Abstract: When the power of the write pulse is taken as the peak power and the power of the bottom pulse is taken as the bottom power, the power setting device (114) sets the power of each pulse in the recording pulse train such that the peak power PwN of the Nth information layer which is closest to the light entry surface of the optical recording medium (11), the bottom power PbN of the Nth information layer, the peak power PwM of the Mth information layer (where M is an integer such that N>M?1), and the bottom power PbM of the Mth information layer satisfy the following formula: PbN/PwN>PbM/PwM.

Abstract: When the power of the write pulse is taken as the peak power and the power of the bottom pulse is taken as the bottom power, the power setting device (114) sets the power of each pulse in the recording pulse train such that the peak power PwN of the Nth information layer which is closest to the light entry surface of the optical recording medium (11), the bottom power PbN of the Nth information layer, the peak power PwM of the Mth information layer (where M is an integer such that N>M?1), and the bottom power PbM of the Mth information layer satisfy the following formula: PbN/PwN>PbM/PwM.

Abstract: An optical information storage medium according to the present invention has at least one information storage layer. The optical information storage medium has a management area that stores at least one unit containing control information about the optical information storage medium. The control information includes a format number, which provides information about at least a write strategy type and a write pre-compensation type, and a write strategy parameter, which provides information about the magnitude of shift in an edge position, or variation in the pulse width, of a write pulse train to form a recording mark. And the value of the format number changes according to a combination of the write strategy type and the write pre-compensation type.

Abstract: There is provided an optical recording method for directing a recording pulse train to an optical disc medium to form marks thereon and for recording information as information about the edge positions of said marks and the spaces between marks, the recording pulse train having been created by modulating laser light into plural power levels. The method includes: coding to-be-recorded data into coded data consisting of the combination of marks and spaces; classifying said marks within said coded data on the basis of the mark length and the preceding or succeeding space lengths of the marks; shifting the position of the second pulse edge counted from the end portion of the recording pulse train for forming said marks, depending on the result of said classification, to adjust said recording pulse train; and directing said recording pulse train to the optical disc medium to form said marks thereon.

Abstract: An information recording medium, comprising N number (N is an integer fulfilling N?3) of information layers on which information is recordable, and allowing information to be recorded on each of the information layers and allowing information recorded on each of the information layers to be reproduced by being irradiated with laser light. The N number of information layers include an N'th information layer, an (N?1)th information layer, an (N?2)th information layer, . . . a second information layer and a first information layer sequentially located from a laser light incidence side. A reflectance of the N'th information layer is RN, and a reflectance of an M'th information layer (M refers to every integer fulfilling N>M?1) is RM.

Abstract: There is provided an optical recording method for directing a recording pulse train to an optical disc medium to form marks thereon and for recording information as information about the edge positions of said marks and the spaces between marks, the recording pulse train having been created by modulating laser light into plural power levels. The method includes: coding to-be-recorded data into coded data consisting of the combination of marks and spaces; classifying said marks within said coded data on the basis of the mark length and the preceding or succeeding space lengths of the marks; shifting the position of the second pulse edge counted from the end portion of the recording pulse train for forming said marks, depending on the result of said classification, to adjust said recording pulse train; and directing said recording pulse train to the optical disc medium to form said marks thereon.

Abstract: The present invention provides a measure for getting read/write control information stored within a space of a predetermined size in a format that ensures compatibility with media of a lower order or an older generation even if the size of the read/write control information increases significantly as the storage densities of information storage media rise in the near future. On an information storage medium, a data sequence is writable as a combination of marks and spaces. The medium has at least one information storage layer, which has an information storage area to store information and a control information area for use to perform a read/write operation on the at least one information storage layer. The control information area stores at least one set of control information, which includes a first kind of write pulse information including information to be used as a reference value and a second kind of write pulse information including information to be used as an offset value.

Abstract: An optical disk includes a first information recording layer, and second to N-th information recording layers (with N being an integer of two or greater) that are arranged further toward the side from which laser light is irradiated than the first information recording layer and which are arranged in order from the side near the first information recording layer. The first information recording layer includes a read-only control data region, a first recording learning region for learning recording parameters to record data, and a first user data recording region for recording user data. When taking at least one of the second to N-th information recording layers as an i-th information recording layer (with i being an integer satisfying 2?i?N), that i-th information recording layer includes an i-th recording learning region for learning recording parameters to record data in the i-th information recording layer, and an i-th user data recording region for recording user data.

Abstract: A writing method according to the present invention is a method for writing a data sequence as a combination of marks and spaces on an information recording medium by condensing a laser beam through a lens. The writing method is characterized in that a cooling pulse for recording a mark that is even shorter than the limit of optical resolution of the laser beam and another cooling pulse for recording a mark that is still longer than the limit of the optical resolution of the laser beam are applied under mutually different conditions.

Abstract: There is provided an optical recording method for directing a recording pulse train to an optical disc medium to form marks thereon and for recording information as information about the edge positions of said marks and the spaces between marks, the recording pulse train having been created by modulating laser light into plural power levels. The method includes: coding to-be-recorded data into coded data consisting of the combination of marks and spaces; classifying said marks within said coded data on the basis of the mark length and the preceding or succeeding space lengths of the marks; shifting the position of the second pulse edge counted from the end portion of the recording pulse train for forming said marks, depending on the result of said classification, to adjust said recording pulse train; and directing said recording pulse train to the optical disc medium to form said marks thereon.

Abstract: There is provided an optical recording method for directing a recording pulse train to an optical disc medium to form marks thereon and for recording information as information about the edge positions of said marks and the spaces between marks, the recording pulse train having been created by modulating laser light into plural power levels. The method includes: coding to-be-recorded data into coded data consisting of the combination of marks and spaces; classifying said marks within said coded data on the basis of the mark length and the preceding or succeeding space lengths of the marks; shifting the position of the second pulse edge counted from the end portion of the recording pulse train for forming said marks, depending on the result of said classification, to adjust said recording pulse train; and directing said recording pulse train to the optical disc medium to form said marks thereon.

Abstract: A reading devices suppresses deterioration of the recording marks caused by increasing the output laser power to compensate for a drop in the S/N ratio when reading at a high speed information recorded to a high density recording medium. To read information recorded to an optical data recording medium that is written and read using a laser beam output from a semiconductor laser, the reading method modulates a high frequency current on the drive current of the semiconductor laser to output the laser beam, and changes the light modulation rate according to the selected linear velocity used for reading. The light modulation rate is the ratio Pp/Pave between the peak power Pp and the average read power Pave of the light intensity of the high frequency modulated laser beam.

Abstract: The present invention provides a measure for getting read/write control information stored within a space of a predetermined size in a format that ensures compatibility with media of a lower order or an older generation even if the size of the read/write control information increases significantly as the storage densities of information storage media rise in the near future. On an information storage medium, a data sequence is writable as a combination of marks and spaces. The medium has at least one information storage layer, which has an information storage area to store information and a control information area for use to perform a read/write operation on the at least one information storage layer. The control information area stores at least one set of control information, which includes a first kind of write pulse information including information to be used as a reference value and a second kind of write pulse information including information to be used as an offset value.

Abstract: An information recording medium according to the present invention includes three or more information recording layers. Each of the plurality of information recording layers includes a test recording area usable for adjusting a recording condition. One of the plurality of information recording layers includes a reproduction-only management data area in which management data usable for managing the information recording medium is pre-recorded. One information recording layer includes a recordable management data area in which management data usable for managing the information recording medium is newly writable. Each of the other two or more information recording layers among the plurality of information recording layers includes a test recording area at a radial position overlapping the radial position of a part of the reproduction-only management data area. In the one recording layer including the recordable management data area, the recordable management data area is provided at two positions, i.e.

Abstract: There is provided an optical recording method for directing a recording pulse train to an optical disc medium to form marks thereon and for recording information as information about the edge positions of said marks and the spaces between marks, the recording pulse train having been created by modulating laser light into plural power levels. The method includes: coding to-be-recorded data into coded data consisting of the combination of marks and spaces; classifying said marks within said coded data on the basis of the mark length and the preceding or succeeding space lengths of the marks; shifting the position of the second pulse edge counted from the end portion of the recording pulse train for forming said marks, depending on the result of said classification, to adjust said recording pulse train; and directing said recording pulse train to the optical disc medium to form said marks thereon.

Abstract: An optical information storage medium according to the present invention has at least one information storage layer. The optical information storage medium has a management area that stores at least one unit containing control information about the optical information storage medium. The control information includes a format number, which provides information about at least a write strategy type and a write pre-compensation type, and a write strategy parameter, which provides information about the magnitude of shift in an edge position, or variation in the pulse width, of a write pulse train to form a recording mark. And the value of the format number changes according to a combination of the write strategy type and the write pre-compensation type.

Abstract: An information recording medium, comprising N number (N is an integer fulfilling N?3) of information layers on which information is recordable, and allowing information to be recorded on each of the information layers and allowing information recorded on each of the information layers to be reproduced by being irradiated with laser light. The N number of information layers include an N'th information layer, an (N?1)th information layer, an (N?2)th information layer, . . . a second information layer and a first information layer sequentially located from a laser light incidence side. A reflectance of the N'th information layer is RN, and a reflectance of an M'th information layer (M refers to every integer fulfilling N>M?1) is RM.

Abstract: The present invention provides a measure for getting read/write control information stored within a space of a predetermined size in a format that ensures compatibility with media of a lower order or an older generation even if the size of the read/write control information increases significantly as the storage densities of information storage media rise in the near future. On an information storage medium, a data sequence is writable as a combination of marks and spaces. The medium has at least one information storage layer, which has an information storage area to store information and a control information area for use to perform a read/write operation on the at least one information storage layer. The control information area stores at least one set of control information, which includes a first kind of write pulse information including information to be used as a reference value and a second kind of write pulse information including information to be used as an offset value.

Abstract: Because conditions for recording identification data of a medium vary in accordance with the structure of different media, such as a single-layer or a multiple-layer structure, stable data recording has been a difficult task. To solve this problem, an incident side of the laser beam for recording identification data on a single-layer optical disk 5 and a double-layer optical disk 6 is the opposite side of a substrate 1 upon which user data is recorded. From this structure, even in a double-layer optical disk 6, the recording is not affected by the recording layer of a second layer 12b and the like. Therefore, in the double-layer optical disk 6, identification data of the medium can be recorded under the same conditions as the single-layer optical disk 5.

Abstract: An optical disc apparatus for recording, reproducing or erasing an information signal by converging a light flux onto a recording layer through a transparent substrate. The apparatus includes one or a plurality of optical heads having a plurality of objective lenses whose aberrations have respectively been corrected for a plurality of disc substrates of different thicknesses, a cartridge for enclosing the optical disc, a discrimination hole which is formed on the cartridge, and a sensor for detecting the opening/closing state of the discrimination hole and for generating a discrimination signal. In accordance with the result of the discrimination as to the thickness of the loaded optical disc, the objective lens, in which the occurrence of the aberration is smallest, is used, so that the information signal can preferably be recorded, reproduced or erased onto/from the optical discs having different substrate thicknesses.