A method and system are disclosed for counting errors occurring within an
optical compact disk system as data is read from an optically encoded
compact disk. In a preferred embodiment error flag data are generated as
errors occur within the optical compact disk system. From the error flag
data, error flag bits corresponding to errors in reading information from
an optically encoded disk are identified for further processing. Further
processing includes, among other things, keeping a total count of errors,
keeping a count of single occurring errors, keeping a count of multiple
occurring errors. Furthermore, by keeping error count information, the
operation of the optical compact disk system may be interrupted upon the
exceeding of a predetermined threshold. From the error count information
the hardware, software and firmware within the optical compact disk system
is optimized for increased performance.
