Optical recording medium and defect management device and method therefor

A defect management device for an optical recording medium, comprising:

• a temporary storage buffer unit temporarily recording therein a recording management table including at least one of area allocation information and defect information, said area allocation information used for writing optical recording data in a user data area having a plurality of blocks of an optical recording medium in which the optical recording data is recorded, said defect information used for performing defect management processing in said user data area;
• a defect detection unit that detects a defect consisting of at least one defective block in said user data area on the optical recording medium;
• a defect information creation unit that, when said defect detection unit detects the defect, creates, as the defect information, at least type information indicating that the information is the defect information, a defective physical address indicating a start block of the defect, an alternate physical address that is an address used when an area indicated by the defective physical address is replaced by another area in the user data area, and a length of the blocks replaced by the alternate area, and supplies the created defect information to said temporary storage buffer unit;
• an allocation information creation unit that creates, as the area allocation information, at least type information indicating that the information is the allocation information, an allocated physical address indicating a start block of written information, a logical address of the user data area corresponding to the allocated physical address, and a length of the blocks in which the data is written, and supplies the created area allocation information to said temporary storage buffer unit;
• a recording management table writing unit that writes the recording management table, temporarily stored in said temporary storage buffer unit, into the management area on the optical recording medium;
• and
• a recording management table reading unit that reads a latest recording management table, written in the management area on the optical recording medium, and temporarily stores the recording management table into said temporary storage buffer unit.

A defect management method of managing a defect on an optical recording medium including a user data area having a plurality of blocks in which optical recording data is recorded, and a management area storing a record management table including at least one of area allocation information and defect information, said area allocation information used for writing data in said user data area, said defect information used for performing defect management processing in said user data area, the method comprising:

• detecting a defect consisting of at least one defective block in said user data area on the optical recording medium;
• reading the recording management table from the management area according to the detection of the defect;
• storing the recording management table temporarily into a temporary storage buffer unit;
• searching for another area for storing optical recording data recorded on an area corresponding to the defect in the user data area;
• recording the optical recording data recorded on the area corresponding to the defect into the another area in the user data area;
• creating, as the defect information, at least type information indicating that the information is the defect information, a defective physical address indicating a start block of the defect, an alternate physical address that is an address used when an area indicated by the defective physical address is replaced by the another area in the user data area, and a length of the blocks replaced by the alternate area;
• updating the recording management table in said temporary storage buffer unit by adding the created defect information to the recording management table;
• and
• recording the recording management table stored temporarily in said temporary storage buffer unit into the management area on the optical recording medium.