Patent ID: 8179758

Claim:
An apparatus for processing data recorded in an information storage medium comprising a burst cutting area, a lead-in area, and a data area, the data area having a plurality of tracks formed therein, the apparatus comprising: an optical pickup arranged to emit a light to the information storage medium to transfer data with respect to the information storage medium comprising two recording layers, one of the two recording layers comprising the burst cutting area in which a first physical format of data is recorded, and the first physical format of data comprising tracking polarity information for each of the two recording layers; and a controller arranged to control the optical pickup: to reproduce the tracking polarity information from the burst cutting area before the pickup follows the tracks formed in the data area on the information storage medium comprising a second physical format of data, and to control the optical pickup to use the tracking polarity information in following the tracks formed in the data area on the information storage medium, wherein the burst cutting area further comprises information that indicates whether disc information is recorded as the first physical format of data in the burst cutting area.