Patent ID: 7555201

Claim:
A method of controlling a decoding unit in an optical disc player system to read encoded bitstream data from a buffer memory, the encoded bitstream data being divided into a plurality of sectors, each of which includes a data portion, and a header portion for indicating a bitstream type of the data portion, the decoding unit including a set of different decoders, each of which is used to decode data with a specific bitstream type, said method comprising the steps of: (a) determining whether one of the decoders sent out a bitstream request; (b) reading one of the sectors stored in the buffer memory according to a reading pointer that is associated with said one of the decoders that sent out the bitstream request; (c) determining whether a portion of said one of the sectors being read from the buffer memory is the header portion; (d) determining whether the header portion of said one of the sectors that is being read from the buffer memory indicates a bitstream type corresponding to that of the bitstream request upon determining that the portion of said one of the sectors is the header portion; and (e) transferring the data portion of said one of the sectors that is being read from the buffer memory to said one of the decoders that sent out the bitstream request upon determining that the bitstream type indicated by the header portion of said one of the sectors corresponds to that of the bitstream request, and adjusting the reading pointer to point to a next one of the sectors stored in the buffer memory after reading of said one of the sectors has been completed; wherein steps (b), (c), (d) and (e) are executed after step (a) determines that the bitstream request is sent.