Patent ID: 7778521

Claim:
A playback apparatus for executing playback of a video stream recorded on a recording medium based on an entry map also recorded on the recording medium, the entry map indicating a plurality of entry points in the video stream in one-to-one correspondence with a plurality of entry times and flags, the recording medium further has a plurality of management information files and playback section information recorded thereon, and the playback section information defines a start point and an endpoint of a multi-angle section in the video stream, and includes a field storing names of the management information files, said playback apparatus comprising: a reading unit operable to read pictures contained in the video stream from the recording medium; a playback unit operable to play back the read pictures; and a control unit operable, in response to a request to start playback from a given temporal point, to (i) specify a nearby entry time to the requested temporal point from among entry times each with a flag set to ON and (ii) cause the reading unit to read the video stream starting from an entry point corresponding to the specified entry time; a status register operable to store a value indicating an angle image to be played back; and an update unit operable to update the value stored in the status register in accordance with a user operation, wherein the playback unit includes: a picture buffer operable to store a plurality of reference pictures; and a decoder operable to perform motion compensation using the reference pictures, the reading unit is operable to read a management information file indicated by the updated value of the status register, from among the management information files whose names are stored in the playback section information, and the entry map used by the control unit is contained in the read management information file.