Patent ID: 7773487

Claim:
A method to determine an optimal optical detector orientation to decode holographically encoded information, comprising the steps of: supplying a matched filter; supplying an orientation image; supplying a holographic data storage medium encoded with said orientation image; supplying an optical detector comprising a rotatable input screen comprising a plurality of detector elements; establishing (N) input screen orientations, wherein (N) is greater than 1; setting (i) equal to 1; positioning said input screen in an (i)th input screen orientation, wherein (i) is greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to (N); illuminating said encoded holographic data storage medium with a reference beam to generate an (i)th reconstructed data beam comprising an (i)th reconstructed orientation image; projecting said (i)th reconstructed data beam onto said optical detector; calculating the (i)th correlation factor using the (i)th reconstructed orientation image, said orientation image, and said matched filter; determining if (i) equals (N); operative if (i) does not equal (N), incrementing (i) by unity and repeating said positioning step, said illuminating step, said projecting step, said calculating step, and said determining step; operative if (i) equals (N), determining an optimal optical detector orientation using the (N) correlation factors.