Patent ID: 6680880
Filing Date: 2004-01-20
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
An apparatus for reproducing information from data-carrying discs having recorded areas of varying size, wherein the apparatus comprises:high frequency detector means to determine, depending on a signal produced during scanning, whether and area of the disc being scanned has previously been recorded; and scanning means arranged to: scan a disc coarsely during a coarse scanning to detect the end of a recorded area approximately, depending on the previous recording determination; and scan the disc finely during a fine scanning in the area of the detected approximate end, to detect the end of the recorded area with greater accuracy; and wherein: the scanning means is arranged to jump across the disc, at selected intervals of the disc, during the coarse scanning; the scanning means is arranged to read out a sub-code at the selected intervals, in order to detect index information for the disc, said index information comprising recorded area start points and total playing time of the recorded area; and the scanning means in arranged to analyze the detected index information, to iteratively decrease, in each iteration of said fine scanning, the size of the jump according to the detected index information during the fine scanning, to jump to an area in which missing parts of the index information are judged to exist as a result of the analysis, and to read out a sub-code in the jumped to area indicative of the missing parts of the index information.