Patent ID: 7174561

Claim:
A method of producing a real-time video stream from stored MPEG encoded video clips, the MPEG encoded video clips being contained in data storage of a video server, the method comprising: reading segments of the MPEG encoded video clips from the data storage, the segments of the MPEG encoded video clips being decoded by respective first and second decoders in a decoder pair, the first decoder decoding at least a portion of a first MPEG encoded video clip and the second decoder decoding at least a portion of a second MPEG encoded video clip, the real-time video stream being obtained by operating a video switch to switch between a video output of the first decoder and a video output of the second decoder to select a specified In-point frame in the second MPEG encoded video clip that is selectable as any MPEG frame type at any location in an MPEG group of pictures GOP structure; which includes operating the decoders and the video switch in response to control commands from the video server, which further includes transmitting asynchronous status reports of decoding events from the decoders to the video server when the decoding events occur, and which includes the decoders transmitting asynchronous status reports when decoding of a first clip has started and when decoding of a second clip has ended.