Patent ID: 8004958

Claim:
An information recording/reproducing apparatus comprising: a recording medium having a recording surface; a probe head in which one or a plurality of probe groups are arranged, each probe group including a plurality of probes which are close to each other and which record or read information with respect to the recording surface of the recording medium; an actuator configured to perform displacement control of the recording medium or the probe head in order to reciprocate the recording medium or the probe head in a direction parallel to the recording surface; a signal processing circuit which is provided for each probe group and which is configured to supply each probe with a recording signal corresponding to information to be recorded onto the recording surface of the recording medium, or which receives a reading signal corresponding to information read from each probe; and a changing device which is configured to connect a probe included in a corresponding probe group with the signal processing circuit corresponding to the probe group and which is configured to subsequently change the probe connected to the signal processing circuit to another probe included in the same probe group during the displacement control for reciprocating the recording medium or the probe head, wherein the changing device is configured to change the probe connected to the signal processing circuit whenever a travel direction of the reciprocating of the recording medium or the probe head is changed.