Information Recording Apparatus and Information Recording Method

Abstract

An information recording apparatus such as an optical disc that can avoid an unrecordable condition between a power-on operation and an available state for recording thereby to solve a problem that an image taking chance is missed in a recording step, wherein its constitution is such that: receiving a command to turn on the apparatus after switching, a system controller drives a power-supply circuit to activate a drive controller and a memory controller; if the optical disc is not replaced while in power-off operation by a sub-battery, the system controller issues a request for high-speed activation, based on information stored in an EEPROM, to the drive controller, and drives plural drive control units one after another thereby to establish an activation period confirmedly, allowing the memory controller to accept a request for a recording start from the system controller without waiting for a report of activation completion to be issued by the drive controller.

1 . An information recording/reproduction apparatus comprising:
 an information recording means for recording information onto a recording medium;   a step-order control means for controlling a transition to a recordable state in which the information recording means is capable of recording information onto the recording medium;   a power-supply means for supplying power to at least the information recording means; and   a buffer means for storing the information to be recorded onto the recording medium,   wherein, during a period of time starting with an operation to turn on the power-supply means and ending with an operation carried out by the step-order control means to put the information recording means in the recordable state, an operation to store the information to be recorded onto the recording medium into the buffer means is started and, as the amount of the information stored in the buffer means reaches a predetermined quantity after the information recording means has entered the recordable state, an operation to record the information onto the information recording means is commenced.   
   
   
       2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the amount of information stored into the buffer means per unit time is smaller than the amount of information recorded onto the recording medium per same unit time. 
   
   
       3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a notification means for informing the user that an information recording operation can be started and a command detection means for detecting a command entered by the user to start the information recording operation,
 wherein before an operation to store information into the buffer means is started, the notification means informs a user that an information recording operation can be started and, as the command detection means detects a command entered by the user to start the information recording operation, the operation to store information into the buffer means is started.   
   
   
       4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a means for monitoring operations to mount and dismount the disc recording medium on and from the information recording apparatus wherein:
 assuming that a first transition controlled by the step-order control means to the recordable state after the mounting operation is detected by the monitoring means, an operation to store information to be recorded into the buffer means is to be in available state after the information recording means enters the recordable state; and   assuming that, after completion of the recording operation, no mounting nor demounting operation was detected by the monitoring means until turning on again the power-supply means from turning off the power-supply means, an operation to store information to be recorded into the buffer means is to be in available state before the information recording means enters the recordable state.   
   
   
       5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the recording medium is an optical disc; and   the information recording means is an optical disc information recording means comprising:   a laser-emission control means for radiating a laser beam to the optical disc;   a lens for converging the laser beam;   a servo control means for controlling the position of the lens;   a modulation means for carrying out an operation to record information read out from the buffer means onto the optical disc through conversion of the information into an emission power of the laser-emission control means; and   a demodulation means for reading out information from the optical disc with the emission power of the laser-emission control means kept at a fixed value, and   wherein   the transition to a recordable state allowed by the step-order control means, comprises some or all of the following steps of:   emitting a laser beam by the laser-emission control means;   servo controlling by the servo control means to control the position of the lens so as to converge the laser beam on any one of tracks created on the surface of the optical disc;   identifying the type of the optical disc: by a characteristic of the laser beam reflected by the surface of the optical disc; or by reading out information recorded in advance on the optical disc and demodulating the read-out information by using the demodulation means;   finding an optimum power of the laser beam for each optical disc, used for recording, by varying the emission power for each optical disc;   searching the optical disc for a recordable position; and   placing the lens at the thus searched recordable position.   
   
   
       6 . The apparatus according to  claim 5 , further comprising a storage means enabling data to be stored therein even if the power-supply means is cut off, wherein
 the apparatus is constituted such that:
 any one, any combination or all of a result of identification of the type of the optical disc, the optimum value of the laser beam used for recording, and the recordable position information on the optical disc is stored in the storage means; 
 if an operation to turn on again the power-supply means is carried out after an operation carried out to turn off the power-supply means, any one, any combination or all of the result of identification of the type of the optical disc, the optimum value of the laser beam used for recording, and the recordable position information on the optical disc is read out from the storage means; and 
 some of the steps composing the transition to a recordable state through control executed by the step-order control means, is eliminated due to availability of one, any combination or all of those. 
   
   
   
       7 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a means for sensing an image signal, a means for displaying the image sensing signal, and a means for encoding the image taking signal, wherein
 the information to be recorded onto the recording medium is a signal outputted by the image-signal encoding means of the image sensing signal.   
   
   
       8 . An information recording/reproduction apparatus comprising:
 a means for recording information onto a recording medium;   a buffer means for storing the information to be recorded onto the recording means;   a step-order control means for controlling a transition where the information recording means is to be available for recording information onto the recording medium; and   a means for supplying power to the information recording means, the buffer means, and the step-order control means, and   the apparatus is constituted such that:   it has a first step and a second step during a period from the time of a turn-on of the power-supply means to the time of availability for recording information onto the recording medium, wherein:   if the information recording means is put in recordable state by carrying out the first step, after the first step is completed, an operation to store the information to be recorded onto the recording medium into the buffer means is started and, as the amount of the information stored in the buffer means reaches a proper quantity, the information recording means starts an operation to record the information from the buffer means onto the information recording means; and   if the information recording means is put in recordable state by carrying out the second step, on the other hand, an operation to store the information to be recorded onto the recording medium into the buffer means is started without waiting for the second step to be started or completed and, as the information recording means enters the recordable state and the amount of the information stored in the buffer means reaches a proper quantity, the information recording means starts an operation to record the information from the buffer means onto the information recording means.   
   
   
       9 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the amount of information stored into the buffer means per unit time is smaller than the amount of information recorded onto the recording medium per same unit time. 
   
   
       10 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising
 a notification means for informing the user that an information recording operation can be started and a command detection means for detecting a command entered by the user to start the information recording operation, wherein the apparatus is constituted such that   if the information recording means is put in recordable state by carrying out the first step, the notification means informs the user that the information recording operation can be started when the information recording means enters the recordable state;   if the information recording means is put in recordable state by carrying out the second step, on the other hand, the notification means informs the user that the information recording operation can be started without waiting for the second step to be started or completed; and   in either case, if the command detection means detects a command entered by the user to start the information recording operation after the notification means informs the user that the information recording operation can be started, an operation to store the information to be recorded onto the recording medium into the buffer means is started.   
   
   
       11 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising a means for monitoring operations to mount and dismount the disc recording medium on and from the information recording apparatus wherein the apparatus is constituted such that:
 assuming that a first transition to the recordable state after the mounting operation is detected by the monitoring means, an operation to store information to be recorded into the buffer means is allowed to be in available state by the first step; and   assuming that, after completion of the recording operation, no mounting nor demounting operation was detected by the monitoring means until turning on again the power-supply means from turning off the power-supply means, an operation to store information to be recorded into the buffer means is allowed to be in available state by the second step.   
   
   
       12 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein
 the recording medium is an optical disc; and   the information recording means is an optical disc information recording means comprising:   a laser-emission control means for radiating a laser beam to the optical disc;   a lens for converging the laser beam;   a servo control means for controlling the position of the lens;   a modulation means for carrying out an operation to record information read out from the buffer means onto the optical disc through conversion of the information into an emission power of the laser-emission control means; and   a demodulation means for reading out information from the optical disc with the emission power of the laser-emission control means kept at a fixed value, and   wherein   the first step for causing a transition of the optical disc information recording means to a recordable state comprises some or all of the following steps:   a step carried out by the laser-emission control means to emit a laser beam;   a servo control step carried out by the servo control means to control the position of the lens so as to converge the laser beam on any one of tracks created on the surface of the optical disc;   a step to identify the type of the optical disc on the basis of a characteristic of the laser beam reflected by the surface of the optical disc after being radiated by the laser-emission control means to the surface or a step to identify the type of the optical disc by reading out information recorded in advance on the optical disc and demodulating the read-out information by using the demodulation means;   an optimum-recording-power detection step to find an optimum value of the emission power of the laser-emission control means, that is, an optimum power of the laser beam used for recording, by varying the emission power for each optical disc;   a step to search the optical disc for a recordable position on the optical disc; and   a step to place the lens at the recordable position, and   at least one of the aforementioned steps composing the first step are eliminated from the second step.   
   
   
       13 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , further comprising a storage means, which is capable of retaining data stored therein even if the power-supply means is cut off, wherein the apparatus is constituted such that:
 any one, any combination or all of a result of identification of the type of the optical disc, the optimum value of the laser beam used for recording and the recordable position on the optical disc is stored in the storage means;   if an operation to turn on again the power-supply means is carried out after an operation carried out to turn off the power-supply means, one, any combination or all of the result of identification of the type of the optical disc, the optimum value of the laser beam used for recording and the recordable position on the optical disc is read out from the storage means and the second step is carried out to put the optical disc information recording means in a recordable state, some of the steps composing the first step can be eliminated due to availability of one, any combination or all of the result of identification of the type of the optical disc, the optimum value of the laser beam used for recording and the recordable position on the optical disc, which have been read out from the storage means.   
   
   
       14 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising an image sensing means for sensing an image signal, a display means for displaying the image signal and an image-signal encoding means for encoding the image signal wherein the information to be recorded onto the recording medium is a signal output by the image-signal encoding means of the image signal. 
   
   
       15 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is constituted such that: if the second step is carried out to cause a transition of the information recording means to a recordable state after the power-supply means is turned off while the power-supply means is furnishing power to the image taking means and the display means, a message indicating that an operation to store information to be recorded onto the recording medium into the buffer means is allowed is displayed on the display means at a point of time the display means starts to operate.