Patent ID: 8463917
Filing Date: 2013-06-11
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. A communications system, comprising: a plurality of information processing apparatus; and an information management apparatus to manage playing positions of contents; each of said information processing apparatus including a processor for: playing content provided via a network; requesting that said information management apparatus store a time stamp in association with predetermined identification information and access right information, in response to an instruction that said time stamp representing a playing position of said content at that moment be stored; transmitting said identification information to said information management apparatus and requesting the playing of said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp, wherein said identification information includes user identification information allotted to each user and user group identification information allotted to each user group, and said access right information includes information indicating whether confirmations, by user identification information and user group identification information, of an access right to said playing position of the content represented by said time stamp are necessary; and playing said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp in accordance with the requesting of the playing of said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp; and said information management apparatus including a second processor for: managing the provision of said content to a respective information processing apparatus via said network; storing said time stamp in association with said identification information and said access right information; managing the provision of said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp based on said associated access right information; and judging whether the provision of said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp is allowed, based on said associated access right information, the user identification information allotted to each user and the user group identification information allotted to each user group, responsive to a request for the playing of said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp, wherein the judging includes determining whether a confirmation of an access right by user group identification information is necessary (i) in a case where a determination is that user information identification transmitted with the request for the playing of said content from said playing position represented by said time stamp does not match the user identification information stored in association with the time stamp and (ii) in a case where a determination is that a confirmation of an access right by user identification information is not necessary, and wherein said playing position represented by said time stamp corresponds to a stopped position whereat a respective user requested that said content be stopped by use of a first one of said information processing apparatus and wherein said content is played from said stopped position based on said associated access right information by use of a second one of said information processing apparatus which is different from the first one thereof and which is operated by the respective user while the first information processing apparatus is being operated by another user.