Patent ID: 7804749

Claim:
An apparatus for recording data on a storage medium comprising a lead-in area, a user data area, and a lead-out area, the apparatus comprising: an optical pickup to record data on the storage medium; and a controller to control the optical pickup to record data in the user data area of the storage medium at a maximum recording speed indicated by maximum recording speed information recorded in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area of the storage medium by a manufacturer of the storage medium during manufacture of the storage medium; wherein: the maximum recording speed is an actual maximum recording speed of the storage medium obtained by the manufacturer of the storage medium during the manufacture of the storage medium by testing actual recording characteristics of the storage medium based on a prescribed recording speed assigned to the storage medium by the manufacturer during the manufacture of the storage medium and indicated by prescribed recording speed information recorded in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area of the storage medium by the manufacturer during the manufacture of the storage medium; the maximum recording speed is different from the prescribed recording speed if a result of the testing indicates that the storage medium cannot record data at the prescribed recording speed; the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area each comprises a recordable region and an embossed data region; the maximum recording speed information is recorded in the recordable region of the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area; and the prescribed recording speed information is recorded in the embossed data region of the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area.