Patent ID: 7149164

Claim:
An optical disc apparatus for recording data by emission power from an optical head on a recordable optical disc corresponding to a first optical disc standard, comprising; a first signal processor for applying signal processing to input data to generate recording data in accordance with a disc format which conforms to the first optical disc standard; a second signal processor for applying signal processing to input data to generate recording data in accordance with a disc format which conforms to a second optical disc standard having a higher format efficiency than that of the first optical disc standard; and a controller for selecting the first signal processor as a processor for applying signal processing to the input data, when a standard recording mode is indicated as a data recording mode with respect to a recordable optical disc corresponding to the first optical disc standard, and selecting the second signal processor as a processor for applying signal processing to the input data, when a high density recording mode is indicated as a data recording mode with respect to a recordable optical disc corresponding to the first optical disc standard, wherein the recording data obtained by the signal processing of one of the first signal processor and the second signal processor which is selected by the controller is recorded on a recordable optical disc corresponding to the first optical disc standard; wherein the first optical disc standard specifies a disc format which includes a power calibration area for adjusting the emission power of the optical head to an optimum level for data recording; and wherein when data recording in the high density recording mode is performed, data irrelevant to data recorded on the power calibration area by data recording according to the first disc standard is recorded on an area of the recordable optical disc which corresponds to the power calibration area in the data format which conforms to the first optical disc standard.