Method and apparatus for performing optimum laser power calibration on optical disks

Abstract

An optical disk recording apparatus comprising a memory, a laser recording unit, a first motor, a second motor, an asymmetry information detect mechanism, and a controller is disclosed. The memory stores an initial recording laser power and a reference asymmetry of a playback signal. The laser recording unit emits laser light according to a recording laser power and records data using the laser light on an optical disk rotated by the first motor. The second motor moves the laser recording unit along the surface of the recordable optical disk. The asymmetry information detect mechanism detects asymmetry information of a playback signal from data recorded. During an optimum laser power calibration, the controller instructs the first motor to rotate the recordable optical disk at a linear velocity which is the same as a linear velocity at which the data recording is to be performed at the specific area and performs a test recording at a test location for a predetermined number of times using the initial recording laser power with a stepwise change each time so as to determine an optimum recording laser power according to the selected optimum asymmetry closest to the reference asymmetry.