Light-Curable DVD Manufacturing via Selective Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional DVD manufacturing techniques, such as stamping and burning, face challenges in cost and compatibility with copyright protection schemes, with burning methods lacking support for certain protection systems like CSS and being more susceptible to unauthorized copying.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the application of a light-curable material to a substrate, where selected regions are illuminated to cure and create pits and lands, using optical masks with false features to prevent unauthorized copying, and a two-step illumination process to ensure accurate content encoding, enabling the use of less expensive equipment while supporting copyright protection schemes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If burning method is used to manufacture DVDs, then equipment cost is reduced, but compatibility with copyright protection schemes (e.g., CSS) is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the manufacturing process into two distinct illumination steps: first forming preliminary pits and lands, then adding false features in a second step. This segmentation allows the use of simpler burning equipment while still achieving CSS compatibility through the structured two-step process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary formation of pits and lands before adding false features. This preliminary action creates the basic data structure that can then be enhanced with false features to achieve copyright protection compatibility, allowing use of less expensive equipment for the initial structuring.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional stamping method is used, then copyright protection compatibility is achieved, but manufacturing equipment cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the complex mechanical stamping system with an optical illumination system that uses light-curable material. This substitution achieves the same functional result (creating pits and lands with false features for CSS compatibility) using less expensive optical equipment instead of sophisticated mechanical stamping machinery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the material state parameter by using light-curable material that transitions from uncured to cured state upon illumination. This parameter change enables the formation of precise pit and land structures along with false features using optical methods, replacing expensive mechanical stamping with more affordable optical curing processes.
3Ease of manufacture
If burning method is used, then equipment cost is reduced, but susceptibility to unauthorized copying increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates false features (false pits and/or false lands) that serve as preliminary anti-copying measures. These false features are built into the DVD structure during manufacturing, creating inherent protection against unauthorized copying before any actual copying attempt occurs, while still using cost-effective burning equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses light-curable material as an intermediary substance that can be selectively cured to form both genuine data features and false protective features. This intermediary material enables the creation of anti-copying mechanisms through optical illumination, achieving protection reliability without requiring expensive specialized equipment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for cost-effective DVD manufacturing that supports copyright protection schemes, such as CSS, and prevents unauthorized copying by using masks with false features, ensuring secure and unique content for each DVD instance.
Implementation Method 1
A layer of uncured, light-curable material is applied to a substrate. Selected regions of the layer are illuminated with material-curing light to cure portions of the material corresponding to the selected regions.
Data Source
AI summary
Instances of data-storage media having pits and lands, such as individual DVDs or CDs, are manufactured by selectively illuminating a light-curable material to form cured regions corresponding to the lands. The selective illumination of the light-curable material can be implemented using mask-based illumination or selective laser illumination or both. The mask used in mask-based illumination can have one or more extra opaque portions and/or one or more extra transparent portions corresponding to false pits and/or false lands, respectively, where selective laser illumination is used to convert one or more false pits/lands produced during mask-based illumination into true pits/lands for the competed medium.