Fluid mediated disk activation and deactivation mechanisms

• US 20070070868A1
• Filed: 08/14/2006
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Ferren, Bran, Jung, Edward, Goodall, Eleanor
• Granted Patent: US 7,694,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 369/273
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00608 wherein the material that the record carrier is made of is altered, e.g. adding reactive dyes that alter the optical properties of a disc after prolonged exposure to light or air
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00826 wherein a spoiler signal is added to degrade the signal quality
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00876 wherein physical copy protection means are attached to the medium, e.g. holograms, sensors, or additional semiconductor circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/281 by changing the physical properties of the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/284 on the record carrier

Abstract

Embodiments of methods and systems for controlling access to information stored on memory or data storage devices are disclosed. In various embodiments, fluid-mediated modification of information or access to information is utilized. According to various embodiments, data storage devices designed for rotating access are described which include rotation-activated fluid control mechanisms.

Claims

1-53. -53. (canceled)

54. A data storage device comprising:

a substrate;

machine-readable data stored on said substrate;

at least one rotation activatable fluid release mechanism on said substrate, said fluid release mechanism configured to release a material having fluid-like properties onto a portion of the data storage device, the material including a liquid; and

a modifiable feature susceptible to modification in response to release of said material by said fluid release mechanism.

55. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said modifiable feature comprises a mechanical property of said data storage device.

56. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said modifiable feature comprises an optical property of said data storage device.

57. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said modifiable feature comprises an electrical property of said data storage device.

58. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said modifiable feature comprises a magnetic property of said data storage device.

59. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said modifiable feature comprises a chemical property of said data storage device.

60. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said material adheres to said data storage device.

61. The data storage device of claim 54, wherein said material causes chemical etching of said data storage device.

62. A data storage device comprising:

a substrate configured for rotating access;

a data storage medium capable of storing machine-readable data carried by said substrate;

a reservoir on said substrate adapted to contain a fluid;

a fluid responsive region on said substrate configured to receive fluid from said reservoir and upon receipt of said fluid to undergo a change; and

a pressure sensitive barrier between said reservoir and said fluid responsive region adapted to prevent flow of fluid from said reservoir to said fluid responsive region if the pressure drop across said pressure sensitive barrier is below a first pressure difference and to permit flow of fluid from said reservoir to said fluid responsive region if the pressure drop across said pressure sensitive barrier exceeds said first pressure difference;

wherein pressure across said pressure sensitive barrier sufficient to permit movement of fluid from said reservoir is obtainable by spinning said substrate.

63. The data storage device of claim 62, wherein said data storage device is an optically readable disk, and wherein pressure across said pressure sensitive barrier sufficient to permit movement of fluid from said reservoir is obtainable by spinning said substrate in an optical disk drive at normal read speeds.

64. The data storage device of claim 62, wherein said data storage device is an optically readable disk, and wherein pressure across said pressure sensitive barrier sufficient to permit movement of fluid from said reservoir is obtainable by spinning said substrate in an optical disk drive at speeds above normal read speeds.

65. The data storage device of claim 62, said data storage device is a magnetically readable disk, and wherein pressure across said pressure sensitive barrier sufficient to permit movement of fluid from said reservoir is obtainable by spinning said substrate in a magnetic disk drive at normal read speeds.

66. The data storage device of claim 62, wherein said fluid comprises an electrically conductive material, wherein said fluid responsive region comprises a fluid switch, and wherein upon receipt of said fluid, said fluid switch converts to a conductive state from a non-conductive state.

67. The data storage device of claim 62, wherein said fluid modifies an optical property of at least a portion of said data storage device.

68. The data storage device of claim 62, further comprising:

a first radial channel segment extending radially outward from said pressure sensitive barrier and adapted to receive fluid from said reservoir;

a connecting channel segment adapted to receive fluid from said first radial channel segment; and

a second radial channel segment extending radially inward from said connecting channel segment adapted to deliver fluid from said connecting channel segment to said fluid responsive region.

69. The data storage device of claim 68, wherein pressure sufficient to produce movement of fluid from said connecting channel segment to said fluid responsive medium is produced by capillary interaction of said fluid and said second radial channel segment in the absence of centrifugal force generated by spinning said substrate.

70. The data storage device of claim 68, wherein pressure sufficient to produce movement of fluid from said connecting channel segment to said fluid responsive medium is produced by capillary interaction of said fluid and said second radial channel segment in the presence of centrifugal force generated by spinning said substrate.

71. A data storage device comprising:

a substrate;

a degradation-sensitive data storage medium on said substrate;

a fluid reservoir capable of containing a fluid; and

a rotation activatable fluid release mechanism for controlling release of fluid from said reservoir to facilitate degradation of said data storage medium by an additional degradation-inducing influence, the additional degradation inducing influence comprising at least one of light, heat, electromagnetic radiation, a magnetic field, an electrical field, or pressure.

72. The data storage device of claim 71, wherein degradation of said data storage medium includes one or more of destruction of said data storage medium, modification of said data storage medium, modification of data stored in said data storage medium, and modification of signal-to-noise ratio of data stored in said data storage medium.