Optical disk apparatus

An optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein

• at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when one of said light sources with a predetermined wavelength is turned on, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of the result of a predetermined arithmetic operation of a signal obtained from a predetermined means;
• if said light source with said predetermined wavelength is not compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier having been subjected to the distinction, another light source with a different wavelength is turned on, and said apparatus eventually finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means, and
• said signal obtained from said predetermined means is a signal obtained by combining a plurality of signals including:
• (1) a signal from said convergence condition detection means, (2) a total light amount signal corresponding to the amount of light reflected from said information carrier and (3) an information signal recorded on said information carrier or a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal.

An optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a reproduction signal detection means for detecting the amplitude of an information signal recorded on said information carrier or the amplitude of a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein

• at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when one of said light sources with a predetermined wavelength is turned on, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of a signal from said reproduction signal detection means;
• if said light source with said predetermined wavelength is not compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier having been subjected to the distinction, another light source with a different wavelength is turned on, and said apparatus eventually finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means.

An optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein

• at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when one of said light sources with a predetermined wavelength is turned on, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of the result of a predetermined arithmetic operation of a signal obtained from a predetermined means;
• if said light source with said predetermined wavelength is not compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier having been subjected to the distinction, another light source with a different wavelength is turned on, and said apparatus eventually finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means, and
• said signal obtained from said predetermined means is a signal obtained by combining a plurality of signals including:
• (1) a signal from said convergence condition detection means, (2) a total light amount signal corresponding to the amount of light reflected from said information carrier and (3) an information signal recorded on said information carrier or a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal.

An optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising a rotation means for rotating said information carrier, two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, and a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, wherein

• at the start or restart of said apparatus and with said rotation means remained nonoperable, when each of said light sources is turned on and light with a wavelength corresponding to said light source is cast, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction between the presence or absence of said information carrier on the basis of a signal obtained from a predetermined means,
• wherein said signal obtained from said predetermined means is:
• (1) a signal from said convergence condition detection means, (2) a total light amount signal corresponding to the amount of light reflected from said information carrier, (3) an information signal recorded on said information carrier or a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal, or a signal obtained by combining a plurality of signals of these signals.

An optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising

• at least two light sources each with different wavelengths,
• converging means for converting a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier,
• movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier,
• convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier,
• distinction signal detection means for detecting the signal obtained from the reflected light or the transmitted light from said information carrier when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier at the start or restart of said optical disk apparatus, and
• focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with the output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes approximately constant, wherein
• one of said light sources with a long wavelength is turned on;
• said convergence condition detection means and said movement means are driven, and distinction is made as to whether said loaded information carrier is a first information carrier or not, on the basis of the signal of said distinction signal detection means;
• and if distinction is made that said loaded information carrier is not said first information carrier, another light source with a short wavelength for a second information carrier is turned on.