Patent ID: 7912352

Claim:
A playback apparatus for playing back a digital stream generated by multiplexing a plurality of elementary streams, comprising: a judgment unit operable to judge, for a number of the elementary streams, which of a plurality of predetermined conditions the elementary stream satisfies; and a playback unit operable to assign a priority to each of the number of elementary stream streams according to a pattern of conditions the elementary stream satisfies, and select and play back a highest-priority elementary stream, the plurality of predetermined conditions include a first condition, a second condition, and a third condition; the first condition is that the playback apparatus has a capability of playing back the elementary stream; the second condition is that a language attribute of the elementary stream matches a language setting of the playback apparatus; the third condition is that a channel attribute of the elementary stream is surround sound and the playback apparatus has a surround output capability; and the playback unit assigns a higher priority to the elementary stream if the elementary stream satisfies the first condition and the second condition, than if the elementary stream satisfies the first condition and the third condition.