Information recording medium, recording apparatus and recording method

An information recording medium comprising:

• a pre-recording area in which reproduction order control data is recorded in advance;
• and
• a post-recording area for recording a reproduction data unit,
• wherein
• the reproduction data unit can be additionally recorded into the post-recording area,
• the post-recording area is partitioned into a plurality of unit areas, each of which has a predetermined length and which are physically continuously arranged, before the reproduction data unit is recorded into the post-recording area,
• the reproduction order control data is data for controlling a reproduction order of the reproduction data unit recorded in each of the unit areas,
• the reproduction order control data has position information, which indicates a position of each of the unit areas, before the reproduction data unit is recorded into the post-recording area,
• the reproduction order control data includes a plurality of control data units, and each of the plurality of control data units corresponds to respective one of the plurality of unit areas, and
• the reproduction data unit and return position information are recorded in the unit area, and the return position information indicates a recording position of the control data unit corresponding to the unit area next to the unit area in which the return position information is recorded, or its immediately preceding position.

A recording apparatus for recording a reproduction data unit onto an information recording medium comprising:

• (a) a pre-recording area in which reproduction order control data is recorded in advance;
• and a post-recording area for recording a reproduction data unit, wherein (b) the reproduction data unit can be additionally recorded into the post-recording area, (c) the post-recording area is partitioned into a plurality of unit areas, each of which has a predetermined length and which are physically continuously arranged, (d) the reproduction order control data is data for controlling a reproduction order of the reproduction data unit recorded in each of the unit areas, (e) the reproduction order control data has a plurality of first control data units, (f) each of the plurality of first control data units corresponds to respective one of the plurality of unit areas, and (g) each of the plurality of first control data units has first position information, which indicates positions of the plurality of unit areas, or a jump order, which orders to jump to the plurality of unit areas, said recording apparatus comprising:
• a recognizing device for recognizing the number of unit areas necessary to record the reproduction data unit and a second control data unit;
• a position information generating device for generating second position information, which indicates a recording position of the first control data unit corresponding to the unit area next to a continuous area, which is formed of the number of unit areas recognized by said recognizing device, or its immediately preceding position;
• a first recording device for recording the reproduction data unit into the continuous area;
• and
• a second recording device for including the second position information into the second control data unit and recording the second control data unit, which includes the second position information, into the continuous area.

A recording method of recording a reproduction data unit onto an information recording medium comprising:

• (a) a pre-recording area in which reproduction order control data is recorded in advance;
• and a post-recording area for recording a reproduction data unit, wherein (b) the reproduction data unit can be additionally recorded into the post-recording area, (c) the post-recording area is partitioned into a plurality of unit areas, each of which has a predetermined length and which are physically continuously arranged, (d) the reproduction order control data is data for controlling a reproduction order of the reproduction data unit recorded in each of the unit areas, (e) the reproduction order control data has a plurality of first control data units, (f) each of the plurality of first control data units corresponds to respective one of the plurality of unit areas, and (g) each of the plurality of first control data units has first position information, which indicates positions of the plurality of unit areas, or a jump order, which orders to jump to the plurality of unit areas, said recording method comprising:
• a recognizing process of recognizing the number of unit areas necessary to record the reproduction data unit and a second control data unit;
• a position information generating process of generating second position information, which indicates a recording position of the first control data unit corresponding to the unit area next to a continuous area, which is formed of the number of unit areas recognized in said recognizing process, or its immediately preceding position;
• a first recording process of recording the reproduction data unit into the continuous area;
• and
• a second recording process of including the second position information into the second control data unit and recording the second control data unit, which includes the second position information, into the continuous area.