Patent ID: 6552987
Filing Date: 2003-04-22
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
An optical disk apparatus comprising:a flexible cable; a semiconductor laser drive circuit, connected to the flexible cable, including laser drive (LD) recording drive current waveform generating means for generating a recording drive current waveform for a semiconductor laser based on a clock signal when recording information on a recording medium, and reproduction drive current supply means for supplying a reproduction drive current to the semiconductor laser when reading information from the recording medium; recording clock supply means, connected to the flexible cable, for supplying the clock signal to the semiconductor laser drive circuit through the flexible cable; signal processing means, connected to the flexible cable, for supplying mark length information representing information to be recorded on the recording medium to the semiconductor laser drive circuit through the flexible cable; recording/reproduction mode control means for controlling a recording/reproduction operation of the semiconductor laser drive circuit; and clock stop means for stopping the clock signal from being supplied from the recording clock supply means to the semiconductor laser drive circuit when an output of the recording/reproduction mode control means designates a reproduction operation; wherein the laser drive (LD) recording drive current waveform generating means generates the recording drive current waveform based on the mark length information and the clock signal.