Patent ID: 7894317

Claim:
An apparatus for recording information to and reproducing information from an optical recording medium having a first information recording layer and a second information recording layer, comprising: a light source that emits a light beam; a diffractive optical element that divides the light beam into a first light beam and a second light beam; a converging unit that converges the first light beam and the second light beam on the optical recording medium; a driving unit that drives the converging unit; a light detecting unit that detects a first reflected light beam that is the first light beam reflected on the optical recording medium and a second reflected light beam that is the second light beam reflected on the optical recording medium; a tracking control unit that performs a tracking control by driving the driving unit based on a first tracking error signal obtained from the first reflected light beam and a second tracking error signal obtained from the second reflected light beam; and a correcting unit that corrects the first tracking error signal when the information is recorded to or reproduced from the first information recording layer that includes a first area and a second area, the first area being in opposite to an area on the second information recording layer on which no information is recorded, the second area being in opposite to an area on the second information recording layer on which information is recorded, wherein the tracking control unit performs the tracking control based on the first tracking error signal corrected by the correcting unit and the second tracking error signal, wherein the correcting unit includes a detecting unit that detects a boundary passing timing indicating a time at which the information is recorded to or reproduced from the first information recording layer that includes the first area and the second area, and a holding unit that holds the first tracking error signal when the detecting unit detects the boundary passing timing.