Patent ID: 7626903

Claim:
An optical disc apparatus for recording information onto or reproducing information from a plurality of recording layers of an optical disc, the optical disc apparatus comprising: a disc motor to rotate the optical disc; a motor drive circuit to drive the disc motor; a motor controller to control operation of the motor drive circuit; a distortion detector to detect a distortion in a tracking servo signal or in a focus servo signal; a controller arranged to set a plurality of virtual zones corresponding to a plurality of zones arranged in a radial direction of the optical disc for a plurality of recording layers of the optical disc, and to control operation of the motor controller on a basis of the virtual zone in accordance with an output from the distortion detector to change a rotation speed of the optical disc to a low speed; and a storage section to storage change information about a rotation speed of the optical disc changing to a low speed; wherein, when the distortion in the tracking servo signal or in the focus servo signal is detected by the distortion detector while a recording or reproducing operation is performed in a certain virtual zone in a first recording layer among a plurality of recording layers, the controller changes the rotation speed of the optical disc to a low speed at a position in the virtual zone in the first recording layer, the position corresponding to the position at which the distortion in the tracking servo signal or in the focus servo signal is detected, and in a second recording layer, the controller sets, before a recording or reproducing operation is performed, the rotation speed of the optical disc in all over a virtual zone which is set in the same radial position of the second recording layer as that of the virtual zone of the first recording layer, in the same rotation speed of the optical disc as the low speed changed in the virtual zone of the first recording layer, in accordance with the change information stored in the storage section.