US Patent 7542391 Recording and/or reproducing methods and apparatuses

In one embodiment the method includes reading speed information from a specific area of the recording medium. The speed information includes one or more speed flags to indicate whether a corresponding speed is applicable to the recording medium. A first speed flag for a first recording speed lower than a second recording speed is set to be dependent on a second speed flag for the second recording speed. Data is recorded on a main data area of the optical recording medium based on the read speed information.