Patent ID: 7952062

Claim:
A photodetector integrated circuit (PDIC) capable of being used with at least two different types of optical discs, comprising: a photodetector (PD) array including a center channel PD and a side channel PD electrically isolated from said center channel PD; and a switching matrix that includes a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs, and that can be selectively configured in a plurality of different switch configurations; wherein said side channel PD comprises a plurality of electrically isolated PD sections; wherein each of said electrically isolated PD sections of said side channel PD is adapted to detect light and provide an electrical output signal, indicative of the light detected by the PD section, to a different one of the inputs of said switching matrix; and wherein said switch matrix is adapted to combine the electrical output signals provided by said electrically isolated PD sections of said side channel PD in a plurality of different manners, in dependence on which of the plurality of different switch configurations is selected.