METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR READING DATA WITH CCD AREA ARRAYS

摘要

Method and apparatus (12) for reading data from a data field (14) on a data surface of a storage medium (16) in which the data surface can be non-planar and deep regions (76 and 78) of the data field (14) are brought one by one into the region of the focus of a network of CCD zones (18). A set of partial images are formed and then merge into a composite image of the data field (14) to be read. The storage medium (16) is disposed on a vacuum mandrel (20). An optical imaging system (24), such as a single lens, a zoom lens, or a lenticular array, form images of the regions of the data surface that are in a focusing region on the array of CCD areas ( 18). A piezoelectric device or a linear variable differential transformer serves as an element (26) for focusing the Z axis, which element is sensitive to electrical control signals or an oscillator for modifying the relative distance between the network of zones CCD (18) and a reference plane (30) of the data surface. The partial images formed are either merged into a semiconductor memory (54) by a processor (58) or automatically merged by the network of CCD areas (18).