Patent ID: 7301874
Filing Date: 2007-11-27
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for searching for a writable area of a write-once information recording medium, wherein the write-once information recording medium comprises: the recording management information contains at least one recorded area address indicating at least one recorded area, the defect management information contains at least one defective area address indicating the at least one defective area when the at least one defective area has been detected, the apparatus comprises: when there is at least one defective area in a prescribed recording range of the data area, the control portion detects a defective area address indicating an address of a defective area located at a last address in the at least one defective area of the prescribed recording range, the control portion sets an address, located after both the detected defective area address and a recorded area address indicating a recorded area of the prescribed recording range, to be a candidate address indicating a candidate for the writable area, and the searching portion searches for an unrecorded area using the candidate address as a reference, and the control portion determines the detected unrecorded area as the writable area.