Patent ID: 7787747

Claim:
A playback apparatus for playing back a moving image at a speed higher than a normal speed of the moving image on the basis of moving image data for displaying the moving image, the moving image data being coded by setting a predetermined number of images as a unit, the playback apparatus comprising: storage means for temporarily storing the obtained moving image data; decoding means for decoding the moving image data read from the storage means; detection means for detecting a first transfer rate that indicates the amount of the moving image data written into the storage means per unit time and for detecting a second transfer rate that indicates the amount of the moving image data read from the storage means per unit time; storage control means for controlling the storage of combination information that indicates a combination of a number of units such that a number, which is one of the units from which one piece of image data for displaying one image contained in the units is obtained, the image data forming the moving image data, and the number of consecutive units, which are subsequent to the above one unit, from which the image data is not obtained, are added together; and the number of times of repeatedly outputting the result in which the one piece of the obtained image data is decoded, the combination information corresponding to the playback speed of the moving image; selection means for selecting one of the combinations from among the combinations indicated by the stored combination information in a predetermined procedure when the relationship between the first transfer rate and the second transfer rate reaches a predetermined relationship; obtainment control means for controlling the obtainment of the image data so that one piece of the image data is obtained for each number of the units in the selected combination; and output control means for controlling output so that the result of the decoding of one piece of the obtained image data is repeatedly output for the number of times in the selected combination.