Patent ID: 7046601

Claim:
A method of recording information on an optical disk in the form of a sequence of pits along a track of the optical disk, the method comprising the steps of: generating a main optical beam and a sub optical beam while modulating a power of the main optical beam and the sub optical beam according to a recording signal representative of the information, the main optical beam having a power sufficient to form the pit, the sub optical beam preceding the main optical beam and having a power insufficient to form the pit; irradiating the main optical beam along the track to form the sequence of pits; irradiating the sub optical beam onto a vicinity area which is not irradiated by the main optical beam but which is adjacent to an area irradiated by the main optical beam; detecting a first return signal level of the sub optical beam reflected back from the vicinity area at a timing when the pit is formed by the main optical beam; detecting a second return signal level of the sub optical beam reflected back from the vicinity area at another timing when the pit is not formed; and controlling the power of the main optical beam in a real time basis during the recording of information based on both of the first return signal level and the second return signal level of the preceding sub optical beam only.