The tantalising prospect of DVDs capable of holding almost a terabyte of data – or several hundred movies – has been presented in a patent issued to US storage company Iomega.

The US patent describes a disc that could store 40 to 100 times more information that a conventional DVD, using more nanometre-scale sloped ridges to diffract light. US patent number 6879556 – entitled “Method and Apparatus for Optical Data Storage” – was issued to Iomega on April 12 2005.

About Fred C Thomas III

Fred Charles Thomas III - Engineer and Inventor

Fred Thomas received a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Physics from Bucknell University in 1982. In 1990 he received a MS in Mechanical Engineering specializing in Control Systems and Non-linear Dynamics.

His awards include the International Design Excellence Award in 2009, Industrial Forum Product Design Award in 2008, "Nano50 Award" for "Subwavelength Optical Data Storage" in 2005, Lemelson-MIT "Inventor of the Week" Award in 2004, Iomega "Exceptional Invention Award" in 1999, and Laser Focus World "Electro-Optic Application of the Year Award" in 1994. 

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