Patent ID: 7123569

Claim:
A system comprising: one or more light sources positioned to project a plurality of spots onto a phase-change optical medium that includes a phase change material, wherein each of the spots includes an amorphous melt spot surrounded by a crystallization spot; and a drive that moves the phase-change optical medium relative to the one or more light sources, wherein the one or more light sources are positioned such that in one pass of the phase-change optical medium relative to the one or more light sources at least a portion of phase change material undergoes at least two media cycles changing from an amorphous state to a crystalline state at least two times in the one pass, wherein the portion of phase change material that undergoes at least two media cycles in one pass defines an initialization track on medium, wherein the phase-change optical medium defines data tracks and wherein the initialization track is wider than each of the data tracks, and wherein the initialization track encompasses a non-integer number of the data tracks.