TRACKING ERROR SIGNAL GENERATING CIRCUIT FOR A MULTICHANNEL TYPE OPTICAL DISC PLAYER

PCT No. PCT/JP90/00522 Sec. 371 Date Dec. 11, 1990 Sec. 102(e) Date Dec. 11, 1990 PCT Filed Apr. 23, 1990 PCT Pub. No. WO90/13116 PCT Pub. Date Nov. 1, 1990.In an apparatus for recording or reproducing signals recorded in tracks on an optical disk, a plurality of main light beams and a plurality of auxiliary light beams are generated and directed so that each of the main light beams impinge on a separate one of the tracks on the optical disk and each of the auxiliary light beams impinge between the tracks, main read light beams, corresponding to the reflections of the main light beams from the disk, and auxiliary read light beams, corresponding to reflections of the auxiliary light beams from the disk, are directed to a photosensor assembly, and the photosensor assembly includes a plurality of sensors for separately sensing each of the main read light beams and the auxiliary read light beams. Each of the sensors is bifurcated to produce a pair of output signals for each sensor. A tracking error is produced by summing the differences of the output signals from each sensor which senses a main read light beam to produce a first difference signal, summing the differences of the output signals from each sensor which senses an auxiliary read light beam to produce a second difference signal, and taking the difference of the first and second difference signals.