Abstract: The disclosed technology provides a method that improves CCT in SMR device systems. In one implementation, the method comprises writing data to a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) band in a storage device, determining whether an off-track write has occurred, identifying unsafe written data in response to determining that an off-track write has occurred, determining whether caching space is available upon identifying unsafe written data, continue writing data to the SMR band without a write retry upon determining that caching space is available, and writing unsafe written data to the available caching space. In another implementation, the method comprises receiving a request to repair an encroached track in an SMR band, recovering encroached data to a dynamic random-access memory, determining whether caching space is available, writing the recovered data to the available caching space upon determining that caching space is available, and merging other cached data in the SMR band.

Abstract: A system and method for suppressing jitter in a digital data signal in a signal processor system. The digital data signal has spaced apart byte allocation units wherein such spacing is increased such that unallocated bytes can be identified and removed from the digital data signal. The byte allocation units of the digital data signal are suppressed with a digital data signal being outputted from the signal processor system having suppressed byte allocation units to suppress the occurrence of jitter.

Abstract: A semiconductor device mounted in an optical disk apparatus controls writing and reading of data in and from an optical disk. The device performs first processing for adjusting a write strategy in such a manner that based on error information corresponding to a shift in the phase of a reproduction signal with respect to a channel clock signal for data reproduction, which is generated based on the reproduction signal read from the optical disk, the value of the error information related to a plurality of recording marks to be evaluated becomes minimum as a whole. The device also performs second processing for adjusting a write strategy in such a manner that the value of the error information related to a desired recording mark becomes small.

Abstract: Provided is an optical disk recording device including: a recording pulse information generation unit that generates, from a recording signal, recording pulse information corresponding to a power level of laser light; a recording code generation unit that generates a recording code by encoding the recording pulse information; and a decoded code generation unit that decodes the recording code. The recording code generation unit generates the recording code based on a cyclic cede representing each transmission of the power level by using a Gray code. The decoded code generation unit decodes the recording code by using a recording code corresponding to a power level at a predetermined timing and a recording code corresponding to a power level immediately prior to the power level at the predetermined timing.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for signal processing. The method includes receiving a tracking signal corresponding to a recording track on a storage medium. The tracking signal is frequency modulated with encoded symbols. Further, the method includes phase-locking an internal signal to the tracking signal to cause a frequency of the internal signal to be locked at a center frequency of the tracking signal, detecting a drift between the internal signal and the encoded symbols, and phase-shifting the internal signal to compensate for the drift.

Abstract: A phase error detection apparatus includes: a sampling block; a first phase error calculation block; a second phase error calculation block; and a selective output block.

Abstract: A system and method for suppressing jitter in a digital data signal in a signal processor system. The digital data signal has spaced apart byte allocation units wherein such spacing is increased such that unallocated bytes can be identified and removed from the digital data signal. The byte allocation units of the digital data signal are suppressed with a digital data signal being outputted from the signal processor system having suppressed byte allocation units to suppress the occurrence of jitter.

Abstract: A signal processing device with dynamic phase detector switching includes a first phase detector of a first type, a second phase detector of a second type, and a mixing device to switch between using output from the first phase detector and output from the second phase detector in real time based on specified changes in an input signal being fed to the signal processing device.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a signal processing circuit. The signal processing circuit includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to receive an analog input signal, sample the analog input signal based on a sampling clock signal, and convert the sampled analog input signal into a digital output signal, an equalizer configured to equalize the digital output signal, a phase-shift module configured to phase-shift the equalized digital output signal based on a phase-shift signal, and a timing compensation module coupled to the phase-shift module to detect a timing error, and to adjust the phase-shift signal based on the timing error.

Abstract: A calibration circuit and a calibration method thereof for data recovery are provided. The calibration circuit includes an amplitude detector, a period detector, and a compensation circuit. The amplitude detector samples amplitudes of a data signal according to a zero-crossing signal and outputs an amplitude signal accordingly. The period detector counts a clock signal according to the zero-crossing signal and outputs a period signal accordingly. The compensation circuit receives the amplitude signal, the period signal, and the data signal. The compensation circuit adjusts a phase of the data signal by calculating differences between a reference signal and the amplitude signal and between the reference signal and the period signal and outputs a calibrated data signal accordingly. Accordingly, a better recognition performance on the data signal is achieved by calibrating the data signal in real-time.

Abstract: A semiconductor device mounted in an optical disk apparatus controls writing and reading of data in and from an optical disk. The device performs first processing for adjusting a write strategy in such a manner that based on error information corresponding to a shift in the phase of a reproduction signal with respect to a channel clock signal for data reproduction, which is generated based on the reproduction signal read from the optical disk, the value of the error information related to a plurality of recording marks to be evaluated becomes minimum as a whole. The device also performs second processing for adjusting a write strategy in such a manner that the value of the error information related to a desired recording mark becomes small.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for generating an analog waveform, such as a deflection signal used to deflect a write beam during the writing of data to a rotatable medium having a variable track pitch (TP). In accordance with various embodiments, a first digital to analog converter (DAC) is configured to output a deflection signal having an analog voltage level corresponding to a magnitude of a first multi-bit digital input value applied to the first DAC. A second DAC is configured to supply a rail voltage to the first DAC having an analog voltage level corresponding to a magnitude of a second multi-bit digital input value applied to the second DAC. The deflection signal is used to deflect a write beam supplied by a write beam generator.

Abstract: A read signal evaluating means for ensuring compatibility in an optical phase multilevel recording and reading system is provided. In addition, a decoding means not large in circuit scale is provided. An optical phase is modulated based on user data, and phase information thus obtained is recorded in a recording medium. Then, the phase information recorded in the recording medium is optically read, and is converted into an electric signal. The signal is subjected to adaptive equalization and to partial response most-likely decoding. A shift in a time axis direction from a target wave of a predetermined pattern is detected from the read phase information and a statistical average is calculated. Meanwhile, a value of the phase read from the predetermined pattern is extracted from the read phase information and a statistical average is calculated.

Abstract: A tracking signal generating apparatus includes a phase detector and a digital phase controller. The phase detector generates an up signal and a down signal which contain information regarding a phase difference between a plurality of square wave signals that have been generated from an optical signal. The digital phase controller generates an up limit signal or a down limit signal whose logic levels are controlled so that a phase difference between the up limit signal and the down limit signal is reduced.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting burst cutting areas on optical discs includes an optical pickup head, a front-end processing unit, a sync pattern detector, a channel clock recovery device, and a data demodulator. The front-end processing unit generates a BCA signal in response to a radio frequency signal. The sync pattern detector counts the BCA signal according to a reference clock, detects a sync pattern of the BCA signal and outputs a channel bit length counting value. The channel clock recovery device generates a channel clock according to the reference clock and the channel bit length counting value. The data demodulator transfers the BCA signal into a BCA data according to the channel clock. The sync pattern detector continuously counts the BCA signal and continuously outputs a plurality of counting values, so that the sync pattern of the BCA signal can be determined according to at least three sequential counting values.

Abstract: A phase-locked loop circuit that generates a clock signal synchronized with an input signal with a predetermined frequency, including an oscillator configured to oscillate and generate the clock signal; a converter configured to convert the input signal into a digital signal using the clock signal generated by the oscillator as a sampling clock; a frequency divider configured to divide a frequency of the clock signal generated by the oscillator to generate a comparison clock signal and send the comparison clock signal as a feedback; a normalizer configured to normalize an amplitude value of the digital signal generated by the converter; and an oscillation controller configured to control a phase of the clock signal generated by the oscillator so as to reduce a phase difference between the normalized digital signal generated by the normalizer and the comparison clock signal sent as a feedback by the frequency divider.

Abstract: When a multilayered optical disc is used, the signal-to-noise ratio of a read signal is decreased as effective reflectance is extremely low due to the influence of reflection and absorption by front recording layers. Further, when a high-frequency modulation technology is used to suppress returned light noise of a laser, the erasure of recorded information is likely to occur on certain types of discs, making it difficult to simultaneously achieve the suppression of returned light noise of a laser and the prevention of the erasure of recorded information. To address the above problems, the present invention includes a section that performs a read by executing a multi-tone demodulation. The present invention also includes a section that controls the position and shape of a read light pulse to be radiated on a recording layer.

Abstract: A DPD tracking error signal detection apparatus includes the following. Four differentiators remove DC components and differentiate four signal with varying differential phases. The signals are then sampled and quantized by four A/D converters, and output to a non-inverting unit and an inverting unit. A phase inverter/compositor then leaves as-is or phase-inverts the output signals, according to a control signal. The non-inverting and the inverting unit each include two Hilbert transformers that phase-shift the output from the A/D converters, two delay units that delay the output of the other A/D converters to match the delay of the Hilbert transformers, two cross-correlators that calculate the cross-correlation between pairs of Hilbert transformers and delay units, and an adding unit that combines the cross-correlator results and outputs the combined result to the phase inverter/compositor.

Abstract: An optical disk recording device that detects a shift of the recording position with respect to an optical disk, has a pre-pit distribution detecting circuit that detects the distribution of pre-pits for a plurality of wobbles based on binarized pre-pit signals obtained by binarizing pre-pit signals corresponding to pre-pits on said optical disk and a wobble counter value obtained by counting said binarized pre-pit signals in synchronization with a locked wobble, which is a wobble signal having a period corresponding to a wobble on said optical disk and fixed in phase; and a wobble slip determining circuit that compares the distribution of said pre-pits detected by said pre-pit distribution detecting circuit and a reference pre-pit distribution corresponding to a desired recording position, thereby determining the shift amount of the recording position with respect to said desired recording position for each wobble.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a signal processing circuit to reconstruct data from an analog signal. The signal processing circuit includes an analog to digital converter (ADC), an equalizer, a first timing compensation module, a phase-shift module and a second timing compensation module. The ADC receives an analog input signal, samples the analog input signal based on a sampling clock signal, and converts the sampled analog input signal into a digital output signal. The equalizer equalizes the digital output signal. The first timing compensation module detects a first timing error based on the digital output signal, and adjusts the sampling clock signal based on the first timing error. The phase-shift module phase-shifts the equalized digital output signal based on a phase-shift signal. The second timing compensation module detects a second timing error based on the equalized digital output signal, and adjusts the phase-shift signal based on the second timing error.

Abstract: A recording and reproducing method has a recording pulse generating step of generating a recording pulse to set timing of a beam emitted from a laser according to data to be recorded on an information recording medium; a laser power control step of controlling a laser drive current according to a recording laser power; a beam detecting step of detecting a power of the beam emitted from the laser; a signal detecting step of detecting a signal level of a reproduction signal read out from the information recording medium; a step of binarizing the reproduction signal to generate a binarized signal; a step of generating a data signal synchronized with a reference clock signal with use of the binarized signal; and a step of detecting a shift in time interval between the binarized signal and the reference clock signal and feeding the shift back to the recording pulse.

Abstract: According to the present invention, whether recoding pits are larger or smaller than diffraction limit is determined. Then, a signal process suitable for processing of the recording pits larger than the diffraction limit and a signal process suitable for processing of the recording pits smaller than diffraction limit are divided to divisionally perform equalizer processing. The respective signals subjected to the divisional processing are synthesized to obtain a processed output signal. A reproduction signal with reduced impact of intersymbol interference is thus obtained.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for recording. The method includes receiving a tracking signal corresponding to a recording track on a storage medium, phase-locking an internal signal to the tracking signal by reducing a phase error generated based on the internal signal and the tracking signal, generating a phase bias, combining the phase bias into the phase error to phase-shift the internal signal from the tracking signal, and recording on the recording track based on the internal signal.

Abstract: A method and apparatus demodulate pre-formatted information embedded in an optical recording medium. The demodulation includes (a) receiving a wobble signal representing data symbols frequency-modulated on a carrier frequency, (b) generating a phase delta signal representing a phase difference between the wobble signal and a corresponding locked signal having the carrier frequency, (c) first sampling the phase delta signal at a data sampling interval to produce first values, (d) second sampling the phase delta signal at each halfway of the data sampling interval to generate second values, (e) determining, based on a difference between two successive second values, if the first sampling is performed at timing corresponding to an end of each data symbol, and (e) adjusting sampling timing of the first sampling towards the timing corresponding to each end of the data symbols, if the sampling timing does not corresponds to the end of each data symbol.

Abstract: A jitter counter according to the present invention is connected to a PLL circuit for generating a clock signal, which is necessary for signal processing, from a binary signal, and counts jitters of the binary signal.

Abstract: A phase error detection apparatus includes: a sampling block; a first phase error calculation block; a second phase error calculation block; and a selective output block.

Abstract: There is provided an information recording and reproducing method and an apparatus for the same capable of optimizing the shift adjustment of a recording pulse recorded in an optical disk even at the time of recording information on the optical disk at a high speed. The shift adjustment value of the recording pulse optimized at a low speed recording on an optical disk is multiplied by a constant value to be taken as the optimum shift conditions of the recording pulse at the high speed recording.

Abstract: In an information recording method and apparatus, when performing recording by using multiple pulses defined by erase powers Pe1 and Pe2 for forming a space part between mark parts, the set values of the erase powers Pe1 and Pe2 are updated at predetermined intervals in accordance with a recording linear velocity.

Abstract: There is provided an optical information recording/reproducing apparatus capable of obtaining a high super-resolution effect using an optical information recording medium in which a super-resolution thin film is formed. An optical information recording medium 1 having a super-resolution layer is irradiated with a laser light in a light emission pattern such that a bias light emission portion that does not cause the super-resolution layer to be in the state of super-resolution and a pulse light emission portion that causes the super-resolution layer to be in the state of super-resolution alternatively appear, and reflected light is detected. A reproduction signal based on the pulse light emission portion and a reproduction signal based on the bias light emission portion are acquired.

Abstract: The present disclosure can provide a method and an apparatus to correct wobble phase slip in an optical disc recording system during recording. The method of correcting a phase slip can include receiving a wobble signal of a first frequency, sampling the wobble signal to generate a sampled wobble signal, where the wobble signal is sampled at a second frequency that corresponds to a frequency of a sampling signal, comparing a phase of the sampled wobble signal with a phase of a controlled signal to generate a phase error, modifying the phase error by adding a phase bias, and adjusting the second frequency based on the modified phase error to reduce a magnitude of the modified phase error.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention provides a phase difference detection circuit for detecting a phase difference between input data and an input clock generated based on the input data, including: an input data edge position detecting part detecting an edge position of the input data based on an N-phase clock obtained by dividing a predetermined period into N areas (N is an integer of 2 or more); an input clock edge position detecting part detecting an edge position of the input clock based on the input clock and the N-phase clock; and a phase difference detecting part detecting the phase difference between the input data and the input clock based on the edge position of the input data and an edge position of the input clock.

Abstract: An optical information reproducing method of reproducing multivalued information recorded on a track of an optical information medium having a recording/reproducing region, which has virtual cells arranged thereon at regular spacings, the multivalued information being recorded thereon by changing a length of an information pit in a track direction or an area of the information pit in a cell with the use of a light spot, and the multivalued information being reproduced by detecting the level of a multistage reproduced signal from the information pit.

Abstract: An optical information reproducing method of reproducing multivalued information recorded on a track of an optical information medium having a recording/reproducing region, which has virtual cells arranged thereon at regular spacings, the multivalued information being recorded thereon by changing a length of an information pit in a track direction or an area of the information pit in a cell with the use of a light spot, and the multivalued information being reproduced by detecting the level of a multistage reproduced signal from the information pit.

Abstract: Phase trackers (7) for tracking phases of received data are provided with interpolators (20), error detectors (21,22), combiners (25) and indicator generators (26) for generating at least two streams of interpolated samples, for generating error signals per stream, and for generating an indicator signal for adjusting the interpolation, to avoid the use of sync words for phase tracking. The indicator generator (26) converts combined error signals into indicator signals for adjusting the interpolation through shifting sampling phases of interpolated samples.

Abstract: An optical information reproducing method of reproducing multivalued information recorded on a track of an optical information medium having a recording/reproducing region, which has virtual cells arranged thereon at regular spacings. The multivalued information is recorded thereon by changing a length of an information pit in a track direction or an area of the information pit in a cell with the use of a light spot. The multivalued information is reproduced by detecting the level of a multistage reproduced signal from the information pit. The method includes sampling a reproduced signal in the multivalued information recorded in one cell with an M-value (M<N), which is arranged at each of the plurality of cells recorded with an N-value (N?3) on the track, and detecting a cell center value.

Abstract: An optical disk apparatus includes a binarizing circuit part for outputting a reference digital signal, and a digital PLL circuit part for outputting a write timing signal based on the reference digital signal, the write timing signal indicating a timing synchronizing with a digital clock signal having a predetermined frequency.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to the detection of synchronization marks in data storage and retrieval. To detect a synchronization mark, embodiments of the present invention require both pattern matching and proper phase alignment, following a repeating synchronization field. According to one particular embodiment, proper phase alignment following a repeated four bit synchronization field, is utilized in conjunction with pattern matching, to identify a synchronization mark. By allowing a synchronization mark to be identified only with proper phase alignment at the earliest possible occurrence of the synchronization mark, accuracy of synchronization mark detection may be improved.

Abstract: When generating a sampling clock of an A/D converter for digitizing a playback signal from an optical disc, an over sampling clock generated by a PLL is used. Further, zerocross position information and reference information of a playback digital signal that is obtained by A/D conversion using the over sampling clock are converted into those synchronized with the channel bit clock by an operation cycle conversion unit, and then supplied to a PRML signal processing unit and a level judgement binarization unit.

Abstract: A phase difference detection circuit that is formed by digital circuits having a small circuit area. In the phase difference detection circuit, the circuits for generating a tracking error signal are structured by digital circuits, and a digital tracking error signal TE is generated from digital signals output from comparators. The latest previous phase difference data are stored in a phase difference memory, and a phase difference window PW is defined from the average phase difference calculated from the stored phase differences.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus capable of reducing propagation delay differences and error factors, capable of realizing high precision binarization control, and accordingly capable of realizing high precision reproduction, including a comparator for converting an RF signal to a binarized signal; an edge position measurement unit for measuring the edge position of the binarized signal in a time axis by multi-phase clocks; a jitter measurement unit for measuring the amount of jitter based on the edge position information; an edge interval measurement unit for measuring the edge interval length based on the edge position information; a propagation delay difference control amount calculation unit for controlling propagation delay amount between an input and an output of the comparator by injecting a slice level voltage of the comparator through a DAC based on the measured amount of jitter and edge interval length; and a channel data discrimination unit for reproducing the data corresponding to the channel c

Abstract: A write signal control circuit in an optical disk drive for adjusting the duty cycle of the write signals by a duty cycle adjusting unit. The write signal control circuit includes a write signal generator for converting an EFM signal into the write signals according to the write strategy waveform generating rules, a duty cycle adjusting unit for adjusting the duty cycle of each write signal according to adjusting parameters and for outputting adjusted write signals, and a duty cycle detector for detecting the duty cycle of each adjusted write signal and outputting a respective duty cycle control signal. The duty cycle adjusting unit further receives the duty cycle control signal to adapt the adjusting parameters.

Abstract: The disclosure is related to pulse width modulating a power signal to a heat resistive element of a transducer. The power signal may be a power output signal of preamplifier. The power signal may be provided to a heat resistive element in a transducer that is operable to read data from or write data to a data storage medium. The pulse width modulated power signal can allow for controlling the heating of the heat resistive element based on a thermal time constant of the heat resistive element and based on adjustable components of the pulse width modulated power signal.

Abstract: A preprocessing unit converts an analog signal to a processed signal at a sample rate controlled by a first clock signal. A digital phase locked loop locks on the processed signal and outputs a phase signal using the first clock signal. A bit decision unit outputs a digital signal and a third clock signal using the phase signal, the first clock signal and an output signal from the preprocessing unit. A clock divider produces the first clock signal from the second clock signal. A quantizer produces the output signal by quantizing the analog signal amplitude. A phase detector determines a phase difference between the output signal and the second clock signal to feed an amplitude that indicates a phase difference. A sample and hold unit samples the output signal using the second clock signal and holds samples of the output signal for a clock period of first clock signal.

Abstract: A PLL circuit having an analog-to-digital converter; a phase error detecting circuit; and an oscillator, in which the phase error detecting circuit includes: phase error detecting means detecting a phase error from a data stream signal and a data stream signal 1 clock cycle earlier; absolute value comparing means detecting an absolute value of the phase error detected exceeding a predetermined threshold; holding means holding a polarity of the phase error, as of a timing of the detection by the absolute value comparing means, for a period of the detection; anticoincidence detecting means detecting anticoincidence between the polarity held by the holding means and a polarity of the phase error detected by the phase error detecting means; and polarity inverting means that provides the phase error detection signal by inverting the polarity of the phase error in detection of anticoincidence, or without inverting the polarity in detection of no anticoincidence.

Abstract: A method and apparatus demodulate pre-formatted information embedded in an optical recording medium. The demodulation includes (a) receiving a wobble signal representing data symbols frequency-modulated on a carrier frequency, (b) generating a phase delta signal representing a phase difference between the wobble signal and a corresponding locked signal having the carrier frequency, (c) first sampling the phase delta signal at a data sampling interval to produce first values, (d) second sampling the phase delta signal at each halfway of the data sampling interval to generate second values, (e) determining, based on a difference between two successive second values, if the first sampling is performed at timing corresponding to an end of each data symbol, and (e) adjusting sampling timing of the first sampling towards the timing corresponding to each end of the data symbols, if the sampling timing does not corresponds to the end of each data symbol.

Abstract: An optical disk structure and optical disk recorder which enables data to be rewritten onto the recording layer of the optical disk. A clock reference structure is permanently formed along servo tracks of the optical disk. An optical transducer is coupled to the clock reference structure and generates a clock reference signal simultaneously with writing new data onto the recording layer of the optical disk. The data is written as data marks along the servo tracks. Each of the data marks includes edges. The edges of the data marks are recorded in synchronization with a write clock. The write clock is phase-locked with the clock reference signal. Therefore, the edges of the data marks are aligned with the clock reference structure with sub-bit accuracy. Standard DVD-ROM disk readers are not able to detect the high spatial frequency of the clock reference structure.

Abstract: An optical recording method for recording mark length-modulated information on a recording medium by using a plurality of recording mark lengths. The optical recording method comprises the steps of: when a time length of one recording mark is denoted nT (T is a reference clock period equal to or less than 25 ns, and n is a natural number equal to or more than 2), (i) dividing the time length of the recording mark nT into ?1T, ?1T, ?1T, ?2T, ?2T, . . . , ?iT, ?iT, . . .

Abstract: An optical disk structure and optical disk recorder which enables data to be re-written onto the recording layer of the optical disk. A clock reference structure is permanently formed along servo tracks of the optical disk. An optical transducer is coupled to the clock reference structure and generates a clock reference signal simultaneously with writing new data onto the recording layer of the optical disk. The data is written as data marks along the servo tracks. Each of the data marks includes edges. The edges of the data marks are recorded in synchronization with a write clock. The write clock is phase-locked with the clock reference signal. Therefore, the edges of the data marks are aligned with the clock reference structure with sub-bit accuracy. Standard DVD-ROM disk readers are not able to detect the high spatial frequency of the clock reference structure.

Abstract: An optical recording method for recording mark length-modulated information on a recording medium by using a plurality of recording mark lengths. The optical recording method comprises the steps of: when a time length of one recording mark is denoted nT (T is a reference clock period equal to or less than 25 ns, and n is a natural number equal to or more than 2), (i) dividing the time length of the recording mark nT into ?1T, ?1T, ?1T, ?2T, ?2T, . . . , ?iT, ?iT, . . .

Abstract: An optical disk structure and optical disk recorder which enables data to be rewritten onto the recording layer of the optical disk. A clock reference structure is permanently formed along servo tracks of the optical disk. An optical transducer is coupled to the clock reference structure and generates a clock reference signal simultaneously with writing new data onto the recording layer of the optical disk. The data is written as data marks along the servo tracks. Each of the data marks includes edges. The edges of the data marks are recorded in synchronization with a write clock. The write clock is phase-locked with the clock reference signal. Therefore, the edges of the data marks are aligned with the clock reference structure with sub-bit accuracy. Standard DVD-ROM disk readers are not able to detect the high spatial frequency of the clock reference structure.