Write-once type optical disc, and method and apparatus for managing defective areas an write-once type optical disc

• US 20090122667A1
• Filed: 01/12/2009
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sung Dae Kim, Yong Cheol Park
• Original Assignee: Sung Dae Kim, Yong Cheol Park
• Inventors: Kim, Sung Dae, Park, Yong Cheol
• Granted Patent: US 7,992,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 369/47.140
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1883 Methods for assignment of alternate areas for defective areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1893 using linear replacement to relocate data from a defective block to a non-contiguous spare area, e.g. with a secondary defect list [SDL]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/218 Write-once discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2541 Blu-ray discs; Blue laser DVR discs

Abstract

A recording medium and a method and apparatus for managing a defective area on the recording medium are provided. The method includes detecting an existence of a defective area within the data area of the recording medium; replacing the defective area with a replacement area in the spare area if the defective area is detected; writing in the spare area defect management information which cumulatively includes defect list information associated with the defective area detected in the step (a) and any defect list information previously written in the recording medium; and writing onto the recording medium positional information of the defect management information.

Claims

1. A method for managing a defective area on a recording medium of writable once type, the recording medium having a recording layer including a lead-in area, a data area and a lead-out area, the data area including at least one spare area being used for a replacement writing operation, the method comprising steps of:

(a) detecting an existence of a defective area within the data area of the recording medium;

(b) replacing the defective area with a replacement area in the spare area if the defective area is detected;

(c) writing in the spare area defect management information which cumulatively includes defect list information associated with the defective area detected in the step (a) and any defect list information previously written in the recording medium; and

(e) writing onto the recording medium positional information of the defect management information.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

(d) writing clusters of data onto a recording area of the data area during a data writing operation, each cluster of data being written to one of a plurality of clusters of the recording area; and

wherein the detecting step (a) includes;

for each of the clusters, examining data written therein and determining whether a corresponding cluster is defective based on the examination result.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the replacing step (b) includes:

writing data corresponding to a cluster of the defective area onto a replacement cluster of the spare area.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the writing step (c) includes:

after the writing step (c) is completed for the data writing operation, writing defect list information associated with all the defective clusters of the recording area, onto the spare area.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one spare area is either an inner spare area located at a front part of the data area, or an outer spare area located at a rear end of the data area.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the defect list information includes positional information on the defective area and positional information on the replacement area of the spare area used in the writing step (c).

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the positional information includes location information of respective defect list information included in the defect management information.

8. A computer-readable recording medium of writable once type, comprising:

a recording layer including a lead-in area, a data area and a lead-out area,

at least one spare area allocated on a inner and/or outer portion of the data area, the spare area being used for replacing a defective area existing on the data area,

a defect management area allocated on a part of the spare area storing therein defect management information which cumulatively includes defect list information associated with the defective area detected during a data writing operation and any defect list information previously written in the recording medium; and

a positional information associated with the defect management information.

9. The computer-readable recording medium as claimed in claim 8, wherein the positional information includes location information of respective defect list information included in the defect management information.

10. An apparatus for managing a defective area on a recording medium of writable once type, the recording medium having a recording layer including a lead-in area, a data area and a lead-out area, the data area including at least one spare area being used for a replacement writing operation, the apparatus comprising:

an optical pickup configured to write/read data to/from the recording medium;

a servo unit configured to control the pickup to maintain a distance between the pickup and the recording medium and track relevant tracks on the recording medium; and

a controller configured to control the servo unit and the pickup to detect an existence of a defective area within the data area of the recording medium;

replace the defective area with a replacement area in the spare area if the defective area is detected;

write in the spare area defect management information which cumulatively includes defect list information associated with the defective area and any defect list information previously recorded in the recording medium; and

control the pickup to write onto the recording medium positional information of the defect management information.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to control the pickup to write clusters of data onto a recording area of the data area during a data writing operation, each cluster of data being written to one of a plurality of clusters of the recording area;

and for each of the clusters, the controller is configured to examine data written therein and determine whether a corresponding cluster is defective based on the examination result.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to replace the defective area by controlling the pickup to write, onto a replacement cluster of the spare area, data corresponding to a cluster of the defective area.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to control the pickup to write onto the spare area defect list information associated with all the defective clusters of the recording area.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the at least one spare area is either an inner spare area located at a front part of the data area, or an outer spare area located at a rear end of the data area.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to control the pickup to write location information of respective defect list information included in the defect management information as the positional information.