Record carriers containing a user's preferred order of reproduction of items of information included therein, and apparatus for use with and/or for creating such record carriers

An apparatus for recording items of information on a record carrier having a pre-mastered region and a user writable region which are separate from each other, the user writable region including a user writable lead-in part and the pre-mastered region including pointer information which identifies a location in the user writable lead-in part in which at least a portion of a user table of contents which identifies in a particular order locations on the record carrier of items of information recorded on the record carrier by a user is to be located, the apparatus comprising:

• input means for enabling a user to enter user preferred order information defining a user's preferred order of reproduction of items of information which have been included on the record carrier;
• and
• write means for recording in the user writable lead-in part (a), on the basis of the pointer information, the user table of contents, and
• (b) the user preferred order information.

An apparatus for reproducing items of information included on a record carrier having a pre-mastered lead-in part and a user writable lead-in part, the pre-mastered lead-in part and the user writable lead-in part being separate from each other, the apparatus comprising:

• reproduction means for reproducing items of information included on the record carrier in accordance with a user's preferred order of reproduction of items of information included on the record carrier;
• and
• read means for reading
• (a) from the pre-mastered lead-in part a pre-mastered table of contents which identifies in a first particular order locations on the record carrier of pre-mastered items of information included on the record carrier, and
• (b) from the user writable lead-in part
• (i) a user table of contents which identifies in a second particular order locations on the record carrier of items of information recorded on the record carrier by a user, and
• (ii) user preferred order information which identifies the user's preferred order of reproduction.

An apparatus for recording items of information on a record carrier having a pre-mastered lead-in part, including a pre-mastered table of contents which identifies in a first particular order locations on the record carrier of pre-mastered items of information included on the record carrier, and a user writable lead-in part, the pre-mastered lead-in part and the user writable lead-in part being separate from each other, the apparatus comprising:

• input means for enabling a user to enter user preferred order information defining a user's preferred order of reproduction of items of information which have been included on the record carrier;
• and
• write means for recording in the user writable lead-in part
• (a) the user preferred order information, and
• (b) a user table of contents which identifies in a second particular order locations on the record carrier of items of information recorded on the record carrier by the user.

An apparatus for reproducing items of information included on a record carrier having a pre-mastered region and a user writable region, the apparatus comprising:

• read means for reading
• (a) a portion of the pre-mastered region including pointer information identifying wherein within the user writable region a user table of contents is included, and
• (b) the user table of contents on the basis of the pointer information, the user table of contents having location information identifying locations in the user writable region in which items of information have been recorded;
• and
• reproduction means for reproducing items of information recorded in the user writable region on the basis of the location information.

An apparatus for recording items of information on a record carrier having a pre-mastered region and a user writable region, the apparatus comprising:

• recording means for recording
• (a) items of information in the user writable region, and
• (b) a user table of contents in a lead-in portion of the user writable region, the user table of contents having location information identifying locations in the user writable region in which items of information have been recorded;
• and
• determining means for determining from pointer information included in the pre-mastered region where within the user writable region the user table of contents is to be recorded.