Patent ID: 8209610
Filing Date: 2012-06-26
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An information processing apparatus, comprising: an electronic program guide (EPG) information recording unit which stores EPG information of a plurality of programs; a program selection unit which selects, for a given one of a plurality of selection conditions corresponding to a plurality of viewing styles, one or more of the plurality of programs having specific features which substantially match those associated with that selection condition, the selecting being based on electronic program guide (EPG) information of the plurality of programs, and which repeats such selecting for each one of the plurality of selection conditions so that one or more such programs are respectively associated with each selection condition, wherein the program selection comprising selecting, based on the given selection condition corresponding to a given viewing style, one or more databases for searching programs substantially matching one or more searching keys corresponding to the given viewing style, wherein in response to the given selection condition being programs having an old recording date, the program selection unit searches for recorded programs whose EPG information indicates a broadcast start date and start time which precede a particular date and time and then selects a predetermined number of such programs at random; a display control unit which controls display of, on a display screen, a plurality of selection buttons that correspond to the plurality of selection conditions, wherein, in response to one of the selection buttons being selected, the display control unit controls the display screen to display information regarding at least one of the one or more particular programs associated with the selection condition that corresponds to the selected selection button; and a rank allocation unit which allocates ranks to the programs selected for a given one of a plurality of selection conditions based on a corresponding predetermined rule for rank allocation when a plurality of programs are selected for the given selection condition by the program selection unit, wherein each viewing style corresponds to a different predetermined rule for rank allocation, wherein the display control unit controls the display screen to display a plurality of selection buttons corresponding to the plurality of selection conditions, and in response to one of the plurality of selection buttons being chosen, to display the ranks allocated to the programs selected for the selection condition corresponding to the chosen selection button together with the information of the selected programs.