Method and apparatus for navigating through subtitles of an audio video data stream

1. Method for navigating through subtitles of an audio/video data stream, comprising:

playing back data units of said audio/video data stream, said data units including video, audio and subtitle data packets;

storing access information of one or more previously played back data units together with subtitle information data of said previously played back data units, wherein the subtitle information data are the displayable part of the subtitle data packets of said played back data units;

generating a list displaying, at the same time, of two or more of said stored subtitle information data where each stored subtitled information data corresponds to a respective played back data unit;

detecting in response to a user selection on said list of one of said stored subtitle information data for which a display has been generated;

retrieving the stored access information of the data unit corresponding to the selected subtitle information data;

accessing said corresponding data unit using said retrieved access information; and

playing back said accessed data unit.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein only one preceding subtitle is displayed at a time.

3. Method according to claim 2 , wherein following a first user command a first preceding subtitle is displayed, following a second user command a second preceding subtitle is displayed and the same process can be repeated as long as subtitle information data are stored together with the access information of the corresponding data units.

4. Method according to claim 1 , wherein a list of several preceding subtitles is displayed at a time.

5. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the access information is a logical or physical address of the data unit carrying the respective subtitle on a storage medium, from which the data units of said audio/video data stream are played back.

6. Method according to claim 5 , wherein said data units are played back from a DVD, a data unit being a Video Object Unit and said address information corresponding to an address of said Video Object Unit.

7. Method according to claim 1 , wherein said selection of said displayed subtitle information is done using a specific button of a remote control for an audio/video playback device.

8. Apparatus for navigating through subtitles of an audio/video data stream, comprising:

means for playing back data units of said audio/video data stream, said data units including video, audio and subtitle data packets;

means for storing access information of one or more played back data units together with subtitle information data of said played back data units, wherein the subtitle information data are the displayable part of the subtitle data packets of said played back data units;

means for generating a displayed list of two or more of said stored subtitle information data, at the same time, where each stored subtitled information data corresponds to a respective played back data unit;

means for detecting a selection from said list of one of said stored subtitle information data for which a display has been generated;

means for retrieving the stored access information of the data unit corresponding to the selected subtitle information data;

means for accessing said corresponding data unit using said retrieved access information; and

means for playing back said accessed data unit.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising means for selecting of one of said displayed subtitle information data by a user.

10. Apparatus according to claim 8 , said apparatus being an audio/video playback device.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein said means for selecting of one of said displayed subtitle information data is a specific button of a remote control of said audio/video playback device.

12. Apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein said access information is stored in a dedicated memory within said audio/video playback device.