Patent ID: 7768884

Claim:
A dropout detection device for detecting the occurrence of a dropout, which is the absence of a recording signal component, occurring in a radio frequency signal read from a disk constituting a recording medium, the dropout detection device comprising: an envelope signal generation unit for generating an envelope signal representing an envelope of the radio frequency signal; a dropout signal generation unit for detecting the occurrence of the dropout from the state of the envelope signal generated by the envelope signal generation unit in accordance with a criterion specifying a state of the envelope signal in which the dropout is assumed to occur, and outputting a dropout detection signal indicating the occurrence of the dropout during the detection of the occurrence of the dropout; an amplitude detection unit for detecting the magnitude of the amplitude of the radio frequency signal; and a criterion adjustment unit for setting the criterion in the dropout signal generation unit, and changing the criterion set in the dropout signal generation unit in accordance with the magnitude of the amplitude detected by the amplitude detection unit such that the dropout detection signal is output for the same time period for dropouts of the same time period irrespective of the amplitude of the radio frequency signal.