Patent ID: 8793750

Claim:
A method for fast channel change between logical channels within a transport multiplex, comprising: receiving a channel selection signal identifying a tuned channel; simultaneously decoding channel data for each channel in a transport multiplex; reconstructing all access units for each channel and sending them out to a streamer on their respective channel stream in the order that each access unit completes; outputting channel data from a streamer corresponding to the tuned channel to a media player; and for each non-tuned channel, storing and maintaining a minimum amount of channel data in a buffer in its streamer by: recording: each key frame's starting position in the buffer; a minimum necessary amount of video data to store after each key frame to prevent underflow in the event of a channel change to that channel; and a quantity of non key frame data stored since the last key frame, and discarding data stored previous to the last stored key frame if said quantity is greater than or equal to said minimum necessary amount, and otherwise discarding data stored previous to the second to last stored key frame if said quantity is less than said minimum necessary amount.