System for recording digital information in a pulse-length modulation format

Claims

I claim:

1. A disc-shaped record medium for storing digital information in a succession of substantially circular and concentric recording tracks, wherein each recording track comprises:

a first portion which includes a succession of alternating marks and spaces, the lengths of the successive marks and spaces being modulated in accordance with the information to be recorded, the digital information derived from a succession of multi-bit binary code blocks which are converted to a succession of output pulses having discretely-variable time durations, wherein the lengths of the successive marks and spaces are modulated in discrete steps in accordance with the discrete lengths of the succession of said output pulses; and

a second portion which does not record said information and which includes a prescribed pattern of marks and spaces.

2. An optical disc recorder for recording digital information on an optical disc, the optical disc recorder comprising:

a modulator which converts a succession of original binary bits of digital information to be recorded into a succession of coded signals by encoding portions of the succession of binary bits discretely into marks and spaces, and which produces a prescribed pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths, to be recorded in a specific area of the optical disc, as determined from the original binary bits, where no information is to be recorded; and

a writing device which produces a beam for writing information on the disc, said information being indicative of the succession of coded signals or of the prescribed pattern.

3. The optical disc recorder of claim 2, wherein:

the modulator records marks and spaces on the optical disc, each of the marks and spaces having a length which is discretely varied between a minimum length and a maximum length, the maximum length being greater than twice the minimum length, the lengths being determined in accordance with the succession of coded signals.

4. An optical disc recorder for recording digital information on an optical disc, the optical disc recorder comprising:

a modulator, which receives a succession of original binary bits of digital information to be recorded in a succession of substantially circular and concentric recording tracks, and produces a succession of coded signals to be recorded, by encoding portions of the succession of original binary bits into corresponding encoded portions using only a first encoding operation to encode information contained in each portion of the succession of original binary bits and no operation, subsequent to the first encoding operation, which processes that encoded portion, each encoded portion being a final code indicative of each corresponding portion of the succession of original binary bits, the encoded portions including a succession of alternating marks and spaces, each of the successive marks and spaces having a length which is discretely varied between a minimum length and a maximum length in accordance with information contained in the final code, the length of each of the successive marks and spaces being limited in its run length to be no less than the minimum length and to be not greater than the maximum length, the maximum length being greater than twice the minimum length, said modulator producing a prescribed pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths, to be recorded in a portion of each said recording track, as determined from the original binary bits, where said digital information will not be recorded; and

a writing device which produces a beam for writing information on the disc, said information being indicative of the succession of coded signals or of the prescribed pattern from said modulator.

5. A method of recording digital information on an optical disc comprising the steps of:

converting a succession of original binary bits of digital information to be recorded in a first portion of each of a succession of substantially circular and concentric recording tracks into a succession of coded signals by encoding portions of the succession of original binary bits; and

recording information indicative of the succession of coded signals as a corresponding succession of alternating marks and spaces, which carry discrete information, in each of said first portions of said recording tracks on the disc, and recording, in a second portion of each said recording track on the disc, as determined from the succession of original binary bits, a prescribed pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths.

6. The method of claim 5, the converting step comprising the step of:

recording marks and spaces on the optical disc, each of the marks and spaces having a length which is discretely varied between a minimum length and a maximum length, the maximum length being greater than twice the minimum length, in accordance with the succession of coded signals.

7. An optical disc player for reading digital information from an optical disc, the optical disc player comprising:

a mark and space detector which scans the disc to produce a playback signal that varies in accordance with a pattern of marks and spaces recorded on the disc, said playback signal being indicative of the pattern of marks and spaces on the disc and having marks and spaces with lengths which vary discretely between a minimum length and a maximum length to represent the digital information;

a demodulator, responsive to the playback signal, which detects those lengths of the successive marks and spaces when they are no greater than the maximum length and no less than the minimum length, to produce a succession of playback output signals representative of a particular succession of decoded signals to which the marks and spaces correspond, the demodulator detecting a playback signal representing a particular filler code consisting of a predetermined pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths, and outputting a signal representative of a particular succession of coded signals to which the marks and spaces correspond only when the filler code is not detected, and otherwise outputting a signal indicative of presence of the filler code.

8. An optical disc player for reading digital information from an optical disc, the optical disc player comprising:

a mark and space detector which scans the disc to produce a playback signal that varies in accordance with a pattern of marks and spaces recorded on the disc, said playback signal being indicative of the pattern of marks and spaces on the disc and having marks and spaces with lengths which vary discretely between a minimum length and a maximum length to represent the information, the maximum length being greater than twice the minimum length; and

a demodulator, responsive to the playback signal, which detects those lengths of the successive marks and spaces which vary between the maximum length and the minimum length, and producing a succession of playback output signals representative of a particular succession of decoded signals to which the marks and spaces correspond using only a first decoding operation to decode each portion of the succession of playback output signals into a corresponding portion of the succession of decoded signals and no operation, subsequent to the first decoding operation, which processes that portion of the succession of decoded signals, each decoded portion being a final code indicative of each corresponding portion of the succession of playback output signals, the demodulator detecting a playback signal representing a particular filler code consisting of a predetermined pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths, and outputting a signal representative of a particular succession of coded signals to which the marks and spaces correspond only when the filler code is not detected, and otherwise outputting a signal indicative of presence of the filler code.

9. A method of reading digital information from an optical disc comprising the steps of:

scanning the disc to produce a playback signal that varies in accordance with a pattern of marks and spaces recorded on the disc, the marks and spaces having discretely-variable lengths representative of a succession of binary bits;

detecting, responsive to the playback signal, lengths of successive marks and spaces;

identifying an area of the optical disc where a filler code consisting of a predetermined pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths is recorded; and

only when said filler code is not identified, providing an output signal representative of a particular succession of coded signals to which the marks and spaces correspond, and otherwise outputting a signal indicative of presence of the filler code.

10. A disc which has optical characteristics that can be altered, comprising:

a disc-shaped record having a surface including a succession of alternating marks and spaces thereon, said succession of alternating marks and spaces further comprising:

a first portion of the succession of alternating marks and spaces which are discretely varied to correspond to a succession of coded signals indicative of recorded information; and

a second portion of the succession of alternating marks and spaces disposed in a specific area of the optical disc where no information is to be recorded, the second portion corresponding to a filler code having a prescribed pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths and identifying the specific area of the optical disc where no information is recorded.

11. The optical disc of claim 10 wherein the alternating marks and spaces have lengths which are discretely variable between a minimum length and a maximum length in accordance with the succession of coded signals, the maximum length being greater than twice the minimum length, each of the succession of alternating marks and spaces being obtained by encoding portions of a succession of binary bits using only a first encoding operation to encode each original portion of the succession of binary bits into an encoded portion and no operation subsequent to the first encoding operation which processes the encoded portion, each encoded portion being a final code indicative of a corresponding portion of the succession of binary bits.

12. An optical disc comprising:

a disc-shaped record having a surface including a succession of alternating marks and spaces thereon, said succession of alternating marks and spaces further comprising:

a data-containing portion including a succession of alternating marks and spaces which are discretely varied to correspond to a succession of coded signals indicative of recorded information; and

a non-data-containing portion including a prescribed pattern of alternating marks and spaces having predetermined lengths and identifying a specific area of the optical disc where no data is recorded.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to systems for storing digital information, and, more particularly, to video disc systems for storing digital information in a pulse-length modulation format.

Video disc systems are becoming widely used for storing digital information with a high recording efficiency. The information is ordinarily recorded on the disc as a succession of spaced marks arranged in a plurality of substantially circular and concentric recording tracks, for example, a spiral pattern. One particularly efficient system has recorded the digital information in a pulse-length modulation format, in which each of the successive spaced marks has a discretely-variable length representative of a separate, multi-bit code block. The spacing between successive marks, or alternatively the spacing between the beginning edges of successive marks, is ordinarily maintained constant.

The video disc can include a glass substrate, with a thin, metallic recording layer overlaying it, and apparatus for recording the digital information on the disc ordinarily focuses a writing beam of light onto the disc, as the disc is rotated at a uniform rate, with the intensity of the beam being modulated in accordance with the digital information to be recorded. When the intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold, a non-reflective pit or mark is formed in the recording layer, whereas when the intensity does not exceed the threshold, the recording layer is not affected. Thus, the lengths of the successive, spaced marks correspond to the time duration the intensity of the focused beam exceeds this threshold.

The recorded digital information is recovered from replicas of the recorded video disc by scanning it with a reading beam of light having a uniform intensity, to produce a reflected beam having an intensity modulated by the recorded pattern of spaced marks. The length of time the intensity of the reflected beam exceeds a predetermined level is then measured to determine the length of the corresponding mark and thus the particular binary code block it represents.

Although this prior pulse-length modulation technique has proven effective in recording digital information with a relatively high recording efficiency, there is still a need for a system for recording digital information with an even higher efficiency. The present invention fulfills this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is embodied in a system for recording and playing back digital information on a record medium, in which the information is stored in a succession of spaced marks of discretely-variable lengths. The length of each mark is representative of a separate one of a succession of multi-bit binary code blocks. In accordance with the invention, the spaces between successive marks also have discretely-variable lengths representative of separate blocks in the succession of code blocks. Digital information is thereby recorded on the record medium with a yet higher recording efficiency.

More particularly, the present invention has particular utility in a video disc system in which a video signal is recorded on a disc-shaped record in a succession of substantially circular and concentric recording tracks. The recording apparatus functions initially to digitize the video signal and to compress the digitized signal, using known data compression techniques. The digitized signal is then arranged in a succession of code blocks of the same or mixed lengths, and a binary modulation signal is formed having transitions in state determined in accordance with the successive code blocks. In the preferred embodiment, each code block includes four binary bits, and the successive states of the modulation signal have sixteen possible discrete durations.

The modulation signal is coupled to a light intensity modulator, which modulates the intensity of a writing beam such that the intensity is alternately greater than and less than a predetermined threshold for time durations corresponding to the succession of multi-bit code blocks. The intensity-modulated beam is focused onto the record, as the record is rotated at a prescribed rate, to form corresponding microscopic pits or marks in a prescribed pattern. Using conventional techniques, the record can then be used to produce video disc replicas.

The recorded digital information is played back from disc replicas by scanning the successive tracks with a reading beam of light having a substantially uniform intensity. This produces a reflected (or transmitted) beam having an intensity modulated by the recorded pattern of alternating marks and spaces. The playback apparatus measures the time durations of the successive marks and spaces and determines the particular code blocks each represents. After de-compressing the succession of detected code blocks, the original analog video signal can be re-created.

In the preferred embodiment, each of the successive recording tracks is used to record a separate video frame. Since the special pulse-length modulation format results in a recorded pattern of marks and spaces having a variable length, however, it is usually the case that less than an entire track is required to record each video frame. When this occurs, the remainder of the track is occupied by alternating marks and spaces representative of a prescribed filler code.

Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of recording apparatus in accordance with the present invention, for recording a digitized video signal on a video disc, in a special pulse-length modulation format;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of playback apparatus in accordance with the present invention, for recovering the digitized video signal stored on the video disc in the special pulse-length modulation format;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the format of the data on the video disc; and

FIG. 4 is a table showing the prescribed lengths for the sucessive marks (and spaces) corresponding to each of the plurality of possible 4-bit code blocks being recorded.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown recording apparatus for recording a digitized video signal on a disc-shaped record 11. The apparatus includes a writing laser 13 for producing a writing beam of light 15 having a substantially uniform intensity, and an intensity modulater 17 for modulating the intensity of the beam in accordance with a digital modulation signal to be recorded. The apparatus further includes a radially-movably objective lens (not shown) for focusing the intensity-modulated beam onto the record, and a spindle motor 19 for rotating the record at a prescribed, uniform rate (e.g., 1800 r.p.m.). The focused beam thereby forms a succession of substantially circular and concentric recording tracks in the record.

The record 11 includes a glass substrate with a metallic recording layer overlaying it, and the focused beam forms a microscopic pit in the recording layer whenever its intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold. The intensity is modulated to be alternately greater and less than this threshold, in accordance with the digital modulation signal to be recorded, so that a corresponding succession of spaced pits or marks is formed in the record.

In accordance with the invention, the digitized video signal is recorded in the record 11 in a special pulse-length modulation format, in which both the successive marks and the spaces between successive marks have discretely-variable lengths representative of a succession of multi-bit binary code blocks. Digital information is thereby recorded on the record with an improved recording efficiency.

More particularly, the recording apparatus of FIG. 1 includes an analog-to-digital converter 21, for sampling a baseband video signal input on line 23 and converting it to a corresponding digital signal. This digital signal is coupled over lines 25 to a formatter 27, for removal of vertical and horizontal sync signals, compression of the digital information, and formatting of the compressed data into successive four-bit code blocks. These successive code blocks are transfered over lines 29 to a suitable storage buffer 31, which outputs the blocks, one by one over lines 33, to a MARK pulse-width modulator 35 and a SPACE pulse-width modulator 37. The two pulse-width modulators operate, in an alternating fashion, to produce output pulses having discretely-variable time durations corresponding to the particular code blocks applied to their respective input terminals. The buffer 31 must have sufficient storage capacity to store a predetermined number of 4-bit code blocks, since the blocks are input at a substantially uniform rate but are output at a variable rate determined by the particular information the code blocks contain.

FIG. 4 is a table showing one suitable relationship between the sixteen possible 4-bit code blocks and the time durations for the corresponding pulses output by the two pulse-width modulators 35 and 37. It will be observed that the possible pulse lengths vary in uniform steps between a minimum length of 1.0 L and a maximum length of 2.5 L. An alternative relationship between the sixteen possible code blocks and the corresponding pulse durations is provided in a copending and commonly-assigned application for U.S. patent, Ser. No. 974,183, filed in the name of Jack H. Bailey and entitled "Video Player/Recorder With Non-Linear Mark Length Modulation".

The recording apparatus of FIG. 1 further includes a combiner device 39 for producing the modulation signal coupled over line 41 to the intensity modulator 17, in accordance with the successive pulse-l