Optical disc having plurality of recording layers, and method and apparatus for recording data thereon

Abstract

Provided are an optical disc having a plurality of recording layers, and a method and apparatus for recording data thereon. The optical disc has a plurality of recording layers, each recording layer including: a data area; a connecting area; and a remaining area. The data, connecting, and remaining areas are respectively disposed in a direction from an inner circumference of the optical disc to an outer circumference. An outer boundary of each of the data areas is determined according to an amount of data to be recorded. Locations of the connecting areas and the remaining areas are determined by a recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the determination of the outer boundary of each of the data areas.

1 . A reproducing apparatus for reproducing data, comprising: 
 a read unit which reads data with from an optical disc having a plurality of recording layers; and    a controller which reproduces the read data and controls the read unit to read the data according to a detected outer boundary of a data area of each recording layer and detected corresponding locations of a connecting area and a remaining area of each recording layer, the outer boundary being determined according to an amount of data recorded based upon which were determined the corresponding locations of the connecting area and the remaining area of each recording layer for each of the data areas.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the controller detects an exclusive area for a specified purpose and which was allocated in the remaining area of each recording layer when the size of the remaining area is larger than a specified size.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the controller detects data indicating that the exclusive area has been allocated on a specified area of the optical disc.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the controller uses the exclusive area from a beginning position of the exclusive area and determines an ending position of the exclusive area.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein, when data is recorded on the exclusive areas allocated to two adjacent recording layers among the plurality of recording layers, the respective recording directions are opposite to each other.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein each recording layer includes an unused area at a position corresponding to the location of an exclusive area allocated to an adjacent recording layer.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the remaining area of each recording layer includes a buffer area to compensate for an influence of eccentricity of the optical disc and a beam focused on another recording layer.  
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the controller the usage directions of the data area and the exclusive area allocated to each recording layer are opposite to each other.  
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the exclusive area is a test area usable to determine optimum recording conditions.