Patent ID: 6963523
Filing Date: 2005-11-08
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. A method of formatting an optical recording medium, said optical recording medium including a primary spare area, a supplementary spare area for replacing a defective unit with available replacement unit, and a defect management area including a defect management information for managing a defective area, the method comprising: (a) resetting a location information of the supplementary spare area in response to a formatting request to indicate at least that the supplementary spare area is not assigned, wherein the supplementary spare area has a variable size and a start position of the supplementary spare area is varied and is moved toward an inner radius of the recording medium, depending upon the variance of the size of the supplementary spare area, while an end position of the supplementary spare area is fixed and is located close to a lead-out area of the recording medium; and (b) formatting the optical recording medium in response to the formatting request at least to use the supplementary spare area as a user data area after formatting.