Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-25
2003-05-06
Edun, Muhammad (Department: 2651)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
C369S291100, C360S133000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06560187
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording method, an information recording apparatus, and an information recording medium.
2. Related Art of the Invention
In recent years, with an increase in capacity of information apparatuses such as computers, optical disks have been receiving greater attention as recording media.
Hereinafter, a conventional optical disk cartridge will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 14
is a plan view of a conventional optical disk cartridge.
As shown in
FIG. 14
, an optical disk
201
is a recording medium capable of being used for information recording and reproduction. A case
202
is provided for housing the optical disk
201
therein to protect it from dirt such as dust and fingerprints. A window
203
is provided on the case
202
for enabling information recording and reproduction onto and from the optical disk
201
when the optical disk
201
is mounted in an information recording/reproducing apparatus. Normally, the window
203
is closed by a slide shutter. Here we call such case in which the optical disk is stored, as a cartridge
204
.
Generally in an optical disk
201
which is capable of recording/reproducing, if the surface is blemished by fingerprints or dust, the power applied from the semiconductor laser to the recording surface becomes lower than an appropriate value, so that the reliability of recording markedly degrades.
To avoid the degradation of the reliability, the recording/reproducing optical disk
201
described with reference to
FIG. 14
, such as an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) data file and a mini disk (MD), is cased as described above.
Subsequently, a reproduction-only-type optical disk (not shown) such as a compact disk (CD) and a laser disk (LD) will be described.
Unlike the disk described with reference to
FIG. 14
, the reproduction-only-type optical disk, on which information is never written by the user, is directly mounted in a reproducing apparatus for reproduction without being cased. This type of reproducing apparatus is capable of reproduction only from optical disks not being cased.
Consequently, a problem arises that the reproducing apparatus designed for reproduction only from reproduction-only-type optical disks is incapable of reproduction from the recording/reproduction-type optical disk
201
shown in
FIG. 14
since the optical disk
201
is stored in the case
202
.
To solve this problem, a cartridge
214
structured as shown in FIGS.
15
(
a
) and
15
(
b
) has been devised. FIG.
15
(
a
) is a plan view showing a condition where the optical disk
201
is housed in a case
212
. FIG.
15
(
b
) is a plan view showing a condition where the optical disk
201
is being taken out from the case
212
.
As shown in FIGS.
15
(
a
) and
15
(
b
), the case
212
is provided for housing the optical disk
201
therein and has a window
203
used for recording and reproduction. Over the window
203
, a slide shutter
213
is provided. An opening/closing door
211
pivotably provided at an opening formed at an end of the case
212
is used for taking out the optical disk
201
from the case
212
.
The cartridge
214
thus structured is mountable in reproduction-only-type apparatuses because the optical disk
201
can be taken out from the case
212
by opening the door
111
.
In this way, reproduction from the cased recording/reproduction-type optical disk
201
can be performed by using reproducing apparatuses capable of reproduction from reproduction-only-type optical disks.
On the other hand, a recording/reproducing system called a jukebox
223
is known where a plurality of recording/reproduction-type optical disks
201
are housed in a stocker
221
without being cased and a recording/reproducing section
222
performs recording and reproduction onto and from the optical disks
201
(see FIG.
16
).
In the jukebox
223
, since the optical disks
201
, which are factory-mounted in the stocker
221
, are never touched by the user, the surfaces of the optical disks
203
are hardly blemished by scratches or fingerprints.
Additionally, in the jukebox
223
, aside from the optical disks
201
factory-mounted in the stocker
221
, the user may mount for recording and reproduction the optical disk
201
taken out from the cartridge
214
as shown in FIG.
15
.
Thus, the cased recording/reproduction-type optical disk shown in
FIG. 15
may be used for the jukebox
223
structured as described above.
However, the following problems are faced by the conventional recording/reproduction-type optical disk from which information can be reproduced by using reproducing apparatuses capable of reproduction only from reproduction-only-type optical disks:
One problem is that once the optical disk
201
is taken out from the case
212
, the disk surface is blemished by fingerprints, dust or scratches, so that when the disk
201
is again housed in the case
212
and mounted in a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording, the reliability of the recorded data is markedly degraded because of the blemishes such as fingerprints on the disk surface.
Another problem is that when the conventional recording/reproduction-type optical disk is used in the jukebox
223
, the optical disk mounted in the stocker
221
by the user can be blemished, whereas the disks factory-mounted in the stocker
221
are never blemished, so that the levels of reliability of the recorded data differ between the former and latter disks.
An object of the present invention is, in view of the problems of the conventional apparatus, to provide an information recording method, an information recording apparatus and an information recording medium with which the reliability of the recorded data is ever more improved.
On the other hand, while in general, the optical disk capable of being used for information recording and reproduction cannot be used for recording when taken out from the case because its surface is blemished by dust or fingerprints, a special recording/reproducing optical disk, for example, having its surface processed so as not to be readily blemished has been devised.
Moreover, the types of the case include a type from which the optical disk cannot be taken out as shown in
FIG. 14 and a
type from which the optical disk can be taken out.
Thus, there are two types of optical disks: a type which can be used for recording even when taken out from the case and a type which produces poor results in recording when taken out from the case, and there are two types of cases: a type from which the disk cannot be taken out and a type from which the disk can be taken out.
As the recording/reproducing apparatus, an apparatus is desired capable of recording and reproduction onto and from both cased disks and bare disks.
An object of a recording method of an information recording/reproducing apparatus of the present invention is to provide a recording method for performing appropriate recording by identifying the types of the disks and cases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The Information recording method of the present invention comprises:
a history determination step for determining whether or not a medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproduction has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has previously been taken out from the case or not; and
a verification step for verifying correctness of information recorded always or on condition that a predetermined condition is satisfied when a result of the determination shows that the medium has previously been taken out from the case.
An information recording apparatus of the present invention comprises:
history determining means for determining whether or not a medium being cased and capable of being used for information recording and reproduction has previously been taken out from the case by using an identification section having historical information as to whether the medium has
Goto Yoshikazu
Ishida Takashi
Ohara Shunji
Satoh Isao
Edun Muhammad
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ratner & Prestia P.C.
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