Patent ID: 8369690

Claim:
A reproduction apparatus for reproducing a digital stream that is obtained by multiplexing a video stream and a graphics stream, the reproduction apparatus comprising: a video decoder obtaining a moving picture by decoding the video stream; and a graphics decoder combining graphics data with the moving picture and displaying the graphics data combined with the moving picture, wherein the graphics stream is a packet sequence including a plurality of packets, wherein the plurality of packets include a data packet storing the graphics data and a control packet storing control information, wherein the data packet includes a first decode time stamp and a first presentation time stamp, wherein the control packet includes a second decode time stamp and a second presentation time stamp, wherein the graphics decoder comprises: a processor starting decoding of the graphics data when a current reproduction point reaches a point shown by the first decode time stamp, and ending the decoding of the graphics data when the current reproduction point reaches a point shown by the first presentation time stamp; a controller combining the graphics data in a decoded state with the moving picture, according to the second presentation time stamp, and displaying the graphics data combined with the moving picture; a coded data buffer storing the graphics data in a compressed state; and an object buffer storing the graphics data in a decompressed state resulting from the decoding by the processor, wherein the reproduction apparatus further comprises a graphics plane storing part of the graphics data in the decompressed state stored in the object buffer, the part of the graphics data being used for display, wherein, when the graphics data is constituted of two sets of graphics data, a value of the second presentation time stamp is equal to or greater than a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to a value of the second decode time stamp, the predetermined value is a total of a period X and a period Y, the period X is a longer one of: a total (a) of a period required for clearing a screen and a period required for writing the former of the two sets of graphics data in the decoded state, to the screen; and a total period (b) required for decoding the two sets of graphics data, the period Y is a period required for writing, to the screen, the latter of the two sets of graphics data in the decoded state, and wherein the controller judges whether type information included in the control information indicates a memory management start, and if judging affirmatively, starts memory management by clearing the coded data buffer, the object buffer, and the graphics plane when the current reproduction point of the video stream reaches the value of the second decode time stamp, reads the control information from the control packet and, when the current reproduction point reaches the value of the second presentation time stamp, displays content of the graphics plane.