Method and apparatus for retrieving data from a storage device

摘要

An apparatus and method for retrieving densely stored data from various types of media. A medium (18) is scanned to provide an input signal. The input signal is conditioned through differentiation, equalization and partial integration. Positive and negative signal peak detectors (300,302) are connected to the conditioned signal, and a threshold signal (334) is generating corresponding to an average or midpoint of the measured positive and negative signal peaks. An output signal is generated by comparing the conditioned signal and the threshold signal (334). The DC component of the input signal is accounted for by feeding back the output signal and adjusting the threshold signal (334) based on the duty cycle of the output signal. $$