Patent ID: 7233559

Claim:
An optical disc drive which can record and/or reproduce data onto and/or from an optical disc when the optical disc is loaded into the optical disc drive, the optical disc drive comprising: an electrically rewritable flash ROM which stores firmware of the optical disc drive; means for judging whether or not the loaded optical disc is a predetermined type of optical disc in which update data for updating the currently stored firmware is stored when the optical disc is loaded into the optical disc drive; a buffer memory for temporarily storing the update data recorded in the loaded optical disc in the case where the judging means judges that the loaded optical disc is the predetermined type of optical disc; control means for determining whether the currently stored firmware of the optical disc drive should he updated with the update data based on the absence or presence of a predetermined signal, and updating the currently stored firmware with the update data stored in the buffer memory in the case where it is determined that the currently stored firmware of the optical disc should be updated; and wherein the judging means sequentially judges whether the optical disc is a CD-R or not, whether the optical disc includes one session or not, whether additional data can be consecutively recorded in the optical disc or not, whether one variable packet-type track is included within the one session or not, and whether the data recorded in the track is the update data.