The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 08, 1988
Filed:
Sep. 15, 1986
Gerald A Pierce, Redwood City, CA (US);
Louis F Schaefer, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Norman A Peppers, Belmont, CA (US);
William F Mullen, San Bruno, CA (US);
Drexler Technology Corporation, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
An optical data reading and writing system in which a laser beam records data spots on a medium and a wide light beam is used for simultaneously reading the data spots and prerecorded information. The laser beam records spots of a uniform size which is less than about ten micrometers. The wide beam which may be emitted by an LED illuminates a substantially larger area of the medium than the laser beam. Prerecorded information, if present, may include parallel track lines, the wide beam illuminating adjacent pairs of track lines in addition to the data spots and prerecorded clock spots in data tracks between the track lines. Multiple data paths may be present between track lines, which may then be read simultaneously by a photodetector. The photodetector may have a plurality of detector elements which have apertures such that simultaneously illuminated data spots are distinguished.