Patent ID: 7337273

Claim:
A method for reading information from an optical storage medium, comprising: providing a cache memory having multiple cache segments; receiving a request for information stored on the optical storage medium; determining whether the requested information is stored in one of the cache segments; retrieving the requested information from said one of the cache segments if the information is determined to be stored in the cache memory; and retrieving the requested information from the optical storage medium itself if the information is determined not to be stored in the cache memory, wherein the cache memory includes a first group of at least one cache segment dedicated to handling a first type of information, and a second group of at least one cache segment dedicated to handling a second type of information, and wherein the first type of information pertains to information that is designated for retrieval in a streaming transfer mode in which parts of the information are retrieved on an as-needed piecemeal basis as the information is consumed, and the second type of information pertains to information that is designated for retrieval in a bulk transfer mode in which a bulk quantity information is retrieved as a whole, not in multiple parts on an on-needed piecemeal basis; wherein the requested information is retrieved from said one cache segment, the method further comprising: moving a pointer associated with said one cache segment ahead to define free cache space; pre-fetching information from the optical storage medium; and filling the pre-fetched information into the free cache space of said one cache segment.