WO2004057602A1

WO2004057602A1 - Recording device with integrated recording and labeling capabilities

Info

Publication number: WO2004057602A1
Application number: PCT/EP2003/050896
Authority: WO
Inventors: Volker Boettiger
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corporation; Ibm Deutschland Gmbh
Priority date: 2002-12-20
Filing date: 2003-11-25
Publication date: 2004-07-08
Also published as: AU2003298323A1; TW200421293A

Abstract

The disclosed recording device for recording data onto a recording medium e.g. by means of laser light comprises two operation modes, a first operation mode for recording information onto the recording medium by means of the laser light operated with a first power output and a second operation mode for labeling the recording medium by means of the laser light operated with a second power output preferably being higher than the first power output. The underlying recording medium comprises a layer made of a material sensitive for enabling labeling of the recording medium e.g. by means of the laser light operated with the second power output.

Description

D E S C R I P T I O N

Recording Device wit Integrated Recording and Labeling

Capabilities

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of analog or digital recording devices for recording analog or digital information onto a recording medium by means of physical or chemical forces and dedicated label writing devices where the recording medium is provided with an optically visual label in order to allow for its visual inspection-

There are commonly known digital recording devices (writers) for recording data onto disk-like data carriers like Compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs) or Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) by way of laser light. Due to the use of laser light that recording mechanism is often called „burning" .

A particular problem in that field of data recording is that the recording media have to be labeled by means of printing visually inspectable labels onto the backside of the media in order to allow for visual identification or inspection of the contents of an underlying recording medium.

There are known labeling devices for separately labeling underlying recording media after having written data on them. Hereby printing paper labels with a glue layer on one side are first printed with graphics or text in a common computer printer and thereafter fixedly attached to the recording medium by means of the glue layer.

These labeling devices are disadvantageous insofar as they require several operating steps for recording and labeling a recording medium. In addition, the mentioned paper labels appropriate for the printing process are not very aesthetic and, if attached even non-symmetrically to the disk, will lead to high out-of-balance force during rotation of the disk.

Further known are automation stations for the CD-R production allowing discs to be created and labeled in one step without manual intervention like the , PAS (Power Automation Station) - series of CD-R and DVD-R production automation systems sold by Young Minds (http://abcusinc.com). These stations combine one or more CD-R/DVD—R drives with a thermal label printer . That one-step recording/labeling simplifies administration and disc distribution by eliminating any chance of mishandling.

The pre-mentioned automation stations are also disadvantageous since they are only addressing professional recording studios but not end consumer recording devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and device for enabling combined data recording and labeling with minimum cost and time efforts.

Another object is to provide such a method and device allowing for an as much as possible easy usability.

Another object is to provide such a method and device even usable for end consumer recording devices or solutions.

These object are attained by a method, device and recording medium according to the features of the independent claims . Advantageous embodiments are subject matter of the subclaims.

The basic concept of the invention is the provision of a layer in or on the recording medium with an enhanced sensitivity for visually labeling the recording medium by means of a physical property like light-, thermally or magnetically induced forces .

Preferably the same recording or writing element for writing data onto the recording medium is used for labeling wherein, in the preferred embodiment of an according recording device, only one laser unit is used for both the recording of data and the labeling of the recording medium.

The invention thus provides combined recording and labeling capabilities of a herein addressed end consumer recording device. In addition, it enables use of the same technology for recording data on a recording medium and for visually labeling the recording medium.

Further embodiments of the method and device according to the invention become evident from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following and referring to the accompanied drawings, the invention will be described in more detail by preferred embodiments from which further features and advantages become evident. In the drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a schematic side view of a CD-R/DVD-R recording device according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic side view of a CD-R/DVD-R recording device according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention; and

FIGURE 3 is a schematic side view of a recording medium according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to a first preferred embodiment of the invention, the CD/DVD recording device schematically depicted in FIGURE 1 comprises a housing 100 with a slot-shaped opening 105 arranged at the front side 110 (front panel) of the housing 100 for inserting a CD-ROM or DVD medium 115. In the present example, the medium 115 is already haltered inside the housing 100 by means of a commonly known drawer 120 that is automatically moved in the shown direction 125 driven by a (not shown) mechanical linear drive and corresponding motor arranged also inside the housing 100. The movement of the drawer 120 is activated by a common press button 130 arranged at the front side 110 of the housing 100. Inside the housing 100, further arranged is a circular drive 135 connected to a circular motor 140 for enabling rotation of the medium 115 inside the housing 100. The shown recording device, in particular, comprises a single glass fiber optic 145 mounted on a guide rail 150 arranged surround the edge 155 of an inserted medium 115 being arranged inside the housing in the present example. By means of the guide rail 150, the glass fiber optic 145, as commonly known, can be moved along the surface of the medium 115 in order to burn data on it. An underlying laser source 160, in the present embodiment, is mounted at a different location inside the housing 100 wherein the laser light generated by the laser source 160 is transmitted to the glass fiber optic 145 by means of a flexible glass fiber conduit 165.

The glass fiber optic 145 is mounted movable on a guide rail 150 and can be moved along the direction 170 by means of the guide rail 150 from the shown first position 145 to a second position 175 represented by dotted lines. The second position 175 of the fiber optic 145 is arranged vis-a-vis the backside of the CD-ROM or DVD medium 115 wherein the ^backside' means that side of the medium 115 which can be labeled by an optical visual label wherein the front side position (first position 145) is used to "burn" data onto the medium 115. In the second position 175 of the fiber optic 145, the flexible glass fiber conduit 165 is arranged in the position 165' depicted by dotted lines .

In the two positions 145, 175 of the fiber optic 145, the laser source 160 is operated with two different operation modes which is controlled by means of a laser source controller 180 also arranged inside the housing 100. The first operation mode, operated in the first position 145, provides a first power output being sufficient for "burning" digital data onto the medium 115 by means of heat or temperature or any other property of the laser light as physical interaction. In contrast to that, the second operation mode, operated in the second position 175 of the fiber optic 145, provides a second power output by the laser source 160 being sufficient for "burning" a label (text, graphic, etc.) onto/into a labeling layer of the underlying recording medium also by means of heat or temperature as physical interaction, as described in more detail hereinafter referring to FIGURE 3.

It is emphasized that the above arrangement of the laser source 160 and the fiber optic 145 is only exemplary and, however, can also be implemented using a laser source without such a fiber optic whereby the laser source itself is mounted on an according guide rail. Further it is to be noted that the above described arrangement of the functional elements of the recording device is only exemplary and thus the recording of data onto the inserted medium, as in the most cases with existing recording devices, can also be accomplished from the bottom side wherein the labeling of the recording medium is accomplished from the top side. It is further noted that the first power output level and the second power output level can even be identical in cases where the mentioned labeling layer enables labeling even with a power output of the laser source 160 according to the first power output level.

Further it is emphasized that the light or radiation of the laser source 160 can not only be used to cause a thermal (i.e. physical) interaction with the labeling layer and thus alternatively can be used to cause a chemical interaction with the labeling layer e.g. by way of changed covalent bonding effects due to radiation-induced excitation of outer electron shells of the underlying material of the labeling layer thus causing a visible color change or by means of an ignited chemical reaction.

By way of FIGURE 2 a second embodiment of the above described CD/DVD recording device is illustrated. Since most of the functional parts of that device are identical with those of the first embodiment depicted in FIGURE 1, only the differences vis-a— is the first embodiment are shown.

In contrast to FIGURE 1, the second preferred embodiment of the recording device comprises two glass fiber optic elements 200, 205 whereby each of these elements 200, 205 is mounted on a different' guide rail 210, 215. In addition, both fiber optic elements 200, 205 are connected to different laser sources 220, 225 by means of different fiber conduits 230, 235. Thus, in the second embodiment, the above mentioned two. different operation modes are realized by means of two different laser sources, wherein the first laser source 220 accordingly provides a first power output being sufficient for "burning" digital data onto the medium 115 and wherein the second laser source 225 provides a second power output being sufficient for "burning" a label (text, graphic, etc.) onto/into a labeling layer of the underlying recording medium. It is emphasized that provision of the above described two laser sources 220, 225 is only exemplary and thus principally only one laser source can be provided where this laser source is connected with two guide rails for the above purpose. An advantage of use of only one laser source is that the laser must not be moved thus revealing faster access times for the recording and labeling of the recording medium.

It is noteworthy that the above described recording device using the light of a laser source as a recording element for both recording data on a recording medium and for labeling the recording medium is only exemplary for the pre-mentioned physical or chemical interaction with the labeling layer of the recording medium. Thus other embodiments are envisagable where the physical interaction is magnetic storage of data onto a magnetic hard disk using a magnetic write head wherein the labeling layer comprises the below described material or structure respectively, as described in more detail hereinafter referring to FIGURE 3.

It should also be mentioned that the recording device, in a third preferred but technically more simplified embodiment, comprises only one laser source and/or a glass fiber optic mounted on only one guide rail arranged on only one side of the recording medium being inserted into the recording device. Hereby also two operation modes are provided with a different or even the same power output of the laser source as described beforehand. The only difference is that, in the third embodiment, the recording medium for the labeling process has to be removed from the recording device and then inserted again in a reverse manner thus turning the side of the recording medium with the labeling layer to fiber optic and/or laser source.

Further it is emphasized that the above described embodiments both concern recording devices where the recording medium is rotating and the recording element (in the above embodiments the fiber optic) is moving only linearly essentially in radial direction of the medium. However, it is understood hereby, that the invention also concerns recording devices where the recording medium is haltered still inside the recording device and the recording element is performing complex movements in order to reach each point of the surface of the recording medium. In FIGURE 3 the principal structural design of a recording medium 300 according to the invention, e.g. a CD-ROM or DVD, is illustrated. In order to make the structure more evident, the recording medium 300 is considerably enlarged in the shown z-direction which is in alignment with the rotational axis of the recording medium 300.

The recording medium 300, in the shown preferred embodiment, comprises five layers 305 - 325 and a concentric opening 330 for enabling the above described circular drive 135 to get into a fixed contact with the recording medium 300. The two cover layers 305, 325 are made of a plastic or synthetic resin which is transparent for the underlying laser light. Layer 310 is a reflective and recording layer for recording digital data e.g. made of Aluminum. The recording medium 300 particularly comprises a labeling layer 320 which is separated from the other layers 305, 310 by means of a separation layer 315. The separation layer 315 e.g. is preferably made of ultra-violet (UV) -lacquer and prevents that laser light entering the recording medium 300 from the top side in FIGURE 3 and causing some physical interaction with the recording layer 310 to penetrate through the recording medium 300 and to cause additional physical interaction with the labeling layer 320. Appropriate materials are also known from multi-layered DVD media where the different layers have also to be separated by a separation layer in order to allow separate recording of data onto these two layers. On the other hand, the separation layer 315 accordingly prevents that laser light entering the recording medium 300 from the bottom side in FIGURE 3 and causing some physical interaction with the labeling layer 320 to penetrate through the recording medium 300 and to cause additional physical interaction with the recording layer 310. For the labeling layer can be used quite different materials and in the following preferred materials and the underlying different physical/chemical interactions are described.

In case of the pre-described preferred embodiments of the recording device where the labeling is accomplished by means of the laser light power, according to a first embodiment the labeling layer is made of a material first with a white color which turn into black during temperature raise above a certain threshold temperature. Exemplary materials for the labeling layer are plastic or synthetic resin or thin pressed paper. However, it is emphasized that the present invention is not limited to the herein described colors or color combinations and thus can also be any other base color that changes when treated with light, heat, magnetic forces or chemical reactions. Exemplary temperature- sensitive material are known nano—structure materials, liquid-crystal materials or any other known temperature-, light- or magnetically sensitive materials like thermal paints .

In a second embodiment of the labeling layer, a combination of a first material with a white color but shrinking or contracting when heated together with a second subjacent black or colored but heat-resisting material is provided. Hereby the first material can be shrinked point-focally by means of laser light and thus the subjacent black or colored material gets visible thus enabling a kind of dot matrix printing. However, instead of using a material with the described shrinking behavior, an other material with a certain expansibility or swelling behavior under raising temperature can be used wherein that material, when locally expanding or swelling, penetrates the above described first material locally thus causing the necessary color change.

According to a third embodiment, the labeling layer is composed of a first layer of a material of white color and well-absorbent for paraffin. Subjacent to that first layer is arranged a second layer of black or colored paraffin which becomes locally fluid when heated by means of a laser light. The fluid paraffin then will be absorbed locally by the first layer, maybe enhanced by means of capillary forces, and thus the color of the first layer will change from white into the respective color or black. It is to mentioned that the pre- described paraffin is only exemplary and thus can be replaced by any other material comprising a melting point corresponding with the typical temperature reached in the labeling layer through the pre-described laser treatment.

In a fourth embodiment, the labeling layer is composed of a number of colored pixel elements, e.g. five pixel elements for the colors red, green, blue, white and black. These pixel elements are made of a material that shrinks, expands or changes its color during heat treatment by means of a laser light. In the latter case, the underlying physical interaction can also be that the material of the pixel elements is destroyable under the laser treatment. In addition, a bimetallic effect can be utilized wherein the pixel elements bend under thermal stress. Hereby it must be guaranteed that the deformation is plastic and not elastic or an-elastic in order to maintain the bending effect and thus to provide a stable label .

According to a fifth embodiment, the labeling layer consists of small chambers or compartments containing metallic colored pixel elements, in particular lamina or globules with a slight magnetization. These lamina or globules can rotate within these chambers or compartments under the influence of a local magnetic field provided by means of a magnetic write head e.g. of a magnetic hard disk device (HDD) . In order to guarantee that these pixel elements can not rotate during handling of the recording medium, in addition a ferromagnetic layer can be provided to which the pixel elements adhere by means of magnetic forces. Movement or rotation of these magnetic particles necessary for the labeling process, again, is achieved in the preferred embodiment by means of a magnetic write head e.g. of a magnetic hard disk device (HDD) .

In a sixth embodiment of the recording medium, the labeling layer is made of Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) material. Above or below the OLED layer is arranged a thin solar cell layer for generating an electric voltage for electrically supplying the OLED layer. The solar cell layer, if arranged above the OLED layer, can be made thin enough in order to pass light to the OLED layer and to stimulate self-lighting of the OLED layer. In another embodiment, the OLED layer is printed or painted with color pixels (as mentioned above) . By means of the pre-described write laser the color pixels which are not required for a wished labeling text or graphic can be destroyed accordingly.

According to a seventh embodiment, the labeling layer comprises a multitude of small chambers or compartments, each of them filled with a transparent fluid. That fluid contains appropriate salt compounds like sodium acetate. Beneath that layer is arranged a printed color pixel layer. By means of the pre-mentioned write laser the fluid contained in these small chambers can be crystallized thus causing a change of the color of the mentioned color pixel layer arranged beneath the labeling layer.

However, it is understood hereby, that there exist alternative embodiments of the labeling layer based on polymers and/or salts and/or fluids or even chemical fluids, solid materials or compounds which comprise any physical and/or chemical property that can be changed locally e.g. by using light, heat or even magnetic forces and, if necessary, using e.g. multicolor laser sources and/or appropriate color filters. Further, the labeling process can be based on at least two chemically reacting materials which are separated by at least one dividing wall and brought together by way of destruction of said wall induces e.g. by laser energy or the like. Thereupon, materials like electronic paper (so-called "e-paper" or "e- ink") can be utilized where the labeling is performed electronically. Finally it is emphasized that the present invention can also be applied to analog recording devices and media although being only described beforehand in the field of recording of digital information. In addition, the invention can be applied to recording media that do not comprise movable/rotatable parts, e.g. semiconductor memories or the like.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. A method for labeling a recording medium wherein recording of information onto the recording medium is accomplished using a recording device that comprises at least one recording element for recording information onto the recording medium by means of a first physical or chemical interaction with a first material of the recording medium, wherein the recording medium comprises at least one layer made of a second material sensitive for enabling labeling of the recording medium by means of said first physical or chemical interaction or at least a second physical or chemical interaction.

2. A method for labeling a recording medium wherein recording of information onto the recording medium is accomplished using a recording device that comprises at least one recording element for recording information onto the recording medium by means of a first physical or chemical interaction with the material of the recording medium, wherein the material of the recording medium is sensitive for enabling labeling of the recording medium by means of said first physical or chemical interaction or at least a second physical or chemical interaction.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the labeling is accomplished by means of variation of the power of said first physical interaction.

4. Method according to claim 3 wherein said power of the first physical interaction is the power of a laser source .

5. Method according to any of the preceding claims wherein said first or said second physical interaction is a magnetic interaction.

6. Method according to claim 1 wherein said at least one layer of the second material comprises a material, wherein the optical properties of that material can be changed or influenced or destroyed by means of said first or said second interaction.

7. A recording device for recording information onto a recording medium by means of a first recording element that records information by means of a first physical or chemical interaction, wherein the recording device comprises at least two operation modes, the first operation mode for recording information onto the recording medium by means of a first physical or chemical interaction with the material of the recording medium and the at least second operation mode for labeling the recording medium by means of said first physical or chemical interaction or at least a second physical or chemical interaction.

8. Device according to claim 7 wherein said at least second operation mode is accomplished by means of variation of the power of said first physical interaction.

9. Device according to claim 7 or 8 comprising a reco-rding element operative in at least two power modes .

10. Device according to claim 9 comprising a transport means by which said recording element can be moved between the two sides of the recording medium.

11. Device according to claim 7 or 8 comprising at least one recording element and at least one labeling element.

12. Device according to claim 11 wherein said recording element is arranged on one side of an inserted recording medium and wherein said labeling element is arranged on the respective other side of the inserted recording medium.

13. Device according to any of claims 9 to 12 wherein said recording element and/or said labeling element are arranged on the same side of a recording medium being inserted in the recording device.

14. A recording medium for recording information and for labeling by use of the method according to any of claims 1 to 6 and/or the recording device according to any of claims 7 to 13, comprising at least one layer made of a material sensitive for enabling labeling of the recording medium by means of a physical or chemical interaction with said material.

15. Recording medium according to claim 14 comprising at least three layers, a recording layer for the recording of information, said layer for enabling labeling and a separation layer between these two layers.

16. Recording medium according to claim 15 wherein said recording layer and said layer for enabling labeling are made of the same material and wherein said separation, layer is made of a material allowing spatial separation between said physical or chemical interaction in the recording layer and the layer for enabling labeling.

17. Recording medium according to claim 15 wherein said recording layer and said layer for enabling labeling are made of a different material and wherein said separation layer is made of a material allowing spatial separation between different physical or chemical interactions in the recording layer and the layer for enabling labeling.