Patent ID: 7924664

Claim:
An optical disk apparatus for writing and/or reading information by allowing an optical head of the optical disk apparatus to irradiate laser light on an optical disk, comprising: an optical head including: a laser diode for generating the laser light; an optical system for focusing the laser light and irradiating the laser light on an information recording surface of the optical disk; an optical detecting part for receiving reflected laser light from the optical disk through the optical system, converting the reflected laser light into analog electric signals representing data including RF signals read from the optical disk, and outputting the analog electric signals including RF signals; a first circuit for driving the laser diode; a second circuit for sampling and holding the analog electric signals including unprocessed RF signals; a third circuit for converting the analog electric signals including RF signals that are sampled and held into digital signals, and for outputting the digital signals outside of the optical head; and a control part for receiving the digital signals from the optical head and forming control signals for the optical disk apparatus, the control part being located outside of the optical head.