Patent ID: 6477541
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: G11B,H04N,Y10S

Abstract:
A system for retrieving blocks of data from a storage medium and supplying the blocks in the form of a plurality of streams to users, wherein a stream of a first class of the streams may have an actual bit rate between a first minimum bit rate and a first maximum bit rate, wherein a stream of a second class of the streams may have an actual bit rate between a second minimum bit rate and a second maximum bit rate, and wherein the first maximum bit rate is substantially higher than the second maximum bit rate, the system comprising:for each stream an associated buffer for storing the blocks of data; a reader for sweep reading a data block from the storage medium for each stream of a selected group of the streams and for storing the read blocks in the respective buffers; and a scheduler for repeatedly selecting the group of the streams for which a block is to be read in a next sweep of the reader, wherein the scheduler is operative to select a stream of the second class less often in the group for which a block is to be read than a stream of the first class.