Optical memory system

Abstract: An optical memory system comprises light beam generating means for generating a plurality of light beams; a recording medium comprising a plurality of guide grooves for guiding each of the light beams, and ID sections utilised for identifying a guide groove on which each of the light beams is projected; a plurality of photo-detectors for detecting the intensity of the reflected light or transmitted light of each of the light beams projected on the recording medium; a plurality of comparators for converting a signal released from each of the photo-detectors into a binary signal; a majority logic circuit for issuing a signal whose level is equivalent to the levels of the signals released from the majority of the comparators and a moving amount detector for detecting the moving amount of the said light beams by counting the number of pulses in the pulse signal released from the majority logic circuit when the light beams move in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves. This optical memory system is designed such that at least either the plurality of light beams or the plurality of ID sections of the guide grooves are so arranged that at least more than half of the light beams or more than half of the ID sections are not overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves whereby the number of light beams projected on the ID sections at the same time is limited to less than half of the total number of light beams projected on the recording medium. Accordingly, even when the light beams are moved in a perpendicular direction to the guide grooves, the number of pulses in the pulse signal is not influenced by ID signals or the like but coincident with the number of the guiding grooves through which the light beams have actually passed. With use of the optical memory system having such an arrangement, the accurate moving amount of a light beam is obtained resulting in high accuracy of access operation.

Description: The present invention relates to an optical memory system capable of performing data recording and reproduction by projecting a light beam onto an optical recording medium in the form of a disk, a card or the like. There has been recently used for recording and reproducing a great amount of data, an optical memory system such as a magneto-optical memory system capable of recording data in a magneto-optical recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk, magneto-optical card etc., and reproducing data therefrom. The magneto-optical recording medium comprises a disk-shaped or card-shaped substrate made of a plastic or glass etc. and a magnetic film made of Gd, Te, Fe, Co, or the like formed on the back face of the substrate, and the direction of magnetisation of the magnetic film changes according to an external magnetic field which exerts an influence upon the magnetic film, when the temperature rises to Curie point or higher. In data recording operation using such a magneto-optical memory system, while a magneto-optical disk 11 or a magneto-optical card 16 each having a magnetic film whose magnetising direction is prefixed in a desired uniform direction is rotated or slided, the effect of the external magnetic field generated by a magnet 12 or magnet 17 is applied thereto in the opposite direction to the magnetising direction of the magnetic film, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. At the same time, a light beam whose intensity varies in accordance with data to be recorded is converged by an objective lens 13 or objective lens 18 so as to have a diameter of approximately 1 µm and is projected onto the magneto-optical disk 11 or the magneto-optical card 16. In the case where the light beam has high intensity, the temperature locally rises in the area irradiated by the light beam on the magnetic film of the magneto-optical disk 11 or the magneto-optical card 16 and when this temperature increases higher than Curie point, the direction of magnetisation of the magnetic film is inverted due to the effect of the external magnetic field generated by the magnet 12 or the magnet 17. Data recording can be performed by the above inversion of the magnetising direction of the magnetic film of the magneto-optical disk 11. On the other hand, when reproducing data from the magneto-optical disk 11, a light beam which is linearly polarised and has such intensity that the temperature at the magnetic film does not rise higher than Curie point is projected onto the magneto-optical disk 11, and the area where data has been recorded is traced. The polarisation plane of reflected light from the magneto-optical disk 11 is inclined in compliance with the magnetising direction of the magnetic film at the area irradiated by the light beam due to magneto-optical effects such as Faraday effect and Kerr effect. The incline of the polarisation plane of the reflected light is converted into an electric signal by a photo-detector by way of an analyzer, thereby reproducing recorded data. When performing data recording or data reproduction as described above, it is required that the light beam is projected onto an appropriate position of the magneto-optical disk 11. Therefore, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the magneto-optical disk 11 and the magneto-optical card 16 are respectively provided with guide grooves 11a and guide grooves 16a formed in a direction parallel to the relative moving direction of the light beam and the magneto-optical disk 11 or the magneto-optical card 16. More specifically, when the light beam is projected in the vicinity of an edge portion of the guide grooves 11a, the intensity of the reflected light is decreased owing to the effect of diffraction or the like. This decrease in the intensity of the reflected light is converted into an electric signal and detected separately from signals to be obtained by the aforementioned magneto-optical effects by means of the photo-detector, thereby judging whether the irradiating position of the light beam on the magnetooptical disk 11 is appropriate or not. Thereafter, on the basis of the signal thus detected, the irradiating position of the light beam is controlled whereby decentering and incline caused by installment of the magneto-optical disk 11 on a rotation axis or a slide stand can be cancelled. As shown in Figs. 10 and 11, an ID section 11b is disposed at a part of each guide groove 11a and an ID section 16b at a part of each guide groove 16a in order to identify on which groove the light beam is projected. Each ID section 11b has pits and when the light beam is projected on the ID sections 11b, the intensity of the reflected light changes due to diffraction or the like which occurs in accordance with the pit pattern. By detecting the change in the reflected light intensity and reproducing an ID signal, it can be identified on which guide groove 11a the light beam is projected. To project the light beam on a desired guide groove 11a, access operation is performed by moving the light beam in a direction perpendicular to the direction that the guide grooves 11a extend. In this case, an ID signal cannot be reproduced during the movement of the light beam, so that the travelling distance of the light beam to the desired guide groove 11a is estimated and coarse access operation is carried out by moving the light beam for the estimated distance. Thereafter, the light beam is shifted in a nearest guide groove 11a where an ID signal is reproduced thereby judging whether the guide groove 11a on which the light beam is projected is the desired guide groove or not. Then, the light beam is gradually moved and the above judging operation is repeated until the ID signal at the desired guide groove 11a is reproduced whereby the light beam can be projected on the desired guide groove 11a. In the foregoing coarse access operation, the pitches of the guide grooves 11a and 16a are of the order of µm, whereas it is quite difficult to increase the mechanical accuracy of the system for moving the light beam to the same level as the above. In order to overcome such a problem, the following arrangement has been conventionally proposed as shown in Fig. 12. That is, reflected light from the magneto-optical disk is guided into a photo-detector 22 via a half mirror 21 and converted into an electric signal. The electric signal thus obtained is converted into a binary signal with a threshold voltage Vt thereby obtaining a pulse signal. By using a so-called track count method in which the number of pulses in a pulse signal is counted by a digital counter (not shown), the number of guide grooves 11a through which the light beam has passed, i.e., the moving amount of the light beam can be obtained. Generally, the rotation or sliding of the magneto-optical disk 11 or the magneto-optical card 16 is continuously carried out during access operation for projecting the light beam on a desired guide groove 11a, 16a. Therefore, the light beam sometimes obliquely crosses the guide grooves 11a, 16a passing through the ID sections 11b, 16b. In this case, there exists in an output signal from the photo-detector 22, an ID signal or the like based on the pit pattern formed in the ID section 11b as shown in Fig. 13, and therefore, the number of pulses in the pulse signal generated by a comparator 23 is not coincident with the number of guide grooves 11a through which a light beam 14 has actually passed. In the conventional optical memory system as above described, the number of pulses in the pulse signal from the comparator 23 is included in the number of guide grooves 11a through which the light beam actually has passed. Consequently, the moving amount of the light beam cannot be precisely obtained, and this results in low accuracy of the coarse access operation. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical memory system wherein the number of guide grooves through which a light beam has actually passed can be counted even in the course of access operation for moving the light beam in a direction perpendicular to guide grooves 11a, by projecting a plurality of light beams on a recording medium and obtaining the reflected light or transmitted light of each light beam projected thereon. Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical memory system wherein the number of light beams projected on ID sections at the same time is limited to less than half of the total number of light beams projected on the recording medium whereby the majority of the light beams projected on the recording medium are not projected on the ID sections even when the light beams are moved in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an optical memory system wherein pulse signals generated by the effect of the ID sections are eliminated from pulse signals generated according to the reflected lights or transmitted lights of a plurality of light beams projected on the recording medium so that a pulse signal corresponding to the guide grooves through which the respective light beams have actually passed is taken out thereby obtaining the accurate moving amount of the desired light beam and improving the accuracy of the access operation. In order to achieve the foregoing objects, an optical memory system according to the present invention, for use with a recording medium having parallel guide grooves and ID sections which identify said guide grooves, comprises: means for projecting on said recording medium a plurality of light beams; a plurality of photo-detectors for detecting the intensity of the reflected light or transmitted light of each of the light beams projected on the recording medium; a plurality of comparators for converting a signal released from each of the photo-detectors into a binary signal; a majority logic circuit for issuing a signal whose level is equivalent to the levels of the signals released from the majority of the comparators; and moving amount detecting means for detecting the moving amount of the light beams by counting the number of pulses in the pulse signal released from the majority logic circuit when the light beams move in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves; said optical memory system being designed such that at least either the plurality of light beams or the plurality of ID sections of the guide grooves are so arranged that at least more than half of the light beams or more than half of the ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves whereby the number of light beams projected on the ID sections at the same time is limited to less than half of the total number of light beams projected on the recording medium. The above recording medium may be made of a plastic, glass, or other material in the form of a disk or a card, and may include a magnetic film comprising Cd, Te, Fe, Co, or the like formed on the back face thereof, the magnetising direction of the magnetic film changing in accordance with an external magnetic field which exerts an influence on the magnetic film. The above majority logic circuit may comprise logical elements such as an AND gate and OR gate, and the above moving amount detecting means may comprise a digital counter. The above recording medium may be arranged to have three adjacent ID sections placed so that at least two ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves. The above recording medium may be arranged such that while the ID sections are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves, a plurality of light beams are projected at intervals longer than the length of the ID section. The above light beam generating means may comprise a diffraction grating which diffracts a light beam from the light beam source into a zero-order light beam and two first-order light beams. The respective numbers of light beams, photodetectors, and comparators are not limited to three, but may correspond to the number of pulse signals with which a majority decision by the majority logic circuit can be performed. Figs. 1 to 4 respectively shown one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the construction of an optical memory system according to the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating one example of light beams and an arrangement of ID sections of a magneto-optical disk, and one example of signals released from comparators and photo-detectors. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating one example of signals released from the comparators when access operation is performed. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing one example of signals released from the comparators and a majority logic circuit. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, particularly illustrating one example of light beams and an arrangement of ID sections of a magneto-optical disk. Figs. 6 through 13 respectively show an optical memory system according to a prior art. Fig. 6 is a view showing the principle upon which data is recorded on a magneto-optical disk. Fig. 7 is a view showing the principle upon which data is recorded on a magneto-optical card. Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the construction of the magneto-optical disk. Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the construction of the magneto-optical card. Fig. 10 is an enlarged perspective view showing the construction of ID sections in the magneto-optical disk. Fig. 11 is an enlarged perspective view showing the construction of ID sections in the magneto-optical card. Fig. 12 is a diagram illustrating one example of signals released from a comparator and a photo-detector when access operation is performed. Fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating one example of signals released from the photo-detector and comparator when a light beam crosses the ID sections. Referring now to Figs. 1 to 4, one embodiment of an optical memory system for recording data in a magneto-optical disk and reproducing therefrom according to the present invention will be explained hereinbelow. An optical memory system 31 is provided with light beam generating means 32 comprising a light beam source 33 such as a laser light source etc. and a diffraction grating 34 as shown in Fig. 1. In the light beam generating means 32, a light emitted from the light beam source 33 is diffracted by the diffraction grating 34 into one zero-order light and two first-order lights, thereby generating three light beams 37 to 39. Provided under the light beam generating means 32 are a half mirror 35 and an objective lens 36. The objective lens 36 is designed to respectively converge the three light beams 37 to 39 generated by the light beam generating means 32 to project on a recording medium, i.e., a magneto-optical disk 41. The magneto-optical disk 41 comprises a substrate made of, for example, a plastic, glass, or other material in the form of a disk, and the back face of the substrate is coated with a magnetic film made of Gd, Te, Fe, Co or the like, of which magnetising direction changes according to the effect of an external magnetic field which exerts an influence on the magnetic film, when the temperature rises to Curie point or higher. This magneto-optical disk 41 is rotatively driven by actuating means (not shown). The magneto-optical disk 41 is also provided with concentric circular guide grooves 41a for guiding the light beams 37 to 39. The light beams 37 to 39 generated by the light beam generating means 32 are projected on the adjacent guide grooves 41a. The reflected lights of the three light beams 37 to 39 which have been projected on the magneto-optical disk 41 are respectively diverted by the half mirror 35 and guided into photo-detectors 51 to 53 for detecting the intensity of each reflected light, these photo-detectors 51 to 53 being disposed at a side of the half mirror 35. The photo-detectors 51 to 53 are respectively connected to comparators 54 to 56 each of which compares the levels of a signal released from the respective photo-detectors 51 to 53 with a predetermined reference voltage Vt thereby generating a binary signal. The comparators 54 to 56 are connected to a majority logic circuit 57 which has three AND circuits 57a and one OR circuit 57b. The majority logic circuit 57 generates a signal whose level is equivalent to the levels of signals released from two or more comparators out of the three comparators 54 to 56. The majority logic circuit 57 is connected to moving amount detecting means 58 which counts the number of pulses in a pulse signal released from the majority logic circuit 57 when the light beams 37 to 39 moves in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves 41a in the magneto-optical disk 11, thereby detecting the moving amount of the light beams 37 to 39. This moving amount detecting means 58 comprises a digital counter or the like. Each of the guide grooves 41a in the magneto-optical disk 41 are provided with ID sections 41b as shown in Fig. 2. The ID sections 41b respectively have a pit pattern and are utilised for identifying guide grooves 41a on which the light beams 37 to 39 are projected. Three adjacent ID sections 41b are so placed, as shown in Fig. 2, that at least two ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves. Therefore, when the light beam 37 is projected on the ID section 41b for instance, the other two light beams 38 and 39 are not projected on the ID sections 41b. In an optical memory system having the above construction, following the rotative driving of the magneto-optical disk 41, the projecting positions of the light beams 37 to 39 on the magneto-optical disk 41 move in the direction of the arrow A and the light beams 37, 38 and 39 initiate to enter the ID sections 41b respectively in this order. Then, the photo-detectors 51 to 53 subsequently release signals according to the respective pit patterns of the ID sections 41b, i.e., ID signals, and the comparators 54 to 56 release pulse signals according to the respective ID signals above mentioned. These pulse signals are deemed to be signals indicating guide grooves 41a on which the light beams 37 to 39 are respectively projected. In the meanwhile, in order to permit the light beams 37 to 39 to be respectively projected on desired guide grooves 41, access operation is carried out so that the light beams 37 to 39 move in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves 41a. In this case, since the magneto-optical disk 41 is continuously rotatively driven even when the light beams 37 to 39 move in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves 41a, the light beams 37 to 39 obliquely cross the guide grooves 41a as shown by the direction of the arrow B in Fig. 3. In the case the light beams 37 to 39 obliquely cross the guide grooves 41a, the intensity of the corresponding reflected lights is decreased due to the effect of diffraction or the like at each time when one of the light beams 37 to 39 is projected on the vicinity of an edge portion of the ID sections 41b in the guide groove 41a. Therefore, one of the comparators 54 to 56 issues a low level signal whenever one of the light beams 37 to 39 passes through the vicinity of an edge portion of the ID section 41b in the guide groove 41a. In the case one of the light beams 37 to 39 is projected on the ID section 41b in the magneto-optical disk 41, like the above case where the light beams 37 to 39 respectively pass through the vicinity of an edge portion of the ID section 41b of the guide groove 41a, the intensity of the respective reflected lights is decreased due to the effect of diffraction or the like generated in accordance with the pit patterns in the ID sections 41b, and accordingly the comparators 54 to 56 issue pulse signal sequences 61 according to the ID signals etc. In this invention, the ID sections 41b are so arranged that at least more than half of the ID sections 41b are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves 41a as shown in Fig. 3, and therefore when one of the light beams 37 to 39 is projected on the ID section 41b, the other two light beams are not projected on the ID sections 41b. As a result, two or more comparators do not issue pulse signal sequences 61 corresponding to the ID signals etc. at the same time. The signals released from the comparators 54 to 56 are entered in the majority logic circuit 57 and then the majority logic circuit 57 issues a signal after eliminating the pulse signal corresponding to the ID signals etc. More specifically, the majority logic circuit 57 issues a signal having a level equivalent to the levels of signals released from two or more comparators out of the three comparators 54 to 56. Accordingly, the number of pulses in a pulse signal issued from the majority logic circuit 57 is coincident with the number of guide grooves 41a through which the respective light beams 37 to 39 have actually passed. Therefore, the accurate moving amount of the light beams 37 to 39 can be obtained without the influence of the ID signals etc. by means of counting the number of pulses in the pulse signal from the majority logic circuit 57 by the moving amount detecting means 58. While there has been described a preferred embodiment wherein the adjacent three ID sections 41b are placed so that at least two ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves 41a whereby the number of light beams projected on the ID sections 41b at the same time is limited to less than half of the light beams 37 to 39 projected on the magneto-optical disk 41, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the arrangement shown in Fig. 5 may be adopted in which while the ID sections 41b are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves 41a, the light beams 37 to 39 are projected so that at least two light beams are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves 41a, and the light beams 37 to 39 are projected at intervals longer than the length of the ID section 41b. Also, the majority logic circuit 57 is not limited to the one having the AND circuits 57a and the OR circuit 57b as earlier mentioned. As described above, an optical memory system according to the present invention, for use with a recording medium having parallel guide grooves and ID sections which identify said guide grooves, comprises: means for projecting on said recording medium a plurality of light beams; a plurality of photo-detectors for detecting the intensity of the reflected light or transmitted light of each of light beams projected on the recording medium; a plurality of comparators for converting a signal released from each of the photo-detectors into a binary signal; a majority logic circuit for issuing a signal whose level is equivalent to the levels of the signals released from the majority of the comparators; and moving amount detecting means for detecting the moving amount of the light beams by counting the number of pulses in the pulse signal released from the majority logic circuit when the light beams move in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves; said optical memory system being designed such that at least either the plurality of light beams or the plurality of ID sections of the guide grooves are so arranged that at least more than half of the light beams or more than half of the ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves whereby the number of light beams projected on the ID sections at the same time is limited to less than half of the total number of light beams projected on the recording medium. In the optical memory system having the above construction, the number of pulses in the pulse signal released from the majority logic circuit when the light beams move in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves is not influenced by ID signals etc. and is coincident with the number of guide grooves through which the respective light beams have passed. Accordingly, the accurate moving amount of the light beams can be obtained resulting in high accuracy in access operation. The above recording medium may be made of a plastic, glass, or other material in the form of a disk or card, and may be designed to include a magnetic film comprising Cd, Te, Fe, Co, or the like formed on the back face thereof, and the magnetising direction of the magnetic film changing in accordance with an external magnetic field which exerts an influence upon the magnetic film. Accordingly, when the temperature of the recording medium locally rises higher than Curie point because of the light beam intensity, the magnetising direction of the magnetic film is locally inverted due to the effect of an external magnetic field. The above majority logic circuit may comprise logical elements such as an AND gate and OR gate, and the above moving amount detecting means may comprise a digital counter. This permits only the number of pulses corresponding to the number of guide grooves through which the respective light beams have actually passed to be obtained. The above recording medium may be arranged to have three adjacent ID sections placed such that at least two ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to the guide grooves. This permits the number of light beams projected on the ID sections at the same time to be less than half of the total number of light beams projected on the recording medium. The number of light beams projected on the ID sections at the same time can be limited to less than half of the total number of light beams by such an arrangement that while the ID sections are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the guide grooves, the light beams are projected at intervals longer than the length of the ID section in such a manner that at least more than half of the light beams do not perfectly overlap one another in a parallel direction to the guide grooves. Further, the above light beam generating means may comprise a diffraction grating which diffracts the light beam from the light beam source into a zero-order light beam and two first-order light beams. This permits generation of three light beams from one light beam source. The respective numbers of light beams, photo-detectors and comparators are not limited to three but may correspond to the number of pulse signals with which a majority decision by the majority logic circuit can be performed. The invention being thus described, it may be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways.

Claims: An optical memory system for use with a recording medium (41) having parallel guide grooves (41a) and ID sections (41b) which identify said guide grooves, the system comprising: means (32) for projecting on said recording medium a plurality of light beams (37,38,39); a plurality of photo-detectors (51,52,53) for detecting the intensity of the reflected light or transmitted light of each of said light beams (37,38,39) projected on said recording medium; a plurality of comparators (54,55,56) for converting a signal released from each of said photo-detectors (51,52,53) into a binary signal; a majority logic circuit (57) for issuing a pulse signal whose level is equivalent to the levels of the signals released from the majority of said comparators; and moving amount detecting means (58) for detecting the moving amount of said light beams by counting the number of pulses in the pulse signal released from said majority logic circuit (57) when said light beams (37,38,39) move in a direction perpendicular to said guide grooves (41a); said optical memory system being designed such that at least either the plurality of light beams (37,38,39) or the plurality of ID sections (41b) of said guide grooves (41a) are so arranged that at least more than half of said light beams or more than half of said ID sections are not perfectly overlapped with one another in a parallel direction to said guide grooves whereby the number of light beams projected on the ID sections at the same time is limited to less than half of the total number of light beams projected on said recording medium. An optical memory system according to claim 1 further comprising a said recording medium (41) made of a plastic in the form of a disk or a card and including a magnetic film comprising Cd, Te, Fe, Co, or the like attached to the back face thereof. An optical memory system according to claim 1 further comprising a said recording medium (41) made of glass in the form of a disk or a card and including a magnetic film comprising Cd, Te, Fe, Co, or the like attached to the back face thereof. An optical memory system according to claim 1 wherein said majority logic circuit (57) comprises logical elements (57a,57b). An optical memory system according to claim 1 wherein said moving amount detecting means (58) comprises a digital counter. An optical memory system according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein said recording medium (41) has the adjacent ID sections (41b) arranged such that at least more than half of the ID sections are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to said guiding grooves. An optical memory system according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein said recording medium is designed such that while the ID sections (41b) are aligned in a direction perpendicular to said guiding grooves, said light beams (37,38,39) are projected such that at least more than half of said light beams are not perfectly overlapped in a parallel direction to said guiding grooves, and said light beams are projected at intervals longer than the length of the ID section. An optical memory system according to claim 1 wherein said light beams (37,38,39), said photo-detectors (51,52,53) and said comparators (54,55,56) respectively correspond in number to the number of pulse signals with which a majority decision by the majority logic circuit (57) can be performed. An optical memory system according to claim 1 wherein said light beam projecting means (32) comprises a diffraction grating (34) for diffracting a light beam from a light source (33) into one zero-order light beam and two first-order light beams.

Inventors: DEGUCHI TOSHIHISA, FUJIWARA TSUNEO, KOJIMA KUNIO, NOMURA MASARU, YAMAGUCHI TAKESHI, DEGUCHI, TOSHIHISA, FUJIWARA, TSUNEO, KOJIMA, KUNIO, NOMURA, MASARU, YAMAGUCHI, TAKESHI
Applicants: SHARP KK, SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G11B7
IPC codes: G11B7, G11B11