Patent ID: 6327418
Filing Date: 2001-12-04
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A method for providing pass through or capture of continuous linear streams of digital information represented in various formats while providing the appearance of a locally stored stream, comprising the steps of:providing at least one media cache for copying blocks of data from said information stream, wherein data in said media cache can be viewed as a snapshot of said continuous stream of digital information;providing a playback pointer, wherein a playback pointer position selects a portion of said media cache that is to be accessed to provide functions including any of pause, rewind, fast forward, play, play faster, play slower, and play in reverse;providing a stream clock;providing a buffer controller that is responsible for controlling a clock rate of said stream clock;wherein the rate at which said stream clock delivers clock events to said media cache is based on a rate specified by said buffer controller; andwherein said buffer controller can speed up or slow down playback of a stream or an entire collection of streams by requesting said stream clock to adjust its clock rate.