Patent ID: 7930501

Claim:
An information recording medium in which data is managed with a file system and is readable and writeable by an access device, comprising: at least one recording region that records the data and that is managed by an independent file system; a state storage that stores a state, the state being assigned to each combination of type and status of the information recording medium, and enabling a unique identification of a current type and a current status of the information recording medium from possible combinations of the information recording medium; and at least one medium information storage that is provided for each state of the information recording medium, and that stores physical characteristics about at least a capacity of the at least one recording region, wherein the state identifies a combination of the current type and the current status of the information recording medium, wherein the current status of the information recording medium specifies types of access devices enabled to access the information recording medium and specifies at least one portion of the information recording medium accessible by the access device, and wherein the state represents one of at least three distinct combinations of the current type and the current status of the information recording medium.