Optical storage apparatus and recording and reproducing method of optical storage medium

A method of recording and reproducing an optical storage medium, comprising the steps of:

• recording data into a recording layer of the optical storage medium at a recording mark that is smaller than a beam diameter of a laser beam by using said optical storage medium having at least a recording layer to record data and a reproducing layer to reproduce the data recorded into said recording layer;
• reproducing the data recorded into said recording layer of said optical storage medium at the recording mark that is smaller than said beam diameter by setting a reproducing magnetic field applied by a magnetic field applying unit and a reproducing laser power of said laser beam to proper values;
• and
• prior to the reproduction of said optical storage medium, executing a reproducing magnetic field correcting process for monitoring a reproducing state while increasing the reproducing magnetic field by using a predetermined reproducing magnetic field as an initial value and for determining the reproducing magnetic field in a reproducible state as an optimum reproducing magnetic field.

An optical storage apparatus comprising:

• a recording unit for recording data into a recording layer of an optical storage medium at a recording mark that is smaller than a beam diameter of a laser beam by using said optical storage medium having at least a recording layer to record data and a reproducing layer to reproduce the data recorded into said recording layer;
• a reproducing unit for reproducing the data recorded into said recording layer of said optical storage medium at the recording mark that is smaller than said beam diameter by setting a reproducing magnetic field applied by a magnetic field applying unit and a reproducing laser power of said beam to proper values;
• and
• a reproducing magnetic field correcting unit for monitoring a reproducing state by said reproducing unit while changing the reproducing magnetic field at a predetermined timing after the medium was inserted and for determining an optimum reproducing magnetic field;
• wherein said reproducing magnetic field correcting unit corrects the reproducing magnetic field during an initialization diagnosing process in association with a turn-on of a power source of the apparatus, just after said optical storage medium was inserted into the apparatus, when a change in an internal temperature of the apparatus is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, when a predetermined correction valid time elapses from a previous correction, when an error occurs in said reproducing unit and a retrying process is performed, or at the time of start-up of the apparatus from a factory.

An optical storage apparatus comprising:

• a reproducing unit for reproducing data recorded into a recording layer of an optical storage medium at a recording mark that is smaller than a beam diameter of a laser beam by setting a reproducing magnetic field applied by a magnetic field applying unit and a reproducing laser power of said beam to proper values;
• and
• a reproducing magnetic field correcting unit for monitoring a reproducing state by said reproducing unit while changing the reproducing magnetic field at a predetermined timing after the medium was inserted and for determining an optimum reproducing magnetic field;
• wherein said reproducing magnetic field correcting unit corrects the reproducing magnetic field during an initialization diagnosing process in association with a turn-on of a power source of the apparatus, just after said optical storage medium was inserted into the apparatus, when a change in an internal temperature of the apparatus is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, when a predetermined correction valid time elapses from a previous correction, when an error occurs in said reproducing unit and a retrying process is performed, or at the time of start-up of the apparatus from a factory.