Patent ID: 7697178

Claim:
An apparatus for reproducing data from a recording medium, said apparatus comprising: means for applying a first reproducing reference beam to said recording medium at a first angle; means for applying a second reproducing reference beam to said recording medium at a second angle, said recording medium including a first element hologram formed by interference fringes generated by interference between an object beam representing first data and a first recording reference beam applied at the first angle, and a second element hologram formed on the recording medium by interference fringes generated by interference between an object beam representing second data and a second recording reference beam applied at the second angle, the second angle being different from the first angle, and the second element hologram partly overlapping the first element hologram; means for detecting hologram images reproduced from said recording medium irradiated with the reproducing reference beams and outputting reproduced image signals representing said hologram images; means for reading the reproduced image signals; means for detecting scanning times, for scanning the element holograms recorded in said recording medium, from the reproduced image output when said recording medium is irradiated with the reproducing reference beams at one of said first angle and said second angle; means for alternately applying one of the first reproducing reference beam and the second reproducing reference beam in response to the detected scanning times, the detected scan times corresponding to locations of the element holograms; means for controlling detection and reproduction of the hologram images from said recording medium in response to the applied reference beams; and means for storing the reproduced image signals.