Optical disc system and related detecting methods for analysis of microscopic structures

1. An optical disc system, comprising:

a hybrid disc comprising

an optical disc comprising a data carrying layer coupled to a substrate layer, the data carrying layer having an outer diameter that is less than an outer diameter of the substrate layer; and

a ring shaped sample carrier having an inner diameter equal to about the outer diameter of the data carrying layer, the sample carrier having one or more recesses formed in a bottom surface of the sample carrier, the recesses configured to hold biological samples, wherein the sample carrier is configured for mounting on the optical disc so that the data carrying layer of the optical disc is inserted into the inner diameter of the sample carrier and the bottom surface of the sample carrier is adjacent the optical disc;

an objective assembly for sending an incident beam toward the hybrid disc;

a photo detector circuit for generating at least one information-carrying signal in response to receiving at least a portion of the incident beam after the incident beam interacts with the hybrid disc;

a signal processing system coupled to the photo detector circuit for determining operational information used to operate the optical disc system and data related to the one or more biological samples; and

an adjustment lens coupled at the exit position on said objective assembly whereby said incident beam is refracted to allow said optical disc system to read said hybrid disc.

2. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further comprises a detection mechanism that uses a signal generated by an automatic gain control system.

3. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further comprises a detection mechanism that uses a signal generated by a focusing servo within said optical disc system to detect the presence of said investigational feature on said hybrid disc.

4. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further comprises a detection mechanism that uses a signal generated by a tracking servo within said optical disc system to detect the presence of said investigational feature on said hybrid disc.

5. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further comprises a detection mechanism that uses a signal generated by a power control mechanism within said optical disc system to detect the presence of said investigational feature on said hybrid disc.

6. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further comprises a detection mechanism that uses a signal generated by a synchronization mechanism within said optical disc system to detect the presence of said investigational feature on said hybrid disc.

7. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further comprises a detection mechanism that uses a signal generated by an encoding and decoding mechanism within said signal processing system to detect the presence of investigational feature on said hybrid disc.

8. An objective assembly for sending an incident beam toward an optical disc with an air-incident surface carrying at least one investigational feature;

a photo detector circuit of an optical disc drive configured to generate at least one information-carrying signal from an optical disc assembly;

a signal processing system coupled to the photo detector circuit to obtain from said at least one information-carrying signal both operational information used to operate the optical disc system and indicia data indicative of a presence of said investigational feature;

an adjustment lens coupled at the exit position on an said objective assembly whereby said incident beam is refracted to allow said optical disc system to read said optical disc;

a channel bit generator wherein known good data bits are generated and added to data bits received from said informational-carrying signal to produce a sum of bits; and

a block decoder whereby said sum of bits is sent to said block decoder wherein block error information can be obtained.

9. The optical disc system of claim 1 further comprises a prism whereby the birefringent properties of an area of said optical disc is measured.

10. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further includes a lookup table optimized for the detection of said one or more biological samples.

11. The optical disc system of claim 1 further comprises a solid immersion lens.

12. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein the signal processing system includes programming logic to read error codes in the decoder of said optical disc system and detect the presence of said one or more biological samples.

13. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said hybrid disc is a reverse wobble image hybrid disc.

14. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said optical disc contains a embedded data mask for enhancing an error signal caused by said investigational feature.

15. The optical disc system of claim 1 wherein said signal processing system further includes a trigger detection circuit that detects a registration mark on said hybrid disc, wherein said registration mark uses autocorrelation codes to trigger the beginning and end of a detection period.

16. The optical disc system of claim 1 , wherein the sample carrier is removably mounted on the optical disc so that other sample carriers containing additional biological samples may be placed on the optical disc.

17. The optical disc system of claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the substrate layer is about 12 cm and the diameter of the data carrying layer is about 8 cm.