Optical disc for which a sub-picture can be favorably superimposed on a main image, and a disc reproduction apparatus and a disc reproduction method for the disc

Claim 2

An optical disc having recorded thereon main video data which is composed of a sequence of a plurality of sets of frame data, each set of frame data being processed beforehand to enable display at an aspect ratio specified out of a plurality of aspect ratios, wherein the optical disc comprises: a stream area in which streams are made up of video objects, including video objects having main video data and a plurality of sets of sub-picture data, wherein each set of sub-picture data includes a set of tel-op data and a set of coordinate information showing a display position of the set of tel-op data; and a control area in which a plurality of pairings of a set of display mode information and a set of sub-picture indicating information are recorded to enable a plurality of display methods; wherein each set of display mode information enables the frame data to be decoded from the main video data and displayed by one of the display methods at one of the plurality of aspect ratios, and wherein each set of the sub-picture indicating information shows a set of sub-picture data, out of the plurality of sets of sub-picture data in the same stream as the main video data, which includes a set of coordinate information which coincides with one of the display methods shown by the display mode information.

Claim 3

The optical disc of claim 1 wherein the plurality of aspect ratios includes 4:3 and 16:9, and wherein the frame data is processed according to one of the following species of display methods; a wide-screen television mode in which images with an aspect ratio of 16:9 are displayed on a display screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9; a standard television mode in which images with an aspect ratio of 4:3 are displayed on a display screen with an aspect ratio of 4:3; a pan scan mode in which images with an aspect ratio of 16:9 are displayed on a display screen with an aspect ratio of 4:3, after trimming, to give 4:3 aspect ratio images; and a letterbox display mode in which images with an aspect ratio of 16:9 are displayed on a display screen with an aspect ratio of 4:3 after processing to add corrective images.

Claim 4

The optical disc of claim 2 wherein each set of sub-picture data includes at least one of the following types of coordinate information: a wide screen television mode coordinate information for setting a display mode position of tel-op data when the frame data is processed according to the wide-screen television mode; a standard television mode coordinate information for setting a display position of tel-op data in a coordinate system for display according to the standard television mode; a pan scan mode coordinate information for setting a display position of tel-op data in a coordinate system for display according to the pan scan mode; and a letterbox mode coordinate information for setting a display position of tel-op data in a coordinate system for display according to the letterbox mode, and wherein the control area is arranged such that the sub-picture indicating information which indicates a set of sub-picture data that includes the wide-screen television mode coordinate information is paired with display mode information which shows the wide-screen television mode, the sub-picture indicating information which indicates a set of sub-picture data that includes the standard television mode coordinate information is paired with the display mode information which shows the standard television mode, the sub-picture indicating information which indicates a set of sub-picture data that includes the pan scan mode coordinate information is paired with the display mode information which shows the pan scan mode, and the sub-picture indicating information which indicates a set of sub-picture data that includes the letterbox mode coordinate information is paired with the display mode information which shows the letterbox mode.

Claim 5

A reproduction system comprising an optical disc, wherein the optical disc has: a stream area in which streams are made up of video objects, including video objects having main video data, which is an arrangement of a plurality of sets of frame data which has been processed to enable display at an aspect ratio specified out of a plurality of aspect ratios, and a plurality of sets of sub-picture data, which each include a set of tel-op data and a set of coordinate information for a display position of the set of tel-op data; and a control area which includes a plurality of pairings of display mode information, each of which enables processing frame data, which has been decoded from the main video data in a stream, for display at one of the plurality of aspect ratios, and sub-picture data indicating information which indicates one of the set of sub-picture data, out of the plurality of sets of sub-picture data included in a same stream as the main video image, which includes the coordinate information that corresponds to one of the display mode information, and a reproduction apparatus comprising: an optical pickup for optically reading data from the optical disc; a drive mechanism for driving the optical pickup; first controlling means for controlling the drive mechanism to have the optical pickup read data from the control area of the optical disc; a buffer for storing at least one set of the display mode information and one set of the sub-picture indicating information included in the data read according to the control by the first controlling means; second controlling means for controlling the drive mechanism to have the optical pickup read a stream from the optical disc; a display setting register for storing display style information indicating a species of display methods by which frame data is to be processed; a video decoder for decoding main video data included in the stream read from the optical disc into frame data; determining means for referring to the sets of display mode information included in the data stored in the buffer and for determining the sub-picture indicating information which coincides with the display style information stored in the display setting register; a sub-picture decoder for decoding a set of sub-picture data indicated by the determined sub-picture indicating information into a set of tel-op data, out of a plurality of the sets of sub-picture data included in the stream read from the optical disc; processing means for processing images of frame data, based on the display style information stored in the display setting register; and combining means for arranging the decoded set of tel-op data onto the processed images of frame data in accordance with the coordinate information included in a set of sub-picture data and for combining the tel-op data and processed images.

Claim 6

A reproduction system comprising an optical disc, wherein the optical disc has: a stream area in which streams are made up of video objects, including video objects having main video data, which is an arrangement of a plurality of sets of frame data which has been processed to enable display at an aspect ratio specified out of a plurality of aspect ratios, and a plurality of sets of sub-picture data, which each include a set of tel-op data and a set of coordinate information for a display position of the set of tel-op data; and a control area which includes a plurality of pairings of display mode information, each of which enables processing frame data, which has been decoded from the main video data in a stream, for display at one of the plurality of aspect ratios, and sub-picture data indicating information which indicates one of the set of sub-picture data, out of the plurality of sets of sub-picture data included in a same stream as the main video image, which includes the coordinate information that corresponds to one of the display mode information, and a reproduction apparatus comprising: an optical pickup for optically reading data from the optical disc; a drive mechanism for driving the optical pickup; first controlling means for controlling the drive mechanism to have the optical pickup read data from the control area of the optical disc; a buffer for storing at least one set of the display mode information and one set of the sub-picture indicating information included in the data read according to the control by the first controlling means; second controlling means for controlling the drive mechanism to have the optical pickup read a stream from the optical disc; a display setting register for storing display style information indicating a species of display methods by which frame data is to be processed; a video decoder for decoding main video data included in the stream read from the optical disc into frame data; determining means for referring to the sets of display mode information included in the data stored in the buffer and for determining the sub-picture indicating information which coincides with the display style information stored in the display setting register; a sub-picture decoder for decoding a set of sub-picture data indicated by the determined sub-picture indicating information into a set of tel-op data, out of a plurality of the sets of sub-picture data included in the stream read from the optical disc; processing means for processing images of frame data, based on the display style information stored in the display setting register; and combining means for arranging the decoded set of tel-op data onto the processed images of frame data in accordance with the coordinate information included in a set of sub-picture data and for combining the tel-op data and processed images.

Claim 7

The reproduction apparatus of claim 4, wherein the display style information stored in the display setting register is an indication for one of a wide-screen television mode, a standard television mode, a pan scan display mode, and a letterbox display mode, and wherein the processing means includes: a pan scan conversion unit for converting, when the display style information stored in the display setting register is an indication for the pan scan display mode, images of the frame data decoded by the video decoder into images with an aspect ratio of 16:9, before trimming the converted images to give images with an aspect ratio of 4:3; and a letterbox conversion unit for converting, when the display style information stored in the display setting register is an indication for the letterbox display mode, images of the frame data decoded by the video decoder into images with an aspect ratio of 16:9, before adding a corrective image to the converted images to give images with an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Claim 8

The disc reproduction apparatus of claim 5, further including: receiving means for receiving a user setting of the display style information; and an updating means for updating the display style setting of display style information in the display setting register, when the receiving means has received a user setting for the display style information.

Claim 9

A reproduction method for reproducing streams of data from a storage medium, wherein the streams are composed of video objects including main image data which is an arrangement of frame data which has been processed to allow display by display screens of a plurality of aspect ratios, and sets of sub-picture data which each include a set of tel-op data and a set of coordinate information for a display position of the set of tel-op data, comprising the step of: using display mode information that shows a species of display methods for processing frame data, which has been decoded from the main video data in a stream, for display at one of the plurality of aspect ratios and sub-picture indicating information which indicates one set of sub-picture data, out of a plurality of sets of sub-picture data included in a same stream as the main video image, which includes coordinate information that corresponds to the species shown by the display mode information, the reproduction method further including: a retrieving step for retrieving a plurality of combinations of display mode information and sub-picture indicating information; a receiving step for receiving a user indication of display style information indicating one of the species of display methods to be used to process the frame data; a video-decoding step for decoding the main video data included in a retrieved stream into frame data; a determining step for referring to the plurality of sets of display mode information retrieved in the retrieving step and for determining a set of sub-picture indicating information which coincides with the display style information received in the receiving step; a sub-picture decoding step for decoding the set of sub-picture data indicated by the set of sub-picture indicating information, out of the sets of sub-picture data included in the retrieved streams; a processing step for processing images of frame data based on the display style information stored in the display setting register; and a combining step for arranging the decoded set of tel-op data onto the processed images of frame data in accordance with the coordinate information included in the set of sub-picture data and for combining the tel-op data and the processed images.

Claim 10

A reproduction method for reproducing streams of data from a storage medium, wherein the streams are composed of video objects including main image data which is an arrangement of frame data which has been processed to allow display by display screens of a plurality of aspect ratios, and sets of sub-picture data which each include a set of tel-op data and a set of coordinate information for a display position of the set of tel-op data, comprising the step of: using display mode information that shows a species of display methods for processing frame data, which has been decoded from the main video data in a stream, for display at one of the plurality of aspect ratios and sub-picture indicating information which indicates one set of sub-picture data, out of a plurality of sets of sub-picture data included in a same stream as the main video image, which includes coordinate information that corresponds to the species shown by the display mode information, the reproduction method further including: a retrieving step for retrieving a plurality of combinations of display mode information and sub-picture indicating information; a receiving step for receiving a user indication of display style information indicating one of the species of display methods to be used to process the frame data; a video-decoding step for decoding the main video data included in a retrieved stream into frame data; a determining step for referring to the plurality of sets of display mode information retrieved in the retrieving step and for determining a set of sub-picture indicating information which coincides with the display style information received in the receiving step; a sub-picture decoding step for decoding the set of sub-picture data indicated by the set of sub-picture indicating information, out of the sets of sub-picture data included in the retrieved streams; a processing step for processing images of frame data based on the display style information stored in the display setting register; and a combining step for arranging the decoded set of tel-op data onto the processed images of frame data in accordance with the coordinate information included in the set of sub-picture data and for combining the tel-op data and the processed images.