Patent ID: 8107334

Claim:
A laser power control method comprising: setting each of control powers of a first definition group that correspond to a pulse train used to form a recording mark, so that data is recorded on a recording medium with the pulse train composed of laser powers of a plurality of levels; setting a plurality of levels constituting a second definition group that comprises each of the control powers of the first definition group in accordance with different states of the recording medium for recording data on the recording medium; setting each of drive values for driving the laser with each of the control powers at each of the levels of the second definition group; and driving the laser by switching the drive values stepwise so that each of the control powers of the first definition group is set to be a predetermined level of the second definition group for recording data on the recording medium, wherein a plurality of control powers are selected from each of the control powers of the first definition group included in the level that is selected in accordance with predetermined conditions of the second definition group, and when the laser is driven with the drive values corresponding to the selected control powers, the laser power is monitored to obtain an emission power detection value, wherein the emission power detection value is stored for each level of the second definition group, and a number of an occurrence of a period during which the emission power detection value is obtained is counted for each level of the second definition group, and wherein when any of counter values of the occurrence for each level exceeds a predetermined value, using the emission power detection values stored for one level of the second definition group corresponding to the counter value that has exceeded the predetermined value, corrected values of the corresponding drive values are determined collectively, and setting of each of the drive values is updated for all the levels of the second definition group.