Patent ID: 8600212

Claim:
A playback apparatus for receiving a digital stream from a distribution apparatus and playing back the received digital stream, the digital stream including: a video stream; a left view graphics stream; and a right view graphics stream, the left view graphics stream and the right view graphics stream each including one or more display sets, each display set being a data group used for displaying one screen worth of one or more graphics objects, the one or more display sets included in the left view graphics stream being in one-to-one correspondence with the one or more display sets included in the right view graphics stream, an identical playback time for the video stream on a playback time axis being set in display sets that correspond with each other, each display set including state information indicating that the display set is one of (i) all data necessary for displaying the one screen worth of one or more graphics objects, and (ii) a difference from an immediately previous display set, and identical content being indicated by the state information included in display sets that correspond with each other in the left view graphics stream and the right view graphics stream, the playback apparatus comprising: a reception unit operable to receive the digital stream that has been distributed from the distribution apparatus via a broadcast or a network; a video decoder operable to decode the video stream; and a left view graphics decoder operable to decode the left view graphics stream and a right view graphics decoder operable to decode the right view graphics stream, wherein the left view graphics decoder and the right view graphics decoder each include: a processor operable to obtain a graphics object by decoding data that defines the graphics object from among the data group; an object buffer that stores therein the graphics object obtained by the decoding; and a composition buffer that stores therein data specifying a screen structure with use of a graphics object from among the data group, wherein the left view graphics decoder and the right view graphics decoder include a graphics controller as a common constituent element, and the graphics controller, when the playback time is reached, decodes the data, stored in the composition buffer in the left view graphics decoder, that specifies the screen structure, and the data, stored in the composition buffer in the right view graphics decoder, that specifies the screen structure, and according to the read data, configures a left view screen structure with use of a graphics object of the object buffer in the left view graphics decoder, and configures a right view screen structure with use of a graphics object of the object buffer in the right view graphics decoder.