Patent ID: 8787726

Claim:
A multimedia system comprising: a first video buffer configured to accept a first video stream comprising a first plurality of differentially compressed image frames and a first plurality of key frames, the first video stream generated from a first sequence of images of an event perceived at a first video camera angle; a second video buffer configured to accept a second video stream comprising a second plurality of differentially compressed image frames and a second plurality of key frames, the second video stream generated from a second sequence of images of the event perceived at a second video camera angle, wherein the first and the second video streams are perceivably aligned in time; a multimedia processing circuit configured to receive one of the first or the second video stream from the first or the second video buffer respectively, and transmit the received one of the first or the second video stream through a multimedia transmission link; a communication interface configured to receive via a communications link at an arbitrary instant in time, a request to switch from the transmitted one of the first or the second video stream to the other one of the first or the second video stream, the arbitrary instant in time occurring after a first key frame has been transmitted out of the multimedia processing circuit and before a next key frame is transmitted out of the multimedia processing circuit; and a first processor configured to respond to the request by executing steps comprising: using a backwards seek procedure for identifying in the other one of the first or the second video stream, a second key frame that precedes the arbitrary instant in time; using the identified second key frame to execute a forward seek procedure for identifying in the other one of the first or the second video stream, a compressed image frame corresponding to the arbitrary instant in time; configuring the multimedia processing circuit to switch from the transmitted one of the first or the second video stream to the other one of the first or the second video stream; and configuring the multimedia processing circuit to transmit the other one of the first or the second video stream starting from the compressed image frame corresponding to the arbitrary instant in time.