Patent ID: 6385744
Filing Date: 2002-05-07
Classification: G11B,H04L

Abstract:
An optical disk apparatus comprising:producing means for producing format data of an ECC block which comprises (i) a first predetermined number of sectors, each of which comprises a second predetermined number of rows, each having a third predetermined number of bytes, (ii) a plurality of lateral error correction codes which comprise a fourth predetermined number of rows, said fourth number being equal to said second number, each of the rows of the lateral error correction codes having a fifth predetermined number of bytes, each of the lateral error correction codes being laterally attached to one of the rows of the sectors, respectively, and (iii) a vertical error correction code being vertically attached to the sectors, the vertical error correction code comprising a number of rows equal to the first number, each of the rows of the vertical error correction code having a calculated number of bytes, the calculated number obtained by adding the third number and the fifth number, the ECC block comprising ECC rows, a number of the ECC rows obtained by adding the first number to an intermediate number obtained by multiplying the first number by the second number, each of the ECC rows having the calculated number of bytes, the format data being used as a unit when recording and reproducing; recording means for completing recording of the format data of the ECC block by recording a predetermined amount of sector data in data areas of sector areas of an optical disk, the sector data comprising (i) the sectors, (ii) the lateral error correction codes laterally attached to the rows, 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 optical disk comprising at least one of concentric and spiral tracks for recording data, the tracks including a plurality of sector areas in which first address data indicating a position on the tracks is recorded beforehand, each of the sector areas having a predetermined track length, each of the sector areas comprising a data area in which predetermined data is recorded, whereby said recording means records the sector data respectively in data areas of sector areas of the optical disk, the sector data respectively comprising (i) the sectors, (ii) the lateral error correction codes laterally attached to the rows, and (iii) the rows of the vertical error correction code each of which is attached to a last one of the rows of each of the sectors; determining means for determining a defect location when the recording means records sector data in each of said sector areas; and processing means for performing skipping replacement recording if the determining means determines the defect location in at least one of the sector areas, said processing means skipping the data areas of the sector areas containing a defect in units of at least one ECC block, and recording sector data of said predetermined number in a subsequent data area determined after skipping such that second address data, which has been changed in accordance with the skipping executed in units of at least one ECC block, is provided at a position different from that of the first address data, thereby completing recording of the format data of the ECC block.