Patent 7768901 was granted and assigned to Pioneer Corporation on August, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A recording layer close to a disc surface is divided into at least two recording areas, a main information recording area D1A and an auxiliary information area (BCA) D1C. Grooves are formed in the main information recording area D1A. Marks M are formed in barcode form representing identifying information in the auxiliary information recording area (BCA) D1C. Track grooves G1 or prepits are formed in the recording layer of the auxiliary information recording area (BCA) D1C and have a depth smaller than that of the groove formed in the main information recording area D1A.