Patent ID: 7024678

Claim:
Apparatus for providing demand television comprising: a broadcast encoder for receiving and encoding a real-time video frame sequence to form a broadcast bitstream; and a storage encoder for receiving and encoding the real-time video frame sequence to form a plurality of storage bitstreams, wherein said storage encoder comprises: a first encoder for producing a play bitstream that contains information that, when decoded, produces a forward play video frame sequence, said first encoder receiving and encoding the real-time video frame sequence contemporaneously with said broadcast encoder receiving and encoding said real-time video frame sequence; a frame subsampler for receiving and subsampling the real-time video frame sequence contemporaneously with said broadcast encoder and first encoder receiving and encoding said real-time video frame sequence; a buffer, for storing subsampled frames of the real-time video frame sequence; a second encoder for producing, contemporaneously with said broadcast encoder receivng and encoding said real-time video frame sequence, both (i) a fast forward bitstream that contains information that, when decoded, produces a fast-forward video frame sequence, and (ii) a fast-reverse bitstream that contains information that, when decoded produces a fast-reverse video frame sequence; and a controller that selects subsampled frames from the buffer and couples selected frames to the second encoder in such a manner that said producing of said fast forward bitstream and said fast reverse bitstream is muitiplexed over time.