Clip based trick modes

A player comprising:

• means for reading portions of a stored performance from a storage medium, the performance including a multitude of sequential frames for presentation during normal playing of the performance in a predetermined normal direction at a predetermined normal speed, the performance being divided into trick play clips for playing in a trick play mode, each trick play clip including multiple frames, and other fast skim clips for skimming in the trick play mode;
• and
• means for playing portions of the performance in the trick play mode, the trick play mode including playing trick play clips and skimming fast skim clips between the trick play clips, multiple trick play clips and fast skim clips each containing multiple subsequent frames of the performance, the trick play clips alternating with the fast skim clips in the normal frame presentation order;
• the skimming being either skipping of fast skim clips or playing fast skim clips at a substantially higher speed than the trick play clips in the trick play mode, the average speed of the playing and skimming in the trick play mode being substantially different than the normal speed, the trick play clips being sufficiently long and being presented at a sufficiently low speed so that the content of the trick play clips can be understood by a human audience.

A recorder comprising:

• an input for receiving a performance, the performance including a multitude of sequential frames for presentation during normal playing of the performance in a predetermined normal direction at a predetermined normal speed;
• means for selecting trick play clips of the stored performance for playing in a trick play mode, portions of the performance between the trick play clips being defined as fast skim clips for skimming in the trick play mode, multiple trick play clips and fast skim clips, each clip containing multiple sequential frames, the trick play clips alternating with the fast skim clips in the normal frame presentation order, the trick play mode including playing the trick play clips and skimming the fast skim clips between the trick play clips, the skimming including either skipping of fast skim clips or playing fast skim clips at a substantially higher speed than the trick play clips in the trick play mode, the average speed of the playing and skimming in the trick play mode being substantially different than the normal speed, the trick play clips being sufficiently long and being presented at a sufficiently low speed so that the content of the trick play clips can be understood by a human audience;
• means for storing the performance on a storage medium and storing indications of the positions of the trick play clips on the storage medium, the indications of the positions of the trick play clips defining which portions of the performance are trick play clips and which portions of the performance are fast skim clips.

A method comprising:

• providing a performance including a multitude of sequential frames for presentation during normal playing of the performance in a predetermined normal direction at a predetermined normal speed;
• selecting trick play clips of the stored performance for playing in a trick play mode, each trick play clip including multiple frames, portions of the performance between the trick play clips being defined as fast skim clips for skimming in the trick play mode, multiple trick play clips and fast skim clips each containing multiple sequential frames, the trick play clips alternating with the fast skim clips in the normal frame presentation order, the trick play clips being sufficiently long so that the content of the trick play clips can be understood by a human audience when playing the trick play clips and skimming the fast skim clips between the trick play clips, the skimming being either skipping of fast skim clips or playing fast skim clips at a substantially higher speed than the trick play clips in the trick play mode, the average speed of the playing and skimming in the trick play mode being substantially faster than the normal speed;
• storing the performance on a storage medium along with indications of the positions of the trick play clips which define which portions of the performance are trick play clips and which portions of the performance are fast skim clips.

A computer readable, non-transitory transmission medium storing data that when executed by a processor perform the steps of:

• displaying a performance including a multitude of sequential frames for presentation during normal playing of the performance in a predetermined normal frame presentation order at a predetermined normal speed,
• displaying the performance including trick play clips for playing in a trick play mode each trick play clip including multiple frames, portions of the performance between the trick play clips being defined as fast skim clips for skimming in the trick play mode, multiple trick play clips and fast skim clips each containing multiple sequential frames, the trick play clips alternating with the fast skim clips in the normal frame presentation order, the trick play clips being sufficiently long so that the content of the trick play clips can be understood by a human audience when playing the trick play clips and skimming the fast skim clips between the trick play clips, when the skimming includes either skipping of fast skim clips or playing fast skim clips at a substantially higher speed than the trick play clips in the trick play mode, the average speed of the playing and skimming in the trick play mode being substantially faster than the normal speed;
• and
• displaying a performance in response to indications of the positions of the trick play clips which define which portions of the performance are trick play clips and which portions of the performance are fast skim clips.

A video player comprising:

• an input for accessing a performance having a plurality of sequential image frames and stored on a non-transitory storage medium;
• and
• a controller configured and arranged to
• play the performance in a normal play mode that is at a normal speed;
• and
• play the performance in a trick play mode that is at a trick play speed that is faster than the normal speed and that is achieved by
• playing a plurality of trick play clips, each clip containing a plurality of image frames, at a speed slower than the trick play speed;
• and
• playing, between each of the trick play clips, a fast skim clip at a speed faster than the trick play speed.