Digital versatile disc playback system with program chain object searching capabilities

A digital versatile disc playback apparatus having a DVD reader for reading a DVD content source and a user input device for receiving user commands, the DVD content source comprising a plurality of program chain objects, the DVD playback apparatus comprising:

• a PGC parental block pointer allocating mechanism configured to allocate a unique pointer to each PGC object on the DVD content source;
• a PGC parental block search mechanism, coupled to the PGC parental block pointer allocating mechanism, to search for a parental block using a pointer assigned to a selected PGC object associated with the parental block;
• and
• a linear pointer array defined in memory and having a plurality of entries, each entry storing only a unique PGC object pointer and being accessible with an address offset from an adjacent entry of the linear pointer array.

A method for searching digital versatile disc (DVD) program chain (PGC) objects stored on a DVD content source, comprising the steps of:

• (a) allocating a unique pointer to each PGC object associated with a parental block;
• (b) defining in memory a linear pointer array for storing PGC object pointers;
• (c) placing only the unique pointers within the linear pointer array;
• and
• (d) in response to a search request for a given PGC object associated with a parental block, searching the linear pointer array for the given PGC object by utilizing an address offset from an adjacent entry of the linear pointer array.

A computer program product having computer readable program code stored on a computer useable medium to perform digital versatile disc (DVD) program chain (PGC) object searches stored on a DVD content source, the computer program product on the medium comprising:

• program code to allocate a unique pointer to each PGC object associated with a parental block;
• program code to define in memory a linear pointer array for storing PGC object pointers;
• program code to place only the unique pointers within the linear pointer array;
• and
• program code to search the linear pointer array for a given PGC object associated with a parental block by utilizing an address offset from an adjacent entry of the linear pointer array.