Provided are media, systems and methods for optical data storage. A nanocomposite material for use as an optical data recording medium comprises nanoparticles embedded in a host matrix, wherein the host matrix comprises a material having a high structural stability, and the nanoparticles comprise optical functional components having a first physical or chemical state and a property of permanent transition to a second physical or chemical state upon exposure to corresponding optical radiation, whereby information may be recorded in the first and second physical or chemical states of the optical functional components over an extended time period.

Provided are media, systems and methods for optical data storage. A nanocomposite material for use as an optical data recording medium comprises nanoparticles embedded in a host matrix, wherein the host matrix comprises a material having a high structural stability, and the nanoparticles comprise optical functional components having a first physical or chemical state and a property of permanent transition to a second physical or chemical state upon exposure to corresponding optical radiation, whereby information may be recorded in the first and second physical or chemical states of the optical functional components over an extended time period.

A detection apparatus determines whether a recording layer of an optical disc is at a focal point of an objective lens. The detection apparatus includes an objective lens, a beam splitter, a reflector, a detector, and a servo controller. The reflector and the detector are disposed opposite to each other on two sides of an optical axis of the objective lens, and a normal line of the reflector is perpendicular to the optical axis. The beam splitter is disposed between the reflector and the detector and is located on the optical axis. The servo controller is connected to the detector.

A detection apparatus determines whether a recording layer of an optical disc is at a focal point of an objective lens. The detection apparatus includes an objective lens, a beam splitter, a reflector, a detector, and a servo controller. The reflector and the detector are disposed opposite to each other on two sides of an optical axis of the objective lens, and a normal line of the reflector is perpendicular to the optical axis. The beam splitter is disposed between the reflector and the detector and is located on the optical axis. The servo controller is connected to the detector.

In an information recording device, when receiving an erase command by a receiver, a controller erases data of an erased area by overwriting data in an information area, to corrupt the data in the information area, using an erasing pattern. The erased area is specified by an erase start position and a size of the data to be erased on the optical disc. The data in the information area is arranged as partial data in a series of data arranged in a direction of internal parity of error correction so that correction is disabled in both of a correction processing by the internal parity of the error correction and a correction processing by external parity of the error correction when the data in the information area is overwritten using the erasing pattern.

In an information recording device, when receiving an erase command by a receiver, a controller erases data of an erased area by overwriting data in an information area, to corrupt the data in the information area, using an erasing pattern. The erased area is specified by an erase start position and a size of the data to be erased on the optical disc. The data in the information area is arranged as partial data in a series of data arranged in a direction of internal parity of error correction so that correction is disabled in both of a correction processing by the internal parity of the error correction and a correction processing by external parity of the error correction when the data in the information area is overwritten using the erasing pattern.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that are executable by a computer is provided. The computer readable instructions, when executed by the computer running the image processing program, cause the computer to generate an image to be printed on a particular type of printing medium in a printing apparatus, control a display to display the generated image, set a printing mode to one of a regular printing mode and a trial printing mode, in the regular printing mode, generate print-image information to be used in the printing apparatus to print the image on the particular type of printing medium, and in the trial printing mode, generate print-image information to be used in the printing apparatus to print the image on another type of printing medium different from the particular type, and transmit the generated print-image information to the printing program.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that are executable by a computer is provided. The computer readable instructions, when executed by the computer running the image processing program, cause the computer to generate an image to be printed on a particular type of printing medium in a printing apparatus, control a display to display the generated image, set a printing mode to one of a regular printing mode and a trial printing mode, in the regular printing mode, generate print-image information to be used in the printing apparatus to print the image on the particular type of printing medium, and in the trial printing mode, generate print-image information to be used in the printing apparatus to print the image on another type of printing medium different from the particular type, and transmit the generated print-image information to the printing program.

An optical disc device includes: an optical pickup including a first laser light source that emits laser light, an objective lens that focuses the laser light emitted from the first laser light source onto an optical disc, and a light receiving element that receives reflected light from the optical disc, and performs photoelectric conversion on the reflected light received to output a received-light signal; an FS signal generator that generates an FS signal indicating the light amount of the reflected light from the optical disc, based on the received-light signal from the light receiving element; and a dirt determiner that determines that dirt is present in the optical pickup, when the peak level of the FS signal is less than a dirt determination threshold, and controls the light receiving element to increase the peak level of the received-light signal from the light receiving element.

Systems and methods, e.g., optical apparatuses, for digital optical information storage systems that improve the speed, signal to noise, controllability, and data storage density for fluorescent and reflective multilayer optical data storage media. The systems and methods include an optical system for a reading beam of a data channel from a moving single or multi-layer or otherwise 3-dimensional optical information storage medium that comprises at least one optical element characterized by restricting the field of view (FOV) of the reading beam on an associated image plane to 0.3 to 2 Airy disk diameters in a first direction.