Patent ID: 7203414

Claim:
A recording method comprising: creating a first program chain and a second program chain, each of the program chains being divided into programs which include video data cells each having a cell number, wherein said video data cells are composed of video object units, each of the video object units being composed of a sequence of data packs, the sequence of data packs including a combination of video, audio, and sub-picture packs; creating a program chain information table that includes first program chain information associated with said first program chain, second program chain information associated with said second program chain, and search pointers corresponding to program chain numbers for searching the corresponding program chains, each of said first and second program chain information comprising: (1) a cell playback information table on which a plurality of cell playback information are continuously described in the order of the cell numbers to define a playback order of said video data cells in an associated program chain; (2) program chain general information including: (i) content information defining contents of said associated program chain; and (ii) program chain navigational control information comprising: (a) a previous program chain number indicative of whether there exists a program chain that precedes said associated program chain, and, specifying said program chain preceding said associated program chain, when said program chain preceding said associated program chain exists, (b) a next program chain number indicative of whether there exists a program chain that follows said associated program chain, and specifying said program chain following said associated program chain, if said program chain following said associated program chain exists; (3) a program chain program map indicative of the program structure in the associated program chain, in which the entry cell numbers each of which correspond to the first cell number of each of the program are described in ascending order; and recording the program chain information table in a first portion of a recording medium and recording said video object units in a second portion of said recording medium different from said first portion.