Patent ID: 8331758

Claim:
An image playback apparatus configured to play back data stream stored in a recording medium while decoding the data stream, the apparatus comprising: a reading module configured to read the data stream from the recording medium; an extraction module configured to extract audio data and video data from the read data stream; a memory comprising a first memory region configured to temporarily store the audio data output from the extraction module and a second memory region configured to temporarily store the video data output from the extraction module; an audio decoder configured to read and decode the audio data temporarily stored in the first memory region; a video decoder configured to read and decode the video data temporarily stored in the second memory region; a monitor configured to monitor data amounts of the video data and audio data stored in the first and second memory regions, respectively; and a memory capacity adjustment module configured to temporarily increase the capacity of either the first or second memory region in a state when the data amount of either the first or second memory regions becomes a first threshold value and the data amount of either the second or first memory region becomes a second threshold value smaller than the first threshold value, respectively.