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:
May. 30, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 27, 1997
David L Schell, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
David E Lewis, Black Forest, CO (US);
Discovision Associates, Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
An optical disc drive system is employed in conjunction with a storage medium having a plurality of data sectors each provided with a header and a data storage area. The system includes a data detection device for retrieving stored data from the storage medium and outputting a data signal, an amplifier for providing a variable gain to the data signal and outputting an amplified data signal, a detector that is responsive to the amplified data signal for evaluating a predetermined one of the sectors to ascertain whether the storage area is blank, and an automatic gain control circuit producing a gain control output for controlling the gain of the amplifier. The control circuit has a first mode and a second mode, the first mode being active during retrieval of the header and the second mode being active during retrieval of the data storage area. The system is further provided with a sampling device for sampling the gain control output during retrieval of the stored data in a respective one of the storage areas containing previously stored data. The sampling device outputs results of the sampling, and a fixed gain control circuit is responsive to the results of the sampling for outputting a fixed gain control signal. The fixed gain control signal is applied to the amplifier during evaluation of the predetermined one of the sectors.