Patent ID: 7848595

Claim:
A method for processing data pixels in a holographic data storage system, the holographic data storage system comprises at least one microprocessor unit, a memory, a light source, a storage medium, a detector, and one or more microcontrollers, and the holographic data storage system stores at least one holographic image, comprising: recovering a data pixel image from a recorded data page having predetermined reserved blocks assigned throughout, wherein each reserved block comprises known pixel patterns; determining local alignment of data pixel image positions by computing a best match between regions of the detector and the predetermined reserved blocks, wherein the detector has more than 1 and less than 1.8 times greater density of pixels in a linear dimension than the holographic image, wherein determining local alignment of data pixel image positions further comprises matching a pattern of the data page at the detector to a known target pattern by performing a covariance calculation, and wherein performing the covariance calculation comprises selecting one or more reserved blocks where a contribution of autocorrelation noise to covariance values neighboring a peak goes to zero, and selecting a predetermined interior region of the reserved blocks, whereby neighboring pixel data to the reserved blocks in the recovered image do not affect the covariance values of the peak or its neighbors; and processing the data pixels in accordance with the corresponding local alignment of data pixel image positions.