JPH10269603A - Optical disk recording/reproducing device and recording reproducing method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical disk recording/reproducing device capable of accurately detecting stain on the lens of an optical head. SOLUTION: This optical disk recording/reproducing device 20 consisting of an optical disk 1, which optically records information, and an optical head 9 which optically records and/or reproduces information by irradiating the light beams emitted from a prescribed light source 5 to the disk 1 is constituted of a light beam reflecting means 4, which receives and reflects the light beams outputted from the head 9 independent of the disk 1, a light receiving means 6 which receives the reflected light beams, a reference light quantity storage means 8 which stores the beforehand set reference information relative to the light quantity reflected from the means 4 and a computing means 7 which compares and discriminates the output information of the means 6 and the reference information of the means 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a detection method for detecting dirt on an optical head or an optical disk in the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical disk recording / reproducing apparatuses have been commercialized as write-once optical disks and rewritable optical disks, and have been applied to video files, data files, and the like. However, if these optical disk recording / reproducing devices are used for a long period of time, there is a possibility that dirt adheres to the surface of the optical disk and the lens of the optical head, causing an error when recording / reproducing information on the disk. For this reason,
Conventional optical disk recording / reproducing apparatuses have attempted to detect contamination of an optical disk or an optical head by detecting the reflectance of a recording portion of the optical disk or the amplitude of a recording signal.

For example, a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-170727 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-170727, which measures a focus error signal amplitude from disk reflection for detecting lens contamination.
A method of measuring the light emitted from an objective lens with a light amount measuring element, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 049226, is known.

[0004]

However, in an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus having a dirt detection method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-170727, fluctuations in the reflectivity of the recording layer of the optical disk and fluctuations in the recording signal amplitude. And the like, and dirt on the optical disk and the optical head cannot be detected accurately.

Therefore, when the reflectivity of the optical disk is low or when the amplitude of the recording signal is small, even a slight dirt is detected, and unnecessary cleaning is required. Conversely, if the reflectivity is high or the recording signal amplitude is large, no dirt is detected, which may cause an error during recording and reproduction.

As described above, the conventional optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus has a problem that the state of lens contamination of the optical disk or the optical head cannot be accurately detected, causing unnecessary cleaning and errors during recording / reproduction. Further, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-170727, the determination may be affected by the state of the target optical disk.

Further, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-49226, there is disclosed a technique in which light emitted from an optical head is directly received by a solar cell and the amount of light emitted from the optical head is measured. However, in such a method, since a precise driving circuit and a measurement control circuit are required, there is a problem that an electric circuit configuration is complicated.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional method, for example,
When an information reading error occurred, it was impossible to determine whether the cause was contamination of the pickup lens, deterioration of the performance of the laser diode, or contamination or defect of the optical disk. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem and to provide an optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus and an optical disc capable of accurately and easily detecting lens dirt on an optical head or dirt on the surface of an optical disc with a simple configuration. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for detecting lens dirt on a head or dirt on the surface of an optical disk.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention employs the following basic technical structure. That is, as a first aspect according to the present invention, for example, an optical disk for optically recording information, a driving unit for the optical disk, and an optical disk by irradiating the optical disk with a light beam emitted from a predetermined light source. An optical disk recording / reproducing device comprising an optical head for recording and / or reproducing information, provided independently of the optical disk, and receiving and reflecting a light beam output from the optical head. Light beam reflecting means, light receiving means for receiving light reflected from the light beam reflecting means, reference light amount storing means for storing predetermined reference information on the amount of light reflected from the light beam reflecting means, and light receiving means An optical disc recording / composing device comprising an arithmetic unit for comparing and judging the output information of the reference light amount and the reference information of the reference light amount storage unit.
A second aspect of the present invention is a reproducing apparatus, for example, by irradiating an optical disc for optically recording information, a driving means of the optical disc, and a light beam emitted from a predetermined light source to the optical disc. An optical head that optically records and / or reproduces information, and a light beam reflecting unit that is provided independently of the optical disk and receives and reflects a light beam output from the optical head; A light receiving means for receiving the reflected light, a reference light amount storing means for storing predetermined reference information regarding the amount of light reflected from the light beam reflecting means, output information of the light receiving means and the reference light amount storing means. In an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus composed of arithmetic means for comparing and judging a reference light amount, in an early stage of use of the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus, A first step in which a light beam output from the optical head is reflected in the light beam reflecting means and stored in the reference light amount storage means as a reference light amount, and recording of information on the optical disk following the first step A second step of irradiating a light beam output from the optical head to the light beam reflecting means each time a reproducing operation is performed and measuring the amount of reflected light, and the light amount measured in the second step as the reference light amount Comparing with the reference light amount stored in the storage means, and when the measured light amount reaches a state indicating a predetermined relationship with the reference light amount, the third step of notifying the state. This is a method for determining the degree of contamination on the lens surface of the optical head or the optical disk surface in the configured optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Since the present invention employs the above-described technical structure, a light beam is emitted from an optical head to a reflector in advance, and a light beam reflected from the reflector is output from a photodetector. Each time information is recorded on or reproduced from the optical disk, the light beam is again emitted from the optical head to the reflector, and the output value from the photodetector at that time is compared with the reference output value stored in advance. In comparison, detection of dirt on the optical head or dirt on the surface of the optical disk is performed.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. That is, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a specific example of an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, an optical disk 1 for optically recording information, a driving unit 10 for the optical disk, An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20 comprising: an optical head 9 for optically recording and / or reproducing information by irradiating the optical disk 1 with a light beam emitted from a predetermined light source 5; Light beam reflecting means 4 for receiving and reflecting the light beam output from the optical head 9, light receiving means 6 for receiving the reflected light from the light beam reflecting device 4, and the light beam reflecting device Reference light amount storage means 7 for storing predetermined reference information on the amount of light reflected from the light amount 4, comparing the output information of the light receiving means 6 with the reference information of the reference light amount storage means 8. Calculation means 7 and a Metropolitan optical disk recording and reproducing apparatus 20 is shown to be.

That is, the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20 according to the present invention has a lens 2 provided on the optical head 9 by the above-described configuration without being affected by the fluctuation of the reflectance of the optical disk 1 or the fluctuation of the recording signal amplitude. Can be accurately detected. That is, each time information is recorded on or reproduced from the optical disk 1, for example, immediately before or immediately after recording or reproducing information on the optical disk 1, or at an appropriate stage during the operation of recording or reproducing information. A light beam for recording and reproducing information is emitted to the light beam reflecting means 4, for example, a mirror, and the output of the optical head reflected from the light beam reflecting means 4 at that time is received by a light detector such as a photodetector. The light quantity received at the means 6 and the amount of light at that time are stored in an appropriate storage means 8 so that the light flux outputted from the optical head, which is detected each time of actual recording / reproduction, is reflected by the light flux reflection means 4. Then, the amount of light received again by the light receiving means 6 is compared with the reference light amount stored in the storage means 8 to accurately detect lens dirt on the optical head, and While preventing errors due to the lens dirt, it is possible to avoid unnecessary cleaning. Also, when applied to a conventional optical disk device or the like, it is possible to easily realize an optical disk device that detects dirt on the optical head.

That is, in the present invention, the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20 is provided with the light beam reflecting means 4 for mainly detecting the degree of contamination of the lens provided on the optical head 9. Further, the light beam reflecting means 4
Then, a light beam including a laser is irradiated from a predetermined light source 5 provided on the optical head 9 through a predetermined lens 2, and the reflected light amount of the reflected light is received by an appropriate light receiving unit 6. To digital data, for example,
The data is stored in the reference light amount storage means 8 composed of an appropriate memory, and thereafter, data is read from or written to the appropriate optical disk by using the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus. Each time the light is emitted from the light source 5 of the optical head 9, the light is reflected on the light beam reflecting means 4 to detect the amount of reflected light in the same manner, and the comparison operation function provided in the appropriate operation means 7 is used. Then, the data of the reflected light quantity is compared with the reference data stored in the reference light quantity storage means 8, and it is determined that the data of the detected reflected light quantity has dropped below a predetermined threshold value. In such a case, it is determined that the lens is dirty.

To explain the configuration in more detail, as shown in FIG. 1, 1 is an optical disk, 2 is a lens, 3 is a spectroscope, 4 is a light beam reflecting means, 5 is a light source composed of a laser diode or the like, and 6 is a light source. Is a photodetector, 7 is a microcomputer that constitutes arithmetic means 7 including comparison arithmetic means, and possibly including means for converting analog data obtained from the light receiving means 6 into digital data.
Reference numeral 8 denotes a reference light amount storage unit constituted by a nonvolatile memory or the like.

Before recording / reproducing on the optical disk 1 by the present optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20, a laser is emitted from the laser diode 5 to the light beam reflecting means 4 in advance, and the light is reflected from the light beam reflecting means 4 before the lens 2 becomes dirty. The reflected laser output is received by the photodetector 6, and the state is stored in the nonvolatile memory 8 as digital data through the microcomputer 7, for example.

At this time, the medium for storing the state output from the photodetector 6 in response to the amount of light reflected by the laser 5 does not need to use the nonvolatile memory 8 as long as the same function can be satisfied. Thereafter, when recording / reproduction is actually performed on the optical disk 1, the reflector 4 is selectively used.
Laser is emitted from the laser diode 5 to
The contamination of the lens 2 is detected by comparing the received light data of the reflected light amount with reference data stored in the nonvolatile memory 8 and indicating the data of the reflected light amount before the lens 2 is contaminated.

The light beam reflecting means 4 in the present invention is desirably formed of the same material as the main body of the optical disc 1, and is preferably formed of, for example, polycarbonate resin. Also, an appropriate light reflecting material is disposed on the main surface of the light beam reflecting means 4 opposite to the surface on which the optical head is present. For example, a plane aluminum vapor deposition film 26 is formed uniformly. It may be what has been done.

Further, in the present invention, the light beam reflecting means 4 is arranged on the same plane as the surface formed when the optical disk 1 is set in the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20. More specifically, in the present invention, the surface on which the aluminum vapor deposition film 26 of the light beam reflecting means 4 is uniformly formed is the same as the optical disk 1 on which the optical disk recording is performed. It is desirable that the information is formed on the same plane as the recording / reproducing surface 25 of the information to be formed when set on the reproducing device 20.

In the present invention, the light beam reflecting means 4
May be fixedly arranged at a predetermined place or may be movably arranged via an appropriate mechanism. When the light beam reflecting means 4 is fixedly provided, as shown in FIG.
0 when the tray 12 on which the optical disc 1 is mounted is pushed to the maximum,
3, that is, it is desirable to be arranged at the tip of the tray 12 on the storage direction side.

In this case, the optical head 9 that scans the optical disk 1 is configured to move from the normal seek area range to the position where the light beam reflecting means 4 exists at a predetermined timing. It is desirable to have. Further, as another specific example, the light beam reflecting means 4 is
The tray 12 may be configured to be movable in conjunction with the driving operation and the movement of the tray 12.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the light beam reflecting means 4 is located at a predetermined position, that is, a position X indicated by a dotted line.
However, when the tray 12 on which the optical disk 1 is mounted is pushed out of the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20, the light beam reflecting means 4 is moved to a position X indicated by a dotted line.
From this, the optical head 9 is shifted in phase to the position P where the optical head 9 normally stands by, where the laser light output from the light source 5 is applied to the light beam reflecting means 4 through the lens 2 and the reflected light is The light receiving means 6 is configured to receive the reflected light amount.

When the measurement of the reflected light amount of the reflected light is completed, the light beam reflecting means 4 can return to the original position X, but responds to the operation of returning the tray. To return to the position. Further, as another specific example of the light beam reflecting means 4 according to the present invention, the light beam reflecting means 4 may be fixed to a part of the tray 12 as shown in FIG.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the tray 12 can be fixedly provided at, for example, a part of the front end portion 13 on the storage direction side. In such a specific example, the light beam reflecting means 4
Can move in tandem with the sliding movement of the tray 12 and can cross the upper surface of the lens 2 of the optical head 9, so that the optical disk 1 immediately before the start of the reproduction / recording operation and / or immediately after the end of the reproduction / recording operation Then, the above-described operation of measuring the amount of reflected light can be performed.

Further, as another specific example of the present invention,
Cleaning means 2 for cleaning the surface of the lens 2 of the optical head 9 on the light beam reflecting means 4 or a part of the tray 12;
7 can be provided, and when it is determined that the lens surface and / or the optical disk surface is dirty,
In response to the information, the cleaning unit 27 is activated when the tray 12 or the light beam reflecting unit 4 and the lens 2 of the optical head 9 relatively move and pass each other to clean the surface of the lens. It may be something that is done.

Next, the reference information data stored in the reference light amount storage means 8 used for determining the degree of contamination of the lens 2 according to the present invention is, for example, the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20. However, immediately before the lens is shipped from the factory, the manufacturer measures the amount of reflected light through the lens 2 and determines the amount of reflected light received by the light receiving means at that time. The reflected light amount in the absence state is used as reference information data.
At the time of shipment from the factory, the reference information data is stored in the reference light amount storage means 8 in advance.

Thereafter, as described above, on the user side,
Each time a recording or reproducing operation of information on the optical disk 1 is performed using the optical disk recording / reproducing device 20,
At appropriate intervals, a light beam from the light source is applied to the light beam reflecting means 4 through the lens, the reflected light amount is measured, and the reference information data stored in the reference light amount storage means 8 is compared. I do.

If the value of the reflected light amount measured at the present time differs from the reference information data by a predetermined value, it is determined that the surface of the lens 2 is dirty, and the lens 2 is cleaned. , Exchange and the like. The threshold value of the difference between the reflected light amount measured at the present time and the reference information data stored in the reference light amount storage means 8 is not particularly limited, and can be set as appropriate.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the calculating means 7 notifies the result in response to a comparison result between the reference information data and the output information of the light receiving means 6. A notifying unit 30 is provided. As the notifying unit 30, for example, an optical display unit such as an emitting diode or an alarm unit using a sound such as a buzzer can be used.

In the above description, a light beam such as a laser from the light source 5 of the optical head 9 is mainly reflected by the light beam reflecting means 4.
In the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the optical head 9 shown in FIG. 1 and the reflected light quantity connected thereto are described. The measuring means may be used when measuring the amount of reflected light from the surface of the optical disc 1.

In this case, the measurement can be performed simultaneously with the usual operation of writing and reading information to and from the optical disk 1 or by using a time sharing method. When such a mechanism is used, for example, when there is no change in the amount of reflected light from the optical disc 1, but the data of the amount of reflected light from the light beam reflecting means 4 has a significant difference from the reference information data, Indicates that the lens 2 is determined to be dirty, and conversely, the amount of light reflected from the optical disc 1 changes. However, there is a significant difference between the data of the amount of light reflected from the light beam reflecting means 4 and the reference information data. If no error occurs, it can be determined that the surface of the optical disc 1 is dirty.

A second aspect according to the present invention relates to a method for judging the dirt on the lens 2 and the dirt on the optical disk 1 using the above-mentioned optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus 20, and optically records information. An optical disk, a driving unit for the optical disk, an optical head for optically recording and / or reproducing information by irradiating the optical disk with a light beam emitted from a predetermined light source, and provided independently of the optical disk. A light beam reflecting means for receiving and reflecting a light beam output from the optical head, a light receiving device for receiving light reflected from the light beam reflecting device, and a predetermined amount of light reflected from the light beam reflecting device. A reference light amount storage unit for storing reference information; and an arithmetic unit for comparing and determining output information of the light receiving unit and a reference light amount of the reference light amount storage unit. In the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus that has been formed, in the initial stage of use of the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus, the light flux output from the optical head is referenced to the amount of light reflected by the light beam reflecting means. A first step of storing the amount of light in the reference light amount storage means, and subsequent to the first step, the light flux output from the optical head is written to the light flux reflection means each time information recording / reproducing operation is performed on the optical disc. A second step of irradiating and measuring the reflected light amount, and comparing the light amount measured in the second step with a reference light amount stored in the reference light amount storage means, and determining the measured light amount with the reference light amount. When a state indicating a predetermined relationship with the light amount is reached, the lens surface of the optical head or the optical disk in the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus composed of the third step of notifying the state. It is a contamination level determination method of disk surface.

Further, as another specific example, in addition to the above-mentioned configuration, the light receiving means further receives the light quantity of the light beam irradiated from the optical head means onto a predetermined portion of the optical disk, reflected on the optical disk surface. And a method of determining the degree of contamination on the lens surface or the optical disk surface, the method including a step of storing the amount of reflected light from the optical disk received.

In the present invention, the amount of reflected light from the light beam reflecting means and the amount of reflected light from the optical disk are calculated as follows.
It is configured to determine the contamination state of the lens surface of the optical head or the optical disk surface.

[0034]

As described above, the present invention is accurate and easy by emitting the light beam of the optical head to the reflector and recording the output of the optical head before recording / reproducing on the optical disk. In addition, it is possible to detect lens contamination of the optical head. By performing the above-described dirt determination, it is possible to effectively prevent an error from occurring due to dirt on the optical head. Also, it is possible to manufacture an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus having a function of accurately discriminating disc contamination and optical head contamination by using the above-mentioned contamination determination and reporting the disc contamination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a specific example of an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical disk 2 ... Lens 3 ... Spectroscope 4 ... Light beam reflecting means 5 ... Light source 6 ... Light receiving means 7 ... Calculation means 8 ... Reference light quantity storage means 9 ... Optical head 10 ... Optical disk drive means 12 ... Tray 13 ... Tray tip 20 ... Optical disk recording / reproducing device 25 ... Information recording / reproducing surface 26 ... Aluminum deposited film 27 ... Lens cleaning means 30 ... Notification means

Claims (12)

[Claims] An optical disc for optically recording information;
An optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: an optical disc driving unit; and an optical head that optically records and / or reproduces information by irradiating the optical disc with a light beam emitted from a predetermined light source, A light beam reflecting means for receiving and reflecting a light beam output from the optical head, a light receiving device for receiving light reflected from the light beam reflecting device, and a light beam reflected from the light beam reflecting device; A reference light amount storage unit for storing predetermined reference information regarding the amount of light to be emitted, and an arithmetic unit for comparing and determining output information of the light receiving unit with reference information of the reference light amount storage unit. An optical disc recording / reproducing device characterized by the following facts. 2. The light beam reflecting means is arranged on the same plane as a recording / reproducing surface of information formed when the optical disk is set in the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said light beam reflecting means is movably arranged. 4. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said light beam reflecting means is configured to be movable in conjunction with a tray driving operation. 5. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said light beam reflecting means is fixed to a part of the tray. 6. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical head is configured to move with respect to the position of the light beam reflecting means. 7. An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light beam reflecting means or said tray is provided with a lens surface cleaning means for said optical head. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculating means includes a notifying means for notifying the result in response to a comparison result between the reference information and the output information of the light receiving means.
An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus as described in the above. 9. The light receiving means according to claim 1, wherein said light receiving means is configured to receive the amount of light reflected on the optical disk surface of a light beam applied to a predetermined portion of said optical disk. An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to any one of the above. 10. An optical disk for optically recording information, a driving means for the optical disk, and an optical head for optically recording and / or reproducing information by irradiating the optical disk with a light beam emitted from a predetermined light source. A light beam reflecting means that is provided independently of the optical disc and receives and reflects a light beam output from the optical head;
Light receiving means for receiving the reflected light from the light beam reflecting means; reference light amount storing means for storing predetermined reference information regarding the amount of light reflected from the light beam reflecting means; output information of the light receiving means; In an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus comprising an arithmetic means for comparing and judging a reference light amount of a reference light amount storage means, the optical head is output at an early stage of use of the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus. A first step of storing, in a reference light amount storage unit, a reflected light amount of a light beam reflected by the light beam reflecting unit as a reference light amount;
Subsequent to the first step, recording of information on the optical disc
A second step of irradiating the light flux output means with the light flux output from the optical head every time the reproducing operation is performed and measuring the amount of reflected light;
And comparing the light amount measured in the second step with the reference light amount stored in the reference light amount storage means, and the measured light amount shows a predetermined relationship with the reference light amount. When it reaches the third, to notify the state
A method for determining the degree of contamination of the lens surface of an optical head or the surface of an optical disk in an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus. 11. The second step further includes receiving an amount of light reflected on the optical disk surface by a light beam irradiated to a predetermined portion of the optical disk from the optical head means, and receiving the received light beam from the optical disk. 11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising a step of storing the amount of reflected light. 12. The optical system according to claim 10, wherein a contamination state of the lens surface of the optical head or the optical disk surface is determined from the amount of light reflected from the light beam reflecting means and the amount of light reflected from the optical disk. A method for determining the degree of contamination on the lens surface of the head or the optical disk surface.