Patent Publication Number: US-2003235408-A1

Title: Optical disk drive, computer system and methods of operation

Description:
BACKGROUND  
       [0001] A computer system may use an optical disk drive to access large amounts of data on an optical disk. The optical disk may contain data for a software application, data for a large data base or simply data for audio or video play and may comprise a variety of different forms and formats.  
       [0002] For example, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read-Only Memory) may refer to a disk medium typical for software data to be executed by a computer system or data for a data base application of the computer.  
       [0003] A CD (compact disk), on the other hand, conventionally may be interpreted as an optical disk medium for storage of data representative of images and/or audio. Data of the may be optically read for presentation, display or play to a user for consumption.  
       [0004] Advancements in optical storage medium have further led to DVD&#39;s (Digital Versatile/Video Disk), an optical storage medium of capacity and bandwidth greater than CD&#39;s and CD-ROMs. For example, a DVD may retain information of a full-length film, which might be formatted with an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) video format.  
       [0005] A drive to spin and read an optical disk may be referenced as an optical disk drive. Optical disk drives may be characterized with a speed factor that, conventionally, has been defined with reference to music. A speed factor of 1X, for example, may reference a drive speed to allow reading of music data for real-time music reproduction. In this context, the 1X speed may provide for reading of data to establish a data transfer rate of about 150 kilobytes per second. But as the optical disk applications have moved beyond music, and as computer operating speeds have increased, the 1X drives seem to restrict the performances levels and efficiencies of computer systems.  
       [0006] Accordingly, manufacturers push to improve rotational speeds of optical disk drives. Some drives today provide for high rotational speeds, for example, 32X. These improvements in drive speed, in some applications, may provide particularly effective improvements in system performance. In other words, dependent on the particular processing application, an improvement in drive speed may translate substantially directly to a similar improvement in system performance, particularly for applications requiring file transfers. The increase in rotational speed, thus, provides a mechanism to transfer data to/from the optical disk at a higher rate. But maximizing disk speed may not always be the ultimate objective. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0007] The present disclosure may be best understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
     [0008]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an optical disk drive;  
     [0009]FIG. 2 is block diagram of a computer system with an optical disk drive;  
     [0010]FIG. 3 is a simplistic layer diagram representative of the software and/or hardware environment between the optical disk drive and another subsystem;  
     [0011]FIG. 4 is a simplified pictorial illustration of an application window to enable a user to set a configuration policy of a computer and optical disk drive;  
     [0012]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing a procedure to determine a rotational speed for an optical disk drive; and  
     [0013]FIG. 6 is another flow diagram showing a procedure to determine a rotational speed of an optical disk drive. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0014] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of exemplary embodiments of the present invention. It will be understood, however, that alternative embodiments may comprise sub-combinations of the disclosed exemplary embodiments.  
     [0015] Additionally, readily established circuits of the exemplary embodiments may be disclosed in simplified form (e.g., block diagram style) to avoid obscuring an essence of the embodiments with excess detail. Likewise, to aid a clear and precise disclosure, the description of their operations may similarly be simplified when persons of ordinary skill in this art may understand their operations by way of the drawings and present disclosure.  
     [0016] Conventional computers, such as laptops, may exchange data with an optical drive using a specified rotational speed of the optical drive. In other words, when a computer begins a procedure to retrieve data from the optical disk, the drive is spun to its specified performance speed, such as 24X. When the disk is no longer being accessed, the optical drive may be turned-off. Accordingly, the conventional drive may be off or spun to its maximum performance speed.  
     [0017] In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an optical disk may be spun and accessed while operating at rotational speeds less than a maximum spin-rate. A computer or optical disk drive may identify and recognize a configuration policy or data transfer application for the optical disk drive or for a computer system. Depending on the policy or application, it may then recognize that the optical disk does not have to be spun at its maximum speed and may be spun at a speed less than its maximum available speed. Responsive to this recognition, the disk drive may configure its settings so as to spin-up to an optical disk speed(s) less than its maximum available speed. In other words, the drive might, thus, be spun-up to only 1X, e.g., when in fact it may be capable of 24X operation.  
     [0018] For example, if data is to be transferred from the optical drive for real-time entertainment (e.g., real-time video/audio streaming for human consumption), then the disk drive, in accordance with a particular embodiment, may recognize the real-time, entertainment-type data streaming application or an instruction thereof and spin the optical disk at a speed less than its maximum available speed. The data transfer application to stream video/audio data real-time may be recognized and used to select an optical disk drive speed of 1X, e.g., instead of a higher available spin rate of 24X. It may be further noted that absent a large media cache or buffer for buffering of graphics or audio information, the extra speed and data transfer rate otherwise offered by an optical drive (e.g., maximum speed 24X) may be viewed as excessive or wasted.  
     [0019] In consideration of noise, it may be understood that an optical disk drive generates a certain level of noise while spinning. This noise may seem excessively loud under certain environmental circumstances. For example, when viewing or listening to a movie, a user may not wish to hear drive noise. Therefore, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a quite mode of operation may be specified, e.g., by a user, to specify a more suitable operation, which additionally may be used under pre-established environmental circumstances. The optical disk drive may then respond to this specified low-noise policy and may configure itself to spin-up at speed(s) less than its maximum available speed.  
     [0020] Further, a computer may specify a configuration policy to preserve energy. For example, a laptop computer may specify a configuration policy to use a low operating clock frequency so as to conserve energy when operating with a battery power source. Accordingly, in another embodiment, the computer or drive may recognize this configuration policy and additionally respond to configure the optical disk drive to use a rotational speed less than its maximum available speed. This may further help to conserve energy and extend the battery longevity.  
     [0021] The “access” of an optical disk drive may refer to operations for reading data of an optical disk. It will be understood, however, that the optical disk drive might also be spun to assist writing of data. Accordingly, “access,” as used herein for other embodiments of the present invention, may refer to writing of data into the optical disk. For example, the optical disk drive may determine a configuration policy favoring low noise operations or operations for extending battery life. Responsive to such configuration policy, the optical drive may be configured to spin with a rotational speed less than its maximum available speed when writing data therein.  
     [0022] Referencing FIG. 1, an optical disk drive  100  of an exemplary embodiment may comprise an optical sensor and buffer  50 , 60  respectively to sense data of optical disk  10 . The amplifier may drive data line  62  for transfer of data for presentation to bus  72  via bus interface  70 .  
     [0023] Registers  80  may receive configuration information (e.g., from bus interface  70  or otherwise) to configure operability of the optical drive. For example, the configuration registers may comprise ATA registers operable in accordance with an ATA/ATAPI (advanced technology attachment/ATA-packet interface) protocol. Such standard ATA/ATAPI-6, e.g., draft T13/1410D for Revision 3A of Dec. 14, 2001, is available from ANSI and is hereby incorporated by reference. The ATA registers, conventionally, may select ATA/ATAPI configurations for the optical drive and may establish how the drive may handle and coordinate memory access commands.  
     [0024] In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, a portion of configuration registers  80  may be dedicated to contain rotational-information that may be used to select from a plurality of available rotational speeds of the optical disk drive. Motor controller  82  may, therefore, drive (via motor drive  84 ) motor  40  dependent on the rotational-information of the configuration registers. Motor  40  may rotate spindle  30  and optical disk  10  per the selected speeds as established by the rotational governor (e.g., a collective reference to registers  80 , motor controller  82  and motor drive  84 ). Accordingly, as may be used herein, rotational governor may reference such devices as may be operable to select the operable speed of the optical disk.  
     [0025] Although ATA command registers and circuitry may not be specifically illustrated in the schematic of FIG. 1, it will be understood that the bus interface and registers of the disk drive  100  (e.g., of an ATA/ATAPI standard) may include such command registers and circuitry as conventionally known to enable or disable the drive responsive to receiving commands to access the storage medium. In addition to such on/off enablement capability, a rotational governor, in accordance with this exemplary embodiment, may select or determine a speed by which to drive the motor (when enabled) for rotation of an optical disk—e.g., ω1 or ω2.  
     [0026] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, referencing FIG. 2, a computer system  200  may comprise an optical disk drive  100 , e.g., as previously described relative to FIG. 1. For example, a laptop computer may include a processor (or CPU)  210  coupled for communication with other devices via bus  72 . CPU  210  may send/receive data to/from a variety of different subsystems, such as, e.g., memory  230 , graphics controller  240 , network interface  270  and (e.g., DVD/CD-ROM) optical disk drive  100 . The computer system may include other subsystems, including but not limited to, e.g., a mouse, keyboard, programmable I/O device, bridging circuit, etc.  
     [0027] Although described above as communicating with CPU  210 , the optical disk drive, in alternative embodiments, may also be operable to communicate with subsystems other than the CPU. In such type of data transfer application, the optical disk drive may operate “autonomously”—i.e., absent CPU intervention. During such autonomous operations, the optical disk drive may sense data of an optical disk for transfer directly to, e.g., a graphics or audio subsystem  240 , 250 . During a configuration or an initialization phase for enabling such autonomous transfer application, the subsystems might send data to the optical disk drive to help it set-up its subsystem layers (Application, Driver, Interface, etc.) and to establish the logical links therebetween. For example, certain information may be exchanged between the subsystems to configure logical video pipe  282  or logical audio pipe  284  between the optical disk drive and the graphics controller  240  or audio controller  250 .  
     [0028] As used herein, the graphics and audio subsystems may be referenced simply as video/audio device(s). Thus, video/audio may reference processes of video and/or audio applications for graphics, video and/or audio presentation(s) together or singularly.  
     [0029] Referencing FIGS.  2 - 3 , operating system  220  of CPU  210  may initiate and execute various processing applications (e.g., word processing, internet browsing, document printing, data base processing, etc.). In such applications, there may be a need for the operating system to download software or data from an optical disk. The operating system may then send software and/or data information to the optical drive  100  by which to initiate and perform a data transfer.  
     [0030] Referencing the partial system layers  300  of the simplified diagram of FIG. 3, operating system  220  may begin a predetermined application such as a data base operation. The software module of the data base application may coordinate access to the optical disk by way of other software modules such as a software driver  332  (which may be pre-configured within the computer&#39;s operating system or system utilities). The software driver may link with lower interfacing layer  322  and physical layer  312  to enable propagation of, e.g., access requests across bus  72  to optical drive  100 . Complimentary layer structures  70 , 320  at the optical drive may then propagate the application information to the drive&#39;s upper layers (i.e., application and data layers  330 , 340 ). These types of communications between the CPU and optical drive may therefore be viewed as occurring across logical pipes  280 , 331  between the respective peer layers (e.g., application or data layers) of the different subsystems.  
     [0031] With reference to these working models of FIGS. 1 and 2, configuration policies and application types may influence operations of the CPU and/or optical drive. The CPU&#39;s operating system  220  may send configuration information to the optical disk drive (e.g., across pipe  331  or  280 ) and the optical drive may select its rotational speed accordingly. Alternatively, driver software at the drive itself may establish the configuration of the optical disk drive.  
     [0032] For example, the drive  100  may be operable to determine a battery source  265  of the power supply  260  via control line  269 . Responsive to this control line, the drive  100  may establish a configuration setting directly rather than dependent on information from the CPU.  
     [0033] Likewise in further embodiments, the optical drive may directly receive a lid-down control signal to indicate that a lid of a laptop is closed. If an optical disk is then placed in the optical drive  100 , the optical drive may respond by initiating a data transfer for an entertainment type application. The entertainment-type application, in turn, may cause selection of the drive&#39;s lower rotational speed. Such application, therefore, may thus be described as having been initiated autonomously by the optical drive. Responding to the launching of the application, the optical drive may transfer data of the optical disk to a bus for use by, e.g., an audio controller or an external video/audio system that may be coupled to the bus. For example, in one embodiment, an external video system may be coupled directly to the bus. In another embodiment, the video system may be coupled indirectly to the bus via a bridging circuit that interfaces the bus.  
     [0034] Further referencing FIG. 2, in accordance with another embodiment, computer system  200  may comprise a power supply  260  operable to convey along line  268  information of its power source—e.g., whether it is being powered by a battery  265  or from an external line  262 . If powered from an external line, the drive may select operability at fall speed. If powered from a battery, the lower speed may be selected.  
     [0035] Referencing FIGS.  2 - 4 , the computer system  200  may run a routine of the CPU&#39;s operating system  220 , which may enable a user to select a performance configuration policy for the computer system. The routine may display a window  400  on a visual display  240 . The window  400  may include, e.g., a maximum battery life icon/button  412  and a high speed icon/button  410 . The user may select, e.g., via cursor  420 , either performance level. In a further embodiment, the configuration window may also include an auto button  414 , or additionally, a variable scale  416  and visual slider bar  418 . The user may operate a user interface device (e.g., mouse, mouse buttons, knobs, keyboard, etc., singly or in combination) to indicate a select configuration policy.  
     [0036] The policy settings, conventionally, may be used to establish an operational frequency for a clock of the CPU. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the configuration policy may further be used to set or define flags, variables, conditions, control signals or the like, that may be directed to procedures of the optical disk drive as may be associated with selecting and establishing a rotational speed therefore.  
     [0037] In some embodiments, the configuration information may be saved, e.g., within memory of CPU  210 , programmable memory  230  outside the CPU, system configuration registers, and/or configuration registers  80  of optical drive  100 . In other embodiments, the optical disk  10  may comprise a read/write medium, and the configuration information may be written and retained at a predetermined location thereof.  
     [0038] As described herein, various procedures of the computer system or optical drive may be implemented as a program and may be described with reference to interconnected modules that may be individually or collectively referenced as software. It will be understood, however, that these modules may be aggregated within a single program or alternatively across boundaries of various programs and/or devices (e.g., CPU&#39;s operating system  220  and software drivers  332 , 330  for the optical drive of FIG. 3). The software modules may be implemented individually or in combination with others. Additionally, these programs may be programmed within a computer-readable medium that may comprise a single memory or multiple memories. Various portions, modules or features may reside in separate memories, subsystems or even separate machines.  
     [0039] Additionally, procedures of exemplary embodiments may be described as a series of routines implemented by a processor programmable and operable through a series of commands of the routines. For example, the processor may comprise a digital computer or like device, such as a general-purpose computer configurable by a computer program stored within the computer. Alternately, in may be understood that the procedures, or a portion thereof, may be implemented by a state machine of, e.g., an Application Specific Integrated Circuit.  
     [0040] Further referencing FIG. 5, program  500  may be used for operation of an optical drive in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Modules  520 - 546  may be viewed as optional procedures that augment the remainder procedures  550 - 594  or visa versa.  
     [0041] Initiation  510  of procedure  500  may lead to a query  520  of the configuration policy of a computer system. The configuration policy, for example, may specify, e.g., one of three modes—i.e., maximum battery life, an auto mode or maximum performance. These modes, as mentioned above, are usually associated with and applied to the processor&#39;s clock operation. The maximum battery life policy may configure the processor to use a low operating frequency; while the maximum performance policy may configure the processor to use a high operating clock frequency. The auto mode may allow the processor to use the low frequency for some applications, while popping-up to the high frequency on an as need basis.  
     [0042] Likewise, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the determined configuration policy  532 , 534 , 536  may lead to different operating procedures of the optical drive. The maximum battery life policy may lead to setting the optical drive for a low spin configuration  532 , 542 , in which case, the drive may use its lower rotational frequency (e.g., 1X). In this configuration, the computer system does not care how fast a file is copied.  
     [0043] Alternatively, the max performance policy may lead to setting the optical drive for a maximum spin configuration  536 , 546 . The computer system policy may then choose not to compromise any performance. Finally, the automatic, configuration policy may configure 534,544 the optical drive to establish its select rotational speed (ω1/ω2 based on its particular application. In this sense, the optical drive may be viewed as establishing different rotational mode selections in parallel and similar to the processor mode selections.  
     [0044] In a further embodiment, the optical disk drive may default to a configuration to select its lower rotational speed when launching applications absent interactions with an operating system or when the computer operating system is not active.  
     [0045] As described above, the configuration policy may balance or compromise battery life with system performance. In other embodiments of the present invention, the configuration policy may also encompass a noise level adjustment. In this further embodiment, a low noise configuration policy may direct configuration determinations and settings  532 ′, 542 ′ for selecting the low spin operation of the optical drive.  
     [0046] In a further embodiment of the present invention, referencing FIG. 5, a routine  550 - 594  may establish drive speed operations dependent on the data transfer or access application. First, an application may be determined  550 . In some embodiments, the application may be specified from a requesting device—i.e., from a processor  210  of FIGS.  2 - 3 . Alternatively, a software driver  330  of the optical driver may specify the application, which, in turn, may determine the type of application from the type of access request and/or from the type of data associated with the optical disk.  
     [0047] Upon determining a real-time entertainment type application  552 , such as real-time video/audio data streaming, the drive may be configured to spin-up to a rotational speed (e.g., 1x) less than its maximum available speed. The application may then proceed to transfer and play  572  the retrieved data. After the application is complete  582 , the optical drive may then be spun-down  592 .  
     [0048] Alternatively, upon determining a data transfer application  554 , e.g., of a data base application, the drive may be spun to a maximum spin rate  564  and data transfer performed until complete  574 , 584 . After completion of the application for data transfer, the drive may be spun-down  594 .  
     [0049] In certain contexts, an application for data transfer may include a series of separate data string transfers. An application software routine (or layer) may administer when conclusion of the application may occur. The optical disk drive may, therefore, continue spinning at its established speed during short intervals of no data flow until conclusion of transfer may be specified by the application layer or routine.  
     [0050] Typically, the operating system of the CPU may administer the policy for the application. Alternatively, the software driver for the optical drive may establish an application conclusion, e.g., based on a predetermined signature of a procedure that may mark conclusion of the associated application.  
     [0051] In accordance with another embodiment, referencing FIG. 6, a procedure  600  may start  610  an access request, for example, and the disk drive  100  may determine, or the software drivers of the disk drive ( 332  or  330  of FIG. 3) may determine whether or not the disk drive is being powered by a battery. The determination may be based on a control signal of control input  269  (FIG. 2), data of a configuration registers  80 , data of a configuration registers of the computer system or data of operands or variables passed over from another software module of the central processor.  
     [0052] If it determines that the power source is not a battery and that it is being powered from an external line, the optical disk drive may configure  650  itself to spin at its maximum speed. If the query  620  determines a battery, the drive may be configured for the lower speed  655 .  
     [0053] As shown in FIG. 6, additional criteria may also be used to determine the rotational speed. Queries may check for, e.g., a quiet mode  630  configuration policy and/or the type of the data of the transfer or application  640 . If the query determines an application for real-time video/audio entertainment or a configuration policy for a quiet mode of operation, then the optical disk drive may be configured for its lower rotational speed  655 . Otherwise, it may be configured to use its higher rotational speed  650 .  
     [0054] Continuing with further reference to FIG. 6, the optical disk drive may then transfer data  660  while spinning the disk at its selected speed. Again, once the application is concluded, the disk may be spun-down  670 , 690 .  
     [0055] In a further embodiment, another inquiry may check whether a new access request has been received  680  before allowing the disk to spin-down  690 . Additionally, the inquiry for a new access request may be left pending for a predetermined period of time, before continuing forward to initiate the disk spin-down  690 .  
     [0056] In the present document, descriptors “first” or “second” may have been used for description clarity. Depending on their context or sub-context, these descriptors may be understood to be used merely for convenience, without necessarily implying that mention of a “second” should dictate a “first”.  
     [0057] It will be apparent to those skilled in this art that the particular embodiments illustrated or described herein are exemplary and that various changes and modifications may be made thereto as become apparent upon reading the present disclosure. Accordingly, such changes and modifications shall be deemed to fall within the scope of the appended claims.