KR100704079B1 - Method and apparatus for printing with a larger beam size on a label side of a disc medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing a picture or the like on a label surface of a disk medium by varying the size of the recording beam, and the present invention provides an optical pickup so that the beam from the optical pickup does not focus on the label surface of the disk medium. The position of the recording beam on the label surface is increased by setting the position of separation from the label surface of the label surface, and then the recording beam according to the input data or the data converted from the input data is incident on the label surface to print a picture. Shorten the time to print the back on the label surface.

Light scribe, record beam, diameter, focusing, high speed

Description

Method and apparatus for printing with a larger beam size on a label side of a disc medium}

1A shows the label side of a disc medium that supports write scribe,

FIG. 1B illustrates some patterns of the control feature zone of FIG. 1A,

FIG. 1C shows each divided area of the label surface of the disk medium supporting Light Scribe, FIG.

2 illustrates a process of printing a picture or the like by focusing a recording beam on a label surface according to a conventional method;

3 shows a partial configuration of a disc recording apparatus capable of printing on a label surface of a disc recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram showing a method of coding a disc-shaped sheet including a picture into data for light scribe,

5A illustrates a method of increasing the diameter of a recording beam formed on a label surface by not focusing the recording beam accurately on the label surface according to the present invention.

Figure 5b is a view showing the contrast between the beam according to the present invention formed on the label surface and the conventional beam, and the resulting virtual printing line (print circle),

5C illustrates a process of converting input data for a fast write scribe according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10,11: light sensor 12,13: slice part

21: optical pickup 22: servo unit

23: optical drive 24: RF section

30: control unit 31: buffer

100: LS application 101: disc shaped sheet

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing a picture or the like on a label surface of a disc recording medium.

With the development of disc recording media and digital technology, many users have recorded their favorite video or audio contents on disc recording media to watch or listen to them through the player. It is included in.

As the number of disk recording media containing contents increases, the user may feel the necessity of distinguishing each disk media, and may also indicate that his or her favorite video or audio contents are recorded. To this end, manufacturers of disc media provide stickers and the like so that letters and the like can be recorded on the stickers and attached to the label surface or the case of the disc media.

However, when the disk medium is separated from the case, the information contained in the medium cannot be recognized, and when the sticker is attached to the label surface of the disk medium, the interface becomes dirty due to the adhesive.

For this reason, a method of writing a desired picture or text by irradiating a recording beam directly onto a label surface of a disk medium coated with a material burned by light has been proposed. This is called a 'light scribe'.

Disc media supporting write scribes have a control feature zone 2 on the label side, after the clamping zone 1 as shown in Fig. 1A. The control feature zone 2 is composed of a speed control feature band 2a, a control feature outer ring 2b, and a mirror region 2c, as shown in FIG. 1B. 400 spokes are marked on the speed control feature band 2a, and a spherical or serrated pattern is formed on the outer ring 2b of the control feature. The media ID field 1, the sawtooth wave, the media ID field 2, the sawtooth wave, and the media ID field 3 are respectively divided into areas.

The pattern formed in the control feature zone 2 is detected by an encoder located at the inner circumference of the disk seating surface of the recording apparatus, which is a spherical pulse detected by the encoder from the spoke when the disk medium of FIG. 1A rotates. Depending on the period of the disk rotation speed can be identified. Therefore, the input data is synchronized (recorded) on the label surface based on the end point 2d of the index mark.

However, in order to print graphics or text on the label side of the disc recording medium, the radial position on the disc (hereinafter, the term 'position' means 'radial position' unless otherwise specified) must be correctly recognized. However, the information formed in the control feature zone 2 does not provide information about the radial position. The recorder focuses the beam on the label surface during the initial operation of the light screen, because it is necessary to accurately determine an arbitrary position on the disc so that the graphic or character desired by the user on the label surface is recorded without error. After that, starting from the inner circumference, the recording beam is moved to the outer circumference side by the amount corresponding to one printing line (print circle) of the figure, and the portion of the figure to be drawn on the circumference of the moved position is recorded. The printed line is not physically determined on the label surface, but at the time of light scribing, a virtual, determined by the amount of printing a circle with the focused beam and then moving the beam outward for the next print. As a line (circle), when you encode a picture for a light scribe, it is equal to the width of the circle scanning the disk-shaped sheet with the picture.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the above light scribe operation, with each print line running at the recording speed, eg, 1/4 times (X / 4), starting from the innermost circumference of the printing area, somewhat larger than the diameter of the beam. Since the width Lw_o (corresponding to one printing line) is moved to the outer circumferential side (201), it takes a very long time to complete printing of a picture or the like.

Therefore, the present invention was created to solve the above problems, and by printing more parts of the picture in one rotation of the disk medium, the time required to print the picture, etc. desired by the user on the label surface is shortened. Its purpose is to provide a printing method and apparatus.

Method and apparatus for printing a picture on a label surface according to the present invention for achieving the above object, after setting the distance from the label surface of the optical pickup so that the beam from the optical pickup does not focus on the label surface And printing a picture by injecting a recording beam according to the data onto the label surface.

In addition, the method and apparatus for printing a picture on a label surface according to the present invention encodes the input picture into a data stream based on the second diameter of the recording beam incident on the label surface, and according to the given printing mode, Converts the coded data stream into a data stream suitable for printing with a recording beam of a first diameter larger than the second diameter, and then enters the recording beam of the first diameter onto the label surface according to the converted data stream. There are other features to printing pictures.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the diameter of a beam formed on the label surface by positioning the optical pickup so as to be a point closest to or farthest from the disk medium within the movable range of the optical pickup for focusing the beam. Increase

In one embodiment according to the present invention, data coded for the beam of the second diameter is converted into data for incidence into the beam of the first diameter and a recording beam according to the converted data is incident on the label surface. To perform the printing operation.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the data conversion operation is performed when the given print mode is a high speed mode.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, data coded for the beam of the first diameter is received and a recording beam according to the received data is incident on the label surface to perform a printing operation.

In one embodiment according to the invention, the second diameter is the diameter of the beam when the beam from the optical pickup is correctly focused on the label surface or when correctly focused on a track of the data recording surface.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 shows a part of a configuration of a disc recording apparatus capable of printing on a label surface of a disc recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 shows only the components related to the light scribe, and the configuration of the disc recording apparatus related to the recording or reproducing of data not directly related to the present invention is omitted. In the following, description of general known operations of the recording apparatus not related to the present invention will be omitted.

Referring to the configuration of Fig. 3, the spoke optical sensor 11 for detecting the beam reflected from the speed control feature zone of the light scribe supporting disk medium, and the ring optical sensor for detecting the beam reflected from the pattern formed in the outer ring of the control feature ( 10) the slice units 12 and 13 for converting and outputting the electric signals detected and pre-amplified from each of the optical sensors 10 and 11 into square waves, respectively, by comparing with the reference level Vref, according to the input recording signal. An optical drive 23 for outputting an optical beam driving signal, an optical pickup 21 for irradiating a disk medium with an optical beam corresponding to the optical beam driving signal, and converting reflected light of a recording beam or a reading beam into an electrical RF signal; An actuator of the optical pickup 21 according to a binary unitized signal from an electrical RF signal, an RF unit 24 for outputting a focusing error (FE) signal and a tracking error (TE), a servo error signal, or a control signal. actuator) And a servo unit 22 for controlling a sled motor for moving the optical pickup 21 and a spindle motor for rotating the mounted disk, and a controller 30 for performing a light scribe operation based on each square wave. A buffer 31 for exchanging data and commands / responses with a host (not shown), and a picture for writing a light scribe provided from a user, which is an application program executed in the host. LS (Light Scribe) application 100 is included.

Hereinafter, the operation of the write scribe performed by the recording apparatus of FIG. 3 will be described in detail.

The LS application 100 codes a bit stream starting from the innermost circumference of the scan area corresponding to the print area for the disk-shaped electronic sheet 101 including the picture 101a given or selected by the user. .

In FIG. 4, a coding method according to this is illustrated in detail. Based on an arbitrary reference line, for example, an upper vertical line 5a of an electronic sheet with a picture to be printed, each virtual scan line (scan circle) is actually used. Corresponds to the virtual printing circle on the label surface having the same width as the track pitch of the recording side of the disc.) Bit '1' on the part with pictures and bit '0' on the part without pictures. Corresponding (or vice versa) bit streams are generated and stored on a storage means, for example a hard disk. Since each scanline has a different circle circumference, a different amount of data is allocated. If K bytes are processed per second at a write speed of v0 during a write scribe, the bits allocated by the LS application 100 to each scanline Nc are used. The number fn (Nc) is shown in the following equation (1).

fn (Nc) = 8K2π (NcLw + r0) / v0 (bits) Equation (1)

Where r0 is the radius of the innermost circumference of the print area, v0 is the writing speed for performing a light scribe to the disk medium, and Lw is the width of the scan line, and (Nc · Lw + r0) is the position where the scan line of Nc is located. It is a value indicating the radius r.

That is, the LS application 100 allocates fn (Nc) bits to each print line Nc according to Equation (1), starting from the print line of the innermost circumference r0, and the picture is displayed at the corresponding bit position. If it is present, the bit is set to '1', and if it is set to '0' (or vice versa), the data 51 for write scribe (LS) is constituted. At this time, data is not generated for the outer periphery areas r1 to r2 where there are no more pictures. At the end of the configured data, a message of a recording end command is added.

The LS data generated and stored as described above is sequentially read in a storage order from a storage means after a command for write scribing is requested to the controller 30, and is transmitted to the controller 30 through the buffer 31. Is provided.

On the other hand, upon receiving a command for the light scribe, the control unit 30 controls the actuator in the optical pickup 21 through the servo unit 22, so that the beam as shown in FIG. The position is not exactly focused on the printed layer (label surface), for example, at the maximum point 61a or 61b of the focusing moving range FD_range. That is, the distance of the optical pickup 21 from the label surface (substantially the distance between the objective lenses in the optical pickup) is set so that the beam does not focus on the label surface.

In the state where focusing is not performed on the label surface as described above, the diameter BD_n of the incident beam formed on the label surface becomes larger than the beam diameter BD_o when the label surface is focused. The integer value α_int of this ratio (α = BD_n / BD_o) is expanded by the value (α_int × Lw_o) multiplied by the width Lw_o of the printing line (which is the same as the width of the track on the recording surface). It is set as the printing line width ELw_n. Figure 5b shows a contrast between the conventional beam and the beam according to the present invention formed on the label surface to help the understanding of each of the variables. According to the present invention, the values of the width ELw_n and the integer ratio α_int of the extended printing line are preset in the controller 30.

After the initial operation such as servo setting for label surface printing is performed, the controller 30 places the beam of the optical pickup 21 at the innermost circumference r0 of the printing area and the Information or data buffered in the buffer 31 is read and processed.

Then, the rotational speed of the disk is adjusted through the servo unit 22 so as to have a predetermined linear speed v0 at the current position of the beam. The rotational speed of the disk can be maintained at a desired speed based on the number of pulses per unit time detected from the spoke photosensor 11. Then, it is monitored whether the index mark is detected from the pattern of the signal detected by the ring optical sensor 10, and when the index mark is detected, the LS data received in the buffer 31 is converted in synchronization with the end point. And print the picture on the label side according to the converted value.

In more detail, the control unit 30, from the LS data for each print line stored in the buffer 31, corresponds to an integer value α_int which is set in accordance with Equation (1). One conversion bit value is determined by reading the LS data belonging to the print lines and checking each α_int bit from the beginning of the print lines. FIG. 5C illustrates a conversion process. For LS data corresponding to α_int print lines (L_1, L_2, .., L_α_int), each bit box of α_int × α_int is checked by checking α_int bits from the beginning. A conversion value is determined using a large number of bit values in 601 as a representative value. That is, the bit stream 602 for the extended print line is determined by examining the bit boxes 601 of each α_int × α_int and determining the conversion value as 1 if the box has a large value of 1 and the conversion value as 0 when there is a large value of 0. Convert to

By applying the recording signal according to the value of each bit converted as described above to the optical drive 23, a picture corresponding to one extended printing line is printed. Of course, if the data indicates no picture, the recording beam passes by not being applied. After all the data amount for the current extended printing line has been read from the buffer 31 and processed, the beam of the optical pickup 21 is moved to the preset extended printing line width in order to move to the next extended printing line. Shift by ELw_n).

This write scribe operation proceeds until a write end command message is received.

As described above, when the input LS data is converted into data for the extended printing line and printed on the label surface, α_int × Lw_o (where Lw_o is the outer peripheral side when the conventional disc is rotated in one rotation). Since the process proceeds to the outer circumferential side by the distance), the actual printing time is about α_int times faster than in the prior art.

In the above embodiment, the LS application executed on the host generates data for write scribe with the precision of the track of the disk medium, and the disk recording apparatus converts the data into data for extended printing lines, that is, rough LS data. Although the high speed printing is performed, the LS application 100 may generate the data for the extended printing line in advance by scanning the electronic sheet 101 input according to the user's mode selection.

In other words, if the precision print mode is selected, the precision LS data is generated as in the conventional case.If the high speed print mode is selected, the electronic sheet is scanned at an extended print line width (ELw_n = α_int × Lw_o) and at intervals to allocate bit by bit. Rough LS data 602 may be generated. The outline data for LS will have a small amount by about ² times the data for α_int LS by the precise scan.

Accordingly, the disk recording apparatus of FIG. 3 may receive a command and information on a data format received from an external host and perform a write scribe accordingly. That is, if the received command is precision printing and the data format is data for precision LS, the recording beam is accurately focused on the label surface as in the prior art, and the recording beam according to the input data is incident on the label surface for each print line of Lw_o, and high speed printing is performed. If the data format is data for the precision LS, the data for the precision LS is converted into the LS data according to the method described above, and the recording beam according to the converted data is incident on the label surface for each of the extended print lines of ELw_n. In the case of this rough LS data, a recording beam according to the input data is incident on the label surface for each extended print line of ELw_n without printing data, thereby printing a picture or the like.

If it is a fine print and the data format is roughly LS data, it provides an error message to the host for the write scribe command and does not perform the requested operation.

On the other hand, when the diameter of the recording beam formed on the label surface is increased according to the present invention, the incident energy per unit area of the label surface is reduced as compared with the prior art, and thus the degree of burning of the label surface may be weakened. To compensate for this, the controller 30 is configured to emit a beam at the maximum recording power to the optical driver 23 when printing a picture in a high speed printing mode, that is, in an extended printing line.

As mentioned above, preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for the purpose of illustration, and those skilled in the art can improve other various embodiments within the spirit and technical scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims below. Changes, substitutions or additions will be possible.

According to the present invention described in detail above, by performing a light scribe by increasing the diameter of the recording beam, the time for printing a picture or the like on the label surface is shortened as compared with the conventional method.

Claims (13)

In the method for printing on the label side of a disk medium, Setting a distance from a label surface of the optical pickup such that the beam from the optical pickup does not focus on the label surface; And And a step of printing a picture by entering a recording beam according to data onto the label surface, In the second step, the data is converted into data for incidence at a first diameter of a beam formed on the label surface, and a recording beam according to the converted data is incident on the label surface, and the converted data is converted. Characterized in that the amount is reduced from the previous data. The method of claim 1, The first step is characterized in that the optical pickup is positioned such that it is a point closest to or farther away from the disk medium in the operating range of the optical pickup for focusing the beam. The method of claim 1, And the first diameter of the beam formed on the label surface by the step 1 is larger than the second diameter of the beam formed for data recording on the data recording surface of the disc recording medium. delete The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And the step 2 is to perform a printing operation while moving the recording beam by the width of the extended printing line multiplied by the integer value of the track width. In the method for printing on the label side of a disk medium, Coding an input picture into a data stream based on a second diameter of a recording beam incident on the label surface; Converting the coded data stream into a data stream suitable for printing with a recording beam of a first diameter larger than the second diameter, in accordance with a given printing mode; And And printing the picture by entering the recording beam of the first diameter onto the label surface according to the converted data stream. The method of claim 6, And the step (3) performs a printing operation while moving the recording beam by an extended printing line width multiplied by an integer value of a track width. An apparatus for printing a picture on a label surface of a disk medium, A recording unit for applying an optical driving signal to the optical pickup according to the recording signal; And And a controller for controlling the rotation of the disk medium and the vertical and horizontal movement of the beam of the optical pickup, and applying the recording signal according to the data to print a picture on the label surface. The controller sets a distance from a label surface of the optical pickup so that the beam from the optical pickup does not focus on the label surface, and sets the data applied as a recording signal to the first surface of the beam formed on the label surface. And converting the recording beam according to the converted data onto the label surface, wherein the converted data is reduced in amount than the data before conversion. The method of claim 8, And the controller positions the optical pickup to be a point that is closest to or farther away from the disk medium in the operating range of the optical pickup for focusing the beam. The method of claim 8, The controller may be configured such that the first diameter of the beam formed on the label surface is greater than the second diameter of the beam formed for data recording on the data recording surface of the disc recording medium from the label surface of the optical pickup. Device for setting the interval. delete The method of claim 10, And the controller controls a printing operation while moving the recording beam by an extended printing line width multiplied by an integer value of a track width. The method of claim 8, And the controller sets the power of the optical drive signal of the recording unit to a higher value than when recording data on the data recording surface of the disk medium.

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