Multiple beam optical memory system with solid-state lasers

Claim 1

An optical memory system comprising: an optical recording medium with data arranged substantially linear and parallel tracks; a plurality of optical sources for generating a plurality of optical beams propagating in substantially the same direction along an optical axis, said plurality of optical beams arranged in an array having at least a first and second dimension, said plurality of optical beams performing substantially identical functions for reading from or writing to said optical recording medium in a parallel fashion; a plurality of detectors; an optical means for collecting said optical beams, for focusing said optical beams to form close-spaced spots on said optical recording medium, for collecting said optical beams reflected or transmitted from said optical recording medium, and for directing the reflected or transmitted optical beams onto said plurality of detectors such that each of said detectors receives one of said plurality of beams and emits an electronic signal in response thereto; and means for processing the signals from said plurality of detectors; wherein at least some of said optical beams are arranged in first and second subarrays which are substantially linear, said second subarray being offset from said first subarray by a distance equal to approximately one-half the beam separation distance in either array.