Patent ID: 6049515
Filing Date: 2000-04-11
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A replacement processing method comprising the acts of:a) producing format data of an ECC block comprising (i) a first predetermined number of sectors, each of the sectors comprising a second predetermined number of rows, each of the rows having a third predetermined number of bytes, (ii) a plurality of lateral error correction codes, each of the lateral error correction codes comprising a plurality of rows, a number of the rows being equal to a number of the rows of each of the sectors, each of the rows of the lateral error correction codes having a fourth predetermined number of bytes, each of the lateral error correction codes being laterally attached to one of the sectors, respectively, and (iii) a vertical error correction code being vertically attached to the sectors, the vertical error correction code comprising a fifth predetermined number of rows, the fifth predetermined number being equal to the first predetermined number, each of the rows of the vertical error correction code having a sixth predetermined number of bytes, the sixth predetermined number being obtained by adding the third predetermined number and the fourth predetermined number, the ECC block comprising ECC rows, a number of the ECC rows being obtained by adding a number of the rows of the vertical error correction code and a number obtained by multiplying a number of the rows of each of the lateral error correction codes by the number of the rows of the vertical error correction code, each of the ECC rows having the sixth predetermined number of bytes, the format data being used as a unit when recording and reproducing;b) completing recording of the format data of the ECC block by recording sector data, respectively, in data areas of sector areas of an information recording medium, and by recording logical address data, respectively, in the data areas of the sector areas, the logical address data, respectively, indicating logical positions of the sector areas on tracks of the information recording medium, the logical address data being required for scramble processing to be performed on the format data of the ECC block, a number of the sector data and a number of the sector areas being equal to the first predetermined number, the sector data comprising (i) the sectors, (ii) the lateral error correction codes laterally attached to the sectors, and (iii) the rows of the vertical error correction code, each being attached to a last one of the rows of each of the sectors, the information recording medium comprising the tracks, which are concentric or spiral, for recording data, the tracks including a plurality of the sector areas, each of the sector areas having a predetermined track length, each of the sector areas comprising one header area and one data area, the header area of each of the sector areas being provided such that address data indicating a position of each of the sector areas on the tracks is recorded in advance in the header area, the data area of each of the sector areas being provided such that the data area is continuous with the header area and predetermined data is recorded in the data area;c) determining, before the act b) whether or not the physical address data recorded in each of the header areas is reproduced;d) determining, before the act b), whether or not an error occurs in each of the ECC rows, including an associated one of the rows of the lateral error correction code, and being reproduced from an associated one of the data areas, and determining a number of errors in each of the ECC rows, thereby determining whether or not a number of the ECC rows having a number of error bytes exceeding a seventh predetermined number is larger than an eighth predetermined number; ande) detecting, during the act b), whether at least one of the sector areas has a defect, based on results of the acts c) and e), and performing, when detecting that the at last one of the sector areas has the defect, slipping replacement recording for recording an associated sector data piece of the sector data and associated physical address data on one of the sector areas following the at least one of the sector areas, instead of on the at least one of the sector areas, and successively recording other sector data pieces of the sector data on other ones of the sector areas, thereby completing recording of the format data of the ECC block.