Patent ID: 7756201

Claim:
A method for accessing a desired access point in time-synchronized data within a time-synchronized data stream, the time-synchronized data stream being associated with time information, the method comprising: providing a desired presentation time associated with a desired point within the time-synchronized data stream; finding a stream access point, comprising: finding a beginning time after which the desired point is likely to be found; and assigning the stream access point to be a first point, at or after the beginning time, at which decoding of the time-synchronized data stream is available; examining the time information associated with the time-synchronized data stream, beginning at the stream access point; and continuing to examine the time information associated with the time-synchronized data stream, at least one additional stream access point, until a last access point at which the time information associated with the time-synchronized data stream corresponds to a time less than or equal to the desired presentation time is found; and assigning the desired access point to be the last access point.