Modifying the recording process to extend the life of a rewritable information carrier

摘要

The device according to the invention is suitable for recording a rewritable information carrier such a CD-E covered by a phase-change recording layer. As is known, such an information carrier has a limited useful life because the recorded, optically readable patterns start deviating ever more from the desired form when recorded recurrently. The invention is also based on the recognition that this degradation is accelerated if a certain part of the track on the information carrier constantly accommnodates the same patterns, for example, if information blocks are recorded starting from fixed initial positions and the information is represented by the patterns in a specific manner. The device comprises means for shifting the initial position along the track over a distance randomly selected within predefined boundaries and/or for adapting the manner of representation. This causes constantly different patterns to be recorded, even if the same information is to be recorded in a specific part of the track. The information carrier described according to the invention has an additional margin between the information blocks to allow of the shifting of the initial position.