logical AND is taken at a first AND gate 48, the output of which is supplied to a second AND gate 49. The second AND gate 49 is supplied with a signal via two cascaded latch circuits 50 and 51 adapted to store erasure instruction signals or recording command signals outputted by the system controller 21 for each servo block. When the logical AND output by the first AND gate 48 indicating that non-coincidence of the pattern data has been detected for two consecutive servo-blocks during the erasure mode operation indicated by the erasure instruction signal or the recording command signal indicated by the recording command signal is supplied to the gate 49, it supplies an interrupt signal to the system controller 21. When supplied from the second AND gate 49 with the interrupt signal, the system controller 21 cancels the erasure mode operation or the recording mode operation. When in the recording operation mode, the system controller searches for a substitution sector in the information writing region AR D of the optical disk D to restart the recording operation for this sector. In the above described disk apparatus, the operation is cancelled when the deviation from the target track occurs for two consecutive servo blocks in the era sure or record operation modes. However, the operation may be cancelled when there is detected the non-coincidence of the bit pattern data of the traverse information pits extending over three or more blocks. A modified embodiment of the disk-shaped recording medium according to the presnt invention will be explained by referring to Fig. 7. The optical disk D₂ in the embodiment shown in Fig.7 is provided with an annular label section 2 about the central hole 1, similarly to the optical disk D of the embodiment of Fig. 1, and an annular recording surface section 4 is provided for extending around this label section 2. In this recording surface section 4, there is provided a spirally extending recording track TK forming a pattern of a large number of circular or substantially concentric turns surrounding the central hole 1. Each turn or each circular track is divided into a predetermined number m of sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... SC m , and a plurality of registering on corresponding sectors among the circular tracks are aligned in the radial direction. Each of these sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... , SC m , is provided towards its incipient side with an address information section AD followed by a predetermined number n of blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... , BL n arrayed along the recording track TK. As far as the blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... ,BL n are concerned, a plurality of registering blocks among the sectors are similarly arrayed along the radial direction of the optical disk D. Each of the blocks BL₁, BL₂, ... , BL n of each of these sectors SC₁, SC₂, ... , SC n is provided towards its incipient side with a control recording region AR C followed by an information writing region AR D to constitute a with information division. The control recording region AR C of each of the blocks BL₁, BL₂ to BL n is divided into two servo regions AR S1 , AR S2 and a traverse region AR T . In the first servo region AR S1 of the control recording region AR C , a pair of tracking information pits Q A , Q C are previously recorded as the physical changes in profile in the form of projections and recesses at the outer and inner sides of the track centerline K C and at a predetermined spacing, herein six or seven channel bits, along the track direction. In the second servo region AR S2 of the control recording region AR C of the control recording region AR C , there is previously recorded a clock information pit Q B on the track center line K C in the form of physical changes in profile by so-called embossing. In the above traverse region AR T , there are photomagnetically recorded a pair of traverse information pits Q D , Q E at a spacing P from each other which is allocated for each recording track with the clock information pit Q B as the reference. In the present embodiment, each control recording region AR C has a data recording capacity of 30 channel bits. In the first servo region AR S1 , the 4th and 5th channel bits are allocated as the recording positions for the tracking information pits Q A alternately at interval of 16 consecutive tracks, while the 11th channel bits are allocated as the recording position for the other track information pit Q C . In the second servo region AR S2 , the 27th channel bits are allocated as the recording position for the clock information pit Q B . In the traverse region AR T , the 15th to 23rd channel bits are allocated as the recording region for the traverse information pits Q D , Q E . Referring to the arraying status on the optical disk D of the tracking information pits Q A , Q C , clock information pits Q B and the traverse information pits Q D , Q E in a direction normal to the track center line K C , or in the radial direction of the disk D, the tracking information pits Q C and the clock information pits Q B are radially arrayed along straight lines, whereas the tracking information pits Q A are shifted in the track direction by one channel bit at intervals of 16 consecutive tracks, the traverse information pits Q D among the traverse information pits Q D , Q E are shifted in the track direction by one channel bit at intervals of four consecutive tracks and the other traverse information pits Q E are shifted by one channel bit at one track interval along the track direction except the portion at which the traverse information pits Q D are shifted at intervals of four consecutive tracks, such that the pit pattern is changed cyclically with 16 bits as one period and the pit position differs for each track. In the optical disk of the present embodiment, rough traverse information is afforded, with 16 tracks as one unit, by the above tracking information pits Q A that are shifted by one channel bit at intervals of 16 consecutive blocks in the track direction. The traverse information pits Q D , Q E afford the traverse information indicating each track of the 16 consecutive blocks of one period on the track-by-track basis. When the traverse information pits Q D , Q E of the traverse region AR T are recorded photo-magnetically, as in the present embodiment, the relative distance P between the traverse information pits Q D , Q E shifted by one channel bit, with one of the paired traverse information pits Q D , Q E remaining at the same position, between the adjoining tracks, such that, when reading out the traverse information by the traverse information pits Q D , Q E , the readout errors may be identified readily and the pit pattern of the paired traverse information pits Q D , Q E can be read out on the basis of the reproduced clocks obtained from the clock information pits Q B under stable tracking control based on the tracking information pits Q A , Q C to perform highly accurate traverse count of the recording track on the track-by-track basis.

Claims: A disk-shaped recording medium (D) in which recording tracks (TK) forming a large number of circular turns are formed on an annular recording surface section (4) for surrounding a central hole (1), each of said turns including a predetermined number of recording regions (BL₁ ...BL n ) being arrayed along said length direction of each track, each including a control recording region (AR C ) and an information writing region (AR D ) consecutive thereto, whereby clock information (Q B ) is prerecorded in each control recording region; a pair of tracking information pits (Q A , Q C ) is prerecorded in each control recording region, with one of the pits being shifted to the left against the center line of the track within said region, and the other pit being shifted to the right against said line; traverse information (Q D , Q E ) is prerecorded in each control recording region in a way to have a start border and an end border, said traverse information having a predetermined pattern in radial direction of the disk-shaped medium, which pattern is repeated in units of sets, each set having a predetermined number of groups, and each group having a predetermined number of tracks, whereby the distance between the start and end borders in each track is different for all tracks within a group with a change by a predetermined first amount from one track to the next, whereby the start borders are the same for all tracks within a group, whereas the start border is shifted from one group to the next by a second predetermined amount; characterized in that the traverse information in each track is formed by two pits (Q D , Q E ) whereby the start border of the first pit is the start border of said traverse information and whereby the end border of the second pit is the end border of said traverse information; and the end border is shifted in a first direction along the tracks by said predetermined first amount from one track to the next within a group, whereas it is shifted in the counter direction in the two adjacent groups, whereby the end border in the last track of each group corresponds to the end border in the first track in the next group. A recording medium according to claim 1, characterized in that said first and second amounts correspond to the length of one channel bit of data to be recorded. A recording medium according to one of the claims 1 or 2, characterized in that , in the length direction of a track, one of said tracking information pits (Q A , Q C ) has a first position (channel bit 4) in all tracks of a set of tracks, but has a second position (channel bit 5) in all tracks in the adjacent sets of tracks (Fig. 8). A recording medium according to one of the claims 1 to 3 , characterized in that said clock information is provided by a clock pit (Q B ) which is prerecorded intermediate between said two tracking information pits (Q A , Q C ) (Fig. 2). A recording medium according to one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said clock information is provided by a clock pit (Q B ) which is prerecorded behind said traverse information (Q D , Q E ) (Fig. 8).

Inventors: KOBAYASHI SEIJI, OGAWA MASATAKA, TSUKAMURA YOSHIHIRO, KOBAYASHI, SEIJI, OGAWA, MASATAKA, TSUKAMURA, YOSHIHIRO
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1988
Main classification: G11B7
IPC codes: G11B27, G11B7, G11B11, G11B20, G01Q80