Patent ID: 8045435

Claim:
An optical disc apparatus for writing data to and/or reading data from an optical disc by irradiating said optical disc with a laser beam, said optical disc apparatus comprising: a spindle motor for rotating said optical disc; a laser diode for generating and emitting a laser beam for reading and writing operations; a laser drive circuit driven by a first voltage generated from an applied power supply voltage, said laser drive circuit generating a second voltage for driving said laser diode; and a control circuit for, when data is written to said optical disc, detecting the level of said first voltage, comparing said detected level of said first voltage with a reference value and determining whether or not said detected level of said first voltage exceeds said reference value, and, based on said detected level of said first voltage, controlling said second voltage to adjust said first voltage to a level within a predetermined range, wherein: when said first voltage does not exceed said reference value, said control circuit reduces said second voltage to a level such that said first voltage exceeds said reference value, and said laser drive circuit is driven by said adjusted first voltage, and said laser diode is driven by the controlled second voltage.