Panasonic Assigned Eight Patents

Optical disk
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,008,236) developed by Nakata, Kohei, and Miyashita, Harumitsu, Nara, Japan, for an “optical disk, optical disk recording device, and optical disk playback device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An optical disk includes a disk management information area in which predetermined information is recorded in advance, and a recording system area in which information for identifying a recording system of the optical disk recorded in a predetermined position within a non-data area included in a recordable area is recorded. A method for accessing the optical disk is decided based on disk management information and the information for identifying a recording system.”

The patent application was filed on July 18, 2017 (15/652,787).

Optical disk, recording, and integrated circuit
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (10,002,633) developed by Nakata, Kohei, Miyashita, Harumitsu, Nara, Japan, and Kimura, Naohiro, Kyoto, Japan, for an “optical disk, optical disk recording method, optical disk recording device, and integrated circuit.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “There are provided an optical disk and an optical disk recording method which are capable of stable data reading in a case where a recording linear density is increased. According to an optical disk of the present disclosure, a run-in pattern recorded in a groove track and a run-in pattern recorded in a land track are made different patterns so that no great change is caused in the amplitude of an acquired signal due to interference between adjacent recording patterns, and thus, data may be stably read.”

The patent application was filed on October 5, 2016 (15/286,324).

Recording medium
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,997,202) developed by Yahata, Hiroshi, and Mochinaga, Kazuhiro, Osaka, Japan, for a “recording medium, playback method, and playback device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A playback method is provided for reading out and playing streams from a recording medium. Recorded in the recording medium are a stream file including a first luminance video expressed by luminance of a first dynamic range, and a second luminance video expressed by luminance of a second dynamic range that is broader than the first dynamic range, a playlist file for controlling playback of the stream file, and a number of elementary streams. The playback method includes when playing the first luminance video, reading out any one of the elementary streams listed in the first combination information of the playlist file, and playing at the same time with the first luminance video, and when playing the second luminance video, reading out any one of the elementary streams listed in the second combination information of the playlist file, and playing at the same time with the second luminance video.”

The patent application was filed on September 8, 2017 (15/698,799).

Optical disk device and large-scale OD device
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,978,421) developed by Nakata, Kohei, Nara, Japan, Takahashi, Yoshihisa, Osaka, Japan, and Minamino, Junichi, Nara, Japan, for an “optical disk device and large-scale optical disk device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The optical disk device performs recording/reproducing of data by a predetermined recording block on the track of an optical disk. The device has a recording unit, an optical-head, and a failure detection unit. The recording unit generates a recording signal by modulating the data. The optical-head records data on the track by optical beam emission to the track according to the recording signal, and detects light reflected off the track and then generates a detection signal based on the reflected light. The failure detection unit detects an abnormal condition based on the detection signal changed from a normal condition. If the sum of duration of an abnormal condition in the recording block is equal to or greater than a first time-length, the failure detection unit determines that the recording block has a flaw.”

The patent application was filed on October 15, 2017 (15/784,142).

Recording medium
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,966,105) developed by Yahata, Hiroshi, Osaka, Japan, for a “recording medium, playback device, and playback method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A playback device is provided that includes a readout unit that reads out data recorded in a recording medium and a playback unit. Data including a digital stream file obtained by encoding video information is recorded in the recording medium. A recording region of the recording medium has a first recording region where reading is performed at a first read rate, and a second recording region where reading is performed at a second read rate that is faster than the first read rate. In a file system, the data is classified into the digital stream file having real-time attributes and a data file having non-real-time attributes, wherein the data file read in during playback of the digital stream file is recorded in the same recording region where the digital stream file being played is recorded. The readout unit reads out the data without changing the first or second read rate.”

The patent application was filed on August 10, 2017 (15/673,864).

Record playback
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,966,099) developed by Momoo, Kazuo, Osaka, Japan, Takahashi, Yuichi, Nara, Japan, and Akagi, Noritaka, Osaka, Japan, for a “record playback apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A record playback apparatus of the present disclosure includes a plurality of optical pickups that records information on a recording medium or plays back information from the recording medium, a single transport mechanism that transports the plurality of optical pickups together, and a transport control circuit that drives the single transport mechanism so that, when the single transport mechanism is driven to transport the plurality of optical pickups to respective target positions on the recording medium, absolute value of a maximum value of transport errors of the plurality of optical pickups with respect to the respective target positions becomes substantially equal to absolute value of a minimum value of transport errors of the plurality of optical pickups with respect to the respective target positions.”

The patent application was filed on June 1, 2017 (15/610,787).

Optical recording medium
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,966,097) developed by Takahashi, Yoshihisa, Yoshimi, Akihito, Takauchi, Kenji, Osaka, Japan, Hino, Yasumori, Nara, Japan, and Ito, Motoshi, Osaka, Japan, for an “optical recording medium having condition management area for managing the recording condition of management information.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An information recording method of the present disclosure is an information recording method for recording information on a write-once information recording medium, including one or more recording layers, each of the recording layers being spiral-shaped on which a land track and a groove track are alternately repeated as recording tracks, each of the recording tracks being divided into blocks, each of the blocks being a minimum unit in which recording is performed. The information recording method includes: recording the information on the information recording medium in a unit of each of the blocks, and controlling recording on the information recording medium. In the control step, switching is performed whether to perform recording in a block to be recorded in which the information is to be recorded next among the blocks based on recording conditions of the recording tracks adjacent on both sides of the block to be recorded.”

The patent application was filed on March 31, 2017 (15/475,693).

Optical disc and OD reproduction
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,934,815) developed by Nakata, Kohei, and Hino, Yasumori, Nara, Japan, for an “optical disc apparatus and optical disc reproduction method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An optical disc apparatus includes a synchronizer that generates a reproduction clock signal synchronized with a reproduction signal of information recorded in an optical disc medium, and generates a digital reproduction signal synchronized with the reproduction clock signal, an adaptive equalizer that generates a post-adaptive-equalization digital reproduction signal, and a maximum likelihood decoder that performs maximum likelihood decoding of the post-adaptive-equalization digital reproduction signal to generate a binary signal. The apparatus also includes an expected waveform generator that generates an expected waveform from the binary signal, a phase-advance waveform generator that generates a phase-advance waveform, a phase-delay waveform generator that generates a phase-delay waveform, and a metric detector that detects a phase error. In the optical disc apparatus, the synchronizer controls the phase of the digital reproduction signal using the phase error.”

The patent application was filed on June 3, 2016 (15/172,579).