Recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording medium and recording and/or reproducing method

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising:

• drive means for relatively driving a recording and/or reproducing head and a recording medium in a first direction and in second direction opposite to the first direction;
• generating means for generating at the time of recording of a signal on said recording medium reverse designation information at a point when substantially one half of a total recording time of said recording medium has passed, said reverse designation information indicating reversing relative movement direction between the recording and/or reproducing head and the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium;
• control means operative to record the reverse designation information generated by the generating means at a recording end position wherein said reverse designation information being recorded by the recording and/or reproducing head reverses at least one of the first and second directions of the recording medium to reverse relative movement direction between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head, and to control the drive means by the reverse designation information recorded on the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium to reverse direction from one direction of the first and second directions of the recording medium to the other direction;
• and
• memory means for storing a signal with respect to the recording medium, whereby when the drive means is controlled by the control means to reverse movement direction from one of the first and second directions to the other direction, the signal recorded onto the recording medium is temporarily stored in the memory means,
• wherein the control means records on the recording medium the reverse designation information generated by the generating means from the time point when writing of the signal recorded onto the recording medium is fed into the memory means.

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising:

• drive means for relatively driving a recording and/or reproducing head and a recording medium in a first direction and in second direction opposite to the first direction;
• generating means for generating at the time of recording of a signal on said recording medium reverse designation information at a point when substantially one half of a total recording time of said recording medium has passed, said reverse designation information indicating reversing relative movement direction between the recording and/or reproducing head and the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium;
• and
• control means operative to record the reverse designation information generated by the generating means at a recording end position wherein said reverse designation information being recorded by the recording and/or reproducing head reverses at least one of the first and second directions of the recording medium to reverse relative movement direction between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head, and to control the drive means by the reverse designation information recorded on the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium to reverse direction from one direction of the first and second directions of the recording medium to the other direction,
• further comprising means for generating, at a recording end position of the recording medium corresponding to any one of the first and second directions, high speed retrieval designation information for carrying out an operation to retrieve the leading position of a signal recorded in correspondence with the other direction, at the time of recording of the signal with respect to the recording medium.

A recording and/or reproducing method for a recording medium wherein a recording and/or reproducing head and the recording medium are relatively driven in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction to record a signal on the recording medium,

• the method comprising the steps of:
• determining a total recording time of the signal recorded on the recording medium;
• recording, on the recording medium, at the point when substantially one half of the total recording time is passed, reverse designation information for reversing relative movement direction between the recording and/or reproduction head and the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium;
• and
• reversing relative movement direction between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head to record the signal onto the recording medium by the recording and/or reproducing head, and
• further comprising a step of setting the total recording time based upon the recording time of the signal on the recording medium at the time of movement in the first direction and recording time of the signal onto the recording medium at the time of movement in the second direction, and making a setting such that the recording time of the first direction is longer than the recording time of the second direction.

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising:

• drive means for relatively driving a recording and/or reproducing head and a recording medium in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction;
• generating means generating high-speed retrieval designation information for carrying out an operation to retrieve a leading position of a recorded signal from a recording end position with respect to one movement direction of the relative first and second directions between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head in correspondence with the other direction;
• and
• control means for recording the high-speed retrieval designation information generated by the generating means at the recording end position of the recording medium corresponding to any one direction of the first and second directions, and controlling the drive means on the basis of the high speed retrieval designation information recorded on the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium to start an operation to retrieve the leading position,
• wherein the control means records the high speed retrieval designation information generated by the generating means at the recording end position of the recording medium corresponding to the position in the second direction, and controls the drive means to switch a relative direction of the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head from the second direction to the first direction based on the high speed retrieval designation information recorded on the recording medium to continuously carry out an operation to retrieve the leading position.

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising:

• drive means for relatively driving a recording and/or reproducing head and a recording medium in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction;
• generating means generating high speed retrieval designation information for carrying out an operation to retrieve a leading position of a recorded signal from a recording end position with respect to one movement direction of the relative first and second directions between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head in correspondence with the other direction;
• and
• control means for recording the high speed retrieval designation information generated by the generating means at the recording end position of the recording medium corresponding to any one direction of the first and second directions, and controlling the drive means on the basis of the high speed retrieval designation information recorded on the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium to start an operation to retrieve the leading position,
• wherein the control means further comprises retrieval means for retrieving the high speed retrieval designation information from the signal which has been read out by the recording and/or reproducing head, whereby the control means controls the drive means on the basis of a detection output from the detecting means to start an operation to retrieve the leading position.

A recording and/or reproducing method for a recording medium,

• wherein a recording and/or reproducing head and the recording medium are relatively driven in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction to record a signal on the recording medium,
• the method comprising the steps of:
• recording high speed retrieval designation information for carrying out an operation to retrieve a leading position of the signal recorded from a recording end position with respect to one direction of the relative first and second directions between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head in correspondence with the other direction at the recording end position of the recording medium corresponding to any one direction of the first and second directions, and
• starting an operation to retrieve the leading position on the basis of the high speed retrieval designation information recorded on the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium.

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus for a recording medium, comprising:

• drive means for relatively driving a recording and/or reproduction head and the recording medium in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction;
• generating means for generating, at the time of recording a signal of the recording medium, and at the time point when substantially one half of total recording time is passed, reverse designation information for reversing a relative direction between the recording and/or reproducing head and the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium, and for generating high speed retrieval designation information for carrying out an operation to retrieve a leading position of the recorded signal, from recording a end position with respect to one direction of the relative first and second directions between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head, in correspondence with the other direction, and
• control means operative to record the reverse designation information generated by the generating means at a recording end position of at least any one direction of the first and second directions of the recording medium by the recording and/or reproducing head to reverse the relative direction between the recording medium and the recording and/or reproducing head, and to control the drive means on the basis of the reverse designation information recorded on the recording medium to reverse direction from any one of the first and second directions of the recording medium to the other movement direction to record the high speed retrieval designation information generated by the generating means at the recording end position of the recording medium corresponding to any one of the first and second directions, and to control the drive means on the basis of the high speed retrieval designation information recorded on the recording medium at the time of reproduction of the recording medium to start an operation to retrieve the leading position.