Data recording apparatus and methods

Claim 2

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising: recordable segment length calculating means for obtaining a recordable segment length from a start address and an end address of one segment in a recordable area, the start and end addresses being read from said control table; and comparing means for comparing said recordable segment length with said guard band length.

Claim 3

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said comparison between said recordable segment length and said guard band length set to a predetermined length is, if a recorded segment is disposed on a recordable segment at its front end and rear end respectively, to compare a length which is double said guard band length with said obtained recordable segment length.

Claim 4

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein, if said recordable segment length is found to be smaller than said guard band length, a next recordable segment is reached by the link information in the control table to perform said predetermined arithmetic operation.

Claim 5

Recording apparatus for recording data onto a recording medium (1) having a recordable area and a recorded area simultaneously, said recorded area and said recordable area comprising either one continuous segment respectively or a plurality of discrete segments respectively, said recording medium (1) further having a control table containing a start address and an end address of said segment or each of said plurality of segments and link information for linking said plurality of segments if said recorded area and said recordable area comprise said plurality of segments, the recording apparatus comprising: recording/reproducing means (3) for recording data onto the recording medium (1) and reading data from the recording medium (1); storing means (13) for storing recording data entered at data recording for a predetermined duration; and control means (11) for controlling read/write operations at a recording/reproducing position by said recording/reproducing means (3) and read/write operations in said storing means (13), said control means (11) further controlling both determining means for determining, before data is written to a recordable area, whether a segment adjacent to a segment of the recordable area is a recorded area and said recording/reproducing means (3) in order to read, if the segment adjacent to the segment of the recordable area is determined to be a recorded area, data for preventing data destruction starting at a predetermined location in the segment of said recorded area, storing said read out data in said storing means (13), and recording said entered data via said storing means (13) when said recording/reproducing means (3) has reached the start address of the segment of said recordable area.

Claim 6

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said control means (11) suspends a data recording operation if a track jump is detected during recording data onto a recordable area and, if data in said recorded area adjacent to the recordable area is destroyed by the track jump, reads from said storing means (13) the data in said recorded area previously stored in said storing means (13) to recover the data in said destroyed recorded area by using said data read from said storing means.

Claim 7

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein, if said recorded area is located before said recordable area, data is read from said recorded area in a portion between a predetermined location near a trailing end of said recorded area and the trailing end to be stored in said storing means (13).

Claim 8

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein, if said recorded area is located after said recordable area, data is read from said recorded area in a portion between a beginning of said recorded area and a predetermined location away from the beginning to be stored in said storing means (13).

Claim 9

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein, if said recorded area is located before and after said recordable area respectively, both the data between the predetermined location near the trailing end of said recorded area before said recordable area and the trailing end and the data between the beginning of the said recorded area after said recordable area and the predetermined location away from the beginning are read to be stored in said storing means (13).

Claim 10

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein, if data in said recorded area adjacent to a recordable area has been destroyed by a track jump, said control means reads the data of said recorded area previously stored in said storing means (13) to record the data from the start address of said recordable area and subsequently record the entered recording data stored in said storing means.

Claim 11

Recording apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein, if a recording operation for recovering the data in said destroyed recorded area has been executed, said control means (11) registers in a control table the recorded area on the recording medium (1) in which the data stored in said storing means (13) was originally recorded as a recordable area.

Claim 12

A re-recording method for an apparatus for recording data onto a recording medium (1) having a recordable area and a recorded area simultaneously, said recorded area and said recordable area comprising either one continuous segment respectively or a plurality of discrete segments respectively, said recording medium (1) further having a control table containing a start address and an end address of said segment or each of said plurality of segments and link information for linking said plurality of segments if said recorded area said recordable area comprise said plurality of segments, the method comprising the steps of: searching the recording medium (1) for a recordable area based on said control table data; extracting a start address and an end address of the detected recordable area from said control table; executing a predetermined arithmetic operation based on the extracted address data and a predetermined guard band length; and controlling a recording operation based on a result of said arithmetic operation.

Claim 13

A re-recording method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step of executing said predetermined arithmetic operation comprises the steps of: determining whether one of the areas adjacent to said recordable area is a recorded area; calculating, if one of the adjacent areas has been determined to be a recorded area, a segment length based on the start address and the end address of said detected recordable area to compare said predetermined guard band length with said segment length; determining, if said segment length has been found greater than said guard band length, whether the area before said recordable area is a recorded area; adding, if said area before said recordable area has been determined to be a recorded area, said start address to said guard band length to store a result of said addition as a recording start address; and controlling a recording start operation based on said recording start address.

Claim 14

A re-recording method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said step of executing a predetermined arithmetic operation comprises the steps of: determining whether one of areas adjacent to said recordable area is a recorded area; calculating, if one of the adjacent areas has been determined to be a recorded area, a segment length based on the start address and the end address of said detected recordable area to compare said predetermined guard band length with said segment length; determining, if said segment length has been found greater than said guard band length, whether the area after said recordable area is a recorded area; subtracting, if said area after said recordable area has been determined to be a recorded area, said guard band length from said end address to store a result of said subtraction as a recording end address; and controlling a recording suspending operation based on said recording end address.

Claim 15

A re-recording method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said step of executing a predetermined arithmetic operation comprises the steps of: determining whether areas adjacent to said recordable area are recorded areas; calculating, if both of the adjacent areas have been determined to be recorded areas, a segment length based on the start address and the end address of said detected recordable area to compare double said predetermined guard band length with said segment length; adding, if said segment length has been found greater than double said guard band length, said start address to said guard band length to store a result of said addition as a recording start address and subtracting said guard band length from said end address to store a result of said subtraction as a recording end address; and controlling a recording operation based on said recording start address and said recording end address.

Claim 16

A re-recording method as claimed in claim 12, wherein a method for controlling a track jump caused during a recording operation comprises the steps of: determining whether a number of tracks jumped is greater than a predetermined number of tracks; suspending the recording operation if the number of tracks jumped has been found greater than the predetermined number of tracks; storing absolute-position information of a destination of the track jump; determining whether the track jump has taken place toward an inner periphery of the recording medium; calculating, if the track jump has been found taking place toward the inner periphery, a recording unit containing an absolute position immediately before said stored absolute-position information of the track jump destination; determining whether data ranging from said calculated recording unit to a recording unit before the track jump remains in storing means; and executing, if said data has been found remaining in said storing means, a recording operation by using said calculated recording unit as a re-recording start address.

Claim 17

A re-recording method for an apparatus for recording data onto a recording medium (1) having a recordable area and a recorded area simultaneously, said recorded area and said recordable area comprising either one continuous segment respectively or a plurality of discrete segments respectively, said recording medium further having a control table containing a start address and an end address of said segment or each of said plurality of segments and link information for linking said plurality of segments if said recorded area and said recordable area comprise said plurality of segments, the method comprising the steps of: setting a writing start address and a writing end address of a recordable area on the recording medium (1) based on said control table data; determining whether an area before said writing start address is a recorded area; subtracting, if the area before said writing start address has been determined to be a recorded area, a predetermined length from said writing start address and storing a result of said subtraction as a past data reading start address for reading data of a predetermined length from said recorded area; positioning an optical pickup (3) to said past data reading start address; setting a past data reading end address to said writing start address; writing data into storing means (13) based on said past data reading start address and said past data reading end address; and storing, when said past data reading end address has been reached, entered data into said storing means (13) and writing the data from said storing means to the recordable area.

Claim 18

A re-recording method as claimed in claim 17, comprising the steps of: detecting whether a track jump has taken place during a recording operation; suspending, if the track jump has been detected, the recording operation; storing an address immediately after the track jump; determining whether the track jump has taken place toward an inner periphery of the recording medium; calculating, if the track jump has been found taking place toward the inner periphery, a recording unit containing an address immediately before said stored address immediately after the track jump to store the calculated recording unit as a rewriting address; comparing said rewriting address with said past data end address; and determining, if said rewriting address has been found smaller than said past data end address, that a data destruction has taken place to set said past data start address to a rewriting start address to record the past data stored in said storing means.

Claim 19

A re-recording method as claimed in claim 17, comprising the steps of: detecting whether a track jump has taken place during a recording operation; suspending, if the track jump has been detected, the recording operation; storing an address immediately after the track jump; determining whether the track jump has taken place toward an inner periphery of the recording medium; calculating, if the track jump has been found taking place toward the inner periphery, a recording unit containing an address immediately before said stored address immediately after the track jump to store the calculated recording unit as a rewriting address; comparing said rewriting address with said past data end address; and determining, if said rewriting address has been found smaller than said past data end address, that a data destruction has taken place to set a rewriting start address to a writing start address of the recordable area to record the past data stored in said storing means.

Claim 20

A recording medium (1) having a recordable area and a recorded area simultaneously, said recorded area and said recordable area comprising either one continuous segment respectively or a plurality of discrete segments respectively, said recording medium (1) further having a control table containing a start address and an end address of said segment or each of said plurality of segments and link information for linking said plurality of segments if said recorded area and said recordable area comprise said plurality of segments, said recording medium (1) being provided with a write-protected guard band of a predetermined length in said recordable area at a portion thereof adjacent to said recorded area.

Claim 21

A recording medium as claimed in claim 20, wherein said write-protected guard band is provided in said recordable area at any one of a front end, a rear end, and both ends thereof.