Patent ID: 7280746

Claim:
An optical disc apparatus comprising: an optical pickup for reading out video image data recorded on the optical disc and outputting the video image data in the form of signals; a decoder for decoding the video image data output by the optical pickup; an input device having an operation key to give the optical disc apparatus an instruction to stop reproducing video images; a non-volatile memory for storing a restart point equivalent to a stop point where the preceding reproduction was stopped using the operation key; and a main controller for reading out the restart point from the non-volatile memory and controlling the optical disc apparatus so as to start reproducing video images from the restart point in starting reproduction processing; wherein the optical disc apparatus can be connected to a network system which consists of a plurality of optical disc apparatus connected each other; the optical disc apparatus further comprises an interface circuity for communicating with other optical disc apparatus connected to the network system; the input device has a referred memory choice key for designating a non-volatile memory to store the reatart point; when the non-volatile memory designated by the referred memory choice key is its own non-volatile memory, the main controller makes its own non-volatile memory store the restart point, and in starting the reproduction processing, the main controller reads out the restart point from its own non-volatile memory and starts reproducing video images from the restart point; and when the non-volatile memory designated by the referred memory choice key is a non-volatile memory of another optical disc apparatus, the main controller makes the designated memory store the restart point using the interface circuity, and in starting the reproduction processing, the main controller reads out the restart point from the designated memory using the interface circuity and starts reproducing video images from the restart point.