Patent ID: 7992167

Claim:
A method of content substitution, comprising: receiving a stream of data representing content having a first and a second substitutable portion, the data encoded using at least first and second packet identifiers (PID) associated with first and second substitutable portions of content, each encoded portion of said substitutable content being mapped to at least one of said PIDS; receiving signaling establishing a parameter to be used to start up and stop the content substitution, where the signaling specifies a decoder operational mode that enables one of a plurality of content substitution modes of decoder operation, and where the signaling further specifies switching among the content substitution modes of the decoder operation; initiating processing of content having the first PID; determining that a substitution criterion has been met; substituting content having the second PID for content having the first PID wherein data encoded with said first and second PIDs are portions of the said received stream of data; processing the substituted content for display or storage; and wherein whenever packets are inserted or deleted, a continuity count for said first PID is preserved by adjusting the continuity count.