KR100939859B1 - Reproduction device, and reproduction method - Google Patents

Abstract

The BD-ROM reproducing apparatus selects one of a plurality of text subtitle streams and reproduces the selected text subtitle stream together with the moving picture. PSRs 48 to 61 store a plurality of decode capability flags, and indicate the presence or absence of decode capability of text subtitles for each language according to the setting values of the respective flags. The procedure execution unit 20 determines whether each of the plurality of text subtitle streams can be displayed by referring to the setting values of each flag in the PSR48 to 61. The stream selector 17 selects a text subtitle stream that is determined to be displayed. Here, the decode capability in a language indicates that the playback apparatus has rendering capability for expanding the character code of the language into a bitmap and support capability for supporting the characteristics of the language, and b16 to b23 of the PSR30 are permission flags. The permission flag indicates whether or not to allow the stream selection unit 17 to select a non-support language, which is a language having rendering capability but no support capability.

Decode Capabilities, Languages, Text Subtitles, Render Capabilities, Support Capabilities, Permit Flags

Description

Playback device, playback method {REPRODUCTION DEVICE, AND REPRODUCTION METHOD}

The present invention belongs to the technical field of the text subtitle display technology.

The text subtitle display is a technique for displaying a subtitle expressed by a text code in synchronization with each picture in a movie, and is one of technologies unique to a BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc Read Only Memory) playback device.

The BD-ROM reproducing apparatus expands the code constituting the subtitles using a font into bitmaps, and controls the bitmaps to be displayed in synchronization with respective pictures in the video stream.

Subtitles can be created by code strings, making it easy to create subtitles, which makes it possible to create subtitles in a minority language in which no movie subtitles have been created. As a result, the width of the subtitle expression in the movie can be widened, thereby increasing the added value of one movie work.

Moreover, regarding the display technology of a text subtitle, there exists a prior art disclosed by the following patent documents.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-228656

However, having the playback apparatus perform subtitle display in a language other than the native language and not in English, and guaranteeing the quality thereof, involves a great burden for the manufacturer of the playback apparatus. Therefore, a manufacturer with a strict quality assurance may have a desire to suppress a kind of language capable of displaying subtitles in view of difficulty in guaranteeing quality of subtitles display.

However, like the browsing software on the WWW site, although there is the potential to display subtitles in all languages, limiting the types of languages that can display subtitles for quality assurance reasons reduces the appeal of the BD-ROM player. This is not desirable from the standpoint of standards makers aiming for the global spread of BD-ROM playback devices. Accordingly, the standard-setter of the BD-ROM falls into a dilemma between the desire of the user to enjoy subtitle display in many languages and the realistic desire of the manufacturer to maintain the quality guarantee even when displaying the text subtitle.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a playback apparatus that can harmonize the desire of a user who wants to enjoy subtitle display in many languages and the realistic desire of a manufacturer who wants to maintain quality guarantee even when displaying text subtitles.

In order to achieve the above object, the reproducing apparatus according to the present invention stores a plurality of flags, and a register set indicating whether or not the decoding capability of the text subtitle for each language is determined by the setting value of each flag. Determining means for deciding whether or not each of the plurality of text subtitle streams can be decoded by referring to the setting values of each flag in the register set, and selecting means for selecting the text subtitle stream determined to be decodeable. The decode capability of a language includes a rendering capability that expands the character code of that language into a bitmap, and a support capability that supports the characteristics of that language. Register set includes a permission flag, the permission flag being a language that has rendering capability but no support capability. It is characterized by indicating whether or not to allow the selection means to select an un-support language.

The manufacturer can switch whether or not the selection means selects a non-supported language by setting on / off of the corresponding flag. With the setting of the flag, it is possible to decide whether or not to select a non-supported language, so that the manufacturer of a playback device prohibits the selection of a non-supported language in order to strictly guarantee the quality or selects a non-supported language by the user's own responsibility. It is easy to change the setting to allow.

This allows the user to display text subtitles in a language in which a problem may occur while knowing that a problem occurs in the subtitle display. Subtitles of non-supported languages are displayed by the user's responsibility, so that the user and maker can be harmonized.

1 is a view showing an example of the use behavior of the playback apparatus according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a BD-ROM.

3 is a diagram schematically showing how a file with extension .m2ts is configured.

4 is a diagram showing a data structure of playlist information.

5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between AVClip and PL.

6 is a close-up view of an internal configuration of subpath information.

7 is a diagram illustrating definition of a playback section and synchronization designation on the SubPlayItem time axis.

8 (a) is a diagram showing the internal structure of STN_table, (b) is a diagram showing a set of entry-attributes corresponding to a PG stream, and (c) is a set of entry-attributes corresponding to a text subtitle stream. It is a figure which shows.

9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the AVClip described in the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of PlayList information described in the first embodiment. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a bundle of digital streams defined by the PlayList information shown in FIG. 10.

12 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a playback apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating which PlayList playback time axis is defined by PlayList information stored in local storage.

FIG. 14 is a diagram in which the decoding result of decoding of the video encoder and the selection result of the stream selecting unit 17 are added to the internal configuration of FIG.

15 is a diagram showing detailed settings of PSR2, PSR17, PSR30, and PSR48 to 61. FIG.

Fig. 16 shows the internal structure of the PSR48 to 61;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating correspondence between a decode capability flag and textST_language_code in PSR48 to 61; FIG.

Fig. 18 shows the contents of PSR53 among PSR48 to 61;

19 is a diagram illustrating semantic content of textST_language_code.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a feature portion of the stream selector 17 in the first embodiment.

21 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between a PSR number and a bit position and textST_language_code in PSR48 to 61;

22 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of Procedure when playback condition is changed.

Fig. 23 is a flowchart showing the setting procedure at the time of stream change.

24 is a flowchart showing the setting procedure of PSR2.

Fig. 25 is a flowchart showing a determination procedure when determining whether or not there is a decode capability of a text subtitle stream.

26 (a) to 26 (c) are diagrams showing specific examples of text subtitle stream selection.

27 (a) to 27 (c) are diagrams showing specific examples of text subtitle stream selection.

28 is a flowchart showing the playback procedure by the controller.

29 shows the internal structure of a text subtitle stream.

FIG. 30A is a diagram illustrating an example of setting style information and display information, and FIG. 30B is a diagram illustrating a composite image displayed in the text subtitle stream of (a).

Fig. 31 is a flowchart showing playback processing based on SubPlayItem # y.

32 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the TextST decoder 12.

Fig. 33 (a) is a diagram illustrating a difference in layout according to the language characteristics of Japanese, and (b) shows the layout in the language characteristics of Arabic.

Fig. 34 is a diagram showing the criterion for setting decode capability of three languages, Japanese, English and Arabic.

35A and 35B show Japanese subtitles in which vertical writing items are fully supported, and incomplete Japanese subtitles in vertical writing items.

36 shows the internal structure of the playback apparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 37 shows bit assignments of b23 to b16 of the PSR30 in the third embodiment.

Fig. 38 shows the bit structure in the reserved area of the PSR.

Fig. 39 (a) and (b) show menus displayed when the user intends to expand the language type.

40 is a flowchart showing a determination procedure of a text subtitle stream in the third embodiment.

Fig. 41 is a flowchart showing the determination procedure of the decode capability for each language.

42 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the set-up unit 32.

43 (a) and 43 (b) show comparison of setting of decoding capability in a case where a user does not desire display of a non-supported language and a case where a user desires it.

44 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the setup unit 32 according to the fourth embodiment.

45 is a diagram illustrating pre-loading into the buffer by the loader 13.

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating selection of non-preloaded text subtitle streams by the stream selection unit 17. FIG.

Fig. 47 is a diagram schematically showing load processing executed by the loader 13 when the user selects a non-loading text subtitle stream during reproduction of the AVClip.

Fig. 48 (a) shows a seek from the recording area of the AVClip to the recording area of the text subtitle stream, and a seek from the recording area of the text subtitle stream to the AVClip recording area, and (b) shows the AVClip to the decoder. FIG. 7 shows the reproduction stop of the AVClip according to the stop of the supply of.

49 is a diagram showing the internal structure of a playback apparatus according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 50 is a diagram illustrating an example of a seamless flag provided in a reserved area of the PSR.

Fig. 51 (a) shows an STN_Table in which a PG stream multiplexed on an AVClip, a preloaded text subtitle stream, and a preloaded text subtitle stream are described, and (b) a seamless flag is ON. Is a diagram illustrating a state transition in the case where the state transition is set, and (c) is a diagram illustrating a state transition in the case where the seamless flag is set to OFF.

FIG. 52A shows a setup menu displayed in this embodiment, and FIG. 52B shows a menu displayed when a user intends to expand a language type.

53 is a flowchart showing the selection procedure according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 54 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing in step S66 of FIG.

55 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the setup unit 32.

FIG. 56A shows the internal structure of the STN_Table in the sixth embodiment, and (b) shows the contents of the seamless flag provided in the STN_Table.

Fig. 57 shows the interruption of the video reproduction by the font data loader.

58 shows the internal structure of the recording medium in this embodiment.

Fig. 59 is a view showing the load processing by the loader 13 in the sixth embodiment.

Fig. 60 (a) shows the directory structure of the recording medium in the seventh embodiment, and (b) shows the internal structure of the file management information.

Fig. 61 shows a state in which font data described as essential is loaded into the buffer.

62 is a diagram illustrating a situation in which a plurality of PlayItems are reproduced in succession.

63 is a diagram illustrating preload based on STN_Table.

64 is a diagram illustrating a description of STN_Table according to the ninth embodiment.

FIG. 65 shows that the PID of the PG stream is described in STN_Table of PlayItem Information # 1, but the PG stream has a blank period in PlayItem Information # 2, so that the PID of the PG stream is not registered in STN_Table of PlayItem Information # 2. It is a figure which shows.

Fig. 66 is a diagram illustrating a situation in which a stream registered in the STN_Table becomes only a preloaded text subtitle stream and the preloaded text subtitle stream is selected.

Fig. 67 is a diagram illustrating a situation where a multiplexed PG stream is not registered in the STN_Table of PlayItem information # 2, so that the preloaded stream is selected.

68 is a diagram for selecting a digital stream in which a PID is registered in a STN_Table as a dummy.

(Explanation of the sign)

1 BD-ROM drive 2 Local Storage

3 operation reception desk

4 de-multiplexing unit

5 Video Decoder 6 Video Plane

7 PG Decoder 8 PG Plain

9 Synthesis Section 10 Text Code Buffer

11 Font Buffer 12 TextST Decoder

13 Loader 14 Scenario Memory

15 Controls 16 PSR Sets

17 stream selector 19 bit allocation table

20 Procedure execution unit

21 font rendering unit

22 expansion buffer 23 controller

31 Self test unit 32 Setup unit

33 Preload Management Table 200 Playback

300 remote control 400 television

(First embodiment)

Next, an embodiment of a recording medium according to the present invention will be described. First, an example of use behavior among the implementation behaviors of the playback apparatus according to the present invention will be described. 1 is a view showing an example of the use behavior of the playback apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the playback apparatus according to the present invention is a playback apparatus 200. FIG. The playback apparatus 200 is provided for supplying a movie work to a home theater system formed by the remote control 300 alc television 400.

This concludes the description of the use of the playback apparatus of the present invention. Next, a description will be given of a recording medium which is to be reproduced by the playback apparatus of the present invention. The BD-ROM is played back by the playback apparatus according to the present invention. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a BD-ROM.

The fourth row of the figure shows a BD-ROM, and the third row shows a track on the BD-ROM. The track in this figure extends in the lateral direction and depicts a track formed spirally from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of the BD-ROM. This track consists of a lead-in area, a volume area, and a lead-out area. The volume area of this figure has a layer model called a physical layer, a file system layer, and an application layer. The application layer format (application format) of the BD-ROM is expressed using the directory structure as shown in the first step of the figure. In this first stage, the BD-ROM has a BDMV directory under the root directory.

Under the BDMV directory are four subdirectories called the PLAYLIST directory, the CLIPINF directory, the STREAM directory, and the BDJA directory.

The STREAM directory is a directory that stores files which are so-called digital stream bodies, and there are files (00001 to 00003.m2ts) to which an extension m2ts is assigned.

In the PLAYLIST directory, files (00001 to 00003.mpls) with extension mpls exist.

There are files (00001 to 00003.clpi) with the extension clpi in the CLIPINF directory. Hereinafter, these files will be described.

<AVClip>

First, a file with extension .m2ts is described. 3 is a diagram schematically showing how a file with extension .m2ts is configured.

The file (00001.m2ts, 00002.m2ts, 00003.m2ts ……) with extension .m2ts stores the AVClip. AVCLip (intermediate stage) converts a video stream consisting of a plurality of video frames (pictures pj1, 2, 3) and an audio stream consisting of a plurality of audio frames (upper first stage) into a PES packet sequence (upper second stage), and again TS It converts into a packet (upper 3rd stage), similarly to the presentation graphics stream of the subtitle system (the PG stream of the first stage) and the interactive graphics stream of the interactive system (the IG stream of the second stage). Is converted into a TS packet (lower third step) and multiplexed.

The presentation graphics stream is a graphics stream constituting subtitles for each language.

The IG stream is a graphics stream for realizing interactive control, and includes graphics data constituting GUI components such as menus and buttons, commands (button commands) to be executed in the playback device when a button is pressed, and the like.

In the AVClip, as shown in Fig. 3, the multiplexed stream is called MainClip. In addition, there is no multiplexing. Such an AVClip is called a SubClip, and there are AVClips that constitute an audio stream, a PG stream, a text subtitle stream (TextSTStream), and the like.

<Clip information>

The file (00001.clpi) to which the extension "clpi" has been given is clip information corresponding one to one to each of the AVClips. As the management information, the clip information has information such as the encoding format, the frame rate, the bit rate, the resolution of the stream in the AVClip, and the EP_map indicating the plurality of entry positions in the corresponding stream.

<PlayList Information>

The file (00001.mpls) with the extension "mpls" is a file that stores PlayList (PL) information. PlayList information is information defining Playlist (PL) that combines two types of playback paths, MainPath and Subpath. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of playlist information. As shown in this figure, playlist information includes MainPath information (MainPath ()) defining a MainPath and Subpath information (Subpath ()) defining a Subpath. Is done.

MainPath is a playback path defined on the main AVClip. Subpath, on the other hand, is a playback path defined on the SubClip.

Details of PlayList information 1.

<MainPath>

First, MainPath will be described. MainPath is a playback path defined for a video stream or an audio stream that is a main video.

As indicated by arrow mp1, MainPath is defined by a plurality of PlayItem information (... PlayItem () ...). PlayItem information defines one or more logical playback sections that make up the MainPath. The structure of the PlayItem information is closed up by the lead line mp2. As shown in this lead line, the PlayItem information includes "Clip_Information_file_name" representing the file name of the playback section information of the AVClip to which the IN point and the Out point of the playback section belong, the time information "IN_time" indicating the start point of the playback section, and the playback section. Time information &quot; OUT_time &quot; indicating the end point of &quot; &quot; and &quot; STN_table &quot; indicating that the elementary stream multiplexed in the AVClip or SubClip can be reproduced.

5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between AVClip and PlayList information. The first stage shows the time axis of the AVClip, and the second stage shows the time axis of the PlayList information. The PlayList information includes three PlayItem information of PlayItems # 1, # 2, and # 3, and three playback sections are defined by In_time alc Out_time of these PlayItems # 1, # 2, and # 3. Arranging these playback sections defines a time axis different from the AVClip time axis. This is the PL time axis shown in the second stage. In this way, the definition of the PlayItem information enables the definition of a time axis different from the AVClip.

PlayList information details 2.

<Subpath>

Subpath is a playback path defined for a text subtitle stream or an audio stream to be synchronized with MainPath, whereas MainPath is a playback path defined on a video stream or an audio stream that is a main video.

The video stream which is the main picture in MainPath is multiplexed with the related audio stream and the like into one stream. Since the required streams are known in advance when the BD content is produced, all the streams to be synchronously reproduced can be multiplexed into one stream. In contrast, a subpath is a stream that is not multiplexed but requires synchronous playback, such as a downloaded text subtitle stream. For example, if you want to distribute a movie to various regions of the world, the editors would only have English subtitles on BD-ROMs shipped to Europe and the United States, but Japanese on BD-ROMs shipped to Japan. You may want to add subtitles. However, creating a stream that constitutes Japanese subtitles and trying to multiplex it into a video stream is expensive.

In the BD-ROM, only subtitle streams constituting Japanese subtitles can be added to MainPath by using SubPath information. The advantage of Subpath is that it enables writing in Japanese.

6 shows a close-up of the internal structure of the subpath information. As shown by this arrow sh1, each Subpath consists of one or more SubPlayItem information (… SubPlayItem ()…). Each SubPlayItem information is composed of "Clip_information_file_name", "SubPlayItem_In_time", "SubPlayItem_Out_time", "sync_PlayItem_id", and "sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem" as shown by arrow sh2 in the figure.

"Clip_information_file_name" is information that uniquely specifies a SubClip corresponding to a SubPlayItem by describing a file name of clip information.

"SubPlayItem_In_time" is information indicating the start point of the SubPlayItem on the playback time axis of the SubClip.

"SubPlayItem_Out_time" is information indicating the end point of the SubPlayItem on the playback time axis of the SubClip.

"Sync_PlayItem_id" is information that uniquely specifies that this SubPlayItem should be synchronized among PlayItems constituting MainPath. SubPlayItem_In_time exists on the play time axis of the PlayItem specified by this sync_PlayItem_id.

"Sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem" indicates where the start point of the SubPlayItem specified in SubPlayItem_In_time exists on the play time axis of the PlayItem specified in sync_PlayItem_id. Playback of the SubPlayItem is started when the current playback time at the time of playback of the SubPlayItem arrives at the time point specified by this sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem. To synchronize a subpath with MainPath, you can specify in sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem which time on the MainPath the playback start time on the Subpath should match. For example, it is sufficient to specify in sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem to start playback of the stream specified in Subpath at a position 300 seconds after the start of playback on MainPath. On the reproduction apparatus side, a clock counter transmits the stream constituting the MainPath and the stream constituting the Subpath to the multiple separation unit at an appropriate timing. Since the clock counter counts the current time with the same time precision based on the time of the clock generator, the reproduction of MainPath and SubPath information can be synchronized with high precision by specifying sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem as described above.

7 is a diagram illustrating definition of a playback section and synchronization designation on the SubPlayItem time axis. In the figure, the first stage represents the PL time axis, and the second stage represents the SubPlayItem time axis. In the figure, SubPlayItem.IN_time represents the start point of the playback section, and SubPlayItem.Out_time represents the end point of the playback section. This shows that the playback section is also defined on the SubPlayItem time axis. In arrow Sn1, Sync_PlayItem_Id represents synchronization designation for PlayItem, and in arrow Sn2, sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem represents designation of a point in time on PlayItem on the PL time axis.

When the current playback point on the PlayItem's playback time axis reaches the point indicated by sync_start_ PTS_of_PlayItem, the portion from SubPlayItem_In_time to SubPlayItem_ Out_time of the SubClip (text subtitle stream) specified by Clip_information_file_name is played. By such reproduction, the portions specified in SubPlayItem_In_time and SubPlayItem_Out_time in the text subtitle stream are reproduced in synchronization with the AVClip. This is the description of the subpath.

In the above-described configuration of PlayItem information, STN_table is an indispensable element in the practice of the present invention. Hereinafter, STN_table will be described in more detail.

PlayList information details 3.

<STN_table>

STN_table is a table indicating that playback is possible among a plurality of elementary streams multiplexed on the AVClip specified by the Clip_Information_file_name of the Play Item or elementary streams in the SubClip specified by the Clip_Information_file_name of the SubPlayItem. Specifically, it is configured by mapping an entry for each of the plurality of elementary streams with an attribute. Here, the "playable elementary stream" mainly means an elementary stream multiplexed on the AVClip designated by the Play Item. However, not only this, but also an elementary stream (text subtitle stream) reproduced with this elementary stream and recorded separately from the AVClip is included.

Fig. 8A shows the internal structure of the STN_table. As shown in the figure, STN_table includes a plurality of entries-attributes of entries and attributes in STN_table, and indicates the number of sets of these entries-attributes (number_of_video_ stream_entries, number_of_audio_stream_entries, number_of_PG_textST_stream_ entries, number_of_IG_stream_entries) It is.

The set of entry-attribute corresponds to each of a video stream, an audio stream, a PG stream, a text subtitle stream, and an IG stream that can be played back in a PlayItem, as indicated by parentheses "{" in the figure.

Details of the entry-attribute will be described. 8 (b)-(c) are diagrams showing the details of an entry-attribute.

8 (b) is a diagram illustrating a set of entry-attributes corresponding to a PG stream.

The entry in the PG stream includes &quot; ref_to_stream_PID_of_mainClip &quot; indicating the PID used for extracting the PG stream in multiplexing the AVClip.

The attribute in the PG stream is set to 0x90 so that "stream_coding_type" indicating the codec of the PG stream is composed of "PG_language code" indicating the language attribute of the corresponding PG stream. "PG_language code" shows the language attribute of the corresponding PG stream by the language code of IS0639-2 / T.

FIG. 8C is a diagram showing a set of entry-attributes corresponding to a text subtitle stream (sometimes referred to as textSTstream).

The entry in the text subtitle stream consists of "ref_to_subClip_entry_ID" representing the entry identifier of the AVClip storing the text subtitle stream, "ref_to_subPath_ID" representing the ID of synchronization information, and "ref_to_stream_PID_of_subClip" indicating the PID added to the text subtitle stream. .

The attribute in the text subtitle stream is set to 0x92 so that "stream_coding_type" representing the codec of the text subtitle stream, "character code" representing the character code of the corresponding text subtitle stream, and the language attribute of the corresponding text subtitle stream are set. It consists of "textST_language_code" which represents. "TextST_language_code" indicates the language attribute of the corresponding text subtitle stream by the language code of IS0639-2 / T.

That is the internal structure of STN_Table.

PlayList information details 4.

<Specific example of PlayList information>

Hereinafter, specific examples of the PlayList information cited in each embodiment will be described. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the AVClip described in the first embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of PlayList information described in the first embodiment. The PlayList information cited in this embodiment includes three PlayItem information (PlayItem information # 1 to PlayItem information # 3) and four SubPath information (SubPath information # 1 to SubPath information # 4). Among these, Clip_information_file_name of four SubPath information represents four different clip information.

Among these four clip information, AVClip corresponding to SubPath information # 1 is Japanese text subtitle stream, AVClip corresponding to SubPath information # 2 is French text subtitle stream, and AVClip corresponding to SubPath information # 3 is Chinese text subtitle stream. If the AVClip corresponding to SubPath information # 4 is an Arabic text subtitle stream, these text subtitle streams are reproduced together with MainPath as SubPath information. On the other hand, three PlayItem information in these MainPath is the same as shown in Fig. 5, and constitutes one PlayList time axis. It is assumed that the Clip information file described in Clip_information_file_name of the PlayItem information corresponds to an AVClip multiplexed with a video stream and a PG stream.

The lead lines cs1, cs2, and cs3 in the figure close up the structure of STN_Table of PlayItem information # 1 to PlayItem information # 3. As indicated by this lead line, it is assumed that STN_Table describes the PIDs of the PG stream multiplexed on the AVClip and the text subtitle stream specified by the SubPath information. As a result, text subtitle streams in five languages, such as 1: English, 2: Japanese, 3: French, 4: Chinese, and 5: Arabic, can be reproduced.

By the description of the PlayList information in FIG. 10 described above, a bundle of digital streams as shown in FIG. 11 is defined. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a bundle of digital streams defined by PlayList information shown in FIG. 10. Since PlayItem information # 1 to PlayItem information # 3 constitute the time axis shown in Fig. 5, the video stream is played during a period in which PlayItem information # 1, PlayItem information # 2, and PlayItem information # 3 are being played on the time axis. PG streams in English and text subtitle streams in Japanese and Arabic can be played. That is, as the PlayList time axis plays back, the English PG stream and the Japanese to Arabic text subtitle streams can be played back, and either of the English PG streams or Japanese to Arabic text subtitle streams is synchronized with the video stream. Can be reproduced.

This concludes the description of the recording medium. Next, the playback apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

12 is a diagram showing the internal structure of a playback apparatus according to the present invention. The reproducing apparatus according to the present invention is industrially produced by the interior shown in this figure. The reproducing apparatus according to the present invention mainly consists of two parts, a system LSI and a drive device, and can be industrially produced by mounting these parts on a cabinet and a substrate of the device. The system LSI is an integrated circuit integrating various processing units that perform the functions of the playback apparatus. The playback apparatus produced in this way includes a BD-ROM drive 1, a local storage 2, an operation receiving unit 3, a multiple separation unit 4, a video decoder 5, a video plane 6, PG decoder (7), PG plane (8), synthesis section (9), text code buffer (10), font buffer (11), TextST decoder (12), loader (13) , A scenario memory 14, a controller 15, and a PSR set 16. In this figure, the part enclosed by the dashed-dotted line shows system LSI and the one-chip part.

The BD-ROM drive 1 loads / ejects a BD-ROM and executes access to the BD-ROM.

The local storage 2 is an internal medium that stores AVClips, clip information, and PlayList information downloaded through a network. The PlayList information on the local storage 2 is different from the PlayList information on the BD-ROM in that clip information existing anywhere in the BD-ROM and the local storage 2 can be specified. In this designation, the PlayList information on the local storage 2 does not need to specify a file on the BD-ROM as a full path. This is because the local storage 2 is integrated with the BD-ROM and is recognized by the playback apparatus 200 as a single virtual drive (virtual drive section). Because Clip_Information_file_name in the PlayItem information and Clip_Information_file_name in the SubPlayItem information designate a 5-digit numerical value corresponding to the file body of the file storing the clip information, the AVClip on the local storage 2 and the BD-ROM is designated. Can be. By reading the recorded contents of the local storage 2 and dynamically combining them with the recorded contents of the BD-ROM, various reproduction variations can be produced.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating which PlayList playback time axis is defined by PlayList information stored in local storage. The first stage shows the playback time axis in the AVClip recorded on the BD-ROM, and the second stage shows the PlayList playback time axis defined by the PlayList information stored in the local storage. As shown in the first and second stages, the PlayList information stored in the local storage can define an original playback time axis for the AVClip on the BD-ROM. The third tier shows a SubPlayItem playback time axis in SubPlayItem stored in local storage. In the figure, SubPlayItem.IN_time represents the start point of the playback section, and SubPlayItem.Out_time represents the end point of the playback section. This shows that the playback section is also defined on the SubPlayItem time axis. In arrow Sn1, Sync_PlayItem_Id indicates synchronization designation for PlayItem, and in arrow Sn2, sync_start_PTS_of_PlayItem indicates designation of a point in time on PlayItem on the PL time axis.

Therefore, the playback section defined on the SubPlayItem playback time axis by the SubPlayItem information is synchronized with the PlayList playback time axis defined by the PlayItem information on the local storage.

PlayList information on local storage can specify PlayList playback time axis for AVClip on BD-ROM, and SubPlayItem information on local storage can specify synchronization with SubPlayItem on local storage for this playback time axis. If the specified AVClip is a text subtitle stream, the text subtitle stream can be played back in synchronization with the AVClip on the BD-ROM.

The above is the description of the local storage 2.

When the operation for selecting a stream or the like is made to the front panel of the remote controller or the playback apparatus, the operation accepting section 3 outputs to the stream selector 17 user operation information indicating the operation.

The multiplexing section 4 includes a clock counter and a clock generator, draws TS packets from the local storage 2, converts TS packets constituting the TS packets into PES packets, and obtains a video stream and an IG stream. Output to the video decoder 5 and the PG decoder 7, respectively.

The video decoder 5 decodes a plurality of PES packets output from the multiplexing section 4, obtains an uncompressed picture, and records the pictures in the video plane 6.

The video plane 6 is a plane for storing uncompressed pictures. A plane is a memory area for storing pixel data of one screen in a playback device. The resolution in the video plane 6 is 1920x1080, and the picture data stored in the video plane 6 is constituted by pixel data represented by 16-bit YUV values.

The P-Graphics (PG) decoder 7 decodes the presentation graphics stream read from the BD-ROM and records uncompressed graphics in the presentation graphics plane 8. The decode of the graphics stream causes the subtitles to appear on the screen.

The presentation graphics (PG) plane 8 is a memory having an area of one screen and can store one screen of uncompressed graphics. The resolution in this plane is 1920x1080, and each pixel of the uncompressed graphics in the presentation graphics plane 8 is represented by an 8-bit index color. By converting these index colors using a Color Lookup Table (CLUT), uncompressed graphics stored in the presentation graphics plane 8 are provided for display.

The synthesizing unit 9 synthesizes the uncompressed picture data stored in the video plane 6 with the contents of the presentation graphics plane 8.

The text code buffer 10 is a buffer in which a text subtitle stream read from the BD-ROM and the local storage 2 is stored. In the case of a text subtitle stream, even a subtitle for movie production of about 2 hours is about 500K bytes, so if the size of about 500K bytes is in the text code buffer 10, one text subtitle stream can be read.

The font buffer 11 stores font data used when expanding a code string constituting a text subtitle stream into a bitmap. The font buffer 11 can store CJK fonts (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) if the memory size is about 1M bytes. If this CJK font is stored, text subtitles in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean can be developed in a bitmap.

The TextST decoder 12 expands the text code included in the text subtitle stream on the text code buffer 10 into a bitmap by using the font data stored in the font buffer 11 and records it in the presentation graphics plane 8. .

The loader 13 loads the text subtitle stream and the font data into the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11. The target of loading by the loader 13 is the text subtitle stream and the font data necessary for the expansion of this text subtitle stream, and since the data amount is relatively small, the loader 13 stores all the text subtitle streams described in STN_Table in the text code buffer. The data can be read out at (10), and at the same time, the font data can be read in the font buffer 11. After such reading, the data necessary for the TextST decoder 12 is supplied in accordance with the current playback time. Reading data into the text code buffer 10 and font buffer 11 prior to the reproduction of MainPath is referred to as "preload".

The preloading of the loader 13 is based on the following reasons. If two streams designated by the MainPath information and the SubPath information are recorded separately on the BD-ROM and the hard disk, the two streams may be read simultaneously from the two media. However, since an optical disc such as a BD-ROM has a relatively slow access speed, when a stream designated by MainPath information and a stream designated by SubPath information are recorded on the same BD-ROM, two streams are searched while seeking. It is very difficult to access. Therefore, the loader 13 reads into the buffer the data designated by the SubPath information, that is, the text subtitle stream and the font data used for the expansion of the text subtitle stream before starting playback of the MainPath.

When all data is read into the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11, the stream on the SubPath side can be reproduced while the stream on the MainPath side is reproduced. Here, even if the stream on the MainPath side is reproduced without selecting the stream on the SubPath information side, if the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 are not overwritten, the SubPath side in the stream on the MainPath side is not overwritten. Switching to the stream is enabled.

The scenario memory 14 is a memory for storing current PlayList information and current clip information. The current PlayList information refers to the current processing target among the plurality of PlayList information recorded on the BD-ROM. The current clip information means that a plurality of clip informations recorded on the BD-ROM are currently the object of processing.

The control unit 15 controls to read and reproduce the AVClip recorded on the BD-ROM in accordance with the current PlayList information and the current clip information read into the scenario memory 14.

The PSR set 16 is a register built in the playback apparatus, and is comprised of 64 player status / setting registers (PSRs) and 4096 general purpose registers (GPRs). The meaning of the setting value PSR of the player status / setting register will be described in detail later.

The stream selector 17 selects and plays one of the PG stream or the text subtitle stream in which the entry-attribute described in STN_table is described. The selection by the stream selection unit 17 means that a PID is extracted from the set of the plurality of entry-attributes described in the STN_Table corresponding to the stream number stored in the PSR, and the PG stream or the text subtitle stream corresponding to the extracted PID is moved. It means to synthesize. If the extracted PID specifies the PG stream, the multiplexing section 4 is set to multiplex the PG stream. On the other hand, if the extracted PID specifies the text subtitle stream, the text subtitle stream is supplied from the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 to the TsxtST decoder 12.

FIG. 14 is a diagram in which a decoding result by decoding of a video encoder and a selection result by the stream selecting unit 17 are added to the internal configuration of FIG. 12. The decoding result by the video encoder is a picture sequence, and the selection result by the stream selecting unit 17 is a subtitle "Actually", "I lied to you", "Sorry", "Three years have passed" and "since then". The stream selector 17 selectively synthesizes the decoded result of the PG stream and the decoded result of the text subtitle stream into the picture string, so that the playback apparatus subtitles the decoded result of the PG stream or the decoded result of the text subtitle stream into the picture as subtitles. Can be reproduced in a synthesized state.

<Description of PSR>

That is the configuration of the playback apparatus according to the present invention. Next, each PSR in the PSR set will be described. Among the PSR sets, PSR1, PSR2, PSR15, PSR17, PSR30, and PSR48 to 61 indicate the selection of audio and subtitles in the playback apparatus, the presence or absence of the ability to decode them, and the language setting. 15 shows detailed settings of PSR2, PSR17, and PSR30.

Details of PSR 1.PSR2, 17, 30

The PSR2 stores the stream number of the currently selected PG stream or text subtitle stream. Here, the stream number is a number indicating the order in which the entry-attribute corresponding to the PG stream and the text subtitle stream is described in the STN_Table, and is a number depending on each STN_Table.

PSR2 also includes disp_flag. disp_flag indicates that display of the PG stream and the text subtitle stream is impossible by being set to "0", and display of the PG stream and the text subtitle stream is possible by setting to "1".

The PSR17 indicates the setting of the subtitle language in this playback apparatus by the language code of IS0639-2 / T. Herein, the language setting means that the user remembers that the user wants to play the language among the 430 languages. The language stored in this PSR17 is the user's wishes only, and it is not necessarily said that the PG stream and the text subtitle stream corresponding to this language exist in the BD-ROM. In addition, the decoding capability existing in the PSR17 may not necessarily exist in the playback apparatus. In any case, the user's wishes are stored in the PSR17 as subtitle language settings.

The PSR30 indicates that the ability to display text subtitles is not present in the playback apparatus by setting the most significant bit to "0" and that the capability to display text subtitles is present in the playback apparatus by setting the most significant bit to "1". Indicates.

Even if the playback apparatus has the ability to decode the text subtitle stream, it is possible to decode the text subtitle stream corresponding to which language, and it is not possible to decode the text subtitle stream corresponding to which language depending on the language.

Detail of PSR 2.PSR48 ~ 61

The text subtitle stream expresses subtitles using character codes. However, as is remarkable in Southeast Asia such as Japan, China, and Korea, there are cases where different character codes exist for various languages. Therefore, a flag is prepared for each language so as to determine whether or not the target language can be displayed properly. PSRs 48 to 61 of the PSR set indicate the presence or absence of the decode capability for the text subtitle stream of each language defined by the language code of IS0639-2 / T.

Fig. 16 shows the internal structure of the PSR48 to 61; The rectangular frame in this figure is a decode capability flag indicating a decode capability in one language.

These PSRs 48 to 61 store as many flags as the number of languages. Since the flag can only indicate whether or not it can be displayed for each language, one language is set to one bit. Since even a minority language having a relatively small number of users indicates the presence or absence of decode capability, the bit structure in this figure requires a register area of 430 bits or more in 430 languages x 1 bit.

Since the decode capability flag corresponds to each of the 430 languages, the presence or absence of the decode capability of the text subtitle of the language corresponding to the textST_language_code can be determined by referring to the one corresponding to the textST_language_code described in STN_Table among these decode capability flags.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating correspondence between a decode capability flag and textST_language_code in PSR48 to 61; FIG. Each decode capability flag in PSR48-61 is identified by PSR number p and bit position q. Also, the language attribute of the text subtitle stream is expressed by textST_language_code. By converting this textST_language_code into PSR number p and bit position q in PSRs 48 to 61, it is possible to determine whether or not there is a decoding capability for the text subtitle stream.

Fig. 18 shows the contents of PSR53 among PSR48 to 61; The PSR53 includes a total of 32 decode capability flags. The three byte code "jpn", "jav", and "ita" is textST_language_code. It can be seen that a total of 32 decode capability flags appearing in these textST_language_code exist in the PSR53. 19 is a diagram illustrating semantic content of textST_language_code. Combining the semantic content in this figure, the three byte code "ita" represents Italian, and the three byte code "jpn" represents Japanese. You can see that the three bytes of code "jav" represent Javanese language. Since the remaining PSRs also indicate the presence or absence of a decode capability flag by one bit, a total of 430 decode capability flags appear in PSR48 to 61. The above is the characteristic part of the PSR set in this embodiment. Next, the feature portion of the stream selector 17 will be described.

<Description of the stream selector 17>

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a feature portion of the stream selector 17 in the first embodiment. The characteristic of the stream selector 17 is that the bit allocation table 19 and the procedure execution unit 20 exist in the stream selector 17.

Feature 1. Bit Allocation Table (19)

The allocation table 19 shows the allocation of a 3-byte code string representing textST_language_code, a PSR number in PSR48 to 61, and a bit position. 21 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between a PSR number and a bit position and textST_language_code in PSR48 to 61; According to this figure, it can be seen that the three-byte code "jpn" in textST_language_code corresponds to the PSR number "53" and the bit number "b8".

It can be seen that the three-byte code called "jav" corresponds to the PSR number "53" and the bit number "b7".

It can be seen that the three-byte code "ita" corresponds to the PSR number "53" and the bit number "b9".

Since this correspondence is memorized, the PSR number and bit position in PSR48 to 61 can be derived from the textST_language_code described in STN_Table, and the textST_language_code is entered by referring to the setting value of the 1-bit value that appears in the PSR number and bit position. It is possible to determine the presence or absence of the decoding capability of the language to appear. That is the details of the allocation table.

Feature 2. Procedure Execution Unit 20

The procedure execution unit 20 executes a predetermined sequence when a switch from one PlayItem information to another PlayItem information occurs, or when an operation of switching a stream number is performed by a user, and executes a predetermined sequence to give a new stream number to the PSR2. Record it. Since the stream selector 17 selects the PG stream or the text subtitle stream according to the stream number recorded in the PSR2, either of the PG stream or the text subtitle stream is reproduced through the setting of the PSR2. Here, the procedure executed for setting the PSR2 when the PlayItem information is changed is called "Procedure when playback condition is changed", and the order executed for setting the PSR2 at the time of the user operation is called "Procedure when change is requested".

The execution of the sequence at the time of switching the PlayItem information is because the STN_Table exists for each PlayItem information, so that a text subtitle stream that can be played back in some PlayItem information may sometimes become impossible to play in other PlayItem information.

Further, the execution of the sequence during the user operation is because the stream number stored in the PSR2 by the user operation is not always justified, and recovery is required when an illegal stream number is to be recorded.

`` Procedure when playback condition is changed '' and `` Procedure when change is requested '' determine whether each of the PG streams and the text subtitle streams satisfy the conditions of (a) and (b). Priority is given to PG streams and text subtitle streams. The stream number of the higher priority is recorded in the PSR2.

Details of the procedure execution unit 20.

<Procedure when playback condition is changed>

The procedure of procedure when playback condition is changed is as shown in FIG. This processing procedure is to set PSR2 by a combination of two determination steps, Step S1 and Step S2.

Step S1 determines whether the number of entries in the STN_table is 0. If 0, the value of PSR2 is maintained in step S3.

In step S2, when the number of entries in STN_table is not 0, it is determined whether the number of entries of STN_table is larger than that of PSR2, and condition (A) is true. Condition (A) is that the playback apparatus has the ability to decode the text subtitle stream specified in PSR2. If step S2 is Yes, PSR2 is held (step S4). If the value of PSR2 is larger than the number of entries or does not satisfy condition (A), a valid value is reset to PSR2 in step S5.

Details of the procedure execution unit 20.

<Procedure when change is requested>

Next, the procedure when change is requested is described. Fig. 23 is a flowchart showing the setting procedure at the time of stream change. The difference between this flowchart and FIG. 22 is that the notation of PRS2 in FIG. 22 is replaced with X. FIG. This X is a value based on the user operation information output from the operation accepting unit 3 or the button command in the IG stream.

In step S19 of this flowchart, it is determined whether the number of entries of STN_table is larger than that of X, and condition (A) is true. Condition (A) is that the playback apparatus has the capability of decoding the PG stream and the text subtitle stream specified in PSR2. If X satisfies this condition, X is set in PSR2 (step S21).

If X is larger than the number of entries or does not satisfy condition (A), it is determined whether X is an invalid value (0xFFFF) (step S22). If it is 0xFFFF, the numbers of the PG stream and the text subtitle stream which the user intends to select are considered invalid, so that the value X based on the user's operation is ignored and the set value of PSR2 is maintained (step S24).

If the setting value of PSR2 is not 0xFFFF, the value X is set to PSR2 (step S23).

Details of the procedure execution unit 20.

<Setting procedure for setting any valid value to PSR2>

Details of the processing of step S5 and step S23 in the above-described flowchart are as shown in FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the setting procedure of PSR2.

Steps S31 and S32 of this flowchart are loop processing in which the processing of steps S33 to S35 is repeated for each of the PG_textST_streams described in STN_table. PG_textST_stream to be processed in this loop processing is set to PG_textST_streami. Step S33 is a judgment as to whether the stream_coding_type of PG_textST_streami is 0x91 or 0x92. If it is 0x91, the process proceeds to step S34.

Step S34 is a judgment as to whether or not PG_streami satisfies the following (a) (b).

(a) the ability to decode PG stream i is present in the playback device;

(b) The language attribute of the PG stream i shall match the language setting of the playback device.

The condition of this (b) consists of determining whether PG_language_code in STN_table matches PSR17.

On the other hand, step S35 is a judgment as to whether or not textST_streami satisfies (a) (b).

(a) the ability to decode the text subtitle stream i shall be present in the playback device.

(b) The language attribute of the text subtitle stream i shall match the language setting of the playback device.

The determination as to whether the condition of (a) is satisfied is made as to whether or not the corresponding bit in PSR48 to 61 indicates "decode capable". It is determined whether the textST_language_code of STN_table matches the setting value of PSR17 whether the condition of (b) is satisfied.

When the processes of the above steps S33 to S35 are repeated for all the PG_textST_streams, the processes of steps S36 to S41 are executed.

Step S36 is a judgment as to whether or not a PGstream satisfying (a) exists. If not present, an invalid value (0xFFFF) is set in the PSR2 (step S38).

Step S37 is a judgment as to whether or not there is a PG_textST_stream that satisfies both (a) and (b), and if present, sets to PSR2 the highest entry order in STN_table among the PG_textST_streams that satisfies (a) (b). (Step S39).

In step S41, the PSR2 sets the highest entry rank in STN_table among the PGstream satisfying only (a) and the textST_stream satisfying only (a). The processing of this flowchart will be described below with specific examples.

The presence or absence of the decoding capability of each text subtitle stream is determined based on the flowchart of FIG. Fig. 25 is a flowchart showing the determination procedure when determining the presence or absence of the decoding capability of a text subtitle stream. This flowchart obtains the textST_language_code of the target text subtitle stream from the STN_Table (step S11), and specifies the PSR number p and the bit position q corresponding to the textST_language_code of the text subtitle stream by referring to the allocation table (step S12). Then, it is determined whether the q bit of PSRp is "1" or "0" (step S13). If the q bit of PSRp is "1", it is assumed that the target text subtitle stream satisfies condition (a). Step S14). On the other hand, if the q bit of the PSRp is "0", the target text subtitle stream does not satisfy the condition (a) (step S15).

Details of the procedure execution unit 20.

<Specific example of PSR2 setting>

The playback apparatus assumed in this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 26 (a), has a capability of decoding text subtitle streams in Japanese and Chinese, but does not have the capability to decode French and Italian. to be. It is assumed that the language setting in PSR17 is made to represent Chinese.

For such a playback device, it is assumed that STN_table as shown in Fig. 26B is loaded. This STN_table describes the entries (textST_stream 1, 2, 3, 4) of the text subtitle streams in Japanese, French, Chinese, and Arabic.

If the STN_table in the description is the object of processing, it is checked in step S34 and step S35 whether each PG_textST_stream has the condition (a) and the condition (b) as shown in Fig. 26 (c). Here, Japanese text subtitle streams satisfy only condition (a) of the three conditions. The Chinese text subtitle stream satisfies the conditions (a) and (b).

Since the provision of the conditions for each stream has been clarified, the highest priority is given to the Chinese text subtitle streams satisfying both the conditions (a) to (b). As a result, the Chinese text subtitle stream is selected.

Details of the procedure execution unit 20 4.

<Specific example of PSR2 setting>

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 27, selection of the text subtitle stream by the order of entry in STN_table is demonstrated. The reproducing apparatus assumed here is a reproducing apparatus having decode capability of Japanese and Chinese as in Fig. 26A. The language setting in PSR17 is made to indicate Korean.

For such a playback device, it is assumed that STN_table as shown in Fig. 27B is loaded. This STN_table describes the entry (textST_stream 1, 2, 3, 4) of the text subtitle stream in Japanese to Arabic.

If the STN_table in the description is the object of processing, it is checked in step S34 and step S35 whether each PG_textST_stream has the condition (a) and the condition (b) as shown in Fig. 27 (c). Here, the Japanese text subtitle stream satisfies only condition (a) of the three conditions. Text subtitle streams in Chinese also satisfy only condition (a).

Here, when there are a plurality of text subtitle streams satisfying only condition (a), the rank in each stream is determined according to the rank of the entry in STN_table. In the STN_table, the Japanese rank is the highest, so the Japanese text subtitle stream is selected. This is the description of the procedure execution unit 20. Next, the processing procedure by the control part 15 is demonstrated.

Feature 3. Processing procedure by the controller 15

28 is a flowchart showing the playback procedure by the controller 15. FIG. This flowchart executes the loop processing of steps S133 to S142 with PlayItem information i of the head PlayItem information in the PlayList information. The control variable in the loop processing of steps S133 to S142 is variable i, and the process of executing the processing of steps S133 to S140 and then increasing the control variable i exceeds the number of PlayItems (Number Of PlayItem). It executes until it does so (step S141).

The process of this step S133-step S140 is demonstrated. These processes use the AVClip described in the Clip_information_file_name of the PlayItem information i as the AVClipj (step S133) to be the object of reproduction. Step S134 is execution of Procedure when Playback Control is changed, and then instructs the drive apparatus and the decoder to play back the portion from PlayItem.In_time to PlayItem.Out_time (step S135).

Step S136 is a judgment as to whether or not a SubPlayItemk having PlayItem information i specified in Sync_PlayItem_id exists. If it does not exist, the flow proceeds directly to Step S141.

If present, the AVClip described in Clip_information_file_name of SubPlayItemk is set to AVCliph (step S138). The drive device and decoder are instructed to play from Sync_Start_PTS_of_PlayItem to Out_time of the AVCliph, and the process proceeds to step S141 (step S140).

The above process is repeated for all PlayItem information constituting the PlayList information, so that the AVClip defined by the PlayList information is reproduced. Whenever one PlayItem information is played in this loop process, Procedure when Playback Control is changed is executed by the procedure execution unit 20, and the execution of the procedure execution unit 20 causes the PG stream and text subtitles to be executed. One of the streams will be selected. If the thus selected stream is a text subtitle stream and is designated by SubPath information, the text subtitle stream is reproduced in the order of steps S136 to S140.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the presence or absence of the ability to display text subtitles is displayed for each language in the PSR48 to 61, when the user desires to display the text subtitles in a certain language, the text subtitles in that language are displayed. The presence or absence of the possibility of display can be immediately determined by referring to the setting value of each bit in the register set.

Since it is possible to determine whether or not the display of text subtitles is possible in any language only by referring to the setting value of each bit, even if the type of the text subtitles covers several hundred languages, the possibility of displaying the subtitles in the desired language can be determined. It can be determined immediately.

(Second embodiment)

In the second embodiment, the internal configuration of the text subtitle stream and the TextST decoder 12 will be described in more detail. 29 shows the internal structure of a text subtitle stream. The first row of this figure shows the time axis of SubPlayItem information, and the second row shows EP_map. The third column shows the text subtitle stream. The internal structure of the text subtitle stream in the third stage will be described.

The text subtitle stream is composed of " style information " and a plurality of &quot; display information &quot; There is only one style information at the beginning of the text subtitle stream. The style information includes a style ID that is its own identifier, a font ID representing font data used for development into a bitmap, a font size for deployment into a bitmap, and a display in the PG plane 8. It consists of a &quot; display position &quot; indicating the horizontal position and the vertical position of the region, and the text subtitle stream is managed in a "style" by combining these pieces of information. In addition, a plurality of styles may be defined in the style information (two in FIG. 29).

The font size is described in the style information to declare the minimum font buffer size. In other words, the font set requires preloading, so that the font data that must be read must be explicitly specified before stream playback.

The display information is the display start time of the subtitle, the display end time of the subtitle, the text code column that is the code column representing the subtitle, and the reference value of the style ID that uniquely identifies the display position where the subtitle should be displayed. It is done. EP_map corresponding to the text caption designates each display information constituting the text caption as an entry position. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 28, when the text subtitle stream is reproduced therein, the TextST decoder 12 reproduces one of the plurality of display information corresponding to SubPlayItem_In_time and SubPlayItem_Out_time of the SubPlayItem information. That is the description of the style information and the display information.

30A is a diagram illustrating an example of setting style information and display information. In this setting example, the style information # 1 is set to represent the coordinates (x1, y1) in the presentation graphics plane 8.

The three pieces of display information in Fig. 30A designate the display area of the subtitle defined in the style information. The display start times in each display information are set to t1, t2 and t3, respectively, and the text strings in each display information are set to "Actually", "I lied to you", and "Sorry". By such setting, the subtitles in the display information are changed in order as the reproduction time of the moving picture is advanced.

It is assumed that synchronization between the text subtitle stream including the display information in FIG. 30A and the AVClip on the BD-ROM is defined in the PlayList information on the local storage 32. By doing so, a text string is placed on the presentation graphics plane 8 based on the display position and the display start time of the display information, so that the composite image as shown in Fig. 30 (b) is reproduced.

The above is the internal structure of the text subtitle stream in the present embodiment.

Next, the EP_map will be described. EP_map in the second column of FIG. 29 indicates the entry position of the display information in the text subtitle stream in correspondence with the entry time in the SubPlayItem information time axis. By indicating this correspondence, the address of the display information in the text subtitle can be derived at an arbitrary position on the SubPlayItem information time axis.

This concludes the description of the text subtitle stream.

Next, the reproduction of the text subtitle stream using the SubPlayItem information will be described. As shown in Fig. 29, since the correspondence relationship between the entry time and the entry position is made by EP_map, the address of the display information corresponding to In_time is obtained by converting In_time and Out_time of SubPlayItem information into the entry position of the text subtitle stream. Can be.

FIG. 31 is a detailed flowchart of step S140 of FIG. 28, showing a reproduction process of a text subtitle stream.

In step S148, the In_time of SubPlayItem # y is converted into the relative address? Of the display information in the text subtitle stream using the EP_map of the current clip information. On the other hand, in Step S149, Out_time of SubPlayItem # y is converted into the relative address β of the display information in the text caption stream using the EP_map of the current clip information. The next address of the address β obtained by these conversions is obtained, one of the addresses is set to the address γ (step S151), and the address α to the address γ in the text subtitle stream using the calculated address γ is thus obtained. The part is put into a TS decoder (step S152). With this flowchart, the text subtitle stream can be reproduced based on the SubPlayItem information by converting In_time in the SubPlayItem information to the entry position in the text subtitle stream.

By this process, both the reproduction of the MainPath and the reproduction of the SubPath are reproduced, so that a composite image composed of a moving image and a subtitle is displayed.

Next, the internal structure of the TextST decoder 12 in the present embodiment will be described.

32 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the TextST decoder 12. As shown in the figure, the TextST decoder 12 includes a font rendering unit 21, an expansion buffer 22, and a controller 23.

The font rendering unit 21 expands the code string of the display information stored in the text code buffer 10 into a bitmap. In this development, the style ID in the display information is extracted, the font data corresponding to the style ID is extracted from the buffer, and the font data is used.

The expansion buffer 22 stores the bitmap developed by the font rendering unit 21.

The process of reading the code string constituting the text subtitle stream and the font data necessary for the expansion of this code string into the buffer is referred to as "preload". When a plurality of streams can be read in the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11, the priority to be read out is determined by the rank in STN_table or the like described in the first embodiment. If the high priority stream reads the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 so that they can be read, the types of streams that can be switched without generating seek during reproduction increase.

The controller 23 records the bitmap stored in the expansion buffer 22 in the PG plane 8 according to the display time and display position in the display information.

When the font rendering unit 21 expands to a bitmap, control is performed to support language characteristics of a language corresponding to the text subtitle stream. Supporting language features include horizontal writing, vertical writing, kerning, prohibition of line breaks after certain characters, right-to-left descriptions, and double letter / logotype. have.

Here, kerning refers to a function that narrows the letters according to the shape of the letters to make them look good. The line ending rule refers to a function that prohibits the end of a line from a "." At the beginning of a line according to the layout of the font.

The above is a diagram showing the internal structure of the TsxtST decoder 12. Although the subtitles are not represented in the graphic format, the technical problems newly generated when the subtitles are represented in the code string will be described.

<Technical Challenges Representing Code Columns>

In the case of subtitles expressed in graphics, it is simple to maintain the same appearance in any playback device. If the subtitle is represented by a character code, converting the character code, called a font generator or renderer, into a bitmap and displaying it on the screen, as shown in the internal configuration of FIG. Module (font rendering unit 21) is needed. In addition, the font generator may have different shapes and supported languages depending on the device.

This is because, in the case of subtitles expressed in graphics, the shape is determined at the time of editing, whereas the shape of the subtitles when the subtitles are expressed in character code depends on the performance of the font generator of the playback apparatus.

A slight difference in the shape of characters is present in the HTML browser that browses the current web page, so it is not a big problem, but the difference according to the language characteristics as described below is very large.

Fig. 33 (a) is a diagram explaining a layout difference due to the language characteristics of Japanese. "Shape of the parenthesis" in FIG. 33A shows that the parentheses are different from each other by 90 degrees in the horizontal writing and the vertical writing. "Character position" indicates that a small character such as "ゃ" needs to be delicately adjusted in the horizontal and vertical writing positions. "Shape of a long sound" indicates changing the shape of a character itself in horizontal writing and vertical writing. Fig. 33 (b) shows the layout of the language characteristics of Arabic. As shown in Fig. 33 (b), it can be seen that in Arabic, characters flow from right to left.

The font generator must generate such special characters and languages, but it is not necessary to provide corresponding font information, but it is necessary to support them as a description function when the font rendering unit 21 depicts a bitmap. . Since support of these is required, it is desirable to have decode capability as long as all the support is satisfied in consideration of quality assurance.

In addition, since BD-ROM playback apparatuses sold in Europe and the United States rarely display Japanese or Arabic subtitles, a font generator is not necessary to properly display these characters. It is not preferable that each player does not need to support all languages, and there is an extra cost to support them. Or, if all playback devices must support the proper display of all languages, depending on the country of manufacture, there is no knowledge of all the target languages, and it is impossible to know how to manufacture a font generator. It is also undesirable to be unable to produce. On the other hand, in order to increase the added value of the product, the more languages that can be displayed, the better.

Thus, as shown in Fig. 34, in this embodiment, the settings for PSR48 to 61 are made so as to convey which language can be properly displayed to an application for text subtitle stream control.

Fig. 34 is a diagram showing the criterion for setting decode capability of three languages, Japanese, English and Arabic.

The table above shows the ability to render character fonts in English, Japanese, and Arabic, and the table below shows the ability to support language features in English, Japanese, and Arabic.

Referring to the table below, the English subtitle display is supported by the language features such as "horizontal writing", "kerning", and "ligature logo" when recording a bitmap on the PG plane (8). It can be judged that the language characteristics are supported (1).

Japanese subtitles display language features only when the bitmap is recorded on the PG plane (8) by supporting functions such as "horizontal writing", "vertical writing", "hanging rules" and "characters in smaller size". It can be determined that it is supported (language support → 1).

Subtitle display in Arabic can be judged that the language feature is supported only when the bitmap is recorded on the PG plane 8 by supporting functions such as "right to left description" and "ligature logo". Support → 1).

These functions are based on the premise of the function (rendering) of expanding the code string into a bitmap. In this embodiment, the rendering ability and the support ability of the language characteristics are satisfied, so that the decoding corresponding to Japanese, English, and Arabic in the PSR48 to 61 is satisfied. It is specified to set the capability flag to "1".

When commercializing the playback apparatus, the manufacturer's technician checks which of the plurality of items the TsxtST decoder 12 has and which is not provided. PSR48 to 61 are set subject to the rendering capability and support capability. By doing so, it becomes appropriate to determine whether or not the procedure execution unit 20 can decode the text subtitle stream, so that the text subtitle display in each language can be expected to be appropriate.

In addition, PSRs 48 to 61 indicate whether or not the language has decode capability, but does it support language characteristics by functions (horizontal writing, vertical writing, kerning, line ending rules, ligatures, logos, etc.) that need to be supported, not by language? May be indicated. With this structure, it is not necessary to use as many register areas as the number of languages if the function for each language is determined in advance. In this case, the flag may be turned ON when supporting each function, and the flag may be turned OFF when not supporting each function. In this case, a corresponding table as shown in Fig. 34 is required in the playback apparatus. However, since the corresponding table can be included in a program rather than as a register, there is a possibility that the corresponding table can be updated even if the language is increased.

As the attribute information of the text subtitle stream, as described above, not the language attribute, that is, the information such as Japanese or English, but the clip information may indicate which function is required for display.

(Third embodiment)

In the first embodiment, the presence or absence of the display time of each language is determined by referring only to the setting values of the decode capability flags shown in PSR48 to 61, but the present embodiment is an embodiment in which the type of language that enables caption display is enlarged.

If the target language is not supported by the playback apparatus, the font data is supplied by disk or download, so that the layout and the like may be strange, but may not be readable. Therefore, it is also possible to display a language which is not supported by the state of the playback apparatus or the user's setting. If the language that is not supported is inappropriately displayed and is difficult, the display will be avoided.

Here, the possibility of caption display in a language (un-support language) without support of the language characteristic will be described. 35A and 35B illustrate Japanese subtitles in which vertical writing items are fully supported, and Japanese subtitles incomplete support of vertical writing items. It is difficult for a manufacturer who manufactures a playback device to be dissatisfied with a product, such as not being able to read a character by displaying a non-supported language. In such circumstances, such indications may be prohibited.

By the way, even if it does not support proper display of Japanese, as shown in FIG. 35 (b), if there is a possibility that it can be read somehow, Japanese is not spoken by voice, and voice or subtitles of other languages cannot be understood, Although somewhat difficult to read, the user may wish to display it. The manufacturer of the playback apparatus is basically prohibited, but if the playback apparatus can realize a setting that permits the display if the user desires, the type of language capable of displaying subtitles is greatly increased, thereby improving convenience for the user. Incidentally, the term "user" referred to herein refers to a so-called end user (end consumer), but may be a manufacturer's engineer, and means "operator overall."

As mentioned above, a manufacturer paying close attention to quality assurance wants to prohibit the display of subtitles as shown in FIG. 35 (b). However, depending on the user, even if the display as shown in FIG. In some cases, subtitle display in such a state may be desired.

In order to achieve a balance between such a manufacturer's request and a user's request, improvements have been made in the present embodiment as described below. In order to realize the selection of the non-supported language, the playback apparatus in this embodiment has an internal configuration as shown in FIG. The improvement point in this figure is as follows.

Iii) There should be a permission flag indicating whether to allow the selection of non-supported languages in b23 to b16 of PSR30.

Ii) In the reserved area of the PSR, it shall be indicated whether each language belonging to a specific language is a non-supporting language.

Iii) The procedure execution unit 20 executes selection of non-supported languages according to b23 to b16 of PSR30.

Iii) Self test unit 31 and setup unit 32 will be present in control unit 15.

Improvement point 1. b23 ~ b16 of PSR30

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing bit allocation of b23 to b16 of the PSR30 in the third embodiment. FIG. In this figure, whether or not to allow user selection of a language not supported by b23 to b16 of the PSR30 is shown.

That is, when b23 to b16 of the PSR30 are "00000000 (= OFF)", a language not supported is not displayed even if the user selects it. You may not even be able to choose from the beginning. If b23 to b16 of the PSR30 is " 10000000 (= ON) ", this may not be an appropriate display, but indicates that the user can select and display a text subtitle stream on the screen. The above is an improvement on b23 to b16 of the PSR30.

Next, improvement in the reserved area will be described.

Improvement point 2. Reserved area

38 shows the bit structure in the reserved area of the PSR. This reserved area indicates whether each language belonging to a specific language, such as a Chinese character right, is a non-supported language. Each bit in this reserved area corresponds to each language belonging to a specific language zone, and if this bit is "1", it indicates that the language is a non-supported language. If "0", the language has no corresponding rendering capability on the playback apparatus side. Indicates a language (un-renderable language). By setting these bits, it is determined whether or not the language is a non-supported language for a language belonging to a specific language. In addition, assignment of which language each bit in the reserved area corresponds to is made using an allocation table as shown in FIG. The above is an improvement on PSR. Next, the improvement of the self test part 31 is demonstrated.

Improvement point 3. Self test part (31)

The self-test unit 31 allows a technician of a manufacturer to perform a test regarding rendering ability and language characteristics support at the time of factory shipment, and sets any one of PSR48 to 61 according to the test result. Here, the setup unit 32 holds various test patterns, and supplies them to the TsxtST decoder 12 to execute test display for support of language characteristics in subtitle display, and to display test results on the display. If there is rendering capability but no supporting capability, the language is registered as a non-supporting language according to the manufacturer's engineer's operation. If there is neither rendering capability nor support capability, the language is registered as an unrendering language according to the operation of the manufacturer's technician.

Improvement point 4. Setup part (32)

The setup unit 32 displays the setup menu according to the operation of the remote controller 300 by the user, and rewrites the setting values of b23 to b16 of the PSR30. Fig. 39 (a) shows a setup menu. As shown in the drawing, the setting items received by the setup menu include five items, namely, "country / region", "menu language", "speech language", "subtitle language", and "expandable display language". There is an item. The feature of the setup section 32 is that the user accepts the specification of whether or not to expand the displayable language.

Fig. 39B shows a menu displayed when the user intends to expand the type of language. The menu in this drawing shows a list of non-supported languages (Italian, Spanish, Russian ……) in the drawing, a warning Wn1 when displaying the text subtitle stream of this non-supported language, and whether to expand the language type. Includes buttons bn1 and bn2 to accept the selection.

This warning Wn1 warns the user that a part of the subtitle display is abnormal when displaying subtitles of non-supported languages. The above-described buttons bn1 and bn2 accept whether or not to extend the language type regardless of this warning. The above is the improvement point of each component in a present Example. Next, the procedure by the procedure execution part 20, the self-test part 31, and the setup part 32 is demonstrated, referring the flowchart of FIG.

40 is a flowchart showing a determination procedure of a text subtitle stream in the third embodiment. This flowchart has the structure which added step S16 and step S17 with respect to the flowchart of FIG.

This step S16 determines whether the target text subtitle stream is a non-supported language. Step S17 determines whether b23 to b16 of the PSR30 are 1000 0000b. If Step S16 is Yes and Step S17 is Yes, the condition (a) is satisfied even if the text subtitle stream is a non-supported language. On the other hand, if either of step S16 and step S17 is No, it is determined that condition (a) is not satisfied.

41 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the self test unit 31. This flowchart is a loop process in which the processing of steps S42 to S48 is repeated for each of the 430 languages represented by textST_language_code. If the language to be subjected to the loop processing is language u, step S42 is to convert the language into the PSR number and bit position of textST_language_code.

Step S43 is a judgment as to whether or not the language font is capable of rendering, and if it is determined that there is no rendering capability, the q-bit of the PSRp is set to 0 (step S48).

Step S44 is a judgment as to whether or not there is an ability to support language characteristics. If it is determined that the q bit of PSRp is set to 1 (step S45). If not, the language u is registered as a non-supported language (step S47), and the q-bit of PSRp is set to 0 (step S48).

When the above process is executed for all languages, the process of step S49 and step S50 is performed. Step S49 is a step of asking the user whether or not to perform caption display of a non-supported language. If a subtitle display of a non-supported language is to be executed, step S50 is executed. Step S50 is a process of setting b23 to b16 of the PSR30 to 10000000. If no subtitle display of a non-supported language is to be executed, step S50 is skipped. The above is the procedure of the self-test unit 31.

42 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the setup unit 32. The setup unit 32 displays the setup menu (step S51) and determines whether or not a non-supported language exists (step S52). If not present, the process proceeds to step S54, but if present, a setting item for accepting the "extension of the displayable language" is added to the setup menu (step S53), and a wait for selection is made in the setup item of the setup menu (step S53). S54).

When the setting item is selected, it is determined whether the selection item is an extension of the language type (step S55). If different, the corresponding processing procedure is executed so as to set the country / region, menu language, audio language, and subtitle language (these processing sequences are not the core of the present invention, and thus description is omitted).

If the language type is extended, the menu shown in Fig. 39 is displayed (step S56), and operation wait from the user is made (steps S57 and S58). When the navigation key is pressed (yes in step S57), the focus on the setup menu is performed (step S57). S59). If the end operation is made (Yes in step S58), it is determined whether the focus exists on the button intended to be expanded (step S60), and if not present, the process is terminated as it is. If present, b23 to b16 of PSR30 are set to 10000000 (step S61), and the processing of this flowchart is finished.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the manufacturer sets a flag (b23 to b16 of PSR30) for allowing selection even in a language that is not supported, thereby switching whether or not to select the non-supported language to the stream selection unit 17. can do. With the setting of the flag, it is possible to decide whether or not to select a non-supported language, so that the manufacturer of the playback device prohibits the selection of a non-supported language for the sake of strict quality assurance, or selects a non-supported language at the user's own responsibility. It is easy to change the setting to permit or change.

This allows the user to display text subtitles in a language in which the problem is likely to occur while noticing that a problem occurs in the subtitle display. Subtitles in non-supported languages are displayed at the user's own risk, so that the user and manufacturer can be harmonized.

In addition, flags (b23 to b16 of PSR30) for allowing selection even in languages not supported may be recorded in the clip information together with the text subtitle stream. In addition, when recorded on both the playback apparatus and the disc, a logical OR may be taken or a logical AND may be processed.

(Fourth embodiment)

In the third embodiment, when the user desires to display the subtitles of the non-supported language, the processing is performed to determine that the non-supported language is capable of decoding. In the present embodiment, the user desires to display the subtitles of the non-supported language. Is an embodiment in which the decode capability corresponding to the non-supported language in PSR48 to 61 is set to " with decode capability ".

Fig. 43 (a) and (b) are diagrams showing the comparison of the setting of the decode capability in the case where the user does not want the display of the non-supported language and the desired case. In Fig. 43 (a), it is understood that the decoding capability is "0" for a language having rendering capability = "1" and support capability = "0".

However, in FIG. 43 (b), when the user desires subtitle display of a non-supported language, the decoding capability for a language having the rendering capability = "1" and the support capability = "0" changes to "1". It can be seen that. In this embodiment, the update processing is performed so that the decoding capability for the language having rendering capability = "1" and support capability = "0" is changed to "1".

Improvements for realizing this update process exist in the setup section 32.

44 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the setup unit 32 according to the fourth embodiment. This flowchart is created based on the flowchart of FIG. The difference with the flowchart of FIG. 42 is that step S63 exists instead of step S61. This step S63 is a step executed when it is determined that the focus is on the button intended to expand the language type (Yes in step S60), and the decode capability flag indicating the decode capability of all languages corresponding to the non-supported language is " Is set to 1 ". When the user wishes to expand the language type by the execution of this step S63, the decoding capability flag corresponding to those languages is set to "1" uniformly.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the decoding capability flag corresponding to the unsupported languages in PSR48 to 61 is set to "1" at the user's request, the setting procedure when setting PSR2 is simplified.

(Fifth Embodiment)

The fifth embodiment is an embodiment relating to interruption of playback. The reproduction interruption here is a reproduction interruption caused by an attempt to read a text subtitle stream which is not preloaded when the AVClip is played back into the buffer from the BD-ROM. This interruption results from the user trying to select a text subtitle stream that was described in STN_Table and that could not be preloaded.

In the case where a plurality of streams designated by SubPath information exist, only some of the streams may be read into the buffer due to the capacity of the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11. If you try to switch to a stream that is not preloaded, you will need to perform a disc seek for the BD-ROM to read the data.

45 shows the switching state of the text subtitle stream when the capacity of the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 is only the capacity corresponding to three languages.

In this figure, playback of MainPath is started after preloading text subtitle streams of Japanese, French and Chinese corresponding to three languages. On the basis of STN_Table shown in FIG. 10, when the loader 13 executes preload, the loader 13 performs preload as shown in FIG. 45. 45 is a diagram illustrating preloading into the buffer by the loader 13. In other words, the description order of STN_Table in the text subtitle stream is high is sequentially loaded into the buffer, and the preload is completed when the buffer is filled. The lowest ranked text subtitle stream in STN_Table (in this figure, the Arabic text subtitle stream) is not preloaded into the buffer.

Although the text subtitle stream is described in STN_Table in spite of not being preloaded in the buffer, the stream selector 17 selects the non-preloaded text subtitle stream as the playback target as shown in FIG. Can be.

If the text subtitle stream selected by the stream selection unit 17 does not exist in the buffer, the processing of loading it into the memory is performed so that the text subtitle stream is read into the buffer during playback of the AVClip. In this case, the stream selector 17 temporarily stops playback of the AV stream, reads the Arabic text subtitle stream into the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11, and then plays back at the point where playback was stopped. Take the order of Resume.

Fig. 47 is a diagram schematically showing load processing executed by the loader 13 when a user selects a non-preloaded text subtitle stream during AVClip playback.

If the optical pickup attempts to read a non-preloaded text subtitle stream even while the AVClip is accessing the AVClip, the read area includes the recording area of the text subtitle stream in the recording area of the AVClip as shown in Fig. 48 (a). Seek to and from the recording area of the text subtitle stream to the AVClip recording area, so that while the seek is being made, as shown in Fig. 48 (b), the supply of the AVClip to the decoder is stopped and the AVClip is reproduced. An interruption occurs. Consideration is given to not causing playback interruptions for text subtitle streams in some languages, but it is unreasonable to cause such playback interruptions for some languages that could not be preloaded. However, some users have a desire to expand the type of switchable languages rather than interruption of AVClip. Therefore, manufacturers are hesitant to request whether priority is given to eliminating interruption of playback or focusing on expanding language types.

The demand for continuous playback of AVClips, that is, playback of AVClips without interruption, and the need to prioritize switching of streams even when playback of AVClips is interrupted vary depending on various factors. In this regard, a norm on which to give priority is required on the playback apparatus side. This embodiment provides such a norm on the playback apparatus side.

49 shows the internal structure of the playback apparatus according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, improvements of the playback apparatus in this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The improvement points in this embodiment are the following i)-i).

Iii) An improvement to the loader 13 in this drawing is that a preload management table 33 is added.

Ii) An improvement to the PSR set is that the permission flag is added to the reserved area of the PSR.

Iii) The improvement point in the stream selection unit 17 is in addition to the above-described determination criteria of (a) and (b) at the time of determining whether to select each PG stream or text subtitle stream, and the permission flag is turned on. Whether the text subtitle stream is preloaded or not is added.

I) The improvement point in the setup part 32 is the point which sets ON / OFF of a permission flag according to operation from a user.

Hereinafter, each improvement of the playback apparatus in the present embodiment will be described in detail.

Improvement points 1. Preload management table (33)

The preload management table 33 is a table indicating which of the text subtitle streams described in STN_Table are preloaded and which are not preloaded. The loader 13 creates this preload management table based on STN_Table when preloading the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11, and when the text subtitle streams have been preloaded, the text subtitles are finished. Turn on the items in this table corresponding to the stream. Thus, preloading of each text subtitle stream is repeated until the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 are filled. By this process, the preloaded text subtitle stream and the preloaded text subtitle stream are displayed in the preload management table.

Improvements 2. Seamless flag

50 is a diagram illustrating an example of a seamless flag provided in a reserved area of a PSR. The lead line in the figure shows the meaning of the seamless flag. The seamless flag in this figure is provided in the reserved area of the PSR, and is set to " 1 " to indicate that priority reproduction is given priority. That is, this means that the selection of the text subtitle stream that causes the AVClip to stop playing is not allowed. If the seamless flag is valid " 1 (= ON) ", priority is given to uninterrupted playback (seamless playback), so that switching to a stream that is not preloaded is prohibited. If the seamless flag is invalid "0 (= OFF)", seamless playback of the AVClip is not so important, so that all streams registered in the STN_Table can be switched. When switching to a stream that is not preloaded, playback of the AVClip is stopped and the stream is switched. That is the description of the seamless flag.

Improvement Point 3. Stream Selector (17)

The stream selector 17 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the user intends to switch the text captions that cause the AVClip to stop playing based on the setting value in the seamless flag, and to the buffer based on the determination. A selection procedure of whether or not a text subtitle stream to be selected is performed is executed.

As shown in Fig. 51A, the PG stream multiplexed on the AVClip, the preloaded text subtitle stream, and the preloaded text subtitle stream are described in STN_Table. When the seamless flag is set to give priority to seamless playback, the state transition is as shown in Fig. 51 (b). Circles in the diagram schematically show a PG stream on the MainPath side, a text subtitle stream on the PrePath subpath side, and a text subtitle stream on the SubPath side which is not preloaded, respectively. Arrows indicate switching between each stream. When the seamless flag is on, switching from the PG stream to the preloaded text subtitle stream or switching from the preloaded text subtitle stream to the PG stream is enabled. However, if the seamless flag is off, as shown in Fig. 51C, switching from the PG stream to the non-preloaded text subtitle stream or switching from the non-preloaded text subtitle stream to the PG stream becomes impossible. The above is the description of the improvement point in the stream selection unit 17.

Improvement point 4. Setup part (32)

The setup unit 32 displays the setup menu in accordance with the operation of the remote controller 300 by the user as in the third embodiment, and updates the seamless flag in the reserved area of the PSR. FIG. 52A illustrates a setup menu displayed by the self test unit 31 in the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the setting items received by the setup menu include five items such as "country / region", "menu language", "speech language", "subtitle language", and "expandable display language". A feature of the setup section 32 is that the user accepts a specification of whether to expand the displayable language. Herein, "language extension" is different from that described in the first to third embodiments, and means to add text subtitles of languages for which selection is prohibited in order to realize seamless playback.

FIG. 52B shows a menu displayed when the user intends to expand the language type. The menu shown in the figure shows a warning sentence Wn2 indicating that the expansion of the language type can stop the playback of the video, a button bn3 for accepting an operation for ensuring seamless playback, and an operation for giving priority to subtitle switching over seamless playback. Indicates button bn4.

The warning statement Wn2 indicates that the expansion of the language type can interrupt the reproduction of the video, and the above-described buttons bn3 and 4 accept whether or not to expand the language type regardless of this warning. By such display, the user can select whether or not to perform subtitle display at his own risk. As a result, it is possible to harmonize the desire to reproduce the AVClip without interruption and the desire to prioritize switching of the stream even when the reproduction of the AVClip is stopped.

The above is the improvement point of each component in a present Example. Next, the selection procedure by the stream selection unit 17 according to the present embodiment will be described.

Fig. 53 is a flowchart showing the selection procedure by the stream selection unit 17 according to the fifth embodiment. The flowchart is an improvement of Fig. 24. Steps S31 and S32 of this flowchart are loop processing which repeats the processing of steps S33 to S34 and S61 for each of the PG stream and the text subtitle stream described in STN_Table as in FIG. 24. The process of step S33 and step S34 is the same as that of FIG. 24, but the process of step S61 is different from FIG.

Specifically, in step S61, it is determined whether textST_streami satisfies the following (a) (b) (c) (d).

(a) the ability to decode the text subtitle stream i shall be present in the playback device.

(b) The language attribute of the text subtitle stream i shall match the language setting of the playback device.

(c) Is the data necessary for displaying the text subtitle stream i preloaded?

(d) Is seamless playback required?

The determination as to whether the condition (c) is provided is made by referring to the preload management table. The determination as to whether the condition (d) is satisfied is made by referring to the permission flag in the reserved area of the PSR.

When the processes of the above steps S33 to S35 are repeated for all the PG_textST_streams, the processes of steps S62 to S63 and S65 to S68 are executed.

Step S62 is for judging whether seamless playback is requested by the seamless flag, and step S63 is for judging whether there is a displayable PG stream or text subtitle stream that satisfies the condition (c).

If seamless reproduction is not requested by the seamless flag, step S62 becomes No and the same processing as that of FIG. 24 is performed. That is, it is determined whether or not the displayable PG stream and the text subtitle stream exist (step S65). If present, the rank in STN_Table among the PG stream and the text subtitle stream satisfying the condition (a) and the condition (b) is The highest is set in PSR2 (step S67). If not present, an invalid value is set in the PSR2 (step S68).

If seamless playback is requested by the seamless flag (Yes in step S62), and there is a text subtitle stream that satisfies condition (c) (Yes in step S63), condition (a), condition (b) and condition The PSR2 having the highest entry rank among the PG stream and the text subtitle stream satisfying (c) is set (step S66).

If seamless playback is requested by the seamless flag (Yes in step S62), but there is no text subtitle stream that satisfies the condition (c) (No in step S63), an invalid value is set to PSR2 (step S68). ). That is the flowchart of FIG. 53.

FIG. 54 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing in step S66 of FIG. 53.

Step S91 is a judgment as to whether or not there is a PG stream and a text subtitle stream that satisfy all of the conditions (a), (b), and (c). If present, the PG2 having the highest rank in STN_Table among the PG stream and the text subtitle stream satisfying all of the conditions (a), (b) and (c) is set to PSR2 (step S93).

If no PG stream and text subtitle stream satisfy all of the conditions (a), (b) and (c), step S92 is executed. Step S92 is a judgment as to whether or not a PG stream and a text subtitle stream satisfying the conditions (a) and (c) exist. If present, the PSR2 having the highest rank in STN_Table among the PG stream and the text subtitle stream satisfying both the conditions (a) and (c) is set in the PSR2 (step S94).

The above is the procedure of the procedure execution unit 20 in the present embodiment. Next, the setting of the seamless flag by the setup unit 32 will be described. 55 is a flowchart showing a procedure for setting a seamless flag by the setup unit 32.

55 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the setup unit 32. The setup part 32 displays a setup menu (step S71), and performs determination of step S72 and step S73. Step S72 is a judgment as to whether or not the seamless flag is set to ON, and step S73 is a judgment as to whether or not there is a subtitle stream which is described in STN_Table and not preloaded.

If both of step S72 and step S73 are Yes, a selection item for accepting an operation for extending the language type is added to the setup menu. If either of step S72 and step S73 is No, step S74 is skipped.

Subsequently, wait for selection in the setting item of a setup menu (step S75). When the setting item is selected, it is determined whether the selection item is an extension of the language type (step S76). If different, a corresponding processing procedure is performed to set the country / region, menu language, audio language, and subtitle language (these processing procedures are not the core of the present invention, and thus description thereof is omitted).

  When the user selects the extension of the language type, the menu of Fig. 52 (b) is displayed and waiting for operation from the user (steps S78 to 79). When the shift key is pressed (Yes in step S78), the focus shift on the setup menu is performed (step S80). If the end operation is made (Yes in step S79), it is determined whether the focus exists on the button intended for "subtitle switching first" (step S81), and if so, the process is terminated as it is. If the focus is on the button intended for subtitle switching priority, the seamless flag in the reserved area is updated to " 0 " (step S82), and the process of this flowchart is finished.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when there is a request for continuous playback of an AVClip, that is, a request to play an AVClip without interruption, and a request to give priority to switching streams even when playback of the AVClip is interrupted, which one is preferred first is seamless. Since it is displayed on a flag, it can harmonize their request.

In the present embodiment, the AVClip on the MainPath side and the text subtitle stream and font data on the SubPath side are also recorded on the BD-ROM. If the subtitle stream has a text subtitle stream recorded on a recording medium which is different from the main path data, for example, on a relatively fast-access recording medium such as a hard disk, and the underflow of the decoder buffer of the AVClip does not occur, Even if the seamless flag is valid and priority is given to seamless playback of the AVClip, switching to a stream that is not preloaded may be allowed.

In addition, even if the stream on the SubPath side is on the optical disk, the access speed of the optical disk is sufficiently fast. Therefore, even if the AVClip decoder buffer underpro does not occur, switching may be permitted even if the stream is not preloaded.

Since the seek during MainPath reproduction occurs because a text subtitle stream constituting SubPath information is recorded on the same BD-ROM as the MainPath, the main path is copied after copying the stream on the SubPath side onto a fast-access recording medium such as a hard disk. May be started. By doing this, it is possible to suppress generation of unnecessary seeks during reproduction.

(Sixth Embodiment)

In the fifth embodiment, the PSR indicates whether priority is given to seamless reproduction of the AVClip or switching of the text subtitle stream, but the present embodiment is provided in the STN_Table. In the STN_Table in this figure, a seamless flag is provided for an attribute in the attribute-PID set. FIG. 56A shows the internal structure of the STN_Table in the sixth embodiment. As shown in the figure, in the STN_Table according to the present embodiment, a seamless flag exists in an attribute among a set of an entry and an attribute corresponding to a text subtitle stream.

56 (b) shows the contents of the seamless flag provided in the STN_Table. The meaning of the seamless flag in this figure is the same as that in FIG. Since the designation of whether to prioritize seamless playback of AVClips or the amount of subtitle-switchable language types is specified by the seamless flag in STN_Table, the editor in charge can predetermine which should be prioritized. In this case, the unit to which the seamless flag should be given may be an attribute of the entire disc, an attribute of a playlist which is a playback unit, or a stream attribute.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the editor in charge of a normal movie work does not want to stop playing the AV stream, the intention can be communicated to the playback apparatus through the setting of STN_Table.

(Seventh embodiment)

In the case of a text subtitle stream, two kinds of preloads are required: the preload of the text subtitle stream itself and the preload of font data.

The text subtitle stream cannot be displayed unless two pieces of data are collected in the preloaded data. Therefore, even if the text subtitle stream is registered in the STN_Table and the text subtitle stream is read in the text code buffer 10, it cannot be displayed unless the font data is read in the font buffer 11, and thus such stream selection is made. Should be prohibited.

However, when the size of the font buffer is the capacity of one font set, only the font data of the font data of ID = 1 can be read, and it is necessary to switch to the font data of the font data of ID = 2 on the way. Must read data into the font buffer. At this time, as described so far, if the AV stream is required to be reproduced without interruption, rereading the font data should be limited.

Font data is required for subtitle display of the text subtitle stream, but when the loading of this font data occurs during AVClip playback, playback of the video stream is stopped.

57 shows an example in which fonts used in the middle of one text subtitle stream are switched. In this figure, subtitles are displayed using font data of ID = 1 until the viewpoint, but after t1, subtitles are realized using font data of ID = 2. If the font data of this ID = 2 is not in the buffer, the loader 13 loads the font data during reproduction of the AVClip. Disc seek to load this font data occurs, resulting in interruption of playback of the video stream.

As described in the second embodiment, the style information in the text subtitle stream records the ID or name of the font and at what point the font is required. However, just describing the style information does not reveal the IDs of these fonts unless the text subtitle stream itself is parsed.

In this embodiment, the ID of the font data required for the clip information is described. Since the ID of the required font is listed in the clip information, the ID of the required font can be checked without analyzing the file in which the text subtitle stream is stored.

Specifically, the BD-ROM is constructed as shown in FIG. 58 shows the internal structure of the recording medium in this embodiment. In the figure, files of 0002 to 0005.m2ts each constitute a text subtitle stream.

In the directory of this figure, files 0002 to 0005.clpi are clip information corresponding to each of AVClip # 2 to # 5. Clip information corresponding to each AVClip (text caption stream) describes an identifier of font data required for reproduction of the text caption stream. For example, the font data of ID = 2 and the font data of ID = 3 of the clip information # 2 have preload of the font data of ID = 2 and the font data of ID = 3 when playing the AVClip corresponding to this clip information. Indicates that it is necessary.

The font data of ID = 1 in clip information # 3 indicates that preloading of font data with ID = 1 is necessary when reproducing the AVClip corresponding to this clip information.

Since the identifiers of all font data necessary for playback are described in the clip information, the loader 13 refers to the clip information when preloading the text subtitle stream so that the buffer data without missing the font data necessary for the reproduction of the text subtitle stream is not buffered. You can read it.

Fig. 59 is a view showing the load processing by the loader 13 in the embodiment. Here, a plurality of font data is recorded in the font directory of the BD-ROM, and the font data of ID = 2, the font data of ID = 3, and the font data of ID = 1 are recorded in the clip information corresponding to each text subtitle stream. If the identifier is described, the loader 13 preloads the font data into the font buffer 11 based on the identifier described in the clip information in this directory. Even when fonts are switched during playback during the playback of Japanese text subtitle streams, if the identifiers of both font data are described in the clip information, they can be loaded into the font buffer 11 without omitting them.

Here, even when font data of ID = 2 is required during playback as shown in FIG. 59, if the font data of ID = 2 is described in the clip information, the loader 13 writes to the font data of ID = 2. Preloading the corresponding text subtitle stream into the buffer prevents interruption during AVClip playback.

Further, all font data may be stored as data included in the playback apparatus. In this case, the characters can be displayed at any time only by the code string, but it is difficult to realize all the font data of various languages in the reproducing apparatus. In addition, on the content creation side, subtitles and the like are displayed in an original font that matches the image of a movie, so including the font in advance is not very effective. Therefore, the idea of including the font data in the playback apparatus is an exception measure when there is no font data.

(Eighth embodiment)

In the above embodiment, necessary font data is described in clip information. In the present embodiment, file management information is provided, and an identifier of the font data is described here.

Fig. 60A shows the directory structure of the recording medium in this embodiment. Four font data exist in the font directory, and file management information and font data ID = 1 to ID = 3 exist in this font directory. Fig. 60 (b) shows the internal structure of file management information. The file management information indicates whether preloading of each of font data ID = 1 to ID = 3 is mandatory or arbitrary. Mandatory fonts are necessary fonts when displaying a text subtitle stream, and arbitrary fonts are fonts that may be required when a user switches between display and font. Essential fonts must always be read into the font buffer 11 before playback of the AV stream.

61 is a diagram illustrating preload based on file management information. Since preloading of ID = 1 font data and ID = 2 font data is mandatory in the file management information, the loader 13 buffers the font data described as essential as shown in FIG. To load. When the required font data is loaded into the buffer, font data described arbitrarily is loaded into the remaining areas of the buffer.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, whether or not preload is mandatory is described in the file management information. When preloading is performed with reference to the file management information, the probability of loading of font data for stopping AVClip playback is reduced. You can.

When the text subtitle stream is analyzed and the required font data is not found or preloaded, and seamless playback is requested and cannot be read, the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 are already present. It may be substituted with the font read in or the font included in the playback apparatus.

(Ninth embodiment)

This embodiment describes a method of excluding a situation such as having to go to read a stream that is not preloaded by improving the stream or management information.

There is a case where there is a blank period in which a subtitle does not exist in the text subtitle stream. In the PlayItem information, specifying such a blank period at IN point and OUT_time does not exist because a part of the target text subtitle stream does not exist, and therefore the editor in charge skips PID registration of the text subtitle stream in STN_Table of the PlayItem information. There is.

However, even in the blank period, if the description of STN_Table in the PlayItem information is omitted, the following problem occurs.

As shown in Fig. 62, a situation is considered in which a plurality of PlayItems are reproduced in succession. Assume that seamless playback is requested at the boundary between PlayItem information # 1 and PlayItem information # 2. Since the Japanese text subtitle stream included in the subpath and to be preloaded has a blank period in PlayItem information # 1, it is not registered in STN_Table. However, this Japanese text subtitle stream is registered in STN_Table for PlayItem information # 2 and PlayItem information # 3, so that the text subtitle stream will be played in the section of PlayItem information # 2 and PlayItem information # 3.

The loader 13 preloads based on STN_Table. Here, the text subtitle stream is preloaded, but the loader 13 preloads the text subtitle stream described in STN_Table of the first PlayItem information (PlayItem information # 1) of the PlayList information. Although necessary during playback, preloading is not performed for text subtitle streams not described in the STN_Table of the first PlayItem information. 63 is a diagram illustrating preload based on STN_Table. In this figure, Japanese is described in STN_Table of PlayItem information # 2 and PlayItem information # 3, but not in PlayItem information # 1. Therefore, the loader 13 may not preload the Japanese text subtitle stream.

When playback of PlayItem information # 2 is started, it is possible to determine that the Japanese text subtitle stream needs to be pre-loaded into the memory, but since PlayItem information # 1 and PlayItem information # 2 require seamless playback, Since playback cannot be interrupted, data cannot be read into the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11. Therefore, the Japanese text subtitle stream which is originally expected to be displayed is no longer displayed.

Therefore, in PlayItems that are played continuously, streams that should be preloaded in all STN_Tables are registered. In PlayItem Information # 1, the Japanese text subtitle stream is not actually displayed, but since it is registered in STN_Table, the target Japanese text subtitle stream is preloaded. When the Japanese text subtitle stream is required by PlayItem information # 2, it is sufficient to display data that is already preloaded. 64 shows an example in which the PID of the STN_Table text subtitle stream of the PlayItem information is described even if a part of the text subtitle stream designated by In_time and Out_time of any PlayItem information is empty. That is, STN_Table of PlayItem information corresponding to the blank period is set to a dummy value. In this way, Japanese is preloaded, and switching to Japanese can be performed without interrupting AVClip playback even if Japanese is selected during AVClip playback.

(Tenth embodiment)

This embodiment relates to the blank period similarly to the above-described embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the blank period is present in the first PlayItem information. However, the present embodiment assumes that a blank period exists in the middle. If the portion specified in the In_time and Out_time of the PlayItem information is a blank period, the PID may not be described in the STN_Table of the PlayItem information.

In FIG. 65, the PID of the PG stream is described in STN_Table of PlayItem information # 1 and # 3, but the PG stream has a blank period in PlayItem information # 2, and the PID of the PG stream is not registered in STN_Table of PlayItem information # 2. It is a figure which shows the case where it is not.

In this case, the stream registered in STN_Table of PlayItem information # 2 becomes only the text subtitle stream to be preloaded, and as shown in FIG. 66, the stream to be preloaded is always selected.

Since the multiplexed PG stream was selected at the time of reproduction of the PlayItem information # 1, the contents of the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 are destroyed during reproduction of the PlayItem information # 1. In such a case, the loader 13 tries to read again even though the text code buffer 10 and the font buffer 11 have already been deleted.

In addition, if seamless playback is requested at the boundary between PlayItem information # 1 and PlayItem information # 2, such a reading cannot be executed, and therefore, even if it is selected, it cannot be displayed.

In order to prevent such a situation, even if there is no stream multiplexed in PlayItem information # 2, as shown in FIG. 67, the PID of the PG stream is registered in the STN_Table as a dummy. By registering the dummy PID in the STN_Table, the PG stream may be selected even in the empty period. However, even if the lyrics are selected, nothing is displayed, and there is no problem in selecting the stream (Fig. 68). In addition, since the stream to be preloaded is necessarily selected, it is possible to prevent the playback from being interrupted because the seek does not occur in the editing step.

(Remarks)

The above description does not explain all the examples of implementations of the present invention. (A) (B) (C) (D) … The present invention can also be carried out by an example of the embodiment in which the change is made. Each invention which concerns on a claim of this application is made into the base material which expanded the generalized description, and the some Example which were described above, and these modified examples. The degree of extension to generalization is based on the characteristics of the technical level at the time of filing of the technical field of the present invention.

(A) In all the embodiments, the recording medium to be reproduced is implemented as a BD-ROM. However, the recording medium of the present invention is characterized by a graphics stream to be recorded, which is dependent on the physical properties of the BD-ROM. no. Any recording medium may be used as long as it is a recording medium capable of recording a graphics stream. For example, optical disks such as DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD + RW, DVD + R, CD-R, CD-RW, magneto-optical disks such as PD, MO, etc. good. In addition, a semiconductor memory card such as a compact flash card, smart media, memory stick, multimedia card, or PCM-CIA card may be used. Flexible Disk, SuperDisk, Zip, Clik! A removable hard disk drive ii, such as a magnetic recording disk, ORB, Jaz, SparQ, SyJet, EZFley, a micro drive, or the like may be used. Moreover, the hard disk of a built-in apparatus may be sufficient.

(B) Although the playback apparatus in all embodiments decodes AVCLip recorded on a BD-ROM and outputs it to the TV, the playback apparatus may be a BD-ROM drive only, and other components may be provided in the TV. In this case, the playback apparatus and the TV can be incorporated in a home network connected by IEEE 1394. The playback apparatus in the embodiment was of a type used in connection with a television, but may be a playback apparatus integrated with a display. In addition, in the playback apparatus of each embodiment, only the system LSI (integrated circuit) constituting an essential part of the process may be implemented. Since both of these reproducing apparatuses and integrated circuits are the inventions described in the present specification, the production of the reproducing apparatus based on the internal structure of the reproducing apparatus described in the first embodiment, in any of these forms, is the invention described in the present specification. It becomes the enforcement act of. The transfer of the reproducing apparatus described in the first embodiment by paid or free (if paid, sold or given in the case of free), rental or import is also the practice of the present invention. The practice of the present playback apparatus is also to invite general users to transfer or rent them through store exhibition, catalog invitation, and pamphlet distribution.

(C) Since the information processing by the program shown in each flowchart is concretely realized by using hardware resources, the program showing the processing procedure in the flowchart constitutes the invention in one piece. Although all the embodiments have described the embodiment of the implementation of the program according to the present invention with the built-in playback device, the program unit described in the first embodiment may be implemented separately from the playback device. The acts of producing a single program include the production of these programs (1), the transfer of the programs (2) for a fee or free of charge, the loan (3), the import (4), and the two-way electronic communication circuit. There is an act of providing to the public through the public (5), a store exhibition, catalog solicitation, and pamphlet distribution (6).

(D) The element of "time" of each step executed in time series in each flowchart is regarded as an essential matter for specifying the invention. In this way, it is understood that the processing procedure by these flowcharts discloses an example of the use of the playback apparatus. If the processing of each step is performed in a time series so that the original object of the present invention can be achieved and the actions and effects can be achieved, the flowchart corresponds to the implementation of the recording method according to the present invention. none.

(E) It is preferable to give an extension header to each PS packet constituting the AVClip when recording to the BD-ROM. The extended header is called TP_extra_header and has a data length of 4 bytes including "Arribal_Time_Stamp" and "copy_permission_indicator". TP_extra_header Sub TS packets (hereinafter, referred to as EX sub TS packets) are grouped in 32 units and recorded in three sectors. The group consisting of 32 EX part TS packets is 6144 bytes (= 32x192), which corresponds to three sector sizes of 6144 bytes (= 2048x3). 32 EX TS packets stored in three sectors are referred to as "Aligned Units".

At the time of use in a home network connected via IEEE 1394, the reproduction apparatus transmits the alignment unit by the following transmission processing. That is, the transmitting device removes the TP_extra_header from each of the 32 EX unit TS packets included in the alignment unit, and encrypts and outputs the TS packet body based on the DTCP standard. At the time of outputting the TX packet, an isochoronous packet is inserted at an appropriate position between the TS packets. This insertion point is based on the time when the Arrival_Time_Stamp of the TP_extra_header is displayed. In accordance with the output of the TS packet, the playback device outputs a DTCP_Descriptor. DTCP_Descriptor represents setting of copy permission in TP_extra_header. If DTCP_Descriptor is described so as to indicate &quot; copy prohibited &quot;, TS packets are not recorded in other devices when used in a home network connected through IEEE1394.

(F) Although the digital stream in each embodiment was an AVClip of the BD-ROM standard, it may be a VOB (Video Object) of the DVD-Video standard or the DVD-Video Recording standard. The VOB is a program stream conforming to the ISO / IEC 13818-1 standard obtained by multiplexing a video stream and an audio stream. The video stream in the AVClip may be MPEG-4 or WMV. The audio stream may be a linear PCM system, an MP3 system, or an MPEG-AAC system.

(G) The movie work in each embodiment may be obtained by encoding an analog video signal broadcasted by analog broadcast. The stream data may be composed of transport streams broadcast by digital broadcasting.

In addition, content may be obtained by encoding analog / digital video signals recorded on a videotape. In addition, content may be obtained by encoding analog / digital video signals obtained directly by a video camera. In addition, it may be a digital work distributed by a distribution server.

(H) The stream selector 17 determines the value (value X) to be set in the PSR based on the user operation information output from the operation acceptor 3 and the button command in the IG stream, and based on this value A process of updating the PSR may be performed. If the user operation information output from the operation accepting section 3 indicates that the audio switching key and the sub video switching key are pressed, the value X is determined by adding 1 to the numerical value of the PSR. If the user operation information output from the operation accepting section 3 indicates that the numeric key is pressed, the pressed value is determined as the value X. On the other hand, if the button command output from the operation accepting section 3 commands the playback apparatus to set the PSR, the value X specified as the argument of the button command is determined as the value X. In this way, when the value X is determined, it is determined whether the value X is a valid value, a negative value, or an invalid value, and the PSR update process according to the determination result is performed. If the value X is valid here, the value X is used to overwrite the PSR. If the value X is negative, the optimal value is selected and set in the PSR. If the value X is invalid, the PSR value is kept.

(I) The setup menu may be displayed, and an "optimization button" may be provided in the menu for setting when receiving the subtitle language setting. The button information corresponding to this button has a button command for setting a negative value in PSR2. When these button commands are executed with the confirmation of the optimize button, the negative values of PSR1 and PSR2 are set, and the procedure when playback condition is changed is invoked to select the optimal audio stream, PG_textST_stream.

(J) Although the conditions to be satisfied in the first embodiment were two of (a) and (b), three or more may be sufficient.

The reproducing apparatus according to the present invention has an internal configuration disclosed in the above embodiment, and can be mass-produced based on this internal configuration, so that the reproducing apparatus can be industrially used in quality. From this point of view, the reproducing apparatus according to the present invention has industrial applicability.

Claims (7)

Detecting a combination of conditions satisfied by each of the plurality of text subtitle streams recorded on the recording medium, selecting one of the plurality of text subtitle streams according to the combination of the satisfied conditions, and selecting the selected text. A playback device that plays a subtitle stream. A first condition among the plurality of conditions is that the playback apparatus has the capability to decode and convert a character code representing a subtitle into a bitmap, The second condition is that the playback apparatus has the capability of processing a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method unique to each language, The third condition is that the language code of the text subtitle stream matches the language setting of the playback apparatus, The playback device, A register set for storing a flag indicating whether or not the playback device itself permits selection of a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method inherent to a language incapable of processing by the playback device; And Selecting means for determining whether a text subtitle stream satisfies the first to third conditions for each of the plurality of text subtitle streams, and selecting one of the text subtitle streams determined to satisfy the first to third conditions; Include, If the flag stored in the register set indicates that the playback device itself permits the playback device to select a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method inherent to a language incapable of processing by the playback device, the selection means, And a text subtitle stream that satisfies the first and third conditions as the selection target among the plurality of text subtitle streams. The method of claim 1, The stream number table is stored in the recording medium, The stream number table includes a packet identifier for each text subtitle stream, The register set further comprises a number register, By the selection means when the flag stored in the register set indicates that the playback apparatus itself permits selection of a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method inherent to a language incapable of processing by the playback apparatus. The selection is made by writing a stream number corresponding to the text subtitle stream satisfying the first and third conditions into the number register of the register set, And a packet identifier corresponding to the stream number written in the number register is extracted from the stream number table, and the text subtitle stream is reproduced according to the extracted packet identifier. The method of claim 2, The flag stored in the register set indicates that the playback apparatus itself permits the playback apparatus to select a text subtitle stream corresponding to a language-specific display method incapable of processing by the playback apparatus. When there are a plurality of text subtitle streams satisfying the following, the selecting means selects a stream number of the text subtitle stream having the highest rank in the stream number table among the plurality of text subtitle streams satisfying the first and third conditions. And a number register of the register set. The method of claim 1, The reproducing apparatus reproduces the video stream and the text subtitle stream in synchronization with each other according to the playlist information recorded on the recording medium, The playlist information includes a plurality of playback section information including a stream number table defining a playback section of the video stream, each of which indicates a plurality of text subtitle streams permitted to be played back in the playback section, And the selection by said selecting means is performed when changing the current playback section of one portion of the playback section information to another playback section of another section of the playback section information. The method of claim 4, wherein The register set further comprises a number register, The flag stored in the register set indicates that the playback device itself permits the playback device to select a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method inherent to a language incapable of processing by the playback device. The selection is made by writing a stream number corresponding to the text subtitle stream satisfying the first and third conditions into the number register of the register set, The playback apparatus further includes receiving means for receiving an instruction to select a text subtitle stream, And when the text subtitle stream requested by the user is valid, the selecting means maintains the stream number currently stored in the number register. delete Detecting a combination of conditions satisfied by each of the plurality of text subtitle streams recorded on the recording medium, selecting one of the plurality of text subtitle streams according to the combination of the satisfied conditions, and selecting the selected text. A playback method that causes a computer to execute the process of playing a subtitle stream. A first condition among the plurality of conditions is that the computer has a capability to decode and convert a character code representing a subtitle into a bitmap, The second condition is that the computer has a capability to process a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method unique to each language, The third condition is that the language code of the text subtitle stream matches the language setting of the computer, The computer, A register set for storing a flag indicating whether the computer itself permits the user to select a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method inherent to a language incapable of processing by the playback apparatus. and, The regeneration method, For each of the plurality of text subtitle streams, determining whether a text subtitle stream satisfies the first to third conditions, and selecting one of the text subtitle streams determined to satisfy the first to third conditions. Including, The selecting step indicates that if the flag stored in the register set indicates that the computer itself permits selection of a text subtitle stream corresponding to a display method unique to a language incapable of being processed by the playback apparatus; And a text subtitle stream that satisfies the first and third conditions as a selection target among a plurality of text subtitle streams.

Images