JP2000242925A - Optical information recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical information recording device capable of recording plural data whose classes are different with a simple operation. SOLUTION: An 8/10 modulation circuit 11 and an NRZI modulation circuit 14 which modulate coded data and an NRZ modulation circuit 13 modulating visible picture data are provided in this device and the coded data and the visible picture data are recorded with one device by selecting modulation circuits corresponding to recording data from these modulation circuits. Thus, since it is made unnecessary to record data with an exclusive device for every data and data whose classes are different can be recorded with one device, an operation at the time of recording data can be remarkably simplified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical information recording apparatus for recording a plurality of different types of data on an optical recording medium by modulating the data with different modulation methods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of media, such as a disk, a card, and a tape, are known as a medium for optically recording information on an information recording medium or reading the recorded information. . Among these recording media, an optical information recording medium formed in a card shape (hereinafter referred to as an optical card)
Is attracting attention as a small, light-weight, write-once information recording medium with a large recording capacity that is easy to carry. In particular, great demand is expected as an ID card carried by an individual or a medical card for appending medical examination information examined at a medical institution to the card.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of an optical card. FIG.
In the optical card 1, an information recording area 2 is provided,
Information 5 is recorded in the information recording area 2. In the information recording area 2, a large number of tracking tracks 3 are arranged in parallel as shown in a partially enlarged recording surface in FIG. 9, and information tracks 4 for recording information are provided between the tracking tracks. Have been. Information is recorded on this information track 4 as an information pit row 6.

In an optical information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording or reproducing information on or from such an optical card, recording / reproduction is performed while always performing auto-tracking (hereinafter, referred to as AT) and auto-focusing (hereinafter, referred to as AF) controls. I do. Specifically, when information is recorded on the optical card 1, the light beam narrowed down into a minute spot is modulated according to the recording information, and the modulated light beam is scanned on the information track to optically record the information track. Information is recorded as an information pit string which can be detected in a practical manner.

When reproducing information recorded on the optical card 1, a light beam spot having a constant power enough to prevent recording on the optical card 1 is scanned over an information pit row on the information track, and The information is reproduced by detecting the reflected light or the transmitted light and performing predetermined signal processing using the detected signal. Modulation methods for modulating recording information include 8/10 modulation and NRZI (Non Return to Zero Inv).
erted) modulation is used.

Next, when an optical card is used as an ID card, various personal information (name, address, telephone number, date of birth, face photograph, etc.) of the optical card owner is optically recorded by an optical information recording / reproducing apparatus. Recorded on card 1. When it is desired to obtain the personal information of the owner of the optical card, the information can be obtained by reproducing the personal information recorded on the optical card by an optical information recording / reproducing device. Hereinafter, information that can be reproduced by the optical information recording / reproducing device is referred to as code data.

Recently, personal information has been recorded on an optical card using an optical information recording / reproducing apparatus, and the recorded personal information has been reproduced using an optical information recording / reproducing apparatus. There has been proposed a method of recording visible image information that can be viewed on an optical card using an information pit sequence recorded on an information track. Hereinafter, the visible image information that can be viewed is referred to as visible image data.

[0008] For example, when a face photograph and a name of an optical card owner are recorded on the optical card as visible image data, it is possible to determine whether or not the owner of the optical card is correct without using an optical information recording / reproducing apparatus. Can be. In addition, when information such as a face photograph or name is printed on an optical card using a card printer, the print information can be relatively easily forged, whereas when visible image data is recorded on the optical card, the optical card is used. Has the advantage that forgery becomes difficult because it is a write-once optical information recording medium that cannot be erased.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which code data and visible image data are recorded on an optical card. In FIG. 10, 5 is code data that can be reproduced by the optical information recording / reproducing apparatus, 7 is a visible image of a face photograph of the optical card owner, and 8 is a visible image of the name of the optical card owner.

[0010]

However, in the prior art, since the modulation method for recording the code data and the modulation method for recording the visible image data are different, the optical information for recording the code data is different. A recording device cannot record visible image data, and conversely, an optical information recording device that records visible image data cannot record code data. Therefore, when recording both code data and visible image data on an optical card,
Code data is recorded by a recording device that records the code data, and when recording the visible image data, the visible image data is recorded by another recording / reproducing device that records the visible image. However, when the code data and the visible image data are recorded by using two devices as described above, there is a problem that not only the operation is troublesome but also the cost is increased.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical information recording apparatus capable of recording a plurality of data of different types by a simple operation.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to modulate recording data, drive a light source according to a modulated signal, and irradiate an intensity-modulated light beam from the light source to a recording medium. By doing so, in the optical information recording apparatus that records information on the recording medium, a plurality of optical information recording apparatuses are provided corresponding to the type of data to be recorded and modulate the recording data by different modulation methods according to the type of data. And a means for selecting a modulation means corresponding to recording data from among the plurality of modulation means.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the optical information recording apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 31 denotes an information recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as an information recording / reproducing apparatus) for recording and reproducing information on / from an optical card 1 as an information recording medium.
Drive). The drive 31 is connected to the higher-level control device 32 and records information on the optical card 1 or reproduces the recorded information under the control of the higher-level control device 32. The optical card shown in FIG. 9 is used as the optical card 1.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a drive mechanism (not shown) for introducing the optical card 1 into a predetermined position in the drive 31 and reciprocating the optical card 1 in the R direction at the predetermined position. Is a card feed motor for discharging the outside of the apparatus. Reference numeral 38 denotes a light beam irradiation optical system including a semiconductor laser as a light source, and irradiates the optical card 1 with a light beam of the light source focused on a minute light spot when recording and reproducing information. 39 is a photodetector for detecting light reflected from the optical card 1;
Drives a part of the light beam irradiation optical system 38 to drive the optical card 1
An AF actuator 41 for moving the focus position of the light spot on the surface in the Z direction, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the optical card surface, and performing autofocus control. 41 drives a part of the light beam irradiation optical system 38 to drive the optical card. Light spot on one surface is Y
It is an AT actuator for performing auto-tracking control by moving in a direction, that is, a direction orthogonal to the information track of the optical card.

An optical head 50 includes the light beam irradiation optical system 38, the photodetector 39, the AF actuator 40, and the AT actuator 41. Numeral 36 denotes a head feed motor for moving the optical head 50 in the Y direction to access the light spot to a desired track.
The MPU 33 is a processor circuit for controlling each unit in the drive 31, and has a built-in ROM and RAM. MP
U33 is a head feed motor 36, a card feed motor 37
And the like, and transmit and receive data to and from the host controller 32. The AT / AF control circuit 34 drives the AF actuator 40 and the AT actuator 41 based on the output signal from the photodetector 39 so that the light spot of the light beam irradiation optical system 38 is focused on the card surface, and Then, auto focus control and auto tracking control are performed so that the light spot scans following the information track.

The modulation / demodulation circuit 35 is a circuit for modulating recording information under the control of the MPU 33 and demodulating reproduction information. The modulation / demodulation circuit 35 includes a circuit for modulating code data, a circuit for modulating visible image data, and a switch for switching the modulation circuit according to data to be recorded. The methods for modulating the code data and the visible image data are different from each other. Further, the modulation / demodulation circuit 35 is provided with a circuit for demodulating the code data recorded by modulation when reproducing the code data. The detailed configuration of the modulation / demodulation circuit 35 will be described later in detail.

At the time of recording information, a modulation circuit in the modulation / demodulation circuit 35 is selected in accordance with data to be recorded according to a command from the host controller 32. Then, the data is modulated by the selected modulation circuit, the semiconductor laser in the light beam irradiation optical system 38 is driven in accordance with the modulation signal, and the intensity-modulated light beam is scanned on the information track, thereby forming an optical card. 1 to record information. In reproducing the information, the light beam irradiation optical system 38 scans the information track of the optical card 1 with the reproducing light beam, and the photodetector 39 detects the reflected light from the optical card 1, and the modulation / demodulation circuit 35. Then, a reproduced signal is generated from the detected signal, the reproduced signal is binarized, and demodulation processing is performed by a demodulation circuit using the binarized data to reproduce recorded information.

Next, a modulation method by the modulation and demodulation circuit 35 will be described. First, the modulation and demodulation method is described in detail in "Optical Disc Technology" by Noboru Murayama, Hiroshi Koide, Kazusaku Yamada and Makoto Kunikane, published by Radio Technology Company. According to this, modulation is defined as an operation of converting original information into a signal suitable for an optical information recording medium, and demodulation is defined as an operation of returning a signal reproduced from the optical information recording medium to the original information. The characteristics required for the modulation and demodulation of the optical information recording / reproducing device include the fact that high-density recording is possible to increase the capacity of information and the bit / bit for reading out the information signal from the reproduced signal.
The clock (self-synchronization) can be easily extracted. When the signal once disappears due to dropout and is restored again, or when the signal is started to be reproduced, synchronization can be quickly established and demodulation can be performed. In order to avoid reading errors due to fluctuations in the reference level,
Also, the frequency spectrum of the modulated signal must not contain a DC component in order to avoid servo errors during recording / reproduction, and reproduction errors of certain bits should not affect the reproduction of successive bits as much as possible. , The signal transmission band can be narrowed, reproduction errors do not occur as much as possible even if there is time fluctuation due to jitter, the characteristics of the recording medium should be well matched, the size of the modulation and demodulation circuit should be easy to implement, and the price should be low. There is a need for being small.

Conventionally, when code data is recorded on an optical card, in consideration of such points, 8/10 modulation and NRZI (Non Return to Zero Inverte) are used as modulation methods.
d) NRZI demodulation and 8/10 demodulation are used for modulation and demodulation. On the other hand, when recording visible image data on an optical card, the simplest modulation method is desirable because is most important. Therefore, in the present embodiment, 8/10 modulation and NRZI modulation are used for modulation of code data as in the past, and NRZ (No.
n Return to Zero) modulation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a modulation circuit in the modulation / demodulation circuit 35. In FIG. 2, a switch 10 is a switch for switching between a modulation method for recording code data on the optical card 1 and a modulation method for recording visible image data. The 8/10 modulation circuit 11 converts the data to 8
A NRZI modulation circuit 14 that modulates data according to the NRZI modulation method;
The NRZ modulation circuit 13 is a circuit that modulates data according to the NRZ modulation method. The 8/10 modulation circuit 11 and the NRZI modulation circuit 14 are used for modulating code data, and the NRZ modulation circuit 13 is used for modulating visible image data.

When code data is recorded on the optical card 1, a command for recording the code data and the code data are transferred from the upper control device 32 to the MPU 33. MPU33
Switches the switch 10 to the a side according to this instruction, and selects a modulation circuit for recording code data. vice versa,
When recording the visible image data, a command for recording the visible image data and the visible image data are transferred from the upper control device 32, and the MPU 33 sets the switch 10 to b by this command.
Side, and selects a modulation circuit for recording visible image data. By switching the switch 10 in this manner, the code data and the visible image data can be recorded on the optical card 1 by one optical information recording / reproducing apparatus. The circuit for modulating the code data and the circuit for modulating the visible image data are independent of each other.

Here, the 8/10 modulation circuit 11 takes over a predetermined conversion rule and converts 8-bit information into 10 bits, and the NRZI modulation circuit 14 maintains the signal when the data is 0, and When it is 1, it is a circuit that inverts the signal. The NRZ modulation circuit 13 is a modulation circuit that sets 0 when data is 0 and 1 when data is 1. In the present embodiment, the 8/10 modulation circuit 11 and the NRZI modulation circuit 1
4 is a modulation circuit for recording code data, and a NRZ modulation circuit 13 is a modulation circuit for recording visible image data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation when recording code data. When recording code data, it is assumed that the switch 10 is connected to the a side. FIG. 3A shows, for example, 8-bit code data “0010”.
1100 ". This code data is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the 8/10 modulation circuit 11 outputs "01".
The data is converted into 11-bit data of 1101001 ", and the 10-bit data is further converted by the NRZI modulation circuit 14 into" 01010011010 "as shown in FIG.
Is converted to data. In the modulation / demodulation circuit 35, a light beam irradiation optical system 38 is provided in accordance with the signal thus modulated.
By driving the semiconductor laser in the laser beam and scanning the intensity-modulated light beam on the information track of the optical card 1, no pit is formed when data is 0 as shown in FIG. In the case of, code data is recorded so as to form pits.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation when recording visible image data. When recording the visible image data, the switch 10 is connected to the b side. FIG.
(A) is, for example, 10-bit visible image data “0011”.
111100 ". This data is converted by the NRZ modulation circuit 13 into" 001111 "as shown in FIG.
The data is converted into 10-bit data of 1100 ″.
4c, the visible image data is recorded such that no pit is formed when the visible image data is 0 and the pit is formed when the visible image data is 1 as shown in FIG.

Here, the visible image data is a face photograph image as shown in FIG. 10 or a black and white (bright and dark) name as shown in FIG. 10 and is recorded on the optical card 1 by a difference in reflectance depending on the presence or absence of a recording bit. Image data can be visually observed. Thus, as shown in FIG. 10, a face photograph image, a name, and the like of the card owner are recorded on the optical card 1 so as to be visible. In this embodiment, when recording the visible image data, N
Although RZ modulation is used, since NRZ modulation is a simple modulation method, if NRZ modulation is realized by software,
With a slight change, an optical information recording device that records both code data and visible image data can be realized.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a demodulation circuit for reproducing the code data in the modulation / demodulation circuit 35. FIG.
First, the NRZI demodulation circuit 20 performs a process opposite to the NRZI modulation, and performs a demodulation process such that the value is 1 when adjacent bits are different and 0 when the adjacent bits are the same. Also, 8/10
The demodulation circuit 21 performs a process opposite to the 8/10 modulation, and performs a process of converting the reproduced 10-bit data into 8-bit data according to a predetermined conversion rule.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a demodulation operation when reproducing code data. FIG. 6A shows recording pits of code data recorded on the optical card 1. When reproducing the code data of the optical card 1, the reproducing light beam is scanned from the light beam irradiation optical system 38 onto the recording pits of the optical card 1, and the reflected light is detected by the photodetector 39. The modulation / demodulation circuit 35 is provided with a circuit for generating a reproduction signal from the output of the photodetector 39 and a circuit for binarizing the reproduction signal. For example, a recording pit as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, a binary signal "010100110" is obtained.

This binarized signal is "01111010001" by the NRZI demodulation circuit 20 as shown in FIG.
This data is further demodulated by the 8/10 demodulation circuit 21 into "001011" as shown in FIG.
The data is converted to 8-bit data of "00". The code data thus demodulated is transferred to the host controller 32 under the control of the MPU 33.

In the first embodiment described above, one of a plurality of different modulating means provided in parallel is set to 8/10 modulation, N
RZI modulation, another modulation means is NRZ modulation,
The present invention is not limited to this, for example, 8/10 modulation,
NRZI modulation is performed by EFM (Eight to Fouurteen Modulatio).
n) and NRZ modulation by MFM (Modified Frequency Modu
lation) may be used. Also,
8/10 modulation and NRZI modulation are hardware
It was explained that Z modulation should be realized by software.
The 8/10 modulation and the NRZI modulation may be implemented by software, and the NRZ modulation may be implemented by hardware.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a modulation circuit of the modulation / demodulation circuit 35 according to the present embodiment. 7, the same parts as those of the modulation circuit of FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, the configuration other than the modulation circuit is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description is omitted. In this embodiment, when recording the code data, 8 is used.
Code data is modulated using the / 10 modulation circuit 11 and the NRZI modulation circuit 14. This is the same as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, when recording visible image data, NRZ
The modulation is performed using the I demodulation circuit 12 and the NRZI modulation circuit 14. This point is different from the first embodiment. Also,
The NRZI modulation circuit 14 is used for both recording code data and recording visible image data, and is shared by the two modulation circuits.

The switches 10 and 13 are switched under the control of the MPU 33 based on a command from the host controller 32.
When recording the code data, it is switched to the a side, and when recording the visible image data, it is switched to the b side. When recording the code data, as described in FIG.
The data is modulated by the modulation circuit 11, and the modulated data is further modulated by the NRZI modulation circuit 14. Since the recording operation of the code data is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted. When reproducing the code data recorded on the optical card 1, the demodulation circuit shown in FIG.
The reproduction of the code data is performed by the operation described above. Since the operation of reproducing the code data is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted. In this case, the NRZI demodulation circuit 20 of FIG. 5 may be shared with the NRZI demodulation circuit 12 of FIG.

Next, the operation for recording visible image data will be described with reference to FIG. When recording the visible image data, it is assumed that the switches 10 and 13 are connected to the b side as described above. First, when recording visible image data, a serial circuit of the NRZI demodulation circuit 12 and the NRZI modulation circuit 14 is used. The NRZI demodulation circuit 12 is NRZ
A process opposite to the I modulation is performed, and when adjacent bits are different, 1 is set, and when they are the same, 0 is set. NRZI modulation circuit 1
As described above, the signal 4 maintains the signal when the data is 0, and inverts the signal when the data is 1.

FIG. 8A shows, for example, 10-bit visible image data "0011111100". This data is converted by the NRZI demodulation circuit 12 into 10-bit data "0010000010" as shown in FIG. 8B, and further this data is converted by the NRZI modulation circuit 14 into data "00111111" as shown in FIG. 8C.
The modulation / demodulation circuit 35 drives the semiconductor laser in the light beam irradiation optical system 38 in accordance with this signal. When the visible image data is 0 as shown in FIG. No visible image data is recorded so as to form pits when it is 1. In this way, the face photograph image, name, etc. of the card holder can be viewed on the optical card 1 as shown in FIG. To record.

In the present embodiment, since the NRZI modulation circuit 14 is used in common when recording visible image data and when recording code data, the hardware can be simplified. In addition, when recording visible image data, the NRZ
NRZI when demodulating code data using I demodulation circuit 12
By using the demodulation circuit 20 in common, it is possible to further simplify the hardware.

In the second embodiment, one of the modulation means is used.
8/10 modulation, NRZI modulation, another modulation means NR
Although ZI demodulation and NRZI modulation are used, 8/10 modulation,
Other modulation means such as NRZI modulation as EFM, NRZI demodulation, and NRZI modulation as MFM may be used. Although 8/10 modulation, NRZI modulation, and NRZI demodulation are performed by hardware, they may be performed by software.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, two modulating means are provided corresponding to the code data and the visible image data. May be provided. Although the optical recording medium is an optical card, another information recording medium such as an optical disk may be used.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of modulation means having different modulation schemes are provided according to the type of recording data, and a modulation means corresponding to the recording data is selected from the plurality of modulation means. By recording the data, it is not necessary to record using a dedicated device for each data,
Since different types of data can be recorded by one device, the operation for recording data can be significantly simplified. Also, by providing a plurality of modulating means independently of each other, for example, if one of the plurality of modulating means is kept conventional and the other modulating means is realized by software, only a slight change is required. , Data of different types can be recorded, and the apparatus can be easily modified. Furthermore, the configuration of the device can be simplified by sharing a part of the plurality of modulating units.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a first embodiment of an optical information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a modulation circuit of the modulation / demodulation circuit of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a time chart illustrating an operation when recording code data according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a time chart illustrating an operation when recording visible image data according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a demodulation circuit of the modulation / demodulation circuit of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a time chart illustrating an operation of the demodulation circuit of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a modulation circuit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a time chart illustrating an operation when recording visible image data according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the optical card.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an optical card on which code data and visible image data are recorded.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 optical card 10, 13 switch 11 8/10 modulation circuit 12 NRZI demodulation circuit 13 NRZ modulation circuit 14 NRZI modulation circuit 20 NRZI demodulation circuit 21 8/10 demodulation circuit 31 optical information recording / reproducing device 32 higher-level control device 33 MPU 34 AT / AF control circuit 35 Modulation / demodulation circuit 38 Light beam irradiation optical system

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A method for modulating recording data, driving a light source in accordance with a modulated signal, and irradiating an intensity-modulated light beam from the light source to the recording medium, whereby information is recorded on the recording medium. In the optical information recording apparatus for recording the data, a plurality of modulation means provided corresponding to the type of data to be recorded, and modulating the recording data by different modulation schemes according to the type of data, the plurality of modulation means Means for selecting modulation means corresponding to recording data among the above. 2. The optical information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of modulating means are independent of each other. 3. The optical information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part of the plurality of modulation units is shared. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of modulating units include at least a unit that modulates code data readablely recorded on the recording medium and a unit that modulates visible image data visibly recorded. The optical information recording device according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The means for modulating the code data comprises:
5. The optical information recording apparatus according to claim 4, comprising means for performing / 10 modulation and means for performing NRZI modulation on the 8/10 modulated data. 6. The means for modulating the visible image data,
5. An apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising means for performing NRZ modulation.
3. The optical information recording device according to claim 1. 7. The means for modulating the visible image data,
5. The optical information recording apparatus according to claim 4, comprising: means for performing NRZI demodulation; and means for performing NRZI modulation on the NRZI demodulated data. 8. The means for modulating the code data comprises:
And NRZI-modulating the 8 / 10-modulated data. The means for modulating the visible image data includes means for performing NRZI demodulation and NRZI-modulated data. 5. The optical information recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said NRZI modulating means is common to a case where code data is recorded and a case where visible image data is recorded. .