Patent ID: 7801411

Claim:
A moving picture data playback apparatus for reading moving picture data recorded on a randomly accessible recording medium, and playing back moving pictures, the apparatus comprising: a first reading unit for reading first moving picture data from the randomly accessible recording medium; a second reading unit for reading, from the randomly accessible recording medium, second moving picture data that has a different attribute from the first moving picture data and are stored in an area of the randomly accessible recording media different from an area of the randomly accessible recording media where the first moving picture data are stored; and a control circuit for controlling the first reading unit and the second reading unit so that either the first moving picture data or the second moving picture data is selected and read, wherein: the control circuit is configured to: when the apparatus changes playback of the first moving picture data to playback of the second moving picture data, obtain a first address of a region in the randomly accessible recording medium from which reading of the second moving picture data is started after the changeover from the playback of the first moving picture data to the playback of the second moving picture data, based on first information, when the apparatus changes playback of the second moving picture data to playback of the first moving picture data, obtain a second address of a region in the randomly accessible recording medium from which reading of the first moving picture data is started after the changeover from the playback of the second moving picture data to the playback of the first moving picture data, based on second information, and control the first reading unit or the second reading unit so that reading of the second moving picture data is started from the region located in the first address, and reading of the first moving picture data is started from the region located in the second address, the first information is information in which time stamps that correspond to times indicated on respective pictures displayed according to the first moving picture data are associated with first starting addresses of regions in the randomly accessible recording medium, in which the first moving picture data is stored with the first starting addresses corresponding to the first moving picture data, and the second information is information in which time stamps that correspond to times indicated on respective pictures displayed according to the second moving picture data are associated with second starting addresses of regions in the recording medium, in which the second moving picture data is stored with the second starting addresses corresponding to the second moving picture data.