Patent ID: 8514949

Claim:
A decoder for synchronous playback of multiple independent streams of encoded digital data, comprising: a plurality of parsers configured to parse the multiple independent streams of encoded digital data into a plurality of parsed frames of encoded digital data and determine a plurality of frame times, associated with corresponding parsed frames; a plurality of decoders configured to decode the parsed frames of encoded digital data based on information provided by the parsers; and a decoder engine configured to determine a next target time value for the plurality of decoders to complete their respective decoding processes prior to their display, wherein the decoder engine determines, during a pause of the parsers after a current target time value is reached, the next target time value from the current target time value and previous playback times of the multiple independent streams, the decoder engine compares the next target time value and each frame time of the plurality of the parsed frames to determine whether the frame time of each parsed frame reaches the next target time value, if the frame time of each parsed frame does not reach the next target time value, the decoder engine skips decoding of the corresponding parsed frame, if the frame time of each parsed frame reaches the next target time value, the decoder engine transfers the corresponding parsed frame to the plurality of decoders to be decoded, and when the decoders complete decoding the transferred frames, the decoder engine determines a frame time for displaying a frame nearest to the next target time value in each one of the multiple independent streams.