Data recording medium, recording medium recording and/reproducing apparatus, and recording or reproducing method

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

• a rotation drive unit for rotationally driving a recording medium having a first recording area where enciphered data is recorded, and a second recording area provided at a position where a read-out operation is carried out ahead of the first recording area and including a first area portion where cipher key data for decoding the enciphered data is recorded and a second area portion where a guide portion for recording data modulated by a modulation system different from a modulation system of the first area portion is formed;
• a head unit for scanning the recording medium;
• and
• a control unit for rotationally controlling the rotation drive unit based on an output signal from the head unit and for carrying out switching of rotation control of the rotation drive unit at least between the first area portion and the second area portion;
• wherein the control unit is operative so that when the first area portion is scanned by the head unit the control unit carries out control of the rotation drive unit based on maximum inversion time period detected from an output signal of the head unit, and when the second area portion is scanned by the head unit the control unit carries out rotation control of the rotation drive unit based on inversion time period detected from an output signal from the head unit.

A recording apparatus for a recording medium, comprising:

• a rotation drive unit for rotationally driving a recording medium having a first recording area where enciphered data is recorded, and a second recording area provided at a position where a read-out operation is carried out ahead of the first recording area and including a first area portion where cipher key data for decoding the enciphered data is recorded and a second area portion adjacent the first area portion and in which a guide portion for recording data is formed;
• a modulation unit for modulating inputted data by a modulation system different from a modulation system of the first area portion;
• a head unit for scanning the recording medium and for recording output data from the modulation unit into the second area portion along the guide portion;
• and
• a control unit for carrying out switching so that an output level when the head unit scans the second area portion to record data modulated by a modulation system different from a modulation system of the first area portion is higher than an output level when the head unit scans the first area portion to record modulated data;
• wherein the control unit rotationally controls the rotation drive unit based on an output signal from the head unit, and carries out switching of control of the rotation drive unit at least between the first area portion and the second area portion.

A reproducing apparatus for a recording medium, comprising:

• a rotation drive unit for rotationally driving a recording medium having a first recording area where enciphered data is recorded, and a second recording area provided at a position where a read-out operation is carried out ahead of the first recording area and including a first area portion where cipher key data for decoding the enciphered data is recorded and a second area portion where data modulated by a modulation system different from a modulation system of the first area portion is recorded;
• a head unit for scanning the recording medium;
• and
• a control unit for rotationally controlling the rotation drive unit based on an output signal from the head unit, and for discriminating whether the recording medium is a recording medium including the second area portion, whereby when it is discriminated that the recording medium is the recording medium including the second area portion, the control unit switches control of the rotation drive unit;
• wherein the control unit is operative so that when data recorded in the second area portion fails to be read out, the control unit carries out rotation control based on the synchronizing signal with respect to the rotation drive unit.

A reproducing method for a recording medium, comprising the steps of:

• discriminating whether a loaded recording medium is a recording medium having a first recording area where enciphered data is recorded, and a second recording area provided at a position where a read-out operation is carried out ahead of the first recording area and including a first area portion where cipher key data for decoding the enciphered data is recorded and a second area portion where data modulated by a modulation system different from a modulation system of the first area portion is recorded;
• reading out, by using a head unit, data modulated by the different modulation system recorded in the second area portion when the loaded recording medium is a recording medium including the second area portion;
• and
• inhibiting reading out of data recorded in the first recording area when data modulated by the different modulation system fails to be correctly read out from the recording medium;
• decoding and reproducing enciphered data read out from the first recording area based on cipher key for decoding the enciphered data read out when data modulated by the different modulation system is correctly read out from the recording medium.