Information recording method, information recording/reproducing apparatus, and information recording medium

An information recording apparatus comprising:

• a stocker for housing therein a predetermined number of media without being cased;
• and
• means for recording information onto the media by using the stocker,
• wherein said media includes a medium factory-mounted in the stocker and a medium mounted in the stocker from outside the stocker, and said media each have a data area for writing thereon data to be recorded and a management area for writing thereon management information as to whether the medium has previously been outside the stocker or not.

A recording method of an information recording/reproducing apparatus for a first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased at recording and a second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased at recording, said information recording/reproducing apparatus being capable of handling the information recording/reproducing media both when they are not being cased and when they are being cased,

• wherein said information recording/reproducing media each have a medium identifying information section indicating whether the medium is the first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased at recording or the second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased at recording,
• wherein said case has a case presence/absence information section indicating whether the case is present or absent, and
• wherein said information recording/reproducing apparatus recognizes a combination of the kind of the information recording/reproducing medium and the presence or absence of the case by using first detecting means for detecting the contents of the medium identifying information section and second detecting means for detecting the contents of the case presence/absence information section, said information recording/reproducing apparatus changing a recording mode based on a result of the recognition to record information onto the information recording/reproducing medium or perform after-defect-inspection recording or defect-inspecting after recording or inhibit recording of information.

An information recording/reproducing apparatus for a first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased at recording and a second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased at recording, said information recording/reproducing apparatus being capable of handling the information recording/reproducing media both when they are not being cased and when they are being cased,

• wherein said information recording/reproducing media each have a medium identifying information section for indicating whether the medium is the first information recording/reproducing medium which is necessarily cased at recording or the second information recording/reproducing medium which is not necessarily cased at recording,
• wherein said case has a case presence/absence information section for indicating whether the case is present or absent, and
• wherein said information recording/reproducing apparatus has first detecting means for detecting the contents of the medium identifying information section and second detecting means for detecting the contents of the case presence/absence information section, and recognizes a combination of the kind of the information recording/reproducing medium and the presence or absence of the case, said information recording/reproducing apparatus changing a recording mode based on a result of the recognition to record information onto the information recording/reproducing medium or perform after-defect-inspection recording or inhibit recording of information.

Information recording method for;

• determining whether or not a medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproducing, has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken-out from the case or not;
• and
• when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out from the case,
• for verifying correctness of information after recorded or recording after verification of correctness of information always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied, or inhibiting the recording, if the medium is a first recording/reproducing information medium that is required to use a case at recording, and
• for recording normally if the medium is a second recording/reproducing information medium that is not required to use a case at recording.

Information recording apparatus comprising;

• history determination means for determining whether or not medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproducing, has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken out from the case or not;
• and
• means, when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out form the case,
• for verifying correctness of information after recorded or recording after verification of correctness of information always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied, or inhibiting the recording, if the medium is a first recording/reproducing information medium that is required to use a case at recording, and
• for recording normally if the medium is a second recording/reproducing information medium that is not required to use a case at recording.