Patent ID: 6501711
Filing Date: 2002-12-31
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A pickup drive apparatus for driving/controlling a pickup used to irradiate an optical spot on a recording medium having a pre-pit between tracks, which are continuous guide grooves, comprising,:light detecting means for detecting return light produced by irradiating the optical spot; first signal producing means for producing a tracking error signal based upon the detection output of said light detecting means; second signal producing means for detecting on/off-track using a component of the pre-pit included in the detection output of said light detecting means and producing a control signal corresponding to the component of the pre-pit based upon the detecting result regarding the on/off-track; control means for performing a tracking control in response to the tracking error signal; and supply means controlled to determine whether to supply the tracking error signal to said control means in response to the control signal.