Patent ID: 7073091

Claim:
A method for updating a straight mapping flag of a data area stored in an optical recording medium, the optical recording medium comprising a plurality of sequentially arranged and numbered defect management areas (DMAs), each of the DMAs comprising a data area (DA) and a spare area (SA), both of the DA and the SA comprising a plurality of blocks to record digital data, each of the blocks having a corresponding address for identification, and the optical recording medium further comprising a defect table (DT) having a plurality of sequentially arranged and numbered defect table blocks (DTBs), each of the DTBs corresponding to one of the DMAs and storing a straight mapping flag and a plurality of predetermined numbers of entries for recording, the entries corresponding one by one to the plurality of blocks in the SAs; wherein when a digital data that should be recorded in a predetermined block in one of the DAs is later recorded in a replacement block in one of the SAs due to the determination that the predetermined block in the DA is defective, associated information is recorded in the entry of one of the DTBs in the DT, and the entry is marked as recorded and sequentially arranged in the DTB; and wherein when the associated information of all the defective blocks in one of the DAs are merely recorded in the DTB corresponding to the DA in the DT, the straight mapping flag of the DTB is set to a first state, otherwise a second state; the updating method comprising the following steps of: (A) determining an examining sequence of the DTBs in the DT according to a predetermined block-sequence determination procedure; and (B) performing a predetermined block-examining procedure to the DTBs in the DT one by one according to the determined examining sequence, the block-examining procedure comprising: (B1) examining whether the DTB comprises any entries that are marked as recorded; (B2) examining the recorded entries in the DTB by performing a predetermined entry-examining procedure, so as to acquire the associated information of the defective blocks in recorded entries; and (B3) determining on the basis of the acquired associated information whether the corresponding straight mapping flag is to be updated to the second state.