Information recording/reproducing device using optical disk and method therefor and information recording system and information recording method

Abstract

The sector synchronism of a timing generation section for generating data recording/reproducing timing is corrected at the address-mark detection timing of an address-mark detection section. Moreover, even if only one piece of address information having no error is not reproduced in the sector concerned, when at least one piece of address information having no error is reproduced in any of a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject sector and at least one address mark is detected in the subject sector, the data recording/reproducing is permitted, and thus, the data is recorded/reproduced at a high speed and a high reliability even if an error rate of a physical address is deteriorated.

Description

C=57×16+n1+n3
D=63×16+n2+n3
E=103×16+n1+n3
F=109×16+n2+n3
G=121×16+n1+n3
H=127×16+n2+n3

Herein, n3 denotes the number of delay channel bits from the time of outputting the AM detection pulse AMDP or CRCOK pulse up to the time of completing correction of values counted by the sector synch counter 202.

Thus, by using the AM detection pulse AMDP serving as the address-mark detection timing and the CRCOK pulse serving as the timing of detecting no error in address information, it is possible to correct a counted value of the sector sync counter 202. Thereby, it is possible for the counter output CT0 after the counted-value correcting operation to accurately express the light-spot irradiation position at this point of time, that is, the number of channel bits from the head of a sector. Therefore, it is possible to correct a positional shift of each sector by correcting a counted value in the header field 1002 of the next sector. Thus, even if a shift occurs between the counter output CT0 and a light-spot irradiation position when one sector is completed due to a fluctuation factor such as the fluctuation of a linear velocity or the fluctuation of a reference-clock frequency due to a shift of the number of revolutions or the eccentricity of a disk, it is possible to correct every sector positional shift by correcting a counted value based on the header field 1002 of the next sector to thereby accurately adjust the data-recording/reproducing timing and keep a high reliability of an apparatus.

As described in the above embodiment, it is a feature of the present invention to correct a count value of the sector sync counter 202 by using the AM detection pulse AMDP serving as the address mark detecting timing. Thus, as described below, the present invention can effectively function even if an error is detected in every pattern of (address information+error detection code) in a certain sector.

FIGS. 5 are timing charts for explaining a second example of the counted-value-correcting operation of the sector sync counter 202 in this embodiment. The example in FIG. 5 is different from the example in FIG. 4 in that an error is detected in every (address information+error detection code).

In FIGS. 5, symbols ◯ and X drown immediately below the uppermost data format of the header field 1002 show that address marks field11 detected in the address mark fields AMa, AMb, AMc, and AMd and errors are detected in all of the error detection code fields IEDa, IEDb, IEDc, and IEDd. Therefore, the AM detection pulse AMDP is output after n1-channel bits period of a predetermined time from each address-mark section terminal similarly to the example in FIG. 4. Moreover, no H pulse of the CRCOK pulse is output in the illustrated sector but the CRCOK pulse is kept L-level (shown by a dotted line) differently from the example of FIG. 4.

Therefore, the counted-value correction pulse CCP is output as an H pulse only when the pulse CCP corresponds to the time when the AM detection pulse AMDP is output. The count correction value CCV has a predetermined value every position of the output AM detection pulse AMDP. That is, the value CCV becomes A, C, E, and G in the address mark fields AMa, AMb, AMc, and AMd, respectively.

A conventional method cannot correct the timing in a sector having an error in every address information. Therefore, if a shift occurs between the counter output CT0 and a light-spot irradiation position when one sector is completed due to a fluctuation factor such as the fluctuation of a linear velocity of the fluctuation of a reference-clock frequency due to a shift of the number of revolutions or eccentricity of a disk, the influence of the shift may reach up to the next sector. Moreover, if sectors having an error in every piece of address information continuously occurs, the data-recording/reproducing timing is greatly shifted because shifts fieldccumulated. In the worst case, a trouble may occur that data is recorded up to a position in which data must not originally be recorded or recorded data cannot correctly be reproduced. However, this embodiment exhibits the following advantage for the above conventional problem.

That is, according to the configuration shown in this embodiment, when only an address mark is detected even in a sector having an error in every piece of address information, it is possible to correct a counted value of the sector sync counter 202 by using the AM detection pulse AMDP. Therefore, it is possible to correct a shift in position for each sector independently of an error existence or absence in the address information, and accurately adjust the datarecording/reproducing timing, and keep the high reliability of an apparatus.

FIGS. 6 are illustrations for explaining a third example of the counted-value-correcting operation of the sector sync counter 202 in this embodiment. The operation example in FIG. 6 is characterized in that counted-value correction according to the address-mark-detection timing is not performed after counted-value correction following a CRCOK pulse is once performed as described below.

In FIG. 6, symbols ◯ and X drawn immediately below the uppermost details of the data format of the header field 1002 show that address marks are detected (◯) in all of the address mark fields AMa, AMb, AMc, and AMd and errors (X) are detected in error detection code fields IEDa and IEDb but an error is not detected (◯) in error detection code fields IEDc or IEDd. Therefore, the AM detection pulse AMDP is output as an H pulse at four places (shown by AMDP-a, AMDP-b, AMDP-c, AMDP-d) similarly to the example in FIG. 5. Moreover, the CRCOK pulse is output as an H pulse at only two latter-half places (shown by OK-c, OK-d) in the illustrated sector differently from the example in FIG. 5.

The counted-value correction pulse CCP is output as an H pulse at the total of five places such as timings (shown by CCP-ma, CCP-mb, and CCP-mc) of the AM detection pulses AMDP at three places corresponding to the address mark fields AMa, AMb, and AMc and timings (shown by CCP-ec and CCP-ed) of the CRCOK pulses at two places corresponding to the error detection code fields IEDc and IEDd. The count correction value CCV takes a predetermined value shown in FIG. 4 for each position, that is, A, C, E, F, and H in the order from the front.

As shown in this example, if the CRCOK pulse is once output in each sector (in this example, an OK-c pulse corresponding to IEDc is generated), the counted-value correction pulse CCP is not output at the timing corresponding to the AM detection pulse AMDP. In this example, the counted-value correction pulse (illustrated by a dotted line) corresponding to AMd is not output. Therefore, in a sector in which it is detected that there is no error in at least one address field (address information+error detection code), it is possible to synchronize the sector sync counter 202 on the basis of the timing of the CRCOK pulse without fail (shown by CCP-ec and CCP-ed in this example) and synchronize the sector sync counter 202 on the basis of the timing of the AM detection pulse AMDP only in a sector in which only an address mark is detected.

In an optical disk having a data format of a header field including a plurality of address fields comprising at least (address mark field+address information field+error detection code field) in each sector, every address mark generally has the same pattern, and the number of the address field including the address mark among a plurality of ad dress fields can be determined by checking a specific bit of an address information field in many cases. When the above data format is used, it can be said that the CRCOK pulse has a reliability for specifying a position higher than that of the AM detection pulse AMDP. From the above viewpoint, after correcting a counted value at the timing of detecting that there is no error in (address information+error detection code) in each sector, it is possible to accurately adjust the data recording/reproducing timing and keep the liability of an apparatus high as this example by synchronizing with the timing of the CRCOK pulse as a criterion so as not to correct a counted value at the address-mark detection. timing.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart for explaining the timing-signal generating operation of the counted-value decoder 203 in this embodiment. When the counted-value decoder 203 receives a recording command RECCOM when recording data as described above, it outputs a write gate signal WGS to the laser driving section 108 and outputs various enable signals ENBL necessary for modulation, that is, a VFO enable signal ENBLa, data enable signal ENBLb, rear-guard enable signal EMBLc, and sync-code enable signal ENBLd.

In FIG. 7, the write gate signal WGS is a gate signal for allowing the laser driving section 108 to emit a recording laser power. By allowing the; recording laser power to be emitted only when the write gate signal WGS is kept H-level and thereby inhibiting emission of a high laser power at the time of reproduction (at the time of L level), it is possible to prevent a careless recording operation from being performed. Moreover, the write enable signal WGS makes it possible to control on/off of operations of a high-frequency module (not illustrated) built in the laser driving section 108. That is, by superimposing a high frequency on. a laser power only at the time of reproduction, it is possible to reduce laser noises and improve the S/N ratio of a reproduction signal. The counted-value decoder 203 keeps the write gate signal WGS H-level while the counter output CT0 has a value of c1 to (c6−1) as shown in FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b) by decoding the counter output CT0 supplied from the sector sync counter 202 in a sector to perform a recording. Thereby, it is possible to emit a recording laser power only in a range from c1 channel bit and c6 channel bit from the head of a sector to perform a recording.

The VFO enable signal ENBLa shown in FIG. 7(c) is a timing signal for urging the modulation section 115 to output patterns corresponding to the front guard field 1007 and data VFO field 1008. In the case of the data format used in this embodiment, a continuous pattern of 4T-mark·4T-space is recorded in the above fields. Therefore, the modulation section 115 operates so as to output the above patterns for the total (55+K) bytes while the VFO enable signal ENBLa is kept H-level. The counted-value decoder 203 decodes the counter output CT0 in a sector for recording and keeps the VFO enable signal ENBLa H-level while the counter output CT0 has a value of c2 to (c3−1).

The data enable signal ENBLb shown in FIG. 7(d) is a timing signal for urging the modulation section 115 to output modulation data patterns corresponding to the total 2,422 bytes of a pre-sync code field 1009, data field 1010, and data postamble field 1011. When the data enable signal EMBLb becomes H-level, the modulation section 115 first outputs patterns of a pre-sync code of 3 bytes and then outputs the data of total 2,418 bytes from the data field corresponding to a sync frame constituted of fieldr-sync code and modulated data, and finally outputs patterns of a data postamble of 1 byte. In the case of the data format in this embodiment, one sync frame in the data field is constituted of total 93 bytes including 2 bytes of a sync code and 91 bytes of modulated data and twenty-six frames of 93-byte sync frames (that is, 2,418 bytes) are output. The counted-value decoder 203 decodes the counter output CT0 in a sector for recording and keeps the data enable signal ENBLb H-level while the counter output CT0 has a value of c3 to (c4−1).

The sync-code enable signal ENBLd shown in FIG. 7(f) is used for controlling addition of a sync code, capture of pre-modulated data MPD, and data modulation. That is, the modulation section 115 operates so as to output a pattern corresponding to a sync code while the data enable signal ENBLb and sync-code enable signal ENBLd are H-level, and to capture and modulate the pre-modulated data and output a modulated-data pattern while the data enable signal ENBLb is H-level and the sync-code enable signal ENBLD is L-level. The counted-value decoder 203 decodes the counter output CT0 in a sector for recording and outputs H pulses of the sync-code enable signal ENBLd of 2 bytes from a counter output value of (c3+93×16×S). In this case, S is an integer from 0 to 25. Therefore, an H pulse having a two-byte width is output 26 times which is equal to the number of frames.

The rear guard enable signal ENBTc shown in FIG. 7(e) is a timing signal for urging the modulation section 115 to output a pattern corresponding to the rear guard field 1012. In the case of the data format in this embodiment, continuous patterns of 4T-mark·4T-space are recorded in the rear guard field 1012. Therefore, the modulation section 115 operates so as to output the above patterns equivalent to (55-K) bytes while the rear guard enable signal ENBLc is H-level. The counted-value decoder 203 decodes the counter output CT0 in a sector for recording and thereby keeps the rear guard enable signal ENBLd H-level while the counter output CT0 has a value of c4 to (c5−1).

In this embodiment, although the VFO enable signal ENBLa is separated from the rear guard enable signal ENBLd, according to the data format in this embodiment, the modulation section 115 outputs the same pattern when either of the signals is active, and therefore it is also permitted to use the signals as one common timing signal.

It is permitted to set decoded values corresponding to rise and fall of the timing signals, that is, values from c1 to c6 as shown below.
c1=132×16
c2=140×16+J−n4
c3=(195+K)×16+J−n4
c4=(2617+K)×16+J−n4
c5=2672×16+J

In this case, n4 denotes the number of channel bits considering a circuit delay in the modulation section 115 and laser driving section 108 and a delay time until a light spot is actually applied to the recording film of the optical disk 101. That is, by adding the offset of n4 channel bits and generating the timing signals to the modulation section 115, it is possible to offset a delay time up to irradiation of the light spot and thereby to accurately decide a recording position.

Moreover, as to c1, since a recording laser power is set before recording the data of the front guard field 1007, it is set to the 132nd byte from the head of a sector in order to permit emission of a power exceeding a recording or reproducing power in a predetermined region of the gap field 1006. In the case of an apparatus which does not require the above preparatory laser emission period immediately before recording, the value of c1 may be set so that a recording power can be emitted by the start end of the front guard field 1007.

Moreover, J and K are random parameters for controlling deterioration of a recording film as described in the prior art. It is preferable to use means for selecting J and K at random every sector so that J is an integer from 0 to 15 and K is an integer from 0 to 7.

(Embodiment 2)

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a timing generation section 114 for reproducing data and its periphery according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 8, an address mark detection section 111, demodulation section 112, and address error detection section 113 have the same functions as those described in FIGS. 1 and 3, and therefore, descriptions thereof are omitted here.

The timing generation section 114 in FIG. 8 has a function of generating a timing signal such as read gate signal RGS required to reproduce data. The timing generation section 114 is constituted of a reference-clock generation section 301, sector sync counter 302, counted-value decoder 303, and counted-value (counter value) correction section 304. Each of these functional block is described below.

The reference-clock generation section 301 generates a reference clock REFCLK2 serving as a criterion for reproducing data. In this embodiment, it is assumed that one cycle of the reference clock is equal to 4-channel-bit cycle of the data format shown in FIG. 2. As to a method of generating the reference dock, a plurality of methods are considered depending on the track format of an optical disk 101, which is similar to the case of describing the reference clock generation section in the recording operation shown in FIG. 3. Therefore, descriptions thereof is omitted here.

Moreover, in contrast to the case of recording, it is unnecessary to greatly suppress the jitter component of a clock because the jitter is not related to a quality of recording data. Because a timing signal required to reproduce data is generated by using the reference clock REFCLK2, it is permitted to use a frequency corresponding to a linear velocity. Therefore, it is permitted to use read clock RCLK output by the reproduction signal processing section 106 also as the reference clock REFCLK2.

The sector sync counter 302 is a counter for counting the reference clock REFCLK2 so that a counted value of the counter 302 shows a byte position in one sector. According to the data format shown in FIG. 2, one sector has a length of 2,697 bytes, that is, a length of 2,697×16=43,152 channel bits. When assuming that the reference clock REFCLK2 is a clock having a four-channel-bit cycle, it is possible to constitute the counter 302 of a 14-bit loop counter which counts from 0 up to 10,787 and then returns to 0 because a clock cycle of 2,697×16+4=10,788 corresponds to the length of one sector.

Moreover, it is necessary to synchronize the position of a light spot applied to the optical disk 101 with a counted value of the sector synch counter 302. Therefore, a mechanism is used which corrects a counted value by using a counted-value correction pulse CCP2 and a count correction value CCV2 output from the counted-value correction section 304. The counted-value correction section 304 receives an AM detection pulse AMDP from the address mark detection section 111 and a CRCOK pulse from the address error detection section 113 and outputs the counted-value correction pulse CCP2 and count correction value CCV2 to the sector sync counter 302.

Because the mechanism for counted-value correction can be realized by a method same as that described in FIGS. 3 to 6 for recording data in detail, description of the mechanism is omitted here. In this embodiment, it can be said that a counted value of a sector sync counter shows the position from the head of each sector in a unit of four-channel bits, that is, in 0.25 bytes unit and the counted value is output to an external unit as a counter output CT02.

The counted-value decoder 303 generates various timing signals synchronizing with the data format of a sector by decoding the counter output CT02 output from the sector sync counter 302. In this case, when the decoder 303 receives a reproduction command REPCOM from the system controller 110 when reproducing data, it outputs fieldd gate signal RGS to the reproduction signal processing section 106 and moreover outputs a window signal WNS necessary for detection of a pre-sync code and demodulation of data to the demodulation section 112. Details of generation of the timing signals are described below.

FIGS. 9A to 9C are timing chart for explaining the timing generating operation of the counted-value decoding section 303 in this embodiment. In FIG. 9, the read gate signal RGS serves as a gate signal for allowing the reproduction-signal processing section 106 to binarize a reproduction signal and perform the PLL operation synchronizing with binarized data. By performing operations such as binarization and PLL only when the read gate signal RGS is kept H-level, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary reproducing operation from being performed at a portion in which data is not recorded and the operations are effective for stabilization of read clock and reduction of power consumption. The counted-value decoder 303 decodes the output CT02 shown in FIG. 9(a) in a sector for reproducing data and thereby keeps the read gate signal RSG shown in FIG. 9(b) H-level while the counter output CT02 has a value from c7 to (c10−1). Hereby, it is possible to perform binarization and PLL operation by the reproduction-signal processing section 106 in a period from c7 channel bit to c10 channel bit from the head of a sector for reproducing data.

The sync-detection window signal WNS shown in FIG. 9(c) is a window signal for allowing the demodulation means 112 to detect a pre-sync code pattern and/or a first-frame sync-code pattern in a data field. By detecting a pre-sync and a first frame sync only when the sync-detection-window signal WNS is kept H-level, it is possible to detect the sync code in a proper range and prevent the sync code from being erroneously detected or undetected.

The demodulation section 112 starts detection of patterns of a pre-sync code and a first-frame sync code when the sync-detection window signal WNS becomes H-level, and starts demodulation of data from the first frame when either of the patterns is detected. Moreover, as to frame sync detection from the second frame downward, it is assumed that the demodulation section 112 generates a window for detecting a following frame sync at the timing of detecting a pre-sync code or a fist-frame sync code to detect a sync within the above window. Moreover, when a frame sync code is not detected in a certain frame, the section 112 starts interpolation from the sync-detection timing immediately before.

Furthermore, when neither pattern of a pre-sync code nor pattern of a first-frame sync code is detected while the sync-detection window signal WNS is H-level, the operation for detecting a pre-sync code and first-frame sync code is stopped, and the sync detection window of the second frame is generated at a predetermined timing such as the fall timing of the sync-detection window signal WNS to perform the interpolation. It is needless to say that the data of each frame is demodulated by using the sync detection timing or interpolated sync timing.

Thus, by using the sync-detection window signal WNS and controlling the operation for detecting a pre-sync-code pattern and/or a first-frame sync code in a data field and detecting and interpolating syncs from either of the above pattern detection timings downward, it is possible to efficiently and stably secure frame sync and reproduce data at a high reliability. Particularly, in the case of the data format used in this embodiment, because a recording position using the parameters J and K is shifted at random, the position of a pre-sync-code field, in other words, the start position of the first frame of data changes at random in a range of 8 bytes. Therefore, it is very important to generate the sync-detection window signal WNS at a proper position by using the timing generation section 114 having the above sector sync counter 302.

The decoded values corresponding to rise and fall of timing signals, that is, values from c7 to c10 may be set as below.
c7=170×4
c8=202×4−w
c9=202×4+w
c10=2619×4

In this case, w denotes a parameter for deciding the window width of the sync-detection window signal WNS and in the above case, the window width becomes 8w channel bits. In the case of the sector sync counter 302 in this embodiment, because a counted value is expressed in a unit of 0.25 bytes, parameters of c7 to c10 are expressed in the form of (number of bytes×4).

Moreover, the rise position of the read gate signal RSG is set to a position located by 170 bytes after the head of a sector depending on the value of the above c7. This position corresponds to a position at which the read gate signal RSG rises and which is located 2 bytes after the front end of the data VFO field 1008 when a recording position is shifted rearmost, that is, when the parameter J is equal to 15 and the parameter K is equal to 7. Thereby, it is possible to start data binarization and PLL lead-in operation from the head of the data VFO field 1008 to the utmost while avoiding the front guard field 1007 in which a signal may be deteriorated. Thus, it is possible to stably and quickly reproduce data. To inhibit the reproducing operation in the front guard field 1007, a timing error permitted in the read gate signal RGS, that is, an permitted positional shift of the sector sync counter 302 is two bytes.

Moreover, when a recording position is present at the center in a range of random shift depending on the values of the above c8 and c9, for example, when J is equal to 0 and K is equal to 4, the pre-sync code field 1009 is set so that the end position of the field 1009 is brought to almost the center of the sync-detection window signal WNS. To make it possible to detect a pre-sync code even if a recording position is brought to any position in a random-shift range (8 bytes), it is necessary to set w so that at least 8w is larger than 8×16. Moreover, it is preferable to set w to 20 or more in order to securely detect the first frame sync in the data field 1010 following the pre-sync code field 1009 and provide a slight allowance to the sector sync counter 302. When setting w to an excessively large value, erroneous detection increases because a window width becomes too large. Therefore, w is set to a proper value through an experiment or the like.

Moreover, the fall position of the read gate signal RSG is brought to a position located by 2,619 bytes after the head of a sector depending on the value of the above c10. This position corresponds to a position at which the read gate signal RSG falls and which is located by two bytes after; the data postamble field 1011 when a recording position is shifted foremost, that is, when the parameter J is equal to 0 and the parameter K is equal to 0. Thereby, it is possible to securely reproduce the data up to the data postamble field 1011 even if the recording position is brought to any position in the random shift range (8 bytes). To securely reproduce the data up to the data postamble field 1011, a timing error permitted in the read gate signal RGS, that is, a permitted positional shift of the sector sync counter 302 becomes two bytes. Though it is permitted to set c10 to a value slightly larger than two bytes, if c10 is set to an excessively large value, a signal of the rear guard field 1012 which may be deteriorated is reproduced long. Therefore, this is not preferable because a problem may occur in the stability of PLL.

(Embodiment 3)

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a timing generation section 114 and its periphery according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 10, because an address-mark detection section 111, demodulation section 112, address-error detection section 113, and modulation section 115 have the same functions as those described in FIGS. 1, 3, and 8, the descriptions are omitted here.

The timing generation section 114 in FIG. 10 has a function of generating various timing signals required to record and reproduce data, and is constituted of a reference-clock generation section 401, sector sync counter 402, counted-value decoder 403, counted-value correction section 404, and recording/reproducing control section 405. Operations of each functional block are described below.

The reference-clock generation section 401 generates a reference clock REFCLK3 serving as a criterion for recording and reproducing data. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the reference clock REFCLK3 has a one-channel-bit cycle of the data format shown in FIG. 2.

The sector sync counter 402 is a counter for counting the reference clock REFCLK3 so that a counted value of the counter 402 shows a byte position in one sector. In the case of the data format shown in FIG. 2, one sector has a length of 2,697 bytes, that is, a length of 2,697×16=43,152 channel bits. Therefore, it is possible to constitute the counter 402 of a 16-bit loop counter which counts from 0 to 43,151 in accordance with a reference clock and then returns to 0. Moreover, it is necessary to synchronize the position of a light spot applied to an optical disk 101 with a counted value of the sector sync counter 402. Therefore, a mechanism is used which corrects a counted value by using a counted-value correction pulse CCP3 and a count correction value CCV3.

The counted-value decoder 403 generates various timing signals synchronizing with the data format of a sector by decoding a counter output CT03 output from the sector sync counter 402. In this case, when the decoder 403 receives a write enable signal WENBL from the recording/reproducing control section 405 when recording data, it outputs a write gate signal WSG to a laser driving section 108 and moreover outputs an enable signal ENBL necessary for modulation to the modulation section 115. Details of timing-signal generation in recording data are omitted here because the details are the same as the contents described in FIG. 8.

Moreover, when the counted-value decoder 403 receives a read enable signal RENBL from the recording/reproducing control section 405 when reproducing data, the counted-value decoder 403 outputs a read gate signal RGS to a reproduction-signal processing section 106, and moreover, generates a window signal WNS, which is necessary for detection of a pre-sync code and the demodulation of data, and outputs the signal WNS to the demodulation section 112. Because details of timing signal generation when reproducing data are the same as the contents described in FIG. 9, description of the details is omitted here. The counted-value decoder 403 also generates an AM detection window signal AMDWNS and feeds back the signal AMDWNS to the counted-value correction section 404.

The counted-value correction section 404 outputs a counted-value correction pulse CCP3 and a count correction value CCV3 by using an AM detection pulse AMDD transmitted from the address mark detection section, CRCOK pulse transmitted from address error detection section 113 and AM detection window signal AMDWNS transmitted from the counted-value decoder 403.

The recording/reproducing control section 405 receives a recording command RECCOM from a system controller 110 when recording data and outputs a write enable signal WENBL in accordance with a predetermined criterion. Moreover, the recording/reproducing control section 405 receives a reproduction command REPCOM from the system controller 110 when reproducing data and outputs read enable signal RENBL in accordance with a predetermined criterion. Output algorithms of a write enable signal WENBL and read enable signal RENBL in each sector, that is, conditions for allowing data to be recorded and reproduced in each sector will be described later.

FIG. 11 is an illustration for explaining a counted-value correcting operation of the sector sync counter 402 in this embodiment. The operation example in FIG. 11 is characterized by controlling the count correction when detecting an address mark by using an AM detection window AMDWNS as described below.

The first AM detection window AMDWNSa shown in FIG. 11(b) is a detection window for an address mark field AMa in a first address field 1004a, which is set to H level by the counter output CT03 of the sector sync counter 402 in a range of 2Wa channel bits about a counted value corresponding to the terminal position of the address mark field AMa. When H pulse of the AM detection pulse AMDP in which an address mark i s detected is output while the first AM detection window AMDWNSa is kept H-level, the counted-value correction section 404 outputs the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 as H pulse and sets the count correction value CCV3 to A at the timing of deciding the count correction value CCV3 at the H-level portion of the counted-value correction pulse CCP3.

In this example, the H-level period of the first AM detection window AMDWNSa is ended at the time of detection of an address mark i n the address mark field AMa as illustrated (illustrated by pulse AMPD-a). This represents that the sector sync counter 402 is greatly shifted in the early direction from an actual light-spot irradiation position at the above point of time. Therefore, the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 is not output at the above point of time and the sector sync counter 402 is not corrected (shown by a dotted line, that is, CCP-ma shown in FIG. 3 does not occur).

The second AM detection window AMDWNSb shown in FIG. 11(c) is a detection window for an address mark field AMb in an address field 1004b, which is set to H level by the counter output CT03 of the sector sync counter 402 in a range of 2Wb channel bits about a counted value corresponding to the terminal position, of the address mark field AMb. When an address mark is detected and H pulse of the AM detection pulse AMDP is output while the second AM detection window AMDWNSb is kept H-level (illustrated by AMDP-b), the counted-value correction section 404 outputs the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 as an H pulse (illustrated by CCP-mb) and sets the count correction value CCV3 to C at the timing of deciding the value CCV3 at the H-level portion of the counted-value correction pulse CCP3.

In this example, the time of detection of an address mark in the address mark field AMb is included in the H-level period of the second AM detection window AMDWNSb as illustrated. Therefore, the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 is output as an H pulse at the above point of time to correct the sector sync counter 402.

The third AM detection window AMDWNSc shown in FIG. 11(d) is a detection window for an address mark field AMc in the address field 1004c, which is set to H level by the counter output CT03 of the sector sync counter 402 in a range of 2Wc channel bits about a counted value corresponding to the terminal position of the address mark field AMc. As illustrated, when the H pulse of the AM detection pulse AMDP is output upon detecting an address mark while the third AM detection window AMDWNSc is kept H-level (illustrated by AMDP-c), the counted-value correction section 404 outputs the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 as an H pulse (illustrated by CCP-mc) and sets the count correction value CCV3 to E at the timing of deciding the value CCV3 at the H-level portion of the counted-value correction pulse CCP3.

The fourth AM detection window AMDWNSd shown in FIG. 11(e) is a detection window for an address mark field AMd in an address field 1604d, which is set to H level by the counter output CT03 of the sector sync counter 402 in a range of 2Wd channel bits about a counted value corresponding to the terminal position of the address mark field AMd. As illustrated, when an address mark is detected and the H pulse of the AM detection pulse AMDP is output while the fourth AM detection window MDWNSd is kept H-level (illustrated by AMDP-d), the counted-value correction section 404 outputs the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 as an H pulse (illustrated by CCP-md) and sets the count correction value CCV3 to G at the timing of deciding the value CCV3 at the H-level portion of the counted-value correction pulse CCP3.

As described above, by setting an individual AM detection window every address mark field, it is possible to easily identify which address field in a sector a detected address mark is included in. Moreover, because a counted value is not corrected even if an address mark is detected outside of an AM detection window, it is possible to prevent the synchronism of the sector sync counter 402 from being shifted due to erroneous detection of an address mark.

Furthermore, the counted-value correction by a CRCOK pulse is the same as the example in FIG. 4. That is, any one place is recognized among (address information field+error detection code fields) of the address fields 1004a, 1004b, 1004c, and 1004d, the counted-value correction pulse CCP3 is output as an H pulse, and the count correction value CCV3 is set to any one of B, D, F, and H.

It is preferable to decide parameters Wa, Wb, Wc, and Wd for deciding the time width of each AM detection window in consideration of a shift of the reference clock REFCLK3 from a track linear velocity every sector. Moreover, it is also permitted to set the parameters so as to be Wa=Wb=Wc=Wd. Thereby, time widths of the AM detection windows are equalized each other.

It is also possible to control whether to perform counted-value correction at the address-mark detection timing of a certain sector correspondingly to whether a CRCOK pulse is output in a sector which is located by M (M is a natural number) sectors before the sector concerned. For example, by setting M to 2 channel bits and Wa=Wb=Wc=Wd to 64 channel bits (i.e., 4bytes), a counted value is not corrected when address information with no error is not obtained within two sectors immediately before. Moreover, a counted-value shift of the sector sync counter 402 permitted between two sectors becomes ±4 bytes. That is, when a shift of the reference clock REFCLK3 from a track linear velocity that occurs between two sectors is within ±4 bytes, a counted value is corrected at the address mark detection timing.

Thereby, when the sector sync counter 402 operates completely independently of a light-spot irradiation position, a counted value is not corrected at the address-mark detection timing. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the synchronism of the sector sync counter 402 from being shifted due to erroneous recognition of an address mark.

Next, the following describes the output algorithms of the write enable signal WENBL and read enable signal RENBL in each sector by the recording/reproducing control section 405, that is, conditions for permitting recording/reproducing of data in each sector.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining an example of data recording/reproducing process in this embodiment. When a recording command RECCOM or reproducing command REPCOM is output in a certain sector, a data recording/reproducing process is started by the recording/reproducing control section 405.

First, it is determined whether an address mark is detected in the sector concerned (step 1). At this time, when even one address mark is detected in the sector concerned, it is regarded that an address mark is detected. However, as described in FIG. 11, when an AM detection window is provided, detection of an address mark outside the AM detection window is excluded from the above definition.

When it is determined in step 1 that no address mark is detected, recording/reproducing of data in the subject sector is not permitted and the program is advanced to a predetermined process when the recording/reproducing is impossible (case 0). In the case 0, there is considered an operation of shifting to a retry process for reproducing the sector concerned once more when data is reproduced, or a substitute sector recording process, so-called alternation processing, without recording the subject sector when data is recorded.

When it is determined in step 1 that an address mark is detected, it is determined whether no error is detected in address information, that is, whether a CRCOK pulse is output (step 2).

When it is determined in step 2 that CRCOK pulse is output, the program is advanced to a recording/reproducing process of the sector concerned (case 1). That is, the write enable signal WENBL is made active when data is recorded, or the read enable signal RENBL is made active when data is reproduced.

When it is determined in step 2 that no CRCOK pulse is output, it is determined whether no error is detected in address information in any of M sectors (M is a natural number) before the subject sector, i.e., whether a CRCOK pulse is output (step 3). In this case, it is preferable to set M to a value equal to the number of sectors for checking a CRCOK pulse serving as a criterion as to whether a counted value is corrected at the above address-mark detection timing.

When it is determined in step 3 that a CRCOK pulse is output, the program is advanced to a recording/reproducing process of the subject sector (case 2). That is, the write enable signal WENBL is made active when data is recorded, and the read enable signal RENBL is made active when data is reproduced.

When it is determined in step 3 that no CROCK pulse is output, data recording/reproducing of the subject sector is not permitted and the program is advanced to the predetermined recording/reproducing impossible process (case 3). It is assumed that the processing in case 3 is the same as the processing in case 0.

In the above-described processing steps, the recording/reproducing control section 405 permits recording/reproducing of data in each sector and outputs the write enable signal WENBL or read enable signal RENBL. Thereby, data is recorded or reproduced only in a sector in which a counted value of the sector sync counter 402 is corrected. Therefore, it is possible to accurately adjust the data recording/reproducing timing and keep the reliability of an apparatus high.

(Embodiment 4)

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an information; recording system according to the present invention. In FIG. 13, it is assumed that an optical disk 101 has a data format as shown in FIG. 2. Moreover, it is assumed that an optical disk drive 501 basically has the configuration as shown in FIG. 1 and is able to at least record data to a predetermined sector of the optical disk 101.

A host computer 502 stores various application programs for handling the information including AV data 510 and computer data 511 as a database so as to record information in the optical disk 101 by executing these application programs and using the optical disk drive 501.

The optical disk drive 501 and the host computer 502 are connected each other by a host interface 504 built in the drive 501 and a drive interface 505 built in the computer 502 so that the information including the AV data 510 and computer data 511 and commands for recording the information can be transmitted.

A system controller 503 interprets a command transmitted via the host interface 504 and controls the whole of the optical disk 101 so as to record the transmitted information in a predetermined sector of the optical disk 101.

An i/o driver 506 issues a command to the optical disk drive 501 so that information is correctly recorded to a predetermined sector of the optical disk 101 and has a function of fetching the AV data 501 and computer data 511 via a file system 507 when necessity.

The file system 507 is software for handling the AV data 510 and computer data 511 as a plurality of file groups, adding a file attribute comprising file name, data length (number of data bytes), and type of file to each file, and performing the whole file management such as saving, deleting, and reading (opening) of a file.

The AV data 510 and computer data 511 fieldssumed as, for example, the data stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk or flash ROM or data to be input from the outside of or to be output to the outside of the information recording system. As inputs/outputs to and from the information recording system, various types fieldssumed as shown below: previously digitized information, video signals input through a video camera or microphone, data obtained by digitizing audio signals, character information and control instructions input through a keyboard, mouse, or touch panel, video and character information displayed on an external display unit such as a television monitor or liquid-crystal display, and audio information output to a loudspeaker.

An application program A508 and application program B509 are software for handing the AV data 510 and/or computer data 511 through the file system 507, processing information, and storing the information necessary for the optical disk 101 or other storage medium.

The host computer 502 is provided with a central processing unit CPU513 for executing a program and performing calculation, a semiconductor memory used to temporarily store data or a program though not illustrated, or auxiliary memory such as a hard disk for storing/memorizing data according to necessity, and the above hardware is organically operated based on each application program, thereby allowing to execute the predetermined functions.

In general, field1-time performance is requested in many cases for the operation of recording the AV data 510 in the optical disk 101. For example, a state is assumed that video information obtained by digitizing a video signal supplied from a camera is handled as the AV data 510 and the video information is recorded to the optical disk 101. In this case, to continuously record pictures supplied from the camera to the optical disk 101, it is requested to transmit the AV data 510 from the host computer 502 to the optical disk drive 501 at a predetermined rate and record the data 510 in the optical disk 101, that is, a predetermined transfer rate is requested.

Moreover, in the case of a certain type of AV data 510, even if an error is included in a part of data, it is possible to repair the data 510 so that the repair is not known by a user. Frame interpolation in a video signal or linear interpolation by data samples before and after an audio signal corresponds to the above repair.

Therefore, to record the real-time information such as the AV data 510 continuously input to the optical disk 101, it is preferable to record the data without interruption, while permitting a small number of errors even in a state where data errors easily occur due to a medium defect of the optical disk 101 or the like.

However, the real-time performance is not always requested for the operation of recording the computer data 511 handled by a conventional personal computer to an optical disk. Moreover, because a fatal influence is given to a system even if there is a small number of errors in the computer data 511, occurrence of an data error cannot be permitted.

In the above-described information recording system for recording the information including the AV data 510 having the realtime characteristic and the computer data 511 that cannot permit an error, several methods for improving the reliability of an apparatus are described below by listing a plurality of examples. Specifically, a transfer-rate priority recording mode is used for the data which can permit a small number of data errors but for which field1-time characteristic is requested while a transfer-rate non-priority recording mode is used for the data which cannot permit an error.

The above transfer-rate priority recording mode is a mode for preventing a transfer rate from lowering by continuously recording data even in a state in which a small number of errors may occur when recording the data in a sector. The state in which data errors may occur can be classified into two states such as a state in which a data error occurs and a state in which an address information error occurs.

As for the data error, an idea of assuring the quality of recorded data by verifying the data is used in the case of a conventional computer memory. Verifying is to verify whether the data has an error rate that the data can be sufficiently retrieved through error correction by reproducing data immediately after the data is recorded. As a verifying method, there is considered a method in which data before demodulated is kept when e.g. recording, and the data is compared with data after demodulated to thereby measure a byte error rate and determine whether the byte error rate is equal to or less than a predetermined criterion.

However, due to performing the verifying operation, a problem occurs that the normal recording-sequence-execution time increases. This is because verifying requires the time for reproducing data and determining the quality of the reproduced data. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a data transfer rate when recording from being deteriorated by performing no verifying operation.

As for an address-information error, a conventional computer memory does not record data to a sector in which errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion are detected in address information. For example, in the case of an optical disk having the data format shown in FIG. 2, because address information is recorded in each sector a plurality of times, it is used as a predetermined criterion that the number of pieces of address information reproduced with no error is equal to or more than a predetermined number among the plural pieces of address information. Moreover, it is general to record data in the above sector through retrying. As the content of retrying, it is general to perform the alteration processing for recording data in a predetermined substitute sector when errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion are detected as a result of recording data in the sector having the same address again.

However, because the recording-sequence execution time is increased due to the recording retrying or alteration processing applied to the same sector, a problem occurs that a data transfer rate for recording is lowered. Therefore, by continuously performing recording even if errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion are detected in address information, it is possible to prevent the data transfer rate in the recording from being deteriorated.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of data recording in this embodiment. In FIG. 14, when data is recorded to a predetermined sector, it is first determined whether errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion are included in address information (step 1401). When errors are less than the predetermined criterion (arrow of NO), the data is recorded to the subject sector (case 1401). When errors are equal to or more than the predetermined criterion (arrow of YES), it is determined whether the data to be recorded is transfer-rate priority data (step 1402). When the data is not transfer-rate priority data, recording of the data to the subject sector is interrupted and recording retry is executed (case 1402). When the data is transfer-rate priority data, the data is recorded to the subject sector (case 1403).

By recording data in accordance with the flow as described above, only the transfer-rate-priority data is continuously recorded to the subject sector (case 1403) in the case where errors equal to or more than the predetermined criterion are included in the address information and where recording has been conventionally transferred to a retry process. That is, by selecting the data recording which has the highest priority to the fact of not lowering a transfer rate as for transfer-rate-priority data and selecting the data recording which has priority to the fact of not causing data errors as for the data in which it is unnecessary to have priority to a transfer rate, it is possible to meet a performance requested to the both cases.

It is permitted that the sequence of step 1401 and step 1402 is reversed and advantages to be obtained are the same.

FIG. 15 shows another example of the data recording process in this embodiment, which is a flowchart more minutely describing the processing in step 1401 in the flow in FIG. 14 as a specific example. In FIG. 15, when data is recorded to a predetermined sector, it is first determined whether an address mark is detected in the subject sector (step 1501). When no address mark is detected, the process is transferred to a recording retry process (Case 1501). When an address mark is detected, it is determined whether address information having no error is obtained from the sector (that is, whether there is CRCOK) (step 1502). When the address information with no error is obtained, data is recorded to the subject sector (Case 1). When even a piece of address information having no error is not obtained, it is determined whether there is a sector obtaining address information having no error in M (M is a natural number) sectors before the sector concerned (step 1503).

When there is a not a sector obtaining address information with no error in the period up to the precedent M sectors, the process goes to a recording retry process (Case 1502). When address information with no error is obtained in the period up to the precedent M sectors, it is further determined whether the data to be recorded is transfer-rate priority data (step 1504). When the data is not transfer-rate priority data (that is, when the data is transfer-rate-nonpriority data), recording of data in the subject sector is stopped and a recording retry process is executed (Case 1503). When the data is transfer-rate priority data, the data is recorded to the subject sector (Case 2).

By recording data in accordance with the flow as described above, similarly to the case of the example in FIG. 14, in the case where the process is conventionally transferred to a recording retry process when errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion are included in the address information, only transfer-rate priority data is continuously recorded to the subject sector without interrupting the recording.

Moreover, it is one of the features of this example to include a determination whether an address mark is detected in criteria (step 1501) so as not to record data to a sector from which no address mark is detected. Thus, by combining the above feature with a method of deciding the recording start timing in accordance with the address-mark detection timing as described in an optical-disk recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to record data at a high timing accuracy.

Moreover, it is also one of the features of this example that the fact that at least address information with no error is obtained from any one of sectors up to precedent M sectors (YES in step 1503) is used as a condition for recording data in the sector concerned even when address information with no error is not obtained from the sector concerned. Thereby, data is recorded only to the sector for which the timing of the sector sync counter is corrected as described in the optical-disk recording apparatus of the present invention. Therefore, it is possible to accurately adjust the data recording/reproducing timing and keep the reliability of the apparatus high.

The flow of this example includes four types of determination processings such as steps 1501, 1502, 1503, and 1504. However, the sequence of determination steps is not restricted to the example in FIG. 14. For example, it is also possible to first execute the processing of step 1504 and in this case, the same advantage is obtained.

Then, as to how to determine the transfer-rate-priority data will be described below in detail. First, how to determine whether to perform the transfer-rate-priority processing when the optical disk drive 501 records data to the optical disk 101, the following two methods are considered.

(1) To make determination in accordance with the content of a command issued to the optical disk drive 501 from the host computer 502.

(2) To make determination in accordance with the content of a mode set to the optical disk drive 501 from the host computer 502.

For the above method (1), a processing example is shown in FIG. 16. In FIG. 16, step 1601 for determining whether a command is for handling AV data, and when it is determined that the command is a command for handling AV data, transfer-rate-priority data recording process is executed (Case 1601). When it is determined that the command is not a command for handling AV data, transfer-rate-nonpriority data recording process is executed (Case 1602).

The transfer-rate-priority-data recording process represents the processing for continuously recording data to the subject sector without performing a recording retry processing or alternation processing as possible even if an error is detected in address information. The transfer-rate-nonpriority-data recording process represents the processing of retrying recording or performing alternation processing as positively as possible by giving the highest priority to the fact that no data error occurs when it is presumed that an error may occur.

A command (referred to as host command) for defining the content of a certain typical processing is prescribed between the host computer 502 and the optical disk drive 501. To record the AV data 510 continuously transmitted, a first host command is prepared which assures a recording data transfer rate equal to or more than a predetermined criterion. Whereas, in the case of recording the data such as computer data 511 whose transfer rate is not seriously considered but which cannot permit an error, a second command is prepared which does not have a condition of a recording data transfer rate. Note that it is permitted to use a first host command and a second host command different from each other or to optionally change the same command.

To perform processing by including the method (1) in the flow in FIG. 14 or 15, it is preferable to replace step 1402 with step 1601. Then, advantages same as described above are obtained.

Moreover, the method (1) makes it possible to easily change transfer-rate priority and nonpriority processings in commands unit from the host computer 502 to the optical disk drive 501. Therefore, the method (1) is effective for a case in which the AV data 510 and the computer data 511 are transferred in mixture.

In this case, the file system 507 shown in FIG. 13 conduct file management by adding to the attribute of each file to be handled a code capable of determining whether priority is given to a transfer rate. For example, it is preferable to add a transfer-rate-priority code to each file belonging to the AV data 510 and add a transfer-rate-nonpriority code to each file belonging to the computer data 511.

Thus, even if a file included in the AV data 510 and a file included in the computer data 511 are handled in mixture by an application A or application B, it is possible to easily select whether to issue the first host command or second host command to the optical disk drive 501 by referring to the file attribute by the file system 507 or i/o driver 506.

On the other hand, for the method (2), a processing is shown in FIG. 17. In FIG. 17, mode setting of whether to perform the transferrate-priority processing is previously provided. It is preferable to perform the mode setting by setting a mode setting register 512 to the system controller 503 built in the optical disk drive 501 and rewriting the contents of the mode setting register. Moreover, it is permitted to perform the mode setting by making the host computer 502 directly rewrite the mode setting register 512 through the driving interface 505 and host interface 504, or by providing a mode setting command from the host computer 502 to the optical disk drive 501 so that the system controller 503 receiving the mode setting command rewrites the mode setting register.

In this case, a mode for performing the transfer-rate-priority processing is referred to as a transfer-rate-priority mode and a mode for performing the transfer-rate-nonpriority processing is referred to as a transfer-rate-nonpriority mode. In the case of data recording, the system controller 503 first reads the content of the mode setting register 512 and thereby determines which of the modes is set as a drive-mode (step 1701). When the drive mode is set to the transfer-rate-priority mode, the controller 503 performs a transfer-rate-priority data recording process (case 1701). When the drive mode is set to the transfer-rate-nonpriority mode, it performs a transfer-rate-nonpriority data recording process (Case 1702).

To perform processing by including the method (2) into the flow in FIG. 14 or 15, it is preferable to replace step 1402 with step 1701. Then, advantages same as described above are obtained.

Moreover, the method (2) makes it possible to easily change the processing mode of the optical disk drive 501 to the transfer-rate-priority mode or transfer-rate-nonpriority mode only by performing the mode setting. Therefore, the method (2) is an effective method in the case where it is possible to clearly separate an application for handling the AV data 510 and an application for handling the computer data 511 and where the both applications are not mixed.

In this case, it is assumed that the application program A 508 shown in FIG. 13 is a program for handling only the AV data 510 and the application program B 509 is a program for handling only computer data. Moreover, it is assumed that the above two applications cannot be executed at the same time.

When the application program A 508 is activated, the i/o driver 506 first issues a command for setting the optical disk drive 501 to the transfer-rate-priority mode. Then, when the AV data 510 recorded to the optical disk 101, the optical disk drive 501 always operates in the transfer-rate-priority mode.

When the application B 509 is activated, the i/o driver 506 first issues a command for setting the optical disk drive 501 to the transfer-rate-nonpriority mode. Then, when the computer data 511 is recorded to the optical disk 101, the optical disk drive 501 always operates in the transfer-rate-nonpriority mode.

It is noted that the present invention is not restricted to the above embodiments but it is prescribed only in the contents set forth in claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, according to the configurations of the optical-disk recording apparatuses or optical-disk reproducing apparatuses shown in the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to decide the data-recording start timing or data-reproducing start timing in accordance with the timing of detecting an address mark. Therefore, it is possible to record or reproduce data even in a sector having an error in address information at a high accuracy, thereby improving the reliability of an apparatus.

Moreover, according to the configurations of the optical-disk recording apparatuses or optical-disk reproducing apparatuses shown in the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to determine whether to record or reproduce data in a predetermined sector under the condition that address information with no error is obtained from the subject sector or that address information with no error is obtained from at least a certain sector up to predetermined sectors preceding the subject sector and an address mark is detected in the subject sector. Therefore, data is recorded or reproduced only in a sector capable of generating an accurate timing by correcting the sector sync timing in the subject sector, and thus the reliability of an apparatus can be improved.

Furthermore, according to the optical-disk recording methods shown in the embodiments of the present invention, it is determined whether data is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data which cannot permit an error and only the transfer-rate-priority data is recorded in a transfer-rate-priority recording process, it is possible to minutely correspond to the performance of an apparatus requested for each data.

Therefore, by applying the present invention to an information recording system handling multimedia including computer data and real-time AV data, it is possible to provide a high-speed and high-reliability system and thus, the present invention is very effective in practical use.

Claims

1. An optical-disk recording apparatus for recording data in a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk recording apparatus comprising:

address-mark detection means for detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

data-recording decision and control means for deciding and controlling a period of recording data in the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said data-recording decision and control means uses an address-mark detection timing of said address-mark detection means in deciding and controlling the data recording period;

wherein said data-recording decision and control means includes

address-information error detection means for detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address-information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

timing generation means for generating a recording timing signal for deciding a data recording operation by using the address-mark detection timing of detecting the address mark by said address-mark detection means and a timing of detecting by said address-information error detection means that there is no error in the address information; and

wherein said data-recording decision and control means, when recording data in the data recording field of a predetermined sector, permits data recording only

where address information having no error is obtained as a result of error detection in the subject sector executed by said address-information error detection means, and

where at least one piece of address information having no error is obtained in a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject sector as a result of error detection by said address-information-error detection means and at least one address mark is detected in the address mark field of the subject sector.

2. An optical-disk recording apparatus for recording data in a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address informaiton information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk recording apparatus comprising:

address-mark detection means for detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

data-recording decision and control means for deciding and controlling a period of recording data in the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said data-recording decision and control means uses an address-mark detection timing of said address-mark detection means in deciding and controlling the data recording period;

wherein said data-recording decision and control means includes

address-information error detection means for detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

timing generation means for generating a recording timing signal for deciding a data recording operation by using the address-mark detection timing of detecting the address mark by said address-mark detection means and a timing of detection detecting by said address-information error detection means that there is no error in the address information; and wherein said timing generation means includes

wherein said timing generation means includes

clock generation means for generating a reference clock serving as a criterion of recording data,

counting means for count-specifying a position in one sector by using the reference clock generated by said clock generation means,

counted-value correction means for correcting the counted values of said counting means with predetermined values at the address-mark detection timing of detecting the address mark by said address-mark detection means and the timing of detecting that there is no error in the address information by said address-information-error detection means, and

decoding means for decoding the count output by said counting means corrected with the predetermined values to thereby produce the recording-timing signals.

3. The optical-disk recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said decoding means

decodes the count output by said counting means to generate an address-mark detection window,

permits said counted-value correction means to correct the counted value when the address-mark detection timing detected by said address-mark detection means is present within the address-mark detection window, and

inhibits said counted-value correction means from correcting the counted value when the address-mark detection timing is not present within the address-mark detection window.

4. The optical-disk recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the header field in each sector includes a plurality of address fields each having an address mark field, an address information field, and an error detection code field; and

when said address-information error detection means detects that there is no error in the address information in at least one address field in each sector, said timing generation means inhibits said counted-value correction means from correcting the counted value even if an address mark is detected in the subsequent address fields thereafter in the subject sector.

5. An optical-disk reproducing apparatus for reproducing data from a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field includes including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk reproducing apparatus comprising:

address-mark detection means for detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

data-reproducing decision and control means for deciding and controlling a period of reproducing data from the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said data-reproducing decision and control means uses an address-mark detection timing of said address-mark detection means in deciding and controlling the data reproducing period;

wherein said data-reproducing decision and control means includes

address-information error detection means for detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

timing generation means for generating a reproducing timing signal for deciding a data reproducing operation by using the address-mark detection timing detected by said address-mark detection means and a timing detected by said address-information error detection means of detecting that there is no error in the address information; and

wherein said data-reproducing decision and control means, when reproducing data from the data recording field of a predetermined sector, permits data reproduction only

where address information having no error detected is obtained as a result of error detection in the subject sector executed by said address-information error detection means, and

where at least one piece of address information having no error detected is obtained in a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject sector as a result of error detection by said address-information-error detection means and at least one address mark is detected in the address mark field of the subject sector.

6. An optical-disk reproducing apparatus for reproducing data from a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address informaiton information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk reproducing apparatus comprising:

address-mark detection means for detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

data-reproducing decision and control means for deciding and controlling a period of reproducing data from the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said data-reproducing decision and control means uses an address-mark detection timing of said address-mark detection means in deciding and controlling the data reproducing period;

wherein said data-reproducing decision and control means includes

address-information error detection means for detection detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

timing generation means for generating a reproducing timing signal for deciding a data reproducing operation by using the address-mark detection timing detected by said address-mark detection means and a timing detected by said address-information error detection means of detecting that there is no error in the address information; and

wherein said timing generation means includes:

clock generation means for generating a reference clock serving as a criterion of reproducing data,

counting means for count-specifying a position in one sector by using the reference clock generated by said clock generation means,

counted-value correction means for correcting the counted values of said counting means with predetermined values at the address-mark detection timing of detecting the address mark by said address-mark detection means and a timing of detecting that there is no error in the address information by said address-information-error detection means, and

decoding means for decoding the count output by said counting means corrected with the predetermined values to thereby produce the reproducing-timing signals.

7. The optical-disk reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said decoding means

decodes said count output of said counting means to generate an address-mark detection window,

permits said counted-value correction means to correct the counted value when the address-mark detection timing detected by said address-mark detection means is present within the address-mark detection window, and

inhibits said counted-value correction means from correcting the counted value when the address-mark detection timing is not present within the address-mark detection window.

8. The optical-disk reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the header field in each sector includes a plurality of address fields each having an address mark field, an address information field, and an error detection code field; and

when said address-information error detection means detects that there is no error in the address information in at least one address field in each sector, said timing generation means inhibits said counted-value correction means from correcting the counted value even if an address mark is detected in the subsequent address fields thereafter in the subject sector.

9. An optical-disk recording method for recording data in a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field, said method comprising:

detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

deciding and controlling a period of recording data in the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period uses an address-mark detection timing in deciding and controlling the data recording period;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period includes

detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information

based on the address information and the error detection code, and

generating a recording timing signal for deciding a data recording

operation by using the address mark detection timing and a timing of detection in said detecting of the presence or absence of the error that there is no error in the address information; and

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period, when recording period, when recording data in the data recording field of a predetermined sector, permits data recording only

where address information having no error detected is obtained as a result of error detection in the subject sector executed in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error, and

where at least one piece of address information having no error detected is obtained in a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject

sector as a result of error detection and at least one address mark is detected in the address mark field of the subject sector.

10. An optical-disk recording method for recording data in a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting code for detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk recording method comprising:

detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

deciding and controlling a period of recording data in the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period uses an address-mark detection timing in deciding and controlling the data recording period;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period includes

detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

generating a recording timing signal for deciding a data recording operation by using the address mark detection timing and a timing of detecting in said detecting of the presence of or absence of an error that there is no error in the address information; and wherein said generating of the recording timing signal includes

wherein said generating of the recording timing signal includes

generating a reference clock serving as a criterion of recording data,

count-specifying a position in one sector by using the reference clock generated in said generating of the reference clock,

correcting the values counted in said count-specifying of the position in one sector with predetermined values at the address-mark detection timing of detecting the address mark and a timing of detecting that there is no error in the address information executed in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error, and

decoding the counted value obtained in said count-specifying of the position in one sector corrected with the predetermined values to thereby produce the recording-timing signals.

11. The optical-disk recording method according to claim 10, wherein said decoding of the counted value

decodes the counted value obtained in said count-specifying of the position in one sector to generate an address-mark detection window,

permits the correction of the counted value in said correcting of the counted values when the address-mark detection timing is present within the address-mark detection window, and

inhibits said correcting of the counted values from correcting the counted value when the address-mark detection timing is not present within the address-mark detection window.

12. The optical-disk recording method according to claim 10, wherein:

the header field in each sector includes a plurality of address fields each having an address mark field, an address information field, and an error detection code field; and

when said detecting of the presence or absence of an error detects that there is no error in the address information in at least one address field in each sector, said generating of the recording timing signal inhibits the correction of the counted value in said correcting of the counted values even if an address mark is detected in the subsequent address fields thereafter in the subject sector.

13. An optical-disk reproducing method for reproducing data from a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detection detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk reproducing method comprising:

detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

deciding and controlling a period of reproducing data from the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data reproducing period uses an address-mark detection timing in deciding and controlling the data reproducing period;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data reproducing period includes

detecting a presence of or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

generating a reproducing timing signal for deciding a data reproducing operation by using the address-mark detection timing and a timing of detecting in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error that there is no error in the address information; and

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data reproducing period, when reproducing data from the data recording field of a predetermined sector, permits data reproduction only

where address information having no error detected is obtained as a result of error detection in the subject sector executed in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error, and

where at least one piece of address information having no error detected is obtained in a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject sector as a result of error detection and at least one address mark is detected in the address mark field of the subject sector.

14. An optical-disk reproducing method for reproducing data from a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, the header field including an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field, said optical-disk reproducing method comprising:

detecting an address mark stored in the address mark field of the sector; and

deciding and controlling a period of reproducing data from the data recording field of the sector;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data reproducing period uses an address-mark detection timing in deciding and controlling the data reproducing period;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data reproducing period uses an address-mark detection timing in deciding and controlling the data reproducing period;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data reproducing period includes

detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code, and

generating a reproducing timing signal for deciding a data reproducing operation by using the address-mark detection timing and a timing of detecting in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error that there is no error in the address information; and wherein said generating of the reproducing timing signal includes

wherein said generating of the reproducing timing signal includes

generating a reference clock serving as a criterion of reproducing data,

count-specifying a position in one sector by using the reference clock generated in said generating of the reference clock,

correcting the values counted in said count-specifying of the position in one sector with predetermined values at the address-mark detection timing of detecting the address mark and a timing of detecting that there is no error in the address information executed in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error, and

decoding the counted value obtained in said count-specifying of the position in one sector corrected with the predetermined values to thereby produce the reproducing-timing signals.

15. The optical-disk reproducing method according to claim 14, wherein said decoding of the counted value

decodes the counted value obtained in said count-specifying of the position in one sector to generate an address-mark detection window, and

permits the correction of the counted value in said correcting of the counted values when the address-mark detection timing is present within the address-mark detection window, and

inhibits said correcting of the counted values from correcting the counted value when the address-mark detection timing is not present within the address-mark detection window.

16. The optical-disk reproducing method according to claim 14, wherein:

the header field in each sector includes a plurality of address fields each having an address mark field, an address information field, and an error detection code field, and

when said detection detecting of the presence or absence of an error detects that there is no error in the address information in at least one address field in each sector, said generating of the timing reproducing signal inhibits the correction of the counted value in said correcting of the counted values even if an address mark is detected in the subsequent address fields thereafter in the subject sector.

17. An information recording system for recording information including transfer-rate-priority data and transfer-rate-nonpriority data in mixture supplied from an external unit to an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, said system comprising:

an optical disk drive for recording data to the data recording field in a predetermined sector of the optical disk; and

determination means for determining whether the information to be recorded to the optical disk is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data;

wherein when said determination means determines that the information to be recorded to the optical disk is the transfer-rate-priority data, said optical disk drive is operable to record the information in the sector to record the data even if there are errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion in address information in the sector to record the data: ; and

wherein when said determination means determines the data is the transfer-rate-nonpriority data, said optical disk drive is operable to record the data in a substitute sector without recording the data in the subject sector to record the data if there are errors equal to or more than the predetermined criterion in the subject sector.

18. The information recording system according to claim 17, wherein:

the header field includes an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field;

said system further comprises

address-mark detection means for detecting an address mark recorded in the address mark field of the subject sector, and

data-recording decision and control means for deciding and controlling a period of recording data to the data recording field of the subject sector; and

wherein said data-recording decision and control means uses an address-mark detection timing for deciding and controlling of the data recording period.

19. The information recording system according to claim 18, wherein said data-recording decision and control means includes:

address-information error detecting means for detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code; and

timing generation means for generating a recording timing signal for deciding a data recording operation by using the address mark detection timing and a timing of detecting that there is no error in the address information.

20. The information recording system according to claim 19, wherein said data-recording decision and control means, when recording data in the data recording field of a predetermined sector, determines whether or not the supplied data is the transfer-rate-priority data

where address information having no error detected is obtained as a result of error detection in the subject sector executed by said address-information error detection means, and

where at least one piece of address information having no error detected is obtained in a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject sector as a result of executing the address-information error detection by said address-information error detection means and at least one address mark is detected in the address mark field of the subject sector.

21. The information recording system according to claim 17, wherein said determination means determines whether the information is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data by interpreting whether a command is a command for handling the transfer-rate-priority data or a command for handling the transfer-rate-nonpriority data issued from an external unit to the optical disk drive.

22. The information recording system according to claim 17, wherein said determination means determines whether the information is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data depending on a content of a set mode set to the optical disk drive from an external unit (502) indicating whether the set mode is a mode for handling the transfer-rate-priority data or a mode for handling the transfer-rate-nonpriority data.

23. The information recording system according to claim 17, further comprising a file system for filing the information to be handled, wherein each file is provided with a file attribute showing transfer-rate-priority data or not, and wherein said determination means determines transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data in accordance with the fact that the attribute of each file provided by the file system shows transfer rate priority or transfer rate nonpriority.

24. An information recording method for recording data supplied from an external unit in a data recording field of an optical disk having a sector structure constituted of a header field previously storing address information and a data recording field for storing data, said method comprising:

determining whether or not the information to be recorded to the optical disk is transfer-rate-priority data; and

recording the data in the sector to record the data even if there are errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion in address information in the sector to record the data when the data to be recorded is determined in said determining to be the transfer-rate-priority data, and recording the data in a substitute sector without recording the data in the subject sector to record the data if there are errors equal to or more than the predetermined criterion in the subject sector when the data to be recorded is determined in said determining to be transfer-rate-nonpriority data.

25. The information recording method according to claim 24, wherein:

the header field includes an address mark field storing an address mark showing a beginning of address information, an address information field storing address information, and an error detection code field storing an error detection code for detecting an error in the address information field;

wherein said method further comprises

detecting an address mark recorded in the address mark field of the subject sector, and

deciding and controlling a period of recording data to the data recording field of the subject sector;

wherein said deciding and controlling of the period of recording data uses an address-mark detection timing for deciding and controlling of the data recording period.

26. The information recording method according to claim 25,

wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period includes:

detecting a presence or absence of an error in the address information based on the address information and the error detection code; and

generating a recording timing signal for deciding a data recording operation by using the address mark detection timing and a timing detected in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error for detecting that there is no error in the address information.

27. The information recording method according to claim 26, wherein said deciding and controlling of the data recording period, when recording data in the data recording field of a predetermined sector, determines whether or not the supplied data is the transfer-rate-priority data

where address information having no error detected is obtained as a result of error detection in the subject sector executed in said detecting of the presence or absence of an error, and

where at least one piece of address information having no error detected is obtained in a predetermined number of sectors preceding the subject sector as a result of executing the address-information error detection and at least one address mark is detected in the address mark field of the subject sector.

28. The information recording method according to claim 24, wherein said determining determines whether the information is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data by interpreting whether a command is a command for handling the transfer-rate-priority data or a command for handling the transfer-rate-nonpriority data issued from an external unit to the optical disk drive.

29. The information recording method according to claim 24, wherein said determining determines whether the information is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data depending on a content of a set mode set to the optical disk drive from an external unit indicating whether the set mode is a mode for handling the transfer-rate-priority data or a mode for handling the transfer-rate-nonpriority data.

30. An information recording method for recording data supplied from an external unit in a data recording field of an optical disk, said method comprising:

determining whether or not the data to be recorded to the data recording field is transfer-rate-priority data; and

recording the data in the data recording field to record the data even if there are errors equal to or more than a predetermined criterion in address information in the data recording field to record the data when the data to be recorded is determined in said determining to be the transfer-rate-priority data, and recording the data in a substitute field without recording the data in the data recording field to record the data if there are errors equal to or more than the predetermined criterion in the data recording field when the data to be recorded is determined in said determining to be transfer-rate-nonpriority data.

31. The information recording method according to claim 30, wherein said determining determines whether the data to be recorded is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data by interpreting whether a command is a command for handling the transfer-rate-priority data or a command for handling the transfer-rate-nonpriority data issued from an external unit.

32. The information recording method according to claim 30, wherein said determining determines whether the data to be recorded is transfer-rate-priority data or transfer-rate-nonpriority data depending on a content of a set mode set from an external unit indicating whether the set mode is a mode for handling the transfer-rate-priority data or a mode for handling the transfer-rate-nonpriority data.