DATAPLAY’S MOBILE

INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION AND

STORAGE TECHNOLOGY
A PORTABLE SYSTEM USING SMALL, HIGH-DENSITY OPTICAL DISCS WITH
PRERECORDED CONTENT AND SPACE FOR CONSUMER-WRITTEN DATA GIVES

CONTENT OWNERS NONINVASIVE ACCESS CONTROL.

The Internet and the World Wide CD or DVD. Prerecorded content and
Web have stimulated the development of novel read/write capabilities are seamlessly com-
products and devices that provide a new dimen- bined on the same disc up to the 500-Mbyte
sion in interactivity. Further development of capacity. The DataPlay disc is compatible
wireless-based technology and its growing with the most advanced forms of music,
interleaving with the Internet foreshadow even data, and video digital compression. For
greater advances in Web-based portable com- example, MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding
munication and information products. music compression at 192 Kbps or MPEG-
Nevertheless, several key technology com- 4 video is readily utilized with the DataPlay
ponents still lag, preventing this information player/recorder. Therefore, it can contain the
revolution from reaching its potential. These equivalent of several complete compressed
include sufficient bandwidth, truly portable music CDs and still have space for music
and inexpensive local storage, and a timely videos, lyrics, text files, still images, and so
and cost-effective way to distribute content— on. Because providers can selectively control
David H. Davies especially the large files required for video and access to content, they can protect secondary
images. Moreover, any content distribution content after the disc’s initial purchase and
DataPlay technology must provide adequate protection make it available in subsequent transactions.
for the rights of content and copyright own- Content owners can write unique encryption
ers. Despite these limitations, many devices and conditional access keys to the media that
exist that seek to meet consumer expectations, specify a desired content protection scheme. For
and availability of these mobile information example, keys written to the disc follow the con-
distribution platforms has driven the devel- tent of the disc through multiple generations of
opment of the DataPlay digital media and copies and allow for permissible copying while
micro-optical engine1 for using, distributing, preventing wide-scale illegal distribution. The
storing, and protecting information. content protection scheme counts how many
The DataPlay disc is a 32-mm optical disc copies a user makes and tracks this count on the
on which users can record up to 500 Mbytes disc itself through the generations, following
of content and that alternatively could con- the rules set by the content owner. Binding these
tain up to 400 Mbytes of prerecorded data keys to the disc ensures that content protection
in a low-cost embossed format, similar to a is disc based rather than host based, so that the

8 0272-1732/02/$17.00  2002 IEEE

disc can be played on any DataPlay-compati-
ble player. Thus, content control and protec-
tion are generally transparent to the user, unless
content rules are violated.
The 32-mm discs are played and recorded
on the DataPlay micro-optical engine. The
device uses a mixed-signal CMOS controller
integrated circuit (IC) developed jointly by
DataPlay and ST Micro. This custom appli- (a) (b)
cation-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) pro-
vides the channel, interface, decode/encode Figure 1. DataPlay’s 32-mm disc (a) and the disc in its car-
functions, and an integrated error-correcting tridge (b).
code (ECC) scheme. The optical engine’s tilt-
ing rotary actuator permits rapid data access
in a simple mechanism. The actuator uses a accelerated temperature and humidity condi-
very small integrated optical pickup head that tions has confirmed the media’s stability and
weighs only a few milligrams. Combining low- allowed the DataPlay engineering team to pre-
mass optics and mechanics and the ability to dict a minimum 100-year data life. Figure 1
write to the disc with minimal laser power shows the disc and its cartridge.
results in a low-power-consumption system The storage media itself consists of a dou-
that dissipates only a few hundred milliwatts ble-sided, 0.6-mm-thick polycarbonate disc
(mw) for typical applications. molded as a single piece with the embossed
The device’s storage engine permits digital data simultaneously pressed on both sides.
storage without regard to the data’s source or Industry-standard EFM+ encoding of the dig-
format. The storage media is removable and ital data stream facilitates development of a
can maintain data integrity for many years. broad range of content.3 The disc’s recordable
Because of their small physical mass, the disc area is grooved, and encoded address marks
and its associated player/recorder are compact let the system locate data, facilitating random
enough to fit into handheld portable appli- access and data seeks. The tracks are wob-
ances such as cell phones and PDAs. bled—that is, a fixed spatial amplitude mod-
ulation is applied to the groove in the plane
Media of the disc—to provide a timing reference on
The 32-mm disc is enclosed in a 41- × 33.5- the disc. A digital formatter, provided by
× 3-mm molded cartridge. This cartridge— external vendors operating under license from
constructed from two identical molded halves DataPlay, encodes the address marks on the
sealed together—is impact-resistant polycar- disc using the high-frequency wobble mark
bonate and protects the disc from dust, han- (HFWM) method. Figure 2 (next page) illus-
dling, and wear. Disc access is through a trates this method, showing the HFWMs and
movable metal shutter that operates indepen- the push-pull signal from the tracking servo
dently on each side of the cartridge. For further as a function of tracking position. The wob-
protection, the shutter is locked during normal ble frequency is 128 kHz, and the added
operation and is opened only by the recorder/ HFWM frequency is 641 kHz. The track
player mechanism. pitch is 0.74 micron, the minimum recorded
The cartridge is moldable on simple, con- feature size is 435 nanometers (nm), and the
ventional injection-molding equipment and device uses constant-linear-velocity recording
is further contained in a molded pocket case at 2.9 meters per second (Mps). A.B.
to simplify packaging and use. The pocket Marchant describes the push-pull concept
case and cartridge also provide a mechanism used for tracking.4
for attaching content labels and for stacking The write marks on the media result from
and distribution. G. Volan discusses the an amorphous-to-crystalline phase change.
design principles and specific features of the The material5 is reflective enough in the 650-
cartridge, pocket case, and associated mecha- nm range to serve as the reflector for tracking
nisms.2 Extensive data integrity testing under and focusing, and it can be written to with

MARCH–APRIL 2002 9
 DATAPLAY TECHNOLOGY

low write power. Figure 3, a photomicrograph combination of recordability and writability.

of an actual EFM code sequence with written The power series data in Figure 4 illustrates
data adjacent to embossed data, shows the the low write power. Fully optimized write
marks require less than 2 mw
1.5 of power at the disc surface;
read power is typically 250
1.0
Push-pull tracking signal

microwatts. Special stabiliza-

tion methods ensure stable
0.5
laser operation. The laser
0 emits nominally at 650 nm (in
0 180 360 540 720 900 1,080 the red region of the optical
−0.5 spectrum). Figure 4b shows
the second harmonic perfor-
−1.0
mance, or minimum distor-
−1.5 tion point, of these 4T
Track position marks and the adjacent-track
crosstalk performance. (T rep-
Figure 2. The wobble and high-frequency wobble mark address marks. resents the minimum timing
interval of the EFM+ code.)
The carrier-to-noise ratio (Fig-
ure 4a) achieved at 2 mw is a more than ade-
quate 50 decibels (dB). The media is stable
through essentially unlimited reads at the nom-
inal read power levels. Moreover, it increases in
reflectivity upon writing, and once written to
the media doesn’t permit rewriting. This write-
once recording is archival and permanent.
Wrobel provides more details regarding the
(a) (b)
physics of write-once optical recording.6
Figure 3. Embossed (a) and written data (b) Because the disc also contains pre-embossed
on the same disc. data, it is important for the molded informa-
tion to have high data quality. Data-to-data

Carrier-to-noise ratio
Second harmonic performance
Adjacent-track crosstalk

60 0
Carrier-to-noise ratio (dB)

50 −10
ATC and second
harmonic (dB)

40 −20
30 −30
20 −40

10 −50

0 −60
1.1 1.6 2.1 2.6 1.1 1.6 2.1 2.6
Write power (mW) Write power (mW)

(a) (b)

Figure 4. Typical power series data for DataPlay media, showing carrier-to-noise ratio (a) and
second harmonic performance and adjacent-track crosstalk performance (b). Write power is
defined as at the disc surface on the basis of 4T marks from the EFM+ code.

10 IEEE MICRO
jitter is a critical test of how well the read data
Objective lens
from the disc falls within the preassigned tim-
ing window for all pulse lengths of the code. Spacer
The jitter values for prerecorded data are Quarter-wave plate
about 6 percent of the timing window; jitter
Periscope beam splitter
values for user-recorded data are slightly high-
er at about 8 percent, but still well within
Optical element block
specification. Arnoldussen and Nunnelly pro-
vide further information regarding jitter deter-
mination and performance in storage media.7
Spacer Silicon submount
Turning mirror
Optical pickup High-frequency oscillator
The optical head in the player/recorder Laser diode submount
detects data and keeps the sensing laser on track Laser diode
and in focus. In traditional optical drives, the
(a)
optical head is generally large and has signifi-
cant mass. This is partly to provide a motor-
ized drive for the objective lens and heat sinking Optical prism assembly
for the laser. DataPlay’s optical head doesn’t
have these restrictions. It is extremely small and
light—weighing less than 10 percent of a tra-
Silicon submount
ditional head—and thus lets the recorder/play-
er meet the design height target of 11 mm.
The optical pickup, diagrammed in Figure
5a, is an integrated monolithic structure con-
(b)
sisting of two subassemblies: the optical prism
assembly (OPA) containing all optics, and the
silicon submount, both shown in Figure 5b.
The OPA is assembled using machine vision Figure 5. Diagram (a) and 3D layout (b) of the optical pickup.
robotics equipment and consists of a finite
conjugate objective lens, a spacer, a quarter-
wave plate, a periscope beam splitter, and the however, can overcome this limitation. Data-
optical element block. Wafer-scale and semi- Play’s rotary optical actuator is well suited for
conductor assembly methods produce the sil- a miniature optical drive.
icon submount, which contains the laser The actuators must maintain a focus point
diode, a high-frequency oscillator IC, a fold- that keeps the laser’s image at the disc’s sur-
ing mirror, and photo detectors. face while it rotates. Designers accomplished
The silicon submount connects to a heat this by having the actuator tilt, under control
sink and is wire bonded to a flexible circuit. of the focus servo, to maintain focus. The
During bonding to the silicon submount, actuator permits rapid rotation and hence
active alignment monitoring signals from the rapid data access. Typical seek time is a few
photo detectors on the silicon help in aligning hundred milliseconds, and the channel data
the OPA. This completes the optical pickup rate is 20 megabits per second (Mbps).
assembly, which is then bonded to the actua- Because of the optical head’s small mass, the
tor arm via the heat sink, providing good ther- actuator stiffness, and the short seek distances,
mal coupling of the laser diode to the arm. a single voice-coil motor, appearing at the left
The complete optical pickup measures 4.75 end of the arm in Figure 6 (next page), and a
× 3.3 × 1.4 mm. cartridge pivot bearing enable both radial
positioning functions (fine track following
Actuator and coarse seek). A voice-coil motor at the
Large optical heads have hampered the use center of the arm and a flexure that pivots
of rotary actuators in optical recording. Using about an axis that intersects the tracking pivot
a miniature integrated head on the actuator, enable focus acquisition and focus following.

MARCH–APRIL 2002 11
 DATAPLAY TECHNOLOGY

protection.

Player/recorder mechanism
A power-driven load-and-eject mechanism
implements digital media ejection. Several
advantages accrue from this method. Software
commands are used to address the electrical
system that drives the mechanism. Fail-safe
methods to ensure that the actuator is parked
and the disc is no longer spinning have been
incorporated into the eject command so that
the disc will not eject until these conditions
are met. Ejection and insertion, which take a
Figure 6. The DataPlay actuator with tilt and rotary actua- fraction of a second, rely on a small drive
tion. The actuator arm consists of a composite laminated motor with a gear train and lead screw built
sheet material constructed in multiple layers to achieve the into the mechanism. Upon insertion, the disc
desired stiffness in the pitch and roll directions. drops onto the alignment and registration
pins, and the shutter lock and the shutter itself
both open. A door covering the front of the
entirely encased mechanism, shown in Figure
7, is normally closed.
Other player/recorder components include
a metal base plate and cover, the spin motor
that rotates the disc at a constant linear veloc-
ity of 2.9 Mps, and an electronic board that
provides all electrical and firmware control.

Electronics
The electronics and firmware in any digi-
tal read/write system must not only read,
write, and correct data but also perform five
other major functions:

• interface with the external world,

• maintain the servo system that keeps the
head focused and tracking,
• seek for tracks and perform associated
reading of address codes,
• control the spin motor, and
Figure 7. The DataPlay micro-optical engine, shown without • manage ancillary functions such as eject
load tray and cover, measures 52 mm by 47.5 mm by 11 mm. modes.

A 15-square-mm custom ASIC manufac-

Focus and tracking stops built into the tured in a 0.25-micron CMOS process is cen-
actuator design act as fail-safe devices to pre- tral to the system and combines mixed analog
vent the optical head from touching the disc and digital functions. A block layout of the
surface except under extreme conditions. Pri- chip appears in Figure 8. Some of the digital
mary control for this function is based on the functions are performed by two ST Micro
optical servo system that directs the actuator’s ST10 microprocessors, one of which is inte-
position in both dimensions. If it detects that grated into a digital signal processor (DSP)
the head is moving into a collision mode, this block that performs several functions, includ-
system automatically withdraws the head. ing servo control. The ASIC has an integrat-
The built-in stops provide further physical ed analog read channel and read and write

12 IEEE MICRO
data paths. An integrated
write strategy controls the Read channel
HFWM Servo
Servo Interface
detector digital
write process. The data rate predrivers microprocessor
to analog
at the disc surface is 20 Wobble detect Automatic
power Servo DSP Content
Mbps. controller Servo
Write analog instruction protection/
Other system components synthesizer Write strategy to digital
microprocessor
RAM digital
are a 2- to 4-Mbyte block of rights
DRAM, the motor control Formatter ECC management
Optical pickup Bar code
ICs, and up to 512 Kbytes of algebra area detect
Buffer manager Interface
flash memory. The system
also contains transimpedance
amplifiers and motor con- Figure 8. Block layout of the custom ASIC controller, which includes a third-level encryption
trollers. engine and an error-correction system.
The photo detectors in the
integrated silicon submount
shown in Figure 5 detect signals from the optics
of the head. The four quadrants of the photo 172 bytes 10 bytes
detector are used to separate the optical respons- B0,0 B0,1 B0,170 B0,171 B0,172 B0,181
es from the disc surface into separate signals. B1,0 B1,1 B1,170 B1,171 B1,172 B1,181
These signals are used for tracking (on the basis B2,0 B2,1 B2,170 B2,171 B2,172 B2,181
of the reflected pattern’s symmetry on the detec-
88 rows

tor), focusing (on the basis of the reflected

image’s size), and for detecting the presence or
absence of data (on the basis of the signals’ inte-
B85,0 B85,1 B85,170 B85,171 B85,172 B85,181
grated intensity). The DSP servo code uses the
B86,0 B86,1 B86,170 B86,171 B86,172 B86,181
tracking and focusing signals to drive small
B87,0 B87,1 B87,170 B87,171 B87,172 B87,181
motors that move the optical head into focus
B88,0 B88,1 B88,170 B88,171 B88,172 B88,181
or onto the track. The read channel analyzes the
16 rows

data and from the intensity transitions extracts

the digital data using a conventional slicing-level B103,0 B103,1 B103,170 B103,171 B103,172 B103,181
channel scheme. This data is then assembled
into code words that the ECC block analyzes Figure 9. DataPlay’s error-correction-code block arrangement. The ECC
for correctness. The ECC scheme, illustrated in method assembles the data into a matrix and uses data blocks that are 172
Figure 9, is built on the two-dimensional prod- bytes wide and stacked 88 rows deep. Parity correction blocks are added
uct code method used for DVDs but with an (10 bytes to each row and 16 rows to each column). J. Taylor illustrates in
added layer of correction power. K.A.S. Immink simple fashion the basis for all ECC parity block methods.8
provides more information on ECC methods
and codes used in optical recording.9 A general
guide to certain aspects of the technology is
available at http://www.dvdforum.org.
This ECC scheme, together with the pro-
tective cartridge, permits front-surface record-
ing. DataPlay has shown in practice that the
ECC scheme can reliably correct discs having
5 percent of their data initially in error. Of
course, this depends on the size and distribu-
tion of the errors, but DataPlay’s testing of Figure 10. The DataPlay engine printed circuit board assem-
discs having contaminants ranging from dust bly seen from opposite sides.
to oils on the surface has confirmed the utili-
ty of the combined cartridge and ECC
scheme. cuit board assembly layout consisting of the
Five other ICs complete the electronics sys- ASIC as well as the other system components
tem. Figure 10 shows the six-layer printed cir- described above.

MARCH–APRIL 2002 13
 DATAPLAY TECHNOLOGY

Eight bidirectional data lines unlocks the disc to allow access. Unlocking
DPI_Data 0-7 may consist of decryption, or it may create a
DPI_RD (read strobe) file on the disc that gives the system permis-
DPI_WR (write strobe)
sion to access previously locked content. It
could involve both. Such file access could be
DPI_DS (device select)
complete, partial, or time dependant, as deter-
DataPlay DPI_ADD0, ADD1 (register address) Host
engine mined by the enabling transaction.
DPI_Ready Because ContentKey is media rather than
DPI_IRO (interrupt request) player based—unlike some other enabling-
key technologies—users have unrestricted use
3.3 V
of the media in other DataPlay-compatible
Ground
players. As well as being downloaded to an
inaccessible area of the disc, the key written
to the disc is itself encrypted by the ASIC-
15 signal lines + 3 power supply lines = 18 lines total
based encryption system. These two layers of
Figure 11. The DataPlay electrical interface (DPI) achieves a high level of protection can supplement the digital rights
data security and simplicity through the use of a file-based protocol. management methods that the content indus-
try is developing. State-of-the-art DRM meth-
ods, accessed by writable keys bound to the
The DataPlay file-type interface, illustrated disc, give the DataPlay system and compati-
in Figure 11, resembles those used in network- ble consumer electronics devices a way to
attached storage devices. The user-sustained guarantee content owners that their use rules
data rate is 1 Mbyte/s; the burst rate can reach travel with each disc through as many gener-
10 Mbytes/s. ations of disc copies as desired.
A buffer memory provides shock stabiliza-
tion. Data is both read and write cached,
allowing the use of sophisticated shock sens-
ing and detection methods and minimizing
D ataPlay expects that 2002 will see the
commercial availability of several Data-
Play-enabled products with applications rang-
the impact of shock events. The media (the ing from music recorder/players to digital
product’s only removable part) has a shock cameras. MICRO
specification of 2,000-g acceleration, and the
engine (without added shock buffers in the Acknowledgments
application device) can withstand 600-g shock I gratefully acknowledge the contributions
in nonoperational and 150-g shock in opera- of the DataPlay engineering team in this tech-
tional mode. The noncontact read/write nology’s development, and in particular the
process permits the read/write head to remain creative and innovative input from Steve Volk,
nearly half a millimeter off the surface. Ian Redmond, Mike Braitberg, and Dan
Zaharris, who pioneered many of the concepts.
Content protection technology
The ability to emboss the media with con- References
tent as well as let consumers write to it per- 1. B.W. Bell Jr., “DataPlay’s Mobile Recording
mits a form of content protection that Technology,” Technical Digest 2001 Optical
DataPlay calls ContentKey. Depending on the Data Storage Topical Meeting, SPIE Press,
content owner’s needs, part or all of the con- Bellingham, Wash., 2001, pp. 4-6.
tent may not be accessible to the user. 2. G. Volan, “DataPlay,” Innovation Access:
When the disc is first placed in the recorder, The Quarterly of the Industrial Designers
a unique and permanent identifier is written Soc. of America, Spring 2001, p. 91.
to the disc on a designated inner track. By 3. K.A.S. Immink, Codes for Mass Data
completing a suitable Web transaction—say, Storage, Shannon Foundation Publishers,
a monetary payment or some demographic Netherlands, 1999.
data transmission—the disc purchaser may 4. A.B. Marchant, Optical Recording, Addison
then download a software key that, in con- Wesley, New York, 1990.
junction with the unique disc identifier, 5. K.C. Pan, Y.S. Tyan, and D. Prews,

14 IEEE MICRO
 Recording Elements Comprising Write Once David H. Davies is chief technology officer
Alloy Layers, US patent 4960680, to Kodak, at DataPlay, where he is responsible for the
Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, overall development of DataPlay technology
D.C., 1990; F. Vazan, Y.S. Tyan, and K.C. and products. He has a PhD from University
Pan, Optical Recording Media, US patent College, London, in physical chemistry and
5271978, Patent and Trademark Office, an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
Washington, D.C., 1993. Davies is a senior member of the IEEE and a
6. J. Wrobel, “The Physics of Write Recording fellow of the Society of Photo-Optical Instru-
Materials,” Proc. SPIE, vol. 420, 1983, p. 288. mentation Engineers.
7. T.C. Arnoldussen and L.L. Nunnelly, Noise
in Digital Recording Systems, World Direct questions or comments about this
Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 1994. article to David H. Davies, DataPlay, 2560
8. J. Taylor, DVD Demystified, McGraw-Hill, 55th St., Boulder, CO 80301; ddavies@
New York, 1998, p. 75. dataplay.com.
9. K.A.S. Immink, Principles of Optical Disc
Systems, G. Bouwhuis et al., eds., Adam For further information on this or any other
Hilger, Bristol, UK, 1985, pp. 228-295. computing topic, please visit our Digital
Library at http://computer.org/publications/
dlib.

MARCH–APRIL 2002 15