Optical disc player for playing a disc in a selected format

A player-disc system that allows a software publisher to distribute copies of a single digital disc for play in different types of players that produce respective output signals having different formats and different output aspect ratios, comprising multiple copies of the same digital disc for play in any of said players, each of said discs having digital data stored therein representing each disc represents a program containing audio and/or visual components with a resolution sufficiently high to satisfy the format having the highest video resolution and the digital data stored therein also representing an aspect ratio from which all of said output aspect ratios can be derived, and a plurality of players of different types each for reading the data on any inserted disc and then processing the data to generate an output signal having a respective resolution, format and output aspect ratio;

• wherein the components are being presented on the disc in the form of digital data streams designed to be processed at bit-use rates which vary with the information contents of the respective components and with the bit-use rates for said components being independent of each other, the digital data streams being organized in a series of data blocks with each data block containing bits of one or more data streams and with the bits in the data streams being distributed in the data blocks such that, after being read from the disc and buffered by the player playing the disc, bits are at all times available as required for proper reconstruction of the respective audio and/or visual components.

A player-disc system comprising:

• a plurality of different types of players that produce respective output signals having different formats, resolutions and different output aspect ratios;
• and
• multiple identical copies of the same digital disc for play in any of said players, each of said discs having digital data stored therein representing a resolution sufficiently high to satisfy the format having the highest video resolution and the digital data stored therein also representing an aspect ratio from which all of said output aspect ratios can be derived;
• wherein each of said plurality of players is adapted to read the data on any inserted disc and then process the data to generate an output signal having a respective resolution, format and output aspect ratio;
• and
• wherein each disc represents a program containing audio and/or visual components, said components being represented on the disc in the form of digital data streams designed to be processed at bit-use rates which vary with the information contents of the respective components and with the bit-use rates for said components being independent of each other, the digital data streams being organized in a series of data blocks with each data block containing bits of one or more data streams and with the bits in the data streams being distributed in the data blocks such that, after being read from the disc and buffered by the player playing the disc, bits are at all times available as required for proper reconstruction of the respective audio and/or visual components.