Patent ID: 7082094

Claim:
An optical disk apparatus for recording information by irradiating a laser beam onto an optical disk, comprising: a pickup that is provided for irradiating the laser beam onto the optical disk having an optically recordable side formed with a guide groove in a circumferential direction of the optical disk and a thermally sensitive side which is the reverse side of the optically recordable side; a scanning section that is provided for scanning the laser beam in the radial direction of the optical disk; a recording control section operative when the optically recordable side of the optical disk is set to face the pickup for controlling the pickup and the scanning section to effect recording of information on the optically recordable side by irradiating and scanning the laser beam; a servo section operative when the optical disk is set to face the thermally sensitive side to the pickup for servo-controlling the scanning section to enable the laser beam to track the guide groove formed in the side of the optically recordable side according to the laser beam reflected back from the thermally sensitive side of the optical disk; and a drawing control section operative when the thermally sensitive side of the optical disk faces the pickup for controlling the pickup to effect drawing of a visible image on the thermally sensitive side by irradiating the laser beam while the laser beam tracks the guide groove formed in the side of the optically recordable side.