1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to optical storage systems, and, more particularly, to techniques of signal reproduction in an optical system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Channel coding is generally employed in optical recording to match certain properties of the coded sequence to the channel characteristics of the recorder. Because optical recorders are typically inadequate in reproducing very low frequencies or direct current (DC) component, a coding method for controlling the DC component in code streams is required. The DC component is the result of an unequal number of binary digits (“1”s and “−1”s) in the transmitted binary signal. One method for minimizing the DC component is to calculate a digital sum value (DSV) and compensates the coded sequence to control the DSV for approaching zero.
A digital data slicer is employed when decoding the channel bits. The slicer compares an input value with a reference value, and slices the input samples to either 1 or −1, thus, a slicer capable of properly slicing level-slices of the code streams is preferable. When the slicing level significantly fluctuates or shifts from the center of the reproduction signal RF, the DSV value of an input stream correspondingly fluctuates or disperses. As a result, the level-sliced data cannot be stably obtained.
Accordingly, the invention provides a channel bit detection system capable of precise level slicing. In one aspect of the invention, a channel bit detection system is provided. The channel bit detection system comprises an RF front end, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a combiner, a sign detector, an interpolation filter, an accumulator, and an offset control. The RF front end receives an RF signal. The RF signal is then converted into a plurality of samples at a sampling rate R by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Each converted sample is then shifted by an offset value by the combiner. The interpolation filter produces a plurality of interpolated samples by interpolating and low-pass filtering the combined samples. The interpolated samples have an interpolated sampling rate W, which exceeds the sample rate R. The sign detector detects signs of the interpolated samples. The accumulator accumulates the signs of each polarity for a predetermined time interval to produce an accumulated value. The offset control updates the offset value according to the accumulated value. A channel bit detector receives the combined samples to decode channel bits from the RF signals. The channel bit detector preferably further comprises a phase locked loop (PLL) coupled to the combiner, recovering a clock signal from the combined samples. The clock signal has a clock rate R, and the analog-to-digital converter converts the RF signal into a plurality of samples according to the clock signal.
In another aspect of the invention, a channel bit detection system with a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a DSV calculator is provided. The channel bit detection system comprises an RF front end, a digital-to-analog converter, a combiner, a one-bit analog-to-digital converter, a DSV calculator, and an offset control. The RF front end receives an RF signal. The digital-to-analog converter (DAC) receives an offset value, and converts the offset value into the analog signal. The combiner combines the RF signal and the analog signal to form a combined signal. The one-bit analog-to-digital converter converts the combined signal into a plurality of first samples at a sampling rate W. The one-bit analog-to-digital converter converts the combined samples into a binary bit stream. The DSV calculator receives the plurality of first samples for calculating a digital sum value (DSV) of the first samples. The offset control updates the offset value according to the digital sum value. For example, the offset control adjusts the offset value so that the accumulated value of the interpolated samples approach zero. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) converts the combined signal into a plurality of samples at a sampling rate R, wherein the sampling rate R is less than the sampling rate W. A channel bit detector recovers the channel bits from the plurality of samples. Preferably, the channel bit detector further comprises a phase locked loop (PLL) coupled to the combiner recovering a clock signal from the combined samples. The clock signal has a clock rate R, and the analog-to-digital converter converts the RF signal into a plurality of samples according to the clock signal.
In another aspect of the invention, a channel bit detector having a length estimator is provided. The channel bit detection system comprises an RF front end, an analog-to-digital converter, a combiner, a length estimator, a length accumulator, an offset control, and a channel bit detector. The RF front end receives an RF signal. The RF signal is digitized at a sampling rate R into a plurality of samples by the analog-to-digital converter. The combiner produces combined samples by shifting the plurality of samples by an offset value or shifting a slice level, thus shifting the values of all the samples. The length estimator estimates a length of each two consecutive combined samples. The length accumulator analyzes the lengths of each two consecutive combined samples. The length accumulator produces land lengths and pit lengths of the combined samples according to the length of each two consecutive combined samples. The offset control provides the offset value according to the land lengths and the pits lengths. The channel bit detector recovers the channel bit from the plurality of combined samples.
In another aspect of the invention, a channel bit detection system separately adjusts the PLL and the channel bit detector. The channel bit detection system has an RF front end receives an RF signal. The RF signal is converted by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) into a plurality of samples at a sampling rate R. A first combiner produces first combined samples by shifting the plurality of samples by a first offset value. The second combiner combines the plurality of samples with a second offset control. The first offset value is calculated according to land lengths and pits lengths, generated by the length estimator and the length accumulator. The second offset value is formed from a DSV calculator, which calculates a digital sum value of the channel bits. The first combiner and the second combiner respectively provide an output node A and an output node B. A phase-locked loop and a channel bit detector selectively connect to node A or node B. Preferably, the phase-locked loop connects to node A while the channel bit detector connects to node B. In other embodiments, the phase-locked loop connects to node B while the channel bit detector connects to node A.
In another aspect of the invention, a channel bit detection system has 3 different slicing levels. The channel bit detection system comprises an RF front end, an analog-to-digital converter, a combiner, a slice level control, a phase-locked loop and a channel bit detector. The RF front end receives an RF signal. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC) converts the RF signal into a plurality of samples at a sampling rate R. The combiner receives the plurality of samples, a slicing level value (S_L) and a delta value (Δ) to produce a first sliced data, a second sliced data and a third sliced data. Subtracting the slicing level value and subtracting the delta value from each of the plurality of samples produces the first sliced data. Subtracting the slicing level value from each of the plurality of samples produces the second sliced data and adding the delta value with each of the plurality of samples and then subtracting the slicing level value produces the third sliced data. The slicing level control collects the first, second and third sliced data, detects signs of the first, second and third sliced data, accumulates the signs for a predetermined time interval to produce a first, second and third accumulated values. The slicing level value is then updated according to the first, second and third accumulated values. A channel bit detector and a phase-locked loop receives the slicing level to respectively recover channel bits and a clock signal from the combined samples.
The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description, given herein below, and the accompanying drawings. The drawings and description are provided for purposes of illustration only, and, thus, are not intended to be limiting of the invention.
a shows an RF signal;
b shows converted samples corresponding to the RF signal shown in
c and 2d show combining the converted samples with an offset value according to the first embodiment of the invention;
e shows an example of interpolating the combined samples;
a-4d respectively show an RF signal, converted samples, and combined samples according to the second embodiment of the invention;
a-6b respectively show an RF signal and converted samples in accordance with the third embodiment;
a,
12
b, and 12c are three diagrams respectively showing slicing of the samples by the slicing level, the slicing level+Δ and the slicing level−Δ in accordance with the fifth embodiment of the invention.
The operation of the channel bit detection system in accordance with the first embodiment is explained in accompany with
The interpolated samples have an interpolated sampling rate W, which exceeds the sample rate R. The sign detector 110 detects signs of the plurality of interpolated samples. For example, the interpolated samples 202-214 have signs −, +, +, +, +, +, and +, respectively. The accumulator 112 accumulates the signs of each polarity for a predetermined time interval to produce an accumulated value. In the embodiment, the accumulated value is 5, by summing −1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, and 1. The offset control 114 updates the offset value according to the accumulated value. For example, the offset control 114 adjusts the offset value so that the accumulated value of the interpolated samples approach zero. A channel bit detector 116 receives the combined samples to decode channel bits from the RF signals. Preferably, the channel bit detection system further comprises a phase locked loop (PLL) 118 coupled to the combiner, recovering a clock signal from the combined samples. The clock signal has a clock rate R, and the analog-to-digital converter 104 converts the RF signal into a plurality of samples according to the clock signal. In some embodiments, the accumulator 112 comprises a counter. The counter increments by one when receiving a positive interpolated sample, and decrements by one when receiving a negative interpolated sample.
In the first embodiment, the offset value or the slice level, applied to level shifting performed by the combiner, is adjusted by the offset control based on the signs of the samples corresponding to the RF signal. In the present embodiment, the offset value of the slice level is adjusted based on land/pit lengths of the RF signal.
The operation of the channel bit detection system in accordance with the second embodiment is explained in accompany with
f shows an exemplary analysis of d1, d2, and d3. First, a zero-crossing point is detected between samples 402-404 of
For example, set line ab=x1, line da=x2=d1−x1,
Similarly, x3 and x4 can be also calculated. Third, sum x2, d2, d3, and x3 can be calculated to obtain a land length. The pit length can be similarly calculated, thus, further description is omitted for brevity. The offset control 312 in
The present embodiment, different to the first and second embodiments, utilizes the digital sum value (DSV) technique to adjust the offset value applied in level shifting performed by the combiner.
The operation of the channel bit detection system in accordance with the third embodiment is explained in accompany with
The combined samples are sometimes optimal for a phase-locked loop, but the combined samples cause extra channel bit errors because the slice level controlled by length estimation is only sometimes optimal for a phase-locked loop, not for a channel bit detector. In the present embodiment, two combiners respectively provide two combined samples to the phase-locked loop and channel bit detector.
An RF front end 702 receives an RF signal. The RF signal is converted by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 704 into a plurality of samples at a sampling rate R. A first combiner 706 produces first combined samples by shifting the plurality of samples by a first offset value. The second combiner 714 combines the plurality of samples with a second offset control. The first offset value is calculated according to land lengths and pits lengths, respectively generated by length estimator 708 and length accumulator 710. The land and pit lengths can be calculated by an approach similar to the second embodiment, further description is thus omitted for brevity. The second offset value is formed from a DSV calculator 718, which calculates a digital sum value of the channel bits. The first combiner 706 and the second combiner 714 respectively provide an output node A and an output node B. A phase-locked loop 722 and a channel bit detector 716 selectively connect to node A or node B. Preferably, the phase-locked loop 722 connects to node A while the channel bit detector 716 connects to node B. In some embodiments, the phase-locked loop 722 connects to node B while the channel bit detector connects to node A.
In other embodiments, the second combiner 714 further combines the first offset value to produce the second combined samples.
The present embodiment, different to the first and second embodiments, utilizes the digital sum value (DSV) technique to adjust the offset value applied in level shifting performed by the combiner.
In some embodiments, the slicing level control 908 has 3 sign detectors 1002-1004, an accumulator 1008 and an offset control 1010, as shown in
In other embodiments, the slicing level control 908 comprises 3 sign detectors 1102-1106, 3 accumulators 1108-1112, a comparator 1114 and an offset control 1116, as shown in
a shows an exemplary diagram of slicing the samples by the slicing level, slicing level+Δ and slicing level−Δ. In the example, the signs of the first sliced data, second sliced data and third sliced data are the same, i.e. {−, −, −, +, +, +, −, −, −}. Since the signs of the first sliced data, second sliced data and third sliced data are the same, the slicing level control 908 or the offset controls 1010 and 1116 does not update the slicing level.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.