Patent ID: 6167189
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: G11B,H04N

Abstract:
A recording medium, readable by a machine, tangibly embodying data for access by an application mechanism, comprising:a data area including a video object to be reproduced by the application mechanism and a program chain information table for defining at least two program chains, each of which is specified by a program chain number;wherein said video object has an arrangement of video data cells, each cell being composed of video object units, and each video object unit composed of a sequence of data packs, the sequence of data packs including a combination of at least one video, audio and sub-picture packs and a navigation pack placed at the head of the sequence, wherein each of the video, audio and the sub-picture packs includes a pack header and a packet of encoded video, audio or sub-picture data, and the navigation pack includes a pack header, a first packet for storing a first control information of presenting the video object unit and a second packet for storing a second control information of searching the video object units; andwherein said program chain information table includes program chain information items associated with respective said program chains, and search pointers corresponding to the program chain numbers, for searching the corresponding program chain items by said application mechanism, respectively, each of said program chain information items comprising:(1) cell playback information specifying a playback order of said video data cells in an associated program chain, each cell being defined by start addresses of the first and last video object units in the corresponding cells;(2) content information describing the number of cells in said associated program chain; and(3) program chain navigational control information including:(a) previous program chain information indicative of whether there exists a program chain that precedes said associated program chain during reproduction of said program chains from said recording medium by said application mechanism;(b) a previous program chain number specifying a program chain preceding said associated program chain, when said program chain preceding said associated program chain exists;(c) next program chain information indicative of whether there exists a program chain that follows said associated program chain during reproduction of said program chains from said recording medium by said application mechanism;(d) a next program chain number specifying a program chain following said associated program chain, when said program chain following said associated program chain exists;(e) GoUp program chain information indicative of whether there exists a GoUp program chain that can be reproduced by said application mechanism instead of continuing to reproduce said associated program chain; and(f) a GoUp program chain number indicative of a number of a GoUp program chains, when said GoUp program chain exists.