Method and apparatus for reproducing information from a recordable optical disc regardless of whether an index area is detected as being present on the disk and a method of generating index information during reproduction of the information on the disk

A method of reproducing information, by irradiating a light beam emitted from an optical pickup, from a recordable optical disc having an information recording area for recording a plurality of information pieces and an index information recording area for recording index information with respect to said plurality of information pieces, said method comprising the steps of:

• discriminating whether or not the index information is recorded in the index information recording area while said optical disc is stopped;
• detecting an information piece recorded most outer position in the information recording area and transferring the optical pickup to a position of the information piece when it is discriminated that no index information is recorded in the index information recording area in said discriminating step;
• starting rotation of the optical disc, reading out the information piece by the optical pickup, and producing and storing a temporary index information from the read information;
• transferring the optical pickup to a position of next information piece positioned inside of the information piece in accordance with the stored temporary index information, reading out the information piece, and producing and storing temporary index information from the read information;
• and
• repeating said transferring step until temporary index information corresponding to all of the information pieces are produced and stored.

A method of reproducing information, by irradiating a light beam emitted from an optical pickup, from a recordable optical disc having an information recording area for recording a plurality of information pieces and an index information recording area for recording index information with respect to said plurality of information pieces, said method comprising the steps of:

• discriminating whether or not the index information is recorded in the index information recording area while said optical disc is stopped;
• detecting an information piece recorded most outer position in the information recording area and transferring the optical pickup to a position of the information piece when it is discriminated that no index information is recorded in the index information recording area in said discriminating step;
• starting rotation of the optical disc, reading out and simultaneously reproducing the information piece by the optical pickup, and producing and storing a temporary index information from the read information;
• transferring the optical pickup to a position of next information piece, reading out and simultaneously reproducing the information piece and producing and storing temporary index information from the read information;
• and
• repeating said transferring step until the pickup is transferred to a last information piece in the information recording area.