Optical disk recording method employing a plurality of recording areas and apparatus therefor

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal, and a drive unit for moving said optical unit in radial direction of said optical disk;
• an RF amplifier for amplifying a signal from said pickup unit and outputting an RF signal;
• an actuator driver for driving said optical unit so that said laser beam is focused at a specified track position on said optical disk;
• a spindle driver for driving said spindle motor to a specified rotating velocity;
• servo control means for, on the basis of said RF signal, outputting a second spindle motor control signal having a frequency that is variable within a predetermined range of synchronization relative to a basic frequency to control said spindle motor rotation to a specified linear velocity of said optical disk and servo-controlling said actuator driver and said spindle driver;
• a processing unit for controlling said servo control means and the whole apparatus;
• a speed controller for detecting the number of revolutions of said spindle motor and outputting a first spindle motor control signal to control the spindle motor rotation so that the angular velocity is constant;
• select means for selecting said second spindle motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second spindle motor control signal is in synchronization with said specified rotating velocity and selecting said first spindle motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second spindle motor control signal is in a maximum or minimum value of synchronization, by control of said processing unit, wherein said processing unit, according to the radial position of said optical disk, switches over by means of said select means to record data on said optical disk between an area for controlling the spindle motor by CLV control so that its linear velocity is constant and an area for controlling the spindle motor by CAV control so that its angular velocity is constant.

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal, and a drive unit for driving said optical unit in radial direction of said optical disk;
• an RF amplifier for amplifying a signal from said pickup unit and outputting an RF signal;
• an actuator driver for driving said optical unit so that said laser beam is focused at a specified track position on said optical disk;
• a spindle driver for driving said spindle motor to a specified rotating velocity;
• servo control means for, on the basis of said RF signal, outputting a second spindle motor control signal to control said spindle motor rotation to a specified linear velocity of said optical disk and servo-controlling said actuator driver and said spindle driver;
• and
• a processing unit for controlling said servo control means and the whole apparatus;
• a speed controller for detecting the number of revolutions of said spindle motor and outputting a first spindle motor control signal to control the spindle motor rotation to a specified rotating velocity;
• select means for switching over between said first and second spindle motor control signals by control of said processing unit;
• area dividing means for dividing a recording area of said optical disk into a plurality of areas, deciding angular velocities varying in steps from one divided area to another and controlling the spindle motor at a constant angular velocity of the divided area in each divided area;
• area division correcting means for varying the number of divided areas according to recording capacities,
• wherein said processing unit causes said select means to switch -over between an area for recording by spindle motor control performed so that the linear velocity is constant (CLV control) and an area for recording by spindle motor control performed so that the spindle motor rotates at a constant angular velocity (CAV control), and data is recorded on the optical disk, and wherein said area division correcting means varies said divided areas and said number of divided areas according to recording capacities.

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal, and a drive unit for moving said optical unit in a radial direction of said optical disk;
• an RF amplifier for amplifying a signal from said pickup unit and outputting an RF signal;
• an actuator driver for driving said optical unit so that said laser beam is focused at a specified track position on said optical disk;
• a spindle driver for driving said spindle motor to a specified rotating velocity;
• servo control means for, on the basis of said RF signal, outputting a second spindle motor control signal having a frequency that is variable within a predetermined range of synchronization relative to a basic frequency to control said spindle motor rotation to a specified linear velocity of said optical disk and servo-controlling said actuator driver and said spindle driver;
• a processing unit for controlling said servo control means and the whole apparatus;
• a speed controller for detecting the number of revolutions of said spindle motor and outputting a first spindle motor control signal to control the spindle motor rotation to a specified rotating velocity;
• select means for selecting said second motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second motor control signal is in synchronization with said specified rotating velocity and selecting said first motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second motor control signal is in a maximum or minimum value of synchronization, by control of said processing unit;
• area dividing means of dividing a recording area of the optical disk into a plurality of areas lying substantially concentrically in a radial direction, deciding angular velocities varying in steps from one divided area to another, and controlling the spindle motor at a constant angular velocity of the divided area in each divided area,
• wherein said processing unit causes said select means to switch over between an area for recording by spindle motor control (CLV control) performed so that the linear velocity is constant and an area for recording by spindle motor control (CAV control) performed so that the spindle motor rotates at a constant angular velocity, and data is recorded on the optical disk.

A method of recording data on an optical disk, comprising:

• a photo-electric conversion step of applying a laser beam to an optical disk and converting a reflected beam from the disk into an electric signal and data;
• a rotating velocity control step of detecting a number of revolutions of a spindle motor to drive said optical disk at a specified rotating velocity, performing servo control, and outputting a first motor control signal;
• a servo control step of servo-controlling said spindle motor by outputting a second motor control signal having a frequency that is variable within a predetermined range of synchronization relative to a basic frequency in order to drive said spindle motor at said specified rotating velocity on the basis of said electric signal;
• and
• a select step of selecting said second motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second motor control signal is in synchronization with said specified rotating velocity and selecting said first motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second motor control signal is in a maximum or minimum value of synchronization, by arithmetic process control,
• wherein according to a radial position of said optical disk, a recording area of the optical disk where said spindle motor is controlled so that the linear velocity is constant (CLV control), and a recording area where said spindle motor is controlled so that the rotation angular velocity is constant (CAV control), are switched over by said select step and the data is recorded on said optical disk.

An optical disk recording method, comprising the steps of:

• a photo-electric conversion step of applying a laser beam to the optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal and data;
• a rotating velocity control step of detecting the number of spindle motor revolutions to drive said optical disk at a specified rotating velocity, performing servo control, and outputting a first motor control signal;
• a servo control step of outputting a second control signal and servo-controlling said spindle motor to drive the spindle motor at a specified rotating velocity according to said electric signal;
• a select step of switching over said first motor control signal and said second motor control signal by processing control:
• an area dividing step of dividing a recording area of the optical disk into a plurality of areas lying substantially concentrically in a radial direction, deciding angular velocities varying in steps from one divided area to another, and controlling the spindle motor at an annular velocity of the divided area in each divided area;
• according to the areas divided by said area dividing step, providing an area for recording by controlling the spindle motor so that the linear velocity is constant (CLV control), and an area for recording by controlling said optical disk so that the rotation angular velocity is constant (CAV control);
• and
• switching over said areas by said select step and recording data on said optical disk, wherein said area dividing step includes an area division correction for varying the number of divided areas according to recording capacity.

A method of recording data on an optical disk, comprising the steps of:

• photo-electric conversion for applying a laser beam to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal and data;
• rotating velocity control for detecting the number of spindle motor revolutions to drive said optical disk at a specified rotating velocity, performing servo control, and outputting a first motor control signal;
• servo control for outputting a second control signal and servo-controlling said spindle motor to drive the spindle motor at a specified rotating velocity according to said electric signal;
• a select step of switching over said first motor control signal and said second motor control signal by arithmetic process control;
• an area dividing step of dividing a recording area of the optical disk into a plurality of areas lying substantially concentrically in radial direction, deciding angular velocities varying in steps from one divided area to another, and controlling the spindle motor at a constant angular velocity of the divided area in each divided area;
• an area division correcting step for varying the number of divided areas according to their recording capacities, wherein
• by said area division correcting step, said divided areas or said number of divided areas is varied according to their recording capacities;
• on the basis of divided areas divided by said area dividing step, providing an area for recording by controlling the spindle motor so that the linear velocity is constant (CLV control), and an area for recording by controlling said optical disk so that the rotation angular velocity is constant (CAV control);
• and
• switching over said areas by said select step and recording data on said optical disk, or by using said area dividing step, varying said divided areas or said number of divided areas according to their recording capacities and recording data on said optical disk.

A method of recording data on an optical disk, comprising the steps of:

• a photo-electric conversion step of applying a laser beam to the optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal and data;
• a rotating velocity control step of detecting the number of spindle motor revolutions to drive said optical disk at a specified rotating velocity, performing servo control, and outputting a first motor control signal;
• a servo control step of outputting a second control signal having a frequency that is variable within a predetermined range of synchronization relative to a basic frequency and servo-controlling said spindle motor to drive the spindle motor at a specified rotating velocity according to said electric signal;
• a select step of selecting said second motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second motor control signal is in synchronization with said specified rotating velocity and selecting said first motor control signal to have a frequency within a range of frequency in which said second motor control signal is in a maximum or minimum value of synchronization, by processing control;
• an area dividing step of dividing a recording area of the optical disk into a plurality of areas lying substantially concentrically in a radial direction, deciding angular velocities varying in steps from one divided area to another, and controlling the spindle motor at an angular velocity of the divided area in each divided area;
• according to the areas divided by said area dividing step, providing an area for recording by controlling the spindle motor so that the linear velocity is constant (CLV control), and an area for recording by controlling said optical disk so that the rotation angular velocity is constant (CAV control);
• and
• switching over said areas by said select step and recording data on said optical disk.

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal, and a drive unit for driving said optical unit relative to said optical disk;
• an RF amplifier for amplifying a signal from said pickup unit and outputting an RF signal;
• drive means for driving the optical disk to rotate at a rotation velocity;
• switching means for switching a driving control between CLV control and CAV control on a basis of the RF signal;
• and
• control means for, while recording information on the optical disk from an inner portion to an outer portion of the optical disk in the radial direction thereof, controlling said switching means so as to switch from the CAV control to the CLV control, so that a change of said rotation velocity from the inner portion to the outer portion of the optical disk is reduced.

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal and a drive unit for driving said optical unit relative to said optical disk;
• drive means for driving the optical disk to rotate at a rotation velocity;
• switching means for switching a driving control of said drive means between CLV control and CAV control;
• control means for, while recording information on the optical disk from an inner area to an outer area of the optical disk in the radial direction thereof, controlling said switching means so as to switch from CAV control to CLV control when said rotation velocity in the CAV control reaches a predetermined value-fold acceleration.

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal and a drive unit for driving said optical unit relative to said optical disk;
• drive means for driving the optical disk to rotate at a rotation velocity;
• switching means for switching a driving control between CLV control and CAV control;
• and
• control means for, while recording information on a recording area of the optical disk from an inner area to an outer area of the optical disk in the radial direction thereof, controlling said switching means so as to switch from the CAV control to the CLV control when a recording position in the CAV control reaches a predetermined radial position on the disk.

An optical disk apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit including an optical unit for applying a laser beam emitted from a laser beam emitting element to an optical disk and converting its reflected beam into an electric signal and a drive unit for driving said optical unit relative to said optical disk;
• drive means for driving the optical disk to rotate at a rotation velocity;
• switching means for switching a driving control between CLV and a CAV control;
• area dividing means for dividing a recording area of the optical disk into a plurality of areas according to recording capacities;
• and
• control means for determining which control in said drive means is applied to the divided recording area of the optical disk in recording information on the optical disk.