Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus capable of, and a method of, playing an optical disc storing (1) a video program including within, and not provided by an alternative program source, at least one parallel video segment for variably playing a scene of the video program; (2) segment information, not created by a user of the video program, directly defining a plurality of video segments; and (3) at least one segment code for inhibiting a control function (e.g., segment skip and/or fast-forward functions) from interfering with a playing of a video segment; the apparatus comprising processing, random accessing, and buffering means for, and the method comprising the steps of: inhibiting, responsive to the segment information and a segment code, a control function from interfering with a playing of a video segment (e.g., a commercial video segment); selecting, responsive to the segment information, video segments from within the video program; and playing, without requiring an alternative program source, the selected video segments as a seamless version of, from within, and less in length than the length of, the video program, the playing comprising a video buffering for seamlessly skipping over a retrieval of at least a portion of a parallel video segment included within the video program.

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First Claim