U.S. patent application number 11/974222 was filed with the patent office on 2008-11-06 for multi-disk optical drive.
This patent application is currently assigned to AVION ENGINEERING SERVICES INK DBA AVION PARTNERS. Invention is credited to Gregory P. Adams, Rory G. Briski, Steven R. Galipeau, Joseph G. Martin, James W. Mills.
Application Number | 20080273538 11/974222 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39939456 |
Filed Date | 2008-11-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080273538 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Briski; Rory G. ; et
al. |
November 6, 2008 |
Multi-disk optical drive
Abstract
An apparatus for transitioning data contained on multiple memory
storage devices, such as optical disks and memory cards,
efficiently onto a data network by utilizing data bridges between
the memory devices and the target network.
Inventors: |
Briski; Rory G.; (Bellevue,
WA) ; Galipeau; Steven R.; (Redmond, WA) ;
Adams; Gregory P.; (Renton, WA) ; Mills; James
W.; (Wylie, TX) ; Martin; Joseph G.; (Hanalei,
HI) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Rory Briski
Suite B, 13200 SE 30th St.
Bellevue
WA
98005
US
|
Assignee: |
AVION ENGINEERING SERVICES INK DBA
AVION PARTNERS
BELLEVUE
WA
|
Family ID: |
39939456 |
Appl. No.: |
11/974222 |
Filed: |
October 11, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60851231 |
Oct 12, 2006 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
370/395.7 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G08C 19/00 20130101;
G08C 17/02 20130101; G06F 3/0658 20130101; G06F 3/0623 20130101;
G08C 2201/20 20130101; G06F 3/0685 20130101; G08C 2201/30 20130101;
G06F 3/0626 20130101; G08C 2201/92 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/395.7 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/56 20060101
H04L012/56 |
Claims
1) An apparatus for transitioning data contained on optical disks
onto a data network comprised of: (a) one or more optical disk
drives, (b) one or more data bridges, (d) a power supply
2) The apparatus in claim 1 wherein the data bridge transmits the
data onto the network as multi-cast data streams.
3) The apparatus in claim 2 wherein the data is only transmitted
when there is actually someone requesting to receive it on the
multi-cast data network.
4) An apparatus for transitioning data contained on memory storage
devices onto a data network comprised of: (a) one or more memory
storage devices, (b) one or more data bridges, (d) a power supply
Whereby the data from the memory storage device is placed onto the
network without going through the intermediary steps of digital to
analog conversion and analog to digital conversion.
5) The apparatus in claim 4 wherein the data bridge transmits the
data onto the network as multi-cast data streams. Whereby the data
from the memory storage device is placed onto the network as a
multi-cast data stream thereby conserving bandwidth for other
network traffic.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to an apparatus for transitioning
data contained on optical disks onto a data network.
[0003] 2. Description of Related/Prior Art
[0004] In other disk drive units that contain more than one optical
drive, the units typically only play one disk at a time. Further,
in some very rare units that contain more than one optical drive
where these drives do play simultaneously, the data on these drives
is first converted to analog and then converted back to digital and
then the data is placed onto a data network.
[0005] In the first instance above there are inefficiencies where
the additional optical drives are being used merely for storage as
the unit containing the drives only outputs one signal at a
time.
[0006] In the second instance above where some units do have
multiple simultaneous play capabilities, these units are very
inefficient and introduce noise and signal degradation at every
conversion step from digital to analog and from analog to
digital.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES
[0007] Accordingly, several objects and advantages of our invention
are:
[0008] Our multi-disk optical drive provides multiple simultaneous
outputs of the digital content contained on the disks. This allows
multiple disk drives to be contained in a very small and
light-weight package.
[0009] Our multi-disk optical drive also provides a direct digital
connection to the data network. There is no digital to analog back
to digital conversion that could introduce errors in the signal
reproduction.
[0010] In installations where size and weight are critical, such as
in an aircraft, these advantages are of paramount importance.
[0011] Further objects and advantages of our invention will become
apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing
description.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0012] The invention, a multi-disk optical drive, provides the user
with multiple simultaneous streams of data from a very small and
light weight unit. This data is output directly from the multi-disk
optical drive device onto the data network.
DRAWINGS
List of Figures
[0013] FIG. 1 Optical Drive Bay Block Diagram
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS
[0014] The first digit=the FIGURE number and the second 2 digits
indicate the part number
TABLE-US-00001 Item Nomenclature 106 Multi-Disk Optical Drive
Assembly 107 Optical Drive 108 Memory card reader 109 Data Bridge
110 DC to DC Converter (Power Supply)
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] FIG. 1, illustrates a multi-disk drive assembly consisting
of the optical drives 107a and 107b which output their digital data
to the Data Bridges 109b and 109c which transition the data onto
the data network. They are several bridge types that can be
utilized depending on the network type being attached to. In our
preferred implementation, an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) to
Ethernet bridge is used.
[0016] Other data storage devices could also benefit from this
implementation. Also in FIG. 1 we show a memory card reader 108,
connected to a data bridge 109a which transitions data from the
memory card onto the data network. The memory card could contain
content such as MP3 music files or MPEG2 or MPEG4, still pictures
in digital format or other such types of files representing similar
content.
[0017] The data bridges 109a, 109b and 109c could also act as
multi-cast data servers. That is, they can broadcast the data from
the optical disks or memory card onto a network as multi-cast data
streams.
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