Digital video recorder wide dynamic range optical power calibration

1. A method for optimizing a write operation for optical storage media, comprising:

determining at least in part by iteration a next power range and a current online power range calibration (OPRC) score for a current power range;

determining at least in part by iteration if the current score is relatively equivalent to a maximum OPRC score, then updating and returning a plurality of final parameters including an optimal power range and a final OPRC score;

if the determining at least in part by iteration of the current score is relatively greater than the final score, updating the plurality of final parameters; and

if a maximum amount of determining iterations is performed, providing the plurality of final parameters, else updating the current power range with the next power range, wherein one or more of the provided plurality of final parameters are employed to optimize the write operation for optical storage media.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current score further comprises:

determining a validity of each of a plurality of test data segments;

selecting a score calculation criterion; and

calculating the current score based at least in part on the score calculation criterion, and on a number and a sequence of valid test data segments.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the score calculation criterion is a beta modulation criterion.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the score calculation criterion is a modulation amplitude criterion.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current score further comprises:

measuring a maximum signal level, a minimum signal level and an average signal level of test data read from each of a plurality of test data segments; and

determining a validity of each test data segment based at least in part on the maximum, minimum, and average signal levels.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the next power range further comprises:

identifying a contiguous sequence of one or more valid test data segments; and

selecting the next power range based at least in part on the contiguous sequence of valid test data segments.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting the next power range is further based at least in part on a score calculation criterion and the current power range.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising calculating an optimal power level for the write operation, and wherein the plurality of final parameters further includes the optimal power level.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reading result data written by a previous attempt to determine the optimal power range, wherein the result data at least indicates the previous attempt failed; and

returning an initial power range as the optimal power range.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

reading result data written by a previous attempt to determine the optimal power range, wherein the result data at least indicates the previous attempt succeeded; and

returning at least a portion of the result data as the optimal power range.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initializing the plurality of final parameters, and initializing the current power range to an initial power range.

12. A processor readable storage medium having non-transitory processor executable program code instructions tangibly embodied therein that, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to enable actions for optimizing a write operation for optical storage media, the actions comprising:

determining at least in part by iteration a next power range and a current online power range calibration (OPRC) score for a current power range;

determining at least in part by iteration if the current score is relatively equivalent to a maximum OPRC score, then updating and returning a plurality of final parameters including an optimal power range and a final OPRC score;

if the determining at least in part by iteration of the current score is relatively greater than the final score, updating the plurality of final parameters; and

if a maximum amount of determining iterations is performed, providing the plurality of final parameters, else updating the current power range with the next power range, wherein one or more of the provided plurality of final parameters are employed to optimize the write operation for optical storage media.

13. The processor readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein determining the current score further comprises:

determining a validity of each of a plurality of test data segments;

selecting a score calculation criterion; and

calculating the current score based at least in part on the score calculation criterion, and on a number and a sequence of valid test data segments.

14. The processor readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the score calculation criterion is a beta modulation criterion.

15. The processor readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the score calculation criterion is a modulation amplitude criterion.

16. The processor readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the actions further comprise calculating an optimal power level based on the current power range.

17. The processor readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein determining the next power range is based at least in part on a score calculation criterion and the current power range.

18. An apparatus configured to optimize a write operation for optical storage media, comprising:

a memory;

an optical diode, for writing information to the optical storage media;

an optical read unit, for reading information from the optical storage media; and

a processor for performing actions comprising:

determining at least in part by iteration a next power range and a current online power range calibration (OPRC) score for a current power range;

determining at least in part by iteration if the current score is relatively equivalent to a maximum OPRC score, then updating and providing a plurality of final parameters including an optimal power range and a final OPRC score;

if the determining at least in part by iteration of the current score is relatively greater than the final score, updating the plurality of final parameters; and

if a maximum amount of determining iterations is performed, providing the plurality of final parameters, else updating the current power range with the next power range, wherein one or more of the provided plurality of final parameters are employed to optimize the write operation for optical storage media.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the actions further comprise calculating an optimal power level using the optimal power range.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , further comprising:

a maximum hold unit, for receiving information from the optical read unit and for outputting a maximum value;

a minimum hold unit, for receiving information from the optical read unit and for outputting a minimum value; and

an averager, for receiving information from the optical read unit and for outputting an average value; and wherein determining the current score is further based at least in part on the maximum, minimum, and average values.