Patent ID: 7518979

Claim:
An apparatus for reproducing user data from a storage medium having a plurality of recording layers, each recording layer including a lead-in area, a data area, a lead-out area, and a dedicated area, the apparatus comprising: an optical pickup which reproduces the user data from the recording layers of the storage medium; and a controller which controls the optical pickup to reproduce the user data from the data areas of the recording layers, wherein a size of the user data on each recording layer is approximately equal among the recording layers and is less than a total capacity of the recording layers, and which controls the optical pickup to reproduce the approximately equal user data from the data area of each recording layer with a recorded lead-out property pattern delineating a boundary of the data area on each recording layer, wherein the lead-out property pattern is recorded in the lead-out area of each recording layer, a position of which varies equally depending on the equal size of the user data on each recording layer, a data recording capacity of each recording layer is varied equally based on the approximate equal division of the user data, and each of the recording layers includes an unrecorded area, where the user data is unrecorded, between the lead-out area and the dedicated area, and each unrecorded area has an approximately equal capacity and is positioned at the same radial position of the each recording layer.