Audio information places great
demands on a digital storage medium,
A 60-min musical selection, recorded
in stereo with pulse-code modulation
· (PCM), with a sampling rate of 44.1
kHz and 16-bit quantization, gen-
erates over 5 billion bits. Error cor-
rection, synchronization, and mod-
ulation are needed for successful
storage; total capacity required is
over 15 billion bits. In addition, a
commercially popular music storage
medium demands random access,
small size, convenience of use, ro-
bustness, low cost, and ease of rep-
lication. Clearly, digital audio's re-
quirements are considerable,
250
The Compact Disc digital audio
system (CD-Audio) format was de-
veloped to meet these demands. A
CD-Audio disk holds a specification-
defined maximum of 74 min of high-
fidelity music on a highly robust and
economically manufactured disk. A
Compact Disc (CD) player provides
access to any part of the audio pro-
gram within a second or less. with
many user-convenience features. The
format is well suited to audio's stor-
age demands [1].
The magnitude of the task of digital
audio storage and the magnitude of
the achievement of the CD have re-
sulted in an optical storage medium
of unprecedented capacity, durabil-
ity, and flexibility. Thus the CD is
highly suitable for many nonaudio
applications. As a result, a number
of alternative CD formats have been
developed. For example, a CD-ROM
disk may store over 550 Mbytes of
software or database information, and
a CD-I disk may interactively present
several hours of music, along with
video and text information. The CD
is only the first of many optical disk
storage technologies for both the
consumer and the audio professional.
This article informally reviews the '
technical specifications of the CD
format, in terms of both physical and
,.. J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
 data specifications. Also presented
is the encoding method used to pre-
pare audio data for disk storage on
the CD-Audio format. In addition,
the developing family of CD appli-
cations, including CD-ROM, CD-I,
CD-V, and recordable CD formats,
are described [2].
COMPACT DISC
[ _ O) )) PHYSICAL
_j SPECIFICATION
The physical characteristics of the
CD are shown in Fig. 1. The disk
diameter is 120 mm, the hole di-
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
ameter 15 mm, and the thickness 1.2
mm. The innermost diameter does
not hold data; it provides a clamping
area for the player to hold the disk
to the spindle motor shaft. Data are
recorded on a 35.5-mm-wide area.
A lead-in area rings the innermost
data area, and a lead-out area rings
the outermost area. They contain
nonaudio data, which are used to
control the player's optical pickup,
polycarbonate)
A transparentsubstrate
plastic forms
(typically
most
of a disk's i.2-mm thickness. Data
are physically contained in pits that
are impressed along the disk's top
surface, as shown in Fig. 2. The pit
surface is covered with a very thin
(50-i00-nm) metal layer, such as
aluminum, silver, or gold, and an-
other thin (10-30-1xm) plastic pro-
tection layer, with the identifying
label (5 Ixm)printed on top, as shown
in Fig. 3. A laser beam is used to
read the data. It is applied from below
and passes through the transparent
substrate and back again. The beam
is focused on the metalized pit sur-
data
face, on
embeddedinsidethe
a d4sk are read disk.
by a Since
light
beam, playing a CD causes no more
wear to the recording than reading
causes to the words printed on this
page.
251
 CD FORMATS

= lzumm I and adjusts the disk speed to keep

117mm the data rate constant.'
al j

116mm Although the CLV of any particular

' · CDis fixed,theCLVsusedondif-
= 50mm = ferent disks can range from 1.2 to
46mm LEAD
_n 1.4 m/s. In general, disks with play-
1.2mm PROTECTIVE 11 5mm I LEAD
oux ing times of less than 60 min are re-
_
LAYER \ corded at 1.4 m/s, while disks with
I-T............ I I ....... longer,playingtimesuseCLVsas low

T / Z_ CLAMPINGARE4]= 26mm _ as 1.2 m/s. The CD ptayer regulates

TRANSPAREI_iTLASERBEAM ic 33mm INFORMATION
(PIT) the disk
cally rotational
to maintain speed automati-
a constant bit rate
SUBSTRATE
DIS_(N= 1.55) of 4.32180 MHz.
Fig. 1. Physical specifications of the CD. (Courtesy of Sony Corporation of
America.)

Compact Disc Pit Track
_._
In the microscopic world on the
data surface, the disk contains a
track of pits arranged in a contin-
uous spiral running from the inner
circumference to the outer. By
starting from the inside, future
adoption of smaller and larger di-
ameter disks is facilitated,
The pits are amazingly small,
considerably smaller than we bulky
humans can appreciate. For example,
a pit is about 0.5 Ixm wide, or about
700 times smaller than a pin prick,
The track pitch, the distance between
successive tracks, is 1.6 ixm, as
shown in Fig. 4. There is a defined
maximum of 20 188 revolutions
across the disk's signal surface of
35.5 mm. Depending on the playing
time, a pit track might contain 3 bil-
lion pits. If unspiraled, this-track
would stretch about 3 miles (5 km).
The construction of the CD is dif-
fraction limited, that is, the dimen-
sions are as small as· permitted by \
between the disk and the pickup.
To accomplish this, the rotation
formrelative
speed of a CDvelocityis
varies depending
maintained
on
the radial position of the pickup. Be-
cause each outer-track revolution
contains more pits than each inner-
track revolution, the disk must be
slowed down as it plays outward, to
maintain a constant data rate. The
disk rotates at a speed of 500 r/min
when the pickup is reading the inner
circumference, and as the pickup
moves outward, the rotatiorial speed
gradually decreases to 200 r/min,
Thus a constant linear velocity is
maintained. In other words, all of
the pits are read at the same speed,
regardless of the circumference of
thatpart of the spiral. Thisis accom-
plished through a CLV servo system,
The player constantly reads frame
synchronization words from the data
The fact that the disk data surface
is physically separated from the
reading side of the substrate provides
one of the most significant assets of
the CD system. Dust and surface
damage do not lie in the focal plane
of the reading laser beam and hence
their effect is minimized. Specifi-
cally, any obstruction less than 0.5
mm becomes insignificant and causes
no error in the readout.
The polycarbonate substrate has a
refractive index of 1.55 (as opposed
to 1.0 for air); the velocity of light
slows from 3 x 105 to 1.9 x 105 km/
s. When the velocity of light slows,
the beam is bent. Because of the
bending from the refractive index,
the thickness of the substrate, and
the numerical aperture of the lens of
the laser pickup, the size of the laser
beam decreases from approximately

the wave nature of hght. The track

pitch acts as a diffraction grating,
producing a rainbow of colors. In
fact, CD pits are among the smallest.,
manufactured formations [3].
Examination of a pit track would
reveal that the linear dimensions of
a given track, are the same at the be-
ginning of it_ spiral as at the end.
This means that an audio CD must
rotate with constant linear velocity
(CLV), a condition in which a uni- Fig. 2. CD pit surface. (Courtesy of University of Miami.)

252
 tween pits, virtually all of its light
CD is reflected, and when it strikes a
120 mm pit, virtually all of its light is can-

flected.
i celed--hencevirtuallynoneis re-
In practice, the laser spot is larger
15 mm than required for complete cancel-
000x MAGNiFiCATiON lation between pit and land reflec-
tions, and pits are made slightly
shallower than the theoretical figure
5 _rn of one-quarter wavelength; this yields
a better tracking signal, among other
things. Typically the presence of a
bump reduces reflective power by
about 25%. In any case, the presence
of pits and land is thus read by the
laser beam; specifically, the disk
10-30 _m
surface modulates the intensity of the
light beam. Thus the data physically
encoded on the disk can be recovered
by the laser and later converted to an
METALIZEDPIT electric signal.
SURFACE

0.05-0.1 _m _ COMPACT DISC DATA

Fig. 3. Scaledrawingof CD datasurface. _ ENCODING

0.8 mm on the substrate surface to
approximately 1.7 _m at the pit sur-
face. The laser beam is thus focused
to a point slightly larger than a pit
width,
The top of the pit surface is met-
alized. This reflective surface, known
as land, causes almost 90% of the
laser light to be reflected back into
the pickup. When viewed from the
perspective of the laser underside,
the pits appear as bumps. The height
of each bump is between 0.11 and
beam to interfere destructively with
one another and to cancel each other,
Optically, if the CD pit surface is
considered a two-dimensional re-
flective grating, the focused laser
beam diffracts into higher orders,
resulting in interference. In theory,
when the beam strikes an area be-
1.____,
1
-o.5tm_..,
The music on a CD is the end result
of an elaborate data transformation
that takes place during master en-
coding, and that undergoes decoding
each time the disk is played. The
complete encoding process, from
sampling to data bits on the disk, is
shown in Fig. 5. The premastered

0.13 I_m.than
smaller Thisa dimension is slightly
carefully chosen di- _'"' _ _) I
mension:the laserbeamwavelength | III DISK

790 nm). Inside the polycarbonate

in air is 780 nm (some players use .._ _ .J,. _1 ROTATION

about 500 nm. The height of the (0.833-3.054_rn)

bumps
substrate,is thus approximately
the laser wavelength oneis 3 T-11 T T-- __..___ PIT
quarter of the laser wavelength in the
/ \ II I
III /
/ -"1'_
/+
FOCUSED
LASERBEAM

Thus light striking land travels

substrate. -2p.m
a distanceof one-halfwavelength ! _
(1/4 + l/4) farther than light striking
a bump. This creates a phase differ-
ence of one-half wavelength between
the part of the beam reflected from
the bump and the part reflected from Fig.4. Dataare readthroughan intensity-modulated
laserbeam.(Courtesyof
the surrounding land. The phase dif- Sony Corporationof America.)
ference causes the two parts of the

J. Audio Eng. Soc., VoL 36, No. 4, 1988 April 253

 --.--,1_. t
1 FRAME
4

' 1
I .J L.. I I I i SAMPL,NG
PE.,ODS
j
s

f '"..

110111001
I I
01110010 I 10001111 0101001011!32BITS PER SAMPLING PERIOD
I I_SYMBOLS OF 8
I I I ! BITS

C&D' , ', '1 C&D

DATABITS B2 . +8PARITY
33 DATASYMBOLS

",, t ,' , ,_ 3 CHANNEL

17 (MERGING)BITS

Ba '[ 10000100100010 xx:( 00100100100100 xxx J PER SYMBOL

·. _ .- 33 x 17 CHANNEL BITS
·. / . - + 27 SYNC BITS
. I -' ' 588 CHANNEL BITS

CHANNEL BITS B

_ lO00010010001000000_OOmO_OOmO00_ I I mOOOOOOOOO_OOOOOOOOOO_O×xx
I
SYNC

2xT_

Dd I.=..=1 ! r='"'""t.-J"_l I'=' J i

Fig. 5. CD encoding process from input samples to channel bits. (Courtesy of Philips Technical Review.)

data are typically stored on a U-matic
video cassette via a digital audio
processor with a 44.1-kHz sam-
pling rate and 16-bit linear quanti-
zation. Once the audio data adhere
to these basic specifications, they are
ready to be encoded to the CD for-
mat.
CD encoding is the process of
placing audio data in a format suitable
for storage on the disk. A frame
structureprovidesa meanstodistin-
guishthedatatypes.Theinformation
contained in a CD frame prior to
modulation includes a 27-chafinel-
bit synchronization word, an 8-bit
subcode(labeledC andD control
and display in Fig. 5), 192 data
bits, and 64 parity bits [4].
Encoding begins with the audio
256
data. Six 32-bit PCM audio sampling about one error for every 0.1 to 1.0
periods (alternating from 16-bit left million bits. This is impressivestor-
and right channels) are grouped in a age capability, but considering that
frame, left channel preceding right, a disk will output over 4 million bits
Each 32-bit sampling period is di- per second, the need for error cor-
vided to yield four 8-bit audio sym- rection is obvious. With error cor-
bols. Considerable signal processing rection, over 200 errors per second
follows topreparethe audiodata for can be corrected. To achieve such
storage on the disk surface. In par- results, the CD employs the corner-
ticular, error-correction encoding stones of error correction, interleav-
must be accomplished, lng to distribute errors and parity to
correctthem[5].
The algorithm used for error
Compact Disc Error- correction in the CD system is the
Correction Encoding cross-interleaveReed-Solomoncode
(CIRC). The CIRC algorithm uses
twocorrectioncodesfor additional
The raw error rate from a CD. that correcting capability, and three in-
is, the rate before error correction is terleaving stages to encode data be-
applied, is around 10-s to 10-6, or fore they are placed on a disk and to
J, Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
decode the data during playback,
Thanks to cross-interleaving, the
separation of two error-correction
codes by an interleaving stage, one
Reed-Solomon code can check the
accuracy of the other code. The
Reed-Solomon codes used in CIRC
are particularly well suited for the
CD system because their decoding
requirements are relatively simple
[6], [7].
The complete CIRC encoding
scheme is shown in Fig. 6. With this
encoding algorithm, data from the
audio signal are cross-interleaved,
and two encoding stages generate 8
bits of parity. Error-correction en-
coding begins with the first stage of
interleaving, designed to assist in-
terpolation. A word of 24 8-bit sym-
bols is applied to the CIRC encoder,
A delay of two symbols is placed be-
tween even and odd samples; this fa-
cilities interpolation. In addition, the
symbols are scrambled; this facili-
tares concealment when errors are
beyond the capabilities of the system,
The C2 error-correction encoder
produces four symbols of Q parity,
Q parity is designed to correct one
erroneous symbol or up to four era-
sures in one word. An erasure is a
symbol that has been negated by the
decoders because detection has as-
certained that its value is unreliable.
The parity symbols are placed in the
center of the block to permit inter-
polation in the event of large burst
errors,
Cross-interleaving follows the C2
encoder. The 28 symbols are dela3)ed
by differing periods to store the data
in 28 different words. The C1 error-
correction encoder accepts 28 sym-
bols (from 28 different C2 words)
and produces four symbols of P par-
ity. P parity is used to correct single
symbol errors and to detect and flag
double and triple errors for Q cor-
rection,
A final interleave stage introduces
a fixed delay of one symbol to alter-
nate symbols. This delay causes data
in the output word to be spread over
two words, it prevents small random
errors from destroying more than one
symbol, even if two adjacent symbols
in one word are destroyed. Finally
the P and Q parity symbols are in-
verted to provide nonzero P and Q
symbols with zero data. 32 8-bit
symbols leave the CIRC encoder.
Following CIRC encoding, an 8-
bit subcode symbol is added to each
frame. The eight subcode bits are
designated as P, Q, R, S, T, U, V,
and W. Only the P or Q bits are re-
quired in the audio format. The CD
player collects subcode symbdls from
98 consecutive frames to form a sub-
code block, with eight 98-bit words.
Thus the eight subcode bits (P
through W) are used as eight different
channels, with each frame containing
one P bit, one Q bit, one R bit, and
so on. A subcode block is complete
with its own synchronization word,
instruction and data, commands, and
parity. The start of each subcode
block is denoted by the presence of
So and S_ synchronization patterns
in the first symbol positions of two
successive blocks. So and Si are two
patterns not used in the EFM code
(explained below), and thus can be
uniquely identified. The subcode
block rate is 75 Hz.
The P and Q subcode bits contain

C2
SCRAMBLER C2 INTERLEAVER C1SCRAMBLER
ENCODER C1ENCODER
W1 1
W2 2
Wa 3
W4 _ 4
W5 5
- 6

13 Ik

1 framo ,_O.....-.._. 14 r-'--_ To EFM

. 15 I !_ encoder
16

W21 25
! W22 _ 26
]_W23 27
· W24 _ __ _ 28
D= 4 28

29
30
31
32

Fig. 6. CIRCencodingemploysthreeinterleavingstagesand two correctionencodingalgorithms.


information essential to accessing
audio data on the disk. The P channel
contains a flag bit. It designates the
start of a track, as well as the lead-
in and lead-out areas on a disk. Lead-
in and lead-out signals tel1 the player
where the music program begins and
ends. A lead-in signal consists of all
Os appearing just prior to the begin-
ning of the music data. A start flag
appears just prior to the start of mu-
sic. During the last music track, pre-
ceding the lead-out, a start flag ap-
pears again. That flag gives the start
of lead-out and the P channel remains
ar 0 for 2 to 3 seconds. Following
that time, a P signal consisting of
alternating ls and Os (at a 2-Hz rate)
appears. These various sets of iden-
tity signals can be used by aba-
sic player to control the optical
pickup,
The Q channel contains four basic
kinds of information: control, ad-
dress. Q data, and cyclic redun-
dancy check code (CRCC). Each
subcode block contains 72 bits of
Q data, as described below, and 16
bits for CRCC, used for error de-
tection on the control, address, and
Q data information. The control in-
formation flag bits handle several
player functions. The number of
dicated. This distinguishes between
aaudio
two- channels
and a four-channel
(two or four)CDis re-
in-
cording. Preemphasis (on/off) is
indicated. A CD track may be en-
coded with preemphasis, a noise-
SAMPLE
2SYMBOLS
EXAMPLE
8-TO-14
<2>
CHANNEL
BITS 10101_10101010I
MERGING+cHANNELBITSBiTS
IsITs [ I elis
F'l. I.lotol 1Iolololol _Iolol _1ololololo Io
EFM
S,*NALJ
Fig.7. Assignmentof EFMwordsand additionof mergingbits.
258
CD FORMATS
suppression method. Digital copy start of the lead-out area. Time and
prohibited (yes/no) is indicated, absolute time are expressed in mm-
The address information consists utes, seconds, and frames (75 frames
of 4 bits designating the three modes per second). Using indexing, up to
for the Q data bits. Primarily mode 99 locations within tracks can be
I contains the number and start times marked.
of tracks, mode 2 contains a catalog Mode 2 contains the catalog num-
number, and mode 3 contains other ber of the disk using the universal
product codes Mode 1 stores infor- product code (UPC). Mode 2 also
mation in the disk lead-inarea, pro- continues absolute time count from
gram area, and lead-out area; the data adjacent subcode blocks. Mode 3 is
format in the lead-in area differs from used to give the international standard
those in the other areas. Mode 1 in- recording code (ISRC) for identifying
formation occupies at least nine out each music track. It is present only
of ten successive subcode blocks, in the program area. The ISRC num-
Mode 1 lead-in information is con- bet gives the country code, the owner
tained in the table of contents (TOC). code, the year of recording, and a
The TOC stores data indicating the serial number. Mode 3 also continues
number of music selections (up to absolute time count. Modes 2 and 3
99) as a track number, and the starting occupy at least one out of 100 suc-
points of the tracks in disk running cessive subcode blocks and can be
time. The TOC is repeated continu- present only in the program area.
ously in the lead-in area, and the Modes 2 and 3 can be deleted from
starting point data are repeated in the subcode if not needed.
three successive subcodeblocks. The Every audio CD contains addi-
TOCis read during disk initialization, tional data capacity in the guise of
before the disk begins playing, the subcode bits. The other six bits
In the program and lead-out areas, (R, S, T, U, V, and W), which ac-
mode 1 contains track numbers, in- count for about 20 Mbytes of 8-bit
dices (subdivision numbers) within storage, are available for video or
a track, time within a track, and ab- other information.
solute time. Time is set to zero at
the beginning of each track and in- __
the beginning of a pause, time de- Encoding
creases, ending
creases to withofzero
the end the at the end
track. At (_ Compact Disc EFM
of the pause. The absolute time is
set to zero at the beginning of the After the audio, parity, and sub-
program area and increases to the code data are assembled, the bit
16-BITSAMPLE
i SYMBOL 1 -- SYMBOL 2 t
s 1 ,_
oi ......... dll el ......... 4
1olol,Iot_l _l,Iq olololol, Ioi_'1,!
10l i_10101_ ' 01otol_loI0J_[O10[0101olbl
i
i SITS [
/,
F"-"I t' L_._J 1
EFM
J.AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.36,No.4, 1988April
 CD FORMATS

stream is modulated using eight-to-
fourteen modulation (EFM), as
shown in Fig. 7. Blocks of 8 data
bits are translated into blocks of 14
channel bits, assigning an arbitrary
and unambiguous word of 14 bits to
each 8-bit word. By choosing select
14-bit words with a large distance
between transitions, greater data
density can be achieved. It would be
inefficient to store the 8-bit symbols
directly on the disk. In addition, 8-
bit symbols have many similar pat-
terns. For example, if I bit was
wrong, 00001011 would be confused
with 10001011. With 14-bit words,
more unique patterns can be selected,
EFM thus provides a kind of error
protection [8].
Blocks of 14 bits are linked by
three merging bits; at least two
merging bits (always Os) are required
to prevent the possibility of succes-
sive Is between serial words (a vi-
olation of the coding scheme). The
additional merging bit (either a 1 or
a 0, depending on the preceding and
succeeding patterns) is added to each
code pattern to aid in clock synchro-
nization and suppress the signal's
low-frequency component. The latter
is accomplished by selecting merging
bits that maintain the signal's average
digital sum value at zero [9]. The
ratio of bits before and after modu-
lation is 8:17. During demodulation,
only 14 bits will be processed; the
three merging bits are discarded,
The 8 data bits require 2s, or 256,
different code patterns. However the
14-bit channelword can offer 16 384
combinations. To achieve pits of con-
trolled length, only those combina-
tions are selected in which more than
two but fewer than ten Os appear
continuously. In addition, unique
patterns are sought. Only 267 corn-
binations satisfy these criteria. With
these patterns, the minimum inver-
sion width of the nonreturn to zero
(NRZ) signal is limited by the re-
cording density, and the maximum
inversion width is limited by the
clock bit extraction. The conversion
is thus a compromise between several
conditions. Because only 256 pat-
terns are needed, 11 of the 267 pat-
terns are discarded. (Two of them
are used for subcode synchronization
words So and Sp)
The resultant NRZ channel stream
produces pits and lands that are at
least 3 channel bits (3T), and no more
than 11 channel bits (1 IT) long, as
shown in Fig. 8. It is the combination
of these varying dimensions that
physically encodes the data. The se-
lection of EFM bit patterns defines
the physical relationship of the pit
dimensions. The pits and the inter-
vening reflective land on the CD sur-
face do not directly designate ls and
Os. Rather, each pit edge, whether
leading or trailing, is a 1 and all in-
crements in between, whether inside
or outside a pit, are Os, as shown in
Fig. 9. As discussed, this is a much
more efficient storage technique than
coding the binary bits directly with
pits.
With EFM there are more bits to

For the pas;tfew years, audio
* professionals
' capabilities,it'simprovedin sonicqualityas well.
have been pmisingYamah_ REV7 digital reverb to
the skies So there was incrediblepressure to make
its successor even better than expected,
Introducingthe REVS.Representinga break-
through in the sound barrier forreverb.And a
collectivesigh ofsatisfactionfrom the overachieving
designengineersat Yamaha.
Becausenot onlyisthe REV5matured in
asa
We added more DSP chips to boost the
REV5§processing power,creating smoother reverb
sounds and multi-effect combinations Fullband-
width extends reverb to 20 KHz.
In additionto master analogEQ,the REV5
has three-band parametric, programmable digital
EQ.Sowhen youmake individualEQsettings,
they'rerecalledwith each program.
 accommodate, but with modulation
the highest frequency in the output
3T '_'"x_':-_ signalis decreased;thereforea lower
track velocity can be utilized. Hence
longer playing time is achieved. This
4 T '_ .... ":' is a very efficient encoding method
because the number of bits trans-
ST tr'
'__::.:_
"'_.....'....
'_"'
_.
....
"' _'-' '" mitted divided by the minimum
W"'"'"
'":_' ';'_"'_:':':':":"-:'_::':_'_ length between transitions needed on
6T ...............
""_"
"'_'___'".:_'!
:_'"
--" "' the medium to convey them is high.

7X :.:'._3-::¥_:!.-"
-' *' ' '' '__:.
C-"______}
"___'"
........... "--'
''
'.
' '-.
".._..
' ' Compact Disc Frame
Assembly
';:':...?_..'3.
_';'
'...: '_::3_'.:
_'-'
"'_
' '_-
'""
' '..
';"'
:-· "'-.
':;-:_.:::::'_;_:'.

The individual frames in the re-

9T C"'";__'
'___:_i_'4-3_.8.:.:;3_::::_:-_'._}':.
""'"'
....
' · :) suiting EFM bit stream must be de-
lineated. Thus a synchronization
eT ''"_-............
:_:.
'___..
"'_' "__--''' · -'..-.-
'_''"_" '".'.......-
·' ' .....
' · ' ............
· :.,......
' .._.:.'.{!:'.3 pattern is added prior to each frame.
The synchronization word is uniquely
-,.-_-__....-..'
-_._-
'___..:'
''_.''"' · .._'' ' -'..... ·· ' · ' ·· , - . '.:'_:.:.. identifiable from any other possible
ll T ('___'
"'_____:;.:::':_"""'
"'"'
'''""
"-"'"'
'"':''"'' ' ' ' ''"' ' ' '_-;'.'f0
'_'
:_":' data configuration. Specifically the

Fig.8. Pit(and land)length;createdby EFM rangefrom 3Tto 11I Minimum 24-bit synchronization word is
pit length_0.833-0.972 ,,m; maximumpit length_3.054-3.56 t_m(1.2-1.4 100000000001000000000010 plus 3
m/s). merging bits.
The total number of channel bits

with a sonic boom.

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nine unique preset combinationprograms.Sixty AudioDivision,P.O.Box6600, Buena Park,CA
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 CD FORMATS

4T 10T 4T 4T 4T 7T 5T 4T

I
I I I I I I I I I
I I I_1_1 J 1 J_l
I I I I I I I I I
01 000 1 000000000 1 0001 000 1 000 1 0 0 0 00 0 1 0000 1 000 1 0

Fig. 9. Data are represented by pit/land transitions.

per frame after encoding is 588, response to trackinginformationand

comprising 24 synchronization bits,
336 (12 x 2 x 14)data bits, 112
(4 x 2 x 14) error-correction bits,
14 subcode bits, and 102 (34 x 3)
merging bits, When the data manip-
ulation is completed, the original
audio bit rate of l .41 million bits per
second has been augmented to 4.32180
million bits per second,
The optical pickup must focus on,
track, and read the data spiral. The
entire lens assembly, a combination
of the laser source and the reader,
must be small enough to glide lat-
erally beneath the disk, moving in
user random-access programming.
Furthermore,the pickupmustmain-
tain focusing and tracking even under
adverse playing conditions, such as a
dirty disk or impact and vibration [10].
To achieve sharp focus on the data
surface, and to achieve intensity
modulation from the pit depth prop-
erly, it is necessary to use a laser as
the light source. CD pickups use an

k,,_ COMPACT
PLAYER DISC
DESIGN [
/ / 1

A CD player's architecture may be D,SKP,CKUP-2 SERVO _ J §.O_O_BNC%0E

considered as five functional circuit AND TRANSPORT'_"-_
I CONTROL I DECODING
elements, each working in close co- I / /
operation with the other: optical
readout, servo system, spindle motor,
control and: display, and decoding
system. The data path directs the
modulated light from the pickup
through a series of processing cir-

cuits,ultimately
yieldinga stereo
analogsignal. Thedata pathtypically .
consists of elements such as data
separator, deinterleaving RAM, error
detection, correction,

digital-to-analog
and conceal-
ment circuits, oversampling filters,
converters,and
HFSIGNAL
INPUT
FROM DISK

4 SIT DETECTION
EFM
DEMODULATION

H BUFFER

analogoutputfilters.Theservo,the i I
control, and the display system must CLOCK I I SYNCHRONIZATION
I

the disk,
direct the including
mechanical spindle
operation drive,of REGE
NERATION
1'_ TDETECGTION
AND I
autotracking,andautofocus,and I I,I ]
handle user interface with the play-
er's controls and displays. An op- CRYSTAL
erational block diagram of the data Fig. 10. Architecture of CD player, with oversampling filters.
path is shown in Fig. 10.

262 J. Audio Eng. Soc., VoL 36, No. 4, 1988 April

A1GaAs semiconductor laser irra-
diating a coherent-phase laser beam
with a 780-nm wavelength (some
manufacturers use 790 nm).
Two types of pickups commonly
employed are one-beam and three-
beam designs. The optical compo-
nents of a one-beam design are shown
in Fig. 11, along with the photodiode
array used to generate tracking and
focusing signals, and the data signal,
The laser light is generated from a
semiconductor device, strikes a semi-
transparent mirror, and is reflected
90 °. A collimator follows the semi-
transparent mirror. Its purpose is to
make the divergent light rays parallel,
The objective lens is used to focus
the beam on the disk data surface,
taking into account the refractive in-
dex of the polycarbonate substrate
[11].
As discussed, when the laser spot
strikes land, the smooth interval be-
tween two pits, the light is almost
totally reflected. When it strikes a
pit (seen as a bump by the laser),
destructive interference and diffrac-
tion cause less light to be reflected,
The intensity-modulated light beam
J CONTROL
I FUNCTIONS
MEMORY
Ti
J. Audio Eng. Soc., VoL 36, NO. 4, 1988 April
returns through the objective lens and
the collimator lens to pass through
the semitransparent mirror, and
strikes a wedge lens. It is then split
into two beams, adjusted to strike an
array of four horizontally arranged
photodiodes. The outputs of all the
photodiodes are summed to provide
the data signal (A + B + C + D),
which is demodulated to yield audio
data and servo control signals.
Autofocusing is accomplished by
the four photodiodes. When correct
focus is achieved, two sharp images
are located between photodiode pairs,
When the focus varies, the focal point
of the system is shifted and the split
beams draw closer together (when
the disk is too far) or farther apart
(when the disk is too near). The dif-
ference between photodiode pairs
A/D and B/C forms a focus error sig-
hal (A + D) - (B + C), which is
used to maintain the focus of the
servo-driven objective lens.
The photodiodes also generate er-
ror signals for autotracking. When
the laser spot strikes the center of
the pit track, a symmetrical beam is
reflected. As the laser beam wanders
DISPLAY
FUNCTIONS
]
t
ti o
CONCEALMENT CONVERTER
AND DIGITAL
T
CONVERTER
from the pit track, interference cre-
ates asymmetry in the beam, which
results in an intensity difference be-
tween the two split beams. Either
photodiode pair A/B or C/D generates
a greater signal from the increased
laser light. The difference between
the pairs (A + B) - (C + D) produces
an error signal that is used to maintain
the pickup on track.
In a one-beam design, the pickup
may be mounted on a pivoting arm
or a linear sled. The pivoting arm
describes a radial arc across the data
surface. A coil and permanent mag-
net are mounted around the pivotal
point of the arm. When the coil is
energized, the pickup may be placed
anywhere on the pit track and posi-
tioned as corrected by the autotrack-
ing system. The objective lens is
provided with a coil and a permanent
magnet for displacement in the di-
rection of the optical axis, that is,
autofocusing.
A three-beam pickup uses a center
beam for reading data and focusing,
and two secondary beams for tracking
only. To generate additional beams,
the light from the laser passes through
FILTER OUTPUT
FILTER
263
 CD FORMATS

a diffraction grating, a screen with

slits spaced only a few laser wave-
lengths apart. As the beam passes
through the grating, the light dif-
fracts. When the resulting collection
DISK is againfocused,it will appearas a
) ' /_ I single, bright, centered beam with a
series of successively less intense
I o_i,_t_,,, beams on either side. It is this dif-
fraction pattern that actually strikes

_o,i,,,tor theIndisk.
many three-beam designs the
,,mi.t_,_,n,_, property of astigmatism is used to

m_,or achieve autofocusing. A cylindrical

:_,.a_.'-a_,w.
r--' lens is used to detect an out-of-focus
ONE-BEAM condition. As the distance between

P,CKUP _!::J_:. the objective lens and the reflective

_ surfaceof the diskvaries,the focal

iL! point of the optical system also

= = photodiodes changes, and the image projected by
AB e D thecylindricallenschangesitsshape,
as shown in Fig. 12. That change in
the image on a four-quadrant pho-
todiode generates the focus correction
signal.
TRACKING In three-beam pickups the two
secondary beams are used for auto-
A B e D basic
,_g,_lp_,,_,_ tracking. The central beam spot cov-

_ A beamsare alignedaboveandbelow
ersthepittrackwhilethetwotracking
TRACK
SHIFTS
LEFT B -]--_'_ _=_ t_ error and to either side of the center beam.

ONTRACK
'[-'0_ :_ C _ _ (A+ B) - (C + D) When the part
properly, beamof is
each
tracking
trackingthe beam
disk

_ O [_'_ I _ RF signal part covers the the

is alignedon mirrored land between
pit edge;the other
TRACK
SHIFTS
RIGHT _ (A+B +C + D) pit tracks. The main beam strikes a
r'""l light present four-quadrant photodiode, and the
I1 light absent tWO tracking beams strike two sep-
arate photodiodes mounted to either
side of the main photodiode.
As the three spots drift to either
side of the pit track, the amount of
light reflected from the tracking
beams varies. There is less average
FOCUSING light intensity reflected by the beam
A EC O that encountersmorepit area and
_ greaterreflected
lightintensitybythe
DISK
TOOCLOSE A _ beam that encounters less pit area.

focusing error two tracking photodiodes thus form

:_ (A+ D)- (B+ C)
DISK
IN
FOCUS a a trackingcorrectionsignal,as shown
c
D _ inFig.13.
Therelativeoutput voltagesfromthe
FI[Y]
_ In manythree-beam designsboth
DISK
TOOFAR
AWAY the trackingand the focus difference
signals are applied to a two-axis ac-
tuator, with focus/tracking coil and
permanent magnet. A circular yoke
Fig. 11.One-beampickup,with photDdiodearrayfor datarecovery,tracking, supports a bobbin containing both the
andfocusing.(Courtesy
of PhilipsInternational
N.V.) focus and the tracking coils. A con-
trol voltage from the focus circuit is

264 J. Audio Eng. Soc., VoL 36, No. 4, 1988 April

 the data themselves is used to deter-
mine the correct rotating speed and
ruSK CYLINDRICAL
maintaintheproperdataoutputrate.
BEAM SPLITTER LENS __

LENS
SPOT
POLARIZATION OBJECTIVE LENS_'_ f tN
__ J PHOTODIODE
..u- LENS I
ci_ CYLINDRICAL I .__ FACE PLATE

PHOTODIODE IN FOCUS _f_N_

E
photo,,od
array
an, s
cessing circuits produce a signal re-

sine waves,calledthe EFMsignal.

_Dt_
..m_
Fig. 12.Astigmatismis usedto tracefocus-errorpattern.(Courtesyof Howard
W. Sams, Inc.)
applied to the bobbin focus coil to
maintain proper depth of focus. The
other axis of movement is used to
achieve tracking accuracy. When the
tracking difference signal is applied
to the coil, the bobbin swings around
a shaft to move the objective lens
laterally.
A three-beam pickup requires a
linear movement because the three
beams must stay in a fixed position
A_.,
v_
DISKFAR
relative to the pit track. The three-
beam pickup is thus mounted in a
sled which moves radially across the
disk. The sled is often driven by a
linear motor,
A spindle motor is used to rotate
the disk with constant linear velocity,
Thus the disk must vary its speed
depending on where the pickup is lo-
cated underneath the surface. In an-
other servo loop, information from
This is sometimes referred to as a
radio frequency (RF) signal. A col-
lection of EFM waveforms, some-
semblinga
times referredseries
to asf high-frequency
an eye pattern,
is shown in Fig. 14. The digital data
can always be recovered from the
EFM signal if it can be determined
when the signal crosses the zero axis,
relative to the timing constraints
created by the EFM encoding rules.
Data decoding follows a procedure
that essentially duplicates the en-
coding process in reverse order. The
EFM signal is converted to an NRZI
signal; the first data to be extracted
from the NRZI signal are synchro-
nization words. This synchronization
information is used to synchronize
the 33 symbols of channel informa-

0 0
o°"::_oO
o°%Oo°'_'?_?_o
I"i 1-+-I 1IoI
I...."01] IoI . 1 I
CIRCUIT

TRACKINGERROR
+ 0 - SIGNAL

Fig. 13.Generationof trackingerror signalfrom two side beams.(Courtesyof HowardW. Sams,Inc.)

j. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April 265


3T
Fig. 14.Familyof EFM waveforms,the "eyepattern,"
tion in each frame. A synchronization
pulse is generated to aid in locating
the zero crossing of the EFM pattern,
and to generate a transition at those
points, in order to produce a binary
signal.
The EFM signal is demodulated
so that every 17-bit EFM word again
becomes 8 bits. Depending on player
design, demodulation is accom-
plished by logic circuitry or by a
lookup table. A buffer is used to re-
move the effect of disk rotational ir-
regularities. Data input to the buffer
may be irregular, but clocking en-
sures that the buffer output is precise,
To guarantee that the buffer neither
overflows nor underflows, a correc-
tion signal is generated and is used
to control the disk rotating speed,
By varying the rate of data from the
disk, the buffer is maintained at 50%
capacity,
Following demodulation, data are
sent to a CIRC decoder for deinter-
leaving, error detection, and error
correction. It utilizes parity from two
Reed-Solomon decoders as well as
deinterleaving. The first error-cor-
rection decoder C1 is designed to
correct random errors and to detect
burst errors. It puts a flag on all burst
errors to alert the second error-cor-
266
4T _ 6T 7T 8T 9T 10T 11T
rection decoder C2. Given this prior
knowledge, and help from deinter-
leaving, C2 is able to correct burst
errors as well as random errors that
C1 was unable to correct,
The use of two correction decoders
and cross-interleaving helps tackle a
particularly difficult error scenario,
Interleaving distributes burst errors,
perhaps caused by surface contain-
ination, over different words for
easier correction. However, correc-
tion is difficult when a burst error
coincides with a random error, per-
haps introduced by a manufacturing
defect. The C 1 decoder corrects sin-
gle random errors and flags burst er-
rors, so that interleaving can accom-
plish its task. EFM coding guarantees
that a random error will never corrupt
more than two symbols, and the even/
odd interleave guarantees that a two-
symbol random error will always ap-
pear as single errors in two different
C 1 words after deinterleaving. Ran-
dom errors are thus always correct-
able, and the C2 decoder retains its
burst error-correction capability.
The CIRC decoding process re-
verses the processing steps performed
during encoding; the complete CIRC
decoding process is shown in Fig.
15. The CIRC decoder accepts one
CD FORMATS
frame of 32 8-bit symbols; 24 are
audio symbols and eight are parity
symbols. Odd-numbered symbols are
delayed and parity symbols are in-
vetted. The delay lines have a delay
equal to the duration of one symbol.
This deinterleaving places the au-
dio symbols back into their original
order by rearranging their order as
read from the disk. Any sequence of
errors on the disk is thus distributed
among valid data. This aids in the
C1 decoder's correction efforts, es-
pecially for small errors in adjoining
symbols.
In the C 1 decoder, errors are de-
tected and corrected by the four P
parity symbols. Short-duration ran-
dom errors are corrected, and longer
burst errors are passed along. Spe-
cifically, the C 1 decoder can correct
a symbol error in every word of 32
symbols. If there is more than one
erroneous symbol, then all 28 data
symbols are marked with an erasure
flag and passed on. Valid symbols
are passed along unprocessed.
The deinterleaving delays between
the decoders enable the C2 decoder
to correct longer burst errors. Be-
cause the word arriving at C2 contains
symbols fromC1 decoded at different
times, symbols marked with an era~
J.Audio
l=ng.
Soc.,
VoL36,No.4, 1988April

C1 c1 c2
UNSCRAMBLER DECODER DEINTERLEAVER DECODER
J b
m) __
FROM _:FM '_; I J
DECODER I_o If
J'_ D
M --
m--
si
)2_ C1 FLAG
Fig. t5. CIRCdecodingutilizesthreedeinterleavingand two correctiondecodingalgorithms.
sure flag are now distributed among converter could result in an audible
valid symbols. This helps the C2 de- click. Muting is accomplished
coder correct burst errors. Symbols smoothly by beginning attenuation
without a flag are assumed error-free many samples before the invalid data,
and are passed through unprocessed, muting the invalid data, then
In the C2 decoder errors are corrected smoothly restoring the signal level,
by the four Q parity symbols. C2 can This method of muting is often
detect and correct single-symbol er- largely inaudible,
rors and correct up to four symbols
if flagged. Burst errors and errors that _'-'_X
process itself (rather than in the me- Reconstruction
dium)are corrected,
might have occurred in the encoding _) Compact Disc Signal
In addition,C2 cancorrect symbols
miscorrected by C1 decoding. When Finally the digital data must be
C2 cannot accomplish correction converted to a stereo analog signal.
(mom than four symbols are flagged), This reconstruction process requires
24 data symbols are flagged as un- one or two digital-to-analog con-
corrected and passed on for inter- verters and low-pass filters to sup-
polation, press high-frequency image eom-
The final step in error protection ponents. If the data are first converted
is error concealment. Thus interpo- to an analog signal (with a digital-
lation and muting circuits follow the to-analog converter), they must be
CIRC decoder. Uncorrected words filtered with brickwall analog filters,
are detected through flags and dealt Rather than use an analog brickwall
with, while valid data pass through filter after the signal has been con-
unprocessed. Using error flags from verted to analog form, the digitized
the C2 decoder, the player's sig- signal may be processed before dig-
nal processing circuits determine ital-to-analog conversion using an
whether to output the data directly, oversampling digital filter [ 12].
to interpolate them, or to mute the An oversampling digital filter uses
sound, samples from the disk as input, then
For continuous errors, muting is computes interpolation samples,
employed as a last resort; bad data digitally implementing the response
passed on to the digital-to-analog of an analog filter. A transversal filter
268
CD FORMATS
c2
UNSCRAMBLER
' We
_ cONVERTER
TO D/A
J
' C2 FLAG
is typically used to oversample (per-
haps at a two-, four-, or _ight-time
rate); image components appear at
multiples of the new sampling rate
[13]. Because the distance between
the baseband and the sidebands is
larger, a gentle analog filter can be
used to remove the images, without
causing phase shift or other artifacts
attributed to analog brickwall filters.
stage of every player is an audio
deemphasis
Also presentcircuit.
in theSomeCDs are
audio output
encoded with an audio preemphasis
characteristic with time constants of
15 and 50 I_S. On playback, deem-
phasis is carried out, resulting in an
improvement in the signal-to-noise
ratio. CD tracks that are encoded with
preemphasis are so denoted by an
appropriate flag in the subcode. The
player reads the preemphasis flag and
automatically switches in the deem-
phasis circuit when required.
Increasingly, CD players offer a
digital output connection, adhering
to the AES/EBU serial transmission
format. To permit an orderly ex-
change of data between digital de-
vices, the Audio Engineering Society
has established a standard transmis-
sion format for linearly represented
digital audio data [14].
The digital audio format transmits
both left- and right-channel data us-
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April

ing one digital cable. A time-sharing tended mainly as a medium for
multiplexing transmission transmits professional databases and mass
or receives frames, each containing storage for computer-related appli-
left- and right-channel data alter- cations. CD-ROM is a cost-effective
nately. The transmission rate corre- way of distributing large amounts of
sponds exactly to the source sampling information [15].
frequency.°When the sampling fre- To clarify, CD-Audio is a specific
quency is 44.1 kHz, that number of application of CD technology. It is
frames is transmitted per second. The a standard for recording PCM audio,
length of one channel data period is The CD-ROM standard is derived
thus 11.34 Ixs. One frame consists from the CD-Audio standard, but
of two subframes, each with 32 bits. defines a format for general data
Each subframe carries data for one storage. UnlikeCD-Audio, CD-ROM
audio channel. The first 4 bits are is not tied to any specific application.
used for synchronization and for Both media use a 120-mm-diameter
identifying preambles. The next 24 optical disk, but with different data
bits carry audio data, with the most formats,
significant bit transmitted last. Since Apart from modulation and error
most CD players use 16-bit words, correction overhead, a CD-ROM
only the last 16 bits in the field are holds a theoretical maximum of 682
used. In addition, the first 4 bits in Mbytes (8-bit byte) of user infor-
the field are set aside for auxiliary mation. In practice, a storage capac-
audio or other data. The last 4 bits ity of approximately 550 Mbytes
form a control field that carries spe- permits a better yield for manufac-
cial information, including an audio turers. This is a large storage area,
sample validity bit, a user data bit, equivalent to 3600 still video pic-
an audio channel status bit, and a tures, 1500 floppy disks, 18 000
subframe parity bit. pieces of computer graphics, or 275
The digital audio signal may be 000 pages of alphanumerics, de-
transmitted through a coaxial cable, pending on resolution, number of
a glass fiber cable, or an ordinary colors, and so on [16].
audio phono cable. Through this
transmission standard, different __
manufacturers are assured of com- Memory Data Format
digital
patibleinterconnectionand
audio devices from different
transfer _ Compact Disc Read-Only ]I
of digital audio information.
The CD digital audio standard is Although a CD-ROM disk is vis-
perhaps the most sophisticated audio ually identical to an audio CD, it
playbacl_ medium ever devised. Its employs a modified data format. A
small size, economy, robustness, and CD-ROM disk automatically iden-
capacity make it an ideal music car- titles itself as differing from an audio
rier. However, the utility of the CD through the Q subcode channel,
plastic disk is not limited to music. Data in a music CD are derived from
Other formats have been derived from the b44.1-kHz sampled signal, with
the original audio standard. 16-_it quantization. The 16 bits are
divlded into higher and lower 8-bit
bytes. These data bytes (before EFM
mo_lulation) are grouped into frames
of 24 bytes, and parity and a syn-
chromzatlon word are added. Whale
satisfactory for music applications,
CD read-only memory (CD-ROM) a frame is too short for numerical
is the logical extension of the CD applications, and there is no provi-
format toward the much broader ap- sion for addressing. A solution was
plication of information storage in derived from the subcode field in
general. Rather than store music, the which subcode from 98 frames is
CD format can be treated as a general summed. Specifically, in CD-ROM,
ROM system, used for any kind of 98 24-byte frames are summed, thus
program material. CD-ROM is in- the effective size for the d_ita area
270
CD FORMATS
becomes 2352 bytes (24 bytes × 98
frames), a workable area.
This 98-frame area is called a sec-
tor; it forms the basic CD-ROM data
unit. This area is sufficiently large
to handle numerical data without al-
tering the audio CD format. Audio
data are replaced by user data and
system data; this occupies 2048
bytes. The remaining 304 bytes are
used for additional synchronization,
headers, mode selection, and error
detection/correction, as shown in
Fig. 16. Each disk is divided into
330 000 sectors, and each sector is
divided into four fields. Data are re-
corded with EFM, as in audio CDs.
The first 12 bytes from the 2352-
byte block are used as a synchroni-
zation word. The next 4 bytes form
a header field used for time and ad-
dress flags. Specifically, it contains
3 address bytes and 1 mode byte. The
address bytes store location as time:
one address byte holds minutes (74
min maximum), the second byte
holds seconds (0-59 seconds), and
the third holds the sector number
within the second (75 sectors per
second). For example, an address of
59-20-45 denotes the 45th sector
in the 20th second of the 59th minute
I on the disk. Although this repeats
[ subcodechannel, it facilitates address
information already found in the Q
searching.
The modebyte indicatesthe nature
of the user data. There are two data
modes, as shown in Fig. 17. The
mode 1 format specifies that 2048
bytes of each block are devoted to
user data. The mode 2 format allows
for 2336 bytes of user data. The dif-
ference between modes 1 and 2 is
that mode 1 uses 288 bytes to provide
an additional layer of error detection
and correction (EDC/ECC). This is
in addition to the basic CIRC error
correction used on all CDs. It ensures
a level of data integrity essential for
information that does not degrade
gracefully, such as text and database
binary code. Mode 2 trades this ben-
efit of data security for maximum data
rate by making the additional 288
bytes per sector available for user
data. The basic error-correction en-
coding is suitable for gracefully de-
grading data such as video and audio
[17].
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
 Compact Disc Read-Only
Memory Architecture
Because the CD-ROM standard
does not provide a logical file struc-
ture for CD-ROM media, software
developers have implemented their
own file formats as well as extensions
to common operating system envi-
ronments, such as MS-DOS and
VMS. One group of vendors, the
HighSierra Group, developeda pro-
posal for a standardCD-ROMlogical
file structure. When a file structure
is defined, all information on CD-
ROMs that follow this standard can
be made readable as standard files in
all operating system environments
[18].
While CD-ROM uses a data format
similar to that of music CDs, disks
are not compatible. A CD-ROM
player contains laser optics, modu-
lation, and error correction, but dig-
ital-to-analog conversion and audio
output sections are replaced with a
computer interface to output the
ROM data to a host computer. Data
are transferred to the host computer
in sectors. Using the header field,
the sector address in minutes, sec-
onds, and blocks is verified by the
host computer. The disk table of
contents can be transferred to the CD-
ROM player
quested track.and used to locate a re-
Because CD-ROM is not tied to
one specific operating system or data
processor, CD-ROM devices can be
interfaced with all existing and future
computer systems. CD-ROM is lim-
ited only by the capabilities of the
dias, reference and technical man-
uals, business catalogs, computer
applications dictionaries,
rectories, software, encyclope-
operating
systems, on-line databases, back
issues of journals, libraries of still
pictures, parts catalogs, and so on.
It represents an entirely new tech-
nology of information dissemina-
tion.
CD interactive (CD-I) is a product-
specific application of the CD-ROM
format. Rather than storing specific
data as on a CD-ROM, CD-I permits
storage of a simultaneous combina-
tion of audio, video, graphics, text,
and data, all functioning in a real-
time, interactive manner. CD-Iisthus
a defined multimedia extension of
CD-ROM. The CD-I format defines
both hardware and software stun-
dards, as well as integration of di-
verse, selectable functions, depend-
ing on the application [19].
LEFT-CHANNEL DATA
OFAUDIO
CD
8BITS 8BITS
00000000 1 111111
111111 11 --]/
11111111 11111111 11111111 111111111__
11111111 II1111111 11111111 00000000 U
,MINUTES SECONDS SECTORS
1301301 1313002
130005 130006
is considerable and CD-I applications
promise to be diverse. For example,
a CD-I dictionary
Thescopeof mightspecification
theCD-I contain a
word and its definition, as well as
spoken pronunciation, pictures, and
additional cataloging to synonyms,
antonyms, word relationships,
origins, or translations into foreign
languages. A hobbyist's book on or-
nithology could reproducebird calls.
Music lovers could define the pa-
rameters of reproduced music using
"elastic music" programs. Fiction
works could be provided with a lab-
yrinth of plot deviations, differing
each time the book is read, or steered
at the discretion of the reader.
CD-I specifications require flexi-
bility in audio and video quality lev-
els to best suit the application at hand.
Thus audio fidelity can be selected,
as can video resolution and color
coding. Longer playing times are
achieved by dividing a disk into
channels, the number depending on
the quality of the audio and video
programs. In addition, real-time re-
quirements for interactivity neces-
sitated the adoption of an executable
RIGHT-CHANNEL DATA
OFAUDIO
CD
8BITS 8BITS
1111111111
SYNC PATTERN
(12BYTES)
HEADER(4BYTES)
130003
130130?

operating
cessor in system andcomputer.
the host the micropro-
CD- DO009 130010 . I:X)011 IXX)12 J I

retrieval system. Extensive amounts

of information

aROM
CD-ROM
can be stored con-
veniently on a few disks; for example,
is thus telephone
an open_ended
book storage/
for the
United States would be feasible. As-
suming 100 million listed telephones
and 40 bytes of information associ-
I
._[ 0
37
IY20lll
1)2045

D2049
l:kn053
[
D2038
D2042
!:)2046

1)2050
[.I I)2054
II t
D2039
D2043
D2047

1)2051
1_55
D2040
D2044
I)2048

111_52
13_056
USERDATA
(2048BYTES)

atedwitheachone, the totalof 4 _ _--

EOC AND ECC
Gbytes could be stored on about 1)2329 D2330 1)2331 1:11_.332 SYSTEM DATA
seven disks. (288BYTES)
The CD-ROM forms the basis for , 1_333 132334 1)2335 D_36
a new electronic publishing medium Fig. 16. CD-ROMdata formatfor 1 sector(98 frames).(Courtesyof Denon,
applicable to book publishing, di- NipponColumbia.)
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April 271
 Mode 1 (153.6kbytes/s)
q

Header (4) Auxiliarydata (288)

Sync Block address (3) Mode UserData ECC (276)

EDC Space
Min Sec Block 1 P parity Q parity
(12) (1) (1) (1) (1) (2048) (4) (8) (172) (104)
i

EDCmerror detectioncode; ECC_error correctionCode

Mode 2 (175.2 kbytes/s)

Header (4)

Sync BloCkaddress (3) Mode All user data

Min Sec Block 2

(12) (1) (1) (1) (1) (2 3 3 6)

!--

!< -- 2.352 bytes/CD block

Scrambledarea !
This area is equivalentto 1/75s in CD audiO,i.e., 16 bits x 2 channel x 44.1 kHz x 1/75 - 18 816 bits · 2352 bytes

1 mode per track

1-99 tracks per disk
Fig. 17. CD-ROM standard provides for two data modes. One mode per track, 1 to 99 tracks per disk. (Courtesy of
Denon, Nippon Columbia.)

object code as the coding method for (ADPCM) is used for three levels of is a l-3-s pause when switching from
application software. Multimedia varying fidelity. The A Hi-Fi audio the end of one channel to the begin-
applications also call for physical level uses 8-bit ADPCM, with a ning of the next channel. The spec-
interleaving of the three basic types sampling rate of 37.8 kHz. The ifications of the audio quality levels
of data (audio, video, and text/bi- quality is similar to that of vinyl LP are summarized in Table 1 [21].
nary) to ensure synchronized pre- records. The B Mid-Fi audio level ADPCM is one of several spe-
sentation of different data types. Fi- uses 4-bit ADPCM with a 37.8-kHz cialized methods used to encode
nally, the disk must provide efficient sampling rate. The quality is similar digitized audio. It is a variation of
storage for both data that degrade to that of an FM broadcast. The C linear PCM and extremely useful in
gracefully and data that do not. The Speech audio level uses 4-bit certain applications. Because of its
former require maximum bandwidth ADPCM with an 18.9-kHz sampling ability to store digital data with fewer
while the latter require extended error rate. The quality is similar to that of bits, it is thus more efficient. On the
detection and correction, an AM broadcast. The CD-I format other hand, ADPCM requires addi-
also supports an information audio tional processing beyond regular

Compact Disc Interactive tion 4s encoded. With this level, ing.

Audio Format over 10 000 hours of phonetic audio With a proper sampling rate
materialin may
level whichbe phonetic
stored oninforma-
a disk ADPCM
PCM for can
bothperform
encoding competitively
and decod-
[20]. with linear PCM. If the signal were
The CD-I format offers five levels An audio program may be divided always near its maximum frequency,
of audio quality, to be selected ac- into multiple channels (each with ADPCM's performance would be
cording to the need for fidelity. To about 74 min of playing time), stored similar to PCM's. However, with
allow for extended video informa- in parallel across the disk playing audio signals this is almost never the
tion, data compression techniques surface. The 16-bit PCM channel is case. Since the instantaneous audio
may be used to reduce the storage stereo; the three ADPCM modes can frequency is relatively low, the signal
space required to encode the audio be recorded in either stereo or mon- is changing more slowly, amplitude
program. A CD-Audio mode uses aural; the phonetic level is monaural, changes are therefore smaller, so
linear 16-bit PCM with 44.1-kHz The number of channels increases as ADPCM's quantization error is less
sampling rate. The quality duplicates the fidelity level decreases; there are than that for PCM. Thus in theory
that of stereo audio CDs. Alterna- o always twice as many monaural ADPCM can achieve better signal
tively, 8-or4-bit adaptive delta PCM channels as stereo channels. There resolution for the same number of

272 O.AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.36, No.4, 1988April

quantization bits. ADPCM was se-
lected for the CD-I format because
relatively fewer bits are needed to
achieve good performance. As ira-
plemented, its fidelity is lower than
that of the PCM signal on an audio
CD, but it is suitable for many CD-
1applications,
Compact Disc Interactive
Video Format
Because video material is stored
digitally, a CD-I disk is compatible
with both the NTSC (United States
and Japan) and the PAL/SECAM
(Europe) television standards. CD-I
disks may be manufactured to provide
either 525 scanning lines (NTSC) or
625 scanninglines (PAL); either type
of disk is playable on any standard
television. When a standard disk is
played on a corresponding tandard
television (525 through 525, or 625
through 625), negligible visual dis-
tortion is produced. When a disk is
played through a television adhering
to another standard (525 through 625,
or 625 through 525), approximately
7% visual distortion results. Gen-
erally, the eye is able to perceive 5%
distortion in a side-by-side compar-
ison, or 10% distortion otherwisb,
Alternatively, a CD-I disk may be
produced witha525/625 compatible
video format, which is playable on
either a 525 or a 625 television with
a 3.6% distortion.
quality levels for resolution and pixel
coding.
The CD-IThree standards
format calls forofvarying
video _
resolution are supported: normal
resolution of 384 × 240 pixels
(NTSC) and 384 × 280 pixels (PAL),
double resolution (twice the hori-
zontal resolution) with 768 × 240
pixels (NTSC) and 768 x 280 pixels
(PAL), and high resolution (twice the
horizontal-and the vertical resolution)
Table I, CD~I sound quality levels and specifications.
Level .Encoding Samplingrate(kHz)
CD-Audio PCM 44.1
A ADPCM 37.8
B ADPCM 37,8
C ADPCM 18.9
InformationPhonetic ....
J. AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.36,No.4,1988April
with 768 x 480 pixels (NTSC) and
768 x 560 pixels (PAL). Normal
resolution corresponds to the best
achievable resolution with present
television receivers, while double and
high resolution represent the quality
of future enhanced or digital receiv-
ers.
Compact Disc Interactive
Image Encoding
Image coding provides for three
picture qualities, namely, studio
picture quality and two graphics
qualities. Natural (photographic)
pictures use DYUV (delta YUV,
where Y refers to luminance and U
and V refer to chrominance) coding,
One full-frame natural picture is
transferred in just over 0.6 s. The
first graphics mode is designed for
end-user manipulation applications;
it is based on absolute RGB (red-
green-blue) 555 coding, and supports
either 8-bit/256 colors or 15-bit/
32 768 colors. The second graphics
mode is based on CLUT (color lookup
table) graphics, which permit 4-bit/
16-, 7-bit/128-, or 8-bit/256-color
full-screen animation. With com-
pression, the interleaving of sound
and CLUT picture results in the abil-
ity to provide full-screen animation
with a picture refresh rate of 17
frames per second.
_x, x Sierra Group proposal,
Text Encoding
Compact Disc Interactive
Text encoding can be accomplished
either as a bit-map process or by
character encoding. The bit-map
process requires 5 bytes per char-
acter, resulting in a maximum of 120
million characters per disk. Char-
acter-encoded text can use 1 byte per
Bits Bandwidth(kHz)
t6 20
8 17
4 17
4 8.5
character, giving a total of 600 mil-
lion characters on a disk, or 2 bytes
per character, resulting in a total of
300 million characters per disk. In
both cases it is possible to manipulate
text via software, for example, copy-
lng text from disk to external storage.
Architecture
n,er
The CD-I format permits a high
degree of real-time interactivity. The
data format allows for real-time
switching between sectors. Thus it
is possible to have sectors with dif-
ferent information contents and with
different physical formats. CD-I is
not a peripheral, but a self-contained
system. To ensure universal disk/
drive compatibility, dedicated hard-
ware and interfaces are specified. A
CD-I player contains a CD-ROM disk
drive as the system's input, decoder
chips for text, graphics, video, audio,
and microprocessor controllers. The
CD-I system uses the Motorola 68000
microprocessor family. A CD-I
player could be interfaced to a tele-
vision and stereo sound system.
Because the CD-I format recog-
nizes 16-bit PCM data (the first audio
quality level), a CD-I player can play
regular CD-Audio disks. An audio
CD player cannot play CD-I disks
(unless connected to a CD-I con-
troller). As specified in the High
CD-ROM
systems. On the other hand, a mi-
crocomputer
mode 1 diskswith can aoperate
CD-ROM on drive
CD-I
is not always capable of processing
the information on a CD-I.
The CD-I format has inspired the
development of alternative technol-
ogles. Digitalvideo interactive (DVI)
is an all-digital optical disk format
capable of reproducing full-motion,
full-screen video, computer-gener-
Numberof channels Maximumplayingtime
1 stereo 74 rain
2 stereo, 4 mono 4.5 h
4mono, 8stereo 9h
8stereo, 16mono 19h
10000 h
273

ated video graphics, and digital audio
via a CD-ROM drive. A DVI disk is
effectively a CD-ROM disk contain-
ing DVI-specific data. Its data spec-
ification permits motion video to be
combined with foreground video ob-
jects, text, dynamic graphics, and
multitrack audio, all under the user's
control. Sophisticated data com-
pression techniques permit the system
to utilize disk storage space more ef-
fectively and to output relatively
larger amounts of data more quickly,
Although data on DVI disks are for-
matted to CD-ROM specifications
and can be played on a CD-ROM
drive (other digital media may be
used as well), special DVI decoding
technology is also required. The DVI
format is thus incompatible with
other interactive CD formats, such
of CD-ROM [22].
as The
CD-ICD-I
and format presents consid-
other implementations
erable opportunities for hardware,
software, and publishing industries
of interactive entertainment and ed-
ucation.
to provideHowever,there
consumers with arenew
notforms
many _
existing, readily transferable pro-
grams that take advantage of the
video, graphics, audio, and text ca-
pabilities supported by this new
standard. There is thus a considerable
amount of creative work ahead [23].
COMPACT DISC VIDEO
CD video (CD-V)is a combination
of audio and video technology, spe-
cifically the CD and Laservision (LV)
systems. From that merger comes a
new medium, the CDV-Single, and
a new hardware product, the CD-V
combiplayer.
A CD-V player is a combination
CD and LV player. It plays 120-mm
video CDV-Singles, along with con-
ventionalfull-lengthaudio-onlyCDs,
and all 200- and 300-mm LV video
disks as well. Hence the name corn-
biplayer. The audio portion of a
combiplayer is identical to that of a
CD player; audio quality of the CD-
V will duplicate that of an audio CD
player. CD-V thus retains full com-
patibility with existing CD-Audio
274
standards [24].
However, because of incompatible
analog television standards, both
NTSC and PAL players and disks
must be manufactured. When the
audio CD was standardized, design-
ers were free to design universality
into the product. Thus any CD disk
may be played on any CD player,
Not so with CD-V. TWO primary
world standards exist, NTSC and
PAL. Because video information is
stored and reproduced in analog
form, a CD-V player must be con-
figured for one standard or another,
as are CD-V disks. In other words,
the video portion of a PAL CD-V disk
will be unplayable on an NTSC player
and vice versa. Also, the analog audio
portion of the video program is in-
compatible because it is integrated
CD tracks will be playable on any
PAL or NTSC
into the or CD-Audio
video signal. player.
The audio-only
_x, x The 200- and 300-mm-diameter
Single
Compact Disc Video
CD-V introduces an entirely new
software format, the CDV-Single.
The CDV-Single appears similar to
an audio CD. However, the substrate
and top lacquer are gold-tinted to
distinguish it visually. The disk is
approximately 5 min of full-motion
NTSC video (encoded as an analog
signal)
the size with
of anCD digital
audio CD, audio sound
but contains
track, as well as an extra 20 min of
digital audio only. A PAL standard
disk encodes approximately 6 min of
video material. CD-Audio standards
are used for the digital audio data,
including a scanning velocity of
1.2-1.4 m/s and a track pitch of 1.6
Ixm. Because the audio portion of the
CDV-Single disk is placed on the in-
nermost diameter (from 50 to 74
mm), the audio portion may be played
on a regular CD player. Likewise,
the CD-V player may play any audio
CD. The video portion, on the outer
diameter (from 78 to 116 mm), is
read only by the CD-V player. The
combined digital audio and video
(NTSC and PAL) formats are shown
in Fig. 18.
Video information is contained on
CD FORMATS
the outer diameter, encoded as an
analog signal according to the LV
format. In the NTSC standard the disk
speed ranges from 2700 to 1815 r/
rain, to yield a scanning velocity of
11-12 m/s. The track pitch is 1.7
I_m. In the PAL standard the disk
speed varies from 2250 to 1512 r/
min, with a scanning velocity of
9.2-10.2 m/s. The track pitch is also
1.7 Ixm.
The player must sense the presence
of either digital audio-only or video
signal and adjust its operating pa-
rameters accordingly. Typically, the
player's pickup would read the audio
lead-in area, skip to the video por-
tion, then return to the audio-only
portion.
_'"_'X
Video/Laservision
_ Compact Disc
CDV-LP, respectively. They contain
audio
disks conforming
are denoted tobytheCDV-EP
CD standard
and
and video conforming to the LV
standard. Analog audio may be used
in addition to digital audio with the
NTSC standard. The CDV-EP plays
two 20-min sides, the CDV-LP plays
two 60-min sides [25], [26]. Ob-
viously these disks cannot be played
scanning speed in the NTSC format
is 10.1-11.4 m/s. In the PAL format
it is a8.4-9.5
on m/s [27], [28].
CD-Audio-only Because
player. The
of their long playing times, these
disks will contain material such as
concert videos, classical music vi-
deos, and feature films.
In the NTSC format, the audio
portions of LV disks were formerly
encoded with two FM carriers placed
at 2.3 and 2.8 MHz, below the FM
picture signal. In the PAL format,
the FM carriers were placed at 648
and 1066 kHz. In either case the dig-
ital audio signal in CD-V disks is
placed in the 0-1.75-MHz band be-
low the FM picture signal carriers.
Thus NTSC disks may be encoded
with both analog and digital sound.
Digital audio NTSC CD-V disks are
playable in existing LV players, with
analog audio circuitry. An NTSC CD-
V player plays existin, g LV disks.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
 CDFORMATS

However, in the PAL format the dig-
ital audio signal replaces the analog
FMcarriers. Thus a digital audio CD-
V disk may nbt have analog audio as
well. A PAL CD-V player is able to
reproduce both digital audio LVs and
existing analog audio LVs. However,
existing LV players will not be able
to reproduce the audio portion of new
digital audio CD-V disks,
In addition to the CD-V combi-
digital filtering. Features encompass from a 3/4-in U-matic machine, syn-
those of both CD and LV players, chronized with time code. The high
such as programmability, picture bandwidth of 10 MHz (versus 1.5
search, fast/slow motion, stills, and MHz for CD-Audio) necessitates
speed increase/decrease. Although it manufacturing procedures closer to
uses primarily constant linear veloc- those of video disks, as opposed to
ity (CLV) scanning, CD-V also pro- audio CDs. However, CDV-Single
vides for constant angular velocity disks will be manufactured at CD
(CAV) scanning in the 200- and 300- audio plants.
mm formats. Other enhancements
call for high-definition (CDV-HD) _x,

formats, a CDV-Single dedicated guage software, Dolby surround COMPACT

player is able to play only CD-Audio
player playing all four optical disk
and CDV-Single disks. CD-V players
use audio circuitry identical to ex-
isting CD players, including, for ex-
ample, 16-bit digital-to-analog con-
verters and four times oversampling
sound encoding, as well as use of DiSC FORMATS
picture, CD-I controllers, dual-lan- _ RECORDABLE
copy-guard encoding.
From a manufacturing standpoint, While important to the consumer,
CDV-Single disks must be mastered playback-only CD formats are of
on a dual-speed lathe, using video limited utility in the recording studio.
from a 1-in C-type machine and audio Recordability is essential for most

DIGITAL
SAMPLING
I f
° An analog waveform such as an
acoustic pressure function in air exists
continuouslyin time, over a continuously
variableamplituderange.Suchan analog
function may be discrete-time sampled,
Moreover,the sample points can be used
to reconstructthe original analog wave-
form. This digitization of audio forms the
basis for the encoding and decoding of
the audio signals in any digital audio
format, including the CD.
The Nyquist theorem states that given
correct bandlimitedconditions, sampling
can be a Iossless process. Just as some
relationship is needed between a movie
camera's shutter rate and the speed of
movingobjects to produceusable motion
pictures, the relationship between the
sampling frequency and audio frequen-
cies must be defined. The Nyquist theo-
rem defines this relationship: if samples
are taken twice as fast as the highest
audiofrequency,the completewaveform
can be reconstructed [1]. In other words,
S samples per second are needed to
represent a waveform with a bandwidth
of S/2 Hz. The choice of sampling fie-
quency thus determines the frequency
response of the digitization system,
Sampling may be considered a mod-
ulation process. One result of that mod-
ulation is the creation of a spectrum with
sidebands, or image frequencies, cen-
tered on multiples of the sampling fie-
quency. These sidebands are a con-
sequence of sampling and result even
when the Nyquist theorem is observed,
AUDIO
An output Iow-pass filter is used to re-
move these image spectra. Aliasing, a
form of distortion, occurs when the input
frequency exceeds the half-sampling
rate. When a digital audio system sam-
pies input frequencies greater than the
half-sampling frequency, spurious new
frequencies are "recorded" aswell. Spe-
cifically, if S is the sampling frequency
and F is a frequency higher than half
the sampling rate, then a new frequency
Ff is created as Ff = S - F. Furthermore,
aliasing occurs at multiples of the sam-
piing frequency. Forexample,all of these
alias components would be produced:
S _ F, 2S _+F, 3S -+ F....
Thus the input signal must be band-
limited with an input Iow-pass filter. It
ensures that all frequencies above the
half-samplingpoint are attenuatedbelow
the amplitude resolution threshold of the
system. To achieve a maximum audio
bandwidth for a given sampling rate, fil-
ters with a very sharp characteristic, so-
called brickwall filters, are employed,
Disallowed frequency components are
not allowed to enter the sampler; thus
aliasing cannot occur. In other words,
when sampling, one must obey the
sampling theorem [2].
In accordance with the sampling
theorem, the sampling rate must be set
to a frequency at least twice that of the
highest input frequency. In the case of
the CD, the sampling frequency is 44.1
kHz (a sample every 22.6757 millionths
of a second). This permits a flat fre-
quency response from 0 to 20 kHz, with
a filter guardband to permit complete
attenuation.
QUANTIZATION
[ 1
As we have seen, sampling is a
method of taking a measurement pe-
riodically. Sampling represents the time
of the measurement, quantization rep-
resents the value of the measurement,
such as the amplitude of an audio wave-
form at sample time. Whereas sampling
is perfect within its prescribed context,
quantization is imperfect. In the same
way that length, an analog quantity, can
be measured (for example, in inches),
an audio waveform can be measured
(for example, in volts). But in the same
way that a measurement of length is
always proneto error,quantizingis prone
to error.
An analog waveform may be repre-
sented as a series of samples; the am-
plitude of each will yield a number that
represents the analog value at that in-
stant. By definition, an analog waveform
has an infinite number of amplitude val-
ues. However, quantization selects from
a finite number of digital values. The
selected value will be only an approxi-
mation to the actual. Specifically, after
sampling, the analog staircase signal is
rounded to the numerical value closest
to the analog value. The difference be-
tween the actual values of the signal
and values after quantization appears
as error.
The number of quantization steps
available is determined by the length of
the data word in bits. This determines
the resolution of the digitization system.
For example: 16 bits yield 216 = 65 536

276 J.Audio
Eng.
Soc.,
Vol.
36,No.
4,1988
April
 professionalaudio applications. Con-
siderable research effort has been
applied to the development of re-
cordable optical-disk formats. There
is little question that future genera-
tions of the CD standard will provide
for both recordable and fully erasable
CDs. A variety of technologies is
being explored.
Write-OnceDisk
The simplest recordable optical
systems are write-once. The user may
record data only once, permanently,
until the disk capacity is filled. (Al-
-ch .....
PRIMER
steps (from 0000000000000000 to
1111111111111111 ). The more bits the
better, because the magnitude of the
error is smaller. But there will always be
a marginof error,
Rarely the selectedstep will be exactly
at the analog value; usually it will not be
quite exact. At worst, the input analog
level will be one half step away, that is,
there will be a maximum error of one
half the least significant bit of the quan-
tization word. Interms of decibels, every
added bit yields about a 6-dB increase
in the system's signal-to-error (S/E) ratio
because it reduces the quantization error
by a factor of 2. The S/E relationship
can be expressed in terms of word length
as S/E (dB) = 6.02n + 1.76, where n
is the number of bits [3]. Using the for-
mula, a 16-bit system is seen to yield
an S/E ratio of about 98 dB.
Dither can help suppress the effect of
quantization error. Dither is a Iow-am-
plitude analog white noise added to the
input analog signal. (Othertypes of dither
have been researched.) It is important
that this small amount of noise removes
the quantization artifacts from a sig-
nal--it does not mask the artifacts, it
removesthem [4].
Sampling and quantization are the two
fundamental design problems for a dig-
itization system. Sample rate determines
bandlimiting and thus frequency re-
sponse, and word length determines
signal-to-error ratio. Although bandlimited
sampling is a Iossless process, quan-
tizing is one of approximation. In general,
a sampling frequency of 44.1 or 48 kHz
and a word length of 16 bits yield fidelity
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
ternatively, written data could be
destroyed, but not recorded over),
While it may at first be uncomfortable
to magnetically inclined minds, a
write-once system is very workable
for many applications. For example,
in some applications a permanent data
trail is precisely what is called for.
In short, a write-once optical disk
does not necessarily present fatal
important. Indeed, other nonerasable
formats have met with success before;
for example, Erasability
drawbacks. photographyis not
is aalways
write-
once technology,
A write-once optical disk may be
implemented in a variety of ways.
In some systems a mechanism called
ablation uses a laser writer to burn
comparable to, or better than, the best
analog systems,
A PULSE-CODE MODULATION
SYSTEM
[ I
Modulation is the process of encod-
lng source information prior to trans-
mission or storage. In pulse-code mod-
ulation (PCM) the amplitude of the digital
waveform encodes binary digits directly.
Because of its relatively efficient use of
bandwidth, its compatibility with off-
the-shelf circuitry, and its ability to be
easily multiplexed,PCM has proveditself
to be an expedient means of represent-
lng audio data for recording or repro-
duction. When it comes to storage on
magnetictape or optical disk,otherforms
of modulation may be more effective.
There is one consistent drawback to
PCM; like many other digital coding
schemes,it requiresa much wider band-
widththan the corresponding analogsig-
nal [5].
The architecture of a fixed, linear PCM
digitization system is comprised of a re-
cording section of input amplifiers, a
dither generator, input (anti-aliasing) Iow-
pass filters, sample-and-hold circuits,
analog-to-digital converters, a multi-
plexer, digital processing circuits for error
correction and modulation, and a storage
medium such as digital tape. On the
playback side are processing circuits for
demodulation and error correction, a
demultiplexer, digital-to-analog convert-
holes in a thin film. Other mecha-
nisms include lasers that cause huh-
bles or blisters to form in the medium.
Tellurium and tellurium alloys have
been selected by many manufacturers
for the thin film because of their low
melting points and high sensitivity
[29].
In other systems an irreversible
phase change is used to provide an
of the medium at the point where the
laser strikes. In this way the reading
laser may in
alteration differentiate
the index ofdata. Some
reflectivity
systems use a thin metallic recording
layer that changes its physical prop-
erty from crystalline to amorphous
when it is thermally heated (to ap-
proximately 170°C) by the writing
ers, output sample-and-hold circuits,
output (anti-imaging) Iow-pass filters, and
output amplifiers [6]. Alternatively, a
digitalfilter may precededigital-to-analog
conversion. TheoutputsideofthePCM
system forms the basis for the design.
of a CD player.
REFERENCES
[ I
[1] M. Mathews, The Technologyof
Computer Music (MIT Press, Cam-
bridge, MA, 1969).
[2] B. Blesser, "Elementary and Basic
Aspects of Digital Audio," DigitalAudio,
CollectedPapersfromtheAESPremiere
Conference(Rye, NY, 1982 June), pp.
5-11.
[3] B. Blesser, "Digitization of Audio:
A Comprehensive Examination of The-
ory, Implementation, and Current Prac-
tice," J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 25, pp.
739-771 (1978 Oct.).
[4] J. Vanderkooy and S. P. Lipshitz,
"Resolution Below the Least Significant
Bit in Digital Audio Systems with Dither,"
J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 32, pp. 106-
113 (1984 Mar.).
[5] J. Strawn, Ed., DigitalAudio En-
gineering:An Anthology(William Kauf-
mann, Los Altos, CA, 1985).
[6] S. Yoshikawa, "An Introduction to
Digital Audio," Proc. AES 3rd Interna-
tional Conference, Present and Future
of Digital Audio (1985 June), pp. 14-
23.
277
 CD FORMATS

tape to erasure--suddenly decreases.

AnalOg Specifically, at their Curie temper- o
0 NTSC format video
sync ,Jo ature (about 200°C), magnetic par-
Digital J1 ['"' "' ticles are easily oriented by a weak
-20 audio field.

--40 nutespotof magnetic materialto its

-6o
-al
dB .....
1 2
0 PALformat
Digital
--20 audio ' passes through a magnetized mate-
dB
-s0
-80
i 2
(b)
Fig. 18.CD-Vsignalformats.(a) NTSCstandard.(b) PALstandard.(Courtesy
ofPhilipsInternational
N,V.)
laser. The phase transition alters the
reflectivity of the recording layer at
written spots, thus allowing laser
reading of the data. In some proto-
types a layer of antimony-selenium
has been employed, evaporated onto
a hard plastic disk substrate,
An alternative to metal film is the
use of polymer dye binder bilayer
media. Colored dyes in a plastic me-
dium over a reflective material are
written with infrared light and read
with red light. Unlike metal film
disks, polymer dye technology can
use a flexible substrate,
. ,
3 4 5 8 7 8
f(MHz)
(a)
Analog
video sync Jo
· the plane of polarized light as it
a 4 5 6 7 8
f(MHz)
optical disk recorder. Again, several
technologies present alternatives,
Perhaps the most intriguing is mag-
netooptical recording (sometimes
called optically assisted magnetic
recording). Magnetooptical record-
ing combines the erasability of a
magnetic medium with the non-
wearing high-density advantages of
optical recording [30].
The recording density of magnetic
vertical media is underutilized by
conventional magnetic heads. Their
recording flux fields cannot be fo-
cused sufficiently. In other words,
the recorded area uses a far greater
Alaserbeamis usedto heata mi-
heated by the finely focused laser
beamare affectedby the magnetic
fieldfromtherecording coil,anda
very high density recording results,
. I[ , Curie point.
as shown Only19(a).
in Fig. those After
few particles
the laser
9 10 pulse, the temperature decreases, and
the data are stored in the magnetic
layer.
Data readout utilizes the Kerr ef-
fect, which describes the rotation of
rial. Specifically, the reverse-ori-
ented particles will reflect laser light
differently thanthe unreversed re-
gions.To readthe disk,a laseris
focused on the disk, and the angle
of rotationof itsreflection is moni-
tored, as shown in Fig. 19(b). An
, - analyzer distinguishes between ro-
9 lO tated and unrotated light, and data
are recovered from a modulated sig-
nal. The intensity of the reading laser
is much lower than that of the re-
cording laser, so the recorded mag-
netic information is not affected.
To erase data and rerecord, a mag-
netic field is applied to the disk along
with the laser heating spot, as shown
in Fig. 19(c), and new data are writ-
ten. Both operations can be accom-
plished in one pass, as they can with
conventionalmagneticmedia. Amag-
netooptical recorder can be made to
play back conventional CDs as well.
An important aspect of any re-
cording medium is its compatibility
with media from other recorders. To
achieve this within the high toler-
ances of a magnetooptical disk, blank
disks may be manufactured with
prerecorded and nonerasable ad-

Magnetooptical optics a magnetic field is used to re- ware address sectoring, and uses a
Recording cord data magnetically, but it is grooved disk in which address in-
weaker
area thanthan conventional
necessary. With recording
magneto- formation is physically
dressing. The method isformed
called in the
hard-
fields. By itself, it is too weak to groove and detected by light-beam
For some applications the advan- reorient the magnetic particles, reflection. Using this system, any
rages of write-once permanence are However, a unique property of mag- magnet()optical player will automat-
negated by the need to erase and re- netic materials is utilized: as they are ically track both address and data in-
record. For example, full erasability heated, their coercivity--the field formation contained on any disk. By
would be preferable for a multitrack strength required to bring a saturated superimposing the hardware ad-
278 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
 dressing information with the re-
corded data signal, playing time is
not sacrificed.
A magnetooptical disk would re-
tain the protective properties of other
MAGNETIC optical media. The recording layer
PARTICLES/ would be sandwiched between a
, _ transparent substrate and a protective
_ _ _ __ _ { { t _fi _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ t _ _ _/ layer. The laser light would shine
x, through the substrate, placing surface

_ REVERSE-ORiENTEDI respect to the interioroutof

dustandscratches data. focuswith
Although
PARTICLES _ MAGNETIC several magnetic materials could be

' 'i _'X_ & ' FIELD used,

based the ultimate selection
on orientation properties,will sig-
be
WRITING
LASER nal-to-noise ratio, and long-term
stability. System designers are cur-
(a) rentlyresearchingamorphousthin-
film magnetic materials with a coer-
civity of about 2500 Oe. Tests in-
dicate that a magnetooptical disk
could be erased/recorded over 10
million times, and would retain its
data for 10 years or more.
At present a magnetooptical CD is
still an experimental system. How-
i.{._ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ {_ _ _ _ _ _ ever, the introduction of an erasable

REFLECTED READ close at hand. However,magneto-

i BEAM (REVERSED) optics is not the only system being
researched. Some systems use phase-
change technology similar to that
__ [ _ usedin
opticalm write-oncesystems;
ediumseems theyuse
inevitableand
READING
LASER materialsthat exhibit a reversible
crystalline/amorphous phase change
when recorded at one temperature and
(b) erasedat another.Typically,a high-
reflectivity (crystalline) to low-re-
flectivity (amorphous) phase change
is used to record data, and the reverse
to erase. A tellurium suboxide re-
cording layer alloyed with germa-
nium, indium, and lead has been de-
veloped. By simply increasing the
laser power to burn holes rather than
change phase, permanent recording
{ _ * { { { {{ { { { { { {* { { { { _ { _ { { * { { { * * { { may be accomplished.

I
MAGNETIC
_ FIELD
(REVERSED)

!
ERASE
LASER The CD standardincorporatesover
50 years of theoretical and practical
(c) work in the digital audio field.
Moreover, it is the first widely avail-
able consumer digital audio product.
Fig. 19.Magnetoopticaldisk.(a) Writing.(b) Reading.(e) Erasing. Its success has sparked numerous
evolutionary steps in optical storage
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April 279

technology. First,therewasCDfor
digital audio (CD-Audio), a robust,
dium. Next, CD-ROM utilizes the
large-capacity music ofstorage
great storage capacity the CD me-REFERENCES
for
primarilynonaudioapplications, [
such as software and database. Then
CD-V adds video playback to CD-
Audio and merges the CD with the
LV format. CD-I offers backward
compatibility with CD-Audio, adding
audio-visual interactivity with even
greater capacity, due to data com-
pression methods. The CD-Single,
an 80-mm disk holding 20 rain of
digital audio, has been introduced,
A standard for write-once disks has
been announced. Finally, record-
able-erasable CDs, using magne-
tooptical and other technology, have
beenprototyped.
Whatever the format, optical disk
storage as exemplified by the CD
standard promises to surpass the
performance levels offered by other
audio storage mediums. Optical disk
technology provides data reliability
andlongevity, large storage capacity,
random access, low cost per bit, re-
movability, recordability, no backup
requirements, no medium wear, and
the ability to mix digital audio data
with video, control, time code, and
other data. Certainly optical storage
is an excellent complement to other
contemporary audio technologies,
offering all the capacity and speed
currently required. In comparison,
other audio storage media are show-
lng their age. Over the coming dec-
ade, any and all users of audio media
will have to evaluate their recording
technology in light of the CD and
opticalstorage.
At the same time it is certain that
other technology-driven industries
will endorse the CD and optical stor-
age. In very direct terms, the CD thus
further integrates the audio industry
with the video and computer indus-
tries. Soon, with technology such as
the CD, the distinctions between
these fields, and the expertise of the
practitioners, will become blurred
indeed. Certainly, in terms of pro-
fessional challenge and new market
potential, the audio industry wel-
comes the CD and anticipates the fu-
ture evolutions of technology and
applications it will engender.
280
[ ]
The material used in this article is
excerpted from Ken Pohlmann's
forthcoming book, The Compact Disc
Handbook, edited by John Strawn,
and published by A-R Editions Inc.,
315 W. Gorham St., Madison, WI
53703.
[1] M. G. Carasso, J. B. H. Peek,
and J. P. Sinjou, "The Compact Disc
Digital Audio System," Philips Tech.
Rev., vol. 40, no. 6 (1982).
[2] K. C. Pohlmann, The Compact
Disc Handbook (A-R Editions,
1988).
[3] K. C. Pohlmann, Principles of
Digital Audio (Howard W. Sams,
Indianapolis, IN, 1985).
[4] J. P. J. Heemskerk and K.A.
Schouhamer Immink, "Compact Disc
System Aspects and Modulation,"
Philips Tech. Rev., vol. 40, no. 6
(1982).
[5] R. W. Hamming, Coding and
Information Theory (Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1980).
[6] H. Hoeve, J. Timmermans,
and L. B. Vries, "Error Correction
and Concealment in the Compact
Disc System," Philips Tech. Rev.,
vol. 40, no. 6 (1982).
[7] L. B. Vries, and K. Odaka,
"CIRC--The Error-Correcting Code
for the Compact Disc Digital Audio
System," Digital Audio, Collected
Papers from the AES Premiere Con-
ference (Rye, NY, 1982 June), pp.
178-186.
[8] H. Ogawa and K. A. Schou-
hamer Immink, "EFM--The Mod-
ulation Method for the Compact Disc
Digital Audio System," Digital Au-
dio, Collected Papers from the AES
Premiere Conference (Rye, NY, 1982
June), pp. 117-124.
[9] K.A. Schouhamerlmminkand
U. Gross, "Optimization of Low-
Frequency Properties of Eight-to-
Fourteen Modulation," Radio Elec-
tron. Eng., vol. 53 (1983 Feb.).
[10] J. R. Watkinson, "Principles
of Optical Storage," Electron. Wire-
less World (1985 Mar./Apr.).
[11] Philips International B.V.,
CD FORMATS
]
"An Integrated Approach to CD
Players, Part 1: The Optical Pick-
up," Electron. Compon. Appl., vol.
6, no. 4 (1984).
[12] J. Matull, "ICs for Compact
Disc Decoders," Elec. Compon.
Appl. (1982 May).
[13] M. G. Goedhart, J. B. H.
Peek, and J. P. Sinjou, "Digital-to-
Analog Conversion in Playing a
Compact Disc," Philips Tech. Rev.,
vol. 40, no. 6 (1982).
[14] Audio Engineering Society,
"AES RecommendedPractice for
Digital Audio Engineering--Serial
Transmission Format for Linearly
Represented Digital Audio Data,"
J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 33, pp.
975- 984 (1985 Dec.).
[15] S. Lambert and S. Ropiequet,
Eds., CD-ROM, The New Papyrus
(Microsoft Press, 1986).
[16] J. P. Roth, Essential Guide
to CD-ROM (Meckler Publishing,
1986).
[17] Denon, Nippon Cdl_mbia
Co., Ltd., "CD-ROM Disc Technical
Information" (1986 Mar.).
[18] J. B. Schwerin, CD-ROM
Standards: The Book (Learned In-
formation Ltd., 1986).
[19] K. C. Pohlmann, "Technical
Overview of the CD-I Format" Mu-
sic and Digital Technology, Proc.
AES 5th Internat. Conf. (1987 May),
pp. 223-232.
[20] OpticalMediainPerspective
(Philips International B.V., 1987
Mar.).
[21] A General Introduction to
CD-Interactive (Philips International
B.V., 1986 Oct.).
[22] D. F. Dixon, S. J. Golin, and
I.H. Has hfield, "DVI Video/Graph-
ics," Computer Graph. World (1987
July).
[23] S. Lambert and J. Sallis,
Eds., CD-I and Interactive Videodisc
Technology (Howard W. Sams, In-
dianapolis, IN, 1987).
[24] K. A. Schouhamer Immink,
A.H. Hoogendijk, and J. A. Kahl-
man, "Digital Audio Modulation in
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No, 4, 1988 April
the PAL and NTC Optical Video Disk
Coding Formats," J. Audio Eng.
Soc., vol. 32, pp. 883--888 (1984
Nov.).
[25] G. Bouwhuis and P. Burg-
stede, "The Optical Scanning System
of the Philips 'VLP' Record Player,"
Philips Tech. Rev., vol. 33, no. 7
(1973).
[26] K. Compaan and P. Kramer,
"The Philips 'VLP' System," Philips
Tech. Rev., vol. 33, no. 7 (1973).
[27] P. J. M. Janssen and P.E.
Day, "Control Mechanisms in the
Philips 'VLP' Record Player," Phil-
Access Time
Time interval for the laser pickup
to locate and begin reading data from
any point on the CD.
A/D (Analog-to-Digital)
Converter
Electric circuit that converts an
instantaneous point of an analog sig-
nal to a digital word, represented as
a binary number,
AES/EBU Serial Transmission
Format ,:
Signaltransmissionformat to con-
vey digital audio data. Increasingly,
CD players have this digital output
to transfer data to digital-input am-
plifiers,
Aliasing
Unwanted frequencies created
when sampling a signal of a fre-
quency higher than half the sampling
rate (Nyquist frequency). Anti-al-
iasing filters in digital recordersen-
sure that aliasing will not occur.
Analog
Physical quantity or data charac-
terized by being continuously vari-
able rather than discrete. Acoustical
waveforms are analog in nature.
282
ips Tech. Rev., vol. 33, no. 7 (1973).
[28] W. van den Bussche, A. H.
Hoogendijk, and J. H. Wessels,
"Signal Processing in the Philips
'VLP' System," Philips Tech. Rev.,
vol. 33, no. 7 (1973).
[29] E. S. Rothchild, "Optical
Memory: Data Storage by 'Laser,"
Byte (1984 Oct.).
[30] K. A. Schouhamer Immink
and J. J. M. Braat, "Experiments
Toward an Erasable Compact Disc
Digital Audio System," J. Audio
Eng. Soc., vol. 32, pp. 531-538
(1984 July/Aug.).
Anti-Aliasing Filter
Low-pass filter used at the input
of digital audio recorders to attenuate
frequencies above the half-sampling
frequency, to prevent aliasing,
Anti-Imaging Filter
Low-pass filter used at the output
of digital audio reproducers, such as
CD players, to attenuate frequencies
above the half-sampling frequency
and to eliminate supersonic image
spectra present at multiples of the
sampling frequency.
Aperture Circuit
Sample-and-hold circuit used to
buffer instability in the analog signal
andto correctfor high-frequencyroll-
off following the D/A converter.
Autofocus
Method used in CD player pickups
to maintain focus of the objective lens
on the pit surface.
Autotracking
Method used in CD player pickups
to maintain tracking of the laser spot
on the pit track.
Bandlimited
Defined and finite frequency band.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[31] G. Bouwhuis, J. Braat, A.
Huijser, J. Pasman, G. van Rosma-
len, and K. Schouhamer Immink,
Principles of Optical Disc Systems
(Adam Hilger Ltd., Bristol and Bos-
ton, 1985).
[32] J. Isailovic, Videodisc and
Optical Memory Systems (Prentice-
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1985).
:i;
Bandwidth
Range between lower and upper
limiting frequencies; width of a band
of frequencies; also, maximum amount
of information (for example, bits)
capable of transmission or storage.
Beam
Laser light used in the optical
pickup to recover data from the disk,
as well as to provide for focusing
and tracking.
Binary
Condition in which there are two
possible states; for example, the bi-
nary number system (base 2) using
the digits 0 and 1.
Bit
Smallest amount of digital infor-
mation; abbreviation for Binary
digiT. A bit can store only two states,
a 0 and a 1.
Bit Rate
Rate or frequency at which bits
appear in a bit stream. The bit rate
of raw data from a CD is 4.3218
MHz.
Brickwall
Refers to slope of a filter with steep
attenuation. Analog anti-aliasing and
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
 anti-imaging filters have brickwall CD-V (Compact Disc Video)
characteristics. System storing 5 min of analog
Buffer video and digital audio plus 20 min
Memory used to provide consistent of digital audio only on a 120-mm-
rate of data flow from an inconsistent diameter disk, and longer times on
source. A crystal-clockedbuffervir- 200- or 300-mm-diameter optical
tually eliminates wow and flutter in disks.
digital audio systems. CIRC (Cross-Interleave Reed-
Burst Error Solomon Code)
Large number of data bits lost on Method of error detection and
the medium due to excessive damage correction using data interleaving and
or obstruction on the medium. Error the Reed-Solomon error-correction
correction can compensate for burst code algorithm; used in all CD for-
errors, to a limit, mats.
Cylindrical Lens
Optical component used in some
optical pickups to create an elliptical
pattern, through astigmatism, to
generate a focusing signal.
D/A (Digital-to-Analog)
Converter
Electric circuit that converts a bi-
nary-coded word to an equivalent
analog voltage. A CD player may
have one D/A converter shared be-
tween audio channels, or one D/A
per channel. The latter is preferred.
Data, Analog
Any physical representations of
information processed by an analog
circuit.

DICTIONARY Data, Digital

Anynumerical information
cessed by a digital circuit.
pro-

Diffraction Grating
............... Opticalcomponent usedin three-
beam pickups to split the laser beam
Byte Clock into secondary beams; to be used for
Group of bits operating together, Timing device that generates the tracking.
Usually 8 bits. basic periodic signal used as a source
of synchronizing signals in digital Digital
CAV (Constant Angular equipment. Crystal control ensures Use of numbers (typically binary)
Velocity) precision, to represent information.
Disk rotating at a consant number
of revolutions per second. The LP is CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) Digital Audio
a CAV system at 33V3 r/min. Disk rotating at a varying number Use of sampling and quantization
of revolutions per second to maintain techniques to store or transmit audio
CD-Audio (Compact Disc Digital a constant relative velocity between information.
Audio System) pickup and track across the disk ra-
System storing of digital audio and dius. The CD is a CLV system, ro- Digital Filter
subcode information on a 120-mm- tating at 200-500 r/min.
diameter optical disk. Any filter characteristic accom-
plished in the digital domain. Digital
Compact Disc filters may use oversampling to yield
CD-I (Compact Disc Interactive) 120-mm-diameter disk holding the characteristic needed for the anti-
System storing digital audio, audio program or other nonaudio aliasing and anti-imaging filters.
video, text, and graphics information data. The disk is made of plastic, However, digital filtering does not
interactively, with user control over with a top metalized layer, and read introduce phase distortion common
content and presentation, on a 120- by reflected laser light, to brickwall analog filters.
mm-diameter optical disk.

CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read- CRCC (Cyclic Redundancy Digital Sum Value
Only Memory) Check Code) Value representing the difference
Method of storing digitally coded Error-detection code that is re- between the lengths of the pits and
information, usually computer or corded with the audio information at fiats comprising the bit stream; min-
database related, on a 120-mm-di- a specified interval; code data derived imized to suppress low-frequency
ameter optical disk. from the audio data. content of signal.

CD-Single Cutoff Frequency Digitization

System storing 20 min of digital Frequency above or below which Any conversion of analog infor-
audio on an 80-mm-diameter disk. a filter effectively attenuates, mation into digital form.

J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April 283

 couPA
cT ,SCD,C ONA.¥-;
Discrete-Time Sampling
Technique of representing a Method used to repair an error in
waveform at discrete instants of time
with a set of periodic pulses; the basis
of digital audio,
Disk Drive
Mechanismfor supporting and rD-
taring the disk. Often magnetic
clamping is used to ensure a tight,
nonvibrating grip on the disk.
Dither
Analog noise added to the input
of a digital signal processing or re-
cording chain to reduce the effect of
quantizing error at low-level signals.
Dither must be added at the input
when the digital recording is made.
Dropout
Error condition in which bits are
incorrect or lost from a medium. A
disk defect or obstruction could cause
a dropout,
DVI (Digital Video Interactive)
Technology using data compres-
sion techniques to store 1 hour of
digital video and audio information
on a 120-mm-diameter optical disk.
EFM (Eight-to-Fourteen
Modulation)
Encoding technique used in CD
mastering to convert 8 bits of digital
data to 14 bits. This defines pit
structure, increases data density, and
enhances tracking. The player per-
forms EFM demodulation.
Emphasis
Boosting of high frequencies in the
audio signal during recording, then
deemphasizing or correspondingly
attenuating them during playback.
This increases the signal-to-noise
ratio. A CD with emphasis is iden-
tiffed by a set emphasis bit, and the
player automatically performs
deemphasis,
Erasable Optical Storage
Optical medium upon which data
can be written, read, then erased, and
written again; reversible medium,
284
Error Concealment
the audio signal. Through interpo-
lation new data are derived from ad-
jacent error-free data blocks. An ap-
proximation to the original data is
generated.
Error Correction
Method using a coding system to
correct data errors by use of inter-
leaved data or redundant data within
a data block. Corrected data are
identical tol the original,
Error Detection
Coding system which provides a
method of determining errors that
occur in a digital data stream.
Eye Pattern
High-frequency or radio-frequency
data signal output from the optical
pickup,
Fiberoptics
Technology of using glass fibers
to convey light and modulated in-
formation. Some CD players have
fiberoptic outputs for noise-free
transfer of data to the amplifier,
Frame
Basic unit of data representation
on a CD disk, containing synchro-
nization, subcode, audio data, and
parity,
Index Numbers
Delineations found in the subcode
of some CDs, marking points of ref-
erence in the audio program,
Initialization
Process of reading the table of
contents when a CD is first loaded
in a player. Initialization is accom-
plished automatically; most players
display disk track numbers and time
after initialization.
Interleaving
Process of rearranging the time
sequence of data. Upon deinterleav-
lng, errors in consecutive bits or
words are distributed to a wider area
to guard against consecutive errors
in the storage medium.
Interpolation
Method used to conceal errors by
using adjacent data to determine the
approximate value of missing data;
error concealment technique.
Land
Reflective substrate between pits
on the CD data surface. The land
provides almost complete reflection
of the laser light.
Laser (Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of
Radiation)
Device that generates coherent,
monochromatic light waves in the
light spectrum. All CD players con-
tain a semiconductor
laser in their
optical pickup.
Low-Pass Filter
Filter with a characteristic that al-
lows all frequencies below a specified
roll-off to pass and that attenuates
all frequencies above. Anti-aliasing
and anti-imaging filters are low-pass
filters.
Mastering
Process of encoding audio and
control data on a glass master disk,
prior to CD replication.
Matricing
Production of metal impressions
from master or submaster CD disks,
to be used for disk molding.
MCR (Magnetooptical
Recording)
Erasable optical disk system using
magnetic media and laser reading/
writing.
Modulation
Process of varying a carrier signal
according to the instantaneous value
of an input signal.
d. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April

Multiplexing
Process of combining independent
signals. Demultiplexing reverses the
process,
NRZ (Nonreturn to Zero)
Digital recording code in which the
state of the medium changes posi-
tively with a 0/1, and negatively with
a 1/0 signal change.
NRZI (Nonreturn to Zero
Inverted)
Digital recording code in which the
state of the medium is reversed every
time a 1 is recorded and remains
constant when a 0 is recorded.
Nyquist Frequency
Highest audio frequency that may
be accurately sampled. The Nyquist
frequency is one half the sampling
frequency; for a CD system it is 22.05
kHz.
Objective Lens
Optical component used in laser
pickups to focus laser light on the
disk data surface.
One-Beam Tracking
Optical pickup design in which a
single laser spot is used for data re-
covery, tracking, and focusing,
Optical Pickup
Optical device using laser light to
convey data from a disk.
Oversampling
Digital technique in which samples
are interpolated, typically by 2 or 4
timesrate, to accomplishdigitalill-
tering of the signal, prior to D/A
conversion. A gentle analog anti-
imaging filter is still required after
oversampling to remove extreme
supersonic frequencies,
PAM (Pulse-Amplitude
Modulation)
Method in which the amplitude of
pulses in a pulse train represents the
analog information,
286
DISCDICTIONARY
Parallel
Simultaneous presence of bits in
a data word on multiple conductors,
PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation)
Method in which digital words in
a bit stream represent samples of an-
alog information; basis of most dig-
ital audio recordings.
Pitch
Distance between adjacent tracks
of a data track. The pitch of the pit
spiral on CDs is 1.6 lam.
Pits
Physical impressions on a disk
substrate storing the data. Viewed
as bumps by the reading laser, they
diffract the light, decreasing the in-
tensity of light returned to the pickup,
Player
Mechanical and electrical device
used to recover data from a disk.
Polycarbonate
Transparent plastic material used
to form the substrate for CDs.
Premastering
Process of integration of digital
data code, error correction, and sub-
codes, and of conversion to the CD
data format prior to disk mastering,
Quantization
Process of converting an infinitely
variable amplitude of an analog
waveform to a finite series of discrete
levels expressed as binary words,
performed by A/D converter.
Quantization Error
Error resulting from quantizing an
analog waveform to a discrete level;
the longer the word length, the less
the error.
Random-Access Memory (RAM)
Memory in which data may be read
and written regardless of address,
RandomBit Error
Error in a digital data stream where
only a few bits are lost; corrected by
errorcorrection.
Read
Nondestructive reading of data
from a medium.
Read-Only Memory (ROM)
Memoryfromwhichdatamayonly
be read, after initial storage. The CD
is a read-only memory.
Sampling
Process of storing the amplitude
of a signal at a particular point in
time, represented by a number.
Sampling Rate
Frequency that an analog signal is
sampled; expressed in hertz. The
sample rate used on CDs is 44 100
samples per second (44.1 kHz). Since
the CD reproduces stereo sound,
88 200 samples are stored for each
second of sound on the disk.
Sampling Theorem
Theorem stating that a bandlimited
continuous waveform may be exactly
represented by a series of discrete
samples. The sampling frequency
must be at least twice the highest
frequency contained in the wave-
form.
SCSI (Small Computer Standard
Interface)
Standard 8-bit parallel interface
used to connect peripherals such as
a CD-ROM player to a microcom-
purer.
Serial
Arrangement of data in linear se-
quence; transmission of data through
a communications line.
Servo Mechanism
Control device or system that reads
its own output to determine the de-
gree of further output as compared
to its input.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April
S/H (Sample-and-Hold Circuit)
Circuit that captures and retains
an analog signal for a finite period
of time. The input S/H precedes the
A/D converter, allowing time for
conversion. An output S/H (aperture
circuit) follows the D/A converter,
smoothing glitches and compensating
for aperture error,
Spiral Track
Pit track spiral physically encoding
data on a CD, running from the in-
nermost diameter to the outermost.
The spiral track on a disk may be 3
miles long, containing over 3 billion
pits.
Subcode
Data encoded on a CD that contain
definable information, such as track
number, timings, copy inhibit, and
copyright,
Substrate
Material upon which a device is
constructed and supported. A CD is
made of a polycarbonate substrate,
Table of Contents
Nonaudio data contained in the
lead-in area of a CD, storing initial-
ization data, such as track and time
information; read during disk ini-
tialization,
Three-Beam Tracking
Optical pickup design in which a
laser beam is split into three spots,
the center spot being used for data
recoveryand focusing, and the sec-
ondary spots for tracking.
Track Numbers
Numbering of songs or movements
on a disk. This information is con-
tainedin the subcode,
Tracking Error
Error condition in which the optical
pickup deviates from the pit track,
perhaps caused by an obstruction or
disk defect.
Transversal Filter
Numerical filter using a shift reg-
ister, multipliers, and adder to per-
form digital filtering; circuit used in
many CD players.
Wow and Flutter
Variation in transport speed from
mechanical error; negligible in the
CD system, since it is electronically
compensatedby buffering.
Write
To record data on a medium.
Write-Once Media
System in which data may be written
once, but not erased and rewritten.

THE AUTHOR

Ken C. Pohlmann is an associate professor of

music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables,
Florida, and a director of the undergraduate and
graduate Music Engineering Technology programs
there. He received B.S. and M.S degrees in
electrical engineering from the University of Illinois
in Urbana-Champaign in 1974 and 1976,
respectively. His teachers have included James
Beauchamp, Sal Martirano, and Herbert Br0n.
Professor Pohlmann is the author of Principles
of DigitalAudio (1985) and The Compact Disc
Handbook (1988). In addition, he has published
over 300 articles in popular audio magazines,
including Audio, Car Stereo Review,db, Digital
Audio and Compact Disc Review, Electronics
Australia,Mix, Sound and Vision,and Stereo
Review. He is editor-at-large of DigitalAudio and
Compact Disc Review, technical editor of Car
Stereo Review and Mix magazine, and
contributing editor of Audio and Sound and Vision.
He is chief recording engineer for the Greater
Miami Opera. He cofounded International
Business Information Systems, Inc., Miami, a
business computer export company, and
Microcomputer Arts, Inc., also in Miami, a music
synthesis design company. He also cofounded
U.S. Digital Disc Corporation, a New-York-based
company for consulting, and for manufacturing of
Compact Discs. Professor Pohlmann also works
independently as a consultant to the audio
industry.

J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 36, No. 4, 1988 April 287