Packaging system with oxygen sensor for limited life optical media

Abstract

A packaging system and/or storage arrangement for limited life optical media that includes a provision to indicate the presence of oxygen and/or the amount of oxygen present. An oxygen-sensitive material is placed inside a sealable container. The oxygen-sensitive material will undergo a detectable change in the presence of oxygen and/or a detectable change occurs that will correspond to the amount of oxygen present in the sealable container. The detectable change provides an indication of the presence of oxygen and/or a measure of the amount of oxygen inside the sealable container.

1 . A sealable container comprising: 
 an optical storage device, said optical storage device configured to have a limited usable life for at least a portion of data stored on the optical storage device;    a container, said container encloses said optical storage device and said optical storage device resides therein;    an oxygen sensitive material, said oxygen sensitive material resides within said container.    
   
   
       2 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said oxygen sensitive material resides on the optical storage device.  
   
   
       3 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said oxygen sensitive material resides on an internal surface of said container.  
   
   
       4 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said oxygen sensitive material is integral to said container.  
   
   
       5 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said oxygen sensitive material is in the shape of a small dot.  
   
   
       6 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said container is selected from one of a package, bag, chamber, packet, pouch, receptacle, repository, sack, storage device, case, envelop, casing, cover, covering, enclosure, pocket, or wrapping.  
   
   
       7 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said sealable container is sealable by at least one mechanical and chemical mechanism.  
   
   
       8 . The sealable container of  claim 7 , wherein said sealable container is re-sealable after once being opened.  
   
   
       9 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , further comprising a window in said container, said window allows observation of said oxygen sensitive material.  
   
   
       10 . The sealable container of  claim 1 , wherein said optical storage device is selected from at least one of CD-ROM, CD-WORM, CD-I, DVI, CD-EMO, OD3, ODD, Video Disk, IVD, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, DVD-Audio, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R, SACD, holographic versatile discs, and 3-D optical storage devices.  
   
   
       11 . A method for observing the amount of oxygen in the sealable container of  claim 1  comprising: 
 observing at least one spectral property of the oxygen sensitive material; and    comparing the observed spectral properties of the oxygen sensitive material to a set of known properties of the oxygen sensitive material.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 illuminating said oxygen sensitive material with a pulsed blue light from an LED;    detecting the amount of red light given off by the oxygen sensitive material using a photo-detector;    measuring the fluorescence lifetime;    comparing the amount of red light given off by the oxygen sensitive material and the fluorescence lifetime to the set of know properties for the oxygen sensitive material; and    determining the amount of oxygen in said sealable container.