Patent ID: 8244109
Filing Date: 2012-08-14
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. An electronic device comprising: a communication block configured to execute communication with an external device; a storage block configured to store content; a compression block configured to compress the stored content; a reproduction block configured to reproduce one of the content before compression by said compression block and the content after compression by said compression block; an operation input block configured to enter an operation signal corresponding to a user operation done for the reproduction; a control block configured to control said communication block to make said communication block transmit said content before compression to said external device for storage therein and, if said operation signal for reproducing said content after compression is entered, receive, said content before compression stored in said external device corresponding to said content after compression from said external device; wherein said storage block stores importance information indicative of the importance of one of the content before compression and the content after compression stored in said storage block, and if a free storage space of said storage block gets below a predetermined level, said control block compresses, on the basis of the stored importance information, one of said content before compression and said content after compression identical to the content transmitted to said external device by stepwise varying compression ratios in accordance with the importance obtained from said importance information; wherein said storage block stores, as said importance information, reproduction frequency information indicative of a frequency of reproduction of one of said content before compression and said content after compression wherein said control block computes a similarity between said content before compression and said content after compression, updates said reproduction frequency information of one of said content before compression and said content after compression if one of said content before compression and said content after compression is reproduced, and updates said reproduction frequency information of another content having a predetermined relation in said similarity with one of said content before compression and said content after compression.