Chapter – 6
Optical Storage Media
6.1. Basic technology
Optical storage media offer a higher storage density at a lower cost. This
technology has been the main catalyst for the whole development of
multimedia in computing because it is used in multimedia external devices.
Optical storage media use the intensity of reflected laser light as an
information source. A laser beam of approximately 780 nm wavelength
can be focused at approximately 1µm.
A compact disk consists of:
Label
The protective layer
The reflective layer
The substrate layer
In substrate layer we encounter holes, corresponding to the coded data
which are called pits. The areas between these pits are called lands. The
substrate layer is covered with a reflective layer. The laser beam is focused
on the reflective layer from the substrate layer. Therefore the reflected
beam has a strong intensity at the lands.
An optical disk consists of a sequential order of these pits and lands
allocated in one track. The track is spiral. In case of CD, the distance
between the tracks is 1.6µm and the track width of each pit is 0.6µm.
6.2. Video disk fundamentals
The video disk, in the form of laser vision, serves as the output of motion
pictures and audio. The data are stored in an analog-coded format on the
disk; the reproduced data meet the highest quality requirements. The laser
vision disk has a diameter of approximately 30cm and stores approximately
2.6 GB.
The motion picture on the video disk is encoded as frequency modulation,
and the audio signal is mixed with the video signal. The main information of
the mixed audio-video signal is the time at which the signal has the zero
value. Hence, each zero cross-point corresponds to a change between a pit
and a land on the disk. Such changes can occur at any time, and is written
to the disk in a non-quantized form. i.e., the pit length is not quantized.
Therefore, this method is time-continuous and analog.
6.3. CD audio, CD ROM and extended Architecture
CD Audio
The transition from pit to land and from land to pit corresponds to the
coding of a 1 in the data stream. A 0 is coded as no transition.
The audio data rate can be easily derived from the given sample frequency
of 44.1 kHz and the 16-bit linear quantization.
Audio data rate = 16(bits/sample) x 2 channels x 44100(samples/s x channel)
= 1411200(bits/s) = 176.4 KB per second
CD ROM
The compact disk read only memory (CD ROM) was designed as the storage
format for general computer data.
CD ROM tracks are divided into audio and data types. The data tracks are
usually located at the beginning of the CD ROM and then followed by the
audio tracks.
Blocks
The use of a CD ROM with its general-purpose computer data requires
much better error correction and random access to a data unit with a
higher resolution than the track.
This data unit is called a block. A CD ROM block consists of 2352 bytes of a
CD audio block. Out of 2352 bytes, 2048 or 2336 bytes (depending on data
and audio) can be used for user data. The remaining bytes are used for the
identification of random access, as well as for another error correction
layer, thereby lowering the error rate further.
75 blocks per second are played back, each consisting of 32 frames. Each
frame is 73.5 bytes (588 bits).
Block = 1411200(bits/s) x (1/75)s x 1/8 = 2352 bytes.
Modes
CD ROM Mode 1 serves as the actual storage of computer data.
CD ROM Mode 2 holds the data of any media.
CD ROM Extended Architecture
The main motivation for this additional development was the concurrent
output of several media, which was insufficiently considered in previous
approaches.
It uses CD ROM Mode 2 to define the actual blocks.
CD ROM/XA differentiates blocks with form1 and form2 formats.
Form1: provides improved error detection and correction.
Form 2: allows 13% more storage capacity out of the entire block size(2352 bytes).
6.4. Principles of CD Write-Once and CD Magneto Optical
CD Write Once (CD-WO) allows the user to write once to a CD and
afterwards to read it many times.
Principle of the CD-WO
An absorption layer exists between the substrate and the reflection layer.
This layer can be irreversibly modified through strong thermal influence,
which changes the reflection properties of the laser beam.
The CD Magneto Optical (CD-MO) has a high storage capacity and allows
one to write multiple times to the CD.
Principle of CD Magneto Optical
The magnetic-optical method is based on the polarization of the magnetic
field where the polarization is caused by a heat.
To be written, the block is heated to above 1500C. Simultaneously, a
magnetic field approximately 10 times the strength of the earth’s magnetic
field is created. Hereby, a pit corresponds to a low value of the magnetic
field.
After the CD is irradiated with a laser beam, the polarization of the light
changes corresponding to the existing magnetization. Using this process,
the read operation is executed.
For a delete activity, a constant magnetic field is created in the area of a
block and the sector is simultaneously heated.
