Constant angular velocity disk label printing

Abstract

A visible light characteristic changing layer is formed in a location which can be viewed from a part of a label surface of an optical medium. The optical medium is set on a turntable of an optical disk unit, which may be rotated at a constant angular velocity, while the power of a laser beam is modulated in accordance with image data. The optical pickup operates at a first power level when changing a visible light characteristic of the optical medium to form the visible information and the optical pickup operates at a lower power level when not changing a visible light characteristic of the optical medium. As a result, a visible-light reflectivity of the visible light characteristic changing layer is changed, thereby forming a image corresponding to the image data on the label surface. A tracking servo operation is turned off while the optical pickup forms the visible information.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11 / 210,902, filed Aug. 25, 2005, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 053,238, filed Oct. 29, 2001, the entire disclosure of these applications is herein expressly incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a method of printing a label provided on an optical disk, to an optical disk unit, and relates to an optical disk in which a label can be subjected to printing by utilization of a laser beam output from an optical disk unit. [0003] In a recordable optical disk, information about contents recorded thereon (e.g., titles) is described on an optical disk by a user so that the recorded contents can be checked visually. In the case of a single-sided optical disk which is handled as a single disk without being housed in a cartridge, such as a CD-system optical disk i.e., a CD-R (CD recordable), a CD-RW (CD rewritable), ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

Enables image formation on optical disk labels without damaging the recording layer and eliminates the need for external printing equipment, providing a reliable and efficient method for labeling optical disks.

Problems solved by technology

According to the method in which contents are written directly on the label surface of the disk, a recording layer is often damaged by a strong writing action effected by use of a stiff pencil.

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