Patent ID: 7403698

Claim:
A recording medium for use with a reproducing apparatus, comprising: recorded AV data including a plurality of pictures divided into a plurality of clips and a plurality of PlayItems representative of a reproduction range corresponding to said plurality of clips; wherein a specific PlayItem includes connection information representative of a connection condition at least from a previous PlayItem to the specific PlayItem, and said connection information indicates an assured seamless play or a not assured seamless play, wherein said connection information depends on whether or not the reproducing apparatus needs to process data prior to the specific PlayItem that is not displayed to display a picture at the connection point by the specific PlayItem; and, wherein the reproducing apparatus accesses said AV data in accordance with said reproduction range information and said connection information, and decodes a picture at a connection point indicated by the specific PlayItem after a picture indicated by the previous PlayItem has been decoded, without processing the data that is not displayed if the connection information indicates the assured seamless play.